New Books in Spiritual Practice and Mindfulness

Are science and spirituality incompatible? From the acclaimed author of Einstein’s Dreams comes a rich, fascinating answer to that question...Gazing at the stars, falling in love, or listening to music, we sometimes feel a transcendent connection with a cosmic unity and things larger than ourselves. But these experiences are not easily understood by science, which holds that all things can be explained in terms of atoms and molecules. Is there space in our scientific worldview for these spiritual experiences?According to acclaimed physicist and novelist Alan Lightman, there may be. Drawing on intellectual history and conversations with contemporary scientists, philosophers, and psychologists, Lightman asks a series of thought-provoking questions that illuminate our strange place between the world of particles and forces and the world of complex human experience. Can strict materialism explain our appreciation of beauty? Or our feelings of connection to nature and to other people? Is there a physical basis for consciousness, the most slippery of all scientific problems?In The Transcendent Brain: Spirituality in the Age of Science (Pantheon, 2023), Lightman weaves these investigations together to propose what he calls “spiritual materialism”—the belief that we can embrace spiritual experiences without letting go of our scientific worldview. In his view, the breadth of the human condition is not only rooted in material atoms and molecules but can also be explained in terms of Darwinian evolution.What is revealed in this lyrical, enlightening book is that spirituality may not only be compatible with science, it also ought to remain at the core of what it means to be human.Renee Garfinkel, Ph.D. is a psychologist, writer, Middle East television commentator and host of The New Books Network’s Van Leer Jerusalem Series on Ideas. Write her at reneeg@vanleer.org.il. She's on Twitter @embracingwisdom. She blogs here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/spiritual-practice-and-mindfulness

Home Is Within YouAs a young Latina and Native American lawyer and former wife of California’s attorney general and treasurer, Nadia Davis has long been subjected to public scrutiny. In this powerful ah-mage homage to finding one’s worth in the face of mental health struggles, addiction, and public shaming, Davis shares her remarkable story.She reveals the depths of the darkness she went through, while gracefully offering transformational healing and an end to the choking grasp of shame.Lyrical and captivating, Home Is Within You: A Memoir of Recovery and Redemption (Girl Friday Books, 2021) recounts the author’s experience of trauma and addiction amid a highly publicized abusive relationship.Davis is brutally honest about her experiences and generous in revealing the paths she found to wholeness through spiritual advocacy, healthy co-parenting, and a dedication to preventing generational trauma.Home Is Within You shares one woman’s courageous journey to recovery as a mother and as a woman, and her narrative is a defense of privacy, parenthood, and autonomy.Nadia Davis is the mother of three sons, a writer, attorney, kundalini yoga teacher and former executive director and elected official.She graduated from U.C.L.A. with a degree in Sociology and Specialization in Juvenile Justice, Loyola Law School with a Doctorate, and has received numerous state and national awards for her work improving the lives of others, including the John F. Kennedy Jr. Public Service Award, National Womens' Political Caucus Woman of the Year, and Hispanic Woman of the Year L.U.L.A.C. Her journey of recovery from childhood and adult trauma, a near death car accident, chronic pain, public shaming, addiction and mental health is an inspiration to many. She shows readers a way out of darkness into connection with their infinite true selves and our home within. Nadia lives in Southern California happily co-parenting her three sons. For more information, please visit her website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/spiritual-practice-and-mindfulness

Rick Repetti's Routledge Handbook on the Philosophy of Meditation (Routledge, 2022) provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of the state of the field of the philosophy of meditation and engages primarily in the philosophical assessment of the merits of meditation practices.This Handbook unites novel and original scholarship from 28 leading Asian and Western philosophers, scientists, theologians, and other scholars on the philosophical assessment of meditation. It critically assesses the conceptual and empirical validity of meditation, its philosophical implications, its legitimacy as a phenomenological research tool, its potential value as an aid to neuroscience research, its many practical benefits, and, among other considerations, its possibly misleading interpretations, applications, and consequences.Following the introduction by the editor, the Handbook's chapters are organized in six parts:- Meditation and philosophy- Meditation and epistemology- Meditation and metaphysics- Meditation and values- Meditation and phenomenology- Meditation in Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian traditionsA distinctive, timely, and invaluable reference work, it marks the emergence of a new discipline therein, the philosophy of meditation. The book will be of interest to an interdisciplinary audience in the fields of philosophy, meditation, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, theology, and Asian and Western philosophy. It will serve as the textbook in any philosophy course on meditation, and as secondary reading in courses in philosophy of mind, consciousness, selfhood/personhood, metaphysics, or phenomenology, thereby helping to restore philosophy as a way of life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/spiritual-practice-and-mindfulness

