Is Yoda a Zen Master? Is the story of Luke Skywalker a spiritual epic? The answers, as well as excitement, adventure, and a lot of fun, are here! This revised and expanded edition of The Dharma of Star Wars uses George Lucas’ beloved modern saga and the wise words of the Buddha to illuminate each other in playful and unexpectedly rewarding ways. Matthew Bortolin writes an inspiring and totally new take on this timeless saga, from A New Hope through Revenge of the Sith and television's Clone Wars. Great fun for any Star Wars fan. Includes instruction in The Jedi Art of Mindfulness and Concentration and The Padawan Handbook: Zen Contemplations for the Would-Be Jedi.
Shine from Within is exactly what teenage girls are looking for to help them navigate their teens with a positive, fresh take on self image and overall wellbeing. Amanda Rootsey brings a wealth of experience from her own teenage years and from her work mentoring teenage girls. This book is fun and relatable. If you’ve been looking for an inspirational gift for your daughters, grand-daughters, nieces, or a special teen girl, Shine From Within is the perfect choice. Every teenager deserves to be validated, accepted and to have strong self-esteem to ensure they build positive, healthy relationships with their peers, family and friends. This book is packed full of practical advice. It includes: * Steps to gain more self-confidence * Fun, inspiring breakout quotes * Relatable mini-stories from real teens * Tips for job interviews * Self-care tips using eco-friendly, natural ingredients * Fashion advice for every body shape * Etiquette for different social situations Shine From Within will help any teenager to navigate through these years with confidence and joy.
Are you wrestling with questions surrounding your gender that just don’t seem to go away? Do you want answers to questions about your gender identity, but aren’t sure how to get started? In this groundbreaking guide, Dara Hoffman-Fox, LPC—accomplished gender therapist and thought leader whose articles, blogs, and videos have empowered thousands worldwide—helps you navigate your journey of self-discovery in three approachable stages: preparation, reflection, and exploration. In You and Your Gender Identity, you will learn: Why understanding your gender identity is core to embracing your full being How to sustain the highs and lows of your journey with resources, connection, and self-care How to uncover and move through your feelings of fear, loneliness, and doubt Why it’s important to examine your past through the lens of gender exploration How to discover and begin living as your authentic self What options you have after making your discoveries about your gender identity
Based upon the diary of a third-grade class of Japanese-American children being held with their families in an internment camp during World War II, The Children of Topaz gives a detailed portrait of daily life in the camps where Japanese-Americans were taken during the war. There are many primary source documents including the children’s drawings, maps of the camp, and photographs depicting the harsh, wartime attitudes toward these families.
This book relays factual details of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 through multiple accounts of the event. Readers learn details through the point of view of a U.S. Soldier at Pearl Harbor, a Japanese military commander, and a Hawaiian worker near the military base. This book offers opportunities to compare and contrast various narrative perspectives in the text while gathering and analyzing information about an historical event.
Take comfort in knowing that God hears you. The story of Hannah in 1 Samuel tells of one woman’s personal heartache and trust in the One who could fulfill her desires. She poured her heart out to God, and He heard her. The Our Daily Bread devotions selected for this collection reassure you that God is with you, God is for you, and God hears you. The personal stories and Scripture passages lift you up and remind you that God is bigger than the trials you face.
A self-help guide to understanding the language of archetypal symbols and harnessing them for personal success. Deep within your mind is a realm filled with powerful symbols that drive your thoughts, behaviors, and actions—often without your knowledge. This is the hidden world of “archetypes”: universal symbols responsible for who you are, how the world sees you, and what you believe about yourself and your life’s purpose. The Power of Archetypes will help you identify, understand, and work with the archetypes that exist beyond your conscious awareness to create your reality “behind the scenes.” You will also learn how to clear out old symbols that may be blocking you from the happiness and success you dream of. You will examine: • The roles of the subconscious and collective unconscious in shaping your identity, and why it is so hard to change “you” • The most common archetypes and what they symbolize • Global archetypes in religion, politics, and pop culture, and how they affect you • Ways to identify archetypes working in your life and the skills to change them and become more authentic. Archetypes reveal your plot and your purpose. The good news is, if you don’t like them, you can choose more empowering symbols to create a completely new story of your life.
"Theodicy" is a book of philosophy by the German polymath Gottfried Leibniz published in 1710, whose optimistic approach to the problem of evil is thought to have inspired Voltaire's "Candide". Much of the work consists of a response to the ideas of the French philosopher Pierre Bayle, with whom Leibniz carried on a debate for many years. The "Theodicy" tries to justify the apparent imperfections of the world by claiming that it is optimal among all possible worlds. It must be the best possible and most balanced world, because it was created by an all powerful and all knowing God, who would not choose to create an imperfect world if a better world could be known to him or possible to exist. In effect, apparent flaws that can be identified in this world must exist in every possible world, because otherwise God would have chosen to create the world that excluded those flaws. Leibniz distinguishes three forms of evil: moral, physical, and metaphysical. Moral evil is sin, physical evil is pain, and metaphysical evil is limitation. God permits moral and physical evil for the sake of greater goods, and metaphysical evil is unavoidable since any created universe must necessarily fall short of God's absolute perfection.
Manga and anime (illustrated serial novels and animated films) are highly influential Japanese entertainment media that boast tremendous domestic consumption as well as worldwide distribution and an international audience. Drawing on Tradition examines religious aspects of the culture of manga and anime production and consumption through a methodological synthesis of narrative and visual analysis, history, and ethnography. Rather than merely describing the incidence of religions such as Buddhism or Shinto in these media, Jolyon Baraka Thomas shows that authors and audiences create and re-create “religious frames of mind” through their imaginative and ritualized interactions with illustrated worlds. Manga and anime therefore not only contribute to familiarity with traditional religious doctrines and imagery, but also allow authors, directors, and audiences to modify and elaborate upon such traditional tropes, sometimes creating hitherto unforeseen religious ideas and practices. The book takes play seriously by highlighting these recursive relationships between recreation and religion, emphasizing throughout the double sense of play as entertainment and play as adulteration (i.e., the whimsical or parodic representation of religious figures, doctrines, and imagery). Building on recent developments in academic studies of manga and anime—as well as on recent advances in the study of religion as related to art and film—Thomas demonstrates that the specific aesthetic qualities and industrial dispositions of manga and anime invite practices of rendition and reception that can and do influence the ways that religious institutions and lay authors have attempted to captivate new audiences. Drawing on Tradition will appeal to both the dilettante and the specialist: Fans and self-professed otaku will find an engaging academic perspective on often overlooked facets of the media and culture of manga and anime, while scholars and students of religion will discover a fresh approach to the complicated relationships between religion and visual media, religion and quotidian practice, and the putative differences between “traditional” and “new” religions.
