One way of taking this journey with me, is to read a series of books. You can read part of them on Amazon's on-line book store. Or you can google anything you find interesting.
I learned a lot from these books. They offer very different prospectives, yet there is a common tread that runs through them. The universe has many sides to it, so having many prospectives is the best way to start to understand it.
OK, the first thing to do is to get rid of your current prejudices. The first book is designed to do just that for any Bible believers out there.
by Ken Smith, B. A.
ISBN 0-922233-17-9
Blast Books, Cooper Station, New York, NY 10276-0051, 1995
This book is designed to break your blind faith regarding the literal Bible. It helps to empty out your beliefs so you can fill your cup with better wine.
Ken does a good job tearing down the Bible and its definition of God. In order to scare people into believing in early Christian church, the Bible talks of mean God that kills babies, and destroys cities. The Bible really needs a good editing. The Atheists see more problems than I do, they help us move on. If you can't find this book, google Atheist and Bible and you will see the errors.
by Ernest Holmes
ISBN 1-58542-511-7
Jeremy P. Tarcher/ Penguin, New York, NY., 1929
So now we undo the attack on the Bible. Some of Scriptures' best known verses have hidden lessons and Ernest Holmes has brought them to light.
by Eugene H. Peterson
ISBN 1-57683-289-9
Navpress, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 2002
Now here is the Bible in contemporary English. The wording is so very clear. Wonder if the meaning is the same as the original authors. This work is in its own category. It makes the Bible come alive. Its cool. No more thou's and thee's.
translation by George Lamsa
ISBN 0-06-064926-7
Navpress, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1933
This version of the Bible is a translation based on the Peshitta, the authorized Bible of the East. It is the accepted Bible of all those Christians who have used Syriac as their language of prayer. The translation of Aramaic into Greek long ago was hampered by the way Aramaic language is written. For example, the printed form has many dots over and under letters that could be misread. A missing or extra dot will give a word a whole new meaning.
by Ernest Holmes
ISBN 0-87477-865-4
G.P. Putman, New York, NY., 1938
by Ernest Holmes
ISBN 0-9626597-2-X
HI Productions, Encino, CA., 1926
These are some of most spiritual books ever written. These books are an exercise in your evolution. As you read it, it makes you figure out what is being said, and thus is a great teaching book. This is Ernest Holmes' key work on how to use Universal Principles in healing and understanding. Science of Mind (SOM) is used as the main text in all Churches of Religious Science. The 1926 version gives more information concerning the circular teaching symbol. These teachings are universal and are found in different forms many religions of the world.
by Lewis Browne
ISBN (missing)
MacMillan, New York, NY., 1926
This is the best book I have found that give so much insight into how the world's greatest religions originated. It is on the Alcohol Anonymous recommended reading list. It talks about the magic of the savage world, attempts to coerce spirits, primitive Gods, and how religion developed in the ancient world. Its all there: Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Brahmanism, Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Jesus, Christ, Mohammedanism.
by Ken Wilber
ISBN 1-57062-249-3
Shambhala, Boston Mass., 2001
Ken is a genius, and his writing is at a graduate level, but he like myself is out to discover a new paradigm for the big religious picture. In this book he talks about the three eyes of the soul: the eye of the flesh, the eye of reason, and the eye of contemplation. These "eyes" were envisioned by St. Bonaventure, and fits with Hugh of St. Victor.
by Don Miguel Ruiz
ISBN 1-878424-50-5
Amber-Allen Publishing, San Rafael, California, 1997
Here they are:
But this books goes further and talks about what the eye sees (see Eye to Eye above) as dreams. We only the dream the impressions of the outer world even though it seems real to us. The image we see is a cartoon version of the billions of signals our eye receives every moment.
by Henry A. Weil
ISBN 81-85091-07-2
Bahá'í Publishing Trust, New Delhi India, 1987
The Baha'i Faith is a small, but new world religion. This Baha'i book is like a Roman Catholic Catechism. It provides a systematic approach to spiritual questions. Many Baha'i definitions are given such as Inner Vision, Certitude and the Soul. I disagree with some of these definitions.
by Charles T. Tart
ISBN 0-87773-426-7(pbk), 087773-374-0,
Shambhala Publications, 1986
Here we learn that everyone is asleep, absorbed in their world. Tart introduces us to States of Consciousness, Hypnosis, and what he calls the "Consensus Trance" which is similar to the dream explained in the Four Agreements (see above).
by Guy Murchie
ISBN 0-395-30537-3(pbk), 0-395-26310-7
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987
Guy Murchie shows us how everything is connected together. The earth is one organism. This is a Bahá'í biology book. Learn that a few people are born with tails, extra fingers. There are strange facts presented, but focus is on seeing one united universe.
by Richard Dawkins
ISBN 0-393-03930-7
W.W. Norton Company, 1996
The eye has evolved many times. Each biological niche has its mountain of evolution. This book convinced me that evolution of the body is real. But I believe that our consciousness itself did not evolve, but it is part of God, and as our brain gradually gained the ability to abstract, it was able to witness itself and the power of God. So I believe in biological and spiritual evolution as two different things. The Baha'i say even as small animals we were mankind, in evolutionary destiny.
This is a classic work in Eastern metaphysics. Ram Dass describes how he took LSD and went to India to try to figure out his altered mind. He becomes a wise far-out western Guru. The paperbound text is printed on paper of different colors, each color represents a new section. It teaches mediation and mantras. Contains a good glossary, spiritual quotations, yoga instructions. Lists centers on where you can learn Zen Buddhism. Caution: contains adult drawings.
by The Sufi Order,
USA
PO Box 1233
San Rafael, Calif. 10022
Harber & Row Publishers
SBN 06-090352-X
AH! Towards the One, the perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty. The only Being united with all the Illuminated souls who form the embodiment of the master, the Spirit of Guidance. The Sufis are free thinkers, dance and chant to find God (very hypnotic). They are descendants of the Islamic Faith. Wonderful path to soothe the savage soul. This book is light brownish blue paperback 676 pages. All print is in capitals and has many old drawings. Each chakra has a sound and a mantra. Many prayers and very inspirational. Also recommended is the Sufi Message, a series of 20 books written by Hazrat Inayat Khan.
by A. H. Maslow
SBN 670-30853-6 (Hardbound)
SBN 670-00360-3 (Paper bound)
An Esalen Book, Viking Compass Edition 1973
Maslow broke the traditional psychology point of view which concentrated on the study of diseased and otherwise broken minds. It was like going to a junk yard to study engineering (perhaps an excellent idea, now that I think about it). This new psychology studied the best human beings. Traditional psychology ignored what made great people. Maslow introduced words like, creativeness, values, education, society, being cognition, transcendence, metamotivation and the psychology of being. He also wrote another fine book "Toward a Psychology of Being" published by D.Van Nostrand Co.
by Ken Keyes, Jr.
SBN 0-9600688-8-0 Paperback Edition
SBN 0-9600688-9-9 Clothbound Edition
Living Love Center Berkeley, CA., 1972
This is a cookbook for what I call western Buddhism. Ken Keyes explains we can find happiness by letting go of separating emotions due to addictive demands such security, sensation and power. As a simple, Ken Keyes states that we have seven centers:
Ken calls it an "addiction" when we have a strong demand for something that causes us to have negative emotions. Very good book.
by Sri Chinmoy
ISBN 0-88497-115-5
Aum Publications, 86-10 Parsons Blvd. Jamaica, New York 11432
Agni Press,
This thick green paperback book teaches consciousness, the body, soul, vital, mind, heart, fear, doubt, purity, the inner voice, freedom, yoga, detachment, renunciation, ego love devotion, God and the guru. Very spiritual reading. Perfection is the tree, perfect perfection is the fruit.
by John S. Hatcher
Bahá'í Publishing Trust
ISBN 0-87743-208-2
A Baha'i book that includes: the Search for Divine Justice in the Physical World, Paradigm of Physical Reality, the Physical Classroom and Experience. Explains why things are not always perfect and this allows us to grow.
by Robert Ornstein
Touchstone/Simon & Schuster 1991
ISBN 0-671-76751-8
"The mind is a squadron of simpletons. It is not rational, it is not well designed--or designed at all. The mind evolved through countless animals and through countless worlds." Although this book is very materialistic, it offers insight on how the mind works, how the simpletons do not have the big picture in mind. Wonderful drawings are funny and instructional. Good science book, yet I think the author discounts any intuitive insight about goodness or God. But it did help me understand how the mind is separated by layers.
ISBN 0-440-05925-9
hardcover
ISBN 0-440-05924-0 paperback
Delacorte Press 1977
Mr. Young was the inventor of the Bell helicopter. Like a Bahá'í he talks about the sequence of kingdoms: light, particles, atoms, molecules, plants, animals and man. He notes that these kingdoms form an arc, going down to molecules and then rising with plants, animals and man. He is scientific and very smart. There are actual gaps in his tables were a Bahá'í could fill in without any trouble. He goes beyond three dimensions with such things as hexavertons and moebius strips.
by John C. Robinson, Ph.D.
ISBN 0-87159-261-4 paperback
Unity House, Unity Village, Missouri. year: 2000
This book prepares you how to know and experience God. It explains that enlightenment is ordinary and that you can live a mystic life. Excellent book.
Copyright © 1996 -2008 George Norwood
Originally, this was my first web page created on March 16, 1996.
Current version 5, dated May 19, 2008