Search results for ""Karma""

Teachings from the Sirian High Council to help humanity as we merge into the 4th dimension. In 1996, while visiting the Julia Set crop circle in England, Patricia Cori experienced a galactic out-of-body journey—a transformational awakening that attuned her to a group of interdimensional light beings known to her as the Sirian High Council. Serving as their scribe now for more than 25 years, she shares the insights and teachings of these six-dimensional Sirian Light Emissaries to help humanity as we merge into the fourth dimension and face our collective karma—the source of so much of the dramatic events now unfolding around the world. Sharing new revelations that affirm the veracity of past prophecies as well as transmitting new visions for the human race, Cori’s messages from higher realms empower readers to peer fearlessly into the darkness, to understand it, and to focus on the light for all humankind and the earth. She explains how the Sirians hold us to our responsibility as guardians of this planet, with sound direction and advice for how to survive our imminent collective ascension and global awakening to new levels of conscious awareness. The Sirians’ discussions explain what we are undergoing right now and delve into many of the most crucial issues of our time, including the rush to merge the human mind with artificial intelligence, ET disclosure, cloning, the slipping of time, and the dark forces that are losing their grip on our planet and humanity. As the struggle between darkness and light is being fought at every level, Cori reminds us to take comfort in the fact that the Sirian High Council foresaw and told us how this time of immense upheaval would be the last phase of our passage out of the darkness and into illuminated states of consciousness and the light of planetary renewal.

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"The papers composing this volume treat of the inner rather than of the outer life of Japan, for which reason they have been grouped under the title Kokoro (heart). [This] word signifies also mind, in the emotional sense; spirit; courage; resolve; sentiment; affection; and inner meaning, just as we say in English, "the heart of things." —Lafcadio HearnAs an interpreter of Japan for the West, Lafcadio Hearn has no peer. His books are still read with fascination by foreigners and Japanese alike—a tribute to his keen powers of observation and the vividness of his prose. Kokoro is Hearn's love letter to Japan—his exploration of the genius of Japanese civilization and the wonder he felt at encountering these islands and their inhabitants.The 15 extraordinary stories in this book include: "Kimiko"— A beautiful geisha hatches a desperate plan to save her mother from poverty but then must make a heartbreaking choice. "A Conservative"— A samurai's son embraces the West and travels to Europe but finds his new home to be a shallow and faithless land. "A Street Singer"— A woman captivates crowds with the beauty of her voice, but her life story goes much deeper than her musical talents. "By Force of Karma"— The peculiar tale of a Buddhist priest who receives a letter from a mysterious woman and ultimately takes his own life. Published six years after Hearn arrived in Japan, these stories focus on the inner spiritual life of the Japanese. Sometimes touching and always compelling, they are drawn from Hearn's own experiences, telling stories of the people and customs that still make Japan so unique. Kokoro includes an informative foreword by Patricia Welch which highlights how, 125 years later, our understanding of Japan can still be deepened by Hearn's heartfelt prose.

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"Think not that dreams appear to the dreamer only at night, the dream of this world of pain appears to us even by day."In this book, famed author Lafcadio Hearn presents 14 fascinating stories—including deathless ghosts and yokai, local folklore and haunted places, as well as Buddhist traditions. This edition includes a new foreword by Michael Dylan Foster which explains the book's importance as a Japanese cultural and literary classic.The Japanese have two kinds of ghosts in their folklore—the spirits of the dead and the spirits of the living. In Ghostly Japan examines both and, in the process, offers a fascinating window into Japan's supernatural and spiritual world.The 14 stories include: "Fragment"—A young pilgrim encounters a mountain of skulls and is shown a terrible truth "Ingwa-banashi"—On her deathbed, a dying wife bequeaths to her young rival a sinister and horrific gift "A Passional Karma"—A spectral beauty transcends death to return for her handsome samurai lover "Story of a Tengu"—A priest saves the life of a Yokai monk and is granted a wish, but the outcome is not as expected While some stories contain spine-tingling imagery, others offer looks into Japan's rich culture and folklore. "Bits of Poetry" offers an engaging study on the nation's fascination with verse, "Japanese Buddhist Proverbs" explains the meaning of several traditional Zen Buddhist sayings and "Incense" examines its use in rituals to summon and banish spirits.Whether you're interested in classic ghost stories, or simply want to enjoy the prose of a legendary writer, In Ghostly Japan affords countless delights.

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• Shares data and meta-analysis from a large volume of extremely sophisticated experiments that provide proof for the existence of psi phenomena • Explores evidence of past lives, intuitive knowing, and other spiritual phenomena • Reveals the author’s own inexplicable experiences as well as her conversations with scientific colleagues, high-level experts, and government officials Neuroscientist Mona Sobhani, Ph.D., details her transformation from diehard materialist to open-minded spiritual seeker and shares the extensive research she discovered on past lives, karma, and the complex interactions of mind and matter. She reveals her conversations about spirituality, consciousness, and anomalous occurrences with scientific colleagues as well as high-level experts and government officials, as she searched for proof of a meaningful cosmos. She discovered that psi research has been conducted on a grand scale for more than a century--by hundreds of scientists with hundreds of thousands of participants--and that there exists substantial evidence for the reality of psi. She examines meta-analyses of these experiments, such as that of the Ganzfield tests, which showed the odds against chance of 12 billion to 1--throwing our current scientific materialist paradigm into question. Providing a deep dive into the literature of psychology, quantum physics, neuroscience, philosophy, and esoteric texts, Sobhani also explores the relationship between psi phenomena, the transcendence of space and time, and spirituality. Culminating with the author’s serious reckoning with one of the foundational principles of neuroscience--scientific materialism-- this illuminating book shows that the mysteries of human experience go far beyond what the present scientific paradigm can comprehend and leaves open the possibility of a participatory, meaningful Universe.

