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Secular Wholeness: A Skeptic's Paths To A Richer Life

by David Cortesi

262 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #01-0577; ISBN 1-55369-175-X; US$23.50, C$34.95, EUR22.80, £15.80

How can a skeptic tap the benefits of religious belief? When no religious account of the Universe satisfies, where does one turn for depth, meaning and engagement? This book explores secular, intellectually credible sources for the goods normally delivered by religion.

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About the book      About the author      Introduction      Catalogue info

About the Book Can a skeptic reap the benefits of a religious practice? When you can't abide ideas of the supernatural, when no religious account of the world satisfies, how can you satisfy the need for depth, engagement, serenity in life? Davd Cortesi, well-known as a writer on technical subjects, brings a programmer's bent for logic and scholar's research skills to the search for secular ways to: * Gain existential validity, the sense we have a right to exist. * Weave a richly connected, suppportive community. * Gain the psychological benefits of meditation and prayer. * Enjoy the stability and comfort of meaningful ritual. * Formulate and justify a personal ethical code. * Prepare for deaths: our own, and those of people we love. The book also includes wide-ranging essays on: * The pursuit of the mysic experience: How common is it? What is it like? What does it signify? How hard is it to reach? * How do we identify heroes and role models? Whata does that imply for us and our children? * What does science know about happiness? What are practical strategies for becoming happier? The book draws as freely from recent papers in refereed journals as it does from the teachings of the Buddha, Solon, and Epicurus. Optimistic, sometimes lyrical, but always grounded firmly in reason, Secular Wholeness is for anyone trying to live a deeper, more intentional life. ---------------------------------- REVIEWS 'David Cortesi's Secular Wholeness: A Skeptic's Paths To A Richer Life is an inspirational guide to finding depth, enjoyment, and serenity in life when one cannot bring oneself to believe in the supernatural tenets of existential validity, to holding to a personal ethical code, to following a practical plan to becoming happier. Secular Wholeness is a superbly written and presented treatise to improving, philosophically, ethical, and emotionally fulfilling life. Reviewed by James A. Cox Midwest book Review June, 2002 mwbookrevw@aol.com ----------------------------------

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About the Author David Cortesi was a programmer with IBM in the years before computers were personal. With the personal computer revolution he became a free-lance writer and magazine columnist, producing several well-regarded books including Inside CP/M and The Essential OS/2 Handbook. Returnng to salaried employment, he contributed to a number of technical manuals for companies such as Infomix, Novell, and Silicon Graphics (where he wrote the IRIX Device Driver Programmer's Guide). After retiring from daily work, he looked for a way to apply the skills he'd honed as a technical writer - skills of gathering complex information and organizing it for clear presentation - but to apply them to subjects that are less ephemeral than computer software. Secular Wholeness is the first result of this effort. Click here to visit the author's web page: Secular Wholeness

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Introduction

This book is a long answer to a short question. Here's the question: Can you build a vital, fulfilling life experience using methods and ideas that are purely secular, not based in religious doctrine?

If that seems like a pointless question to you, you are probably one of the majority of Americans who profess a religious belief. You naturally assume that when you need an answer to one of life's big questions, you'll find it in that belief - and probably you will. But some of us do not find any religion satisfactory, and I am one. Although I am content with my choice, when I watch people who diligently practice a religion, I see their practice yielding important benefits. I had to ask: are those benefits uniquely "religious" and so unavailable to people like me? Or do they have secular sources? Are all the routes to wholeness, to an integrated life practice, exclusively religious? Or can a secular life practice lead to a meaningful, satisfying life?

This book is my answer, to be shared with others who want to deepen their lives and who find religious ideas unhelpful.

If you are comfortable in a religious belief, understand that this book is about finding secular sources for things that your religious practice ought to be giving you. If you aren't getting them, I respectfully suggest you look deeper into your own faith. But you are certainly welcome to walk along with the rest of us on our quest!

The goods of religious practice

When I observe the life-styles of devout people, I see their religious practice delivering these important values:

*   The philosophical comfort of existential validity - in plain language, assurance that one is not an accident but an intentional creation, with a role in a great story.

*   The social and material support of a congregation of like-minded people.

*   The psychological benefits of contemplative prayer and meditation.

*   The emotional comfort of ritual.

*   For a few, the bliss of ecstatic union with the All.

*   Constant challenge to be a better person, to transcend one's limits.

*   The use of a predefined ethical system.

*   Fearless awareness of death and comfort in bereavement. These are the benefits for which I hope to find secular sources. As a skeptic by inclination and training, I have been quite selective in my search. I only tell you about things I have personally tried, or things that are documented in respected scientific journals, or things that, like the philosophy of Epicurus, are both satisfying to common sense and visibly harmless.

Chapter summary

Here is what follows this Introduction:

*   Chapter 1 elaborates on the good things any religious practice should give to those who devotedly practice it.

*   Chapter 2 explores the philosophical and emotional implications of being a "mere accident" and shows how contingency can be turned into triumph.

*   Chapter 3 reviews the research that shows how crucial human contacts are to your life and health, and points out many techniques to improve them.

*   Chapter 4 introduces a single model incorporating meditation, contemplation, and prayer, and introduces simple meditation practices whose benefits have been documented.

*   Chapter 5 shows how pervasive ritual is in everyone's life, and suggests ways to take control of the rituals in your life.

*   Chapter 6 surveys the literature on the mystical experience, showing that it is probably a real, though rare, state of brain function; then takes up the tough question of whether the experience is worth pursuing.

*   Chapter 7 proposes that we cannot be taught heroes but have to discover them, each of us in an idiosyncratic way; but then says there are plenty of them to be discovered.

*   Chapter 8 tackles the problem of defining and justifying a personal ethical code, drawing elements from a wide range of traditions.

*   Chapter 9 urges the importance of facing up to death and bereavement, and shows ways to prepare for one and deal with the other.

*   Chapter 10 surveys the research on what makes people happy, and covers a number of strategies for becoming more happy.

*   Chapter 11 is about four radical techniques for making oneself more resilient in the face of disaster.

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Catalogue Information

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