Philosophy audiobooks

The Art of Living - Abridged

By: Epictetus & Sharon Lebell

Narrated by: Richard Bolles

Length: 1 hour 28 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Epictetus, one of the greatest of the ancient thinkers, believed that the primary mission of philosophy is to help ordinary people meet the challenges of daily life and deal with losses, disappointments, and grief. His prescription for the good life: master desires, perform one's duties, and learn to think clearly about oneself and the larger... Read more

Essential Mystery

By: Huston Smith, Ph.D.

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 57 minutes

Abridged: No

The life of Huston Smith reads like an adventure novel.  One of the foremost religious scholars of our time, Smith lived in a missionary household in China, monasteries in Japan, and a sweat lodge in North America. Introduced to Vedanta through spiritual pioneers Aldous Huxley and Gerald Heard, he engaged many of the contemporary wisdom giants. Read more

Expanding Human Spirit

By: Huston Smith, Ph.D.

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 56 minutes

Abridged: No

Westerners look to science to explain the way things are. Yet science often overlooks something essential to life: the human spirit. Although spirit cannot possibly be seen through the lens of a microscope, captured on a video camera or explained through scientific experiments, few of us would deny that it exists. Huston Smith breathes new life... Read more

More Charles Kuralt's American Moments - Abridged

By: Charles Kuralt

Narrated by: Charles Kuralt

Length: 1 hour 7 minutes

Abridged: Yes

More Charles Kuralt's American Moments takes us on a wonderful, joyous exploration of Americana with this second volume of never-before-available spoken-word accounts of what makes the United States so special.
An American Moment with Charles Kuralt -- a timeless series of television essays about uniquely American people, places, and ideas --... Read more

Noble Thoughts / Noble Life

By: Satish Kumar

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 55 minutes

Abridged: No

Satish Kumar, whose inner journeys proved deep as his travels were long, tells you stories about love, courage, and the triumph of the human spirit in his unpretentious yet compelling style. Read more

Great Questions, The:  Mind, Consciousness and Meaning

By: Jean-Francois Revel & Matthieu Ricard

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 55 minutes

Abridged: No

In 1996, internationally-renowned philosopher Jean-Francois Revel and his son Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk, spent ten days in the mountains overlooking Kathmandu discussing the most fundamental questions of human existence. Read more

Chuang Tsu - Abridged

By: Gia Feng

Narrated by: Chungliang Al Huang Huang

Length: 2 hours 47 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Brilliant, mystical, pragmatic, and witty, Chuang Tsu has been called the world's first anarchist by some. Even 2,000 years after his death, his provocative Taoist text remains in the forefront of ancient Chinese philosophical study. An essential sourcebook in the Taoist canon, the sublime prose of this spiritual classic provides a profound and... Read more

Unleashing The Soul

By: Marion Woodman

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 56 minutes

Abridged: No

Woodman believes that facing the intense power of your own heart is the only way to truly connect with other living things. She says we must not be "afraid of the intensity of opening ourselves to our real personhood." Her insight in analyzing ancient folk tales and applying them to current events is intriguing. She will inspire you to get out... Read more

Charles Kuralt's American Moments - Abridged

By: Charles Kuralt

Narrated by: Charles Kuralt

Length: 1 hour 2 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Charles Kuralt is a national treasure, a reporter and man of the world who was to many the real and true voice of America. For more than thirty-five years, he delighted us with his On the Road reports, as an anchor of CBS News Sunday Morning, and with bestselling books that include On the Road with Charles Kuralt and Charles Kuralt's America. As... Read more

Being in the Zone

By: Chungliang Al Huang

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 55 minutes

Abridged: No

Creating meaning out of our lives gives us a purpose in being alive.  But in all our pondering, sometimes we forget to actually live. Chungliang Al Huang believes that “being alive is more important than the meaning of life.” Read more

The First People - 11,000 Years of Wisdom

By: Evan T. Pritchard

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 54 minutes

Abridged: No

A descendant of the MicMac Indians and tutored by Algonquin elders, Evan Pritchard has done much to bring recognition of this tribe’s influence on the culture, history and government of the United States.  He speaks of the “crossroads” we now face, and how the ancient Algonquins knew a time would come when, “What we do now matters more than it... Read more

Doing What You Love And Loving What You Do - Part I

By: Justine Willis Toms & Michael Toms

Narrated by: Jacqui Dunne

Length: 56 minutes

Abridged: No

To actually be paid for doing what you love would be a dream come true.  But how do you discover your passion?  And how do you find a way to bring that spirit into the workplace?  Justine and Michael Toms, co-founders of New Dimensions Radio and New Dimensions Broadcasting Network, are living proof that it can be done. Read more

