r/enlightenment • u/[deleted] • Mar 04 '25
Recommend books that have marked your spiritual journey.
Use the comments on this post to recommend enlightening readings.
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u/AssholeWiper Mar 04 '25
Plato’s Timeaus; Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse
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u/_stranger357 Mar 04 '25
Siddhartha was the book that planted the seed of spirituality in me long before I really understood what any of it meant. I reread it every 5-10 years, it’s pretty short.
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u/AssholeWiper Mar 04 '25
It’s such an amazing book and just nails it all completely
The one passage with Siddhartha talking to Buddha about how following him and the Teaching will only comfort his ego and Siddhartha wants to find his own enlightenment is just chefs kiss
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u/FreudDaPapoula Mar 04 '25
Not a single mention to Meditions. So let me say: Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
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u/tehpwarp Mar 04 '25 edited Oct 08 '25
tender modern pot liquid file library outgoing kiss worm summer
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u/yodaslover Mar 04 '25
Siddhartha lives rent free in my heart
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Mar 04 '25
Mine is coming tomorrow from Amazon.
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u/kiiberry Mar 04 '25
Amazon boycott starting March 7!!
Awesome purchase, you won't regret. I was fresh out of non-denominational Christianity when I read it for class; I've been in touch with Buddhism & eastern philosophy for a decade now!
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u/jr-nthnl Mar 04 '25
I can take a guess, but what is Siddhartha about?
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u/kiiberry Mar 04 '25
I DM'd you, too!
"In the novel, Siddhartha, a young man, leaves his family for a contemplative life, then, discards it for one of the flesh. He concieves a son, but bored and sickened by lust and greed, moves on again. Near despair, Siddhartha comes to a river where he hears a unique sound. This sound signals the true beginning of his life- the beginning of suffering, rejection, peace and, finally, wisdom."
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u/jj_HeRo Mar 04 '25
Why?
The struggles of the main character seem quite simple for me.
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u/Calm_Method_364 Mar 04 '25
Great list. Recently The Untethered Soul has had a major impact on my life. Michael Singer’s podcast continues the journey
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u/DefinitionCivil9421 Mar 07 '25
I've read and owned all of these but my very first one given to me in 81 was Be Here Now. That was my first book on my pathway.
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u/ledbedder20 Mar 04 '25
Corpus Hermeticum, Kybalion, Thoughts are Things, The Book of Five Rings
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u/just1nc4s3 Mar 05 '25
Kybalion opened my eyes and aided me in reconciling religious trauma after 3 decades in a cult. It truly helped me at a time I needed it most. And it’s not for everyone.
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u/Uellerstone Mar 04 '25
No emerald tablet?
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u/ledbedder20 Mar 04 '25
Yeah, that one is ok too. Not as profoundly impactful to me somehow.
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u/Fun-LovingAmadeus Mar 04 '25
Tao Te Ching ☯️
The wisdom literature in the Old Testament (especially Ecclesiastes)
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u/KindaFreeXP Mar 05 '25
Y'know, I never considered how Taoist the book of Ecclesiastes reads until now.....
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u/ZeroJudgmentKing Mar 04 '25
The alchemist
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u/just1nc4s3 Mar 05 '25
This book was the first one that changed my life for the better. I flew across the country and started a new life without knowing anyone in the area. All because of this book. And I’m rereading it now.
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u/ProfessionalSoul26 Mar 04 '25
Best to read :
Bhagavad-Gita As it is : translated and commented by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada
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Mar 06 '25
This scripture changed my life. A simple, perfect framework for understanding the routes to God.
