Challenges standard views of the origins of the Daodejing, revealing the works roots in a tradition of physical cultivation. Thomas Michaels study of the early history of the Daodejing reveals that the work is grounded in a unique tradition of early Daoism, one unrelated to other early Chinese schools of thought and practice. The text is associated with a tradition of hermits committed to yangsheng, a particular practice of physical cultivation involving techniques of breath circulation in combination with specific bodily movements leading to a physical union with the Dao. Michael explores the ways in which the text systematically anchored these techniques to a Dao-centered worldview. Including a new translation of the Daodejing, In the Shadows of the Dao opens new approaches to understanding the early history of one of the worlds great religious texts and great religious traditions. Michaels work provides a fresh and innovative methodological approach to a well-known and much studied text. Unlike the vast majority of previous studies, which situate the Daodejing in an ahistorical philosophical realm divorced from ritual and practice, Michaels analysis takes seriously the possibility that the text both contains and advocates for self-transformative practices. In addition, his translation, while not intended to be a stand-alone work, significantly contributes another important perspective. This excellent, groundbreaking book lays the foundation for a new round of vigorous debate and scholarly attention. Jeffrey Dippmann, coeditor of Riding the Wind with Liezi: New Perspectives on the Daoist Classic
In Philosophical Enactment and Bodily Cultivation in Early Daoism, Thomas Michael illuminates the formative early history of the Daodejing and the social, political, religious, and philosophical trends that indelibly marked it. This book centers on the matrix of the Daodejing that harbors a penetrating phenomenology of the Dao together with a rigorous system of bodily cultivation. It traces the historical journey of the text from its earliest oral circulations to its later transcriptions seen in a growing collection of ancient Chinese excavated manuscripts. It examines the ways in which Huang-Lao thinkers from the Han Dynasty transformed the original phenomenology of the Daodejing into a metaphysics that reconfigured its original matrix, and it explores the success of the Wei-Jin Daoist Ge Hong in bringing the matrix back into its original alignment. This book is an important contribution to cross-cultural studies, bringing contemporary Chinese scholarship on Daoism into direct conversation with Western scholarship on Daoism. The book also concludes with a discussion of Martin Heidegger's recognition of the position and value of the Daodejing for the future of comparative philosophy.
A new reading of Daoism, arguing that it originated in a particular textual tradition distinct from Confucianism and other philosophical traditions of early China.
Winner of the 2021 Stanford M. Lyman Distinguished Book Award from Mid-South Sociological Association All regions and places are unique in their own way, but the Ozarks have an enduring place in American culture. Studying the Ozarks offers the ability to explore American life through the lens of one of the last remaining cultural frontiers in American society. Perhaps because the Ozarks were relatively isolated from mainstream American society, or were at least relegated to the margins of it, their identity and culture are liminal and oftentimes counter to mainstream culture. Whatever the case, looking at the Ozarks offers insights into changing ideas about what it means to be an American and, more specifically, a special type of southerner. In Where Misfits Fit: Counterculture and Influence in the Ozarks, Thomas Michael Kersen explores the people who made a home in the Ozarks and the ways they contributed to American popular culture. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, Kersen argues the area attracts and even nurtures people and groups on the margins of the mainstream. These include UFO enthusiasts, cults, musical troupes, and back-to-the-land groups. Kersen examines how the Ozarks became a haven for creative, innovative, even nutty people to express themselves—a place where community could be reimagined in a variety of ways. It is in these communities that communitas, or a deep social connection, emerges. Each of the nine chapters focuses on a facet of the Ozarks, and Kersen often compares two or more cases to generate new insights and questions. Chapters examine real and imagined identity and highlight how the area has contributed to popular culture through analysis of the Eureka Springs energy vortex, fictional characters like Li’l Abner, cultic activity, environmentally minded communes, and the development of rockabilly music and near-communal rock bands such as Black Oak Arkansas.
