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- Aflame : learning from silence / by Iyer, Pico,author.;
"From the bestselling author of The Art of Stillness, a revelatory exploration of the abiding clarity and calm to be found in quiet retreat. Pico Iyer has made more than 100 retreats over the past three decades to a small Benedictine hermitage, high above the sea in Big Sur, California. He's not a Christian -- or a member of any religious group -- but his life has been transformed by these periods of time spent in silence. That silence reminds him of what is essential and awakens a joy that nothing can efface. It's not just freedom from distraction and noise and rush: it's a reminder of some deeper truths he misplaced along the way. In Aflame, Iyer connects with inner stillness and joy in his many seasons at the monastery, even as his life is going through constant change: a house burns down, a parent dies, a daughter is diagnosed with cancer. He shares the revelations he experiences, alongside wisdom from other non-monastics who have learned from adversity and inwardness. And most profoundly, he shows how solitude can be a training in community and companionship. In so doing, he offers a unique outsider's view of monastic life -- and of a group of selfless souls who have dedicated their days to ensuring there's a space for quiet and recollection that's open to us all. Radiant, intimate and gripping, Aflame offers ageless counsel about the power of silence, and what it can teach us about how to live, how to love and, ultimately, how to die"--- Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Silence; Spiritual retreats.;
- Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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- The order : a novel / by Silva, Daniel,1960-author.;
"Gabriel Allon has slipped quietly into Venice for a much-needed holiday with his wife and two young children. But when Pope Paul VII dies suddenly, Gabriel is summoned to Rome by the Holy Father's loyal private secretary, Archbishop Luigi Donati. A billion Catholic faithful have been told that the pope died of a heart attack. Donati, however, has two good reasons to suspect his master was murdered. The Swiss Guard who was standing watch outside the papal apartments the night of the pope's death is missing. So, too, is the letter the Holy Father was writing during the final hours of his life. A letter that was addressed to Gabriel. "While researching in the Vatican Secret Archives, I came upon a most remarkable book ... " The book is a long-suppressed gospel that calls into question the accuracy of the New Testament's depiction of one of the most portentous events in human history. For that reason alone, the Order of St. Helena will stop at nothing to keep it out of Gabriel's hands. A shadowy Catholic society with ties to the European far right, the Order is plotting to seize control of the papacy. And it is only the beginning. As the cardinals gather in Rome for the start of the conclave, Gabriel sets out on a desperate search for proof of the Order's conspiracy, and for a long-lost gospel with the power to put an end to two thousand years of murderous hatred. His quest will take him from the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, to a monastery in Assisi, to the hidden depths of the Secret Archives, and finally to the Sistine Chapel, where he will witness an event no outsider has ever before seen--the sacred passing of the Keys of St. Peter to a newly elected pope.--- Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Spy fiction.; Allon, Gabriel (Fictitious character); Catholic Church; Popes; Murder;
- Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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- How to stay human in a fucked-up world : mindfulness practices for real life / by Desmond, Tim,author.;
"A modern approach to mindfulness from an esteemed Buddhist scholar and Psychology professor. Everywhere we go, we hear about the benefits of mindfulness--to bring us joy, peace, and productivity, and even to make us look younger and live longer. Meanwhile, in the real world, things aren't so rosy: suicide rates are skyrocketing; prescription drug use is on the rise; exposure to negative news is causing PTSD-like symptoms; and we continue to report feeling disconnected, distracted, and depressed. How can we be more mindfulwhen the world is this fucked up? Tim Desmond--esteemed Buddhist scholar and lecturer on Psychology at Yale Medical School--is the fresh, engaging answer to this important question. Using techniques cultivated from the monastery of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and at Google headquarters in Silicon Valley, Tim has been inventing new ways to bridge the gap between the ancient tradition of mindfulness and modern life. In How to Stay Human in a Fucked Up World, he presents readers with exactly that--the first mindfulness practice designed for surviving the sometimes-miserable world we live in, with advice, strategies, and guidance you can start using to feel more connected, joyful, and presenttoday. Direct, witty, and surprising, with chapters titled "Why Bad Things Happen," "You're Not Crazy," and "Becoming Fearless," How to Stay Human in a Fucked Up World gets right to the heart of our collective pain with a simple practice rooted in science, self-compassion, and psychotherapy. If you've tried mindfulness before and failed, Tim gets it. Likely you were told to sit on a pillow in a dark room, meditate, or count your breaths. But mindfulness isn't about separating ourselves from the problems in the world. Instead, it is about re-learning how to get out there, connect with the suffering of every living being and in so doing, embrace our own personal suffering, let go, and move on"--- Subjects: Happiness.; Meditation; Self-actualization (Psychology);
- Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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- Leonard Cohen, untold stories. by Posner, Michael,1947-author.;
