This one turned out to be less of a reading and more of an exploration into how mystical activities are only one aspect of a spiritual practice, and probably not the most important aspect. In my experience, the novelty around mysticism can even pose a hazard to other aspects of our practice, aspects that support us through the tough times and help us grow emotionally, socially, and ethically. I’m curious to hear your thoughts, including views that oppose my own. It’s almost impossible to offend me but I do take issue with beliefs that I recognize as potentially harmful to members of the spiritual community who are experiencing any of the more vulnerable stages of spiritual development. Please, don’t hesitate to openly debate me. I truly do not believe in dogma, no matter how passionate I am about my own perspective. Healthy conflict births creative explanations for the questions we share – and that’s a beautiful thing!
If you’re new here & curious about my spiritual background, please check out the description on my channel’s home page. Thanks!
____________________________________________________________
If you need someone to talk to right now, please follow this link from the American Psychological Association where you will find a vetted collection of hotlines you can call or text to speak with a trained counselor. https://www.apa.org/topics/crisis-hotlines .
Suggested Reading List –
*The Wisdom of No Escape – Pema Chodrone
*The Faith Instinct – Dr. Nicholas Wade
*How Emotions Are Made (The Secret Story of the Brain) – Dr. Lisa Feldman Barette
*Be Here Now – Ram Dass
*The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead – Timothy Leary
*Raising Human Beings – Dr. Ross Greene
*Altered States (A reader on the New World Order) – Phyllis Bennis (Not about the conspiracy theory. This is a book on geopolitics, which affects everyone and is as spiritual as everything else we ever experience.)
*Manufacturing Consent – Noam Chomsky (Nobody can break down how we’ve all been brainwashed by propaganda over the last several decades better than Noam. There’s a reason why he’s considered one of the 20th century’s most important thinkers! There’s also a documentary about the book if you don’t like to read. Pretty sure it’s free on youtube.)
*History as Mystery – Michael Parenti (Illustrates through verifiable evidence that history has ALWAYS been so manipulated by rich people that it’s at least 50% made up. Along the lines of “Lies my Teacher Told Me” and Howard Zinn’s “People’s History of the United States.”)
*Demon Haunted World (Science as a Candle in the Dark) – Carl Sagan (I firmly believe that anyone interested in the mystical arts should read this book – Put on your big kid pants though cuz you’re def gonna read some stuff you won’t agree with but, trust me, we all need to challenge ourselves this way if we’re gonna be legit unto ourselves.)
*The Power of Myth – Joseph Campbell & Bill Moyers (Moyer’s interviews Campbell. You can also just watch the original miniseries interview for free on youtube.)
*The World’s Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions – Huston Smith (A classic and essential reading for anyone interested in belief itself.)
*Man and His Symbols – Carl Jung
*The Sivananda Companion to Yoga: A Complete Guide to the Physical Postures, Breathing Exercises, Diet, Relaxation and Meditation Techniques of Yoga (Awesome because it presents actual yoga – not just asanas.)
*Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert A. Heinlein (Great story about consciousness and “universal love.” Ironically, this classic is very misogynist, which just goes to show you – it’s easy to mistake well spoken ideas about enlightenment for the WHOLE truth, even when those ideas are blind to the lived realities of an entire race, gender, culture, class, etc.)
*The MaddAddam Trilogy – Margaret Atwood (This woman is a straight prophet, I mean to tell ya!)
*Discworld – Terry Pratchett (Specifically, the Granny Weatherwax and Tiffany Aching books. His depiction of Magical women rings true to my heart.)
*The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Series – Douglas Adams (Like with Pratchett, there’s just a lot of wisdom to be found here, which might seem counter-intuitive because they aren’t esoteric writers but things don’t need to be esoteric to be true and helpful.)
*Survival into the 21st Century: Planetary Healers Manual – Viktoras Kulvinskas (Considered the first New Age guide to holistic health ever published (1977.) Despite some of it’s specious assertions & pseudoscience, I still love this book 30 years after acquiring my copy. It has good information in it on chakras, energetic bodies, herbalism, and other healing techniques that I still believe in to this day. It’s also full of practical instructions on how to go off grid or survive a huge disaster.
Background Music by Alex Wit, available on Pixabay – https://pixabay.com/users/light_music-40074088/
#tarotreading #spiritualguidance #lightworker
source