Fields Book Store - Soulful and scholarly books from the world's spiritual traditions

Gnosis 24: Saints and Scoundrels (New)

by Gnosis

Publisher: Gnosis

Binding: Magazine

Book Id: GNO24

Price: $9.00

Description



"However heroic the virtues of the saint may be, the scoundrel has a bit of the hero in him too."
- Richard Smoley, from the introduction

Contents -- Summer 1992

2
News

3
Forum

8
Skeptic's Corner
Stranger Than Science
A column by Ted Schultz

10
Alternative Realities
The Divine Feminine in Recent World Events
A column by Stephan A. Hoeller

12
Choose Your Saints Wisely
by Richard Smoley
Why we must cast a cold eye on even our greatest heroes.

16
The Hell-Fire Club
by Daniel Willens
Were they Satanists and libertines? Or some of the most progressive and far-sighted men in British history?

23
The Grand Copt
by Timothy O'Neill
How the legendary Cagliostro tried to revive the magic of ancient Egypt.

30
The Best of the Beast
by Antoinette LaFarge and Robert Allen
What can we make of the legacy of the inimitable Aleister Crowley?

36
Heroic Virtue: An Interview with Brother David Steindl-Rast
by Richard Smoley
A distinguished monk talks about saints, the contemplative life, and the future of the Catholic Church.

43
Wrath, Sanctity, and Power
by John Carey
Why were those Irish saints so darn ornery?

48
Was Tsar Nicholas a Saint?
by Stephen Muratore
The case of the last tsar of Russia casts some light on who becomes a saint, and why.

56
The Art of Conscious Listening
by Heidi Melas
How classical music can serve as a pathway to the realms of the spirit.

61
Book Reviews

  • In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations by Jerry Mander
  • Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge by Terence McKenna
  • The Elements of Alchemy by Cherry Gilchrist
  • The Future of the Body: Explorations into the Further Evolution of Human Nature by Michael Murphy
  • Eating the "I": An Account of the Fourth Way by Wm. Patrick Patterson
  • Reimagination of the World: A Critique of the New Age, Science, and the Popular Culture by David Spangler and William Irwin Thompson
  • Saturday's Child: Encounters with the Dark Gods by Janet O. Dallett
  • Prayer of Jesus - Prayer of the Heart by Alphonse and Rachel Goettmann
  • Song of the Cosmos: An Introduction to Traditional Cosmology by Arthur Versluis
  • Visions of the Night: A Study of Jewish Dream Interpretation by Joel Covitz
  • The Journey of the Self: A Sufi Guide to Personality by Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri

The Neuroscience of Fair Play: Why We (Usually) Follow the Golden Rule
Pfaff, Donald W.
University of Chicago Press

Pfaff, head of the Laboratory of Neurobiology and Behavior at Rockefeller University, gives us the first book to describe how ethics may be a universal, hardwired function of the human brain. He explains how specific brain circuits cause us to consider an action toward another as if it were going to happen to us, prompting us to treat others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Into this picture, he brings various brain hormones that produce or induce forms of moral behavior such as individual heroism, parental love, close friendship, and violence and aggression.

Price: $20.95

Initiation: The Living Reality of an Archetype
Singer, June
Taylor & Francis/Routledge

This book builds on the vast clinical experience of Jungian analyst Joseph Henderson, who studied initiatory symbolism in patients' dreams, fantasies, and active imagination, demonstrating the archetype of initiation in both men and women's psychology. This book's modern collection of essays shows how the archetype of initiation is seen clinically today. It explores the archetype of initiation in Henderson's own life, as well as amplifying and extending the archetype from early history up to the present. Initiation symbolism often underlies contemporary phenomena, but is rarely recognized; Initiation illuminates these experiences.

Price: $33.95

A Prayer for Spiritual Elevation and Protection: Al-Dawr Al-A la (Hizh Al-Wiqaya)
Ibn 'Arabi, Muhyiddin
Anqa Publishing

Widely used for centuries in Sufi circles, this beautiful and powerful prayer, written by the great Sufi master Ibn ‘Arabi, has never before been available in English. The book provides a lucid English translation and an edited Arabic text, as well as a transliteration for those unable to read Arabic who wish to recite the prayer in the original language. It also explores the prayer’s contemporary life, properties and historical transmission. It gives full details of generations of well-known scholars and Sufi masters who have transmitted the prayer, providing an intimate and fascinating insight into Islamic history.

Price: $25.95

Entering the Castle: Finding the Inner Path to God and Your Soul's Purpose
Myss, Caroline
Simon & Schuster

Myss provides a highly original inner path to self-knowledge as she reveals a necessary external path, one that takes you out into the world to serve God and others as a mystic without a monastery -- without having to retreat into silence, self-denial, or isolation. Adapting Teresa of Ávila's vision of the soul as a crystal castle with many floors and rooms, Myss guides us from room to room, helping us meet different aspects of our self, our soul, and our spirit -- preparing us for the ultimate encounter with God and our own divinity. Through intense practices and methods of spiritual inquiry adapted for contemporary life, she helps us to develop our powers of prayer, contemplation, and intuition and to ascend the seven levels of soul knowledge that build a soul of strength and stamina.

Price: $15.00