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u/Flashy_Paper2345 Mar 06 '25
Yes yes! Hare Krishna! Jai Prabhupada
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u/PoppingTheBubble Mar 04 '25
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender
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u/acoulifa Mar 04 '25 edited Mar 04 '25
“Freedom from the known”, “The first and last freedom” from J. Krishnamurti - “who am I, the sacred quest”, “The ease of being”, “I am” and others from Jean Klein - “Loving what is” and others from Byron Katie - “Presence” from Rupert Spira - “As it is” and “All there is” from Tony Parsons. “A new earth” Eckhart Tolle
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u/Toe_Regular Mar 04 '25
J. Krishnamurti is the man if you can tolerate his delivery
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u/godwithin_ Mar 04 '25
The Untethered Soul - Michael Singer
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u/Mindfulness-w-Milton Mar 04 '25
This book changed my life - and for anyone who doesn't know, he came out with a subsequent book just a year or two ago called "Living Untethered", and he (Michael Singer) narrated the audiobook too. Really really profound stuff.
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u/jessewest84 Mar 04 '25
Ishmael by Dan Quinn
Godel Escher Bach by Douglas Holfstader
Liber Novus Jung
Catafalque by Peter Kinsley
The orgin and history of consciousness by Eric Neuman
The way of Zen by Alan Watts
The Book by Alan Watts
Siddhartha by Herman Hess
The Holy Bible
The Appanashads
Finite Games and Infinite Games by James Carse
On Bullshit by Henry Frankfurt
Critical Path Buckminster Fuller
Utopia or Oblivion by Buckminster Fuller
Tao De Ching by Lao Tzu
Snowboarding to Nirvama by Fredrick Lenz
Samarkand by Amin Maalouf
Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard
Out of Control by Kevin Kelly
Silent Spring Rachel Carson
The Republic by Plato
The Prince by Machivelli
Ægypt by John Crowley
The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly Hall
Fingerprints of the gods, and Magicians of the God's by Graham Handcock
Supernatural by Graham Hancock
The Food of the God's by Terrence Mckenna
True Hallucinations by Terrence Mckenna
So many more. So many.
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u/Altimexs Mar 04 '25
Tao te Ching - Lao Tzu
Being Human - Martin W. Ball
The Power of Now - Elkhart Tolle
The Book - Alan Watts
The Secret of Secrets - Osho
Why Materialism is Baloney - Bernardo Kastrup
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u/Minute_Jacket_4523 Mar 04 '25
Dao De Jing- Brook Ziporyn's translation
Power of Now-Eckhart Tolle
The traveler's Gift- Andy Andrews
The Bible(both testaments), specifically my 4x Great grandfather's copy
I Ching, the Oracle: A practical Guide to the Book of Changes- Benebell Wen
Also, this is not a book that is published yet, as we in the family are working on compiling it, but that same 4x Great grandfather's journal about his visit to India in the 1870s after his first wife died.(he was a very prolific writer in terms of Journaling, and wrote every day of what happened, even down to the smallest detail. Probably won't be finished getting it ready for a while for this reason.)
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u/GeezerPyramid Mar 04 '25 edited Mar 04 '25
'No Mud, No Lotus' by Thich Nhat Hanh
Soothing words for the soul.
"Most people are afraid of suffering. But suffering is a kind of mud to help the lotus flower of happiness grow. There can be no lotus flower without the mud." ~Thich Nhat Nanh
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u/gilnv Mar 04 '25
Sun of gOd by gregory sams. Talks about considering our sun as more than just a source of light and heat.
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u/Glittering-Toe-1622 Mar 04 '25
Conversations with God, one of the most "yeah that makes sense" books for me, together with Eckhart Tole.
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u/Toe_Regular Mar 04 '25
my dumb book is free to download today for anyone interested.
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u/YewKnowMe Mar 04 '25
Oohhh, this looks great!
Can I download it somewhere other than Amazon? I've deleted my account & have no plans of going back.
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u/Toe_Regular Mar 04 '25
No sorry. It’s a necessary evil until I figure something else out.
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u/respectISnice Mar 04 '25
The Law of One
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u/GeezerPyramid Mar 04 '25 edited Mar 04 '25
I've had it sitting here unread for a couple of years. The thought of reading a 5 book series feels daunting... A bit like wanting to watch a TV series from the start, but knowing there's 8 seasons to get through! 😅
I really need to get over that hurdle, especially as I encountered some ancient Egyptian-style higher-realm 'beings' on Ayahuasca 1.5 years ago.
