Podcasts by New Books in Spiritual Practice and Mindfulness
Interviews with Spiritual Practitioners about their New Books
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Further podcasts by Marshall Poe
Podcast on the topic Spiritualität
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Should I Quit My Ph.D. Program? from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our own mentor networks to bring you podcasts on everything from how to f...
ListenBeth Kurland, "Dancing on the Tightrope: Transcending the Habits of Your Mind and Awakening to Your Fullest Life" (Wellbridge Books, 2018) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
If life can feel at times like a challenging tightrope walk, how do we face life's difficulties yet remain resilient and open-hearted? Rather than seeking "perfect" balance, or tiptoeing on our jou...
ListenPilar Jennings, "To Heal a Wounded Heart: The Transformative Power of Buddhism and Psychotherapy in Action" (Shambala, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Early on in her clinical practice, psychoanalyst Pilar Jennings was presented with a particularly difficult case: a six-year-old girl who, traumatized by loss, had stopped speaking. Challenged by t...
ListenMarta Zaraska, "Growing Young: How Friendship, Optimism, and Kindness Can Help You Live to 100" (Appetite/Random House, 2020) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Today I interview Marta Zaraska about her book Growing Young: How Friendship, Optimism, and Kindness Can Help You Live to 100 (Appetite/Random House, 2020). Now you may be thinking to yourself, “10...
ListenRita D. Sherma, "Contemplative Studies in Hinduism: Meditation, Devotion, Prayer, and Worship" (Routledge, 2020) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
What counts as contemplative practices in Hinduism? What can Hindu Studies offer Contemplative Studies as a discipline? Contemplative Studies in Hinduism: Meditation, Devotion, Prayer, and Worship ...
ListenCarly Israel, "Seconds and Inches" (Jaded Ibis Press, 2020) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Today I interview Carly Israel about her bold new memoir, Seconds and Inches (Jaded Ibis Press). In the opening sentence of her introduction, Israel writes, “My last name, Israel, means one who wre...
ListenLinville Meadows, "A Spiritual Pathway to Recovery from Addiction: A Physician’s Journey of Discovery" (The Meadows Farm, 2020) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Addiction occurs among physicians at the same rate as in the general population, about 10%. Unlike the general population, however, an intensive rehabilitation program, geared specifically for thei...
ListenSue Stuart-Smith, "The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature (Scribner, 2020) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Sue Stuart-Smith, who is a distinguished psychiatrist and avid gardener, offers an inspiring and consoling work about the healing effects of gardening and its ability to decrease stress and foster ...
ListenYehoshua November, "Two Worlds Exist" (Orison Books, 2016) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Yehoshua November's second poetry collection, Two Worlds Exist (Orison Books), movingly examines the harmonies and dissonances involved in practicing an ancient religious tradition in contemporary ...
ListenMel Schwartz, "The Possibility Principle: How Quantum Physics Can Improve the Way You Think, Live, and Love" (Sounds True, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
How would you like to experience your life? It’s an intriguing question, and yet we’ve been conditioned to believe our life visions and goals are often unattainable—until now. With The Possibility ...
ListenAndrew Seaton, "Spiritual Awakening Made Simple" (O-Books, 2020) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In this inspiring and, above all, practical book, Andrew Seaton guides us to our true nature, the peace-filled observing awareness beyond the mind. Spiritual Awakening Made Simple: How to See Throu...
ListenMonica Coleman, "Bipolar Faith: A Black Woman’s Journey with Depression and Faith" (Fortress Press, 2016) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Monica A. Coleman's great-grandfather asked his two young sons to lift him up and pull out the chair when he hanged himself, and that noose stayed in the family shed for years. The rope was the vio...
ListenA Conversation with Seth Powell about Yogic Studies from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Today I talked with Seth Powell, founder of Yogic Studies “were the studio meets the academy” rendering rigorous research accessible to studios, teachers, and students. Beyond completing his Yoga S...
ListenKeith Macpherson, "Making Sense of Mindfulness: 5 Principals to Integrate Mindfulness Practice into Your Daily Life" (Morgan James, 2018) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Mindfulness has become a major buzzword in culture today, and yet very few people understand what this word actually means and how to integrate this practice into their daily lives. In a world fill...
ListenLaurie Cameron, "The Mindful Day: Practical Ways to Find Focus, Calm, and Joy from Morning to Evening" (National Geographic, 2019) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Designed for busy professionals looking to integrate mindfulness into their daily lives, this ultimate guide draws on contemplative practice, modern neuroscience, and positive psychology to bring p...
