Award-winning actor and playwright John Maxwell Taylor builds on the success of his previous book, The Power of I Am, in this eloquent call to awaken from our collective trance and to claim the transformative power and happiness that is our birthright. Drawing on his forty years’ experience in spiritual self-transformation, Taylor offers a potent array of practical tools, stories, and life lessons that help us reorder the events in our lives, the way people respond to us, and the impact we have on the world. The Enlightenment Quest and the Art of Happiness shows us how to master ourselves so that we can harness the energy of higher power to surmount the chaos of the modern world and provides strategies for “sociological aikido” that allow us to deal effectively with negative people, narcissists, and egotists. Informed by Taylor’s incredibly varied background—from European pop star, to student of Paramahansa Yogananda, Gurdjieff, and Mantak Chia, to resident at the pioneering Findhorn Community, to playing Carl Jung on stage for many years—this book demonstrates how, by understanding the powers active in creation, we can become instruments through which higher power continually flows to advance our evolution toward consciousness. In doing so, we not only transform ourselves, we become powerful agents for changing the world. Readers learn how to: • Deal with negative people and egotists • Use higher power to redirect the world around one to one's own advantage • Stay sane in an insane world by understanding true spiritual psychology • See the world as it is instead of spiritually daydreaming that "things are going to get better" • Move beyond conspiracy theories and conspire instead to create a united world of consciousness • Gain fresh insights into the work of Campbell, Jung, Paramahansa Yogananda, Gurdjieff, and others • Apply the Findhorn principles of miraculous manifestation as practiced by the author since 1973

At the dawn of time, Brahma sat in trance, seeking inspiration to create the universe. Who am I?' he wondered. Where have I come from? What should I do? Then the Supreme Being, Krsna, revealed Himself, flooding Brahma's heart with transcendental knowledge. Passed down since Brahma's time through an unbroken chain of gurus and disciples, that same profound knowledge is ours in The Quest for Enlightenment.The author of Quest is His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, whom scholars and spiritual leaders worldwide recognize as the most distinguished teacher of Indian culture and philosophy of the modern age. With his spiritual lineage reaching back through Brahma to Sri Krsna, Srila Prabhupada is uniquely qualified to present the timeless Vedic teachings on yoga, meditation, reincarnation, and self-realization that have helped countless seekers in their search for ultimate peace and happiness

Myths and legends involving quests and journeys are found in many cultures. Throughout history, people have told stories of heroes and heroines grappling with monsters, evil spirits, the elements and the gods. The stories have been expressed in song, dance, literature and art, and given rise to countless myths ang legends. They mirror the dreams and hopes of women and men for exciting adventures beyond their everyday experience. This book includes ten quest stories from around the world, showing how they have been interpreted, retold and passed down the centuries. Some of the illustrations are reproduced from illuminated manuscripts in the collection of the British Library. The introduction, by Penelope Lively, discusses the nature of quest myths and how they have permeated the storytelling of so many cultures.

A MASTERPIECE of illuminative writing, Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing is mandatory reading for anyone following a spiritual path. Part exposé and part how-to manual, this is the first book to explain why failure seems to be the rule in the search for enlightenment, and how the rule can be broken. :: Book One of Jed McKenna's Enlightenment Trilogy. Contains Bonus Material.

Far more than a mere history of the practice of yoga and beyond a study of psychedelic-substance use to aid the pursuit of enlightenment, Who Am I? is a broad, expansive journey told through the eyes of a scholar and researcher-a pilgrim in search of the meaning of life. While the use of psychedelics, yoga, and the interrelatedness of the two practices have been discussed in the past, Who Am I? explores these topics through both a scientific and a personal approach that is altogether new-the author's own journey as he transitions from spiritual and yoga purist to open-minded examiner in the realization that psychedelics have been employed by yoga practitioners throughout its history. Does their controversial use in modern yoga ease the path to spiritual clarity, or does it hinder it? Many questions and barriers face contemporary seekers of truth in the areas of psychedelics, yoga, and general spirituality. In Who Am I?, author Allowah Lani provides guidance on how to find the personal answers that must come from within.

Saluting an era of adventure and knowledge seeking, fifteen original essays consider the motivations of European explorers of the Pacific, the science and technology of 18th-century exploration, and the significance of Spanish, French, and British voyages. Among the topics discussed are the quest by enlightenment scientists for new species of plant and animal life, and their fascination with Native cultures; advances in shipbuilding, navigation, medicine, and diet that made extended voyages possible; and the lasting significance of the explorers’ collections, artworks, and journals.

In this illuminating new study of Mozart's operas, Nicholas Till shows that the composer was not a "divine idiot" but an artist whose work was informed by the ideas and discoveries of his time. Examining the dramatic emergence of a modern society in eighteenth-century Austria, Till reappraises the history and meaning of the Enlightenment and Mozart's role within it. Book jacket.