The sacred is all around us, all the time. It is the reality in which we live and move and have our being. But it is our own lives that make this holiness incarnate, and make our places of living and working sacred, and therefore life-giving to all. Prayer is often perceived as a difficult, place-less exercise in which we close our eyes and seek God beyond our everyday experience in an invisible, ethereal realm. However, prayer does not always have to look this way. Prayer, too, can have its own sense of place--landscapes which we can inhabit, explore, and meet God in as tangibly as we might meet a fellow traveler. In this beautifully compiled book, complete with full-page photographs, highly acclaimed author Margaret Silf takes the reader through seven cityscapes, the places where we live, work, and gather. Whether it be a train, the office, a library, shop, or park, all are fruitful areas for self-discovery, inviting us to connect with the mystery of God wherever we are. This inspirational volume will be returned to time and again as readers discover the divine in the bustle of the city streets.

From ancient Taoist sages and Sufi mystics to Christian contemplatives and contemporary Zen masters, Seeing, Knowing, Being explores the profound truth behind all the world’s mystic traditions: Living a spiritual life has nothing to do with fixing ourselves. It is simply a matter of awakening to what we already are. The real work of self-discovery-and the answer to our suffering, emptiness, and loss of meaning-is learning to see in a different way. “The mystical adventure is all in the seeing, says John Greer. “From departure to arrival, nothing changes but our eyes. But the process isn’t that simple. In this all-embracing work that is destined to become a classic, Greer artfully traces the steps and stages of the delicate process of awakening. He shows how we can move from society’s hand-me-down version of reality to the wonder of our true nature-from conceptual, habitual patterns of thinking to knowing the truth by being. Like a master artist who captures an image and stirs something deep inside of us, Greer also highlights nearly one hundred evocative metaphors, as varied and colorful as the sages themselves, to kindle your imagination and spark your intuition-to shift your perspective and shake you into an awareness that no amount of explanation can. What Greer shows, with great wisdom and compassion, is that when you put aside the map of the mind, you can follow the compass of your heart. You can move through the details of life-going to work, raising a family, throwing out the garbage-and still experience the wonders and oneness of life with deep reverence, gratitude, and joy. “Books often describe journeys. Seeing, Knowing, Being actually takes you on one. . . . A profound expedition into the true nature of life. -MATTHEW FLICKSTEIN, author and producer of the award-winning film With One Voice

Consider the woven integrated complexity of a living cell after 3.8 billion years of evolution. Is it more awe-inspiring to suppose that a transcendent God fashioned the cell, or to consider that the living organism was created by the evolving biosphere? As the eminent complexity theorist Stuart Kauffman explains in this ambitious and groundbreaking new book, people who do not believe in God have largely lost their sense of the sacred and the deep human legitimacy of our inherited spirituality. For those who believe in a Creator God, no science will ever disprove that belief. In Reinventing the Sacred, Kauffman argues that the science of complexity provides a way to move beyond reductionist science to something new: a unified culture where we see God in the creativity of the universe, biosphere, and humanity. Kauffman explains that the ceaseless natural creativity of the world can be a profound source of meaning, wonder, and further grounding of our place in the universe. His theory carries with it a new ethic for an emerging civilization and a reinterpretation of the divine. He asserts that we are impelled by the imperative of life itself to live with faith and courage-and the fact that we do so is indeed sublime. Reinventing the Sacred will change the way we all think about the evolution of humanity, the universe, faith, and reason.

When popular author Adrian Calabrese's father was in surgery for a life-threatening medical condition, she asked for a sign that he would survive-and she immediately received one. Now she shares her secrets for getting clear guidance from the Universe in Sacred Signs, teaching readers a simple three-step method for receiving divine messages. Unlike other books on the subject, Sacred Signs is not a "sign dictionary." Calabrese believes that the interpretation of a sign is as unique as the individual receiving it. The original checklists and questionnaires throughout the book help readers focus their desires to more effectively communicate with the Universe. Success stories throughout the book provide inspiration and further demonstrate how to use this personal, nondenominational approach to interpreting divine signs.

"A brilliant and groundbreaking exploration of the promises and pitfalls of the spiritual path written by one of the pioneers of transpersonal psychology. A must for every serious spiritual seeker, students of consciousness, and all those concerned about the future of our planet." -Stanislav Grof, M.D. "Regardless of one's religious preferences, this pioneering classic eloquently and objectively addressees the spiritual issues of our time." -Angeles Arrien "Here, presented with clarity and courage, are the foundations for a transpersonal psychotherapy that respects the multileveled richness of the human psyche." -Ram Dass

An inclusive and open exploration of our connection with something greater than ourselves and our search for the spiritual - a provocative and accessible read for those making up their own minds about God, faith, spirituality, and the nature of belief in 21st-century life.

In Search of the Sacred Book studies the artistic incorporation of religious concepts such as prophecy, eternity, and the afterlife in the contemporary Latin American novel. It departs from sociopolitical readings by noting the continued relevance of religion in Latin American life and culture, despite modernity's powerful secularizing influence. Analyzing Jorge Luis Borges's secularized "narrative theology" in his essays and short stories, the book follows the development of the Latin American novel from the early twentieth century until today by examining the attempts of major novelists, from María Luisa Bombal, Alejo Carpentier, and Juan Rulfo, to Julio Cortázar, Gabriel García Márquez, and José Lezama Lima, to "sacralize" the novel by incorporating traits present in the sacred texts of many religions. It concludes with a view of the "desacralization" of the novel by more recent authors, from Elena Poniatowska and Fernando Vallejo to Roberto Bolaño.