Blauwdruk voor een nieuwe wereld
Door Ervin Laszlo.
95 Pagina’s | 2021 | Paperback | Edicola Publishing Bv, Deventer | ISBN 9789493201767
Oospronkelijke titel: Global Shift Now, uitgegeven door Waterside Productions, California.
In de nasleep van de pandemie komen wij voor een belangrijke keuze te staan: keren we terug naar het leven dat we voor de pandemie hadden of gaan we vooruit naar een betere wereld? Teruggaan naar de oude crisisgevoelige wereld zou betekenen dat we een unieke kans missen en dat zou een misdaad tegen de mensheid zijn, tegen alle mensen die nu leven en geboren worden als de volgende generatie. Dit is een kans die niet meer terugkomt en ons door de schokgolf van de pandemie wordt aangeboden. De vraag is, wat voor een wereld zouden we willen opbouwen? Dit boek biedt een antwoord hierop. En dit antwoord is van noodzakelijk belang voor iedereen die ontwaakt tot de ware kracht en potentie van een bewuste soort die in staat is op een bewuste wijze zijn bestemming te vormen. Dit boek is een oproep om vooruit te gaan: om als soort en als individu te evolueren. Dat is onze ware bestemming en onze kosmische verantwoordelijkheid. Als geen ander weet futurist en visionair denker Ervin Laszlo ons aan te sporen om dit te verwezenlijken.
Digital Dharma – A User’s Guide to Expanding Consciousness in the Infosphere
By Steven Vedro.
223 Pages | First edition, 2007 | Paperback | Theosophical Publishing House, Wheaton | ISBN: 9780835608596
You don’t have to know much about technology to benefit from this witty exploration of how we can develop a ”yoga of teleconsciousness” to become centered in a frantic world. The Infosphere not only affects consciousness, it also reflects it, says Steven Vedro, and it provides teachings for the next step on our journey to wholeness. His guiding metaphor is the chakra system, the body’s esoteric energy centers located at the spine base, pelvis, solar plexis, heart, throat, forehead, and crown. He links each to a form of communication.
• the lowest chakras, concerning safety and survival, relate to telegraphy and telephony
• the middle chakras, concerning power, love, and discernment, relate to radio, television, and the Internet
• the highest chakras, concerning the most evolved consciousness, relate to the newest technologies of digital signal coding, smart devices, and the always-on intelligence of grid computing
To open and heal our internal channels, Vedro provides visualization exercises in each chapters. Now, when the media seems increasingly intrusive, this ingenious book may help us use it to become more compassionate, more balanced, and more aware.
Pluraliteit van de Levenskunsten
Door Tatjana Kochetkova, Nelleke Canters & Rico Sneller.
245 Pagina’s | Uitgegeven in 2017 | Softcover | Garant Uitgevers NV., Antwerpen – Apeldoorn | ISBN: 9789044135718.
We staan op de grens van twee grote culturele tijdperken. De opkomst van nieuwe technologieën, alsook de toenemende mondialisering van de wereld, openen de weg naar een nieuwe, nog niet geheel uitgekristalliseerde levenswijze. Wanneer oude maatschappelijk-culturele patronen tanende zijn, terwijl alternatieve vormen nog niet hun definitieve beslag hebben gekregen, is er een periode waarin de mens zich kan bevrijden van culturele maskers en kunstmatige constructies. Dit soort tussenperiodes zijn interessant voor persoonlijke ervaringen, innerlijke verdieping en doorbraken in de menselijke conditie.
Door de voortdurende maatschappelijke-technologische transformatie krijgen we voor het eerst in de geschiedenis de kans om de menselijke conditie radicaal te veranderen. Een van de kenmerken van dit historische proces is de opmars van wat inmiddels levenskunst is gaan heten: een actief zoeken naar manieren om het eigen leven adequaat vorm en richting te geven. Echter, er bestaat niet een levenskunst, maar er zijn verscheidene, waarvan sommige elkaar zelfs uitsluiten. Noemen we hier drie grote richtingen:
- Klassieke levenskunst (de oude Grieken: Aristoteles en de stoïcijnen; een voortzetting hiervan treffen we bij denkers als Simone de Weil, Foucault en Schmidt).
- Spirituele levenskunst (diepte- en transpersoonlijke psychologie, mindfulness, yoga, tai-chi, daoïsme, boeddhisme).
