The ​undiscovered self

Paul Misraki - A ​halál utáni élet
"Ami ​engem személyesen illet, már volt lehetőségem kifejteni azokat az okokat, amiért hajlok arra, hogy a halál nem egy vég, hanem átjáró egy másik tudatállapotba. A parapszichológia terén elért áttörés különös módon egyengeti azokat az utakat, amelyek lehet, hogy már egy közelebbi jövőben, mint gondolnánk, fantasztikus felfedezésekhez vezetnek a túlélés lehetőségeinek kapcsán. Ez egy olyan jóslat, amely kalandornak tűnhet sokak előtt, kezdve magukkal a parapszichológusokkal, de fenntartom, amit mondok, hiszen a színtéren, ahová a dolgok egy ideje robognak, jelentős események történnek. Vegyük hát magunknak a fáradtságot, hogy megvizsgáljuk a kérdéseket, amelyek ezek után vetődnek fel."

Peter Boghossian - A ​Manual for Creating Atheists
For ​thousands of years, the faithful have honed proselytizing strategies and talked people into believing the truth of one holy book or another. Indeed, the faithful often view converting others as an obligation of their faith--and are trained from an early age to spread their unique brand of religion. The result is a world broken in large part by unquestioned faith. As an urgently needed counter to this tried-and-true tradition of religious evangelism, A Manual for Creating Atheists offers the first-ever guide not for talking people into faith--but for talking them out of it. Peter Boghossian draws on the tools he has developed and used for more than twenty years as a philosopher and educator to teach how to engage the faithful in conversations that will help them value reason and rationality, cast doubt on their religious beliefs, mistrust their faith, abandon superstition and irrationality, and ultimately embrace reason.

Ismeretlen szerző - Szellemi ​ösvények az új évezredben
Bagdy ​Emőke, Bodrog Miklós, Beata Bishop, László Ervin, Sue Michaelson és mások tanulmányai a harmadik évezred szellemi kihívásairól.

Thomas Metzinger - The ​Ego Tunnel
Consciousness, ​mind, brain, self: the relations among these four entities are explored by German cognitive scientist and theoretical philosopher Metzinger, who argues that, in fact, there is no such thing as a self. In prose accessible mainly to those schooled in philosophy and science, Metzinger defines the ego as the phenomenal self, which knows the world experientially as it subjectively appear[s] to you. But neuroscientific experiments have demonstrated, among other things, that the unitary sense of self is a subjective representation: for instance, one can be fooled into feeling sensations in a detached artificial arm. So the author argues that the ego is a tunnel that bores into reality and limits what you can see, hear, smell and feel. Metzinger tests his theory by ranging over events of the consciousness such as out-of-body experiences, lucid dreaming and free will, and he concludes by probing ethical actions and what a good state of consciousness would look like. Most readers will have difficulty penetrating Metzinger's ideas, and those who do will find little that is genuinely new.

Jed McKenna - Spiritually ​Incorrect Enlightenment
THE ​MARK OF A TRUE MASTER is that he can express a subject of the utmost complexity with uncanny simplicity. Jed McKenna is such a master, and spiritual enlightenment is his subject. His first book, Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing, was an instant classic and established him as a spiritual teacher of startling depth and clarity. Now, his second book, Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment, takes us on a fascinating tour of the enlightened state — what it is and what it's not, who's there and who's not, how to get there and how to get somewhere better. Delightful surprises abound, including the dramatic unveiling of perhaps the greatest spiritual masterpiece of all time — long hidden in plain view and well known to all. Whitman, Melville, Thoreau, Mark Twain and U.G. Krishnamurti all appear, and a student from the first book returns to share her Spiritual Autolysis journals. Also surprising are the author's gentle efforts to guide the reader away from enlightenment toward a more desirable and accessible state. Failing to fetch me at first, keep encouraged, Missing me one place, search another, I stop somewhere, waiting for you. — Walt Whitman — Jed McKenna's books aren't for everyone. They're for people who are tired of the spiritual merry-go-round and ready to confront the unadorned reality of the awakening process. If you like your teachers with all the spiritual trimmings and trappings, Jed may not be right for you, but when you're ready to jump off the merry-go-round and begin your journey, Jed McKenna is the guy you want to see standing there — waiting for you.

