navysteve

I am interested in literature you folks use to help you grow spiritually. I am no Big Book purist and believe that we should be quick to see where religious people are right. Make use of what they offer. Some authors who have helped me are:

The Sermon on the Mount: The Key to Success in Life
By Emmet Fox

One thing that stuck out with Fox was when he said contemplation was the highest form of prayer. That led me to Thomas Merton and the Seeds of Contemplation ( among others.)

Here is a link to seeds:

New seeds of contemplation - Google Books

Zen Mind:

http://www.vidyaonline.net/arvindgupta/zenmind.pdf

I was a pagan by VC Kitchen. And a few other good ones You can download here:

Downloads Stepstudy.org

Rob B

Interesting timing on this Steve. I have a friend who got sober about a year after I did, he went through the work, maintained spiritual fitness, and walked away from AA about two years ago.

He has recently returned, he is changed, he has what I want. I asked him what he has been doing, he uses 10-12 daily, but the profound difference in him was working with a text called A Course in Miracles. I have been praying for a new teacher to be put in my life, and Daniel was sent. I have been blessed with a few men who have an continue to be my mentors, the trouble is they live across the country. Of course my Ego bucked around a bit because Ï have more "time" than he does, I just smiled at this thought and asked him if he would be my guide. We start our formal work this morning.

miss communicat

For me:
Guide to the I Ching by Carol Anthony
The Bhagavad Gita
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
A Course In Miracles

Pagekeeper

Too many to list, but here's a few:

The First and Last Freedom by Jiddu Krishnamurti

Will and Spirit: A Contemplative Psychology by Gerald May

Gravity and Grace by Simone Weil

Any of Thich Nhat Hanh's books . . .


Thank you for this thread!

freya

Using a very broad definition of "Spiritual," these are a few of the books that have influenced me / changed my life the most:

Dark Night of the Soul, St. John of the Cross
Dark Night of the Soul, Thomas Moore
Anatomy of the Spirit, Carlyn Myss
Fire in The Belly: On Being a Man, Sam Keen
Women Who Run With the Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola Estes
The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron
Gyn/Ecology: The MetaEthics of Radical Feminism, Mary Daly
Interior Castle, St.Teresa of Avila
The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America, David Whyte
Lord Jim, Joseph Conrad
Moby Dick, Herman Melville

freya

24hrsAday

i am reading "In god's Care" from hazelden.. i always read it before i go to bed and meditate on the daily thought. it has helped me very much..

navysteve

Thanks folks,
some interesting literature listed here. I also get a daily email from the Henri Nouwen society. Here is today's:

Living Our Passages Well

Death is a passage to new life. That sounds very beautiful, but few of us desire to make this passage. It might be helpful to realise that our final passage is preceded by many earlier passages. When we are born we make a passage from life in the womb to life in the family. When we go to school we make a passage from life in the family to life in the larger community. When we get married we make a passage from a life with many options to a life committed to one person. When we retire we make a passage from a life of clearly defined work to a life asking for new creativity and wisdom.

Each of these passages is a death leading to new life. When we live these passages well, we are becoming more prepared for our final passage.

Tommyh

24,I read that book occasionally too

Steve,I usually end back up in the Holy Bible since I am a member of a Holiness Church.
I have dozens of books here I have read,and some I have even studied,but few I have tried to practice what they teach.

jimhere

I am a Big Book purist, and being a purist, it also says something to the effect that there are many helpful books. Books have been teachers to me.

The ones that have been helpful to me are too many to list. Thomas Merton was mentioned, there are several on the list.

"Open Heart, Open Mind" by Thomas Keating. An introduction to centering prayer.

"The Philokalia" Instructions on the the disciplines of the spiritual life based on the teachings of the ancient Desert Fathers. Compiled by the Orthodox monks at Mt. Athos in Greece in the early 18th century.

"The Way of The Pilgrim." anonymous.

"Christian Meditation" by James Finley. Finley was a novice monk at Gethsemane Abby where Thomas Merton was his teacher. He left the order and now lives in Los Angeles and is a therapist and spiritual director. I was directed to him by a teacher of mine.

Lately I've been leaning towards Buddhist practices. What got me going in that direction was "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle. Although not a Buddhist, Tolle's practices are very simple and compliment Buddhist disciplines.

Here are few more:

"The 12-Step Buddhist" by Darren Littlejohn. Not sure what I think about this one yet. I just read it.

"Joyful Wisdom" Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

"The Force of Kindness" by Sharon Salzberg

Two by Jack Kornfield" "A Path With Heart," and "After The Ecstasy The Laundry"

I'd better stop. This could go on and on.
Jim

tomvlll

I remember hearing a speaker tape of Jimmy Burwell. He said 4 books were his influences in writing Alcoholics Anonymous.

1. The Bible.

2. Believing World by Lewis Browne. A text on the world's religions-how they came about and in some cases, how they fell apart.

3. Sermon on the Mount by Emmet Fox.

4. Varieties of Religious Experience. AFAIK, the only other book mentioned in the BB.

I highly recommend all 4.

Alos, The "seven habits of highly effective people" dovetails very nicely with AA and AA is mentioned frequently in that book.

McGowdog

I stay plugged into the 12 Steps via the A.A. book no matter what, but do some things in line with "there are many helpful books also" as mentioned in our 11th Step.