- Op techniek en wetenschap georiënteerde levenskunst, in het kielzog van de Verlichting.
Afkomstig uit Hoofdstuk 3 – ‘Daoïstische Levenskunst: Een Zoektocht naar Onsterfelijkheid’ (p. 70):
” Wie een rijkelijke portie Innerlijke Kracht in zich heeft, kan worden vergeleken met een zuigeling.
Zijn botten zijn zwak en zijn spieren zacht, maar hij balt stevige vuisten.
Dat wil zeggen dat zijn vitale essentie op zijn hoogtepunt is. Dat wil zeggen dat zijn innerlijke harmonie volmaakt is. Het begrijpen van deze harmonie noemen we bestendigheid. Het begrijpen van deze bestendigheid noemen we verlichting.
De levensenergie tot slaaf van de geest maken noemen we verstarring. Wanneer de dingen tot wasdom zijn gekomen, worden ze oud. Dat gaat in tegen de Weg. En wat ingaat tegen de Weg gaat vroeg ten onder. “
Uit: Dao De Ching, 55.
A New Covenant with Nature – Notes on the End of Civilization and the Renewal of Culture
- Has modern civilization really improved human lives?
- Is money evil?
- Is government necessary?
- What can we each do to renew our connection with all that is wild, and generative, and free?
In this radical and thought-provoking book, ecophilosopher Richard Heinberg explores these questions with wit, perception, and refreshing insight. Each culture, Heinberg shows, makes a covenant or agreement with nature. Our culture’s agreement is obviously crumbling. If we are to create a new covenant, we must begin by rethinking the givens of society from the ground up – or even, quietly desert the existing social system and help birth a better one.
From Part III – ‘The Great Purification’ (p. 163):
” To speak of wilderness is to speak of wholeness. Human beings came out of that wholeness, and to consider the possibility of reactivating membership in the Assembly of All Beings is in no way regressive. “ – Gary Snyder.
Beyond the Postmodern Mind – The Place of Meaning in a Global Civilization (1989 edition)
By Huston Smith. (1919- 2016).
281 Pages | First Quest Edition 1984, 2nd edition 1989, 3rd printing 1992. | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835606473.
NB: This is the second edition (1989): its latest and third edition (2003) can be purchased in our Webshop here.
This study was first published in 1982 and is considered a classic in its disciplined analysis of contemporary reductionist philosophy. It explores the limits of science and points society’s way out of the dark woods where science has stranded us. Smith uses the term ‘modern’ mind to denote the so-called Enlightenment outlook of Newtonian physics and rationalism, which cut the ground from under the religious foundations of Western life. In the ‘post-modern’ age of the late nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, people lost their humanistic confidence.
Although science may have won a battle ove religion, it has in the process undermined its own empirical foundation: and having destroyed confidence in intuitive revelation, the mind is (as H.G. Wells once suggested) ‘at the end of its tether’. Despite the ravages of analytical philosophy and existentialism, Smith feels there is a fundamental view of reality, that flourishes throughout the world under various disguises. The uneasy post-modern mind, Smith says, awaits discernment of a new metaphysics.
From Chapter 3 – ‘Perennial Philosophy, Primordial Philosophy’ (p. 70):
” A life, that identifies primarily with its physical pleasures and needs (getting and spending we lay waste our days) is superficial;
one that advances its attention to the mind can be interesting if it moves on to the heart (synonym for soul), it can be good.
And if it passes on to spirit – that saving self-forgetfulness and egalitarianism in which one’s personal interests loom no larger than those of others – it would be perfect. “
The Enlightened Society
By John L. Hill.
240 Pages | A Quest Original 1987 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835606155.
Whatever is our world coming to? The prophets of boom herald an age of plenty. The prophets of doom, a world in despair. Are these our only choices? There is also an enlightenment, suggests Hill, who writes about man as he is, and about man as he could, should and will be. The author believes that nature has an inherent propensity to evolve and flourish, and man, as a part of nature, is participating in the process. Thus, not only is the individual getting better, but so is society. The end result could be an enlightened society, one that has become integrated, non-judgemental, and compassionate. One that considers the world-at-large to be a sacred phenomenon.
Importantly – this is not merely a book of educated conjecture. Although the author’s contention that society will become enlightened makes good theoretical sense, Hill decided to strenghten his position with a personal experiment. Thus in his Chapter ‘A New Image of Humankind’ he relates the story of his own spiritual revitalization as he undertook a regimen of regular meditation.