Marcelo Gleiser - The ​Prophet and the Astronomer
From ​the beginning of time people have looked to the heavens to find order in the universe and divine meaning and direction from celestial events. The same skies that used to instil fear in the ancient prophets today spawn a rich apocalyptic science for awestruck stargazers. This book explores the shared quest of prophets and astronomers to explain the strange phenomena of our skies - from the apocalypse foretold in Revelations to modern science's identification of multiple cataclysmic threats, including the impact of comets and asteroids on earthly life, the likelihood of future collisions, the meaning of the solar eclipse and the death of stars, the implications of black holes for time travel and the ultimate fate of the universe and time.

Simon-Székely Attila - Végtelen ​tudat
Dr. ​Simon-Székely Attila, pszichológus, filozófus és nyelvész, kutató és egyetemi oktató, a végtelennel kapcsolatos, interdiszciplináris - logikai, tudat-pszichológiai, nyelvészeti, matematikai és kozmológiai - kutatásait több mint 40 éve folytatja. Az általános- és biopszichológiai tudatkutatásai is, a végtelen logikájához kapcsolódnak. A szerző, a végtelen logikájának vagy tudományának - szakszóval: infinitológia -, és a struktúrák tudományának a megalkotója, valamint a tudat-biopszichológia elnevezésű diszciplína kidolgozója. Ebben a könyvében az infinitológia rejtélyeibe vezeti be az olvasót és részletesen kifejti az új tudományág lényegét. Bemutatja e tudomány sajátos eszközét, a matematikának egy új ágazatát, a kvalitatív dinamikus matematikát (KDM). Ennek része a képi logika (KL), mely egy virtuális, dinamikus, komplex, kvalitatív, könnyen érthető és jól alkalmazható, természetes modellalkotó eszköz. E képalkotó módszer segítségével, sikerült megalkotni az fk-modellt, mely a végtelen, ill. határtalan mikro- és makrorealitás teljes struktúráját bontakoztatja ki, és feltárja előttünk azt, hogy e kettő ugyanolyan szerkezetű. A könyvet, a végtelen univerzum, a parányi részecskevilág, az öntudat, valamint a "minden elmélete" iránt érdeklődők figyelmébe ajánljuk.

Rajiv Malhotra - Indra's ​Net
Defending ​Hinduisms Philosophical Unity, it is fashionable among intellectuals to assert that dharma traditions lacked any semblance of unity before the British period and that the contours of contemporary Hinduism were bequeathed to us by our colonial masters. Such arguments routinely target Swami Vivekananda, a key interlocutor who shattered many deeply rooted prejudices against Indian civilization. They accuse him of having camouflaged various alleged contradictions within traditional Hinduism and charge him with having appropriated the principles of Western religion to manufacture a coherent and unified worldview and set of practices known today as Hinduism. Indras Net: Defending Hinduisms Philosophical Unity provides a foundation for theories that slander contemporary Hinduism as illegitimate, ascribing sinister motives to its existence and characterizing its fabric as oppressive. Rajiv Malhotra offers a detailed, systematic rejoinder to such views and articulates the multidimensional, holographic understanding of reality that grounds Hindu dharma. He also argues that Vivekanandas creative interpretations of Hindu dharma informed and influenced many Western intellectual movements of the post-modern era. Indeed, as he cites with many insightful examples, appropriations from Hinduism have provided a foundation for cutting-edge discoveries in several fields, including cognitive science and neuroscience.

Joseph Chilton Pearce - The ​Crack in the Cosmic Egg
The ​classic work that shaped the thought of a generation with its powerful insights into the true nature of mind and reality. • Defines culture as a "cosmic egg" structured by the mind's drive for logical ordering of its universe. • Provides techniques allowing individuals to break through the vicious circle of logic-based systems to attain expanded ways of creative living and learning. The sum total of our notions of what the world is--and what we perceive its full potential to be--form a shell of rational thought in which we reside. This logical universe creates a vicious circle of reasoning that robs our minds of power and prevents us from reaching our true potential. To step beyond that circle requires a centering and focus that today's society assaults on every level. Through the insights of Teilhard, Tillich, Jung, Jesus, Carlos Castaneda, and others, Joseph Chilton Pearce provides a mode of thinking through which imagination can escape the mundane shell of current construct reality and leap into a new phase of human evolution. This enormously popular New Age classic is finally available again to challenge the assumptions of a new generation of readers and help them develop their potential through new creative modes of thinking. With a masterful synthesis of recent discoveries in physics, biology, and psychology, Pearce reveals the extraordinary relationship of mind and reality and nature's blueprint for a self-transcending humanity.

