"If we harbor thoughts of violence or hatred, or seek revenge or retribution, we are contributing to the wounding of the world; if we transform those thoughts into forgiveness and compassion, and then move beyond them to actually make amends or restitution, we are contributing to the healing of the world. This timely, powerful and compassionate book helps show us the way." —Deepak Chopra "Nothing will help us survive the present age more than breaking the tragic cycles of violence and revenge that threaten our very existence. To do so, we must honor our soul's desire for deeper forms of reconciliation, a process that Phil Cousineau reveals here as being on the other side of forgiveness, in the ancient ritual of atonement. His book is a profoundly important contribution to the healing of the world, and I give it my blessing." —Robert A. Johnson, author of Transformation, Inner Work and Owning Your Own Shadow As indispensable as forgiveness has been to the healing process throughout history, there is another equally profound action that is needed for ultimate reconciliation, which Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas Gandhi, calls “the other side of the coin.” Turning over the coin of forgiveness, we discover atonement, the half-hidden, much-overlooked other half of the reconciliation process. Beyond Forgiveness shows how acts of atonement—making amends, providing restitution, restoring balance—can relieve us of the pain of the past and give us a hopeful future. This rich and powerful book includes 15 thoughtful contributions by high-profile thinkers and activists including Huston Smith, Michael Bernard Beckwith, Azim Khamisa, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Jacob Needleman, Michael Nagler, Diane Hennacy Powell, James O’Dea, Arun Gandhi, Kate Dahlstedt, Ed Tick, Richard J. Meyer, Rev. Heng Sure, Douglas George-Kanentiio and Katharine Dever. Atonement is put forward as a process that we must all learn to practice—from individuals to nations—if we are to heal our wounds and move forward.

A secret, eye of death bed marriage overturns a will, thus upsetting all a rich family's applecarts. A rich old man knows that he is dying. Haunted by the memories of a woman whom he loved, had a child by, but never married, he goes through a secret wedding ceremony with her, and in his will leaves her and their daughter, Abby 200,000 pounds each. After his death, Abby a single mother on the dole - finds the marriage certificate and discovers from a lawyer that this, plus the strange wording of the will, entitles her to his whole estate and disinherits his legitimate son and daughter. Abby is hardly money grubbing but she's determined to claim what is rightfully hers. Complications ensue, however, as she meets Simon, her childhood friend, and suddenly all sorts of assumptions about the future are thrown into disarray. The power of money, snobbery and lust to overrule morality in even the most respectable is the theme of this observant, amusing and warm hearted novel.

"Beyond the Mirror" is Nouwen's personal story of a near lethal accident and the reluctant journey to that shadowland between life and death.

This book contains a selection of papers that were presented during the multidisciplinary conference "Beyond the Death Penalty: Reflections on Punishment," organized by the Maastricht Center for Human Rights. The event marked the 150th anniversary of the de facto abolition of the death penalty in the Netherlands. The aim of the conference was to reflect on punishment from a variety of angles and to give some food for thought to the contemporary debate on crime and punishment. As the title suggests, the scope of this volume moves beyond the death penalty. After a first cluster of chapters with a strong focus on capital punishment, an intriguing mixture of topics in relation to punishment is presented, including chapters on the populist context of contemporary crime control, reconciliation and rehabilitation, prison life, and efficiency and effectiveness. The book will match the interest of many academics, including legal scholars, criminologists, penologists, legal philosophers, sociologists, psychologists, and historians. (Series: Maastricht Series in Human Rights)

Drawing on a host of philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhauer, Gabriel Marcel, Josef Pieper, Paul Ricoeur, Viktor Frankl, Eric Voegelin, Bernard Lonergan, Roger Scruton, John Caputo, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, as well as theologians like Hans Urs von Balthasar, Karl Rahner, Hans Küng, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, this book argues passionately for the place of hope as the ‘beyond’ of both a will-o’-the-wisp, facile optimism, on the one hand, and a world-weary, fatuous pessimism, on the other. Drawing on the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta in the concluding chapter, it suggests that only by living from the Self as distinct from the ego can we know ultimate peace and experience the bliss of being that is beyond both hope and happiness. These philosophical reflections are both timely, as the publication appears amid the Coronavirus crisis, and wise. It is warmly recommended for its breadth and depth of knowledge. This book will appeal to students of both Eastern and Western philosophy, as well as spiritual seekers.