Today I talked to Jerry Pannone about his new book Survive: Why We Do What We Do (John Hunt, 2022)Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs model is famous, but more so the 5-layer model than the 8-layer model he eventually arrived at. Why the later addition of knowledge and understanding, aesthetics and transcendence as needs in Maslow’s model? The answer is that balanced out the 4 of the 5 original needs more focused on overcoming deficiencies, with four needs focused on personal growth. Indeed, a 2011, 163-country survey conducted in 2011, after Maslow’s death, concluded that respect was vital. As today’s guest suggests, the reason may be that respect encompasses both our need to have our career achievements be appreciated, and our selfhood to be valued as well. With gaining respect, the two strands of what we have done and who we are can triumphantly come together.Jerry Pannone has had a long career in music, as an artist, composer as well as in teaching music in the San Francisco Bay area. At the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, Jerry taught courses in music, ethics and critical thinking.Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of ten books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc. (https://www.sensorylogic.com). His latest two books are Blah Blah Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo and Emotionomics 2.0: The Emotional Dynamics Underlying Key Business Goals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/spiritual-practice-and-mindfulness

Are you so busy fulfilling everyone else’s expectations that you’ve lost touch with yourself? Do you find yourself filling up your “free” hours with mundane tasks, soaking up podcasts to improve yourself, and rushing around, never getting it all done? For many women, it’s the same kind of story—we hustle to overachieve at work and at home, all in the hopes that we can “crush it” until we finally feel fulfilled.Vanessa Loder invites you to consider this question: “What if the point isn't to crush it in life, but to savor it?”With The Soul Solution: A Guide for Brilliant, Overwhelmed Women to Quiet the Noise, Find Their Superpower, and (Finally) Feel Satisfied (Sounds True, 2022) , this sought-after women’s leadership expert shares a powerful and practical guide to help women who feel overwhelmed and exhausted to recover our true selves—and our joy in living. Here she presents a road map for coming home to yourself, including:• The Whispers of Your Soul—the three key steps for tuning out the noise and accessing authenticity• Your Energetic Bread Crumbs—how the universe signals to you when you’re on the right path• Discover Your Superpower—why you’ve been ignoring your most valuable gifts, and how to reclaim them• From Tunnel Vision to Visionary—ways to break out of the “shame cycle” of patriarchal culture and own your destiny• Quieting the Inner Critic—how to retrain your inner voices to encourage and support you• The Upward Spiral—using the SAT method (Surrender, Allow, Trust) to get more of what you want with easeFilled with practical guidance and inspiring personal stories, The Soul Solution is a nonstrategic, nonlinear—but entirely effective—guide to help you reclaim your feminine, intuitive soul power to fulfill your most meaningful and satisfying desires.Vanessa Loder is an international keynote speaker and sought-after expert on women’s leadership, mindfulness, stress management, and sustainable success. She's been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Glamour, and the Huffington Post, among others. She received her MBA from Stanford University, is a certified Executive Coach, and is trained in neurolinguistic programming, past-life regression, and vipassana meditation. For more, please visit her website at vanessaloder.com.Elizabeth Cronin, Psy.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist and mindfulness meditation teacher with offices in Brookline and Norwood, MA. You can follow her on Instagram or visit her website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/spiritual-practice-and-mindfulness

