Ask HN: Which is the best spiritual book you have read?
Looking for recommendations as I have some free time. Documentaries welcome too.
I can't think of any documentaries but I usually enjoy this podcast, https://thisculturalmoment.com/.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusions_(Bach_novel)
- The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield. Disclaimer: this book is seriously woo woo new age junk with recycled western and eastern mysticism concepts, but it hit me at the right time in life and I took away some really life-changing lessons without succumbing to any of the woo woo junk. I've re-read it a few times.
The Gospel of Ramana Maharshi is great. I reread it 20 years later and found I still agreed with 90% of it, to my surprise - it's based in what he learnt for himself, mostly, not what he read somewhere/was taught! He's a mid-20th C Hindu guru, widely considered as good as it gets. Gangaji, an American woman, is of his lineage, and has very good bs-free books and videos (some on youtube), which take you straight there...
Be Here Now by Ram Dass, a US Hindu guru, is a great hippie-era introduction to Hindu-based religious practices, also has a lot of quotes from different books and traditions, from which I discovered a lot of great stuff. Some of his other books and recordings of his retreats are gold. A very articulate and thoughtful guy.
Buddhism: I got a lot from the down to earth Thai-forest-monk-style Buddhism of Ajahn Chah's books.
The first philosophy and spiritual books I read, as a teen, were the Chinese classics - Confucius, Mencius, Chuangtzu, Lao Tzu (Tao Te Ching). All fascinating, a joy to read, deep. I'm very glad I happened to start there.
Oh but I forgot my favourite (too close to me[0]) - Emerson's Essays, First and Second Series, which I guess is a 'spiritual book'. The first time it was like he'd described a thousand things I'd experienced but thought indescribable. Has had more impact, a better impact, than any other author, provided endless inspiration and...embiggenment. I read in him every day for many years. He's always with me.
[0] "Emerson. – Never have I felt so much at home in a book, and in my home, as – I may not praise it, it is too close to me." - Nietzsche, notes
a) Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi b) Tao te ching, Lao Tzu c) I am That, Nisargadatta Maharaj d) Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle e) Silence of the heart, Robert Adams
Second place: "He Is There and He Is Not Silent" by Francis Schaeffer.
In essence this book tells why secular Buddhism (secular, western meditation) is actually a very reasonable way of spirituality.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius if you are into Stoicism.
I wouldn't directly dive into the Bible cause its rather thick, and confusing especially the Old Testament, except maybe the Gospels for a start -
It is an indescribable direct experience cutting through BS, “spirituality”, and illusion.
I cannot recommend it enough.
13th century: Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas
14th century: The Divine Comedy (includes Inferno) by Dante Alighieri
20th century: Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton, Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, Humanae Vitae (Theology of the Body) by Pope Paul VI
(And I'm a Catholic Christian, not a Taoist.)
As a standalone spiritual work divorced from the attached context of community and tradition, I would not recommend the Bible (plus, it's massive) or, similarly, most well-known Christian theological works.
G. K. Chesterton - The Everlasting Man
- Translated by Paul Reps
If I only had one book this would be it.
2) Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality without Religion, by Sam Harris. An amazing masterpiece on a rational approach to meditation.
3) Coming to our senses, by Jon-Kabat Zinn. A collection of essays which delve into the urgency of understanding oneself in the present moment & the case for contemplative life.
Second place: Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
2. Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis