In this book, Louis Roy takes account of the fact that, in the last fifty years, numerous people in the secularized West have responded yes to surveys that asked, “Are you aware of having had an experience during which you felt in the presence of a dimension or a reality very different from ordinary human life?” Are such experiences mere illusions? Some thinkers, like Feuerbach and Freud, believed so. Are such experiences encounters with God? Karl Barth, a great Protestant theologian, did not think much of their worth. On this issue, psychologists and theologians are divided. Roy argues that those experiences are valid, that they possess a real potential, and that they can open their recipients to a genuine wisdom. He reports on eight narratives, spells out their constitutive elements, classifies them into four categories—aesthetic, ontological, ethical, and interpersonal—and suggests criteria to assess their concrete authenticity. Thus, this book will appeal to educated readers interested in spirituality, philosophy of religion, psychology, literature, theology, and pastoral ministry.

In this definitive book on the scientifically proven health and stress-relieving benefits of Transcendental Meditation, a renowned psychiatrist and researcher explores why TM works, what it can do, and how to use it for maximum effect.

Everyone worships. But Jesus tells us that God is seeking a particular kind of worshiper. In True Worshipers, a seasoned pastor and musician guides readers toward a more engaging, transformative, and biblically faithful understanding of the worship God is seeking. True worship is an activity rooted in the grace of the gospel that affects every area of our lives. And while worship is more than just singing, God’s people gathering in his presence to lift their voices in song is an activity that is biblically based, historically rooted, and potentially life-changing. Thoroughly based in Scripture and filled with practical guidance, this book connects Sunday worship to the rest of our lives—helping us live as true worshipers each and every day.

Transcendent experiences have been extensively written about, from a psychological perspective by Freud, William James, Maslow and others. However in recent years, advances in identifying a "self-transcendent" personality trait, a "God Gene" and some of the neurochemical brain activities which occur during transcendent states, have opened up a new depth of understanding about this inside dimension of transcendent phenomena. They also offer science's newest challenge to traditional religious experience and belief. In this book transcendent experiences are described by those in a variety of arenas, including traditional religious practices, close encounters with death and other natural phenomena, creativity and the arts, competitive sports, romantic love, and other areas. Those interested in religion and science, as well many general readers, may come to recognize experiences of their own, which they may not have considered religious or transcendent. They may also find comfort from developing a stronger and deeper foundation for their religious beliefs.

When philosophy rescued him from an emotional crisis, Jules Evans became fascinated by how ideas invented over two thousand years ago can help us today. He interviewed soldiers, psychologists, gangsters, astronauts, and anarchists and discovered the ways that people are using philosophy now to build better lives. Ancient philosophy has inspired modern communities — Socratic cafés, Stoic armies, Epicurean communes — and even whole nations in the quest for the good life. This book is an invitation to a dream school with a rowdy faculty that includes twelve of the greatest philosophers from the ancient world, sharing their lessons on happiness, resilience, and much more. Lively and inspiring, this is philosophy for the street, for the workplace, for the battlefield, for love, for life.

Departing from human experience the book deals with the theological underpinnings of religious experience, then draws practical conclusions or implications for the spiritual life.

IT'S NOT JUST SEX. IT'S NOT JUST LOVE. IT'S SOMETHING MORE.... But what could be better than sex? How about lovemaking that sweeps people into new realities, producing altered states of consciousness a thousand times more powerful than the most earth-shattering orgasm? Lovemaking so spectacular that it truly is a religious experience? Transcendent Sex is not about the "Tantric method." It is about the best-kept secret in human history: that ordinary people, with no special training, can find themselves in different spiritual realms when making love -- an experience so profound that nothing will ever be the same. It is about sex that triggers episodes identical to the highest spiritual states -- as described in the annals of shamanism, yoga, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam -- including visions, channeling, reliving past lives, transcending the laws of physics, and seeing the face of God. This revealing book tells of lovers who engaged in sex as usual and suddenly found the veil between the worlds torn open. Transcendent Sex, like any other spiritual awakening, changes lives. Atheists have become believers; long-standing psychological wounds have been healed; and the sexually abused have become whole. These are the inspiring, incredible true stories of people who experienced an ecstasy and fulfillment beyond the borders of this world.