Beginning with a consideration of Nietzsche's inflammatory and critical insight that the modern world is framed by the death of God, Michael Gruber confronts contemporary disenchantment and its necessary offspring, the "universalization of terror." By making truth relative, negating the value of beauty, and rendering questions about the good dubious if not obsolete, terror permeates all aspects of our psychosocial existence with the threat of dehumanization. In response to this terror, which is the fundamental mood of our time, Gruber advocates re-imagining our destiny as a path of initiation. Describing an inner awakening to the spiritual world, whose earthly manifestation of its inherent divinity invites and necessitates our conscious participation, Gruber offers readings and practices that promote the incarnation of "noble souls." Referring to the work of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Steiner, An Unknown Destiny describes how psychotherapy can move beyond healing the ego to transcending the ego. Gruber shows how opening the soul to meditative or intuitive forms of thinking can contribute to the development of new soul faculties of perception and to the experience of moral freedom. Most important, he shows how the incomplete and continuously evolving Mystery of Golgotha can inspire the emergence and presence of modern human beings infused with Christ consciousness--reverence, wisdom, peace, and love. "An Unknown Destiny is like a stream of fresh water in which all psychotherapeutic approaches would do well to immerse and possibly transform. Gruber's reading of the works of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Steiner concerning the realm of terror that pervades our world, is not only a tour de force of reflection upon the writings of these seminal figures, but a clear and highly accessible one. Michael Gruber has done a great service to psychotherapy. I learned a lot." --Nathan Schwartz-Salant, Ph.D., Jungian analyst, author of The Mystery of Human Relationship and The Black Nightgown "Michael Gruber brings together key points in Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Steiner to point out the connection between psychotherapy and the path of initiation appropriate to our time. In this way, he locates the essential spiritual challenges from our greatest thinkers. Gruber has an appreciation of the mythic that approaches, at times, that of A.K. Coomaraswamy. But he does more. He shows how living thinking, the fresh experience of being, and the awakening from technology's hypnotic thrall, can all become realities for us. In doing so, Gruber clears a path for the self-aware individual to become no longer a passive recipient of mass culture, but a point source of love and wisdom." --Michael Lipson, Ph.D, psychotherapist, author of Stairway of Surprise "Michael Gruber has written a truly remarkable, courageous-beyond-belief book. He shows how modern psychology serves terrorist structures of consciousness. He further shows that only a truly spiritual psychology can break through these forms. His creative reading of Nietzsche opens the path of therapy as modern initiation. His work with Rudolf Steiner reveals the presence of pathologies of spirit that are still being approached as psychological difficulties; and how to approach them anew. Finally, his understanding of Heidegger shows the way to the imaginal reality of the unity of person-world. A truly breakthrough book " --Robert Sardello, Ph.D., author of Love and the World and Silence, cofounder and codirector of The School of Spiritual Psychology CONTENTS: Foreword by Robert Sardello, Ph.D. Introduction "From Ornithology to a Love Supreme: Overcoming the Forces of Gravity, and the Teaching of Amor Fati" "Zarathustra's Convalescence: Cognitive Expansions and Inner Wisdom" "With Nietzsche on the Road from Revenge to Rede

He never imagined his adoptive Indian Chief father would return him to the world of the White Man after raising him from infancy, but that's just the terrifying test imposed upon White Man's Cub by his father and the 1870s society he finds himself thrown into. Can he survive the wilds of the Snake River Valley alone, naked, starving and desperate? Uncovering the worst and best of himself and mankind as he discovers the world outside the cocoon woven about him by the Nez Perce Indian Tribe, Cub resorts to that which he has despised in others. A hunter, rich with recent kill, proves easy prey. Angered by the attack, the hunter eventually captures Cub and lures him with a tale of Cub's White family into accompanying him to Portland. Even if the hunter is lying, it's the only thread of hope Cub finds to cling to after his near death at the hands of a former blood brother. As the pieces of Cub's ancestry are forced together by dogged persistence, Cub is startled to find a world in which he could survive if the fingers of the Indian Nation don't reach out and consume him once more.