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Jan Westerhoff unfolds the story of one of the richest episodes in the history of Indian thought, the development of Buddhist philosophy in the first millennium CE. He starts from the composition of the Abhidharma works before the beginning of the common era and continues up to the time of Dharmakirti in the sixth century. This period was characterized by the development of a variety of philosophical schools and approaches that have shaped Buddhist thought up to the present day: the scholasticism of the Abhidharma, the Madhyamaka's theory of emptiness, Yogacara idealism, and the logical and epistemological works of Dinnaga and Dharmakirti. The book attempts to describe the historical development of these schools in their intellectual and cultural context, with particular emphasis on three factors that shaped the development of Buddhist philosophical thought: the need to spell out the contents of canonical texts, the discourses of the historical Buddha and the Mahayana sutras; the desire to defend their positions by sophisticated arguments against criticisms from fellow Buddhists and from non-Buddhist thinkers of classical Indian philosophy; and the need to account for insights gained through the application of specific meditative techniques. While the main focus is the period up to the sixth century CE, Westerhoff also discusses some important thinkers who influenced Buddhist thought between this time and the decline of Buddhist scholastic philosophy in India at the beginning of the thirteenth century. His aim is that the historical presentation will also allow the reader to get a better systematic grasp of key Buddhist concepts such as non-self, suffering, reincarnation, karma, and nirvana.

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Perl is a very powerful tool for Oracle database administrators, but too few DBAs realize how helpful Perl can be in managing, monitoring, and tuning Oracle databases. Whether you're responsible for Oracle9i, Oracle8i, or earlier databases, you'll find Perl an invaluable addition to your database administration arsenal. You don't need to be a Perl expert to use the excellent applications and scripts described in Perl for Oracle DBAs. The book explains what you need to know about Perl, provides a wealth of ready-to-use scripts developed especially for Oracle DBAs, and suggests many resources for further exploration. The book covers: * The Perl language -- an introduction to Perl, its rich history and culture, and its extensive text processing and data transformation capabilities. * The Perl/Oracle architecture -- Detailed information about Perl DBI, DBD::Oracle, the Oracle Call Interface (OCI), Oracle::OCI, extproc_perl, and mod_perl, the modules that allow Perl programs to communicate with Oracle databases. * Perl applications for Oracle DBAs -- Profiles of the best Perl open source applications available for use and customization by Oracle DBAs: Perl/Tk, OraExplain, StatsView, Orac, DDL::Oracle, SchemaDiff, Senora, DBD::Chart, SchemaView-Plus, Oracletool, Karma, Embperl, and Mason. * The Perl Database Administration (PDBA) Toolkit -- a comprehensive suite of specialized, ready-to-use scripts designed to help Oracle DBAs perform both routine and special-purpose administrative tasks: monitoring the Oracle alert log and databases, creating and managing Oracle user accounts, maintaining indexes and extents, extracting DDL and data, troubleshooting and tuning database problems, and much more. The book also explains how Oracle DBAs and developers can extend the toolkit and solve their own database administration problems using Perl.

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In the uncertainty following the end of the First World War, Rudolf Steiner perceived a unique opportunity to establish a healthy social and political constitution. He began lecturing throughout post-war Germany, often to large audiences, about his social ideas. Here, speaking to a more intimate grouping at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, Steiner seeks to deepen the themes of social threefolding, showing specifically how new social thinking is integral to anthroposophy. Steiner speaks of the superficiality of the materialistic view of history, originating with the economic shift amongst the population at the time of the Reformation. Back in Egyptian-Chaldean times, initiates ruled out of spiritual impulses. Later, in the Greco-Roman period, priests had power over their congregations. Today, homo economicus – or `economic man’ – has become the dominant idea, with the capitalist and the banker taking control. But the healing of social relationships can only come about through different modes of thought; the life of spirit must be separated not only from politics but also from economics. True social understanding allows for comprehension of karma – the appreciation of each person’s individual destiny. In parallel, says Steiner, we should work towards a global consciousness, as true social ideas are founded on people feeling themselves to be citizens of the world. In an important corollary, Steiner studies the incarnations of three significant spiritual beings in human evolution: Lucifer, Christ and Ahriman. Lucifer incarnated in the third pre-Christian millennium, Christ incarnated at the dawn of a new age, whilst an incarnation of Ahriman in the West is immanent. Ahriman is preparing this incarnation by insidiously promoting various ideas, for example that economic security is sufficient for healthy public life. A new wisdom must be achieved out of free human will, says Steiner, or else we will succumb to Ahriman.

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'The intention is to take a practical subject and show how our spiritual science with anthroposophical orientation truly can play an effective role in everyday life.' - Rudolf Steiner Following his first major lecture course for medical practitioners, Rudolf Steiner sought to elaborate and deepen his 'extension' of the art of healing from a spiritual-scientific perspective. In this collection of addresses, discussions, question-and-answer sessions and lectures - running parallel to his major medical cycles - Steiner comments on contemporary medicine's emphasis on experimental, materially-based research and its subsequent lack of attention to therapy. Steiner's intention is not to detract from developments in medical science but to build on them with spiritual science - not quackery but a true art of medicine. The medical practitioner has an important task: diseases must be cured, and it is wrong not to intervene and simply to allow 'karma to take its course'. Speaking to audiences ranging from members of the general public to small groups of medical professionals, Steiner offers new insights into our understanding of human organs such as the brain, kidneys and liver, as well as the efficacy of healing substances including arsenic, sulphur, arnica and essential plant oils. He studies a broad range of specific medical conditions, giving advice on cancer, hysteria, rheumatism, gout, skin eruptions, typhoid, diabetes, haemophilia, syphilis, gonorrhoea, asthma, glaucoma, leukaemia, smallpox, insomnia, and childhood diseases such as measles. His commentaries on a raft of contrasting subjects - such as psychiatry, sexual maturity, memory, poisoning and detoxification - present challenging perspectives for patients and medical practitioners. Steiner's surprisingly non-dogmatic advice on vaccination, for example, gives a refreshingly balanced, and perhaps unexpected, point of view. This volume also includes a lecture on eurythmy therapy, a comprehensive introduction, index and notes, and nine full colour plates of Rudolf Steiner's blackboard drawings.

