For more than fifteen hundred years, Christianity has cultivated a rich and varied teaching on the practice of stillness and inner calm. Here we can find answers to the contemporary psychological struggle for inner peace.
In a fresh and engaging reading of this ancient contemplative spirituality, Jean-Yves Leloup explores the writings of many spiritual masters from across the centuries. In particular he focuses on the Desert Fathers, the fourth-century monk Evagrius, St. John Cassian, and the anonymous 19th-century author of The Way of the Pilgrim. Drawn from the experience of the monasteries of Sinai and Mount Athos, here is a clear and practical presentation of the spiritual art of arts: stillness in the face of interior pain and confusion.

Being Still: Reflections on an Ancient Mystical Tradition

Religion & Spirituality

LELOUP, JEAN-YVES

Christian Books & Bibles

Paulist Pr

Jean-Yves Leloup explores the writings of many spiritual masters from across the centuries, in particular the Desert Fathers, the fourth-century monk Evagrius, St. John Cassian, and the anonymous nineteenth-century author of The Way of the Pilgrim. Drawn from the experience of the monasteries of Sinai and Mount Athos, here is a clear and practical presentation of the spiritual art of arts: stillness in the face of interior pain and confusion. These spiritual riches, refined and developed by the Orthodox tradition in Christianity, can also be recognized in the teaching and practice of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islamic Sufism. The fundamental truth of one tradition is to be found under its own proper forms and nuances in others. Far from diminishing the unique value of this hesychastic way of prayer, the most developed spiritual traditions of humanity affirm it as one of the great forms through which humanity reaches out to embrace Infinite Reality.

Being Still

Gracewing

Imaginal Worlds: According to Corbin, Hillman, and Jung

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Cheetham, Tom

Barcellos, Gustavo

Schwarzstein, Marco André

Miranda, Punita

Crema, Roberto

Psychology & Counseling

Spring Publications

Discovered in 1945 in Upper Egypt, the Gospel of Thomas is a collection of 114 sayings or logia attributed to Jesus. It differs from the canonical Gospels in that it proclaims nothing and predicts nothing, but instead presents words of Jesus, as purportedly recorded by his disciple Thomas, in brief, sometimes enigmatic, fragments reminiscent of Zen koans. Inspired by his years of intimate study of the text, frank Lalou has rendered selections from the Gospel of Thomas based on the Coptic and Greek alphabets, alternating classical compositions with others influenced by the expressive brushstrokes of Japanese calligraphy. Calligraphy (from the Greek for "beautiful writing") is an art where word and image meet, where the artist strives to give visual expression to the meaning of words in a way that transcends the text while remaining completely faithful to it. It is a discipline that has been invested with spiritual significance wherever it has arisen—and it has arisen throughout the world in every age, in virtually every language, culture, and religion. The Shambhala Calligraphy series is a collection of books devoted to contemporary expressions of this "art of the word," featuring contemporary calligraphers' striking new interpretations of texts that have been traditional subjects for calligraphic interpretation. Whether in Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, or Chinese pictographs, the characters, words, and sentences are brought to life anew here in a choreography of mind, hand, and heart by which letter and spirit fuse in a single stroke.

The Gospel of Thomas (Shambhala Calligraphy)

Shambhala

A new translation and analysis of the gospel that records the actual words of Jesus • Explores the gnostic significance of Jesus's teachings recorded in this gospel • Explains the true nature of the new man whose coming Jesus envisioned • Translated and interpreted by the author of the bestselling The Gospel of Mary Magdalene and The Gospel of Philip One of the cache of codices and manuscripts discovered in Nag Hammadi, the Gospel of Thomas, unlike the canonical gospels, does not contain a narrative recording Christ's life and prophecies. Instead it is a collection of his teachings--what he actually said. These 114 logia, or sayings, were collected by Judas Didymus Thomas, whom some claim to be Jesus's closest disciple. No sooner was this gospel uncovered from the sands of Upper Egypt than scholars and theologians began to bury it anew in a host of conflicting interpretations and polemics. While some say it is a hodgepodge from the canonical gospels, for others it is the source text from which all the gospel writers drew their material and inspiration. In this new translation of the Gospel of Thomas, Jean-Yves Leloup shows that the Jesus recorded by the "infinitely skeptical and infinitely believing" Thomas has much in common with gnostics of non-dualistic schools. Like them, Jesus preaches the coming of a new man, the genesis of the man of knowledge. In this gospel, Jesus describes a journey from limited to unlimited consciousness. The Jesus of Thomas invites us to drink deeply from the well of knowledge that lies within, not so that we may become good Christians but so we may attain the self-knowledge that will make each of us, too, a Christ.

The Gospel of Thomas: The Gnostic Wisdom of Jesus

History

World

Inner Traditions

An examination of how the teachings of Jesus reveal the essential role of sexuality in spiritual growth and transformation • Shows that Jesus did not come to redeem humanity from the life of the flesh, but to honor it as a spiritual path • Uses Hebrew, gnostic, and early Christian source texts to reveal the true context of the words attributed to Jesus • Explores the spiritual and physical relationship shared by Jesus and Mary Magdalene Of all the major religions, Christianity is the only one that has utterly rejected sexuality as one of the many paths that can lead to enlightenment and salvation. But if Jesus was indeed “the Word made flesh” and serious consideration is given to the mystery of his Incarnation, is it reasonable that physical love would have been prohibited to him? Drawing from the canonical and apocryphal gospels, the Hebrew esoteric tradition, and gnosticism, Jean-Yves Leloup shows that Jesus did not come to save humanity from the life of the flesh but to save the life of the flesh so that it would truly transfigure all people. Leloup explains that when Saint Paul said it was good to be without women, he did not cite any words of Jesus in support of this contention. In fact, Paul’s statement utterly contradicts the words of God in Genesis: “It is not good that man should be alone.” Leloup argues that the elimination of the divine feminine and sacred sexuality set in motion by Paul’s words does not reflect the true teachings of Christ, and that the transformation of Jesus into a celibate is the true heresy. His research restores Christ’s true human sexuality and shows it to be a vital part of humanity’s spirituality. Leloup contends that by understanding the sacred nature of the embrace shared by man and woman as a true reflection of humanity made in God’s image, Christianity can again become the powerful path of transfiguration Christ intended.