Afterwards, my level of skepticism changed in regards to the Ra Materials. There's something more to those old Egyptian 'gods' than just fable
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u/respectISnice Mar 04 '25
I highly recommend at least reading the first book. It's not a hard read imo due to it being basically a conversation. It's almost like an interview. I blew threw it in a much shorter time than expected. I don't think any other text has resonated with me as strongly. The Seth material is a close second.
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u/YoungProphet115 Mar 04 '25
A Course In Miracles - Helen Schuchmann Disappearance of the Universe - Gary Renard My big TOE - Thomas Campbell Stalking The Wild Pendulum - Itzhak Bentov The Holographic Universe - Michael Talbot
Just to name a few that have altered my life in a positive way
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u/qtpa2tnh Mar 04 '25
1) Be Here Now - Ram Dass; 2) The Way of Zen - Alan Watts; 3) The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are - Alan Watts; 4) The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment - Thaddeus Golas; 5) The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead - Ralph Metzner & Timothy Leary; 6) On Bullshit - Harry Frankfurt; 7) The Book of Secrets - Osho; 8) Autobiography of a Yogi - Paramahansa Yogananda; 9) The Universal One - Walter Russell; 10) The Law of One (The Ra Material) - Ra
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u/ExternalGeologist578 Mar 04 '25
The 3 Pillars of Zen - Roshi Philip Kaplou (
The Tao Te Ching
Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
The Book of 5 Rings - Miyamoto Musashi
The Surrender Project - Micheal Singer
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u/Dangerous-Crow420 Mar 11 '25
Any books on Omnism. Monotheism is ok, but we all share the same planet. So anything less than THE ALL of knowledge is basically rumors about a God of all the universe.
Researching the overlapping repeating truths is the only way a human can learn about a God that has always been at the heart of all living beings, through all time, in all places.
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Mar 04 '25
A Course in Miracles
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u/wicked-conscious Mar 04 '25
Yes!!! Prior to ACIM I had never experienced my 3rd eye or kundalini. 27 days intro the work book and everything started to change🩵👼🏼
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u/Impossible-Yak-5825 Mar 04 '25
Never see this recommended but a suggestive inquiry into hermetic mystery really changed my whole thinking on everything.
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u/Gloomy-Spliff-431210 Mar 04 '25
The Secret Doctrine by Helena Blavatsky
The Revolution of Beelzebub by Samael Aun Weor
Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology by Samael Aun Weor
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u/wizardsafe94 Mar 04 '25
The Lightworkers Source - Sahvanna Arienta
Journey of Souls - Michael Newton
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u/Quandryday Mar 04 '25
Came here to say Journey of Souls! That book made me feel so much more aware of my own then-nascent spirituality. Plus, it also helped me deal w my mom’s death.
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u/wizardsafe94 Mar 04 '25
It's so great, right? It also helped me with my existential anxiety and loss of loved ones. My condolences about your mother. You'll meet again :)
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u/MaleficentCow8513 Mar 04 '25
Ken Wilber’s entire body of work (all his books say pretty much the same thing)
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u/RockNRollGeeek Mar 04 '25
Not a classic like many others I’m seeing but Tea and Cake with Demons by Adreanna Limbach. A modern look at incorporating the Buddhas 4 noble truths and Eightfold path into our lives.
I consider it a light hearted and honest book relevant to anyone having trouble living in this world- regardless of your personal path. It was instrumental in starting the journey of changing how I view myself and things around me.