ListenBrian Greene, "Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe" (Random House, 2020) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Brian Greene is a Professor of Mathematics and Physics at Columbia University in the City of New York, where he is the Director of the Institute for Strings, Cosmology, and Astroparticle Physics, a...
ListenLeslie M. Harris, "Slavery and the University: Histories and Legacies" (U Georgia Press, 2019) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Slavery and the University: Histories and Legacies (University of Georgia Press, 2019), edited by Leslie M. Harris, James T. Campbell, and Alfred L. Brophy, is the first edited collection of schola...
ListenShonda Moralis, "Breathe, Empower, Achieve: 5-Minute Mindfulness for Women Who Do It All" (The Experiment, 2019) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Shonda Moralis, MSW, LCSW, is a women’s mindful empowerment coach, speaker, and psychotherapist in private practice. Founder of The Bea Hive, a monthly online membership for ambitious women who wan...
ListenHenry R. Carse, "Sinai: The Abundant Emptiness" (Ziggurat Books, 2013) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Dr. Henry R. Carse is a is a poet, a pilgrim, a practitioner theologian and a peace activist. He is the founder of Kids4Peace International – an interfaith youth movement that teaches and practices...
ListenMatt Cook, "Sleight of Mind: 75 Ingenious Paradoxes in Mathematics, Physics, and Philosophy" (MIT Press, 2020) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Paradox is a sophisticated kind of magic trick. A magician's purpose is to create the appearance of impossibility, to pull a rabbit from an empty hat. Yet paradox doesn't require tangibles, like ra...
ListenYael Shy, "What Now? Meditation for Your Twenties and Beyond" (Parellax Press, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Early adulthood is filled with intense emotions and insecurity. What if you never fall in love? What if you can't find work you’re passionate about? You miss home. You miss close friends. You’re lo...
ListenNicole Lovald, "Om Sweet Om: A Corporate Junkie’s Search for Enlightenment" (Wise Ink, 2018) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Om Sweet Om is the inspiring story of how a stressed-out corporate junkie found her way to a yoga mat--and eventually, back to herself. After fifteen years of working in the land of cubicles, unrea...
ListenPhillipa Chong, “Inside the Critics’ Circle: Book Reviewing in Uncertain Times” (Princeton UP, 2020) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
How does the world of book reviews work? In Inside the Critics’ Circle: Book Reviewing in Uncertain Times (Princeton University Press, 2020), Phillipa Chong, assistant professor in sociology at McM...
ListenStephanie Kaza, "Green Buddhism: Practice and Compassionate Action in Uncertain Times" (Shambhala, 2019) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Stephanie Kaza is Professor Emerita of Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont, and has written widely on Buddhism and the environment. She describes herself as a long-time lover of tree...
ListenGreat Books: Glenn Wallis on Gibran's "The Prophet" from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Kahlil Gibran’s 1923 The Prophet is book that’s changed people’s lives. It is a deceptively simple book, but it contains a radical insight. “Of what can I speak save of that which is even now movin...
ListenRonald Epstein, "Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness, and Humanity" (Scribner, 2018) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness, and Humanity (Scribner, 2017) is the first book about mindfulness and medical practice written for patients, their families, and for doctors and others providing h...
ListenK. Linder et al., "Going Alt-Ac: A Guide to Alternative Academic Careers" (Stylus Publishing, 2020) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
If you’re a grad student facing the ugly reality of finding a tenure-track job, you could easily be forgiven for thinking about a career change. However, if you’ve spent the last several years work...
ListenVanessa Linsey, "Metta Mom: A Mindful Guide to Managing Your Mood and Your Brood" (Bowker, 2019) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In her debut book, Vanessa Linsey takes us on an uproarious journey of spirituality, humor, and humility. Metta Mom: A Mindful Guide to Managing Your Mood & Your Brood (Bowker, 2019) brims with sto...
ListenDeborah Eden Tull, "Relational Mindfulness" (Wisdom Publications, 2018) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Deborah Eden Tull's new book Relational Mindfulness: A Handbook for Deepening Our Connection with Ourselves, Each Other, and the Planet (Wisdom Publications, 2018) is a guidebook on how to embody c...
ListenNir Eyal, "Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life" (Bloomsbury, 2019) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
A former advisor to tech companies on how to make their products habit-forming, Nir Eyal found that his own smartphone use was adversely affecting his family life. He took a deep dive into research...