Jacob Needleman - A ​Sense of the Cosmos
"With ​this one compact statement, Jacob Needleman has forced the discussion of both science and religion in our time into a new, more mature and discriminating phase. . . . It is a way station where those who are seriously exploring the transformation of consciousness will have to stop, take thought, and perhaps re-plot their course."—Theodore Roszak "I want to strongly recommend it to every reader seriously interested in our present cultural situation."—Fritjof Capra "Needleman is unique; he is really on to something. . . . A fine book"—Harvey Cox Western science has operated for centuries on the assumption that we can understand the universe without understanding ourselves. We are just now seeking to make the necessary connection between the general laws of nature to those of our own (inner) nature. But the job won’t be done with "massive injections of the new consciousness"; we cannot democratize the sacred by cheapening its demands. "My aim in this book therefore" says Needleman, "has not been to speak of the convergence of science and spirituality, but of their separation. As in nature itself, organic unity is a reciprocal relationship between separate but interdependent entities. In human life as well, there can be no real unity except through the awareness of real divisions. One may then hope to experience the magic power of sustained awareness by itself to bring the harmony that we have until now fruitlessly attempted to impose on ourselves and on our endangered civilization." Jacob Needleman is a professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University and the author of many books, including Money and the Meaning of Life, and The American Soul. In addition to his teaching and writing, he serves as a consultant in the fields of psychology, education, medical ethics, philanthropy, and business, and has been featured on Bill Moyers’s acclaimed PBS series A World of Ideas.

Rick Strassman - DMT: ​The Spirit Molecule
A ​clinical psychiatrist explores the effects of DMT: A behind-the-scenes look at the cutting edge of psychedelic research. From 1990-95 Dr Rick Strassman conducted US Government-approved & funded clinical research at the Univ. of NM. He injected 60 volunteers with DMT, a powerful psychedelic. His detailed account of those sessions is an inquiry into the nature of the mind & the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. DMT, a plant-derived chemical found in the psychedelic Amazon brew, ayahuasca, is also manufactured in the brain. It consistently produced near-death & mystical experiences. Many reported convincing encounters with intelligent nonhumans. Nearly all felt that the sessions were among the most profound experiences of their lives. This research connects DMT with the pineal gland, considered by Hindus as the 7th chakra & by Rene Descartes as the seat of the soul. DMT: The Spirit Molecule makes the case that DMT, naturally released by the pineal gland, facilitates psychic movement in & out of the body & is an integral part of birth & death experiences, as well as the highest states of meditation & sexual transcendence. Strassman also believes "alien abduction experiences" may be brought on by accidental releases of DMT. DMT research may trigger a period of progress in the scientific exploration of the mind's potentials.

Erich Fromm - The ​Dogma of Christ
When ​he was 26, the great psychoanalyst and philosopher Erich Fromm abandoned Judaism, though he himself was descended from a long line of rabbis and the product of a devout Jewish upbringing. The title essay of this collection was first published in 1930, just four years after he made that first, decisive split. It was to point towards the future Fromm's work, presenting the view that an understanding of basic human needs is essential to the understanding of society and mankind itself. The following essays too, show a man who would eventually establish himself as a major thinker, producing some of that era's most influential and astute political works.

Raymond Avery Moody - Nuove ​ipotesi sulla vita oltre la vita
La ​vita continua dopo la morte? In quale forma? Raymond A. Moody prosegue l'affascinante viaggio iniziato con La vita oltre la vita, offrendoci ulteriori elementi e nuove testimonianze di persone che dopo aver "vissuto" la morte tornano fra noi. Una grande avventura all'incrocio tra scienza, religione e filosofia, che ci fa riflettere sul nostro destino.

