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Spiritual Books and other Writings
Currently at My Bedside:
Strutters and Fretters: Or the Inescapable Self by William Steig:
Here are a few books, stories, and articles that I found informative and/or inspiring.
The Book of Qualities by J. Ruth Gendler: By personifying over seventy emotions, reactions, and qualities of the human personality, Gendler allows us to gaze upon our selves with an artist's attention to detail. Read more.
The Answer To How Is Yes: Acting on what matters by Peter Block: "What is the question that, if you had the answer, would set you free?" is what Block calls the mother of all questions. Read more.
The Teachers of One by Paula Marvelly: This is the kind of book that is a real time-saver. Ms. Marvelly interviews fourteen of the best known neo-advaita teachers and thereby saves you the trouble of seeking out them. You will be quite grateful, as she has unwittingly written an expose of the nutritional deficits of this crop. Read more.
How We Die by Sherwin Nuland: An intensely realistic look at the most common ways people die and what happens in the body that leads to death. Read more.
The Essential Rumi by Coleman Barks: Rumi's poems bring out one's hunger to know the Truth. Read more.
Images of Essence by Bob Fergeson and Shawn Nevins: A beautiful book of spiritually-themed photography and poetry. Read more.
The Experience of Insight by Joseph Goldstein: This is a record of a thirty-day retreat led by Goldstein and is a straightforward introduction to the practice of Vipassana, or insight meditation. Although couched in the worldview of Theravadin Buddhism, the meditation instruction provides an excellent technique for observing the mind. Abundant advice is offered on dealing with the hindrances and distractions to meditation. Insight meditation will strip one's identification down to bare awareness. This is a significant discovery on the way to revealing our true nature.
Beyond Mind, Beyond Death by TAT Foundation Press: This is self promotion, but darn it, it's a powerful book, full of profound honesty; featuring some of the best essays, poems, and humor from several years of the TAT Forum magazine along with numerous black and white photographs. We set out to create a desert-island book; one you could return to year after year and always find inspiration and knowledge, and I think we did it.
The Celibate Seeker: An Exploration of Celibacy as a Modern Spiritual Practice by me: Yep, I'm advertising my own book. Seems I'm doing more writing than reading these days, and this booklet is my first solo effort. It examines celibacy as a practical discipline for those on a spiritual search, and surveys a number of ordinary men and women to discover the benefits they derive and their advice to others. Discover how celibacy affects intuition and energy, how it reveals the habits of our mind, and is a natural state for anyone involved in intense effort. Hear from those currently practicing, former practitioners, and those who have struggled mightily with what Gandhi called "the highest goal."
The Unpublished Works of Richard Rose edited by Alan Fitzpatrick: Novelty, collectible, or essential part of the author's canon? That's the question that faces any potential purchaser of "unpublished work" collections from any author. In this case, I can't say the volume adds anything previously unknown about Richard Rose's teaching, but it highlights the many facets of his thought. Read more.
Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife by Eben Alexander, M.D.: Proof of Heaven is the sort of book you might bypass on the shelf as yet another near-death experience story—which it is. Yet, I keep returning to it in fascination.... Read more.
Planting seeds of possibility for the little ones in our lives.
Two Short Stories to Make You Ponder
The Door in the Wall by H.G. Wells is a poignant reminder to not let opportunities slip by.
The Seven Who Were Hanged by Leonid Andreyev puts us in the minds of seven people about to be executed. Some find transcendance in their final moments, while others only find misery.
Articles
"What is enlightenment, no, I mean really, like what is it?" by Steven Norquist is a plain-spoken view of enlightenment clearly based on experience.
"Neo-Advaita Demystified" by an anonymous author is a harsh critique of this popular teaching.
In Defense of the Small is a call to a simple and more free way of being in this world.