A passionate and deep exploration of how love is essential to our spiritual growth and development, from beloved author and teacher A. H. Almaas. Love is a universal energy--and a primary force that powers our movement toward spiritual illumination. All the ways we need love are simply reflections of our need for spiritual growth. In Love Unveiled, A. H. Almaas explores three dimensions of love: appreciative love--the true liking of somebody or something; merging or connecting love--a force that melts away separateness; and passionate, ecstatic love--capable of consuming us from inside. In their own way, each reveals the beauty and exquisiteness of our spiritual heart, which is the heart of the divine. However, the path of spiritual love is not without challenges. Almaas explores the barriers that tend to block our experience of loving awakening and provides experiential exercises throughout the book to help readers along their path. The exercises focus on the obstacles or misunderstandings that commonly arise for each quality or dimension of love. Presented in the form of writing or monologuing prompts, readers can work independently or in small groups to confront the emotional obstacles on their spiritual path. Regardless of where you are on your path, Love Unveiled will help you explore love in three essential dimensions and gain a deeper connection to yourself.
Man cannot live without love.... His life is senseless if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. — John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis If you were asked what immediately comes to mind when you hear the words "Catholic Church", would you answer an intimate relationship with the God who loves me? If not, you would do well to read this engaging and thought-provoking book which explains why such a relationship is the reason for everything the Church does and teaches. Professor Edward Sri will show you how all the pieces of the Catholic faith, including the most baffling ones, fit together to make one beautiful mosaic of God's love for us and our own participation in that all-encompassing love. Using the Catechism of the Catholic Church as his itinerary, Sri will walk you through all the important aspects of the Catholic Church—what Catholics believe about God and the difference it should make in life. Along the way he addresses such often-heard questions as: Why do I need the Church—can't I be spiritual on my own? Isn't one religion just as good as another? How is the death of a man two thousand years ago relevant for my life today? Why does the Church talk so much about morality? Can't I make up my own morals? Is it really our responsibility to care for the poor— doesn't God help those who help themselves? Why do Catholics and Protestants disagree? Must Catholics worship Mary and always obey the pope? More than an intellectual enterprise, this work is also a deep spiritual reflection and a practical guide to living out our faith in Christ. It aims to form both the head and the heart, not only helping us to understand Jesus and his plan of salvation, but inspiring us to love God and our neighbor better.
Two innovative spiritual teachers show how to use desire and passion—eros—as a gateway to realizing our fullest potential What do desire and passion have to do with our spiritual journey? According to A. H. Almaas and Karen Johnson, they are an essential part of it. Conventional wisdom cautions that desire and passion are opposed to the spiritual path—that engaging in desire will take you more into the world, into egoic life. And for most people, that is exactly what happens. We naturally tend to experience wanting in a self-centered way. The Power of Divine Eros challenges the view that the divine and the erotic are separate. When we open to the energy, aliveness, spontaneity, and zest of erotic love, we will find it inseparable from the realm of the holy and sacred. When this is understood, desire and passion become a gateway to wholeness and to realizing our full potential. Through guided exercises, the authors reveal how our relationships become opportunities on the spiritual journey to express ourselves authentically, to relate with openness, and to discover dynamic inner realms with another person. Through embodying the energy of eros, each of us can learn to be fully real and alive in all of our interactions.
No matter how much is learned, if that learning remains in our heads, it is not enough. Unless learning touches our hearts, it's never going to bring us the wisdom we seek, the peace we desire, or the intimacy and connection for which we yearn. A new and more receptive way of knowing is needed, and is found in this course for the heart. "A Course of Love" was received by Mari Perron and given to be a "new" course in miracles. It is for the heart what "A Course in Miracles" is for the mind. For many, it is the next step in a journey already begun.