Joshua Greene - Moral ​Tribes
Our ​brains were designed for tribal life, for getting along with a select group of others (Us) and for fighting off everyone else (Them). But modern times have forced the world’s tribes into a shared space, resulting in epic clashes of values along with unprecedented opportunities. As the world shrinks, the moral lines that divide us become more salient and more puzzling. We fight over everything from tax codes to gay marriage to global warming, and we wonder where, if at all, we can find our common ground. A grand synthesis of neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy, Moral Tribes reveals the underlying causes of modern conflict and lights the way forward. Greene compares the human brain to a dual-mode camera, with point-and-shoot automatic settings (“portrait,” “landscape”) as well as a manual mode. Our point-and-shoot settings are our emotions—efficient, automated programs honed by evolution, culture, and personal experience. The brain’s manual mode is its capacity for deliberate reasoning, which makes our thinking flexible. Point-and-shoot emotions make us social animals, turning Me into Us. But they also make us tribal animals, turning Us against Them. Our tribal emotions make us fight—sometimes with bombs, sometimes with words—often with life-and-death stakes. An award-winning teacher and scientist, Greene directs Harvard University’s Moral Cognition Lab, which uses cutting-edge neuroscience and cognitive techniques to understand how people really make moral decisions. Combining insights from the lab with lessons from decades of social science and centuries of philosophy, the great question of Moral Tribes is this: How can we get along with Them when what they want feels so wrong to Us? Ultimately, Greene offers a set of maxims for navigating the modern moral terrain, a practical road map for solving problems and living better lives. Moral Tribes shows us when to trust our instincts, when to reason, and how the right kind of reasoning can move us forward. A major achievement from a rising star in a new scientific field, Moral Tribes will refashion your deepest beliefs about how moral thinking works and how it can work better.

Julian Baggini - The ​Ego Trick
A ​riveting and profound exploration of what the 'self' actually is, by Britain's best-loved popular philosopher. Are you still the person who lived 15, 10 or five years ago? 15, 10 or five minutes ago? Can you plan for your retirement if the you of 30 years hence is in some sense a different person? What and who is the real you? Does it remain constant over time and place, or is it something much more fragmented and fluid? Is it known to you, or are you as much a mystery to yourself as others are to you?With his usual wit,infectious curiosity and bracing scepticism, Julian Baggini sets out to answer these fundamental and unsettling questions.His fascinating quest draws on the history of philosophy, but also anthropology, sociology, psychology and neurology;he talks to theologians, priests, allegedly reincarnated Lamas , and delves into real-life cases of lost memory, personality disorders and personal transformation; and, candidly and engagingly, he describes his own experiences.After reading The Ego Trick, you will never see yourself in the same way again.

Lysa TerKeurst - The ​Best Yes
Are ​you living with the stress of an overwhelmed schedule and aching with the sadness of an underwhelmed soul? Lysa TerKeurst is learning that there is a big difference between saying yes to everyone and saying yes to God. In The Best Yes she will help you • Cure the disease to please with a biblical understanding of the command to love. • Escape the guilt of disappointing others by learning the secret of the small no. • Overcome the agony of hard choices by embracing a wisdom based decision-making process. • Rise above the rush of endless demands and discover your best yes today.

