Bøker av David Lane

An offbeat meander through the streets and histories of the great Italian capital, where the past is always present.

The End of Social Inequality (1982) examines class and social stratification under state socialism and in particular in the Soviet Union. Its discussion ranges over such aspects as income and education differentials, the rise of white-collar occupations, the position of women and ethnic groups, and social mobility.

One of the most significant discoveries of modern science is that the world we perceive around us is not as it appears. Rather, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and quantum physics have demonstrated that our day-to-day reality is a relative construct, built upon a scaffolding of information bits that betray their real origin and causation. For instance, the other day, I remarked to my oldest son, Shaun, that the ocean water around Catalina Island looked exceptionally blue. But, given his deep knowledge of science, my son responded that such "blueness" was actually not in the water at all, but how different light waves get absorbed and refracted. The colors we see are due to the spectral properties of light. The longer wavelengths of light (such as red, orange, and yellow) are more readily captured by H20 whereas the shorter wavelength of light (such as blue) gets refracted and thus we see the color blue, particularly if the water is clear. But the scientific explanation for why an ocean is blue or a sunset is red is precisely not how we tend to experience such at first glance. In other words, the way we apprehend the world around us is not necessarily how we later comprehend it through scientific analysis. And herein lies the great divide, the great deception, or what early Indian rishis insightfully called "Maya." We live in a magic land, where all that manifests and appears real and certain is anything but. Perhaps the study of consciousness has an inherent limitation, similar in import to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics or Gödel's incompleteness theorem in mathematics. Perhaps we are like seasoned travelers on a Mobius strip in quest of the "other" side of the band who after long and arduous circular travels come to realize that no matter what route we take we will always only be touching the same surface. If this is so, then a specialized version of Niels Bohr's complementarity may be an instructive insight for us as we venture forth: "In any given situation, the use of certain classical concepts excludes the simultaneous meaningful application of other classical concepts." In the study of consciousness it appears we may have to confront an epistemological complementarity where any objective study (via third person analysis) of qualia must by necessity lose in translation a fundamental feature of the very phenomenon under inspection. This book combines the Oceanic Metaphor and the Cerebral Mirage.

This small book is fully illustrated and provides a glimpse of three mystical traditions and the way of enlightenment, Hinduism, Zen Buddhism, and Sufi mysticism. The text augments the pictures which are themselves conveyors of wisdom.

Do you see Luna Blanca? Does she follow you everywhere and watch you too? I love Luna Blanca.Celebrate the magic of the night sky with your child and learn what dreams are made of. Who knows? If we reach for the moon and stars, we might just find something special along the way.

This volume contains seven distinct mini books on the following mystics and their deep insights on spirituality and meditation: Charan Singh, Jagat Singh, Rai Salig Ram, Baba Faqir Chand, Dara Shikoh, Ramana Maharshi, and Nicholas of Cusa.Inspirational and includes brief biographies on each

The twentieth century was an era of socialist revolutionary transformations and significant social-democratic reforms. By the twenty-first century, these socialist inspired movements have largely disappeared, their ideologies have been disavowed, and their institutions dismantled and replaced by global neoliberal capitalism. This book explores the social, political and economic forces driving these movements in Western Europe and in the USSR, explaining their initial triumphs and how they eventually faltered under the influence of global neoliberalism. David Lane examines the nature and appeal of neoliberal capitalism and analyses current social and political proposals for its reform or replacement, including statist forms of capitalism; social-democratic and ecological globalization reforms; self-sustaining autonomous communities; and globalised forms of social-democracy or socialism. Outlining his own proposal to replace global neoliberal capitalism with political systems based on a combination of market socialism and state planning, Lane provides important insights for ways forward, and a challenge for parties seeking political and economic alternatives.

Orpheus and the Maenads A Traditional Play in Blank Verse The preternaturally great poet Orpheus has responded to the loss of his wife Eurydice to the Underworld by forsaking the society of his fellow men in Thrace, where he was a poet-king, and endlessly wandering through field and forest, using his poetic genius to lament his loss. Apollo, the god of poetry, urges him to give up his excessive mourning and return to Thrace and once more sing the deeds of the great heroes of Greece. He warns him that in the wild he inhabits there lurk the young god of wine Dionysus and his super-human followers the Maenads, who themselves eschew the ordinary society of men and give themselves to mad ecstasies brought on by wine and who would like nothing more than to recruit Orpheus to their number. Unwilling to give up his devotion to the memory of Eurydice, Orpheus rejects the Maenads and their Master with unmeasured words of scorn, sealing his own doom. Dionysus devises a fiendish plot of revenge that goes well beyond the ancient myth.