MOUNT SHASTA stood out boldly against the western sky, surrounded at its base by a growth of pine and fir trees that made it look like a jewel of diamond shining whiteness held in a filigree setting of green. Its snow covered peaks glistened and changed color from moment to moment, as the shadows lengthened in the sun's descent toward the horizon. Rumor said there was a group of men, Divine men in Fact, called the Brotherhood of Mount Shasta, who formed a branch of the Great White Lodge, and that this Focus from very ancient times had continued unbroken down to the present day. I had been sent on government business to a little town situated at the foot of the mountain, and while thus engaged occupied my leisure time trying to unravel this rumor concerning The Brotherhood. I knew, through travels in the Far East, that most rumors, myths, and legends have, somewhere as their origin, a deep underlying Truth that usually remains unrecognized by all but those who are Real students of life. I fell in love with Shasta and each morning, almost involuntarily, saluted the Spirit of the Mountain and the Members of the Order. I sensed something very unusual about the entire locality and, in the light of the experiences that followed, I do not wonder that some of them cast their shadows before. Long hikes on the trail had become my habit, whenever I wanted to think things out alone or make decisions of serious import. Here, on this great giant of nature, I found recreation, inspiration, and peace that soothed my soul and invigorated mind and body. I had planned such a hike for pleasure as I thought, to spend some time deep in the heart of the mountain, when the following experience entered my life to change if so completely that I could almost believe I was on another planet but for my return to the usual routine in which I had been engaged for months. The morning in question, I started out at daybreak deciding to follow where fancy led, and in a vague sort of way, asked God to direct my path. By noon, I had climbed high up on the side of the mountain where the view to the south was beautiful as a dream. As the day advanced, it grew very warm and I stopped frequently to rest and enjoy to the full the remarkable stretch of country around the McCloud River, Valley, and town. It came time for lunch, and I sought a mountain spring for clear, cold water. Cup in hand, I bent down to fill it as an electrical current passed through my body from head to foot. I looked around, and directly behind me stood a young man who, at first glance, seemed to be someone on a hike like myself. I looked more closely, and realized immediately that he was no ordinary person. As this thought passed through my mind, he smiled and addressed me saying: "My Brother, if you will hand me your cup, I will give you a much more refreshing drink than spring water." I obeyed, and instantly the cup was filled with a creamy liquid. Handing it back to me, he said: "Drink it." I did so and must have looked my astonishment for, while the taste was delicious, the electrical vivifying effect in my mind and body made me gasp with surprise. I did not see him put anything into the cup, and I wondered what was happening. "That which you drank," he explained, "comes directly from the Universal Supply, pure and vivifying as Life Itself, in fact it is Life Omnipresent Life for it exists everywhere about us. It is subject to our conscious control and direction, willingly obedient, when we Love enough, because all the Universe obeys the behest of Love. Whatsoever I desire manifests itself, when I command in Love. I held out the cup, and that which I desired for you appeared.
Unlike many modern historians, Perry was a diffusionist who believed that modern civilization began in Egypt and was spread via ships to Indonesia, the Pacific Islands, and even to North America. Perry traces the origin of megalithic culture starting in Egypt, and then across the Pacific. Searching for gold, obsidian, and pearls, they travelled across the Pacific to the American Southwest and Mexico.
Based on the acclaimed film series, Symbolon: The Catholic Faith Explained, this book leads readers through the “big picture” of the Catholic faith. Professor Sri helps you discover all the essential aspects of the Catholic faith - from creation, the cross and the Church, to the sacraments, social teaching, sexual ethics, purgatory, the papacy and prayer. The author shows how all the aspects of the faith fit together into the one overarching story of God’s love for us and our participation in that love. He uses the Catechism of the Catholic Church for our itinerary, focusing on the four main pillars of the Catechism – Creed, Sacraments, Moral Life and Prayer As we walk through core Catholic beliefs, he addresses common questions people have today, such as: • Why do I need the Church - can’t I just be spiritual on my own? • Isn’t one religion just as good as another? • How is the death of a man 2,000 years ago, in a city far away, relevant for my life today? • Why does the Church talk about morality so much? Can’t I make up my own morality? • Is it really our responsibility to care for the poor— doesn’t God help those who help themselves? • Addresses common questions Protestants have about Mary, the Bible, Confession, the Papacy, the Mass. Much more than an intellectual enterprise, this work is also a deep spiritual reflection that draws upon the beauty of the Catholic tradition and the insights of the saints. It offers many practical applications to our daily lives, considering how the various aspects of the faith invite us to a deeper conversion— to love God more and entrust ourselves to him. Thus, this book aims to form the head and the heart, helping us to not only understand Jesus and his plan of salvation, but inspires us to love him and our neighbor more. For this is what the faith is all about: “Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” (Pope Benedict XVI)
This updated edition by one of the world's leading apologists presents a systematic, positive case for Christianity that reflects the latest work in the contemporary hard sciences and humanities. Brilliant and accessible.