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We negotiate more frequently than we realize not only in the workplace but also with family, friends and neighbors. Negotiation is like breathing, which we do all the time—although we seldom take the initiative to learn proper breathing techniques. Likewise, we fail to acquire skills for a meaningful and efficient way to negotiate. Here, in pursuit of developing our skills, we approach the subject from our spiritual core, our authentic self that is conscious of our inner connectedness. In doing so, we are aware that even though terms such as haggling and bargaining are synonymously used with negotiation, they are vastly different.Enlightened Negotiation™ introduces a new vocabulary, a new set of practical tools, and an expansive new perspective on the familiar concept of “win-win”negotiations. It draws on basic spiritual principles revered by many wisdom traditions to transcend the competitive or combative model of dispute-resolution and instead tap the natural power of divine potential —the innate desire of the human spirit to connect, communicate, and co-create solutions that move all parties forward and upward as one. The 8 Spiritual Laws of Negotiation: Trust, Intention, Communication, Strength, Flexibility, Mindfulness, Manifestation and Reflection, provide a new paradigm for the emerging generation of conscious entrepreneurs. It shows how to bridge the worlds of materiality (business, money), governance (personal, family, community), and spirituality (actualization of our authentic self). The significance of number 8 is that it represents Prosperity. It also represents infinity, continuity, and karma. The effects of negotiation linger well beyond any immediate agreement. Enlightened Negotiation™ fills the void between business, spiritually oriented and research supported methods and is as applicable to family and personal relationships as it is to business and even global conflict situations requiring negotiated resolutions.

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Rudolf Steiner's third great lecture course to physicians has a completely different character to his previous presentations. Delivered in response to a group of young doctors - who approached Steiner with the specific request for a course that would be 'quite intimate', but should not contain anything ' - which appealed only to knowledge and the intellect' - it offers unique, groundbreaking insights into the practice and art of healing. Steiner speaks about the influence of cosmic and earthly forces - the periphery and centre - on the human being. Proper understanding of these processes enables the physician to comprehend the actions of plants and minerals used in anthroposophic medicines, and thus to prescribe appropriate and individually specific remedies. Steiner paints a picture of the human being as a complex confluence of the forces of heredity, forces from the cosmos, and an individual's unique spiritual nature. The physician has to understand these relationships in order to be able to help effectively when they are out of balance. Steiner stresses the importance of personal development for physicians, and offers plentiful instructions for a meditative practice intrinsic to their work. Among a wealth of other topics, Steiner addresses inflammation and excessive growth; the nature of scarlet fever and measles; the importance of a child's food and breast milk; the functions of the liver, heart, head and skeleton; the incarnation process; karma as a guide for the physician; morality as a force streaming in from the cosmos; the cosmic trinity of Saturn, Sun and Moon in the healthy and sick human being; and the involvement of the heart in thinking. Included here are Rudolf Steiner's answers to questions, and the first newsletter from the Medical Section, with a key meditation for physicians. This volume also features 18 full colour plates of Rudolf Steiner's blackboard drawings, a comprehensive introduction, index and notes.

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What does a pathetic class of misfits have in their arsenal to combat their schoolteacher’s alien technology, bizarre powers and...tentacles?! Ever caught yourself screaming, “I could just kill that teacher”? What would it take to justify such antisocial behavior and weeks of detention? Especially if he’s the best teacher you’ve ever had? Giving you an “F” on a quiz? Mispronouncing your name during roll call...again? How about blowing up the moon and threatening to do the same to Mother Earth—unless you take him out first?! Plus a reward of a cool 100 million from the Ministry of Defense! Okay, now that you’re committed... How are you going to pull this off? What does your pathetic class of misfits have in their arsenal to combat Teach’s alien technology, bizarre powers and...tentacles?! Koro Sensei’s lessons in verbal defense are put to the test when Karma must use his brains instead of his brawn to rescue a classmate. Then things finally begin to go smoothly for the students of 3-E. Everyone receives some good news about their futures, and Nagisa settles on a career goal. But the peace is broken when the world’s nations miraculously manage to coordinate their efforts long enough to launch a plan to assassinate Koro Sensei—with the aid of the strongest mercenary in the world and an ultimate weapon! Will anyone break ranks to protect everyone’s favorite tentacled teacher…? * The surprise hit, a bizarre action comedy about a tentacled teacher with a heart, is a consistent Bookscan and New York Times graphic novel best seller. * Releases 6 times a year for 21 volumes. Series ends at 21. * Creator Yusei Matsui attended NY Comic Con 2016 (170,000 plus attendees) for panels and signings.* Assassination Classroom has sold over 163,000 copies in the US over 14 volumes (Bookscan 2/17). * Nominated for 2016 Eisner Awards for “Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia.” * Funny, action-oriented, heartwarming—plus plenty of kinky fan service.