Héjjas István - Buddha ​és a részecskegyorsító
„Itt ​láthatják a táblán a nevezetes Schrödinger-féle hullámegyenletet. Ezt az egyenletet Önök persze nem értik. Én sem értem. Schrödinger úr sem értette, de ez ne zavarja Önöket. Én ezt majd minden óra elején felírom a táblára, és elmagyarázom, mire lehet használni. Önök pedig majd lassan hozzászoknak.” Marx György, egyetemi tanár egyik előadásának kezdete. A XX. század beköszöntével a reál és humán tudományok terén egyaránt megdőlni látszott az addig elfogadott világkép. A relativitáselmélet gyökeresen átalakította a térről, az időről, az anyagról és az energiáról alkotott fogalmainkat. A kvantumfizika megdöntötte az oksági kapcsolatok sérthetetlenségét. A mélylélektan pedig kimutatta, hogy az emberi cselekvések mozgató rúgója többnyire nem a racionális gondolkodás, hanem a tudattalan. Ezek a felismerések szinte sokkolták a nyugati embert, s a modern tudományos eredményeket a mai napig sem volt képes teljesen megemészteni a közgondolkodás. S mit szóltak mindehhez a távol-keleti országok lakói, az indiaiak, a kínaiak vagy a japánok? Legfeljebb azt kérdezték: mi ebben az új? Hiszen ők mindezt már több ezer éve tudták. De honnan tudhatták azt, amit a modern tudomány éppen felfedezett? És ha valóban tudták, miért nem akarták felhasználni ezt a tudást hétköznapi, materiális célokra, mondjuk, profitszerzésre, többlettermelésre, a mindennapi élet kényelmesebbé tételére? Bár ez a könyv nem tud felelni minden, idevágó kérdésre, sejteni engedi a lehetséges válaszokat. Szabatos, egyszerű és közérthető megfogalmazásban adja közre felvillanyozó téziseit, miközben a tudomány legmagasabb szintjén is teljességgel helytálló. Minden benne rejlő szónak súlya van, mégis olvasmányos, tele van izgalmas példákkal, történetekkel, amelyek képszerűvé és egyértelművé teszik a mondanivalót. Miközben lexikális jellegű ismereteket is közöl, magával ragadó, sodró lendületű gondolatmenetén átsüt a spiritualitás. A kötet amolyan BEAVATÓ MŰ: a világ működésének rejtelmeibe avat be minden tanulni vágyót. Hogy a valóság – mélyebb szinten – miért éppen úgy működik, ahogyan az a könyvből kiderül, ugyanolyan érthetetlen, mint a hullámegyenlet. Ha azonban újra meg újra elgondolkodunk rajta, lassan hozzászokhatunk…

Alan Watts - Eastern ​Wisdom, Modern Life
Alan ​Watts introduced millions of Western readers to Zen and other Eastern philosophies, but he’s also recognized as a brilliant commentator on Judeo-Christian traditions as well as a celebrity philosopher who exemplified the ideas — and lifestyle — of the 1960s counterculture. In this compilation of controversial lectures, delivered at American universities throughout the decade, Watts challenges readers to reevaluate Western culture’s most hallowed constructs. Watts treads familiar ground, interpreting Eastern traditions, and also covers new territory, exploring the counterculture’s basis in the ancient tribal and shamanic cultures of Asia, Siberia, and the Americas. In the process, he addresses some of the era’s most important questions: What is the nature of reality? And how does an individual’s relationship to society affect this reality? Filled with his playful, provocative style, the talks show the remarkable scope of a philosopher in his prime, exploring and defining the '60s counterculture as only Alan Watts could.

Ismeretlen szerző - The ​Psychology of Awakening
The ​Buddhist view of the mind - how it works, how it goes wrong, how to put it right - is increasingly being recognised as profound and highly practical by scientists, counsellors and other professionals. In The Psychology of Awakening, this powerful vision of human nature, and its implications for personal and social life, are for the first time brought to a wider audience by some of those most influential in exploring its potential for the way we live today. These include: David Brazier Jon Kabat Zinn Francisco Varela Joy Manne Geshe Thubten Jinpa Mark Epstein Gay Watson Maura Sills Guy Claxton Stephen Batchelor Deeply relevant, accessible and authoritative, The Psychology of Awakening will be of interest to all those who wish to understand the workings of their minds a little better and who are also seeking new ways of mastering the challenges - personal, professional and cultural with which modern life confronts us all.

Daniel J. Levitin - The ​Organized Mind
New ​York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin shifts his keen insights from your brain on music to your brain in a sea of details. The information age is drowning us with an unprecedented deluge of data. At the same time, we’re expected to make more—and faster—decisions about our lives than ever before. No wonder, then, that the average American reports frequently losing car keys or reading glasses, missing appointments, and feeling worn out by the effort required just to keep up. But somehow some people become quite accomplished at managing information flow. In The Organized Mind, Daniel J. Levitin, PhD, uses the latest brain science to demonstrate how those people excel—and how readers can use their methods to regain a sense of mastery over the way they organize their homes, workplaces, and time. With lively, entertaining chapters on everything from the kitchen junk drawer to health care to executive office workflow, Levitin reveals how new research into the cognitive neuroscience of attention and memory can be applied to the challenges of our daily lives. This Is Your Brain on Music showed how to better play and appreciate music through an understanding of how the brain works. The Organized Mind shows how to navigate the churning flood of information in the twenty-first century with the same neuroscientific perspective.