Introductory content that helps to answer some
basic spiritual questions.
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Finding the Spirit is an audio selection discussing basic
spiritual questions, and their answers as expressed in various
sources of the Perennial Philosophy.
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What is the Spiritual Character of Our Times?
This question is fundamental to an understanding of
the unique challenges we have as seekers in the current cosmic
cycle, the Hindu Kali Yuga, or Iron Age. Cosmic rhythms and cycles
effect the quality and character of existence, our tendencies as
human beings, and our spiritual choices.
The books listed here range from secular,
non-religious commentary on the character, qualities, and signs of
our times to texts that come from a more traditional religious
perspective. All of them are helpful to an understanding of of the
spiritual context in which we seek meaning.
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 Culture
on the Brink, by Gretchen Bender. A collection of
sometimes brilliant essays dealing with contemporary media
technology. Very sharp postmoderninst insights into the meaning and
transformation of our lives in the information age, a transformation
in which "technology replaces human experience," and
distance from the sacred which is alone real becomes astronomical. A
keen analytical confirmation of the intuition which haunts us all. |
 Yuga: An Anatomy of our Fate,
by Marty
Glass soberly but compassionately examines the underlying currents of
our times. He finds that even as outward ‘progress’ reaches
unheard-of heights, something is going very wrong within— nothing less
than the loss of our very humanity, the inability to discern, as the Bhagavad
Gita says, ‘the nature of what is and what is not.’
Listen to our interview
with Marty Glass.
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 E.F.
Shumacher, A
Guide for the Perplexed. Schumacher writes about man's relation to the world. man has obligations
— to other men, to the earth, to progress and technology, but most
importantly himself. If man can fulfill these obligations, then and only
then can he enjoy a real relationship with the world, then and only then
can he know the meaning of living.
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 Jacques
Ellul, The
Technological Society. Among the most profound analyses of
"technique," a French world meaning much more than
"technology." There are precious few minds powerful enough
to perceive essential structures, not the surface symptoms, of what
has happened to us, within and without, what envelops us and by its
very ubiquity, its omnipresence, its "normality," tends
increasingly towards invisibility: Ellul's is one of those minds.
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Reign of Quanity and The Signs of the Times, by René
Guénon. This book is more difficult than some of the others
on this introductory page, but we would be neglect not to mention it
as one of the most profound and illuminating commentaries on the
qualities inherent in our world and our lives. From a traditional
perspective, this book may open doors that few others can.
|  Why
Religion Matters
Huston Smith offers his passionate, vital message about the suffocation
of the human spirit in a world dominated by materialism, consumerism,
educational elitism, and a governmental and legal system without
morality.
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Fore more content that speaks to issues
of the spiritual character of our times, please browse the website
and look for content marked 'David Library' in our Wisdom
and Spirituality Today section
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What are Revelation and Religion?
We read and hear a lot about 'Wisdom Traditions' and
the 'Perennial Philosophy', and the associations that we may have
with these terms are with the New Age religions and other
contemporary uses that connect with the spirituality of the times. In
the selections below, we find that the it is illuminating to discover
the true and original sources of the knowledge that we search for.
We may not even fully believe in God, or belong to a traditional
religion, but it is eye-opening to find that in fact our beliefs and spiritual
practices are rooted in pure forms of (should we say it?)
revelation and religion.
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 A
History of God, by Karen Armstrong. This book offers a rich and
diverse view of how people throughout the ages have thought about
God and practiced religion. A lesson in history in which we are
brought into the drama of the unfolding of religion through the
lives and struggles of saints and sages. Even people who hesitate to
say that there is a God will find meaning in and perspective
here.
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 The
World's Religions. Huston Smith gives a clear and penetrating
look into the major religions of the world, exploring the theology
and philosophy that support each revelation. We are shown both the
ideas that are common to each religion, and that which set them
apart, and in each religion, we recognize truths that we are
familiar with, no matter what our spiritual practice.
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Fore more content that discusses
revelation and religion, please browse the website
and look for content marked 'David Library' in our Faces
of the Perennial Philosophy section
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