Why have we failed to create the happy, peaceful world that we all want? And what can we do about it? For more than three decades, Jalaja Bonheim has explored these questions in her work with women leaders, activists, and spiritual seekers from around the world. In The Sacred Ego, she tackles one of the core myths of popular spiritual culture—the myth of the ego, supposedly responsible for our greed, selfishness, and violence. In contrast, Bonheim approaches the ego as a sacred function worthy of honor and gratitude. With riveting stories from her work, she guides us into the depths of our collective psyche to pinpoint the real sources of our problems and illuminate our path to wholeness. Firmly grounded in a lifetime of practical experience, The Sacred Ego is a visionary, uplifting book that explains why our world is in crisis and how we can support the unprecedented transformational process that’s underway. From the Trade Paperback edition.

How is modern psychotherapy impacted when it is approached from the presence and understanding of the unconditioned mind? What happens when therapists are able to function as a sacred mirror for their clients' essential nature, reflecting back not only the contents of awarenessùthoughts, feelings and sensationsùbut awareness itself? Informed by their direct experience as well as by nondual teachings from both eastern and western wisdom traditions, the authors take a fresh look at what psychotherapy can be. These seminal essays will challenge and inspire readers to approach psychotherapy in a new wayùas a potential portal for experiencing their deepest nature as free and joyful beings.Seasoned clinicians, Dan Berkow, Stephan Bodian, Dorothy Hunt, Sheila Krystal, Lynn Marie Lumiere, Richard Miller, John Prendergast, John Welwood, Jennifer Welwood and Bryan Wittine, and innovative western spiritual teachers, Adyashanti and Peter Fenner, explore critical issues at the interface of psychology and spirituality from a nondual perspective.

William Paden's classic exploration in religious studies, with a new introduction In the current climate, Interpreting the Sacred provides a fresh, thorough way to consider and compare various religious belief systems. Paden puts forth the idea that our understanding of religion influences our understanding of ourselves and our world. Updated with a new introduction, this book is for anyone who wants to consider and discuss religious beliefs. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Noted psychologist Jacquelyn Small helps us break the cycle of addictive behavior, destructive relationships and self-harm by teaching that we are not human beings learning to be spiritual, we are spiritual beings learning to be human. Jacquelyn Small's 12 Principles of Wholeness, developed in her 30-year clinical practice, provide a one-year process of psychospiritual "inner work." Blending ancient wisdom and modern science, this process has led client after client to the personal transformation of addictive living that precedes spiritual awakening. The readings, exercises and guided imageries in this book will help you access blocked emotions and modify the basic patterns buried within you that are holding unwanted behaviors in place. You will learn how to: Release stuck emotions through "inner work" designed to heal your past. Identify pseudo-personalities that masquerade as your true self. Create the inner space required for a spiritual awakening to occur naturally.

Through the persona of Tori Litchfield, author Nikki Friedlander uses fiction to tell a deeply personal story of the alchemy of spirit. Both Tori and Nikki are women who came of age in the 1950s. Both are fueled with an unconventional drive to understand the deeper meanings of life; the challenges of balancing career, home life, children, and personal imperatives were no easier back then than they are today. Tori is a successful fashion designer in New York City. We meet her as she is ready to go to Malta for a career-critical photo shoot with fashion photographer Luca. The seeds of change are sowed on this trip, as Tori first meets the mysterious Gabriella, and Luca faces a life-changing decision. And for Tori, a visit to the Hypogeum, a pre-historic underground temple and sacred resting place of the Sleeping Goddess, opens a new door that lead her to many teachers and teachings, including Baba Muktananda, Drunvalo Melchizedek, Gurumayi, St. Germaine and Archangel Michael. Throughout the book, Nikki alternates between story and reflection, as she speaks with humility and piercing honesty in the Interludes about marriage, partnership, the friendship of women, and the unexpected joys, gifts, and miracles of The Divine Journey.

This reading of Milton juxtaposes the poet's theology and Freud's account of the Oedipus complex in ways that yield both new understanding of Milton and a model for psychoanalytic interpretation of literature. The book ranges widely through the art and life of Milton, including extensive discussions of his theological irregularities and the significance, medical and symbolic, he assigned to his blindness. Kerrigan analyzes the oedipal aspect of Milton's religion; examines the nature of the Miltonic godhead; studies Milton's analogies linking human, angelic, and cosmic bodies; and explores Milton's symbolism of home. In a commanding demonstration, Kerrigan delineates how the great epic and the psyche of its author bestow meaning on each other.