The New York Times bestseller – a “crystal-clear, constantly engaging” (Jared Diamond) exploration of the role that religious belief plays in our lives and our interactions For all the thousands of books that have been written about religion, few until this one have attempted to examine it scientifically: to ask why—and how—it has shaped so many lives so strongly. Is religion a product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Is it truly the best way to live a moral life? Ranging through biology, history, and psychology, Daniel C. Dennett charts religion’s evolution from “wild” folk belief to “domesticated” dogma. Not an antireligious screed but an unblinking look beneath the veil of orthodoxy, Breaking the Spell will be read and debated by believers and skeptics alike.
Breaking the Spell: An Exploration of Human Perception examines how people have become largely disconnected from a living, energetic universe through social conditioning. Over generations humanity has lost much of its creative spirit, imagination, and perceptual faculties. In this book the author addresses how we should 'break the spell' of our conditioned perceptions and learn to manage and develop our emotional, mental, and physical energies. Through such chapters as Managing One's Energy, Being Vigilant, and Stepping Away, the author explains in very simple language the necessity for each person to regain their focus, inner calm, and to observe the chaotic impacts that surround them. The author also discusses how a person can refine their perceptions through inner intent. The book also contains an inspiring collection of thoughts; and an Appendix on the misunderstandings of modern day spirituality. In these distracting times it is imperative that each person learns to empower themselves by learning to harness and develop their personal energies. This timely book explains just how to 'break the spell' of our hypnotic world. , ,
Breaking the Spell offers the first full-length study that charts the historical trajectory of anarchist-inflected video activism from the late 1960s to the present. Two predominant trends emerge from this social movement-based video activism: 1) anarchist-inflected processes increasingly structure its production, distribution, and exhibition practices; and 2) video does not simply represent collective actions and events, but also serves as a form of activist practice in and of itself from the moment of recording to its later distribution and exhibition. Video plays an increasingly important role among activists in the growing global resistance against neoliberal capitalism. As various radical theorists have pointed out, subjectivity itself becomes a key terrain of struggle as capitalism increasingly structures and mines it through social media sites, cell phone technology, and new “flexible” work and living patterns. As a result, alternative media production becomes a central location where new collective forms of subjectivity can be created to challenge aspects of neoliberalism. Chris Robé’s book fills in historical gaps by bringing to light unexplored video activist groups like the Cascadia Forest Defenders, eco-video activists from Eugene, Oregon; Mobile Voices, Latino day laborers harnessing cell phone technology to combat racism and police harassment in Los Angeles; and Outta Your Backpack Media, indigenous youth from the Southwest who use video to celebrate their culture and fight against marginalization. This groundbreaking study also deepens our understanding of more well-researched movements like AIDS video activism, Paper Tiger Television, and Indymedia by situating them within a longer history and wider context of radical video activism.
Equally moving and disturbing, this book chronicles the rise and fall of the religion Rajneeshism and the Rolls Royce guru, and Jane's part in the events that led to its collapse.
This text explores, in both historical and critical contexts, the evolution of folk tales and fairy tales, their influence on popular beliefs, the politics behind them and their incorporation in mass media culture today. It focuses particularly on socio-historical forces which have changed the function of fairy tales since the 1700s.
Capitalist Sorcery neither sets out a new political programme nor offers a new theory. Rather, it aims to encourage all those who are resistant to resignation and inertia, whose stories of partial successes must be told, celebrated and shared.
From national bestselling author Lisa Shearin comes a new chapter in "one of the best fantasy series currently on the market." (Night Owl Reviews) My name is Raine Benares—and it sucks to be me right now. I’m a seeker who found the Saghred, a soul-stealing stone that gave me unlimited powers I never wanted. Now I’ve lost the rock—and the magic it gave me—to a goblin dark mage whose main goals are my death and world domination. This is more than incentive enough for a little trip to the goblin capital of Regor with a small band of good friends, not-so-good friends, and one outright enemy. Don’t ask. All we need to do is destroy the Saghred, kill the mage, and put a renegade goblin prince on the throne. Did I mention I’ll be doing that with no magic?