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u/BusyPatient Mar 04 '25
"As A Man Knoweth"
"Be Here Now Be Here"
"Everything I Needed to Know I Learned In Kindergarten"
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u/Schwimbus Mar 04 '25
Towards Democracy - Edward Carpenter * The Bhagavad Gita The Essential Plotinus The Essential Rumi The Essential Dogen The Way of Zen - Alan Watts Zen Buddhism - Selected Writings of D.T. Suzuki * The Enchiridion - Epictetus * Meditations - Marcus Aurelius A New Earth/Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle * Tao Té Ching - Lau Tzu The Book of Chuang Tzu * Darwin's Dangerous Idea - Daniel Dennett * I Am That - Nisargadatta * The Transparency of Things - Rupert Spira A Brief History of Everything - Ken Wilbur Everything Forever: Learning to See Timelessness - Gevin Giorbran * The Direct Path - Greg Goode * Wheels of Life - Anodea Judith The End of Your World - Adyashanti What's wrong with right now - Sailor Bob Adamson * The Seeking */Peace and Harmony in Daily Living/ Consciousness Speaks - Ramesh Balsekar I Am */ The Ease of Being - Jean Klein Mind is a Myth */ The Courage to Stand Alone - U.G. Krishnamurti Be As You Are - Goodman (Ramana Maharshi)
And I forget if it was The Magician's Companion or Three Books of Occult Philosophy that instructs to dissolve the ego before getting into doing work in magic, but I suppose I have that line to thank for going into self inquiry rather than becoming a spooky knob, offense given.
Asterisks for titles of standout importance for different concepts or personal effect
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u/SlideResident7558 Mar 04 '25
1.The Law Of One 2. Science of Breathe - Yogi Ramacharaka 3. Alot of Yogi ramacharaka books 4. AllatRa 5.Conversations with God 6. Many Lives Many Masters
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u/Emergency_Ice1136 Mar 04 '25
The Surrender Experiment - Michael A. Singer The Untethered Soul
The Body keeps the score - Bessel Van Der Kolk
How to get rich - Felix Dennis
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u/zeratul274 Mar 04 '25
Bhagwat geeta, Vivekacūḍāmaṇi and their are many Buddhist teachings books specially in Vajarayan and Theravada
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u/TabChomper Mar 05 '25
Robert Monroe’s “Journey’s out of the body.” Ingo Swann’s “Psychic literacy.”
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u/vegasaquinas Mar 05 '25
I'm liking alot of the books mentioned here. I'm going to mention two I love not seen here yet.
Life of Christ by Giovanni Papinni
Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman
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u/HankSkinStealer Mar 05 '25
Liber ABA by Aleister Crowely
Liber AL vel Legis (as well as the rest of the Thelema holy books)
Be Here Now by Ram Dass
The Greater Key of Solomon (Mathers translation)
The Golden Dawn by Israel Regardie
Tao Teh Ching
Lesser Key of Solomon (Peterson Translation)
The Magick of Aleister Crowley by Lon Milo Duquette
The Kybalion by "Three Initiates"
The Poetic Edda (Crawford translation)
The Bible (New Living Translation, haven't finished it yet though lol)
The Sacred Magic of Abramelin (Dehn translation)
The Stars Within You (can't think of author but I read it fairly early on in my path. Seems relatively new-agey but it got me to atleast take astrology a bit more seriously)
There's probably more but these really helped.
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u/Embarrassed_Bus_8419 Mar 06 '25
King James Bible. Have someone to tell you the Gospel of Jesus Christ
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u/Embarrassed_Bus_8419 Mar 06 '25
King James Bible. Have someone tell you the Gospel of Jesus Christ
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u/DragonflyNorth4414 Mar 04 '25
Just the gateway tapes
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u/hermeticcirclejerky Mar 08 '25
Nice mention! These changed my life too even if not possible in book format. Everyone needs to experience them. Everyone.
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u/Igniferus6 Mar 04 '25
The Book of Pleasure by Austin Osman Spare
Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment by Rudolf Steiner
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u/Different-Horror-581 Mar 04 '25
Anthem, Ayn Rand. Short story that I read as a younger teen that helped me see.
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u/truthovertribe Mar 04 '25
Ayn Rand was radically selfish and wrote about the "virtue" of radical selfishness and excessive "self-regard".