ListenKathryn Conrad on University Press Publishing from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
As you may know, university presses publish a lot of good books. In fact, they publish thousands of them every year. They are different from most trade books in that most of them are what you might...
ListenJ. Neuhaus, "Geeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who Want to Be Effective Teachers" (West Virginia UP, 2019) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
The things that make people academics -- as deep fascination with some arcane subject, often bordering on obsession, and a comfort with the solitude that developing expertise requires -- do not nec...
ListenIra Helderman, "Prescribing the Dharma: Psychotherapists, Buddhist Traditions, and Defining Religion" (UNC Press, 2019) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In today's podcast, I speak with American professor Ira Helderman about his newly published book, Prescribing the Dharma: Psychotherapists, Buddhist Traditions, and Defining Religion (University of...
ListenLogan Thompson, "Beyond the Content: Mindfulness as a Test Prep Advantage" (Kaplan Publishing, 2019) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Most test prep books, textbooks, and classes miss the mark by only focusing on strategy and content. This essential guide tackles the other half of test prep: mindfulness and your mental performanc...
ListenChristopher Willard, "Raising Resilience, The Wisdom and Science of Happy Families and Thriving Children" (Sounds True, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In every spiritual tradition, we find teachings on the virtues and qualities that we most want to pass on to our kids?such as generosity, kindness, honesty, determination, and patience. Today, a gr...
ListenCandy Gunther Brown, "Debating Yoga and Mindfulness in Public Schools: Reforming Secular Education or Reestablishing Religion?" (UNC Press, 2019) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In this episode of New Books in Law Siobhan talks with Candy Gunther Brown about her book Debating Yoga and Mindfulness in Public Schools: Reforming Secular Education or Reestablishing Religion? (U...
ListenRonald E. Purser, "McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality" (Repeater Books, 2019) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In his recent exposé, McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality (Repeater Books, 2019), Ronald Purser Ph.D. takes a hard look at the mindfulness movement that has taken ...
ListenHolly Rogers, "The Mindful Twenty-Something" (New Harbinger, 2016) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In her book, The Mindful Twenty-Something (New Harbinger, 2016), Holly Rogers presents a unique, evidence based approach to help you make important life decisions with clarity and confidence. As c...
ListenAnn Gleig, "American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity" (Yale UP, 2019) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
With Buddhism entering the mainstream of American society, it inevitably encounters the cultural and social forces that make ours a postmodern society. Ann Gleig’s new book traces out the multiface...
ListenNaftali Rothenberg, "Rabbi Akiva’s Philosophy of Love" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Is love between man and woman the source of wisdom and the cornerstone of moral life? Naftali Rothenberg says it is, based on the works and life of the first century Jewish scholar and sage, Rabbi ...
ListenRachel Stolzman Gullo, "Practice Dying" (Bedazzled Ink, 2018) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Rachel Stolzman Gullo Practice Dying (Bedazzled Ink, 2018) is about twins, David and Jamila, who seek meaning and connection from opposite ends of the world. Just as she turns 30, Jamila falls in l...
ListenGeorge Kinder, "A Golden Civilization and the Map of Mindfulness" (Serenity Point Press, 2018) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In this interview, George Kinder, a global thought leader and mindfulness meditation teacher, talks about his latest book, A Golden Civilization & The Map of Mindfulness (Serenity Point Press, 2018...
ListenAnne Cushman, "The Mama Sutra: A Story of Love, Loss, and the Path of Motherhood" (Shambala, 2019) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Sutra is the Sanskrit name for a short spiritual teaching, and it comes from the same root as the English word suture, or stitch. This story of motherhood as a path to awakening is, says yoga and m...
ListenNico Slate, "Gandhi’s Search for the Perfect Diet: Eating with the World in Mind" (U Washington Press, 2019) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In this this interview, Carrie Tippen talks with Nico Slate, professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University, about the intersections between diet, spirituality, health, and politics for one of ...
ListenJoan Watts, "The Collected Letters of Alan Watts" (New World Library, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Alan Watts (1915-1973) was one of the first to interpret Eastern wisdom for a Western audience. Joan Watts, Alan's eldest daughter, is the co-editor (along with her sister, Anne) of the new volume,...
ListenAnne Watts, "The Collected Letters of Alan Watts" (New World Library, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Anne Watts is one of the co-editors of the new book, The Collected letters of Alan Watts, released in January 2018 from New World Library. Anne Watts is a facilitator and educator who is committed ...