The Sacred Embrace of Jesus and Mary: The Sexual Mystery at the Heart of the Christian Tradition

A radical reinterpretation of the relationship of Judas and Jesus • Reexamines the role and the purpose the key figure of Judas played in the crucifixion story • Reveals how Judas was “betrayed” by Jesus, and how, taken to the limits of his humanity, he lost everything he most cherished on the path to his true self The familiar story of Judas, betrayer of Jesus, is striking because of its incomprehensibility. Why would one of Christ’s disciples and companions of the heart deliver him up to his enemies and a barbarous, ignominious, and certain death for thirty pieces of silver? Jean-Yves Leloup’s careful investigation of the gospels, various apocryphal texts, and most importantly the Coptic codex known as the Gospel of Judas, leads him to conclude that there is more to the familiar story of Judas than a simple demonstration, viewed through one man, of humanity’s inherent failings. The betrayal of Jesus to the Romans was Jesus’s idea, explains Leloup. Jesus persuaded Judas to play the role of “evil” in humankind by telling him that this enactment was crucial to God’s plan and would set Judas by Jesus’s side for eternity: “There where I am,” spoke Jesus to Judas, “is where I wish you, too, to be.” But to get there, Judas--a metaphorical representation of the darker side present in all human beings and the “shadow” counterpart to his Messiah dying on the cross-- must first shed all his human qualities. His failings of greed, deceit, and cowardice--and even his faith and hope--are washed away in the despair that engulfs him. A parallel moment occurs for Jesus on the cross, when he comes to know the despair of separation from God. The moment Judas “loses” his life and all that gave it meaning--his God, his law, his justice, his Messiah--is the very moment he finds that which cannot be discarded--life eternal. Thus, in the moment of his ultimate extremity, Judas receives Jesus’s true message and his intended gift.

Judas and Jesus: Two Faces of a Single Revelation

A profound reflection on how complementary themes in Buddhism and Christianity could serve as the basis for a truly ecumenical faith • Compares Zen meditation with the Greek Orthodox practice of Hesychasm (prayer of the heart) • Shows how Buddha and Jesus represent the distinct yet complementary values of meditation and compassion In Asian spiritual traditions the mountain traditionally symbolizes meditation while the ocean signifies compassion. Jean-Yves Leloup uses this metaphor to compare Buddhist and Christian approaches to meditation and compassion to reveal the similarities and divergences of these profound practices. Emphasizing their complementary nature, Leloup describes how Jesus and Buddha are necessary to one another and how together they form a complete system: Jesus as awakening through love, and Buddha as awakening through meditation. Where Buddha represents the forests, Jesus represents the trees. Buddha is brother to the universe, whereas Jesus is brother to humanity. Nevertheless, these two religious traditions have a profound common ground. Compassion is central to Buddhism, and meditation practices have been central to many Christian traditions. Both view murder, theft, and the destructive use of sexuality as great barriers to realizing our essential being, and both agree on the need to rise above them. Here, however, Leloup suggests that both faiths could benefit from the precepts of the other. The complementary aspects of Christianity and Buddhism offer the possibility for a truly profound ecumenical religion whose interfaith relations are based on deep understanding of the true meaning and practice of meditation and compassion and not merely shared goodwill.

Compassion and Meditation: The Spiritual Dynamic between Buddhism and Christianity

Buddhism

The Gospel of Philip: Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and the Gnosis of Sacred Union

At more than 120 bpm, electronic music sets the tempo on dancefloors around the globe. Accompanying the exhibition Electronic: From Kraftwerk to The Chemical Brothers, this book offers an insight into the visual culture of electronic music, and how technology, design, art and fashion have contributed to its power. With its roots in Detroit and Chicago in the early 1980s, electronic dance music was popularised across Europe through underground rave parties. Its impact on contemporary culture is still unfolding today. Containing interviews with early pioneers such as techno legend Jeff Mills, The Designers Republic's Ian Anderson, and those pushing the political dimension of electronic music, such as ballroom dancer and DJ Kiddy Smile, Electronic bears witness to the shifting nature of the genre. Illustrated with over 300 images, some published here for the first time, Electronic features Jean-Michel Jarre's virtual studio; work by pioneer Daphne Oram of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop; audiovisual performances by musicians like Bicep and the Chemical Brothers; fashion collections by Raf Simons and Charles Jeffrey of Loverboy; iconic photography by Jacob Khrist and Tina Paul; artwork by Christian Marclay; club graphics from Peter Saville and Mark Farrow; and iconic venues such as the Hac?ienda, Gatecrasher, Fabric, Berghain and the Warehouse Project. Reflecting the shifts in society over the past thirty years, electronic music has generated distinct visual languages as well as its own political and cultural ideals.

Electronic: From Kraftwerk to the Chemical Brothers

Arts & Photography

Music

The Design Museum

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