Adelaide Theosophical Society Inc.

EMBRACING MIND: The Common Ground of Science & Spirituality by B. Alan Wallace and Brian Hood

According to the authors, “It is obvious that when we ignore the mind from which all of our views and decisions arise, we get into difficulties. These range from our own emotional and interpersonal problems on out to the strife and suffering of war and terrorism. Our world is essentially mind-made, and we are therefore in dire need of knowing our minds better if we are to prosper or even survive as a species.”

B. Alan Wallace is perfectly placed to provide us with this synthesis. He spent 14 years as a Buddhist monk, holds a BA in physics and the philosophy of science and a PhD in religious studies. After teaching in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, he founded the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies.

In this book, the authors move well beyond dogmatic debates and suggest how science and spirituality might work together to gain deeper insights into the nature and origins of consciousness. The first part of the book explores how the Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman heritages that defined Western civilization led to the development of a scientific methodology that denied the existence of the mind. This is followed by an exploration of the methodologies used by the world’s contemplative traditions to explore the nature of mind, with an in-depth look at the scientific approach to consciousness from Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. Conclusions drawn from both of these traditions point to a middle ground, a universe of interdependence between mind and matter.

THE END OF YOUR WORLD By Adyashanti
Uncensored straight talk on the nature of enlightenment

Many people have had experiences of ‘awakening’, glimpses of a greater reality where they feel and understand the ‘oneness’ of all life. Sometimes these arrive out of the blue, sometimes as part of a meditation or other spiritual discipline. Unfortunately, most find themselves back in their everyday personality, with all its limitations and conditioning, all too soon. They may even begin to doubt the authenticity of the whole experience. This book, with its evocative title and gentle, practical wisdom, is thirst-quenching nectar for those struggling to understand the process of true and lasting awakening. This is a natural process, but, for many reasons explained in the book, it may not unfold as we expect! With penetrating insight, and gentle humour, Adyashanti points out the pitfalls and cul-de-sacs that can ‘un-enlighten’ us on the way to truth.. Beautiful to read and absorb.

FRACTAL TIME: The Secret of 2012 and a New World Age by Gregg Braden

Gregg Braden has done it again. Following on from “The Divine Matrix” and “The Spontaneous Healing of Belief” he has shown us once again what can be accomplished when we cross the traditional boundaries between science and spirituality. In “Fractal Time” he merges the new science of fractals with ancient and indigenous views of cyclic time to come up with a powerful working model of time which we can apply as we approach 2012 and the world beyond. His “Time Codes” are tools which we can use to read the map of the past and apply what we learn within our own lives as well as on a global scale.

Gregg reminds us that the world-age transition marked by 2012 is a process rather than an event, and it is one that is already well under way. This is not a doomsday scenario but rather, an opportunity. “We are discovering that we have the ability to co-operate with one another in a way that is unprecedented in the history of the world. It’s as if we’ve pushed ourselves to the very edge of our limits and our beliefs. Now we must apply what we’ve learned in order to survive what we’ve created.”

A must read!