"The extraordinary life of one of the world's greatest music and literary icons, in the words of those who knew him best. Poet, novelist, singer-songwriter, artist, prophet, icon--there has never been a figure like Leonard Cohen. He was a true giant in contemporary western culture, entertaining and inspiring the world with his work. From his groundbreaking and bestselling novels, The Favourite Game and Beautiful Losers, to timeless songs such as "Suzanne," "Dance Me to the End of Love," and "Hallelujah," Cohen is one of the world's most cherished artists. His death in 2016 was felt around the world by the many fans and followers who would miss his warmth, humour, intellect, and piercing insights. Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories chronicles the full breadth of his extraordinary life. This third and final volume in biographer Michael Posner's sweeping series of Cohen's life--That's How the Light Gets In--explores the last thirty years of his life, starting with the late 1980s revival of his music career with the successful albums I'm Your Man and The Future. It covers the death of his manager, Marty Machat, and the appointment of another who would ultimately be accused of stealing more than five million dollars from Cohen. Personally, Cohen suffers the traumatic end of his long relationship with French photographer Dominique Issermann and begins a public romance with actress Rebecca De Mornay. When that relationship ends in 1993, as Cohen is about to turn sixty years old, he begins a deeply spiritual phase, entering the Mount Baldy monastery under the tutelage of Zen master Joshu Sasaki Roshi--arguably the most important relationship in Cohen's life. Ever the seeker, he then goes to Mumbai in 1999, the first of half a dozen trips to India to investigate Advaita Vedanta Hinduism, expanding his growing fascination with spirituality. In 2008, Cohen makes his triumphant return to the concert stage, and for five years travels the world in an extraordinary final act of his life, giving almost four hundred performances over three continents. The book provides the first full chronicle of Cohen's final months, fighting debilitating disease, while still creating three new studio albums, adding to his remarkable legacy. Cohen's story is told through the voices of those who knew him best--family and friends, colleagues and contemporaries, business partners and lovers. Bestselling author Michael Posner draws on hundreds of interviews to reveal the unique, complex, and compelling figure of the man The New York Times called "a secular saint." This is a book like no other, about a man like no other."--- Subjects: Biographies.; Cohen, Leonard, 1934-2016.; Composers; Singers; Poets, Canadian (English);
- Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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- In love with the world : a monk's journey through the bardos of living and dying / by Yongey Mingyur,Rinpoche,1976-author.; Tworkov, Helen,author.;
"In 2011, Mingyur Rinpoche was the respected thirty-six-year-old abbot of three monasteries, a world-renowned meditation teacher, the son of an esteemed meditation master, and a rising star within his generation of Tibetan masters. In Love with the World begins the night that, without telling anyone of his plan, he slips past the monastery gates alone for the first time in his life and sets forth on a wandering retreat, following the ancient practice of holy mendicants. He wanted to throw off his titles and privileges, give up the protections he had always known, and engage in an "ego-killing mission" in order to explore the deepest aspects of his own being and move beyond the grasping self. Yet he immediately discovers that his training has not prepared him to deal with the stench of the third-class train car to Varanasi, or the filthy people around him, or the screeching noise of the train. He has trouble taking off his monk's robes and pays for a cheap hostel rather than sleep on the streets. Soon he becomes deathly ill from food poisoning--and his journey begins in earnest. His lifelong training has prepared him for facing death, and he must now test the strength of his practice. The invaluable lessons he learns from this near-death experience--how we can transform our fear of dying into joyful living--are just what we need to navigate these challenging times. A profoundly moving, unusually candid account by a spiritual master"--- Subjects: Autobiographies.; Biographies.; Yongey Mingyur, Rinpoche, 1976-; Buddhist monks; Near-death experiences; Intermediate state; Spiritual life;
- Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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- The stars and their light : a novel / by Hawker, Olivia,author.;
It's 1947 when Sister Mary Agnes arrives in New Mexico. Her mission is to establish a monastery in the town of Roswell, where weeks before rumors of the crash landing of an unidentified craft have triggered a crisis of faith. Residents are drifting away from the divine, awed no longer by the heavens but rather the stars. In service to the frightened and confused, Sister Mary Agnes soon befriends Betty Campbell, a teenager marked both physically and psychically by the inexplicable event. Mary Agnes is also unsettlingly drawn to Harvey, an attentive handyman refurbishing the monastery--and a firsthand witness to the crash. But as Mary Agnes tries to guide her wayward friends back to the church, it's the fantastic and the forbidden that begin to loom large in her imagination. Thrown into her own crisis of doubt, Mary Agnes must choose whether to uphold the order in which she came of age or embrace the truth she feels in her heart, despite its terrifying complexity.- Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Faith; Female friendship; Interpersonal relations; Nuns; Roswell Incident, Roswell, N.M., 1947;
- Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Results 31 to 36 of 36 | « previous