Doing What You Love And Loving What You Do - Part Ii

By: Justine Willis Toms & Michael Toms

Narrated by: Jacqui Dunne

Length: 55 minutes

Abridged: No

Here is Part II of an evocative interview aimed at finding our true passion and integrating it into our life, both on and off the job. It's about finding joy, taking initiative and making the jump. But before you leap, Justine says, "There is an art to choosing well." Read more

True Prosperity

By: Shakti Gawain

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 55 minutes

Abridged: No

When most of us think of prosperity, we immediately think of money.  Shakti Gawain has another definition:  "Prosperity is the experience of having what we truly need and want in life.  Prosperity is an experience, it doesn't come from anything external." Read more

Real Time

By: Jacob Needleman, Ph.D.

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 55 minutes

Abridged: No

It seems as if time is speeding up and most of us are feeling like victims of “busyness” as we become obsessed with being more efficient. Needleman likens time management to "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic." He discusses the meaning of time, how we may experience the gifts of time, and time as a question rather than a problem. Read more

Lifelong Learning

By: Marilyn Schlitz & Tom Hurley

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 55 minutes

Abridged: No

The Institute of Noetic Sciences was founded in 1973 after astronaut Edgar Mitchell traveled to the moon and saw Planet Earth from outer space--a journey that transformed his life.  Tom Hurley and Marilyn Schlitz talk with Michael Toms about how Noetic Sciences was founded, what it has accomplished and where it is headed. Read more

Finding Your Inner Goddess

By: Carol Christ

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 55 minutes

Abridged: No

Growing numbers of people have begun to turn back to old ways of worshipping the divine in a feminine sense.  Carol Christ provides a guide to understanding this new Goddess-spirituality movement.  According to Christ, "the Goddess brings about a great metaphoric shift in the way we think about God," and the changes that Goddess-religion can... Read more

Kabbalah Revealed

By: Rabbi David Cooper

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 55 minutes

Abridged: No

Ancient Jewish sages developed the tradition of the kabbalah.  Rabbi David A. Cooper is among the first to bring the mystery and mysticism of kabbalah to us in a way that is easy to understand.  Kabbalah is about bringing human consciousness to its full potential, recognizing that we are partners with God in the continuous process of creation. Read more

Love, Power And Mastery

By: Lynn Andrews

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 55 minutes

Abridged: No

We all want love, and we all want power.  Can we have both?  Lynn Andrews says yes.  First we need to figure out who we are, love who we are, and stop thinking of power as an inherently evil way to control other people.  Next, realize that power will never be given to you. Read more

The Science Of Soul

By: Fred Alan Wolf

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 55 minutes

Abridged: No

One of the most compelling questions of all time is, do we have a soul?  And if we do, what exactly is it?  Fred Alan Wolf, well-known resident physicist on Discovery Channel's "No-Zone" program, gives us an answer and a unique definition.  He also discusses spirit, space, time, consciousness and the possible origins of the universe. Read more

Buddhism For Everyone

By: Slyvia Boorstein

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 56 minutes

Abridged: No

Boorstein found a deepening and enrichment of her Jewish faith through years of meditation practice. She says, "You don't have to be a Buddhist to practice Buddhism. It's not about being a something--a Buddhist, a Jew or a Christian--it's about being more awake." Read more

The Zen Of Work

By: Les Kaye

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 54 minutes

Abridged: No

In 1970, Les Kaye asked the management at IBM if he could take a three-month leave of absence to live in a Zen monastery.  Suprisingly, they said yes.  A year later, he was ordained as a Zen monk.  Back at IBM, he discovered joy, harmony and fluid relationships in a job that had previously been an endless desert of problems to overcome and goals... Read more

Ideas That Matter:  The Life and Legacy of Thomas Merton

By: Lawrence Cunningham & Brother Patrick Hart

Narrated by: Mark Walstrom

Length: 59 minutes

Abridged: No

A gifted and complex man, the late Thomas Merton is considered by many to be a pivotal figure in 20th-century writing and spirituality. A Trappist monk, Merton was a voracious reader, prolific writer, great music lover (especially of jazz), and a social activist who believed there was more to the contemplative life than "simply denying oneself." Read more

May The Farce Be With You

By: Swami Beyondananda

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 55 minutes

Abridged: No

Meet Swami Beyondananda, the brainchild and alter ego of writer/humorist Steve Bhaerman, who has been characterized as a cross between Ram Dass and Haägen-Dasz.  Bhaerman's brand of humor is transformational, breaking cultural and individual "trances" to awaken us from old patterns of separation, victimhood, violence and greed. Read more