The Sacred Drops attempts to address a few of the following questions that arise in the human mind in the realm of spirituality: Where is the mind? Where is it located in the spatial-temporal field of existence? How does it operate and cope with suffering? Why should we seek to understand it? While mankind is able to analyze physical suffering through the prism of available medical research, mental suffering is more complex and not as well understood. Over the course of human history, saints, prophets, and philosophers have pondered and opined on the subject of mental suffering. Ancient scriptures dating back thousands of years have dealt with this matter in metaphysical terms, thereby providing a psychological support system to cope with the problem of mental suffering. Despite these available tools, the human mind struggles, suffers, and pursues all possible avenues in search of happiness. Our desire for personal reflection and improvement led us to undertake the exercise of writing this book. In this anthology, we seek to facilitate an easier understanding of spiritual matters, through the use of anecdotes, pictures, and poetry. It is our sincere hope that this book will, at a minimum, provide you a deeper understanding and food for thought in the area of spirituality.

In this revelatory and original book, award-winning author of the acclaimed surf memoir On a Wave illuminates the connection between waves, addiction, and recovery, exploring what surfing can teach us about the powerful undertow of addictive behaviors and the ways to swim free of them. Addiction is arguably the dominant feature of contemporary life: sex, gambling, exercise, eating, shopping, Internet use—there's virtually no pleasurable activity that can't morph into a destructive obsession. For Americans under the age of fifty-five, the leading cause of death is drug overdose. But there is another side of addiction. In some instances, the very activities that can lead to addiction can also lead out of it. As neurologists have recently discovered, surfing is a kind of study in the mechanism of addiction, delivering dopamine to the "pleasure" center of the brain and reshaping priorities and desire in a feedback loop of narrowing focus. Thad Ziolkowski knows this dynamic intimately. A lifelong surfer, he has been surrounded by addiction since his boyhood. In this unique, groundbreaking book, part addiction memoir, part sociological study, part spiritual odyssey, Ziolkowski dismantles the myth of surfing as a radiantly wholesome lifestyle immune to the darker temptations of the culture and discovers among the rubble a new way to understand and ultimately overcome addiction. Combining his own story with insights from scientists, progressive thinkers and the experiences of top surfers and addicts from around the world, Ziolkowski shows how getting on a board and catching a wave is a unique and deeply instructive means of riding out of the darkness and back into the light. Yet while surfing is his salvation, its lessons can applied to other activities that can pull us free from the lethal undertow of addiction and save lives.

Are Americans obsessed with shopping? Shop 'til You Drop is a lively look at our consumer culture and its role in our everyday lives and society. Is the United States different from other first-world nations in the amount of time we spend shopping or in our attitudes toward consumption? Are we one unified consumer culture or are several cultures operating and battling against one another? Arthur Asa Berger uncovers the answers to these and other questions, considering the sacred roots of consumer culture, the demographics of consumption, theories about competing cultures, and the semiotics of shopping. Accessibly written and entertaining, Shop 'til You Drop is ideal for courses in cultural studies, advertising, and American studies, as well as for anyone curious about our nation's drive to consume.