An eight-time national chess champion and world champion martial artist shares the lessons he has learned from two very different competitive arenas, identifying key principles about learning and performance that readers can apply to their life goals. Reprint. 35,000 first printing.
Our worldview determines our perception of reality and thus shapes our attitude to life and the way we live. If our worldview adequately reflects reality, we can lead an authentic and meaningful life that we will later look back on with satisfaction. A mature worldview is much more than the accumulation of facts and experiences. Whereas in the past there was primarily a lack of scientific insight, today it is above all the immense flood of information and opinions that obscures our view of essential knowledge. It is therefore not surprising that people's views sometimes differ considerably with regard to fundamental questions of life. The thesis of this book is that in this age it is possible for the first time to obtain objectively convincing answers to the great philosophical questions of life. However, for this we have to draw on two equal sources of knowledge, which in the last centuries were rather regarded as adversaries: science and religion. In their respective updated forms, they are the key to separating truth from error and to assembling various worldview fragments into a coherent overall picture. If science and faith pull together in a mature way, great insights and undreamt-of connections open up. This book provides an easy-to-read, albeit quite comprehensive, introduction to the profound principle of the unity of science and religion. After examining what distinguishes modern science and true faith, it explains how both areas of knowledge are interrelated by their very nature and work constructively together. Building on this methodological foundation, essential philosophical concepts are explained in the light of current scientific and religious knowledge, which should not be missing as necessary pillars in any mature worldview.
In this book, W. Thomas Schmid demonstrates that the Charmides—a platonic dialogue seldom referenced in contemporary studies—is a microcosm of Socratic philosophy. He explores the treatment of the Socratic dialectic, the relation between it and the Socratic notion of self-knowledge, the Socratic ideal of rationality and self-restraint, the norm of holistic and moral health, the interpretation of the soul as the rational self, the Socratic attitude toward democracy, and the connections between dialectic autonomy and moral community. Schmid argues that the depiction and account of sophrosune—human moderation—in the Charmides adumbrates Plato's vision of the life of critical reason, and of its uneasy relation to political life in the ancient city. Schmid's methodological approach to the Charmides supposes that a far-reaching and intimate relationship exists between the drama and the argument, the logos and ergon, of the dialogue. He argues that the contrast between the surface level of meaning and the depth level is essential to the Platonic art of philosophical writing, and to the pervasive role of irony in that writing, and he shows in detail how this contrast functions in the Charmides.
"In Can Virtue Make Us Happy? The Art of Living and Morality, Otfried Hoffe, one of Europe's best-known philosophers, offers a far-reaching and foundational work in philosophical ethics." "Hoffe uses clear, accessible language to present common understandings of "happiness" and "freedom" while illuminating the blind alleys in the history of philosophy. What has priority: good ends or right action? Is freedom always anarchy? Is it possible to think of a freedom enhanced by morality? Is "morality" merely a euphemism for stupidity? Does humanity have a good or a bad character? Is there such a thing as evil? Hoffe offers no simple formulas but provides enlightened philosophical reflection to fuel the reader's own examination of these questions." --Book Jacket.
The Chess Master started as a challenge to the authors son to write a book about his passion - the game of chess. The challenge then became her challenge - to deliver a message about our need to surrender to what God knows is best for us. This book gives a unique comparison of the game of chess to real life. Each piece on the chessboard mirrors our lives as relates to our Mothers, Fathers, our homes, the church, ourselves as workers and our Protector. By sharing personal stories the author takes us on a journey across the board of life. This authors personal mission is to touch and change the lives of readers by helping them to see ways in which to improve their lives through prayer, commitment to God, and surrender to His will.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER "I am just a common man who is true to his beliefs."--John Wooden Evoking days gone by when coaches were respected as much for their off-court performances as for their success on the court, Wooden presents the timeless wisdom of legendary basketball coach John Wooden. In honest and telling passages about virtually every aspect of life, Coach shares his personal philosophy on family, achievement, success, and excellence. Raised on a small farm in south-central Indiana, he offers lessons and wisdom learned throughout his career at UCLA, and life as a dedicated husband, father, and teacher. These lessons, along with personal letters from Bill Walton, Denny Crum, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Bob Costas, among others, have made Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections on and off the Court an inspirational classic.
The majority of us would not necessarily define ourselves as artists. We're parents, students, businesspeople, friends. We're working hard, trying to make ends meet, and often longing for a little more--more time, more love, more security, more of a sense that there is more out there. The truth? We need not look around so much. God is within us and he wants to shine through us in a million little ways. A Million Little Ways uncovers the creative, personal imprint of God on every individual. It invites the discouraged parent, the bored Christian, the exhausted executive to look at their lives differently by approaching their critics, their jobs, and the kids around their table the same way an artist approaches the canvas--with wonder, bravery, and hope. In her gentle, compelling style, Emily Freeman encourages readers to turn down the volume on their inner critic and move into the world with the courage to be who they most deeply are. She invites regular people to see the artistic potential in words, gestures, attitudes, and relationships. Readers will discover the art in a quiet word, a hot dinner, a made bed, a grace-filled glance, and a million other ways of showing God to the world through the simple human acts of listening, waiting, creating, and showing up.
This is a book about time--about one's own journey through it and, more important, about enlarging the pleasure one takes in that journey. It's about memory of the past, hope and fear for the future, and how they color, for better and for worse, one's experience of the present. Ultimately, it's a book about freedom--freedom from despair of the clock, of the aging body, of the seeming waste of one's daily routine, the freedom that comes with acceptance and appreciation of the human dimensions of time and of the place of each passing moment on life's bounteous continuum. For Robert Grudin, living is an art, and cultivating a creative partnership with time is one of the keys to mastering it. In a series of wise, witty, and playful meditations, he suggests that happiness lies not in the effort to conquer time but rather in learning "to bend to its curve," in hearing its music and learning to dance to it. Grudin offers practical advice and mental exercises designed to help the reader use time more effectively, but this is no ordinary self-help book. It is instead a kind of wisdom literature, a guide to life, a feast for the mind and for the spirit.
The New York Times bestselling author of The Benedict Option draws on the wisdom of Christian survivors of Soviet persecution to warn American Christians of approaching dangers. For years, émigrés from the former Soviet bloc have been telling Rod Dreher they see telltale signs of "soft" totalitarianism cropping up in America--something more Brave New World than Nineteen Eighty-Four. Identity politics are beginning to encroach on every aspect of life. Civil liberties are increasingly seen as a threat to "safety". Progressives marginalize conservative, traditional Christians, and other dissenters. Technology and consumerism hasten the possibility of a corporate surveillance state. And the pandemic, having put millions out of work, leaves our country especially vulnerable to demagogic manipulation. In Live Not By Lies, Dreher amplifies the alarm sounded by the brave men and women who fought totalitarianism. He explains how the totalitarianism facing us today is based less on overt violence and more on psychological manipulation. He tells the stories of modern-day dissidents--clergy, laity, martyrs, and confessors from the Soviet Union and the captive nations of Europe--who offer practical advice for how to identify and resist totalitarianism in our time. Following the model offered by a prophetic World War II-era pastor who prepared believers in his Eastern European to endure the coming of communism, Live Not By Lies teaches American Christians a method for resistance: • SEE: Acknowledge the reality of the situation. • JUDGE: Assess reality in the light of what we as Christians know to be true. • ACT: Take action to protect truth. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn famously said that one of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming totalitarianism can't happen in their country. Many American Christians are making that mistake today, sleepwalking through the erosion of our freedoms. Live Not By Lies will wake them and equip them for the long resistance.