"These days sexual sin is far less about sex and far more about the misuse of power and exploitation of vulnerability. It's time to redraw the ethical map. But how should a contemporary Christian ethic of sexuality be formulated? Marvin Ellison, a pioneer in contemporary Christian rethinking of sexuality and sexual ethics, uses a series of provocative questions to increase readers' skills and confidence for engaging in ethical deliberation about sexuality. Students and all adults will welcome this book for enabling their personal clarity, approach to relationships, and mindful participation in respectful moral debate." -- Publisher description.
In making love, one is elevated beyond the carnal desires it satisfies. For the religious, it is Divine; for those who are not religiously inclined, it is still a spiritual experience, one of seamless solidarity, a unity of two as one that defies mere orgasmic stimulation. You don’t have to make love to have sex. Even strangers can be sexually attracted and have an orgasmic escapade. But in the act of making love, there is symbolic meaning that is felt through-and-through the sex act. Two in love are joined, in life, and the sexual expression of this unison is deeply felt in the sex act itself. This is sexual intimacy, the making of love, the likes of which is rarely, if ever, seen outside a loving relationship. There is no escape from the philosophical dimensions of such a loving relationship. It is as abstract as it is concrete in the ideals that ground it. There is a mystery about it, a kind of transcendent experience that defies translation into words. Making and being in love are thus joined at the hip. Loving relationships make the bed in which true lovers sleep. Unfortunately, many relationships flounder or never get off the ground. Just having sex may ease the tension, but it then becomes a means, not truly an end-in-itself. The moment the sex act ends, the couple may retreat and fall into discord. It is an oasis in a barren desert that provides temporary relief, a titillating, temporary escape from reality. This book can help you to overcome the obstacles, the unlovable habits that encumber your relationship, both inside and outside the bedroom. It can help to create the harmonic balance between your sex life and other aspects of your personal and interpersonal relationships, which are preludes to making and being in love. To accomplish this, it applies a five-step method based on Logic-Based Therapy & Consultation (LBTC), a popular form of evidence-based, philosophical counseling modality. First, it introduces you to six types of unlovable ways of thinking and acting and helps you to identify the ones that may be sabotaging your own relationship. Second, it shows you how to counter these self-defeating habits with certain lovable goals (“virtues of love”). Third, it helps you to identify and embrace a personal “love philosophy” that empowers you to reach for your lovable goals. Fourth, it provides core philosophical ideas that are key to any successful quest for romantic love. Fifth, it helps you construct a behavioral plan that applies your philosophies to making constructive changes in your relationship. The latter may require making changes both inside and outside your relationship. Thus, this book also shows you how the problems you are having in one area of your life (at work, in your social life, etc.) can affect the quality of your relationship, inside and outside the bedroom, and it offers guidance, including self-improvement exercises, to overcome these impediments and attain enduring love and sexual intimacy.
Drawing from her years of professional experience as a sexual surrogate and therapist, Keesling delves into the profound and complex powers of sexuality, offering readers the idea that sexual exchange between loving partners contains all the elements necessary for healing and happiness: touch, intimacy, communication, physical activity, and playfulness.
Body Mind Balancing: Using Your Mind to Heal Your Body features meditation methods from one of the twentieth century’s greatest spiritual teachers. Many everyday discomforts and tensions arise from the fact that we are alienated from our bodies. With the help of Osho’s Body Mind Balancing, readers will learn to talk to and reconnect with their bodies. After just a short time, readers will begin to appreciate how much the body has been working for them and supporting them, and from this new perspective one can find new ways to work with the body and create a more harmonious balance of body and mind. Osho challenges readers to examine and break free of the conditioned belief systems and prejudices that limit their capacity to enjoy life in all its richness. He has been described by the Sunday Times of London as one of the “1000 Makers of the 20th Century” and by Sunday Mid-Day (India) as one of the ten people—along with Gandhi, Nehru, and Buddha—who have changed the destiny of India. Since his death in 1990, the influence of his teachings continues to expand, reaching seekers of all ages in virtually every country of the world.
People mistake Love for True Love, live deluded lives and suffer. ‘True Love is Bliss and not a Kiss’ examines the inherently Divine nature of True Love and encourages readers to aspire for the highest order of True Love.
When Julian Thomas arrived home that night, as usual, his wife Chris, was depressed and in a drunken fog. To avoid her rage and rejection, he stayed away, reclining on the couch watching the Johnny Carson Show. He was contemplating the life between him and his wife...if only for my own sanity, I have to tell her, if not tonight, tomorrow morning for sure. Minutes later, he heard her say something from the bedroom. It sounded like... maybe...goodbye. Then came the sound of a single gunshot, it broke the silence like a clap of thunder. OVER THE EDGE is the suspenseful account of the true story of a Susan Haywardlookalike living during the tumult of California in the 1960s-1970s- a beautiful, intelligent, but troubled woman who shot herself - and her husband who tried in vain to help her.
"Whether he's hustling his way into Mike Tyson's mansion for an interview, betting his life savings on a boxing match, becoming romantically entangled with one of Fidel Castro's granddaughters, or simply manufacturing press credentials to go where he wants, Brin-Jonathan Butler has always been the 'act first, ask permission later' kind of journalist. This book is the culmination of Butler's decade spent in the trenches of Havana, trying to understand a culture perplexing to Westerners: one whose elite athletes regularly forgo multimillion-dollar opportunities to stay in Cuba and box for their country, while living in penury"--
"Wonderful, fresh, funny, tender, outrageous..." says Booklist of Jennifer Crusie, whose wry, witty romantic comedies have made her a New York Times bestseller. This bundle includes four ferociously funny, sexy romances, Getting Rid of Bradley, Strange Bedpersons, What the Lady Wants and Charlie All Night.
