Robert Torrance's wide-ranging, innovative study argues that the spiritual quest is rooted in our biological, psychological, linguistic, and social nature. The quest is not, as most have believed, a rare mystical experience, but a frequent expression of our most basic human impulses. Shaman and scientist, medium and poet, prophet and philosopher, all venture forth in quest of visionary truths to transform and renew the world. Yet Torrance is not trying to reduce the quest to an "archetype" or "monomyth." Instead, he presents the full diversity of the quest in the myths and religious practices of tribal peoples throughout the world, from Oceania to India, Africa, Siberia, and especially the Americas. In theorizing about the quest, Torrance draws on thinkers as diverse as Bergson and Piaget, van Gennep and Turner, Pierce and Popper, Freud, Darwin, and Chomsky. This is a book that will expand our knowledge—and awareness—of a fundamental human activity in all its fascinating complexity.

Six acclaimed authors discuss the influence of religion on their writing. Includes comment by David Bradley, Allen Ginsberg, Mary Gordon and Jaroslav Pelikan. Third in the Writer's Craft series.

“The wisdom is timeless and the updates fresh as Christina Baldwin brings this classic into a new century. Her clear, calm vision for writing as spiritual practice emanates from every page.”—Kathleen Adams, author of Journal to the Self In this classic book you will discover the intimate journey of personal and spiritual development that is possible through the practice of journal writing. In Life’s Companion, acclaimed author Christina Baldwin offers readers guidance and inspiration to this powerful way of expanding our inner horizons and opening our minds and spirits to a deeper relationship with the world and the people around us. Complete with enlightening quotations, exercises, sample journal entries, and techniques to nurture and encourage the writer and seeker within you, Life’s Companion will help you transform journaling into a powerful tool for self-growth, heightened awareness, and personal fulfillment.

“An insightful, scholarly resource for dialogue about the symbiotic relationship between the life of the mind and the life of the heart of faculty, and what faculty can do to provide students an education that focuses on meaning and purpose.” —Larry A. Braskamp, professor emeritus, Loyola University Chicago “Among the strengths of this book are Lindholm’s solid research design and data analysis, deft integration of quantitative and qualitative data in presentation of findings and interpretation, and clear writing. Dr. Lindholm makes an important contribution both to higher education literature on faculty, and to religious studies literature, on this dimension of religion and spirituality in colleges and universities.” —Michael D. Waggoner, professor, University of Northern Iowa; editor, Religion & Education “No one understands more thoroughly the roles that spirituality and religion play in higher education today than Jennifer Lindholm, who has spent more than a decade documenting their impact. The Quest for Meaning and Wholeness adds greatly to her earlier findings of how college can enhance the spiritual lives of students.” —Gary Luhr, executive director, Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities “Based on both quantitative and qualitative data, Lindholm’s thoughtful, well-written book opens new ground, addressing a largely ignored topic in the research on faculty lives and work—spirituality, religion, and meaning in academic life. Institutional leaders, faculty members, and students will benefit from the fresh perspectives, careful definitions, issues, and questions discussed in this book.” —Ann E. Austin, professor of higher, adult, and lifelong education, Michigan State University; coauthor of Rethinking Faculty Work: Higher Education’s Strategic Imperative “At last, a book for faculty about faculty on an important, but long-neglected, topic. Jennifer Lindholm provides a cogent, readable analysis of how faculty view spirituality and religion not only in their own lives, but also their role in higher education.” —Peter C. Hill, Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University

From the pages of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, here is Ruel S. De Vera’s fascinating series on the Spirit Questors, a band of young psychic volunteers who encounter and communicate with spirits and elementals. Inside are accounts of the Questors’ visits to houses and offices, and even to the Manila Film Center. These are true-to-life journeys into the supernatural—all of them reminders of the redemptive power of love.