From Chapter 9 – ‘A New Image of Humankind: A Personal Account’ (p. 9):
” To this point, this book has been theoretically oriented with an emphasis on outlining an underlying metaphysical and psychological theory of evolution. If one has had the impression that all this talk of self-transformation was only abstract ‘stuff and nonsense’ – a metaphysic without a reality, a rarefied world view to replace one or another previous paradigm, equally inefficient in winning genuine moral and existential conviction, I hope now to dispel that suspicion. I consider the last seven years of my life something of an objective, if not ‘scientific’ experiment. I believe, as a result of this experiment, that evolution is a process that may be augmented, encouraged along the lines that await us. We may take a part in our own evolution. Life should be – and can be – a process of always getting better. Everything we should do add up to making each of us more wise, compassionate, humane and, yes, happy as individuals. Life should be a process of accumulation , but it is Wisdom and love that should be accumulated. What follows is a very personal, idiosyncratic, and sometimes embarrassing account of my own experience with meditation and the effects it had on my life. ”
The Millenium Myth – Love and Death at the End of Time
By Michael Grosso.
384 Pages | First Quest Edition 1995 | Hardcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835607119.
In The Millenium Myth, Michael Grosso highlights the chief prophetic vision of the Western world and where it may be leading us. We can see it, the author tells us, unfolding in the high-tech of today and tomorrow: space colonization, terra-forming, bio-engineering, life-extension, cryonics – the lurch toward bionic superhumanity. Grosso’s coinage, technocalypse, sums up his insight that technology is secretly driven by the Millenium Myth, a vision that is piloting human history toward recreating nature and reinventing humanity.
From the Conclusion: ‘The Meaning of the Millennium Myth’ (p. 359):
” The ‘devil’ is also called a dragon. The dragon is a fabulous beast, a serpent with wings. As such, it suggests the marriage of earth and heaven. The dragon symbolizes the Tao, the harmony of yin and yang, the dance of Shiva and Shakti, the coincidence of opposites. The dragon, thus seen in a more congenial, Eastern light, turns into a synthesis, of dialogue between the new and the old brain. As such, I take the dragon to be a fine image of the future of human evolution. John’s error, then, is worse than we thought. Not only did he create the perfect myth for compulsive dualizers and demonizers, but he hobbled, by indulging in dragon baiting, any hope of improvement. Obviously, if the dragon symbolizes our evolutionary future, we need to embrace it, not ban it from our consciousness. In short, the Book of Revelation, by divorcing us from the Wisdom of the dragon, becomes a stumbling block to our spiritual evolution. “
Does India have a Future?
By Rajmohan Gandhi.
32 Pages | First edition 1994 | Softcover | Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | ISBN: 8170592275.
The deep commitment of this grandson of Mahatma Gandhi to the well-being of India led him to participation in the public life of the nation and to being a member of the Rajya Sabha. The present publication consists of the Besant Lecture delivered at the annual international convention of the Theosophical Society, Adyar, Madras in 1993.
Rajmohan Gandhi is Research Professor at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi and was formerly Editor of Indian Express and Himmat. Among his well-known publications are: The Rajaji Story; A biography of his grandfather C. Rajagopalachari: a biography of Vallabhbhai Patel; and Eight Lives: A Study of Hindu-Muslin Encounter.
From page 20:
” Was God absent-minded then when designing the Indian character? Is the Indian Soul inferior in quality? No! No with a dozen exclamation marks! Often the Indian citizen is heroic in his or her response to the trials of every day, fighting for standing room, for elbow room, for space in the place of work, in the home and on the way from one to the other, for a place in school or college, or for a job. Where in the world do you see greater endurance? Our failing is that we evoke one another’s worst rather than best. “
Voices on the Threshold of Tomorrow – 145 Views of the New Millennium
Edited by Georg Feuerstein and Trisha Lamb Feuerstein.
442 Pages | First Quest Edition 1993 | Quest Books U.S.A. | Softcover | ISBN: 0835606929.
What does the future hold? What kind of world will our children inherit? These questions are especially relevant today as we approach a new millennium. Voices on the Threshold of Tomorrow, compiled by Georg Feuerstein and Trisha Lamb Feuerstein, opens the doorway into that unknown future. This book:
- Is a symphony of outspoken, spontaneous, passionate, prophetic voices and visions from the premier thinkers of today.
