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"In my deepest, darkest moments, what really got me through was a prayer. Sometimes my prayer was 'Help me, ' sometimes my prayer was 'Thank you.' What I have discovered is that intimate connection and communication with my Creator will always get me through because I know my support, my help, is just a prayer away." Haile Selassie Emperor of Ethiopia (1930-1974) In her personal memoir, Kleopatra Aslanidou takes readers on a journey across continents and recounts her time as a personal caregiver and assistant to a royal family from the Middle East. When faced with struggles and challenges, she recognized the presence of divine grace and favor. She hopes her story will open hearts and encourage people to remember and honor God. Faith, patience, and gratitude can change our perceptions of life. From her experiences and travels, she learned to appreciate the power of values and respect for all people.
Using personal and biblical illustrations, THE WAY TO THE MASTERS HEART will arouse your consciousness to the great God of the universe and His desire for a personal loving relationship with every Christian. It examines the impact of faith; the blessing of obedience; the power of Gods Word; the authority of your words; the struggle with the flesh and other areas of Christian living. God continues to call every believer to a higher standard of living. Knowing, believing, and following after God will bring you to the place where God desires you to be. Pleasing God is THE WAY TO THE MASTERS HEART.
“As poet, prophet, and priest, Thurman builds upon a powerful legacy of ancestral hope: belief in a liberating God who can always be found ‘in and among the struggling.’” —Yolanda Pierce A universal beacon of hope and endurance for people of all faiths seeking to meet the challenges, uncertainties, and joys of life Howard Thurman’s Meditations of the Heart is a beautiful collection of over 150 prayers, poems, and meditations on prayer, community, and the joys and rituals of life by one of our greatest spiritual leaders. Thurman, a spiritualist and mystic, was renowned for the quiet beauty of his reflections on humanity and our relationship with God. In a new foreword, Yolanda Pierce, dean of Howard University’s School of Divinity, calls attention to the justice-centered theological framework of Thurman’s words. Pierce notes how Thurman brings to light an image of God who can always be found “in and among the struggling,” both in times of weariness and in strength. First written for and shared with his congregation of the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco, California, these meditations sustain, elevate, and inspire. They are a universal beacon of hope and endurance for people of all faiths seeking to meet the challenges, uncertainties, and joys of everyday life with a renewed and liberating faith.
The Way of the Heart, by Dharma Master Hsin Tao, is the first book in English that contains the life story of Shifu (born 1948), as he is referred to by his disciples, told in his own words. The book is based on the structure of the Four Noble Truths taught by the Buddha, and offers a very engaging and vivid account of the fact of suffering that every human being on this Earth undergoes in some form or other, as exemplified in Shifu's own life experience. It presents reflections on the origins of suffering, and on the way to overcome it, thus enabling one to lead a life of genuine wisdom and deep joy. Ven. Dharma Master Hsin Tao is internationally renowned for having established the Museum of World Religions located in Taipei, Taiwan, and for his sustained efforts to bring about world peace through mutual understanding and cooperation among religions. With his core message deriving from Chan (Zen) Buddhism, Master Hsin Tao leads his disciples and students through all Three Vehicles of Buddhism in teaching and practice. The Master's greatest aspiration is to help bring about a multifaceted and mutually cooperative global family, overcoming the current state of fragmentation in our contemporary global society. In addition to being a pragmatic peace advocate, he is also a dynamic and inspiring Chan Master, holding retreats in Asia, Europe, and the USA, with disciples spread out across the world. Ven. Master Hsin Tao has published more than thirty books in Chinese, some of which have been translated into English and German over the years. The Way of the Heart is edited and translated with a personal introduction by Maria Reis Habito, a disciple of Ven. Hsin Tao for more than 30 years now.
This book is by a Tibetan lama who spent three decades in meditation retreat in Tibet and India and then 22 years teaching Buddhism in Europe. It contains teachings that he considered vital for treading the Buddhist path to liberation, especially for westerners, and that he gave again and again to his Western students. His advice on Buddhist practice is simple and yet profound; it extends from the basics all the way up to the highest teaching of Mahamudra. His words are imbued with an authority and authenticity that comes from having tested these teachings and practices in the fire of his own extraordinary meditative experience. There is no dogma or display of rote learning in this book - everything offered here is heartfelt advice coming from personal experience and constitutes essential fare for the practitioner. The outstanding characteristic of the book is its singular power to inspire the reader to dedicate themselves seriously to Buddhist practice. It will be helpful to newcomers to Buddhism who want a practical and authoritative introduction to its key themes. It will also be of great value to experienced practitioners who will find in it countless gems of advice to help them resolve remaining uncertainties about their Dharma practice. Also included in the book is a lengthy chapter that tells the fascinating tale of Gendun Rinpoche's life and practice in the monasteries and mountains of Tibet, his escape to India, his interactions with the 16th Karmapa, and his powerful impact on his numerous Western students.
Finally back in print, a frighteningly lucid feminist horror story about marriage The Dry Heart begins and ends with the matter-of-fact pronouncement: “I shot him between the eyes.” As the tale—a plunge into the chilly waters of loneliness, desperation, and bitterness—proceeds, the narrator's murder of her flighty husband takes on a certain logical inevitability. Stripped of any preciousness or sentimentality, Natalia Ginzburg's writing here is white-hot, tempered by rage. She transforms the unhappy tale of an ordinary dull marriage into a rich psychological thriller that seems to beg the question: why don't more wives kill their husbands?
