Paradoxes of Peace continues the meditation of Mosley's Time at War, at the end of which he wrote that humans find themselves at home in war because they feel they know what they have to do, whereas in peace they have to discover this. But what should inform them--custom? need? duty? ambition? desire? Forces pull in different directions--fidelity versus adventurousness, probity versus fun. During the war, Mosley found himself having to combine fondness for his father, Oswald Mosley, with the need to speak out against his post-war politics. In times of peace, his love for his wife and children, too, seemed riddled with paradoxes. He sought answers in Christianity, but came to see organized religion as primarily a social institution. How does caring not become a trap?
History reveals countless attempts by great minds to solve life’s paradoxes. But what if these attempts miss the point? What if paradox is life? Contrary to the supposedly sublime linear logic that underpins our prevalent modes of theoretical and empirical enquiry, in this fascinating book, organizational anthropologist Tom Vine charts the pervasiveness of paradox across the academy: from arithmetic to zoology. In so doing, he reflects on the concept of paradox as a widespread existential ‘pattern’, a pattern which holds significant metatheoretical and pedagogical potential. Paradoxes, he argues, are not inconveniences or ‘fault lines in our common-sense world’ but are coded into our very existence. Paradoxes thus present their own vital logics that shape our lives: they thwart moral and ideological uniformity; they even out subjective experience between ‘the haves’ and ‘the have nots’; and they shed light on the opaque concepts of consciousness and agency. This book will appeal to anybody with a curious mind, particularly scholars and students with an interest in one or more of the following: complexity theory, critical pedagogies, ethnography, nonlinear dynamics, organization theory, and systems theory.
In a universe where the boundaries of time and space are no longer unyielding barriers, the cosmos extends beyond the limits of human imagination, revealing a multiverse that encompasses an infinity of realities. The concept of a single timeline gives way to a vast, interconnected web of alternate universes, each shaped by the choices, actions, and mere existence of countless beings. This ever-evolving dance of creation and destruction is bound together by a delicate balance that holds the fabric of reality together, an intricate interplay of forces that allows life to flourish in a myriad of forms and manifestations. "The Infinity Paradox" is a tale of adventure, discovery, and sacrifice, exploring the journey of a brilliant scientist, Dr. Isabella Reyes, who inadvertently finds herself entangled in the infinite possibilities of the multiverse. Through her groundbreaking work in the field of time travel, Isabella unwittingly opens a doorway to a cosmic web of parallel universes, each a unique reflection of the choices and actions of their inhabitants. As she navigates the boundless realms of existence, Isabella is confronted with the consequences of her actions, forced to question her own morals, values, and the responsibilities that come with the knowledge she has uncovered. Along her journey, she encounters alternate versions of herself, lost travelers, and tormented souls, each of whom provide her with invaluable insights, wisdom, and a deeper understanding of her own character and the true nature of the multiverse. "The Infinity Paradox" is a story of self-discovery, courage, and the enduring power of hope, empathy, and compassion. As Isabella explores the cosmic web and seeks to restore balance to the multiverse, she uncovers the profound impact that a single individual can have on the fate of countless lives and realities. Through her experiences, she learns that the true measure of her success lies not in the pursuit of scientific achievement, but in the connections she forms and the lives she touches along the way. In this sweeping narrative, we are invited to join Isabella on her journey through the infinity paradox, to venture alongside her into the endless expanse of the multiverse and to bear witness to the transformative power of hope, empathy, and compassion. As we delve into the infinite possibilities that await her, we are reminded of the boundless potential for growth, change, and the indomitable spirit of life that exists within us all. Embark on this thrilling adventure through the cosmic web and explore the depths of the human spirit, as we follow Dr. Isabella Reyes on her quest to unravel the mysteries of the multiverse, to restore balance to the delicate fabric of reality, and to discover the true meaning of courage, sacrifice, and self-discovery in the process. The infinity paradox awaits.
Returning to London from a trip to the West Indies, an aspiring writer encounters a bewitching trio of friends whose magic lies in their ability to turn any situation into fantasy. Previously out of place in the world, the narrator falls in love with the young brother-sister pair of Peter and Annabelle, as well as the older, more political Marius. Reality soon encroaches upon the foursome, however, in the form of Marius's ailing wife, forcing the narrator to confront the dark emptiness and fear at the heart of his friends' joie de vivre. In this, his second novel—written in the '50s and never before published—Nicholas Mosley weighs questions of responsibility and sacrifice against those of love and earthly desire, the spirit versus the flesh.