- Contains succinct statements, in which 145 leading personalities, scientists, artists, politicians, educators, yogis, theologians, writers, environmentalists, and other theorists of the possible confess their hopes and fears about the future.
From Chapter 23 – ‘Gini Graham Scott’ (p. 65):
Finding the Middle Ground:
” Writing this shortly after the election of 1992, I feel a new spirit of hope and change and a new coming together across party, ethnic, religious, and generational lines to begin a new healing. I believe that the 80s have been a time of focus on individuality, personal freedom, and material gain that we have gone too far in this direction. But now havind realized this, we are snapping back in the other direction toward a concern with community, personal responsibility, and a more altruistic outlook toward others. I feel this is a good and much-needed corrective, although the risk is of going too far in this direction, so that we become too conformist and look too much to the power of the state for guidance, just as we concentrated too much on glorifying business and business values in the 1980s. What is important id finding a middle ground, and my hope is that in this period of transition we a re now going through, we can find it. To a great extent, this swing we are experiencing is part of what has always been the human condition and paradox – the conflict between personal desire and the good of the community, the conflict between individuality and the state. The sages throughout history have always stressed the need for balance and harmony between ourselves and the world around us. “
Our Glorious Future
By Mabel Collins (1851 – 1927).
115 Pages | First edition 1915, second edition 1917; this is the facsimile of 1917 | Kessinger Publishing Company, Montana | ISBN: 156459503X.
‘The Interpretation of Light on the Path’.
CONTENTS:
PART I – SELF CONQUEST.
- The Disciple
- Attend You to Them
- The Masters
- Sight
- Hearing
- Speech
- Stability.
PART II – THE TRANSMUTATION OF DESIRE.
- The Transmutation of Desire
- Work and Effort-Separateness-Sensation
- The Retreat – The Advance – The Blooming of the Flower
- Contemplation – The Study of Mankind – The Study of the Self – The Logos
- The Gifts of the Disciple – The Use of the Gifts – The Victory
- Epilogue – ‘I and my Father’.
From the Epilogue – ‘I and my Father’ (p. 115):
” ‘In my Father’s house are many mansions’, said the Master. One I have now seen myself, and it proves to me more plainly even than the experiences of the wondrous day when I saw the glorious writing (Light on the Path) on the wall, that now it is before the Christ those who are disciples must be strong enough to stand with the feet washed in the blood of the heart. I have seen Him with His feet stained with His own heart’s blood, and only so can we present ourselves before Him in His own likeness. “
The End Times – Prophecies of Coming Changes
By John van Auken.
168 Pages | First edition 1971, 2nd – 5th printings: 1993 – 1996. This is the 6th printing of 2001 | Softcover | A.R.E. Press, Virginia U.S.A. | ISBN: 0876043635.
This eye-opening book looks at prophecies from four major sources: The Bible, Edgar Cayce, Nostradamus, and the Holy Mother as she has appeared in visions over the years. The author examines startling predictions of the ‘End Times’ as they relate to the millennium, emphasizing the strong similarities among these diverse sources.
Examined are:
- Prophecies from The Revelation, Daniel, and other books of the Bible about the final days and the ‘Second Coming’.
- Concepts from the Cacye readings about earth changes and the prophecies written in stone within the Great Pyramid.
- Nostradamus’s amazing predictions from centuries ago.
- Messages from Marian apparitions warning of impending cataclysmic changes unless there is a return to God.
- And much more!
From Chapter Four – ‘The Divine from the Holy Mother’ (The Divine Feminine) (p. 149 & 150):
” The Blessed Virgin appeared in a white dress, a blue mantle with a crown of small golden stars above her head. Her feet were not visible. Her hands were wide open. Her hair is long, dark brown and wavy, and parted in the middle. She has an oval shaped face and her nose is long and delicate. Her mouth is very pretty with rather full lips. The color of her face is dark, but lighter than the Angel’s – it’s different. Her voice is very lovely, a very unusual voice that I can’t describe. There is no woman that resembles the Blessed Virgin in her voice, or anything else. In her arms she sometimes carries the baby Jesus. He is very tiny, like a newborn with a little face. His complexion is like that of the Blessed Virgin’s. “