Offers both a theoretical and concrete example of what W. E. B. Du Bois called “spiritual strivings.”

After surviving a series of life-threatening illnesses, the author’s physician posed to him the question, “Have you been a good man?” He wanted to know whether Stuart I. Forman’s good fortune was a reward for living a good life. Strivings is the author’s answer to that question. Forman traces his life through the platform of literature, highlighting fourteen books that have guided the way he lives. In examining each book, he seeks to answer questions such as: • What does leading a life as a good person actually mean? • Are there really rewards for striving to lead a good life? • How did Judaism affect the life the author chose to strive to live? From Wasp by Eric Frank Russell, to An Elementary Textbook of Psychoanalysis by Charles Brenner, to The Wisdom of Laotse by Lin Yutang, and other books, the author explores the ideas and lessons that have had the most impact on his life. Everyone would like to be remembered for good and helping others live a better life. This book presents one man’s journey toward trying to live such life. Join the author as he shares lessons learned over seven decades of winning, losing, and learning.

Find freedom from the never-ending quest for approval and affirmation by learning how to accept the undeserved gift of grace from a merciful God. In today's society, the pressure to perform is overwhelming. It's a hustling, image-forward age of opportunity, and women are more anxious than ever. Many of us end up constantly feeling behind, lacking, and like we're failing—at home, at work, with friends, with God. In this six-session Bible study (video streaming included), bestselling author, artist, entrepreneur, and speaker Ruth Chou Simons calls women to discover how God's profound gift of grace and favor invites them to rest from chasing approval and earning love, and instead discover the freedom of true belonging and worth that doesn't depend on them. This study guide has everything you need for a full Bible study experience, including: The study guide itself—with warm-up, group discussion and personal reflection questions, video notes, and a leader's guide. An individual access code to stream all six video sessions online (you don't need to buy a DVD!). After going through this study, you'll walk away understanding more fully that the generous, unmerited favor of God is the means to the welcome, love, and approval you so deeply long for. Streaming video access code included. Access code subject to expiration after 12/31/2027. Code may be redeemed only by the recipient of this package. Code may not be transferred or sold separately from this package. Internet connection required. Void where prohibited, taxed, or restricted by law. Additional offer details inside.

Grace Secures What Striving Cannot In this hustling, image-forward age of opportunity, we feel more anxious than ever. Despite all the affirming memes and self-reflections that dominate social media feeds, approval and worth often seem assigned to what we do rather than who we are. And we end up constantly feeling like we’re behind, lacking, and failing—at home, at work, with friends, with God. Ruth Chou Simons knows something about feeling measured by achievement, performance, and the approval of others. As a Taiwanese immigrant growing up between two cultures, Ruth was always on a mission to prove her worth, until she came to truly understand the one thing that changes everything: the extravagant, undeserved gift of grace from a merciful God. In When Strivings Cease, Ruth guides you on a journey to find freedom from the never-ending quest for self-improvement. She shows you how to confront the ways you look to superficial means of acceptance and belonging; find relief in realizing self-help isn’t the answer because you can’t be so amazing that you won’t need grace; stop seeing God as someone to perform for and start finding delight in responding to his welcome; and let go of trying to rely on your own strength, your own abilities, and your own savvy by truly understanding the freedom Jesus purchased for you. With personal stories, biblical insights, practical applications, and touches of original artwork by Ruth, this transformational book helps you see the beautiful truth that God’s favor is the only currency you need—because in Christ you are enough.

Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.

Winner of the 2008 Critics' Choice Awards presented by the American Educational Studies Association This engaging book offers a personal look at how centering spirituality in an academic life transforms its very foundations—its epistemology, paradigm, and methods—and becomes the site for spiritual healing and service to the world. Focusing primarily on her work in Ghana, West Africa, Cynthia B. Dillard presents a unique perspective on Africa as a site for transformative possibilities for African American academics/scholars and explores the deeper spiritual meanings of being "African." Through poetry, personal narrative, meditations, and journal entries, Dillard shares her experiences as an African American scholar and, in the process, provides a concrete example of what W. E. B. Du Bois called "spiritual strivings."

Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion (RSSSR) publishes reports of innovative studies that pertain empirically or theoretically to the scientific study of religion, including spirituality, regardless of their academic discipline or professional orientation. RSSSR is published annually with the kind support of Loyola College, Maryland, USA. This volume of RSSSR contains several articles on spiritual development among adolescents, spiritual transcendence, Jung and pastoral counseling and spirituality and religiosity. In addition to this, a special section of nine articles is devoted to several aspects of positive psychology and its usage in practice.

The Third Striving consists of an examination of World Laws and World Maintenance as put forth by G. I Gurdjieff. In his epic work All and Everything, Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, the third "striving," which is formulated thus: "the conscious striving to know ever more and more concerning the laws of World-creation and World-maintenance, is the third of five " ' being-obligolnian-strivings' " to be practiced ..." in order to have in their consciousness this Divine function of genuine conscience...," (Beelzebub's Tales, pp 385-86). To inquire into and come to an understanding of Law is a responsibility for all individuals who practice and pursue the Gurdjieff Work. It is required (but not enough) to carry out a variety of practices and to struggle, in one's inner world, toward a realization of Conscience. Beyond this, Gurdjieff calls on us to consciously come to Objective Reason, and this requires us to contemplate and actively mentate as best we can on the laws which define the working of our inner and outer World. Only when we understand the laws can we hope to properly utilize the energies of Okidanokh, in the coating process of Kesdjan and Higher Being-body. This volume seeks to offer discoveries and further inquiry into this pivotal "striving," employing the most recent discoveries in modern physics, cosmology, biology and chemistry along with experiential data.

The rubric "Quality of Life" first came to the explicit attention of the medical profession a little over thirty years ago. Despite the undoubted fact that each one of us has his or her own Quality of Life, be it good or bad, there is still no general agreement about its definition, or the manner in which it should be evaluated. Although much has been written about quality of life, this work has been largely concerned with population-based studies, especially in health policy & health economics. The importance of individual quality of life has been neglected, in part because of a failure to define quality of life itself with sufficient care, in part perhaps because of a belief that it is impossible to develop a meaningful method of measuring individual variables. It is a fundamental belief of the editors of this book that the primary focus of quality of life is & must continue to be the individual, who alone can define it & assess its changing personal significances. The individual perspective is of vital importance not only to patients but to their doctors too, & is more & more frequently proposed as the most meaningful measure of outcome in clinical research, especially in non-remitting or chronic conditions. Workers who wish to consider wider aspects of influences on the illnesses suffered by individuals & the health care that they receive will find much to stimulate them in the methods of documentation proposed in this book. Those mainly concerned with population samples rather than individuals may also find the sensitive methods of investigation proposed here not only to be applicable to their own areas of interest, but also rewarding in perhaps unexpected ways.