After a series of unpublished books, a novelist becomes obsessed with the idea of uploading his consciousness into a cloud and asks a former student to document his efforts ("Encomium of Glass"). A brilliant but melancholy young architect travels to Ukraine with a colleague after the fall of the iron curtain and finds himself in a graveyard of Soviet monuments ("Suedehead"). And after being released from an Egyptian prison, a deprogrammed Islamist has a strange encounter one night at the MoMA ("The Lovers"). These are just a few of the pieces that make up The Unified Field of Loneliness. From Paris, to New York, to Vienna, to London, these ten stories locate characters living in a condition of terror, solipsism and displacement in the technological age.

I used to know it all; who was bound for heaven and who would be in hell, how the contradictions in the Bible all fit together when read with guidance from the Spirit and in keeping with our church's exact teaching. How to fix government, end war, and balance capitalism with community, what was true and what was false, how the world made sense and why it was fair. Then my sure answers became unacceptable. Now I know mostly little things; the love of family, the importance of children, the need to live in the circle of a tribe, the freedom of unknowing, the joy of being in trees and on rocks under birds in flight, the comfort of not being responsible for all things and all people, the power each moment to choose behavior that will add to the heaven or hell experienced in the present by real people, the beauty of the dance of atoms and stars bracketing the grand diversity and mysteries of life. I know One Universe which creates, knows, sustains, and is. One is enough.

Jared Marcel Pollen's debut novel, Venus&Document, gives lyric voice to philosophic insight and addresses itself directly to the cultural maelstrom in which we find ourselves. The novel is set in New York City after a natural disaster strikes and strange demonstrations begin to spring up all over the globe, with thousands of people occupying Central Park. Paul Kenning, journalist and writer, receives a special assignment by his editor to write about these mysterious Events. Paul comes to find himself with a monumental task - he believes he can write a great essay that will diagnose the ails of modern culture and explain the times in which he lives, certain that mass enlightenment, or perhaps his own death lies at the end of his effort. Paul Kenning is a comic figure for these strange times. As he navigates the affairs of his love life during a time of distress, he must explain it all - the rising tides, rising crime, refugee crises, political corruption, income inequality, racial injustice, and the overwhelming daily influx of information. Can he keep up with the relentless pace of events, as everything - including history itself - seems to be accelerating?

This book represents a comprehensive examination of loneliness in childhood and adolescence.

A collection of stories on general subjects. In Trip to Sometimes Island, a man realizes the limit of his ability, When the Hoot Owl Moves Its Nest is on a wife's adultery, while If You Meet the Buddha by the Road is on a precocious student.

Current research claims loneliness is passively caused by external conditions: environmental, cultural, situational, and even chemical imbalances in the brain and hence avoidable. In this book, the author argues that loneliness is actively constituted by acts of reflexive self-consciousness (Kant) and transcendent intentionality (Husserl) and is, therefore, unavoidable. This work employs a historical, conceptual, and interdisciplinary approach (philosophy, psychology, literature, sociology, etc.) criticizing both psychoanalysis and neuroscience. The book pits materialism, mechanism, determinism, empiricism, phenomenalism, behaviorism, and the neurosciences against dualism, both subjective and objective idealism, rationalism, freedom, phenomenology, and existentialism. It offers a dynamic of loneliness, whose spontaneous subconscious sources undercuts the unconscious of Freud and the “computerism” of the neurosciences by challenging their claims to be predictive sciences. "Mijuscovic demonstrates a psychological framework in which the self is motivated by a fear of loneliness and the desire for intimacy. The author thoroughly substantiates his perspective via a ‘History of Ideas’ format, which engages Plato’s metaphor of ‘the Battle between the Gods and the Giants,’ an allusion to the historical debate between idealists and materialists. Ultimately, these two groups and their allies attempt to address the question: can senseless matter think? The idealists, with whom Mijuscovic identifies, assert the reality of the self, reflexive self-consciousness, and the spontaneity of the mind." -Joshua Marcus Cragle, University of Amsterdam, Journal of Thought, Fall/Winter 2019 "Ben Mijuskovic continues his ambitious life project in this fifth installment of an interdisciplinary series in consciousness and loneliness within philosophical, psychological, and literary discourse. Mijuskovic possesses the unique combination of academic, clinical, and professional experience to cross the aisle between philosophers and therapists. Such a CV emboldens his argument for a return to a metaphysical argument for human consciousness culminating in intrinsic and inevitable loneliness. Embracing this universal reality is the first step to philosophical grounding and psychological wholeness. His methodology, argumentation, and conclusions tend to be highly provocative in the age of contemporary neuroscientific and pharmaceutical predominance." -Michael D. Bobo, Norco College, Philosophy in Review 40.1 (February 2020)

A surprising and intriguing examination of how scarcity—and our flawed responses to it—shapes our lives, our society, and our culture

A vibration theory has been brought out with a fusion of the doctrines of the Vedantic virbration, the Saiva vibration and modern physics. A confluence of the concepts of non-dualistic Vedanta, Kashmiri Saiva monism, cosmology, astrophysics, superstring theory, relativity theory and quantum mechanics is clearly visible in the book.

A pioneering neuroscientist reveals the reasons for chronic loneliness--which he defines an unrecognized syndrome--and brings it out of the shadow of its cousin, depression. 12 illustrations.

An entertaining and insightful homage to Tom Hanks, America's favorite movie star, from the New York Times bestselling author of the cult sensation The Tao of Bill Murray. Niceness gets a bad rap these days. Our culture rewards those who troll the hardest and who snark the most. At times it seems like there's no place anymore for optimism, integrity, and good old-fashioned respect. Enter "America's Dad": Tom Hanks. Whether he's buying espresso machines for the White House Press Corps, rewarding a jovial cab driver with a night out on Broadway, or extolling the virtues of using a typewriter, Hanks lives a passionate, joyful life and pays it forward to others. Gavin Edwards, the New York Times bestselling author of The Tao of Bill Murray, takes readers on a tour behind the scenes of Hanks's life: from his less-than-idyllic childhood, rocky first marriage, and career wipeouts to the pinnacle of his acting career and domestic bliss with the love of his life, Rita Wilson. As he did for Bill Murray, Edwards distills Hanks's life story into ten "commandments" that beautifully encapsulate his All-American philosophy. Contemplating the life, the achievements, and the obsessions of Mr. Tom Hanks may or may not give you the road map you need to find your way. But at the very least, it'll show you how niceness can be a worthy destination.