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'A radiant debut' EMILY HENRYTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!Six summers to fall in love. One moment to fall apart. A weekend to get it right.They say you can never go home again, and for Persephone Fraser that has felt too true for the last decade, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life. Instead of glittering summers on the lakeshore of her childhood, she spends them in a stylish apartment in the city, going out with friends, and keeping everyone a safe distance from her heart. Until the day she gets a call that sends her racing back to Barry's Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek - the man she never thought she'd have to live without. For six summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his family restaurant and curling up together with books, Percy and Sam had been inseparable. And slowly that friendship turned into something breathtakingly more, before it fell spectacularly apart.When Percy returns to the lake, their connection is as undeniable as it had always been. Percy must confront the decisions she's made and the years she's spent punishing herself for them, in order to determine, once and for all, whether their love might be bigger than the biggest mistakes of their past.Told over the course of six years and one weekend, Every Summer After is a big, sweeping nostalgic story of love and the people and choices that mark us forever. 'The magic and romance of summer is palpable' Popsugar'Your next must-read beach-read' Ashley Audrain 'A sweet story about second chances, and how the future we imagine for ourselves is never quite what it turns out to be' Jodi Picoult'Perfect for those who covet steamy summer dock days and second-chance love stories. I devoured it!' Karma Brown'A quintessential summer novel, full of longing and lost love, and hits on so many beloved tropes' BuzzFeed

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A corrective to the contemporary idea that Buddhism has always been an environmentally friendly religion In the current popular imagination, Buddhism is often understood to be a religion intrinsically concerned with the environment. The Dharma, the name given to Buddhist teachings by Buddhists, states that all things are interconnected. Therefore, Buddhists are perceived as extending compassion beyond people and animals to include plants and the earth itself out of a concern for the total living environment. In The Buddha's Footprint, Johan Elverskog contends that only by jettisoning this contemporary image of Buddhism as a purely ascetic and apolitical tradition of contemplation can we see the true nature of the Dharma. According to Elverskog, Buddhism is, in fact, an expansive religious and political system premised on generating wealth through the exploitation of natural resources. Elverskog surveys the expansion of Buddhism across Asia in the period between 500 BCE and 1500 CE, when Buddhist institutions were built from Iran and Azerbaijan in the west, to Kazakhstan and Siberia in the north, Japan in the east, and Sri Lanka and Indonesia in the south. He examines the prosperity theology at the heart of the Dharma that declared riches to be a sign of good karma and the means by which spritiual status could be elevated through donations bequeathed to Buddhist institutions. He demonstrates how this scriptural tradition propelled Buddhists to seek wealth and power across Asia and to exploit both the people and the environment. Elverskog shows the ways in which Buddhist expansion not only entailed the displacement of local gods and myths with those of the Dharma—as was the case with Christianity and Islam—but also involved fundamentally transforming earlier social and political structures and networks of economic exchange. The Buddha's Footprint argues that the institutionalization of the Dharma was intimately connected to agricultural expansion, resource extraction, deforestation, urbanization, and the monumentalization of Buddhism itself.

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THE INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER A Spring 2020 Okra Pick Parade’s 20 Most Anticipated Books of Early 2020 Goodreads’ It Book of Summer Top Reviewers Pick SheKnows’ 10 of the Most Anticipated Books Coming in 2020 Mary Kay Andrews’ Reading Challenge Women’s Fiction Pick Travel + Leisure’s 20 Books to Gift This Mother’s Day Working Mother’s 20 Most Anticipated Books of 2020 for Working Moms Brit + Co 12 Books That Will Take You on a Literary Vacation From “the next major voice in Southern fiction” (Elin Hilderbrand) and the bestselling author of the Peachtree Bluff series comes an odd-couple tale of friendship that asks just how much our past choices define our happiness. It’s summertime on the North Carolina coast and the livin’ is easy. Unless, that is, you’ve just lost your mother to cancer, your sister to her extremist husband, and your husband to his executive assistant. Meet Gray Howard. Right when Gray could use a serious infusion of good karma in her life, she inadvertently gets a stranger, Diana Harrington, fired from her job at the local pharmacy. Diana Harrington’s summer isn’t off to the greatest start either: Hours before losing her job, she broke up with her boyfriend and moved out of their shared house with only a worn-out Impala for a bed. Lucky for her, Gray has an empty guest house and a very guilty conscience. With Gray’s kindness, Diana’s tide begins to turn. But when her first love returns, every secret from her past seems to resurface all at once. And, as Gray begins to blaze a new trail, she discovers, with Diana’s help, that what she envisioned as her perfect life may not be what she wants at all. In her warmest, wisest novel yet, Kristy Woodson Harvey delivers a discerning portrait of modern womanhood through two vastly different lenses. Feels Like Falling is a beach bag essential for Harvey fans—and for a new generation of readers.

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Nacida en Alabama, Paula Vauss pasó la primera década de su vida en la carretera junto a su joven madre de espíritu libre, Kai, una cuenta cuentos itinerante que mezclaba la mitología hindú con la tradición oral sureña para reinventar su historia mientras vagaban. Pero todo, incluyendo el nombre de nacimiento de Paula, Kali Jai, cambió cuando ella relató su propia historia: una que llevó a Kai a la cárcel y a Paula a sistemas de hogares temporales. Separadas, guardando cada una sus propios secretos, el intenso vínculo que antes compartían quedó fracturado. Ahora Paula se ha reencarnado en una dura abogada de divorcios con un exitoso bufete en Atlanta. Aunque no ha visto a Kai en quince años, sigue haciendo pagos a esa deuda kármica, hasta el día en que su último cheque fue devuelto en el correo, junto con una nota enigmática: «Voy a hacer un viaje, Kali. Voy a volver al principio; la muerte no es el fin. Tú serás el fin. Nos volveremos a encontrar, y habrá nuevas historias. Ya sabes cómo funciona el karma». Entonces, el secreto más guardado de Kai llega literalmente a la puerta de Paula, llevando su vida al caos y cambiándola de ser hija única a ser hermana mayor. Desesperada por encontrar a su madre antes de que sea demasiado tarde, Paula emprende un viaje de descubrimiento que la llevará de nuevo al pasado y a los rincones más profundos de su corazón. Con la ayuda de su examante Birdwine, un detective privado emocionalmente volátil que sigue estando enamorado de ella, esta brillante mujer, experta en familias destrozadas, ahora tiene que descubrir cómo restaurar una: la suya propia. Esta es una historia sobre la historia misma, cómo los relatos que contamos nos conectan, nos quebrantan y nos definen, y cómo los finales y los principios que escogemos pueden destruirnos… y restaurarnos. Con toques de humor y una perspectiva conmovedora, la querida autora best seller del New York Times, Joshilyn Jackson, está en su mejor momento.

