… in my experience so far.
These Tuesday Top 10 lists are subjective, obviously: they’re my idea of the Top 10 whatever-it-is. Today’s list, spiritual books, shares with you the books that have forged my path and changed my life. Maybe one of them will do the same for you. I hope so.
A few notes: I’m not including here any of the scriptures of the world. These tomes are in a category of their own, informing and inspiring other writing. I’ve also avoided new books, many of which are magnificent. I wanted to share with you those that have stood the test of time and not simply go on at length about what it is that is exciting me at the moment. (That’s for another blog….)
So, in alphabetical order for your reading pleasure and soulful consideration:
The Top 10 Spiritual Books in My Experience So Far
1. Alcoholics Anonymous, AA’s beloved “big book,” written by Bill Wilson and 100 other recovered alcoholics, presents the 12 Steps, a distillation of the wisdom of the ages, as a practical recipe for a spiritual awakening, the kind of internal revolution psychologist Karl Jung called “a complete emotional displacement and rearrangement.”
2. Emerson’s Essays. This makes my Top 10 list partially from the I’ve read myself, and partially because Dede, the wonderful woman who lived with us when I was a child and who was my first spritual teacher, quoted them so abundantly throughout my formative years. Because of the era in which Emerson wrote, these can be slow-going. He uses words we don’t use now, and I always read Emerson with a dictionary beside me. When I get past the hurdles, though, the wisdom in “Compensation” and “Self-Reliance” and “The Oversoul” is well worth the work.
3. The Game of Life and How to Play It, by Florence Scovel Shinn. This early 20th century metaphysical teacher has an infectious energy and an easy, friendly way of expressing herself that makes this “prosperity classic” one that I read time and again. (For more of Florence — she was a great composer of affirmations, among other things — look into one of the collections of all her works, such as The Writings of Florence Scovel Shinn.)
4. Invitation to a Great Experiment, by Thomas Powers. Out of print but still available used and in libraries, this is a practical guide to getting to know the reality of God experientially and for yourself. That’s the great experiment. The frontispiece of the book is a picture of an alarm clock. The author says if you want to know God, you have to get up an hour earlier than usual for prayer and meditation, spiritual study, and physical exercise.
5. Metaphysical Meditations, by Paramahansa Yogananda. Yogananda is best known as the author of Autobiography of a Yogi, but this tiny book of meditations that I first read on an airplane at age eighteen has held a lifetime of inspiration for me. In the gentle, sometimes flowery words of a man who lived as much in the spiritual world as in this one, the readings here continue to teach me to be still, and trust, and not give in to fear.
6. A Most Surprising Song, by Louann Stahl. This book, an exploration of the mystical experience, is inexplicably out of print, but, like Invitation to a Great Experiment, is available second-hand and in that still glorious institution, the public library. (Publishers: wake up! These are great books and we need them now more than ever!) In this delightful and easy read, Stahl explains what the mystical experience is and tells the stories of many who had them. I’ll bet I’ve read this book twenty times and I always get something more out of it. (Another fascinating book on mystical experience is the 19th century classic Cosmic Consciousness, by Maurice Bucke, MD, cataloging the “beatific visions” of dozens of famous and unknown individuals.)
7. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse, edited by D.H.S. Nicholson and A.H.E. Lee. I discovered this volume when I worked in the library at the headquarters of the Theosophical Society in America when I was twenty and twenty-one. In that library, I read voraciously but when I stumbled upon the poetry of Blake, Wordsworth, and others who came close to describing the indescribable, I was in awe. I still am.
8. Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work in Her Own Words, compiled by Friends of Peace Pilgrim. Peace Pilgram was a 20th century mystic who “walked until given shelter, fasted until given food,” and carried the message that world peace would only be achieved through individual after another attaining inner peace. My favorite of all her teachings was: “Live up to the highest light you have, and more light will be given you.”
9. The Religions of Man, by Huston Smith. This book was used as text when I was getting my undergraduate degree in relgious studies at North Central College, Naperville, Illinois. It is the only such book I still own (I’ve moved a lot, so this says quite a bit). Smith presents every religion as a path back home, a way different people and different cultures find meaning. I marked the margins with so many cross-references (see Taoism … similar point in Judaism chapter) that I finally stopped so there could be some margins left.
10. The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, by Barbara G. Walker, is a weighty tome filled with wonders. You can look up any term that has anything to do with religion or spirituality — Doomsday, Evolution, Heracles, Tarot — and get an insightful look based on history and with a feminist’s sensibilities. Walker states in her Introduction: “Thousands of popular fantasies and hidden facts are expounded in this Encyclopedia, where the complex subject of sexism is approached from both the historical and the mythic points of view.” It’s moved with me and been a resource on my bookshelf for over twenty years.
2. Emerson’s Essays. This makes my Top 10 list partially from the I’ve read myself, and partially because Dede, the wonderful woman who lived with us when I was a child and who was my first spritual teacher, quoted them so abundantly throughout my formative years. Because of the era in which Emerson wrote, these can be slow-going. He uses words we don’t use now, and I always read Emerson with a dictionary beside me. When I get past the hurdles, though, the wisdom in “Compensation” and “Self-Reliance” and “The Oversoul” is well worth the work.
3. The Game of Life and How to Play It, by Florence Scovel Shinn. This early 20th century metaphysical teacher has an infectious energy and an easy, friendly way of expressing herself that makes this “prosperity classic” one that I read time and again. (For more of Florence — she was a great composer of affirmations, among other things — look into one of the collections of all her works, such as The Writings of Florence Scovel Shinn.)
4. Invitation to a Great Experiment, by Thomas Powers. Out of print but still available used and in libraries, this is a practical guide to getting to know the reality of God experientially and for yourself. That’s the great experiment. The frontispiece of the book is a picture of an alarm clock. The author says if you want to know God, you have to get up an hour earlier than usual for prayer and meditation, spiritual study, and physical exercise.
5. Metaphysical Meditations, by Paramahansa Yogananda. Yogananda is best known as the author of Autobiography of a Yogi, but this tiny book of meditations that I first read on an airplane at age eighteen has held a lifetime of inspiration for me. In the gentle, sometimes flowery words of a man who lived as much in the spiritual world as in this one, the readings here continue to teach me to be still, and trust, and not give in to fear.
6. A Most Surprising Song, by Louann Stahl. This book, an exploration of the mystical experience, is inexplicably out of print, but, like Invitation to a Great Experiment, is available second-hand and in that still glorious institution, the public library. (Publishers: wake up! These are great books and we need them now more than ever!) In this delightful and easy read, Stahl explains what the mystical experience is and tells the stories of many who had them. I’ll bet I’ve read this book twenty times and I always get something more out of it. (Another fascinating book on mystical experience is the 19th century classic Cosmic Consciousness, by Maurice Bucke, MD, cataloging the “beatific visions” of dozens of famous and unknown individuals.)
7. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse, edited by D.H.S. Nicholson and A.H.E. Lee. I discovered this volume when I worked in the library at the headquarters of the Theosophical Society in America when I was twenty and twenty-one. In that library, I read voraciously but when I stumbled upon the poetry of Blake, Wordsworth, and others who came close to describing the indescribable, I was in awe. I still am.
8. Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work in Her Own Words, compiled by Friends of Peace Pilgrim. Peace Pilgram was a 20th century mystic who “walked until given shelter, fasted until given food,” and carried the message that world peace would only be achieved through individual after another attaining inner peace. My favorite of all her teachings was: “Live up to the highest light you have, and more light will be given you.”
9. The Religions of Man, by Huston Smith. This book was used as text when I was getting my undergraduate degree in relgious studies at North Central College, Naperville, Illinois. It is the only such book I still own (I’ve moved a lot, so this says quite a bit). Smith presents every religion as a path back home, a way different people and different cultures find meaning. I marked the margins with so many cross-references (see Taoism … similar point in Judaism chapter) that I finally stopped so there could be some margins left.
10. The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, by Barbara G. Walker, is a weighty tome filled with wonders. You can look up any term that has anything to do with religion or spirituality — Doomsday, Evolution, Heracles, Tarot — and get an insightful look based on history and with a feminist’s sensibilities. Walker states in her Introduction: “Thousands of popular fantasies and hidden facts are expounded in this Encyclopedia, where the complex subject of sexism is approached from both the historical and the mythic points of view.” It’s moved with me and been a resource on my bookshelf for over twenty years.
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