Over 175,000 copies have been sold of this perennially popular collection of America's favorite poems.

This book was never intended to be published. Some of these inner thoughts laced with deep erotic emotion have never been seen by anyone but me. It was a diary of thoughts that has been written for more than a decade. These are words of expression describing my inner thoughts with the men I have loved . Men I will always remember, men I know to this day. My first love is still my friend; we exchange cherished memories of family, of dating and sharing the experimentation of our first intimate relationship. It was a learning experience like no other and will be remembered for a lifetime. The love ran high and the hurt ran deep. With time, came a more mature love with commitment, promises that were so strong you would have thought they would have lasted forever, but people change. Some left behind gifts like children; others brought memories and broken hearts. But they all brought lessons. And then one day you find chemistry with someone and quite possibly the love of your lifetime. There is nothing more powerful, more addicting, more mind blowing then someone who connects with you. There is nothing quite like the smell of a manespecially a man you love. Forbidden Love is never for keeps. A man taken is not yours; however for stolen moments, for exchanged glances, secret touches and earth shattering experiences it is erotica to the highest power. It could quite possibly turn out to be the biggest heartbreak you will ever feel. As you look inside my open heart, I hope you will find one moment that takes your breath away. And never regret a single touch.

This book is a collection of eleven essays about the practice of mission. The first section, titled "Feet First," is about the way in which Christian practices, many of them taken for granted, shape mission. The next section deals with the issue of transformation in mission work and the related concerns of mutuality, solidarity, and marginality. The third section takes up the situation of the relation of Christianity to other religions. Finally, the last four essays take up spirituality as an inward and outward event, doing mission in the context of North America, and finally the development of a new theological identity based on the image of God as a missionary God.

Many modern Christians yearn for a deeper spiritual life, a relevant relationship with a God who still matters and who thinks we still matter. However, Dallas Brauninger tells us, we are not good at listening and talking with God. What we are good at is hurling questions at the Almighty -- and Brauninger says that questions are what we are all about if we are to continue to grow spiritually. And so is confession. We doubt. We fear. We stretch to the limits of our patience. We wonder if tenacity will prevail or if we will sink. We have moments of bliss and ponder anew the mystery of God. We wonder and grieve about the world. Brauninger believes that question and confession are two forms of our prayer -- and for many of us, these conversations with God are as brief and instant as an e-mail. In Holy E-Mail, she inventively casts fourteen sermons based on Cycle A lectionary epistle texts in the form of extended e-mail messages to God. It's as if congregations and pastors were privy to someone's private ponderings that reflect our own spiritual roaming. This volume is not only a creative resource for preachers; it's also directed to the everyday person in the pew. Crafted to help hearers connect with God and each other, these sermons address universal queries of the human soul. By uniting sermon with prayer, they're excellent for use as readings for personal meditation. Brauninger takes the reader on a spiritual journey from the beginning of Advent through the Transfiguration of our Lord.... This book offers much food for thought as you prepare sermons... not only will your mind be stretched, your soul will be inspired as you read. (from the Introduction) Clarence M. "Clip" Higgins Former Conference Minister, Nebraska and Ohio Conferences United Church of Christ Dallas Brauninger writes with the discernment of a saint and the ear of a poet.... These sermons are a joy to read. They are a joy because they are crafted by one who is a master with language. They are a joy because they track life carefully. They are a joy because they expose deep recesses of the soul that light seldom reaches. They are a joy because they prompt each of us to reflect on our own faith pilgrimage. Most of all, they are a joy because they affirm God who offers joy not just to some, but to all. Dr. George S. Worcester Conference Minister, Nebraska Conference United Church of Christ To me the hallmark of a good sermon has always been the new pathways of thought and insight which it opens up for me long after hearing or reading it. These are GOOD sermons. Rachel S. Scott Bemidji, Minnesota Dallas A. Brauninger, a cum laude graduate of Albion College, received her Master of Divinity degree and an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Chicago Theological Seminary. A full-time writer, she has served churches in Colorado and Nebraska. She and her husband, both ordained ministers in the United Church of Christ, live in Friend, Nebraska.