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Has your love life ever felt needlessly complicated? With this book, the secret inner workings of your love life are revealed!Your birth date reveals more about you than you might imagine.Have you ever wondered why some people are afraid of commitment or why others always put work before love? Is the person you are dating right for you? Why is your best friend such a hopeless romantic? Finding love is no longer a mystery to be unraveled. This collection of love affirmations and insights will help find the answers to every question you've ever had about your personal relationships.Robert Lee Camp is known throughout Hollywood for his accurate and insightful celebrity readings. His unique fortune-telling system is based on a science used by the ancient Egyptians. Now, you can try this in-depth but surprisingly simple system for yourself—a unique combination of astrology and numerology that can be mastered in a matter of hours.Featuring new chapters that explores famous celebrity couples, this latest edition of Love Cards will teach you how to perform a complete relationship reading between two people. The perfect gift for any anniversary, wedding shower, or romantic gift occasion, Love Cards allows you to explore the science of your love language. Look up your Birth Card, the cards of your lover, family, and friends, and then discover:Who am I most compatible with in love, sex, romance, and marriage?How do my Karma and Past Life Cards affect my present relationships?Why have I chosen past partners, and how can I make better decisions about my future?Which celebrities share my birthday?Find Your Birth Card Now and unlock the mysteries of love!Love Cards is a guide to help you understand why you are the way you are, and allow the same insights for you about your partner. Is the key to a happy love life in the cards?

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HIGH RETURNS from LOW RISK If you lie awake at night worrying about your retirement, paying for your children’s schooling or your general financial security, High Returns from Low Risk is your solution to a sound sleep. This unique wealth management guide is written by a fund manager who oversees billions of dollars in portfolio assets, and who wants to share his approach with individual investors, advisors, bankers and everyone interested in the stock market. Despite all the appeal exciting stocks have, his evidence-based strategy repeatedly proves low-risk stocks historically beat high-risk ones going back well over eighty years. By how much? Over eighteen times the returns! Growing wealth doesn’t have to be stressful, and it shouldn’t be risky when you get High Returns from Low Risk. ‘The low-risk effect, that is the idea that historically, unlike many well-known theories, average return across stocks doesn’t appear to go up with most standard measures of risk, is one of the most important “anomalies” in modern finance. Pim van Vliet is one of the pioneers in studying this effect and using it to improve investor portfolios. Anyone interested in systematic equity investing should carefully read this important book.’ — Clifford S. Asness, Founder, Managing Principal and Chief Investment Officer at AQR Capital Management, USA ‘Pim van Vliet’s experience as one of the pioneers of low-volatility investing gives him unique insight into one of the most fascinating economic anomalies of our time. The idea that risk, properly defined, generates a positive return, is one of those ideas that becomes even more profound when we learn it is not true. There is no cosmic risk karma that pays people for taking risk, and this book will help people understand what types of investment risks generate premiums, and which will actually cost you money.’ —Eric Falkenstein, Author of The Missing Risk Premium: Why Low Volatility Investing Works, USA

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'Fundamentally, all of spiritual science ultimately aims to understand human beings in their essence, in their tasks and endeavours - in their necessary endeavours in the course of development.' - Rudolf Steiner In the midst of the division and destruction of the Great War, Rudolf Steiner speaks of the spiritual unification of all human beings. Rather than preaching a traditional morality, however, he states esoteric facts as he perceives them, based on spiritual-scientific research. These observations relate to the powerful universal impulse of Christ - a healing spiritual force that works through the various nations and races, irrespective of creed or colour - as a source of potential unity. Rudolf Steiner describes this impulse as the central core of human evolution. It allows for a conscious and newly-acquired connection between all human beings, in the context of the continuing diversification and fragmentation of the human race. The central motif in these lectures relates to the appearance of Christ on earth - knowledge of his historical incarnation, as well as Christ's manifestation in the present and future periods of human development. Rudolf Steiner creates an arc from the pre-Christian mysteries through Gnosticism and the older studies of the early Church Fathers, to Scholasticism and neo-Scholasticism. After ancient faculties of clairvoyance had began to fade, he explains, human beings could no longer see beyond the world of outer appearances, and direct perceptions of Christ were therefore no longer possible. And so the question arose as to how limitations on human knowledge could be overcome - a question which remains pertinent in our time. Steiner asserts that only a transformation of thinking, enabling a living and conscious inner conceptual life, can allow for a true understanding of the relationship between the earthly Jesus and the cosmic Christ. Such living thinking leads in turn to direct experience. Other topics in this volume include the birth date of the 'two Jesus children'; the wisdom of Gnostic teachings; the provenance of the Cross; the mysteries of the Christmas festival; insights into ancient Christmas plays, and reflections on individual consciousness of karma in the future

