Humanity on a Tightrope
Humanity on a Tightrope

Author: Paul R. Ehrlich

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Published: 2010-12-16

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1442206500

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More than ever, the world finds itself faced with common problems that affect most of the planet's population in some way: climate change, poverty, escalating violence, international conflicts, illness. And while an 'us v. them' mentality persists, a growing sense of empathy, of connection, with those in remote parts of the world has caught hold and is spreading. The authors argue that empathy and feelings of kinship with others are necessary to preventing the collapse of civilization. Through a careful examination of how humans must learn to relate to one another to avoid global calamity, they show how empathy can help to create a sustainable society of many billions of individuals.

The Forty Rules of Love
The Forty Rules of Love

Author: Elif Shafak

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2010-02-18

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 1101189940

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In this lyrical, exuberant tale, acclaimed Turkish author Elif Shafak, author of The Island of Missing Trees (a Reese's Book Club Pick), incarnates Rumi's timeless message of love The Forty Rules of Love unfolds two tantalizing parallel narratives—one contemporary and the other set in the thirteenth century, when Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, the whirling dervish known as Shams of Tabriz—that together explore the enduring power of Rumi's work. Ella Rubenstein is forty years old and unhappily married when she takes a job as a reader for a literary agent. Her first assignment is to read and report on Sweet Blasphemy, a novel written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Ella is mesmerized by his tale of Shams's search for Rumi and the dervish's role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic, passionate poet, and advocate of love. She is also taken with Shams's lessons, or rules, that offer insight into an ancient philosophy based on the unity of all people and religions, and the presence of love in each and every one of us. As she reads on, she realizes that Rumi's story mir­rors her own and that Zahara—like Shams—has come to set her free.

Multimind
Multimind

Author: Robert Evan Ornstein

Publisher: ISHK

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 1883536294

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Originally published: Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986.

New World New Mind
New World New Mind

Author: Robert Ornstein

Publisher: Malor Books

Published: 2020-09

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 9781949358957

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Robert Ornstein and Paul Ehrlich explain that we are causing our own problems because we have created a world where our basic mental functions are no longer suitable. We evolved over a period of millions of years to survive in small tribal families on the wild grassy plains of East Africa. Now the way we live has nothing to do with that time and place, but the mental tools that were developed to survive on the savanna have remained unchanged. These instincts were wonderfully adapted to the environment that shaped them. But that world, the world that made us, is gone. Now these same instincts are causing us to destroy the world that we made. The threats we face are of our own making, and we can unmake them. If people learn how we have come to this point, we can restore our hope for the future. NWNM describes the way our minds have evolved, and offers suggestions for how to cope with who we are in the world we live in now. Recent decades have seen remarkable progress in many areas. For example, while not overlooking the abject suffering of millions of people, it is nonetheless true that there has been unprecedented alleviation of poverty and disease for the world's poorest people. There are so many promising and astonishing advances in medicine, technology, and the social and physical sciences that if we give ourselves a chance to survive, our species could enter a golden age.

MindReal
MindReal

Author: Robert Ornstein

Publisher:

Published: 2010-08-27

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 9781953292254

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This is a book that shows, in simple detail, one of the most startling findings of modern science: We don't experience the world as it is, but as virtual reality. And while much of the latest scientific work demonstrates this, as do many of the classical psychological illusions, it is an important meeting point for students of the mind, brain, philosophy and religion because, as we can now see in light of this book, all these disciplines begin at the same place. This is not an abstruse treatise, but part graphic novel and part direct address. It allows the reader a breakthrough understanding of the mind which is not available anywhere else. It is, in part, a summa of Dr. Ornstein's research and writing of the past 35 years (with pieces and references to many of his works) as well as a seminal introduction to new readers.

The Psychology of Consciousness
The Psychology of Consciousness

Author: Robert Ornstein

Publisher: Malor Books

Published: 2021-05

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9781949358988

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A new revised edition of the classic study takes a fresh look at human consciousness and an exciting new view of the untapped potential of the human mind What is consciousness and why do we need to know? In this new fourth edition of his revolutionary study, Robert Ornstein reexamines what is known about consciousness and why this understanding is so important at this time of enormous challenge, change and potential. He begins with an exploration of how the human brain evolved as a complex system for limiting what we "pick up" from the vast external environment to just the information we need to survive. We fill in the gaps with "unconscious inferences" - assumptions, categorizations, expectations and habituations that allow us to operate in the world, but that limit our perception of what is, and what is possible. Going beyond the theory that creative impulses originate in the right side of the brain and rational impulses in the left, he shows how a synthesis of these two functions can bring about "a more complete science of human consciousness with an extended conception of our own capabilities." Ornstein proposes that education at all levels should now include learning and teaching about our human nature - the nature of the person being taught. Offering far more than scholarly discourse, he enriches his presentation with thought-provoking illustrations and traditional teachings stories that bring the science to life, giving readers a first-hand taste of what such education might be like. Only with the development of self-knowledge and the cultivation of a comprehensive, expanded consciousness, he says, will humanity be able to perceive and take the "selfless" steps necessary to solve our collective problems. This new edition comes at a time when on a global scale we need this type of thinking more than ever.