In Memory of Rebecca Ann Leighow 2/18/1951 - 10/17/2007 OVERVIEW Two of the most profound uncertainties that man can ponder are: what is the meaning of life, and what is the meaning of death? Many would say that the answers to these questions are unknowable and too mysterious to be comprehended. Reverend Thomas Leighow believes however, that God has given us these answers, contained within the pages of the Bible. The only way we can live in peace and harmony with death, is by having a true and correct perspective of what death actually is. Death can only be properly understood when it is viewed through the eyes of the very Creator of life and death – the God of the Bible. In Dying to Live With God, Rev. Leighow opens the doors to understanding life and death as it should be understood - from God’s eternal perspective. The reality of death, and the meaning of death, can only truly come from the mind of the One who set death in place. Death is not just a by-product of life, rather, death is a necessary component of the divine plan of a sovereign God who holds the power over life and death. For those who live in fear of death, or for those who have not recovered after the loss of a loved one, this book will give you an understanding of death that will provide you with a blessed assurance and comfort to face your own “valley of the shadow of death.”
The purpose of the Exploring Environmental Challenges: A Multidisciplinary Approach series is to publish a collection of short texts that each explore a specific environmental issue and describe the methodologies, theories, and findings pertaining to that issue from both natural and social science perspectives. Each text contains three natural science essays, three social science essays, and a concluding essay. Intended for introductory environmental studies courses, these balanced, thoughtful, and rigorous texts aim to provide students with a deeper understanding of the relationship between people and their environment, and to serve as a foundation for further inquiry and discussion. Wetlands introduces students to the natural ecological functions and policy issues of wetlands so they will have a solid understanding of why these ecosystems are necessary and why their governance remains a significant environmental challenge. Although not a comprehensive overview on wetlands, it does provide background material for a more comprehensive investigation into the science behind and the management of these ecosystems.
At age twelve, author Thomas Michael Johnson faced the death of a great-grandparent he was close to as a child. That trauma left him with an irrational fear of losing loved ones. By the time he married and became a father, the fear of death living within him was incapacitating and debilitating, often causing difficulties in his personal and professional life. Seeking freedom from this terror, Johnson began to understand the difference between joy and happiness; he was delivered from the fear some six weeks before his wife’s untimely demise. After nearly nineteen years of marriage, he woke to find his beloved wife had passed away while he slept. He suddenly became a single parent of three sons (ages seventeen, thirteen, and twelve), struggling through the typical single-parent issues with an added layer of grief. Johnson’s middle son’s autism added to the challenges. In Good Grief, Johnson shares an account of the trepidation he lived through as a young man, his freedom from the fear of death before his wife died, and the two years following her death. This memoir focuses on the lessons he learned from God directly, from scripture, and from the tight-knit group of family and friends God had given him. Raw and authentic, Johnson chronicles a story of his experience as a grieving widower, a single father, and a broken child of God who had no choice but to ask for help from those surrounding him, while trying to restore joy in his home.
A great deal of reactionary political fire in the Mountain West has been aimed at environmental protection measures that are perceived to have destroyed or diminished the livelihoods of long-time residents. Conventional wisdom sees the economic woes afflicting the region -- declining pay, growing inequality, persistent poverty -- as a direct result of increasingly strict environmental regulations that have crippled natural resource industries such as mining and logging.In Post-Cowboy Economics, economists Thomas Michael Power and Richard Barrett provide a new interpretation of the economy of the Mountain West. Based on evidence from a wide variety of sources, including data on individual employment and income histories of more than 300,000 residents, they clearly demonstrate that the region's economic misfortunes are not the result of changes in regional industrial structure but rather are local manifestations of pervasive national and international trends. The authors: discuss and critique entrenched conventional wisdom and its policy implications present an empirical analysis of changes in the region offer a new interpretation of events affecting the regional economy set forth public policies that will work to protect and enhance the economic well-being of its residents and communitiesThe authors' analysis and interpretation make a compelling case that despite incomes that are low compared to the rest of the country, the region is not suffering from general impoverishment, and that environmental protection, rather than threatening economic well-being, enhances welfare and protects the very source of the economic vitality that the Mountain West enjoys. Throughout, they argue that fearful, crisis driven environmental and economic development policies are unnecessary and inappropriate, and often counterproductive.Post-Cowboy Economics is an important work for professionals and scholars involved with environmental policy, economic development, and resource management, as well as anyone interested in the future of the American West.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.