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The New York Times Science Bestseller from Robert Wachter, Modern Healthcare’s #1 Most Influential Physician-Executive in the USWhile modern medicine produces miracles, it also delivers care that is too often unsafe, unreliable, unsatisfying, and impossibly expensive. For the past few decades, technology has been touted as the cure for all of healthcare’s ills. But medicine stubbornly resisted computerization – until now. Over the past five years, thanks largely to billions of dollars in federal incentives, healthcare has finally gone digital. Yet once clinicians started using computers to actually deliver care, it dawned on them that something was deeply wrong. Why were doctors no longer making eye contact with their patients? How could one of America’s leading hospitals give a teenager a 39-fold overdose of a common antibiotic, despite a state-of-the-art computerized prescribing system? How could a recruiting ad for physicians tout the absence of an electronic medical record as a major selling point? Logically enough, we’ve pinned the problems on clunky software, flawed implementations, absurd regulations, and bad karma. It was all of those things, but it was also something far more complicated. And far more interesting . . .Written with a rare combination of compelling stories and hard-hitting analysis by one of the nation’s most thoughtful physicians, The Digital Doctor examines healthcare at the dawn of its computer age. It tackles the hard questions, from how technology is changing care at the bedside to whether government intervention has been useful or destructive. And it does so with clarity, insight, humor, and compassion. Ultimately, it is a hopeful story. "We need to recognize that computers in healthcare don’t simply replace my doctor’s scrawl with Helvetica 12," writes the author Dr. Robert Wachter. "Instead, they transform the work, the people who do it, and their relationships with each other and with patients. . . . Sure, we should have thought of this sooner. But it’s not too late to get it right."This riveting book offers the prescription for getting it right, making it essential reading for everyone – patient and provider alike – who cares about our healthcare system.

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The New York Times Science Bestseller from Robert Wachter, Modern Healthcare’s #1 Most Influential Physician-Executive in the USWhile modern medicine produces miracles, it also delivers care that is too often unsafe, unreliable, unsatisfying, and impossibly expensive. For the past few decades, technology has been touted as the cure for all of healthcare’s ills.But medicine stubbornly resisted computerization – until now. Over the past five years, thanks largely to billions of dollars in federal incentives, healthcare has finally gone digital.Yet once clinicians started using computers to actually deliver care, it dawned on them that something was deeply wrong. Why were doctors no longer making eye contact with their patients? How could one of America’s leading hospitals give a teenager a 39-fold overdose of a common antibiotic, despite a state-of-the-art computerized prescribing system? How could a recruiting ad for physicians tout the absence of an electronic medical record as a major selling point?Logically enough, we’ve pinned the problems on clunky software, flawed implementations, absurd regulations, and bad karma. It was all of those things, but it was also something far more complicated. And far more interesting . . .Written with a rare combination of compelling stories and hard-hitting analysis by one of the nation’s most thoughtful physicians, The Digital Doctor examines healthcare at the dawn of its computer age. It tackles the hard questions, from how technology is changing care at the bedside to whether government intervention has been useful or destructive. And it does so with clarity, insight, humor, and compassion. Ultimately, it is a hopeful story."We need to recognize that computers in healthcare don’t simply replace my doctor’s scrawl with Helvetica 12," writes the author Dr. Robert Wachter. "Instead, they transform the work, the people who do it, and their relationships with each other and with patients. . . . Sure, we should have thought of this sooner. But it’s not too late to get it right."This riveting book offers the prescription for getting it right, making it essential reading for everyone – patient and provider alike – who cares about our healthcare system.

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Sometimes illumination occurs spontaneously or, as Ram Dass experienced, in a cosmic moment of the heart opening. More commonly, it happens when we remove the dust from the mirror of our spiritual heart with daily practice—to see beyond the illusion of our transient thoughts and emotions to the vast and luminous landscape of our true nature. For five decades, Ram Dass has explored the depths of consciousness and love and brought back insights as his service to others. With Polishing the Mirror, he gathers together his essential teachings for being and loving, here and now, in the eternal present. For those just starting on the path, this is a primer for living from the spiritual heart. For those already practicing it, is a reference point for daily life in the spirit. In this audiobook, read by coauthor Rameshwar Das, listeners will discover perennial wisdom, humor, teaching stories, and guidance into Ram Dass's own spiritual practices, including: Bhakti Yoga—devotion, opening our hearts to unconditional love • Practices for living, aging, dying, and embracing the natural flow of life • Karma Yoga—transformation through selfless service • Working with fear and suffering as a path to grace and freedom • Step-by-step guidance in devotional chant, meditation, mantra, and more Polishing the Mirror is Ram Dass's invitation to experience who we are and why we are here, and how to become beacons of unconditional love. This unabridged audiobook includes four bonus tracks: Pure Awareness—a guided meditation with Ram Dass • I Am Loving Awareness—a guided meditation with Ram Dass • An Introduction to Vipassana Meditation with Ram Dass • Sita Ram—kirtan chant music with Jai Uttal "This book is a blessing! Simply reading it will open your heart and bring you to mysterious, spacious, loving freedom. Ram Dass is one of the great sages of our time who can make us laugh, cry, and awaken!"—Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart "Ram Dass has been the most influential person in my own spiritual development. I treasure his wisdom as well as his spirit. Let his words in this book enter your soul—for my friend Ram Dass is divine love personified."—Wayne Dyer, author of The Power of Intention

