This is a book to be experienced, not simply read. The Alchemy of Becoming series sets out a methodology that empowers you to raise your level of consciousness to levels never imagined possible. The first book and level of this process, Being of Truth, laid a foundation of authenticity and personal truth. In this second installment, Being of Love, the journey continues as you discover that love is not just a feeling or emotion but rather a powerful, life-enhancing and life-creating force. Level 1 reframed fear to trust. In Level 2, love is claimed over and beyond fear. This is transformation. Not just inspiration, but transformation to a state of higher consciousness available to us all. Einstein claimed that no problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. It is only in higher consciousness that the intractable issues of our times can be addressed. This applies equally to our individual lives be it our health, relationships, and to our sense of worth and well-being. Higher consciousness takes you from life happening to you, to life happening by you and expressed as you. The seven-stage alchemic process is the framework for transformation and while the process is universal, no two people will have the same experience. The experience is personalized to you, meaning that it is aligned to your unique vibrational makeup. This is a powerful, affirming aspect of this methodology as what is revealed to you can only be known by you. It all starts with you. Transforming yourself to be the alchemist of your own life while serving as a gateway for the change our world so desperately needs.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Zookeeper's Wife, an ambitious and enlightening work that combines an artist's eye with a scientist's erudition to illuminate, as never before, the magic and mysteries of the human mind. Long treasured by literary readers for her uncommon ability to bridge the gap between art and science, celebrated scholar-artist Diane Ackerman returns with the book she was born to write. Her dazzling new work, An Alchemy of Mind, offers an unprecedented exploration and celebration of the mental fantasia in which we spend our days—and does for the human mind what the bestselling A Natural History of the Senses did for the physical senses. Bringing a valuable female perspective to the topic, Diane Ackerman discusses the science of the brain as only she can: with gorgeous, immediate language and imagery that paint an unusually lucid and vibrant picture for the reader. And in addition to explaining memory, thought, emotion, dreams, and language acquisition, she reports on the latest discoveries in neuroscience and addresses controversial subjects like the effects of trauma and male versus female brains. In prose that is not simply accessible but also beautiful and electric, Ackerman distills the hard, objective truths of science in order to yield vivid, heavily anecdotal explanations about a range of existential questions regarding consciousness, human thought, memory, and the nature of identity.

Using Southeast Asia as an example, this book tests theory about the relation between modernity, nationalism, and ethnic identity. The author develops his own typology to better fit the formation of political identities such as the Indonesian, Malay, Chinese, Acehnese, Batak and Kadazan.

This collection of research has attempted to capture the essence and promise embodied in the concept of “identity” and built a bridge to the realm of second language studies. However, the reader will notice that we did not build just one link. This volume brings to light the diversity of research in identity and second language studies that are grounded the notions of community, instructors and students, language immersion and study abroad, pop culture and music, religion, code switching, and media. The chapters reflect the efforts of contributors from Canada, Japan, Norway, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States who performed their research in the countries just mentioned and in other regions around the world. Because of this, this volume truly offers an international perspective.

"What emerges from Kachru's fine work is the potential demarcation of an entire field, rather than merely the fruitful exploration of a topic. . . . [Kachru] is to be congratulated for having taken us as far as he already has and for doing so in so stimulating and so productive a fashion." -- World Englishes "A potent addition to theoretical, sociolinguistic, attitudinal and methodological explorations vis-à-vis the spread and functions of, and innovations in, English from the viewpoint of a non-Western scholar." -- The Language Teacher Winner of the Joint First Prize, Duke of Edinburgh English Language Book Competition of the English-Speaking Union of the Commonwealth, 1987