Dr Pierce Salguero sits down with Venerable Soorākkulame Pemaratana, chief abbot at the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center and a scholar of modern Buddhism in Sri Lanka. We talk about his role in adapting Buddhist practices to address social and mental health needs during the Covid-19 pandemic. We also compare Buddhist responses to Covid in Pittsburgh and Sri Lanka. Along the way, we talk about how he became a monk, the health benefits of drinking boiled coriander water, and the dire situation in his home country.Enjoy the conversation! And, if you want to hear from more experts on Buddhist medicine and related topics, subscribe to Blue Beryl for monthly episodes here.Resources: Pittsburgh Buddhist Center Donate to PBC's efforts to Help Sri Lanka PBC Recordings of Chanting PBC Livestream Other Resources on Buddhist Responses to Covid-19 Pierce Salguero is a transdisciplinary scholar of health humanities who is fascinated by historical and contemporary intersections between Buddhism, medicine, and crosscultural exchange. He has a Ph.D. in History of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2010), and teaches Asian history, medicine, and religion at Penn State University’s Abington College, located near Philadelphia. He is also the host (with Lan Li) of the Blue Beryl podcast. Subscribe to Blue Beryl here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/spiritual-practice-and-mindfulness

In this episode of the Blue Beryl Podcast, Pierce Salguero sits down with Wakoh Shannon Hickey, who is a Soto Zen priest, hospice chaplain, scholar, and activist. She talks about her early experiences with social violence in the 1980s, her work as a hospital chaplain, and her 2019 book Mind Cure, which is a groundbreaking social history of religion and mindfulness in the U.S.Resources: Wakoh's Academia.edu page Hickey, Mind Cure: How Meditation Became Medicine (Oxford UP, 2019) Helderman, Prescribing the Dharma: Psychotherapists, Buddhist Traditions, and Defining Religion (2019) Brown, Debating Yoga and Mindfulness in Public Schools: Reforming Secular Education or Reestablishing Religion? (2019) Purser, McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality (2019) Find all episodes of the Blue Beryl Podcast here.Pierce Salguero is a transdisciplinary scholar of health humanities who is fascinated by historical and contemporary intersections between Buddhism, medicine, and crosscultural exchange. He has a Ph.D. in History of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2010), and teaches Asian history, medicine, and religion at Penn State University’s Abington College, located near Philadelphia. He is also the host (with Lan Li) of the Blue Beryl podcast. Subscribe to Blue Beryl here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/spiritual-practice-and-mindfulness

Peter Fenner, Ph.D, is an adapter and teacher of non-duality, and an author. His two books, Radiant Mind: Awakening Unconditioned Awareness (Sounds True, 2007) and Natural Awakening: An Advanced Guide for Sharing Nondual Awareness (Sumeru Press, 2015), draw on a dialectical method adapted from his monastic training with the Gelugpa School of Tibetan Buddhism. We discuss philosophical psychology, the Madhyamaka school of Buddhist thought, the challenge of patterns, meditation, and the relationship between the different vehicles in Buddhism.This episode features a longer introduction in order to update listeners on a slight change in direction or the podcast as well as an attempt to contextualize non-duality.Matthew O'Connell is a life coach and the host of the The Imperfect Buddha podcast. You can find The Imperfect Buddha on Facebook and Twitter (@imperfectbuddha). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/spiritual-practice-and-mindfulness

Dr. James K. A. Smith, a philosophy professor at Calvin University, discusses his book on temporal awareness and the spiritual practice of memento tempori. He emphasizes the importance of recognizing our mortality and synchronizing our lives with the Spirit's rhythm. The conversation explores how history shapes identity and the significance of communal liturgy in navigating personal stories. Smith also highlights the need for contemplation in a distracted world and reformation within spiritual institutions for future growth.

With more than twenty years of experience as one of Australia’s foremost life coaches, bestselling author Shannah Kennedy describes her approach to living your best life in The Life Plan, a workbook that gives you a collection of simple strategies designed to build your confidence, prioritize your goals, and make your dreams a reality in a changing world.Do you want to change your life? Do you find yourself not quite accomplishing all of your goals and dreams? Do you feel stagnant in your routine and need to establish a new one? The Life Plan: Simple Strategies for Building Confidence in a Changing World" (Beyond Words, 2022) has you covered. Shannah’s time-tested strategies will motivate you to retake control over your life, give you space to explore your true self and values, and provide a how-to manual on creating new beneficial wellness habits, prioritizing your professional and personal goals, and effectively developing and maintaining methods for self-care and the revitalization of your life.Whether you’re years into building your career, have a family, and want to re-evaluate your life or you’re newly out of school and looking to plan your future effectively, this book will both motivate and give you the tools to start fresh and help you succeed—all while feeling like you have a life coach in your pocket cheering you on. So what are you waiting for? Start living your best life today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/spiritual-practice-and-mindfulness