From the celebrated scholar and lecturer Andrew Harvey, a fascinating and inspiring introduction to the essential texts and themes of the great mystics.

Not merely a feast of the greatest and wisest mystical revelations, 'The Essential Mystics' i

Until recently, the empirical approach of physicists such as Newton has taught us that the world exists with or without human consciousness to observe it. But we can never be totally objective about reality. The human mind, with all its preconceived notions and prejudices, always intrudes,...

Courage is not the absence of fear, says Osho. It is, rather, the total presence of fear, with the courage to face it. This book provides a bird's-eye view of the whole terrain--where fears originate, how to understand them, and how to find the courage to face them. In the process, Osho proposes that whenever we are faced with uncertainty and change in our lives, it is actually a cause for celebration. Instead of trying to hang on to the familiar and the known, we can learn to enjoy these situations as opportunities for adventure and for deepening our understanding of ourselves and the...

As Osho points out in the foreward to this book, historically, the creative person has been all but forced to rebel against the society.

But nowadays, the situation has dramatically changed. In today's world, the ability to respond creatively to new challenges is demanded of everybody, from corporate CEOs to "soccer moms." Those whose toolbox for dealing with life includes only what they have learned in the past from their parents and their teachers are at a distinct disadvantage both in their relationships and in their careers. Making a switch from imitative and rule-bound behavior...

In a culture infatuated with youth and determined to avoid old age at all costs, this book dares to raise a question that has been all but forgotten in the age of Viagra and cosmetic surgery. What benefits might lie in accepting the aging process as natural, rather than trying to hold on to youth and its pleasures all the way to the grave?

Osho takes us back to the roots of what it means to grow up rather than just to grow old. Both in our relationships with others, and in the fulfillment of our own individual destinies, he reminds us of the pleasures that only true maturity can...

Conversations with God, Book 1 was the start of Neale Donald Walsch's ongoing dialogue with God. The trilogy contains the most essential truths and lessons for spiritual seekers, and these books are the bestselling of all the author's works. Featuring a new foreword by the author, printed throughout in two colors, and inserted in...

Lao Tzu was one of the greatest mystics of all time. Legend tells us that he was immaculately conceived by a shooting star. Confucius, who met him only once, likened him to a dragon, the one creature in all creation whose ways he would never understand.
Some hold that Lao Tzu was not one man but many men, and the work attributed to him, the Tao Teh Ching, the product of many minds...

Starting from a careful definition of mysticism, this volume argues that there is clear evidence for the practice of mysticism in the Community of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It offers a close reading of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, the Self-Glorification Hymn, and related texts, which constitute the Qumran mystical corpus. It discusses the nature of the mystical experience at Qumran, which was centred on union with the angels in offering praise to God in the celestial temple, and the means by which this union was achieved, through the communal chanting of highly-charged numinous...