Böcker av Ralph Lewis

A psychiatrist presents a compelling argument for how human purpose and caring emerged in a spontaneous and unguided universe.Can there be purpose without God? This book is about how human purpose and caring, like consciousness and absolutely everything else in existence, could plausibly have emerged and evolved unguided, bottom-up, in a spontaneous universe.A random world--which according to all the scientific evidence and despite our intuitions is the actual world we live in--is too often misconstrued as nihilistic, demotivating, or devoid of morality and meaning. Drawing on years of wide-ranging, intensive clinical experience as a psychiatrist, and his own family experience with cancer, Dr. Lewis helps readers understand how people cope with random adversity without relying on supernatural belief. In fact, as he explains, although coming to terms with randomness is often frightening, it can be liberating and empowering too.Written for those who desire a scientifically sound yet humanistic view of the world, Lewis's book examines science's inroads into the big questions that occupy religion and philosophy. He shows how our sense of purpose and meaning is entangled with mistaken intuitions that events in our lives happen for some intended cosmic reason and that the universe itself has inherent purpose. Dispelling this illusion, and integrating the findings of numerous scientific fields, he shows how not only the universe, life, and consciousness but also purpose, morality, and meaning could, in fact, have emerged and evolved spontaneously and unguided. There is persuasive evidence that these qualities evolved naturally and without mystery, biologically and culturally, in humans as conscious, goal-directed social animals.While acknowledging the social and psychological value of progressive forms of religion, the author respectfully critiques even the most sophisticated theistic arguments for a purposeful universe. Instead, he offers an evidence-based, realistic yet optimistic and empathetic perspective. This book will help people to see the scientific worldview of an unguided, spontaneous universe as awe-inspiring and foundational to building a more compassionate society.

Developing Inner Leadership is for those who want a more balanced and wholistic approach to their lives. It focuses on all the key areas that affect people - their relationships, work and money, health and values. The key difference between this book and many others is that it recognises that all these areas are connected. By improving work prospects for example relationships can improve as well. Through a set of key frameworks and exercises the reader can map out where they are now and where they want to be. These include a set of "Vital Questions" to help people to understand what is important to them. More than this, Developing Inner Leadership offers a number of techniques to help people to move in the direction in which they want to go. These include help in changing their life stories, replacing negative beliefs with positive ones and looking at relationship needs. These are not necessarily quick or easy fixes, but with a combination of approaches, gathered from many sources, people will make progress. Above all Inner Leadership is about helping individuals to connect to their inner world of truth and values so that they can flourish and meet their highest priority needs as a whole person. The book is vital reading for all those involved in looking at theirs or others lives and becoming who they are meant to be. Ralph Lewis is an international leadership consultant and coach and has worked with many top global companies and thousands of individuals over many years. He has written several other books on leadership as well as many articles and also teaches at top business schools.

Tired of being a square peg in a round hole? The extensive self-searching questionnaire in this book can help you to find a framework to identify and make the most of your particular talents, and answer questions about which kind of work might best suit your individual needs. Dumping what makes us unhappy only works if what it is replaced with is matched to our true preferences - otherwise we are jumping from the frying-pan into the fire. The straight choice - find activities which match your preferences, or work on using the preferences which match your activities - is what is tackled in this book. This redesigned edition of Individual Excellence makes it easier for you to plot a path which you might find to be more satisfying to travel.