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A Heart-Centered Spiritual Classic for Your Ever-Changing Life The Bhagavad Gita is a gem so precious in India's spiritual treasury that many regard it not as a volume of sacred verse, but as a living manifestation of the Divine. In the summer of 1974, inside a balmy Boulder, Colorado, warehouse that served as the main hall of the fledgling Naropa Institute, some say that a minor miracle occurred: the reawakening of the Gita's living presence, as it unfolded in a series of wisdom teachings led by Ram Dass. With Love, Service, Devotion, and the Ultimate Surrender, you are invited to experience these legendary gatherings. The tale of the warrior Arjuna and his divine friend Krishna serves as metaphor for the recurring dilemmas that we encounter as we spiral into the depths of our spiritual journey. In these sessions, Ram Dass illuminates the Gita’s essential verses with insights spanning many traditions, from Rumi's ecstatic poetry to Basho's koans, from devotional chant to monastic silence, from Sri Ramana's self-inquiry to Saint Paul's devotion to Christ. The destination? A new perspective on the crucial moments of contradiction and questioning that all spiritual seekers must face again and again: If it's all Divine perfection, why bother with the search at all? Is it possible to awaken without a teacher or guru? Why am I experiencing these strange spiritual "gifts”? Will I get lost in their power? If I'm conscious and kind, why not indulge in all of life's pleasures? Since everyone suffers and dies, will my compassion ultimately matter? With irrepressible love and intellect (and a good dose of skillful mischief), this epic meeting with Ram Dass yields new answers with every revisit, like a lifelong friend that comes to meet us at each turning of our journey.Highlights: A 12-hour odyssey with Ram Dass into his timeless Yogas of the Bhagavad Gita Naropa sessionsThree ways to enter the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita • Karma yoga—reincarnation, dharma, service, sadhanas • Jnana yoga—inquiry, the critical mind, the koan • Mind, illusion, and Brahman • Sacrifice and mantra—trappings and benefits of ritual and form • Renunciation and purification—ashtanga yoga, kundalini, the chakras, austerities, the "witness," desire, sexual energy • Devotion and the guru—bhakti ("devotion"), surrender, siddhis ("powers"), Maharajji • Death and dying—What is born, what dies? How do you live in the present moment?

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A guide to discovering and developing the spiritual and mystical talents hidden in your astrological chart • Explores the 4th, 8th, and 12th houses of the natal astrological chart—those connected with the water signs, the deepest and darkest areas of the individual psyche, profound spiritual insights, and hidden knowledge • Explains how to interpret the signs and planets in the water houses of your birth chart, including how to develop the innate talents and spiritual powers you discover • Reveals the occult and psychic significance of water and shows how this significance is expressed in each of the three water signs: Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces, the rulers of the water houses Your astrological birth chart, or natal chart, shows the positions of the planets, sun, and moon at the time of your birth. Shaped like a circle or wheel, it is divided into 12 sections, or “houses,” each connected with a different area of life or self. The positions of the planets within the houses offer deep and often complex insight into your unique gifts and your life’s path. In Astrology for Mystics, Tayannah Lee McQuillar explores the 4th, 8th, and 12th houses--those connected with the element of water and all things occult, mystical, and spiritual. The fourth house, ruled by water sign Cancer, is traditionally the house of family, home, ancestors, and suffering. The eighth house, ruled by water sign Scorpio, is the house of sex, death, secret powers, and transformation. The twelfth house, ruled by Pisces, is the house of karma, loss, unspoken expectations, fantasy, and confinement. As McQuillar explains, these are the houses that reveal the deepest and darkest areas of the individual psyche, which many people are reluctant to explore, yet this triad is the key to profound spiritual insights as well as the discovery of hidden knowledge and abilities. The author guides you through interpreting the signs and planets that inhabit the water houses in your natal chart and shows how they reveal specific innate talents. She describes how to develop the hidden powers revealed by your chart and offers practical advice for incorporating this knowledge into your daily life for spiritual growth and self-improvement. Sharing interpretation examples from her practice, she also explores how to embrace the challenge of the occult water houses so you can claim the many treasures that can only be found on the ocean floor of the psyche.

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"And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die." The Flood that God used to destroy the sinful race of man on the earth in Genesis 6:17 crystalizes--in its terrifying, dramatic, simplicity--the universally recognized concept of payback. For millennia human civilization has relied on such beliefs to create a moral order that threatens divine punishment on people who commit crimes or other bad deeds, while promising rewards-abstract or material-for those who do good. Today, while secularism and unbelief are at an all-time high, this almost superstitious willingness to believe in karma persists. We find ourselves imagining what our parents, spouse, or boss would think of our thoughts and actions, even if they are miles away and will never find out. We often feel that we are being monitored. We talk of eyes burning into the backs of our heads, the walls listening, a sense that someone or something is out there, observing our every move, aware of our thoughts and intentions. God Is Watching You is an exploration of this belief as it has developed over time and how it has shaped the course of human evolution. Dominic Johnson explores questions such as: How has a concern for supernatural consequences affected the way human society has changed, how we live today, and how we will live in the future? Does it expand or limit the potential for local, regional and global cooperation today? How will the current decline in religious belief (at least in many western countries) affect selfishness and society in the future? And what, if anything, is replacing our ancient concerns for supernatural punishment as the means to temper self-interest and promote cooperation? In short, do we still need God? Drawing on new research from anthropology, evolutionary biology, experimental psychology, and neuroscience, Johnson presents a new theory of supernatural punishment that offers fresh insight on the origins and evolution of not only religion, but human cooperation and society. He shows that belief in supernatural reward and punishment is no quirk of western or Christian culture, but a ubiquitous part of human nature that spans geographical regions, cultures, and human history.

