This books provides a rational discussion on a subject that is traditionally superstitious. While it does not answer the Hard Problem of consciousness, it does provide critical intake onto what we know about subjective experience, and how we can apply it to the traditional ideas of religion and spirituality.This book advocates scientific thought and reason, but at the same time ponders into the unknown of what could be.

A book by Brent Nichols

Life is full of challenges, both big and small. Spirituality is here to offer solutions. Over the course of his career as physician, teacher, and bestselling author, Deepak Chopra has received thousands of questions from people facing every kind of challenge. They have asked how to lead more fulfilling lives, how to overcome relationship problems and personal obstacles. What’s the best way to deal with a passive-aggressive friend? Can a stagnant career be jump-started? In a world full of distractions and stress, how does one find time for meditation? Hidden among all of these questions are answers waiting to be uncovered. In this groundbreaking book, Chopra shows you how to expand your awareness, which is the key to the confusion and conflict we all face. “The secret is that the level of the problem is never the level of the solution,” he writes. By rising to the level of the solution in your own awareness, you can transform obstacles into opportunities. Chopra leads the reader to what he calls “the true self,” where peace, clarity, and wisdom serve as guides in times of crisis. For Chopra, spirituality is primarily about consciousness, not about religious dogma or relying on the conventional notion of God. “There is no greater power for success and personal growth than your own awareness.” With practical insight, Spiritual Solutions provides the tools and strategies to enable you to meet life’s challenges from within and to experience a sense of genuine fulfillment and purpose.

Source's ChallengeGoing Beyond Spirituality is not about the life I have had. My past is my past; it does not define who I am. Instead, my past defines the people who have been in my life and the influences they have had on me. There is nothing wrong with this. Actually, I thank them for being there for me. Who I am personality-wise is a consequence of my pasta 'conditioning', one might say. As an individual, my challenge as an adult has been to un-condition myselfto find what I am made of, to be a consequence of myself, and to be at peace with this. Yes, others have had worse lives than me, but are they (and if you have picked up this book, are you), willing to move past your past and be un-conditioned? To move past the pain and hurt, the agony of being eaten away by the emotions brought about by family and life history? To face the new challenge of finding the real self? To let go of who you think you are and to find who you truly are? Source's ChallengeGoing Beyond Spirituality is meant to be used as a guide to question what one thinks, how one acts, why something happened, when it will change, and where one is going. The first step is to realise that everyone may not see from the same perspective, but no one is not alone in endeavours of searching for the Truth. And that Truth is who you really are.

