Showing results by author "Andrea Diem" in All Categories

Professor Andrea Diem-Lane, PhD, provides an in-depth analysis and summary of 10 key books on the religion of Jainism, providing the listener with a deeper grasp of this ancient Indian religion and its compassionate practice of ahimsa, or nonviolence. Serves as a general introduction to the Jain religion.

Comparative studies often reveal similarities between greatly different cultures, even if those cultures are geographically separated by thousands of miles or historically distinct by thousands of years. This has been especially true in religion where similar ideas have been propounded by tribes or clans that have on the surface no contact historically or geographically with one another. For the phenomenologist, this kind of transcultural link or synchronicity is important because it raises the question of how religious ideas emerge and develop over time.

When a meditation teacher has few students, he or she can provide one-on-one instruction. However, with the advent of hundreds or thousands of pupils, it is impractical if not impossible to provide the same level of attention. In movements such as the Radhasoami tradition where there are hundreds of thousands (and sometimes millions) of adherents, the designated master can only spend very limited time with the vast majority of his or her disciples.

Listening to the inner sound to achieve higher states of consciousness has a long history and can be found in different religious traditions around the world (ranging from Gnostic Christianity to Islamic Sufism to Tibetan Buddhism). In this presentation, we will explore the originations of shabd yoga and trace it over time (in its various manifestations) up until the present day. In so doing, we will want to learn how listening to the inner sound is theologically interpreted in varying cultures on distinct continents.

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.

This is an introductory text to the Sikh religion. It covers the early Sant tradition and the 10 Sikh Gurus starting from Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind Singh. Covers the evolution of the Sikhs until the present day, touching upon the evolution of the Sikh community and its emergence as a world religion. Professor Andrea Diem, PhD, has been studying Sikhism for over three decades and is current with the latest scholarship on the religion.

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.

This small booklet explores the latest theories of consciousness as developed by Michio Kaku, Christof Koch, and Michael Shermer, with a special focus on a new form of scientific animism, where animals and other life forms are now recognized to have awareness and the capacity to feel pain and suffering. Part of a presentation for the Dayalbagh Studies on Consciousness in Agra, India.

This audiobook explores various agnostic ideas and statements from such luminous thinkers are Bertrand Russell, Clarence Darrow, Thomas Henry Huxley, Joseph McCabe, etc. With contributions by professors Andrea Diem-Lane and David Christopher Lane. From the Foreword: "When Spencer Tracy, playing Clarence Darrow in the movie Inherit the Wind, takes the Bible in one hand and On Origin of Species in the other and clasps them together side by side to illustrate how science and religion can work together, one is led to assume that Darrow was indeed a theist evolutionist".

This audiobook contains a series of essays that provide arguments for a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. We have included several chapters from books published in the 19th century which shows that the idea of a non-meat diet is not new in America, even if it has never been widely adopted. Keep in mind that these earlier writings didn’t have the scientific knowledge at their disposal that we have today.

Science, by definition, is an open-ended approach to understand how the world works by observation, experimentation, and modeling. But underlining this human process is our ability to be wrong, to be corrected, and to change our views over time. While Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is often regarded as the first Western thinker to properly codify what is commonly known today as the scientific method, it may come as a surprise to learn that Jain philosophy, which dates back to before the 6th century BCE, has three core beliefs that are contributive and elemental for any budding scientist.

This is an illustrated version (replete with black and white pictures and graphs) of Dr. Andrea Diem-Lane's book, Darwin's DNA. It explores evolutionary theory and how Darwinian natural selection can help explain why consciousness developed as a virtual simulator over time. Fully illustrated.

This small audiobook contains the remarkable recollections of Kehr Singh who was the first person from India to bring the teachings of Radhasoami Satsang Beas to America in the early part of the 20th century. Because of his influence, the Great Master, Sawan Singh, became known and hundreds and eventually thousands came to be initiated into surat shabd yoga. Also contained within this audiobook are excerpts from Professor Andrea Diem-Lane's pioneering work on the early history of Radhasoami and Sant Mat in America and how it influenced several new religions.

This is a critical look at the extensive plagiarism of Gary Olsen and his spiritual group, MasterPath. Gary Olsen was a one-time follower of Eckankar but broke off and formed his own teachings, largely based on Eckankar and Radha Soami. This small book provides extensive documentation on why and how Gary Olsen appropriated copyrighted materials for his numerous books and discourses. Also included are original letters by Gary Olsen explaining why he plagiarized and an official apology from him back in 1995.

This audiobook explores the ancient Indian concept of Maya. Utilizing the latest research in neuroscience and physics, this work explains why Maya (or the notion of illusion) is an important concept and better understood today in light of science, even though ancient rishis had glimpsed its importance thousands of years ago.

This audiobook contains distinct essays on Darwinian epistemology, the future of shabd yoga, Ken Wilber's Atman Project, Clarence Darrow's agnostic philosophy, and the debate between Richard Feynman and John Lilly over the reality/non-reality of out-of-body experiences. Excerpt from one of the chapters: I think it is important to distinguish methodological naturalism from a philosophically absolutist position, since trying to ground all things down to the empirical realm and testable realm is a practical process and doesn't necessarily mean that nothing else exists beyond what we can scientifically discern.

Explores whether or not consciousness has a physical basis. Utilizes the work of Ramachandran, Feynman, Wilber, Churchland, and Gerald Edelman.

I first encountered the mystical logic of Nicholas of Cusa when I read S.L. Frank's magnificent (and underappreciated) volume, The Unknowable. I was both mesmerized and haunted by Cusa's koan-like summation of his philosophy when he wrote, "The unattainable is attained by its unattainment." As Socrates and other mystic-philosophers before him, Nicholas of Cusa had realized through mathematics and geometry that infinity cannot be comprehended by that which is finite.

This book is a brief introduction to the Jain religion, including a close look at its inception and how it evolved over time to its present day status. Special attention will be given to how Jain ideals such as ahimsa and anekantavada (the doctrine of non one-sidedness) can serve as a much needed and welcome panacea to the world's strife and misery. Although Jainism is perhaps the smallest of the world's religions, what it has to offer humankind is of inestimable value.

This little book explores the projective nature of consciousness by using various rides at Disneyland to explain how awareness works as a virtual simulator.