What programs address career development in an holistic way, including issues of meaning and purpose, spirituality, and 'work within a life'? Written for career planners, executive coaches, life change counselors, HR and human services managers and all those interested in employee development, workplace values, life-career assessment and personal transformation, this book helps to connect your career to the spiritual values that give your life meaning.SoulWork: Finding the Work you Love, Loving the Work relates your career to spiritual themes, and aims to provide advice and support to people in working through their personal choices. Updated from 1998, the revised edition places career choices in the context of holistic, personal, spiritual development and internal change. A spiritual approach to integrating work/career with all life issues. This book examines the concept of careers within the context of seven themes, including chapters on: Change, Balance, Energy, Community, Calling, Harmony, Unity, Exercises Each starts with a story and then offers career issues, reflections on various aspects of the chapter theme and a set of applications that includes self-administered questionnaires and exercises. The authors take a systematic approach, use clear language and examples that many people will be able to relate to. The value of this book lies in its practical focus on the issues of matching work life to life in its totality. It offers an opportunity to reassess one's career and connect it to the spiritual values that bring meaning and depth to one's life.SoulWork offers a refreshingly unconventional approach to the quest for satisfying work. Rather than focusing on matching occupations against personality traits as many other books do, this book advocates finding one's ideal job through one's calling. That is, drawing on strengths, life experiences, personal needs, and goals to arrive at meaningful work.

Spiritual Information is a collection of one hundred essays that explore a portion of the vast interdisciplinary approaches to the study of science and religion. Individually and together, the essays show how the study of ourselves, our planet, and the universe helps us understand our place as spiritual beings within God’s universe. The book is a tribute to Sir John Templeton and his pioneering commitment toward new research that results in “one hundredfold more spiritual information than humankind has ever possessed before.” It begins with essays that reflect on Sir John’s principal domains of interest and expertise: free-enterprise based finance and accelerating spiritual progress. Themes of the sections are: •Science-Religion Dialogue •Cosmology, Physics, and Astronomy •Mathematics, Musicology, and Speculation •Biological Evolution—the Human Being •Social Evolution—the Human Mind and Heart •Religion and Health •The Nature of the Divine •Theology and Philosophy •Faith Traditions “Sir John’s leadership has enabled us to edge ever closer to the frontier where knowledge meets wisdom at the threshold of ‘ultimate reality,’” notes the editor in the preface to this volume. As Spiritual Information presents an overview of how far we have come in the science and religion dialogue, it also opens windows to the vast possibilities for additional research and further advances in spiritual information.

Dr. Asa Don Browns insightful message of unconditional love will transpire your way of thinking. Dr. Brown reveals a profound way of looking at life, forgiveness, and happiness. He explores with the reader the concepts of love and forgiveness. He has a poignant way of evoking the internal and spiritual side of life. His message will inspire you to begin living today. Why are you Waiting to Live?

Channeling the deep, mysterious desires of our hearts, Ronald Rolheiser leads readers from restlessness to peace, showing a contemporary path to authentic and healthy spiritual life—now featuring a new reader’s guide! In The Holy Longing, Ronald Rolheiser probes the question “What is spirituality?”, cutting through the misunderstanding and confusion that can often surround this subject with his trademark clarity. Using examples and stories relevant for today, and with great sensitivity to modern challenges to religious faith, he explains the essentials of spiritual life, including the importance of community worship, the imperatives surrounding social action, and the centrality of the Incarnation, to outline a Christian spirituality that reflects the yearning and search for meaning at the core of the human experience. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand what Christian spirituality means and how to apply it to their own lives, The Holy Longing translates the universal struggle for love and integration of spirit into a language accessible to all, explaining God and the Church for a world that more often than not doubts the credibility of both.

This exciting new book is a detailed examination of pilgrimages in Japan, including the meanings of travel, transformation, and the discovery of identity through encounters with the sacred, in a variety of interesting dimensions in both historical and contemporary Japanese culture, linked by the unifying theme of a spiritual quest. Several fascinating new approaches to traditional forms of pilgrimage are put forward by a wide range of specialists in anthropology, religion and cultural studies, who set Japanese pilgrimage in a wider comparative perspective. They apply models of pilgrimage to quests for vocational fulfilment, examining cases as diverse as the civil service, painting and poetry, and present ethnographies of contemporary reconstructions of old spiritual quests, as conflicting (and sometimes global) demands impinge on the time and space of would-be pilgrims.