ListenAndrea Miller, "The Day The Buddha Woke Up" (Wisdom Publications, 2018) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Andrea Miller is the deputy editor of Lion's Roar magazine (formerly the Shambhala Sun) and the author of two picture books: The Day the Buddha Woke Up and My First Book of Canadian Birds. She's a...
ListenDiscussion of Massive Online Peer Review and Open Access Publishing from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In the information age, knowledge is power. Hence, facilitating the access to knowledge to wider publics empowers citizens and makes societies more democratic. How can publishers and authors contri...
ListenMeido Moore, "The Rinzai Zen Way: A Guide to Practice" (Shambhala, 2018) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Meido Moore Roshi is the abbot of Korinji monastery in Wisconsin. He studied under three Rinzai Zen masters: Tenzan Toyoda Rokoji (under whom he also endured training in traditional martial arts), ...
ListenGreg McKeown, "Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less" (Currency, 2014) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Essentialism is a systematic discipline designed to support making life decisions that help you to make your highest possible contribution towards the things that really matter. In this episode, cr...
ListenDaniel Goleman and Richard Davidson, "Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body" (Avery, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Emotional Intelligence involves self awareness, self control, relationship management and social awareness. Being emotionally intelligent can make you a better leader, parent, friend and partner. I...
ListenChris Germer, "The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion" (The Guilford Press, 2009) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Increasing self-compassion and compassion for others, may just be the key to your well-being. In this this interview, cross-posted from the podcast Psychologists Off The Clock, Dr. Diana Hill inter...
ListenMani Rao, "Living Mantra: Mantra, Deity, and Visionary Experience Today" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
What role does mantra play in the lives of Hindu practitioners? Mani Rao takes us on a journey to three sacred sites across India’s Andhra-Telangana region. The practitioners she engages at these s...
ListenMcKenzie Wark, "General Intellects: Twenty-One Thinkers for the Twenty-First Century" (Verso, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
McKenzie Wark’s new book offers 21 focused studies of thinkers working in a wide range of fields who are worth your attention. The chapters of General Intellects: Twenty-One Thinkers for the Twenty...
ListenKelly G. Wilson, "Mindfulness for Two: An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Approach to Mindfulness in Psychotherapy" (Guilford Press, 2016) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In this this interview, cross-posted from the podcast Psychologists Off The Clock, Dr. Diana Hill talks with Dr. Kelly Wilson about kindness and the common humanity of feeling inadequate and broken...
ListenStephen Batchelor, “Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World” (Yale UP, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
As the practice of mindfulness permeates mainstream Western culture, more and more people are engaging in a traditional form of Buddhist meditation. However, many of these people have little intere...
ListenDan Siegel, “Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence” (TarcherPerigee, 2018) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In this episode, cross-posted from the podcast Psychologists Off The Clock, Dr. Diana Hill interviews Dr. Dan Siegel about his new book, Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence (TarcherPerigree...
ListenDeirdre Fay, “Attachment-Based Yoga & Meditation for Trauma Recovery” (Norton, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In this this interview, cross-posted from the podcast Psychologists Off The Clock, Deirdre Fay, LICSW discusses how she integrates yoga, meditation and attachment theory into healing trauma. Ms. Fa...
ListenMichael Kearney, “The Nest in the Stream: Lessons from Nature on Being with Pain” (Parallax Press, 2018) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In this episode, cross posted from the podcast Psychologists Off the Clock, Dr. Diana Hill interviews Dr. Michael Kearney, a palliative care physician who takes an interpersonal, integrative approa...
ListenAlex Pang, “Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less” (Basic Books, 2016) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Our modern culture prompts us to work ever harder. But it turns out the most successful and creative among us don’t just work hard, they actually rest more skillfully. In this this interview, cross...
ListenJohn Forsyth, “Anxiety Happens: 52 Ways to Find Peace of Mind” (New Harbinger, 2018) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Everyone experiences anxiety and worry sometimes. However, when anxiety controls your life, it pulls you away from things that you care about. In this this interview, cross-posted from the podcast ...
ListenEva Ritvo, “Bekindr: The Transformative Power of Kindness” (Momosa Publishing, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
After working clinically with patients for over 25 years, it’s natural that one would learn something about what heals or harms humans. Such is the case with Dr. Eva Ritvo, who discovered through h...
