The Order Of Light

You Were Lost Long Before&You Came Here Because You Had Gone Everywhere Else. The Order Of Light Is One Week In The Life Of A Young Pakistani-American. The Son Of Wealthy Parents, He Attends A Prestigious American University And Enjoys The Comforts And Privileges That Come With It. He Is Also Miserable. In The Summer Of 2001, He And His Indian Room-Mate Haris Enroll In A Programme At A Language Institute In Cairo To Study Arabic And The Qur An, So That They Might Better Understand Their Religion. Their Project Fails In Almost Every Respect, Nothing Quite Bores The Protagonist As Much As Attending Prayers Or Listening To Sermons. But Having Come From A Family Where Every Day He Was Told That Islam Must Come First, The Discovery That He Doesn T Care To Lead An Islamic Way Of Life-And That Much Of The Muslim World Doesn T Seem To Want To, Either-Disturbs Him Terribly. Frustrated With His Spiritual Lethargy, He Finds It Easier To Run. He Runs Away From His Apartment Every Other Night, Making Haris Sick With Worry. One Such Night, He Finds Himself Lost In The Winding Streets Of Old Cairo. Desperate, He Takes Shelter In A Tiny, Dilapidated Mosque Where He Chances Upon Something Altogether Unexpected: Five Men, Members Of A Self-Declared Order Of Light, Who Claim They Are From The Future; Descendants Of Salah Al-Din S Twelfth-Century Kurdish Retinue. They Have Travelled Back In Time To Save The World From A Horrific Global Conflict That Will Ultimately Wreak Havoc On The Islamic People. The Problem With The Modern Age, The Order Proclaims, Is That Man Has Made Himself An Idol, And To Repent This Sin, Man Must Commit Suicide In Order To Free His Soul. The Young Pakistani Finds Himself Joining In Their Discussions, Captivated By Their Teachings. But The More Questions He Asks Them The More He Ends Up Questioning Himself. He Wants To Forget About The Order But Seems To Bump Into Its Members Wherever He Goes. Are They Following Him? Are They Trying To Win Him Over? Then The Suicides Begin, And Cairo Is Plunged Into Panic And Destruction.

The four jewels of power had been created by a priestess in the days when the Covenant between the people and the Guardian of the land had been threatened. The heirs of her line held the Jewels - one of each of the sovereign elements - and through them, ruled Westria. In the sixth century of the Covenant, the Estates of Westria petitioned the King to marry, so that he might have an heir. So the King and his companions set out to find a Lady for Westria - a woman who would become both the mistress of his heart and the Mistress of the Jewels.

Fairy-tale fantasy in a modern key, with some classic hints, "The King of Light, the Order of the Dark Gods" is a novel that combines the intimate notes of the delicate love story between the protagonists: Fedrick and Isabel. The story of the young crusader leads the reader through evocative atmospheres, enchanted places, and unique and particular characters to a Turin as coveted as it is mysterious. This will lead Fedrick to understand that all areas of that world are governed by the Order of the Dark Gods and that what he wants will be part of an ever-bigger and more difficult plan to manage. A story full of unexpected events, unpredictable and always dynamic, through a totally new world to discover.

The Santo Daime is a syncretic religion that arose in the Amazon region of Brazil in the middle of the twentieth century and now has churches throughout the world. Its spiritual practice is based around the sacramental use of ayahuasca, a psychedelic brew consumed only within regular ceremonies. In Liquid Light, G. William Barnard—an initiate of the religion and a scholar of religious studies—considers the religious practice and transformative inner experiences of the Santo Daime community. Immersing readers in his own journeys into nonordinary states of consciousness, Barnard provides a vivid as well as introspective depiction of the dramatic ritual and visionary worlds that a practitioner of this tradition encounters. He combines striking first-person accounts of the ritual life of the Santo Daime with accessible examinations of the psychological and philosophical significance of mystical states and mediumship. Bridging insider and outsider perspectives on religious experience, Barnard demonstrates how the Santo Daime offers its practitioners a transformative and profoundly illuminating spiritual path. Liquid Light also reflects on the broader implications of psychedelics, arguing that entheogenic religions can shed light on a wide range of key philosophical questions concerning consciousness, selfhood, and reality.