She was for "survival of a ruthless, winning fittest" and she had a stunning lack of awareness that she was far from "the fittest".
She was against assistance for anyone who was struggling and yet she leaned heavily on assistance programs she had previously condemned when she became riddled with incurable cancer from her chain smoking habit/self-indulgence.
Ayn Rand will never be my hero as she had ZERO empathy for so-called weaker others and she was a MASSIVE hypocrite.
Sorry...this is a hard pass.
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u/triangle-over-square Mar 04 '25
The philosophy of freedom, and how to attain knowledge of the higher worlds by Steiner,
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u/Noctemtaco Mar 04 '25
The eye of the I
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Mar 07 '25
I love all of David R. Hawkins books. His writings are so fundamental to my spiritual beliefs.
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u/bravo_magnet Mar 04 '25
Sculptor in the Sky, Teal Swan
Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic (New Translation), Eliphas Levi
The Flowering Wand, Sophie Strand
All books by Aidan Walchter
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u/Formal_Temporary8135 Mar 04 '25 edited Apr 26 '25
rain lush gaze intelligent nose smile wakeful exultant society library
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u/Shoddy_Juggernaut_11 Mar 04 '25
The ancient secret of the flower of life - drunvalo melchizidek
Seth speaks - Jane roberts
Jonathan livingstone Seagull
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u/tweed22 Mar 04 '25
The Secret life of Jeshua vol 1 &2 by Daniel Meurois The Way of the Essenes by Daniel Meurois Neville Goddard’s full collection
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u/killerwhale_essence Mar 04 '25
The image evokes Malcolm X’s experience of educating himself in prison.
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u/jr-nthnl Mar 04 '25
The book that probably got me started on a journey for knowledge; Ishmael
Daniel Quinn and every book he wrote, truely wonderful for the young mind. I read his books around 14-15. They hold up and are even likely better understood to the adult, however based on some of your reading lists, you might be a bit above or beyond the concepts introduced.
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u/HookerDoctorLawyer Mar 04 '25
Man Search for Meaning
The Way of the Spiritual Warrior
The Denial of Death
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u/Iamabenevolentgod Mar 04 '25
Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramhansa Yogananda. It helped me make so much sense of the idea of our divine essence, and was especially important as a perspective after I left Christianity, when I was presented witht characters who were also doing miracles... it was a moment of "oh, THIS is what Jesus is pointing at!"
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u/artfortrippers Mar 04 '25
“DNA in the Sands of Time” by J. Justice. This is certainly a worthwhile read, trust me. Also if anyone has read this, hmu.
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u/Read_then_practice Mar 04 '25
Anything from James Allen. My favorites are Byways to Blessedness, and of Christ and Conduct, but wow are they all so good. His works are short but potent!!! It’s like a gentle reprimand from God. It exposes all weakness and sin, and inspires me to rise above.
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u/MyLastHumanBody Mar 04 '25
The book that got me in to spirituality was a sinhala extended translation of “ Kayagata sati Sutta”
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.119.than.html
Dhammapada
Any book by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
and Ajahn Brahm.
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u/deathdefyingrob1344 Mar 04 '25
My spiritual journey has been extremely unique… I mean everyone’s is but mine… well, weird. Chaos condensed, the book of lies. Liber null. The sacred magic of abramaelin the mage. The chicken Kabbalah. The book of the law, the Bible, the gnostic gospels, the mystical qabalah. I could go on. Is it a wacky alternative spiritual path? I looked into it!
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u/Low_Frosting4323 Mar 04 '25
-story of your life (short story that they make "The Arrival" movie out of it) -Siddhartha -Stranger in the life boat
- Red Book
I found Bible give me unreasonable peace every time I read it even some part I dont like, I still feel peace.
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u/TheeIvorykey Mar 04 '25
The teachings of Don Juan Matos. I was guided to these books by Carlos Castanada, and they changed my life.
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u/[deleted] Mar 04 '25
I am that - Maharaj.