ListenGina Biegel, “Be Mindful and Stress Less: 50 Ways to Deal with Your (Crazy) Life” (Shambhala, 2018) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In her book, Be Mindful and Stress Less: 50 Ways to Deal with Your (Crazy) Life (Shambhala, 2018), Gina Biegel shows how the demands and pressures of everyday life can really stress you out! She sh...
ListenRadhule Weininger, “Heartwork: The Path of Self-Compassion” (Shambhala, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Dr. Radhule Weininger is a clinical psychologist and meditation teacher who integrates psychodynamic, Jungian and Gestalt psychotherapies with Buddhist psychology. In her new book Heartwork: The Pa...
ListenThomas Mira y Lopez, “The Book of Resting Places: A Personal History of Where We Lay the Dead” (Counterpoint Press, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
We’ve all participated in the rituals of the dead at some time or another in our lives, going to funerals and wakes, visiting loved ones in cemeteries. Some of us may even have a plan for when we p...
ListenShinshu Roberts, “Being-Time: A Practitioner’s Guide to Dogen’s Shobogenzo Uji” (Wisdom Publications, 2018) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In her new book, Being-Time: A Practitioner’s Guide to Dogen’s Shobogenzo Uji (Wisdom Publications, 2018), Shinshu Roberts focuses on the practical study of the inner self and perception of all phe...
ListenYael Shy, “What Now? Meditation For Your Twenties and Beyond” (Parallax Press, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In an age which seems to be moving faster and faster, it has become difficult for people, especially young people, to stop and take valuable moments of reflection. Our anxieties can rack our produc...
ListenLeon Wiener Dow, “The Going: A Meditation on Jewish Law” (Palgrave MacMillan, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Leon Wiener Dow’s most recent work The Going: A Meditation on Jewish Law (Palgrave MacMillan, 2017) offers readers intimate, informative, and at times provocative reflections on halakha, or Jewish ...
ListenMargot Esther Borden, “Psychology in the Light of the East” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Psychology and spirituality have a complicated relationship. Dating back to ancient times, we see them treated as sister disciplines which inform and enhance one another. But at some point in the l...
ListenRobert Wright, “Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment” (Simon and Schuster, 2017) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
All “true believers” believe their beliefs are true. This is particularly true of true religious believers: for Christians, Christianity is the true religion, for Jews, Judaism is the true religion...
ListenJon Mills, “Inventing God: Psychology of Belief and the Rise of Secular Spirituality” (Routledge, 2016) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
There are many fronts in the argument against the existence of a god or gods and veracity of religious narratives. Some familiar approaches are to critique the philosophical underpinnings of religi...
ListenDaniel Rechtschaffen, “The Way of Mindful Education: Cultivating Well-Being in Teachers and Students” (W.W. Norton, 2014) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Time and resources are scarce for many teachers. Often times, these same teachers are under immense pressure to produce higher test scores and severely constrained with the actions they can take in...
ListenAndrew Schulman, “Waking the Spirit: A Musician’s Journey Healing Body, Mind, and Soul (Picador 2016) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
What do the musical compositions of Bach, Gershwin, and the Beatles all have in common? Besides being great pieces of music, according to Andrew Schulman, they promote healing in intensive care (IC...
ListenDaniel M. Horwitz, “A Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism Reader” (The Jewish Publication Society, 2016) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Ever wonder what Kabbalah is really about? Or how you might have a close relationship with God? Is cleaving to God an expectation that might have been medieval but no longer is sought? Rabbi Dr. Da...
ListenMaria Heim, “The Forerunner of All Things: Buddhaghosa on Mind, Intention and Agency” (Oxford UP, 2013) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Buddhaghosa, a fifth-century Pali Buddhist scholar or group of scholars, is the most influential commentator in Theravada Buddhist tradition, who has in many respects created the set of ideas we no...
ListenRick Strassman, “DMT and the Soul of Prophecy” (Park Street Press, 2014) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
DMT and the Soul of Prophecy:A New Science of Spiritual Revelation in the Hebrew Bible (Park Street Press, 2014) asks a number of provocative questions about drugs, consciousness, prophecy, and the...
ListenEvan Thompson, “Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy” (Columbia UP, 2014) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
The quest for an explanation of consciousness is currently dominated by scientific efforts to find the neural correlates of conscious states, on the assumption that these states are dependent on th...
ListenMark Epstein, “The Trauma of Everyday Life” (Penguin Press, 2013) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Being human, much of our energy goes into resisting the basic mess of life, but messy it is nonetheless. The trick (as psychoanalysts know) is to embrace it all anyway. “Trauma is an indivisible pa...