This book focuses on the tensions between processes of consciousness and their products like worldviews, theories, models of thought etc. Staying close to their technical meanings in chaos and catastrophe theory, chaotic processes are described in mainly neurobiological and evolutionary terms while products are delineated in their evolutionary logic. Given both a relative opacity of processes of the mind and of the outside world, the dramatic quality of the processes, a certain closeness to ‘hysterical’ and ‘schizophrenic’ tendencies and, within the context of the weakening orientating power of worldviews, an alarming catastrophic potential emerge. As a consequence, the book aims at a comparative cost-benefit analysis of the transitionality between ‘chaotic’ processes of consciousness and the often ‘catastrophic’ implications of their products within historical frameworks. The central thesis consists in the increasing failure in the orientation of action which cannot be contained by systems of ethics. Materials for this analysis are mainly drawn from texts normally called literary in which the tension between biographical and historical dimensions provides profiles of chaos and catastrophe.
"God is said to have given humans freedom. Yet in the story of Genesis, God is a punishing father figure. Why have humans portrayed him this way? Here, a contemporary writer named Adam imagines God behaving as a good father should, seeing it is time for his children to leave home. Adam writes an account of this, and the story of his own child, Sophie, and his relationship with her. The scene moves from London to New York to Israel to Iran and Iraq. And might not God as well as Adam have a wife to take up the cause if things go wrong?"--BOOK JACKET.
Ian Stewart considers the concept of infinity and the profound role it plays in mathematics, logic, physics, cosmology, and philosophy. He shows that working with infinity is not just an abstract, intellectual exercise, and analyses its important practical everyday applications.
This book is an exploration of philosophical questions about infinity. Graham Oppy examines how the infinite lurks everywhere, both in science and in our ordinary thoughts about the world. He also analyses the many puzzles and paradoxes that follow in the train of the infinite. Even simple notions, such as counting, adding and maximising present serious difficulties. Other topics examined include the nature of space and time, infinities in physical science, infinities in theories of probability and decision, the nature of part/whole relations, mathematical theories of the infinite, and infinite regression and principles of sufficient reason.
The Presence of the Infinite sheds new light on the important subject of spiritual experience. Using the emerging insights of evolutionary spirituality, integral philosopher Steve McIntosh enlarges readers’ capacity to have spiritual experience more abundantly and use it more effectively to improve their lives and the world around them. The Presence of the Infinite starts by providing a timely cultural analysis and critique of the various forms of spirituality that are vying for influence in contemporary American society. Building on this context, McIntosh shows how evolutionary spirituality overcomes the limitations of religious, secular, and New Age spirituality by better harmonizing science and spirit. Evolutionary spirituality’s transcendent potential is found in its deepening realization of the essentially spiritual qualities of beauty, truth, and goodness. McIntosh then uses evolutionary spirituality’s enlarged understanding of what spiritual experience is and how it works to consider the question of ultimate reality. This leads to an examination of conflicting ideas that regard spirit as either formless and nondual, or as loving and creative. By working to harmonize and integrate these alternative conceptions of ultimate reality, McIntosh shows how evolutionary spirituality can achieve a synthesis of nondual and theistic teachings of truth that can produce a spiritual renaissance in America and beyond. The Presence of the Infinite is destined to become a definitive text in the exciting new field of evolutionary spirituality.
This book argues that all truths systems include paradoxes. Paradoxes, such as found in the sciences, philosophy and religion offer themselves as mutually shared partners in a dialogue of arguably incommensurable truths on the basis of their underlying truth. Paradoxes leap beyond the epistemic border of individual truth claims. A dialogue of truths, grounded in paradox, reaches before, and at the same time past singular truths. A paradox-based dialogue of truths elevates the communication of disciplines, such as the sciences and religion, to a meta-discourse level from which differences are not perceived as obstacles for dialogue but as complementary aspects of a deeper and fuller truth in which all truths are grounded.