Sri Ramakrishna is one of the most thoroughly studied saints in the last 150 years. He is by any measure one of the most extraordinary mystics to have emerged from India. Ramakrishna has impacted the lives of millions around the world and he continues to intrigue and puzzle spiritual seekers and scholars alike. After reading many of Sri Ramakrishna's wonderful sayings, filled with such rich and earthly analogies, I thought it would be instructive to choose 88 of his insights and put them in a short, introductory book. To accomplish this aim, I have drawn from Max Müller's delightful, and too often neglected, book, Ramakrishna: His Life and Sayings which was first published in 1898. In addition, I have included a brief article I wrote about Ramakrishna's first Samadhi experience as a young boy who was overcome by a stunningly beautiful sight of white cranes against a cascade of blackened clouds. All of this is prefaced with a brief biography of the Bengali saint who still enthralls us today with his remarkable life and teachings.

In this partially autobiographical book, Professor David Christopher Lane, PhD., a long-time skeptic of religion and the paranormal, explains why he meditates and why he believes it is extremely beneficial to human well-being. Includes a detailed section on how to meditate using an ancient technique called shabd yoga (listening to the inner sound) without resorting to mythological concepts or overlays.From the Text: I don't meditate with an end goal or with some underlying desire for a specific enlightened state mentioned in some ancient holy book or postulated by a revered sage. I meditate just like I surf: for the bliss of the ride. Where it will eventually take me is not dissimilar to where life takes us: to the unexpected and to the unexplored.In other words, it is the means of meditation and not some desired end that is fulfilling. I have noticed that if I get anxious about some result or when I feel a rush, as if entering a time and space portal to a new world, I lose my own balance by clutching. Letting go, surrendering, to our own consciousness and not succumbing to the endless stream of virtual simulations (which our brains are evolutionarily designed to do) is to apprehend the meta program and experience why it emerged.

Surprisingly, one of the more lucid insights on the philosophy of the Tibetan Book of the Dead comes from a Hindu mystic, named Baba Faqir Chand, who apparently was not familiar with the original Tibetan text or its English translation. Although Faqir was not conversant with the Bardo Thotrol, he was nevertheless steeped in its philosophy as taught to him by his guru, Shiv Brat Lal of Gopiganj. Faqir Chand, like his lama counterparts, spent much of his life in meditation, attempting to consciously go through the dying process in order to prepare himself for his final exit. However, unlike others of his kind, Faqir left a detailed account of his some 70-plus years of meditation (ranging from three to 12 hours daily) which led up to his enlightenment. The result is a richly detailed account which provides a thorough understanding of how inner visions and the like are projected in the intermediate stages between life and death.

The Radhasoami Tradition is an important contribution to several scholarly literatures: on Southeast Asian studies; the sociology of religion, and the sociology of politics. Dr. Lane has gathered a truly impressivearray of data on the process of choosing a new guru in the Radhasoami tradition. No serious scholar of Indian religion can ignore Lane's work. The data he has collected will be the building blocks for all future researchon this area. To this data, David has applied a very insightful, original conceptual framework combining elements of Weberian theory on the transmission of charisma, of phenomenological theory on the sociology ofexperience, and the theories of "ideological work" developed by Bennett Berger. The result is the kind of scholarship that deeply respects the authenticity of the religious experience of the Radhasoami communitywhile at the same time making it possible to understand that experience in the context of cultural processes and organizational dynamics common to many different religious communities. --Professor Madsen, Co-author of Habits of the HeartThe Radhasoami Tradition is one of the best works I have read in many years in the field of modern religion and society. Its great strength, I feel, is its understanding of the concept of authority in the Radhasoami tradition and in religious communities in India in general. At no greater time is this concept tested and honed than in the process of succession from one spiritual master to another. These are often difficult moments for the Radhasoami communities, and for this reason inside knowledge about guru succession is very difficult to obtain. Dr. Lane not only has this information, he has it in abundance. He is able to work with this vastknowledge of Radhasoami history and make useful sociological observations on the basis of it.--Professor Juergensmeyer, Author of Radhasoami RealityThe Radhasoami Tradition is a masterful work. Dr. Lane demonstrates the dynamics and history of Indian religious movements in the Hindu tradition and provides a basis for comparative analysis. Building on the classics in the sociology of religion and new studies of religious movements, Dr. Lane skillfully show how religious traditions are maintained in the midst of change, conflict, and negotiation. --Professor Jules-Rosette, Author of The New Religions of Africa

This book describes the life and work of eight Indian mystics, including Ramana Maharshi, Sawan Singh, Paramahansa Yogananda, Baba Faqir Chand, Sushil Kumar, Tripta Devi, and Pratap Singh. Includes the author's personal interaction with several of them, as well as a detailed account of shabd yoga and the inner journey that occurs during meditation.