A heartwarming novel from America's most popular living artist journeys to the picturesque village of Cape Light on the coast of New England, a hamlet populated by colorful inhabitants who share a strong sense of community and caring for their neighbors. Reprint.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout returns with book one of the all-new, compelling Flesh and Fire series—set in the beloved Blood and Ash world. Born shrouded in the veil of the Primals, a Maiden as the Fates promised, Seraphena Mierel’s future has never been hers. Chosen before birth to uphold the desperate deal her ancestor struck to save his people, Sera must leave behind her life and offer herself to the Primal of Death as his Consort. However, Sera’s real destiny is the most closely guarded secret in all of Lasania—she’s not the well protected Maiden but an assassin with one mission—one target. Make the Primal of Death fall in love, become his weakness, and then…end him. If she fails, she dooms her kingdom to a slow demise at the hands of the Rot. Sera has always known what she is. Chosen. Consort. Assassin. Weapon. A specter never fully formed yet drenched in blood. A monster. Until him. Until the Primal of Death’s unexpected words and deeds chase away the darkness gathering inside her. And his seductive touch ignites a passion she’s never allowed herself to feel and cannot feel for him. But Sera has never had a choice. Either way, her life is forfeit—it always has been, as she has been forever touched by Life and Death.

Earth is long since dead. On a colony planet, a band of men has gained control of technology, made themselves immortal, and now rules their world as the gods of the Hindu pantheon. Only one dares oppose them: he who was once Siddhartha and is now Mahasamatman. Binder of Demons. Lord of Light.

“I am most grateful for two things: that I was born in North Korea, and that I escaped from North Korea.” - Yeonmi Park "One of the most harrowing stories I have ever heard - and one of the most inspiring." - The Bookseller “Park's remarkable and inspiring story shines a light on a country whose inhabitants live in misery beyond comprehension. Park's important memoir showcases the strength of the human spirit and one young woman's incredible determination to never be hungry again.” —Publishers Weekly In In Order to Live, Yeonmi Park shines a light not just into the darkest corners of life in North Korea, describing the deprivation and deception she endured and which millions of North Korean people continue to endure to this day, but also onto her own most painful and difficult memories. She tells with bravery and dignity for the first time the story of how she and her mother were betrayed and sold into sexual slavery in China and forced to suffer terrible psychological and physical hardship before they finally made their way to Seoul, South Korea—and to freedom. Park confronts her past with a startling resilience. In spite of everything, she has never stopped being proud of where she is from, and never stopped striving for a better life. Indeed, today she is a human rights activist working determinedly to bring attention to the oppression taking place in her home country. Park’s testimony is heartbreaking and unimaginable, but never without hope. This is the human spirit at its most indomitable.

Sharing the Light explores historical and philosophical shifts in the depiction of women and virtue in the early centuries of the Chinese state. These changes had far-reaching effects on both the treatment of women in Chinese society and on the formation of Chinese philosophical discourse on ethics, cosmology, epistemology, and self-cultivation. Warring States and Han dynasty narratives frequently represented women as intellectually adroit, politically astute, and ethically virtuous; these histories, discourses, and life stories portray women as active participants within their own society, not inert victims of it. The women depicted resembled sages, ministers, and generals as the mainstays and destroyers of dynasties. These stories emphasized that sagacity, intellect, strategy, and statecraft were virtues proper to women, an emphasis that effectively disappeared from later collections and instruction texts by and for women. During the same period, there were also important changes in the understanding of two polarities that delineated what now is called gender. Han correlative cosmology included a range of hierarchical analogies between yin and yang and men and women, and the understanding of yin and yang shifted from complementarity toward hierarchy. Similarly, the doctrine of separate spheres (inner and outer, nei-wai) shifted from a notion of appropriate distinction between men and women toward physical, social, and intellectual separation and isolation.

Argues that human freedom is threatened by systems of intelligent persuasion developed by tech giants who compete for our time and attention. This title is also available as Open Access.