2nd. corrected edition, August 2015! In 1941, British Intelligence analysts cracked the German "Enigma" code. This undermined the German war effort - but also threw new light on day-by-day events in the Nazi concentration camp system. In 1942, radio communications between those camps and the Berlin headquarters were intercepted and decrypted. Historians have largely ignored the information furnished in these intercepts relating to "arrivals," "departures," recorded deaths and other events at these camps. The only explanation for this embarrassing omission is that the intercepted data seriously contradicts, even refutes, the orthodox "Holocaust" narrative. The revealed information does not expose a program of mass murder and racial genocide. Quite the opposite: it reveals that the Germans were determined, desperate even, to reduce the death rate in their work camps, which was caused by catastrophic typhus epidemics. Were the British here hoodwinked by the Nazis, as some historians to this day try to claim-or is the truth both simpler and more shocking? In 1988 and 1991 forensic studies threw light on the question of whether the claimed gas chambers at Auschwitz had served as slaughter houses for hundreds of thousands of people. Both studies concluded that the only facilities where Zyklon B gas had been used were hygienic rather than homicidal, killing bugs rather than Jews. Needless to say that these iconoclastic studies were ignored or in some countries even outlawed, and that their authors were ostracized and even imprisoned. Dr. Kollerstrom, a science historian, has taken these studies, which are in obvious, stark contrast to the widely accepted narrative, as a starting point for his own endeavour into the land of taboo. After he had published a brief paper summarizing what he thought the data forced him to conclude, he was thrown out of his College where he had been a member of staff for eleven years. In his new book Breaking the Spell, Dr. Kollerstrom shows that "witness statements" supporting the human gas chamber narrative clearly clash with the available scientific data. He juxtaposes the commonly accepted ideas about a Nazi extermination policy toward the Jews with a wide array of mostly unchallenged, but usually unmentioned evidence pointing in a quite different direction, for instance: Zyklon B is a buzz word for the claimed Nazi mass murder, but non-anecdotal evidence proves that this chemical was only used as a pesticide to improve the inmates' health and reduce, not increase, camp mortality. Zyklon B applied in delousing chambers formed chemical compounds detectable to this day. No such compounds can be found, but ought to be expected, in the claimed homicidal gas chambers. The UK's intelligence decrypts prove that the German camp authorities were desperately trying to save their inmates' lives. "Six Million Jews threatened or killed" read 167 quotes from newspapers with that "news" spanning from 1900 to 1945, with a peak after World War ONE! Yes, one, not two! Germany has paid compensation to millions of Nazi victims, and Israel has implicitly admitted that many million Jews survived the Holocaust. A British archaeological team looked for traces of the claimed 800,000 victims of the Treblinka camp-and came back empty-handed. Dr. Kollerstrom concludes that the history of the Nazi "Holocaust" has been written by the victors with ulterior motives and that this history is distorted, exaggerated and largely wrong. He asserts that this history is, in truth, a great lie that distorts our common perceived reality and misdirects human history to this very day. With a foreword by Prof. em. Dr. James H. Fetzer; contains a bibliography and an index.
"In the tradition of bestselling explainers like The Tipping Point, [this] book [is] based on cutting edge science that breaks down the idea of extreme conflict--the kind that paralyzes people and places--and then shows how to escape it"--
A psychologist and bestselling author redefines love and sex addiction as a spectrum disorder, and offers a new approach for healing. For anyone who has wondered Why does everyone else seem to be able to make romantic relationships work, and I can’t? What’s wrong with me? Why is love so hard? Psychologist and bestselling memoirist Kerry Cohen is all too familiar with the questions she often hears from her clients—and has asked herself. Even though sex and love are some of the most universal, sought-after experiences we have, many of us lack the tools and understanding to approach them in a healthy way. Without knowing it, many people struggling with sex and love actually fall somewhere on the spectrum of sex and love addiction (SLA). Sex and love addiction is still wildly misunderstood. It’s shrouded in secrecy and shame, and many counselors lack the training to address it—leaving people who need help without resources. Yet SLA isn’t a binary of you are or you aren’t, rather, it’s a spectrum. Kerry Cohen knows this all too well as both a therapist and someone who identifies on the SLA spectrum. Based on research and her own clinical experience, Crazy for You dives into SLA and provides an inclusive framework for understanding relationships, along with practical exercises and advice for self-assessment, discovery, and healing: Part one explains the sex and love addiction spectrum, helping you determine where you fall on it and how you got there Part two introduces strategies for breaking the spell of sex and love addiction, like behavior modifications and self-awareness techniques Part three teaches you how to navigate healthy, safe, and fulfilling relationships