MSI Press Blog

  excerpt from Introductory Lectures on Religious Philosophy by Dr. Amir Sabzevary From Chapter 1. Introduction to Religious Philosophy [Lester: So this is a course on religion. What do you mean exactly by “religion,” or by “philosophy”?] There is this wonderful animal called a salmon fish, which of course begins life as a tiny egg. By the sheer force of the water, this egg soon finds itself at the bottom of a river and after a few weeks, the shell opens and out comes a fish. At the bottom of the river, this fish makes lots of friends, buys a house, has children, and has everything that could possibly make it happy. In other words, life is really good for this salmon. Without any warning though, she gets attacked by her own psychology. Don’t ask me how it happens, but one morning the fish says to herself, “I don’t belong here. This is not my home. I have a house, but it’s no longer livable. I have a relationship, in which I feel profoundly alone. I have children, but they’re all l...

  Arthur Yavelberg, author of the award-winning book, A Theology for the Rest of Us , shared on his blog post an article he penned for the Arizona Daily Star and reposted on his blog, "What you are seeking is already yours." Here it is in full, but do take a look at his blog for other thoughtful essays. For more posts by and about Arthur and his book, click HERE . In the wonderful fantasy movie, “ The Wizard of O z,” the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Lion and Dorothy are all seeking something they believe is lacking: a brain, a heart, courage and the way back home.  While they lacked the terminology to discuss their despair as “existential angst,” their predicament is certainly not rare in spiritual literature.     In the  Hindu  classic, “ The Bhagavad Gita ,” the hero,  Arjuna , is forlorn at the prospect of going into battle against enemies who are all relatives.  Anticipating so much death and destruction, he is tempted to turn away....

  Preface “Philosophy is dead,” declared Stephen Hawking in agreement with many others. “As philosophers have not kept up with science, their art is dated” (Warman, 2011). However, if we refer to the history of how humans peruse knowledge, we will not find that different disciplines replaced one another in sequence. It is not that the wilt of religion gave rise to philosophy, or that the denouement of philosophy set the stage for science—nor is the world segmented into discrete, incompatible disciplinary fields. A biological reaction can be expanded to millions of chemical reactions or trillions of interactions between physical particles; likewise, the emergence of “social behaviors” among neural networks as they grow and that of “tacit agreement” from quantum entanglement have implied the possibility of adopting a sociological language to explain phenomena previously deemed as lifeless and strictly adherent to the laws of physics. Every discipline is a language capable of encompas...

  Introducción  Cada vez que alguien escribe sobre un tema, de alguna forma escribe sobre sí mismo. Mi nombre es Nelson Fernando Ustman S., y durante este breve espacio en nuestro planeta tierra, he sufrido, he vivido, he reído, he llorado, he cantado, me he caído, y me he vuelto a levantar. He vivido toda clase de decepciones y he convivido con todos los aprendizajes en los fríos inviernos de esta estación de la vida que me tocó transitar. No escogí a mi familia, ni a mi raza cuando llegué a este lugar de nacimiento. Quizás desde ese momento y lugar me tocó arañar la tierra con todas mis fuerzas para poder tener derecho a un espacio de convivencia y acercamiento con los demás. No fue fácil, fueron muchos los tropiezos antes de poder levantar mi cabeza y prepararme para la nueva estación. No es tan sencillo llegar a una familia donde no te están esperando y mucho menos donde no te han invitado. Razón más que suficiente para ser abordado por la soledad, y el a...

  Just released -- the hard cover version of the highly praised and award-winning Rainstorm of Tomorrow: The Ever-Flowing Banquet of Philosophy  by Renyuan Dong. Other versions of this book include  paperback  and  Kindle . For more posts about  Rainstorm of Tomorrow , including excerpts, click  HERE . For more posts about Renyuan Dong, click  HERE .

  Core Question: What language should we use to describe the material nature of the world?  If we advocate that this world is fundamentally material—which is to say that all the objects described in our everyday language are essentially matter—we soon become embattled by difficulties of semantics. Some words refer to very “concrete” substances and engender no dispute, such as “apple.” There are few who would confuse apples with pears. However, it is undeniable that many highly “abstract” and “conceptual” words are also used in our daily linguistic practices, such as “thought” and “virtue,” along with those that are harder to define, such as the aforementioned “mind” or “mental activity.” Moreover, there are other words that seem familiar and specific; yet, their material realities have always been questioned. Examples of this category would include “light,” “time,” “space,” etc.  In trying to prove that every word indicates a being of matter, we may argue that the referen...

Today, MSI Press released Rainstorm of Tomorrow: The Ever-Flowing Banquet of Philosophy by Renyuan Dong. The book is available in paperback and e-book formats. For more information about Renyuan and his work, click HERE .

Renyuan Dong works as a senior healthcare consultant based in Tokyo. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in both philosophy and economics, speaks three languages – English, Chinese and Japanese – and boasts of having traveled to over 30 countries. Most of the ideas presented in his book  Rainstorm of Tomorrow – The Ever-Flowing Banquet of Philosophy  matured during the author’s collegiate study of philosophy and economics, as well as his professional tenure in healthcare and biology; the shift wrought a cross-disciplinary mode of thinking, illuminating connections and contradictions that defy the boundaries of each subject. Through his travels, the author found persistent proofs of and supplements to his existing philosophical belief transcendent of the confines of any single culture. At the root of the author’s ideas, however, lie his inherent sense of alienation from the world and his vigilance against any established norms. The multinational identity of the author may help ...

Released for pre-order this week, Rainstorm of Tomorrow by Renyuan Dong. Rainstorm of Tomorrow: The Ever-Flowing Banquet of Philosophy dexterously weaves the storied philosophical themes of truth, ethics, and aesthetics together with the theories of relativity, quantum mechanics, neuroscience, epigenetics, social Darwinism, utilitarianism, evolutionary psychology, and modern art—from the soberest rationality to the wildest conjecture—to generate provocative or even alienated discourse on topics that readers might otherwise regard themselves as being familiar with, and challenge them into rethinking any settled positions that are taken for granted. Such provocative insights are represented by the three parts on truth, ethics, and aesthetics respectively: (I) A reversed worldview—the tree growing into the soil with its roots buried in the air. (II) The complexity of ethical behaviors—the conformity to utilitarianism by anti-utilitarian events and the violation of util...

Excerpt from Road Map to Power : The 10 Rules of Power  1) You are likely average, mathematically speaking. 2) We have become more Wal-Mart than Wildebeest. 3) When you get to the part about “created equal,” keep reading. 4) Governments cannot legislate genetics. 5) Looking for security? It’s in the attachment. 6) Chances are you’re happy (despite the best efforts of the media). 7) Forge your armor out of resiliency. 8) If you don’t like the ending, rewrite the story. 9) Cultivate your garden. 10) Be more than humane, be a humanitarian. These ten rules are described, explained, and illustrated with real stories in the book. For more posts about the book, including reviews and more excerpts, click HERE .