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'Let us be courageous and not draw back in fear when realities of the world of spirit that play into human life are unveiled. You see, the future of humanity depends on us learning to live with the world of spirit in the same way that we live with the physical world here on earth.' - Rudolf Steiner In a wide-ranging series of lectures, Rudolf Steiner demonstrates the integral nature of spirit and matter and their manifold connections. Speaking to audiences in London, Holland, Germany and Switzerland, Steiner explains how, through a process of evolving consciousness, humanity lost its knowledge and direct experience of the spiritual sources of existence, but now needs to reconnect with them. Spirit is the essence and power of life which, in Steiner's vivid image, 'strikes a match in our whole being' when we allow it to inform us fully. Our world cannot be understood only in physical terms but is inseparable from the divine realities continually creating and sustaining it. Reconnecting with the spirit calls upon us to heal the fractures between everyday consciousness and the metaphysical realms in which we are already embedded. In Steiner's descriptions, there is no end to the numerous reconnections possible: between our past, present and future; between the active, individualizing principle of the 'I' and the physical human body it works upon and shapes; between our physical actions and limb movements in one life and the forming or sculpting of our head in a future one; and above all, between the moral actions and insights we develop whilst alive on earth and our developing 'eye' for spiritual reality in the life after death, with all that this can mean for the future of human evolution. Taking a truly holistic approach, Rudolf Steiner tackles an eclectic series of subjects throughout these sixteen lectures - all united by the common theme of rediscovering how spirit pervades life. Apart from a focus on education in several lectures, he discusses: experiences during sleep; the human spirit and soul between death and a new birth; how spirit 'sculpts' the human organism; Christ from the perspective of anthroposophy; the battle for human nature between luciferic and ahrimanic beings; karma and the creation of conditions for our return to a new life on earth; human experience of the etheric cosmos; and the human being's faculties of hearing, speaking, singing, walking, and thinking. Together, these lectures offer a cornucopia of spiritual insights and wisdom for the present day. 16 lectures, various cities, 1922, CW 218

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A contemporary dramatic take on a 4,000-year-old Sanskrit epic that is foundational to Indian culture. Why Not Theatre’s large-scale, once-in-a-generation retelling of Mahabharata brings together a cast of performers entirely from the South Asian diaspora, blending cultures and art forms in a spectacular production at the Shaw Festival and the Barbican Theatre in London. Over two parts (Karma and Dharma) and a communal meal (Khana), this translation and adaptation of Mahabharata spans generations and takes audiences into the hearts and minds of some of the most complex and enduring characters ever created. With warring families and devious revenge plots, Mahabharata tells the story of an ancient feud with philosophical and spiritual questions that are no less urgent today. In times of division, how do we find wholeness? Are we destined to repeat the mistakes of our ancestors? And how can we build a new world when we have nearly destroyed this one? Contains the full text of the play along with materials opening up the behind-the-scenes world of the production, including interviews with the creators, background and context about the source material, production photographs, a Mahabharata family tree, and glossary."Ravi Jain and Miriam Fernandes’s contemporary take on the Mahabharata is one of the most beautiful emotional journeys I have had the privilege to witness. It is inspiring, mind broadening, and speaks to all the senses. It even brings you back to the origins of theatre itself, when people would gather in the quarries around a bonfire to tell stories. With their tasteful use of technology, dance, and opera, the 4,000-year-old Sanskrit poem comes to life and feels more universal than ever. A captivating theatre experience, from the first flame to the last pixel." – Robert Lepage"In their stunning rendition of the great Indian epic Mahabharata, Ravi Jain and Miriam Fernandes brilliantly reverse the whole concept of what Bertolt Brecht famously advised theatre directors: to make the familiar, unfamiliar. Jain and Fernandes have turned the unfamiliar into the familiar. The 4,000-year-old saga most Indians grew up with is made accessible to a contemporary audience the world over. No mean feat. ‘The play, true to its source, crosses all boundaries of culture, class, and geography. Its timeless storytelling and evocative stage design is transformed into a saga for the world, with its fundamental emotions of human nature – power, hate, jealousy, greed, and lust. To be gob-smacked by this innovation would be an understatement. Immerse yourself in this take on the Mahabharata and travel with it in time into the past, present, and future of humanity." – Deepa Mehta

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'From poignant friendships to all-consuming crushes, this story has it all! Ellie's journey had me hooked from the very first page and I loved experiencing the high and lows of returning home with her. Fans of Never Been Kissed are sure to love this book!' Falon Ballard, author of Just My Type'A witty, sardonic visit with the ghosts of high school past' Abby Jimenez, NYT bestselling authorIn this laugh-out-loud romantic comedy, one woman finds that to keep her dream job, she'll have to face her worst nightmare: high school.Ellie Jenkins definitely didn't peak in high school. She was an outsider, the invisible girl with a desperate crush on a guy who hardly knew her name. But having worked her butt off to put her nerdy, outcast teen years behind her, she's finally got what she always wanted: a life in Los Angeles and a job as a writer for a hit tv show. Everything's going perfectly until an invitation for her high school reunion arrives. Ellie doesn't want to go, but her writing has been suffering and her boss gives her an ultimatum: go to this reunion or lose her big break forever. Taking the bait, Ellie heads back to school, but no one at the reunion is what she expected. Not her ex-best friend, who still has the ability to see right through Ellie. And not her secret crush, who has only gotten hotter, sexier, and way more complicated. The only way she's going to survive this whole weird ordeal is by fixing her bad high school karma, kissing the boy who got away, and getting the hell out of Ohio for good. But as Ellie soon discovers - in real life, you can't just rewrite the script.More acclaim for Ellie is Cool Now'Fulton and McClaren's voice sparkles in this iconic story of reunions, romance, and rewriting first impressions into new possibilities. Like a high-school yearbook in rom-com form, ELLIE IS COOL NOW is frothy, fun and unforgettable.' Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka, authors of Do I Know You?'Sarcasm meets nostalgia in this sardonic second-chance romance. At once wry and heart warming, ELLIE IS COOL NOW will make even the most school-spirit-averse reader consider a trip back to their home town for a chance at rekindling both love and friendship, as it reminds us that even cynics deserve a happily-ever-after.' Liz Parker, author of In the Shadow Garden'Top notch banter, high personal stakes, and all the swoons make ELLIE IS COOL NOW an unputdownable joy of a romcom! Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren dazzle in their range, and inspire through their thoughtful portrayal of what a second chance can do for the soul.' Courtney Kae, author of In the Event of Love

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