Spirituality means something different to everyone. Some may believe it involves participating in organized religion. Others may prefer it to be more personal, like getting in touch with ones inner self through yoga, meditation, quiet reflection, or even long walks. A few may find that it lies in finding a new sense of purpose for their lives. Spirituality Beyond Science and Religion addresses all of these, and more, through a new paradigm about life and death. It lifts readers above their daily press for competitive survival and success, by going to the heart of all spirituality. The book disputes traditional sciences claim that physical matter is the only reality. It also helps explain enigmas that have confronted orthodox religion for centuries. To do so, this book correlates published research from nearly one hundred and fifty authors and professionals in medicine, neuroscience, psychology, theology, history, and metaphysics. It explores new insights being revealed through thousands of subjective experiences around the worldall of them beyond the ability of science or religion to explain. The book therefore not only offers reassurance that death is not final but it also discloses profound implications for how we live our lives on earth. The US Review of Books Spirituality Beyond Science and Religion by William Pillow, with Jack McMahan and Lillian Stover Wells iUniverse reviewed by Priscilla Estes "but deep inside us is the recognition that life can and should have more meaning, one that reaches far beyond traditional science and orthodox religion and one that involves all of us." The mind-body-spirit (MBS) publishing industry has come a long way since the 1960s and 1970s when Aldous Huxley, Hermann Hesse and Carlos Castaneda combined Eastern and Western thought in the best-sellers Doors of Perception, Siddhartha, and The Teachings of Don Juan, respectively. In fact, according to religion and publishing expert Elizabeth Puttick, MBS publishing is the fastest growing non-fiction genre, which a quick examination of virtual and real bookstores supports. More than ever before, great minds race to close the gap between science and religion, to answer the questions of where do we come from, why are we here, and where do we go after death. We search for answers inside the human brain, the psyche, the fetus, gravity, energy fields, near-death experiences (NDEs), universal consciousness, time travel, soul travel, quantum medicine, karma, dharma, and moreit's hard for the average person to comprehend, let alone keep up! Finally, here is a book that helps pull it all together for us, written by William Pillow, ex-US Air Force and retired pharmacist with thirty-four years at Eli Lilly. Pillow began a quest to discover where we go after death and why when a long and lingering illness befell his wife and he confronted aging. Initially a Southern Baptist and a skeptic about all things metaphysical, he changed his mind while reading the incredible body of research on soul survival. After prodigious investigation, much of which concerns NDEs and studies on fetal awareness, Pillow concluded there is a soul, a God, and a Heaven. His conclusions may challenge your philosophy, but parenthetical documentation and a fifteen-page bibliography encourage independent verification. The book starts slowly and carefully as Pillow builds his case by conscientiously stitching together scientific, religious, and metaphysical literature, both ancient and modern, on the nature of God (the spark of life), souls (the human superconsciousness) and Heaven (the spirit world). The brain begins to smoke while chugging through study after study on NDE's, shared NDE's, life-between-lives (LBL), out-of-body-experiences (OBE), past-life regression, after death communications (ADC), pre-birth visions, neurological pathways, the transcendent source of consciousness, the ego, and more. We long for an index, a glossary, and less use of quotes around words that don't require them. Halfway through, our mental labors are rewarded with chapter 7, "Our Incomparable Souls." This is the heart of the book, a behind-the scenes look at the soul and a parting of the veil of forgetfulness produced by the ego. Pillow discusses studies on fetal consciousness, which provide the strongest circumstantial evidence for existence of the soul, and gives a moving testament to the soul's purpose: to instill compassion, empathy, and benevolence in its human host. The second half of the book flies by, as we greedily gobble mainstream studies on energy healing, brain waves, and the need for face-to-face friendships in an electronically connected world. Tucked unobtrusively at the end of chapter 11 are three paragraphs titled "For Me Personally," in which the author shares his private definition of faith. Such unheralded brevity from a man who once considered entering the Christian ministry shows great respect for the reader and for the role of science in decoding religion and spirituality. The final chapter implores us "to at least consider the possible importance of these concepts and commentaries for your loved ones and for you." Pillow believes that by knowing there is a God, a soul, and a Heaven, we can sustain our inner journey toward purpose and meaning in our lives; and that by recognizing our shared humanity, we can save civilization. One hopes and prays this is true as murders by children, mass killings by governments, greed, corruption, materialism, apathy, mental illness, addiction, and more threaten to suffocate humanity's life force. Pillow is an accomplished author, having written or edited five educational textbooks, several dozen articles, one murder mystery involving reincarnation and the paranormal, and five books about the search for self and the meaning of life through science, self-awareness, and spirituality. Spirituality Beyond Science and Religion is his first book written with theologian Jack McMahan and clinical psychologist Lillian Stover Wells. Pillow brilliantly connects his philosophy on the soul, God, and Heaven with salient literature in the field of science and religion. The MBS genre has come a long way from the Indian fables and drug-induced journeys of the sixties and seventies. Pillow's overall message that the power of love is greater than the love of power points us in the right direction for the twenty-first century.

This new book has taken many years of spiritual exploration to create. It explores spirituality within various religions, and finds spiritual gems within each religion while discarding what is contrary to universal human spirituality. The book tries to tear out of religion whatever is tearing humanity apart. It extracts ideas and teachings from our various religions that give us the ability to practice the trimmings of simple spirituality free from the trappings of religious dogma. It reviews various approaches to meditation, and finds a simple letting-go meditation practice which opens up our innate spirituality. This method works for everybody, and is free of religious exclusivity. The meditation practice is based on the teachings of the Tao, Zen, and the Hindu Upanishads, and is consistent with Islamic and Christian spirituality. Finally, it teaches and guides us in bringing the spirituality acquired from prayer and meditation into our everyday lives. This insightful and inspiring book is a call to set spirituality free from the dead-weight of religious dogma. It fearlessly exposes the madness of religious fundamentalism and offers instead the loving kindness of genuine spiritual awakening. Bigoted religion is a source of most of the conflicts bedeviling our world today. In this book Raja Bhat offers an exciting alternative: spirituality transcending religion. Timothy Freke, author and co-author of numerous books on religion and spirituality, such as Encyclopedia of Spirituality; The Jesus Mysteries; Jesus And The Lost Goddess; Spiritual Traditions: Essential Teachings To Transform Your Life; The Complete Guide To World Mysticism and many others.