Stories, Ideas, Controversies, questions and Surprises that will stimulate discussion about jobs, fairness, democracy, justice, war, progress, the American Dream, and the meaning of life.

Rosenberg, Joel, Emile and the Dutchman

Practicing the Presence is one of the four foundational books among Joel Goldsmith's Infinite Way writings. Goldsmith recommended that new students begin with this book, together with Living the Infinite Way. Practicing the Presence is a celebrated guide to the awareness of the divine and transcendental in our daily lives. Goldsmith writes that it was during one of his periods of contemplation that the words came to him, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee." This surprised him, because at that time he was little acquainted with the Bible and only occasionally went to church. But through the study of Scripture and the practice of its teachings, Goldsmith realized that a Presence was with him, counseling, sustaining, and leading him into greater spiritual awareness. Following that realization, he traveled throughout the world, teaching others to know this Presence. Goldsmith says, "Every person who has known dissatisfaction, incompleteness, and frustration will someday learn that there is only one missing link in this entire chain of harmonious living. That is the practice of the presence of God - consciously, daily and hourly, abiding in some great spiritual truth of scripture, and it makes no difference which scripture: Christian, Hebrew, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, or Moslem." If we begin with practicing the presence of God, it leads to an inner stillness that makes it possible to meditate. Goldsmith sets forth for the reader how to practice the presence from the moment we awaken to the moment we retire for sleep. To Goldsmith, harmonious living is all a matter of consciousness. When we have the right consciousness, we do not want things, but we express the very things which formerly we sought. So, instead of a change of circumstances, what the seeker needs is a change of consciousness. Practicing the Presence helps the seeker make that change by opening consciousness to the life by grace. In clear and direct language, Goldsmith shows that by constantly and consciously practicing the presence of God in every experience of our daily life, the struggles of existence pass and harmony is established in every department of our lives. "Seek neither health, nor wealth, nor fame, nor fortune," the author writes. "Seek first the realization of this inner kingdom and be a beholder as these outer things are added."

In an autobiographical memoir directed to his young son Dylan, the film and theater critic uses stories and anecdotes to present the story of his life and the life lessons he has learned.

"Though there are many books about the history of the alphabet, virtually none address how that history came to be. In Inventing the Alphabet, Johanna Drucker guides readers from antiquity to the present to show how humans have shaped and reshaped their own understanding of this transformative writing tool. From ancient beliefs in the alphabet as a divine gift to growing awareness of its empirical origins through the study of scripts and inscriptions, Drucker describes the frameworks-classical, textual, biblical, graphical, antiquarian, archaeological, paleographic, and political-within which the alphabet's history has been and continues to be constructed. Drucker's book begins in ancient Greece, with the earliest writings on the alphabet's origins. She then explores biblical sources on the topic and medieval preoccupations with the magical properties of individual letters. She later delves into the development of modern archaeological and paleographic tools, and she concludes with the role of alphabetic characters in the digital era. Throughout, she argues that, as a shared form of knowledge technology integrated into every aspect of our lives, the alphabet performs complex cultural, ideological, and technical functions, and her carefully curated selection of images demonstrates how closely the letters we use today still resemble their original appearance millennia ago"--

The letters of the alphabet have been the source of some speculation since their invention almost 4000 years ago. Through research this text examines the many ways in which the letters of the alphabet have been used in political, spiritual and religious systems over two millennia. The book also presents the more general history of lettering, printing and calligraphy, as well as using colour illustrations to support the text. The book provides a source to historians studying art, culture or typography.

"Visusalization argues for the importance of using traditional humanistic methodologies for the interpretation of graphical images (bar graphs, pie charts, network diagrams, etc.)"--

Book by Sanford, John B

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