Featured Items

 The library recently added some outstanding new titles about consciousness and compassion.  Here are summaries of six of them.

….check them out!

Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life by Karen Armstrong

It takes courage for a religious historian and writer of Armstrong’s stature to step out from behind the scrim of scholarship and analysis to offer guidelines for a spiritual practice designed to make humanity a kinder and saner species. With the boon of the prestigious TED Prize, Armstrong (The Case for God, 2009) worked with “leading thinkers from a variety of major faiths” to compose a Charter for Compassion, which calls for the restoration of “compassion to the heart of religious and moral life” in a “dangerously polarized” world. Not content with merely stating lofty goals, however, Armstrong, a revered genius of elucidation and synthesis, now tells the full and profound story of altruism throughout human history. She turns to neuroscience and tracks the evolution of our brains and our natural capacity for empathy, and performs her signature mode of beautifully clarifying interpretation in a mind-expanding discussion of the history of the Golden Rule (“Always treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself”), the essence of compassion and the kernel of every religious tradition. Exquisite and affecting explications of Buddhist, Confucian, Judaic, Christian, and Islamic commentary prepare the ground for meditation exercises meant to engender “open-mindedness” and the cultivation of compassion, making for the most sagacious and far-reaching 12-step program ever. --Booklist

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Smile at Fear : A Retreat with Pema Chödrön on Discovering Your Radiant Self-Confidence (DVD) (203 minutes)

"We all have fears, but when we look closely at them, we discover that behind each fear resides a basic fear of ourselves. We're afraid to look at our habitual styles of thinking and behaving because we might not always like what we see. Ironically it is this fear of honest self-reflection that keeps us trapped in patterns of stress and discontent. Here is a vision for moving beyond this most basic fear to discover the innate bravery, trust, and joy that reside at the core of our being. In this recorded retreat, Pema shares teachings inspired by the book Smile at Fear, which was written by her teacher Chögyam Trungpa."--Amazon.com

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Numen: The Nature of Plants (DVD) Terrence Youk and Ann Armbrecht (95 minutes) 

Filmmakers Terrence Youk and Ann Armbrecht traveled the U.S. to speak with doctors and herbalists, ethnobotanists and others about how our disconnection from nature affects human and environmental health, and to discover how healing is made possible by embracing our place in the wider web of life. The film highlights the vital importance of preserving both traditional knowledge of healing, as well as the plants themselves.

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The Unconditioned Mind: J. Krishnamurti and the Oak Grove School by David Edmund Moody

“The Unconditioned Mind represents a unique contribution to the growing literature about J. Krishnamurti, one of the greatest teachers of the twentieth century. I grew up in Ojai, California and attended Krishnamurti's annual talks under the oak groves from an early age. I highly recommend The Unconditioned Mind to anyone interested in the work of Krishnamurti. I found the story line riveting and could not wait to find out what happens next. David Moody handles controversial material with eloquence and sensitivity. As the former mayor of Ojai, I can attest to the authenticity of Dr. Moody's narrative description of our most distinguished resident.” --Suza Francina, author of The New Yoga for Healthy Aging and other books, and former mayor of Ojai, California

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Consciousness Explained by Daniel C. Dennett

“Tufts University cognitive scientist Dennett claims to have developed a major new theory of consciousness, yet his view of the brain as a massive parallel processor is a familiar one. What is different in his counter-intuitive theory is the claim that human consciousness, rather than being "hard-wired" into the brain's innate machinery, is more like software "running on the brain's parallel hardware" and is largely a product of cultural evolution. Author of Brainstorms, Dennett leads the adventurous gently through thought experiments, metaphors and diagrams in a treatise keyed to the serious, diligent reader. He presents a plausible evolutionary scenario of how consciousness could have emerged from the hominid brain. Dennett's audacious, tantalizing foray into the mind's inner workings ties up loose ends at the interface of cognitive psychology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience and biology.” --Publishers Weekly

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From Here to Freedom : Unraveling Our Legacy of Fear by Yvonne Huntington-Leland

"This definitive book shows how our intricate communications networks subtly broadcast an atmos-fear of doubt and mistrust.  And it shows how we are involved without recognizing the dramatic effect on our decisions about life and change.”--Publisher

Psychologist Sherrie Melchiorre wrote, “The single most debilitating emotion we experience is fear. Leland handles this important subject clearly and constructively.  It is an important book for the lay-person as well as the professional.  It resounds with what my guts know to be true.”