Shabd yoga works. It is an ancient technique that when performed correctly can elicit a series of remarkable experiences, not the least of which is a deep sense of euphoria. However, this ancient practice (which apparently dates at least to the pre-Vedic period in India) has become so intertwined with varying religious doctrines (ranging from Nathism to Radhasoami) that the simplicity of its technique has been overshadowed by unnecessary theological overlays. The technique is not at all complex. Sitting as still as possible the neophyte calmly and patiently listens to subtler and subtler internal sounds within one's head with the desired aim of melting or blending into certain melodies that give one an almost immediate sense of bliss. Varying religious systems have arisen in India and elsewhere which have attempted to give a spiritual or ontological interpretation to what these inner sounds mean and what they purport. However, the technique itself doesn't have to be lost to such theological entrapments because it actually succeeds regardless of whether one is an atheist, agnostic, or a firm believer. Just as anyone can potentially have amazing dreams at night, so anyone can potentially hear inner sounds and have remarkable experiences thereby. This book provides some rich excerpts from the Upanishads and Yogic texts, along with critical insights byProfessor David Christopher Lane on the practice of listening to the inner sound.

This is a new edition of two small, fully illustrated books: The Yoga of Bodysurfing and The Psychic Surfer

This book explores how a young boy and his Dad use a magical mantra to entice the ocean to produce surfable waves in Hawaii. It explores Littlewood's Law of Miracles and the theory of large numbers. Fully illustrated withbeautiful pictures throughout.

The long-awaited sequel to The Making of a Spiritual Movement: The Untold Story of Paul Twitchell and Eckankar, this work goes into further detail about Paul Twitchell's extensive plagiarism, his cover-ups, his neo-mythology, and the acrimonious break-up of Darwin Gross and Harold Klemp. Includes documents, photographs, and a plethora of intriguing materials on the evolution of Eckankar as a New Age religion.

Tom Blake changed the face of surfing and has long been lauded as one of the true pioneers and innovators in the sport. Although much has been written about him and his contributions (culminating in Gary Lynch's magisterial biography of him, Tom Blake: The Uncommon Journey of a Pioneer Waterman, published in 2001), very little work has been done on Tom Blake's Einsteinian philosophy. This is a shame, since though Blake was not formally educated (he never graduated high school due to the devastating influenza epidemic that swept the world in 1918 and 1919), he was an astute observer of nature and had a deep understanding of science and its implications on such perennial questions concerning ethics, God, and the goal of human life. The essence of Tom Blake's philosophical outlook is best captured in his book, Voice of the Atom, an engaging narrative that centers on his conversations with a young nomadic wanderer named Anthony. Yet, there are also other scattered writings, particularly letters that he wrote to friends over the years, that provide a wider glimpse into Blake's thinking that are invaluable.

This graphic novel with over 100 tantalizing pictures describes a futuristic company that has developed a new virtual reality application called the Prajna Project. There are ten distinct libraries, each with 10,000 books, that the user can read or listen to in an ever-changing meditative environment. Moreover, there are A.I. curators that can guide the reader and respond to almost any query in hundreds of languages. But what makes this app unique is that the reader can actually live out the narrative as a character and become an integral part of the story. Yet, there is a glitch in the system that forces the company to confront a strange mystery, what has become known as the Mystery of the Eleventh Portal.

The wisest course for schools (at all levels) is to wake-up to Artificial Intelligence and see it for what it is: a revolutionary and magnifying tool for increasing our knowledge of how things work. Yes, there will be hiccups, yes, there will be mistakes, and yes, we should be vigilant in how we utilize this most remarkable of breakthroughs. But censoring it in the classroom as if it somehow doesn't or shouldn't exist is pure folly.

In each Manvantara, there appear Seven Sages who help guide humanity. Each resides at a different geographic region across the globe, but their exact location is a closely guarded secret. There is a disputed Hindu legend that exists which claims that if anyone can discover the real names of these Rishis and where they presently reside, then the seeker will be immediately enlightened. In early September 1659, Princess Jahanara at the bequest of her brother Dara Shikoh, before he was beheaded, instructed a group of devout Sadhus then living near her palace in Agra to search for clues concerning these all-powerful Rishis. Nothing came of it. However, a fanatical clan grew out of this search that still survives to this day. They are known as "The Cult of the Seven Sages." Its current leader and founder is Jasbir Kashani, a Hindu-Muslim mystic, who after 7 months of continuous meditation has just emerged from his solitary cave in the Himalayan mountains. This is his story about the quest to find the name and location of the first of the Saptarishi.

The following essays focus on consciousness, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, artificial intelligence, computer science, virtual and augmented reality, and more. Each chapter stands on its own and doesn't require prior knowledge about the subject, though having a background in philosophical and scientific thinking is a plus. These essays, with a few exceptions, were originally published in Europe on the Integral World website during the past decade. I have added a postscript to several essays to bring them up to date and add the latest insights culled from the latest research in all things related to A.I. and V.R.

This fully illustrated book with over 95 unique pictures describes the journey of consciousness through the inner regions of light and sound by the ancient practice of surat shabd yoga. Based on the work of Shiv Dayal Singh, Julian Johnson, and others, the book provides the reader with a rare visual treat of realms beyond imagination.