GODLESS -- Living a Valuable Life Beyond Beliefs - Paperback

by Jeff Rasley (Author)

Godless is not a wholesale attack on religion. It affirms the community-building, good works, and contemplative activities of religious organizations. It makes the case for a personal way of life guided by positive values and for communal organizations which should welcome rational, secular, humanist, agnostic, atheist, and spiritual understandings of reality. Godless describes communal worship which is uplifting but does not promote beliefs in irrational superstitions.

Godless synthesizes what Rasley has learned from his study of the Basa Rai in the Nepal Himalayas, from Quakers, and the American philosophy of Pragmatism. The book describes a values-based way of living derived from the author's cross-cultural experiences. It encourages a spiritual response of awe and gratitude for being alive and conscious in this wonderful shared world.

Other books by Jeff Rasley -
Bringing Progress to Paradise; What I Got from Giving to a Mountain Village in Nepal describes an astounding Himalayan adventure which becomes a critical reflection on the damage charitable giving can do to the intended beneficiaries.
The rest of the story of Basa Village, is told in Light in the Mountains - Namaste, Rakshi, and Electricity in a Himalayan Village and its prequel India - Nepal Himalayas In the Moment (an honest Three Cups of Tea).
To get out of the snow and mountains for adventures on water and islands, check out the lyrical Island Adventures.
For a change of pace curl up with False Prophet. It's a romantic mystery and inspirational tale based on a legal case Rasley handled in his 30-year Indianapolis law practice.
If you enjoy sports action, history, humor, romance, set during the cultural revolution of the 60s, check out MONSTERS OF THE MIDWAY 1969: Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll, Viet Nam, Civil Rights, and Football.
Pilgrimage: Sturgis to Wounded Knee and Back Home, a Memoir begins with a motorcycle road trip to the Bacchanalia of Sturgis Bike Week, then takes a detour to the massacre at Wounded Knee, and crosses the ocean to a remote village in the Himalayas. Reconciliation is found back home in Indiana.
Hero's Journey - John Ritter, the Chip Hilton of Goshen, Indiana; a Memoir is a meditation on what makes a real hero and a nostalgic reminiscence about childhood heroes.
Polarized in the Time of Trump mourns the unhealthy polarization of the US body politic and proposes a cure.

Author Biography

Jeff Rasley lives on the White River in Indianapolis with Alicia and Bandit. Jeff is the author of eight books; GODLESS --Living a Valuable Life beyond Beliefs is the most recent. He's published numerous articles in academic and mainstream periodicals, including Newsweek, Chicago Magazine, and ABA Journal. He is an award-winning photographer. His photos taken in the Himalayas and Caribbean and Pacific islands have been published in several journals. Jeff's commitment to social activism and philanthropy began at an early age. In high school he co-founded the Goshen Walk for Hunger. In law school he was an advocate for renters' rights and the leader of the first rent strike in Indiana as president of the Indianapolis Tenants Association. He was lead counsel on two class action suits on behalf of prisoners which resulted in the construction of two new jails in Central Indiana. Jeff was lead plaintiff in a class action requiring the clean-up of the White River after it was polluted by an industrial chemical spill. Jeff is the founder and president of the Basa Village Foundation USA, which raises money for culturally sensitive development work in Nepal. He currently serves as an officer or director for five nonprofit corporations. He is U.S. liaison for the Himalayan expedition company Adventure GeoTreks Ltd. He teaches philosophy of philanthropy at Butler University. Jeff is a graduate of the University of Chicago, BA magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, All-Academic All-State Football Team and letter winner in swimming and football; Indiana University School of Law, J.D. cum laude, Moot Court and Indiana Law Review; Christian Theological Seminary, M.Div magna cum laude, co-valedictorian and Faculty Award Scholar. He has been admitted to the Indiana, US District Court, and US Supreme Court Bars. Jeff received Proclamations of Salutation from the Governors of Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee and Pennsylvania and named an honorary Lieutenant Colonel Aide-de-Camp of the Alabama State Militia, a Kentucky Colonel and honorary Citizen of Tennessee. He was given a Key to the City of Indianapolis for serving as an intern to Mayor Hudnut and preparing a report on the safety conditions of all Indy Parks. He received the Man of the Year award from the Arthur Jordan YMCA and the Alumni Service Award from the University of Chicago. Jeff describes reading Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past as great an adventure as climbing Himalayan peaks.