For the whole of his life, William Morris lived within reach of the River Thames or one of its tributaries. In the last twenty-five years, he was within a stone’s throw of it at Kelmscott Manor on the Upper Thames, at Kelmscott House beside it in urban Hammersmith, and at his Merton Abbey factory on the River Wandle. The landscape of ‘the infant Thames’ being his ‘Heaven on earth’, he sought to ‘forget’ – a key word in The Earthly Paradise – the mighty lower river with its filth and degradation, though he betrays a feeling for the whole river as national artery. In his utopian romance, News from Nowhere, his protagonist laments the fact that the Thames is not celebrated in literature. The romance in question seeks to rectify that by imagining a boat trip between Morris’s houses – something he himself twice undertook – and this becomes, as it shapes the narrative, a journey back into the heart of England and forward through a country transformed into something like paradise. The sense of happiness is partly achieved through the exclusion from the story of anything dark or painful and, in this, it may remind us of Morris the pattern designer, whose fabrics – a group of them named after Thames tributaries – evoke an inviolate nature and, through it, contentment and rest.

Neuro-intelligent cultures provide brain-boosting benefits, acknowledge the humanity and dignity in each individual, and promote environments rich with cognitive power. Leaders in neuro-intelligent cultures make cognitive well-being a priority, reaping benefit at both the individual and institutional levels. Embracing the neuroscience of cognitive wellness is critical to protecting brain function and enhancing cognitive performance. You can make cognitive fitness a priority by engaging in exercise, sufficient sleep, and adequate time away from work. This will require subordinating other activities in favor of time spent recharging from the demands of work or school. Substituting beneficial brain habits for less healthy activities, such as cocktail hour or watching television, could provide the time needed to optimize cognitive performance. Neuroplasticity, the most promising of human features, allows every brain to become what is demanded of it.

What role do settings play in positive solitude? What value do quiet and stillness have? In this chapter, we talk about sensory overload in the modern world and about honoring our senses in solitude. Beyond anecdotal appreciation of the value of quietude is now a growing body of scientific evidence of its importance. Here we talk about quiet as a phenomenon that has been well-studied in recent decades. Those findings on the "science of quiet," in some cases, echo centuries of lived experiences in certain parts of the world and, most recently, the mounting benefits of quiet have gone mainstream.

Sleep is incredibly important for the creation and maintenance of memories. It is an active process managed by the brain to allow for bodily rest and repair and maintenance of homeostasis. Good sleep is necessary for life and health and is essential for the encoding and storage or memories made during wakefulness. Poor sleep can interfere with all aspects of cognitive function, particularly attention and memory. Reduced sleep amount and quality has been linked to depression and impaired immune function. The length of sleep is not the only important factor; the quality of sleep is also vital. Animal studies have revealed that sleep deprivation damages gut bacteria and produces hazardous free radicals, called oxidative stress. Cognitive reserve is closely related to sleep. Too many people take sleep for granted or think getting a restful sleep is a luxury, not a necessity. But recent research shows the pattern on neuronal firing is replayed during sleep, which enhances the formation of memories. Older people frequently have sleeping problems that may impact the quality of life. This chapter reviews several things that you can do to improve the quality of your sleep.

Humans are social beings and relationships with family and friends are critical for health at all stages of life. Studies have shown a higher risk of dementia in later life in individuals with poor social interactions. At all stages of life, it’s desirable for people to have healthy relationships with others. Maintaining a socially active lifestyle in later life enhances cognitive reserve and benefits cognitive function. The physical component of social interactions is also of value. Interpersonal experiences can influence the structure and function of the brain in both early and later life. Opportunities for interactions with other people enhances social reserve and improves cognitive, physical, and psychological reserves. Studies suggests that dementia is more common in those whose social engagement declines from mid- to late-life. Having stronger social contacts protects people from the manifestations of aging and age-related brain disease. Social interactions can be enhanced in aging through community organizations, social action groups, religious activities, and travel. Pursuing activities that help you find meaning will also help you make social connections.

It is now recognized that important interpretative insights are to be gained from reading Kierkegaard’s pseudonymous works in tandem with the upbuilding writings, especially where these are closely connected in time or subject matter. In the case of The Sickness unto Death, a journal entry by Kierkegaard (NB13:79) indicates that the Three Discourses at the Communion on Fridays (“The High Priest,” “The Tax Collector,” and “The Sinful Woman”), published in autumn 1849, “respond to” Anti-Climacus, pseudonymous author of The Sickness unto Death. How do they respond? Kierkegaard writes: “I must have a place of rest, but I cannot rest on a pseudonym; and they respond to Anti-Climacus, and [to] the situation. The discourses for the communion on Friday are once and for all envisaged as the authorship’s place of rest.” This comment invites us to see the discourses as offering a kind of dialectical counterpoint to the argument of The Sickness unto Death, and the chapter explores in detail what this means and, specifically, what Kierkegaard means by “a place of rest.” In addition to the Three Discourses at the Communion on Fridays the chapter also draws on An Upbuilding Discourse (1850) and Two Upbuilding Discourses (1851) that are thematically connected with the discourses of autumn 1849.

In the “Confessions,” Augustine presents himself to the reader as the object of God’s grace. His life is not interesting as such but is the place where God’s grace operates. God’s grace in Augustine’s life is not limited to information and help, rather it is a deep and direct influence of God on the most internal part of one’s soul.

Chapter 5 analyzes the individual eschatology of the Gospel of Mary: the revelation of Jesus to Mary regarding the ascent of the individual and paradigmatic soul to its heavenly ‘rest’. It is argued that this revelation is based on the reference to Jesus’ ascension in John 20.17, which he instructed Mary to disclose to his ‘brothers’. The basic message of the later gospel is not dissimilar to what we find in John: Jesus is Saviour – he has descended – he has ascended – his disciples can follow. In the Gospel of Mary the ascent narrative acts as a didactic story for the disciple's salvation: through Jesus’ ascension he has paved a way for the ascent of the disciple’s soul, and here we find instruction on how to follow him. The characterization of Mary suggests that she is already free from the influence of passions, sin and death and has already partly followed Jesus into eternal ‘rest’. Therefore, for the disciple, the ascension may be post-mortem, when the soul frees itself from the bodily passions, or realized in the present, as exemplified by Mary.

Although the Gospel of Mary is a dialogue gospel, the text’s narrative frame is just as integral to understanding the message of the gospel as the eschatological teachings in the dialogues. The narrative frame includes Jesus’ departure, Mary’s intervention, and the ensuing dispute among the disciples. This chapter explores possibilities for what was contained in the missing opening pages of the Gospel of Mary, firmly situating the text within the dialogue gospel genre. It then analyzes the Saviour’s farewell discourse, which encourages the disciples to be active participants in the Christian message of salvation. The section on Mary’s intervention focuses on her relationship with the male disciples and her relationship with Jesus, and argues that the Coptic manuscript heightens animosity between the disciples in contrast to the earlier Greek versions. Mary’s relationship to Jesus, on the other hand, is one of succession. The final part of the narrative frame sees the disciples split into two factions, with Mary and Levi on one side and Peter and Andrew on the other. It is unclear at the ending of the gospel whether the disciples are reconciled, and this is explored in light of other dialogue gospels such as the Pistis Sophia.