Those would be;

The Bible
Jose Silva - The Silva Mind Control Method - for meditation
Carlos Castaneda- The Teachings of Don Juan - a Yaqui Way of Knowledge, The Second Ring of Power, The Power of Silence, The Active Side of Infinity, Journey to Ixtlan, etc.
Anthony De Mello - Awareness
Viktor E. Frankl - Man's Search For Meaning
David R. Hawkins, Power vs Force
Todd Michael - The Twelve Conditions of a Miracle
Dr Bob and the Oldtimers
Sermon on the Mount, an interpretation - Emmitt Fox
William James - The Variety of Religious Experiences
C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity
Stuff by Deepak and Wayne Dyer and Tolle have helped me too.

But once I'm back in the middle work (4-9), I put all this stuff away until I'm done with my last amend.

I stay plugged into A.A. no matter what.

navysteve

William James - The Variety of Religious Experiences

Read that a few years ago. ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz......

Good stuff but a tough read for me. Maybe I will break it out again and see

Fluttering

"Under the Influence"
and
"Beyond the influence"

"The Twelve Steps for Christians"

I believe in reading anything & everything that will feed the spirit

McGowdog

No doubt Steve. That book took me years to plod through. It taught me something about my desire to become a saint. Let's just say, you don't see to many college courses on "How to become a Saint."

These people have much in common with me when I've been at the most dreadful low spot in my life and when I've been there, God showed up.

Tommyh

Steve,there is a interesting book made into a movie that was pretty cool and I loved it..
The Way of the Peacefull Warrior by Dan Millman

it is one of those books when I read i could not put it donw

DaveBB164

I learned more about tolerance and patience trying to wade through that than I ever have!

tomvlll

LOL.
Yeah ,imagine sitting through those Gifford lectures!!(the book is a written version of a series of lectures James gave known as the Gifford lectures.)

When I first read it , though, I thought " aha!this book has the intellectual heft that the Big Book lacks!" . I have since been disabused of that notion.
I have no less respect for Varieties-it's brilliant. Just more respect for the BB.

Ago

by Jack Kornfield" "A Path With Heart" (specifically the last two chapters)

The Tao of Pooh (super super good primer to Taoism)

A New pair of Glasses

I keep 6 copies of the Tao Te Ching, and will read the same chapter in all six versions

I am a reader and always have a few books "working" so too many to list but those are some of the important ones that I have read and reread repeatedly over a few decades, I will read books such as Eckhart Tolle writes but I always find myself going back to the masters such as Lao Tzu and Buddha

To me once I learned "the answer" was a spiritual one, I threw myself into studying, and I think AA is a great "spiritual kindergarten", AA needs to remain my "foundation" and some folks are able to "ascend" and "evolve" using nothing but AA, I am not one of them, AA remains "my foundation" however.

The thing about studying spirituality, AA and The Tao agree:

So the moment I take pride in my knowledge of the BB and AA for example, the more unhappy I am, but the closer I LIVE AA and The BB the happier I am, people don't like it when I am a Buddhist, but like it when I am a Buddha, or people don't like me when I "preach" "the principals" of AA, but love me when I live them for example.

Knowledge to me can be a double edged sword.

Trying to "describe and pursue" spirituality or a "spiritual experience" to me is like:

We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel;
But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the wheel depends.
We turn clay to make a vessel;
But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the vessel depends.
We pierce doors and windows to make a house;
And it is on these spaces where there is nothing that the usefulness of the house depends.
Therefore just as we take advantage of what is, we should recognize the usefulness of what is not.

It's like "The Blues", "If you have to ask, you will never know", all we can do is describe "the room" we can't describe the experience of being in the room.

Once you strip away the dogma it's all the same thing written over and over really, but once you have had your own "spiritual awakening" reading spiritual literature is like the blind men "seeing the elephant", it's not that it's not helpful, I NEED to be reminded on a daily basis, I NEED "different views" of the elephant, but IMO these books are all describing the same elephant.


It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"
The first blind man of six blind men feels the side of the elephant and interprets it as a wall.

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, "Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"
The second blind man of the six blind men feels an elephant tusk and interprets the elephant to be like a spear.

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"
The third blind man of the six blind men touches the elephant's trunk and interprets it to be a snake.

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he;
" 'Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"
The fourth blind man of the six blind men touches the elephant's leg and mentally visualizes it to be a tree.

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"
The fifth blind man of the six blind men touches the elephant's ear and imagines it to be a fan.

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"
The sixth blind man of the six blind men touches the elephant's ear and interprets it to be a fan.

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

Moral:

So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!

So while I enjoy watching people here discuss "the elephant", and reading other "wisemen's" pursuit of the elephant, frequently I gain more "knowledge" as it were by watching the squirrels play in the yard and mowing the lawn, surfing, watching a sunset, and working with a newcomer, because the truth of the matter is I'm not the wise man and chances are I will never be.

"After the Ecstasy, The Laundry' to coin a phrase

So while I DO read a lot, I always end up back in the same place, being amused by the Blind men and the elephant

Music

The quickest way to continued spirituality is daily reading of the Bible, contemplation and prayer. To spend a little time each day with the one who gave me this gift of sobriety, is a challenge for me but I try. And, like the Big Book, I don't question it, I just believe it.

Charmie

i have a very dear friend in the fellowship and he has recomended "The Sermon on the Mount" by Emmet Fox.after reading you all talking about it i shall now put it on my next to buy list.i did see though that ther is the key to the success in life and an interpritation mentioned on here,what is the difference,and which one would you recommend? thanks.