Vivid Awareness

Download or read book Vivid Awareness written by Khenchen Thrangu and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2011-01-11 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Powerful guidance on how to work with strong emotions in overwhelming circumstances through Buddhist meditation—from a renowned Tibetan Buddhist master In the summer of 1957, the revered Buddhist teacher and scholar Khenpo Gangshar foresaw the difficulties that would soon fall upon Tibet and began teaching in a startling new way that enabled all those who heard him to use the coming difficulties as the path of Dharma practice. The teaching consisted of the essential points of mahamudra and dzogchen, both view and practice, presented in a way that made them easy for anyone to use, even in the most difficult of circumstances. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche was one of the grateful recipients of these teachings, which he regards as among the most important he has ever been given. He transmits them here, for the benefit of all of us who strive to practice in challenging times. They include contemplations on the ephemeral nature of both joy and suffering, meditations for resting the mind, and guidance for cultivating equanimity in any situation. “These instructions are exceptionally concise and easy to follow . . . They could save your life too—giving you the tools to stabilize the mind even in the most terrifying and challenging of circumstances.” —Pema Chödrön, author of Taking the Leap

Download or read book Consciousness and the Social Brain written by Michael S. A. Graziano and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-08-01 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is consciousness and how can a brain, a mere collection of neurons, create it? In Consciousness and the Social Brain, Princeton neuroscientist Michael Graziano lays out an audacious new theory to account for the deepest mystery of them all. The human brain has evolved a complex circuitry that allows it to be socially intelligent. This social machinery has only just begun to be studied in detail. One function of this circuitry is to attribute awareness to others: to compute that person Y is aware of thing X. In Graziano's theory, the machinery that attributes awareness to others also attributes it to oneself. Damage that machinery and you disrupt your own awareness. Graziano discusses the science, the evidence, the philosophy, and the surprising implications of this new theory.

Download or read book Emotion, Psychotherapy, and Change written by Jeremy D. Safran and published by Guilford Press. This book was released on 1991-03-08 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: EMOTION, PSYCHOTHERAPY, AND CHANGE represents a systematic attempt to map the various ways emotion influences the change process and to clarify the underlying mechanisms. A continuation of the editors' pioneering work, EMOTION IN PSYCHOTHERAPY, this volume makes a significant contribution to the development of a transtheoretical approach to affective change events. Viewing emotional experience as an active ingredient in, rather than a by-product of, the change process, the book explores the ramifications of this understanding for the conduct of therapy. A thorough review of the theory and therapeutic implications of emotion in human functioning precedes chapters by representatives of three different therapeutic traditions: cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, and experiential. Contributors identify and describe the key affective change events important in their respective approaches and then speculate about the underlying processes. Included here are detailed descriptions of relevant therapist-client interactions as well as clinical transcripts that vividly illustrate the process of change. A separate, theory-oriented commentary section follows in which the theme of emotion in psychotherapy is examined from the perspectives of cognitive psychology and emotion theory. A synthesis and critical analysis of affective change processes rounds out the volume. EMOTION, PSYCHOTHERAPY, AND CHANGE satisfies its practical and theoretical objectives by providing detailed descriptions of intervention strategies while explicating how and why these interventions work. Its attention to both theory and practice, and its synthesis of different theoretical traditions, make this volume essential reading for seasoned psychotherapists, researchers, and students.

Download or read book A Companion to David Lewis written by Barry Loewer and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-02-10 with total page 595 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In A Companion to David Lewis, Barry Loewer and Jonathan Schaffer bring together top philosophers to explain, discuss, and critically extend Lewis's seminal work in original ways. Students and scholars will discover the underlying themes and complex interconnections woven through the diverse range of his work in metaphysics, philosophy of language, logic, epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, ethics, and aesthetics. The first and only comprehensive study of the work of David Lewis, one of the most systematic and influential philosophers of the latter half of the 20th century Contributions shed light on the underlying themes and complex interconnections woven through Lewis's work across his enormous range of influence, including metaphysics, language, logic, epistemology, science, mind, ethics, and aesthetics Outstanding Lewis scholars and leading philosophers working in the fields Lewis influenced explain, discuss, and critically extend Lewis's work in original ways An essential resource for students and researchers across analytic philosophy that covers the major themes of Lewis's work

Download or read book The Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature written by Malcolm Budd and published by Clarendon Press. This book was released on 2003-01-09 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aesthetics of nature has over the last few decades become an intense focus of philosophical reflection, as it has been ever more widely recognised that it is not a mere appendage to the aesthetics of art. Just as nature offers aesthetic experiences beyond the reach of art, so the aesthetics of nature raises issues not contained within the philosophy of art. Malcolm Budd presents four interlinked essays addressing all the main problems about the aesthetics of nature. These include: how the aesthetic appreciation of nature should be understood; the character of an aesthetic response to nature; what kinds of aesthetic experience nature affords and what kinds of aesthetic judgement it is amenable to; the aesthetic significance of intrusions by humanity into nature; whether aesthetic judgements about nature can be objectively true; the doctrine of positive aesthetics with respect to nature; the aesthetic significance of knowledge of nature and in particular whether scientific knowledge is necessary for serious aesthetic appreciation of nature; and the correct model for the appropriate aesthetic appreciation of nature. The Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature also includes a comprehensive exposition and examination of the thoughts of the greatest philosopher to make a substantial contribution to the subject, Immanuel Kant, and an encyclopaedic critical survey of much of the most significant recent literature. Scholars and students of aesthetics will find valuable resources here, and much to think about.

Download or read book The Philosophical Baby written by Alison Gopnik and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2009-08-04 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading psychologist and philosopher, as well as a mother, explains the groundbreaking new psychological, neuroscientific, and philosophical developments as they relate to the development of very young children.

Download or read book The Retrieval of Ethics written by Talbot Brewer and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2011-04-21 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Talbot Brewer presents an invigorating new approach to ethical theory, in the context of human selfhood and agency. The first main theme of the book is that contemporary ethical theorists have focused too narrowly on actions and the discrete episodes of deliberation through which we choose them, and that the subject matter of the field looks quite different if one looks instead at unfolding activities and the continuous forms of evaluative awareness that carry them forward and that constitute an essential element of those activities. The second is that ethical reflection is itself a centrally important life activity, and that philosophical ethics is an extension of this practical activity rather than a merely theoretical reflection upon it. Brewer's approach is founded on a far-reaching reconsideration of the notions of the nature and sources of human agency, and particularly of the way in which practical thinking gives shape to activities, relationships and lives. He contests the usual understanding of the relationship between philosophical psychology and ethics. The Retrieval of Ethics shows the need for a new contemplative vision of the point or value of human action — without which we will remain unable to make optimal sense of our efforts to unify our lives around a tenable conception of how best to live them, or of the yearnings that draw us to our ideals and to each other.