What does it mean to live a good life? The major scriptures of the world, various schools of philosophical thought, storytellers, scientists, artists, and historians have all offered answers to this question. Surprisingly, these answers are common among nearly all sources. Famed investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton called these commonalities the “laws of life.” Templeton gathers the best of these teachings in The Essential Worldwide Laws of Life. This handsome volume shows readers of all ages, from all parts of the world, how to make their lives more joyous and useful by learning the universal truths that transcend time and culture. Each law is presented in an essay format, with stories, commentary, and quotations to illustrate its importance. The material is designed to inspire the reader to put these laws into practice and to enjoy the rewarding life that will result.

" ... Wisdom drawn from major sacred Scriptures of the world and various schools of philosophical thought. ... The laws are arranged into forty weeks of a typical school year; and at the end of each week, you will find highlights from the material presented and guideline exercises for 'living the laws.'"--Dust jacket.

Worldwide Laws of Life is full of wisdom drawn from the major sacred Scriptures of the world and various schools of philosophical thought, as well as from scientists, artists, historians, and others. Its aim is to assist people of all ages to learn more about the universal truths of life that transcend modern times or particular cultures. This treasury of practical morality, personal inspiration, and daily guidance is perfect for people of all persuasions. The organization facilitates group or personal study and spiritual development.

What does it mean to live a good life? The major scriptures of the world, various schools of philosophical thought, storytellers, scientists, artists, and historians have all offered answers to this question. Surprisingly, these answers are common among nearly all sources. Famed investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton called these commonalities the “laws of life.” Templeton gathers the best of these teachings in The Essential Worldwide Laws of Life. This handsome volume shows readers of all ages, from all parts of the world, how to make their lives more joyous and useful by learning the universal truths that transcend time and culture. Each law is presented in an essay format, with stories, commentary, and quotations to illustrate its importance. The material is designed to inspire the reader to put these laws into practice and to enjoy the rewarding life that will result.

“Truly a legend in our time, John Templeton understands that the real measure of a person's success in life is not a financial accomplishment but moral integrity and inner character.” —Billy Graham “This book belongs to the list of seminal publications of the twentieth century. How grateful the world will be that John Templeton has shared his secret openly, forthrightly, packed with integrity and healing powers.” —Robert Schuller

"This is science writing as wonder and as inspiration." —The Wall Street Journal Wall Street Journal From one of the most influential scientists of our time, a dazzling exploration of the hidden laws that govern the life cycle of everything from plants and animals to the cities we live in. Visionary physicist Geoffrey West is a pioneer in the field of complexity science, the science of emergent systems and networks. The term “complexity” can be misleading, however, because what makes West’s discoveries so beautiful is that he has found an underlying simplicity that unites the seemingly complex and diverse phenomena of living systems, including our bodies, our cities and our businesses. Fascinated by aging and mortality, West applied the rigor of a physicist to the biological question of why we live as long as we do and no longer. The result was astonishing, and changed science: West found that despite the riotous diversity in mammals, they are all, to a large degree, scaled versions of each other. If you know the size of a mammal, you can use scaling laws to learn everything from how much food it eats per day, what its heart-rate is, how long it will take to mature, its lifespan, and so on. Furthermore, the efficiency of the mammal’s circulatory systems scales up precisely based on weight: if you compare a mouse, a human and an elephant on a logarithmic graph, you find with every doubling of average weight, a species gets 25% more efficient—and lives 25% longer. Fundamentally, he has proven, the issue has to do with the fractal geometry of the networks that supply energy and remove waste from the organism’s body. West’s work has been game-changing for biologists, but then he made the even bolder move of exploring his work’s applicability. Cities, too, are constellations of networks and laws of scalability relate with eerie precision to them. Recently, West has applied his revolutionary work to the business world. This investigation has led to powerful insights into why some companies thrive while others fail. The implications of these discoveries are far-reaching, and are just beginning to be explored. Scale is a thrilling scientific adventure story about the elemental natural laws that bind us together in simple but profound ways. Through the brilliant mind of Geoffrey West, we can envision how cities, companies and biological life alike are dancing to the same simple, powerful tune.

This book is mainly based on the seven Hermetic Principles of Reality and Being as described in the Hermetic text “The Kybalion: A Study of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece” and it could be considered its commentary. The seven Laws of Reality can be considered as the essential principles of all the western and eastern spiritual wisdom traditions and can be employed in order to realize one's real nature of Pure Being and change one’s life conditions and circumstances. In final analysis, Truth is always found to be the same whether stated in modern scientific terms or in the language of ancient religion or philosophy, the only difference being in the form of presentation, always bearing in mind that no human formula will ever be able to describe every side of it. Part one of the book describes the seven Hermetic Laws or Principles which govern Reality: the Principle of Mind, the Principle of Cause and Effect, the Principle of Vibration, the Principle of Correspondence, the Principle of Polarity (or Opposites), the Principle of Rhythm (or Cyclicity) and the Principle of Gender. Part two offers many useful methods that can be employed in order to realize one's nature of Pure Being and change one’s conditions and circumstances by working with the seven Hermetic Laws of Reality.