ListenKathleen D. Singh, “The Grace in Dying: A Message of Hope, Comfort and Spiritual Transformation” (HarperOne, 2013) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In this brilliantly conceived and beautifully written book, Kathleen Dowling Singh illuminates the profound psychological and spiritual transformations experiences by the dying as the natural proce...
ListenBarbara Bonner, “Inspiring Generosity” (Wisdom Publications, 2014) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
“You can measure the depth of people’s awakening by how they serve others.” This quotation by Kobo Daishi, the ninth-century Japanese Buddhist monk, is only one of many observations that fill this ...
ListenJudith Orloff, “The Ecstasy Of Surrender: 12 Surprising Ways Letting Go Can Empower Your Life” (Harmony Books, 2014) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Surrender is a difficult concept for many people in Western societies, where everything seems to evolve around the desire for control, predictability and power. In our age of anxiety, certainty and...
ListenLawrence J. Friedman, “The Lives of Erich Fromm: Love’s Prophet” (Columbia UP, 2013) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Erich Fromm, one of the most widely known psychoanalysts of the previous century, was involved in the exploration of spirituality throughout his life. His landmark book The Art of Loving, which sol...
ListenRobert K. C. Forman, “Enlightenment Ain’t What It’s Cracked Up To Be” (Changemakers Books, 2011) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In these times, when more and more people are looking for spiritual truth and engage in practices like meditation, it’s hard to know what to expect from attaining a lofty goal like Enlightenment. W...
ListenR. Jay Wallace, “The View from Here: On Affirmation, Attachment, and the Limits of Regret” (Oxford University Press, 2013) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Our moral lives are shot-through with concerns and even anxieties about the past. Only a lucky few, if anyone at all, can escape nagging and persistent regrets about actions and decisions in our pa...
ListenPaula Huston, “A Season of Mystery: 10 Spiritual Practices for Embracing a Happier Second Half of Life” (Loyola Press, 2012) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
“Paula Huston wrote literary fiction for more than twenty years before shifting her focus to spirituality. She is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Daughters of Song (Random House, 1995)...
ListenJeff Wilson, “Dixie Dharma: Inside a Buddhist Temple in the American South” (UNC Press, 2012) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Americanists have long employed a trope of regionalism to better understand American religions, beliefs, and practices. As many of us know, either by academic study or, more often, personal experie...
ListenRaelynn Maloney, “Waking Up: A Parent’s Guide to Mindful Awareness and Connection” (Companion Press, 2011) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Parenting books touting new philosophies are widely available. Raelynn Maloney’s book, Waking Up: A Parent’s Guide to Mindful Awareness and Connection (Companion Press, 2011) is not that kind of bo...
ListenEric Weiner, “Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine” (Twelve, 2012) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
In his new book, Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine (Twelve, 2011), Eric Weiner, former correspondent for both NPR and the New York Times, confronts his spiritual side after a medical em...
ListenPatricia Campbell, “Knowing Body, Moving Mind: Ritualizing and Learning at Two Buddhist Centers” (Oxford UP, 2011) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
There is a lot of ritual involved in Buddhist practice. As more and more North Americans are discovering Buddhism, they are engaging in more and more Buddhist ritual, despite a general aversion man...
ListenCharles Prebish, “An American Buddhist Life: Memoirs of a Modern Dharma Pioneer” (Sumeru Press, 2011) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Charles Prebish is among the most prominent scholars of American Buddhism. He has been a pioneer in studying the forms that Buddhist tradition has taken in the United States. Now retired, he has wr...
ListenDavid McMahan, “The Making of Buddhist Modernism” (Oxford UP, 2008) from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
For many Asian and Western Buddhists today, Buddhism means meditation and an embrace of the world’s interdependence. But that’s not what it meant to Buddhists in the past; most of them never medita...
ListenDavid McMahan, “The Making of Buddhist Modernism” (Oxford UP, 2008) from 2011-09-02T18:30:30
For many Asian and Western Buddhists today, Buddhism means meditation and an embrace of the world’s interdependence. But that’s not what it meant to Buddhists in the past; most of them never medita...
ListenDavid McMahan, “The Making of Buddhist Modernism” (Oxford UP, 2008) from 2011-09-02T18:30:30
For many Asian and Western Buddhists today, Buddhism means meditation and an embrace of the world’s interdependence. But that’s not what it meant to Buddhists in the past; most of them never medita...
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