26 Books Every 'Spiritual But Not Religious' Seeker Should Read
This list appeared on the Huffington Post website the other day. I saw it while reading another story, and it caught my eye. I present the 26 books here in list form only, leaving it up to the reader to explore any of them to further understand how it relates to the wider topic of "Spirituality". I believe that personal exploration of any of these books offers personal benefit in a window to other humans on the planet, and the reader should be able to come away from any of these having learned something about our fellow humans. In no preferential order, the books are:
1. The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster
2. The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories, by Marina Keegan
3. Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder
4. Thirst: Poems, by Mary Oliver
5. Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life From Dear Sugar, by Cheryl Strayed
6. The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
7. The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion
8. The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho
9. The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
10. Mortality, by Christopher Hitchens
11. The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy
12. Mother Night, by Kurt Vonnegut
13. The Shack, by Wm. Paul Young
14. The Dude and the Zen Master, by Jeff Bridges and Bernie Glassman
15. How Should a Person Be?, by Sheila Heti
16. The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, by Alan Watts
17. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi
18. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
19. The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow
20. Letters to a Young Poet, by Rainer Maria Rilke
21. Long Day's Journey into Night, by Eugene O'Neill
22. Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda
23. A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, by Santideva
24. A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings, by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
25. Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl
26. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead, by Brené Brown
Some of these tend toward certain religions, others are more secular, yet they all retain something to be found regarding the greater topic of Spirituality for everyone. Consider this a chance to bend your mind a little and explore another belief's thinking process. Some of these are rather blatant in their approach, discussing religion from an adherent's point of view, but others are not religious, relying more on analogy and circumlocution to arrive at the point. There's something here for everyone, I believe, and this collection is a fascinating look at spirituality through the mind of others, with an ever-present bend toward the human condition.
As always, "Your mileage may vary."
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@Suzianne
Only two can I say I know well. I read H.G. Wells The Time Machine as a young man and was quite influenced by the story.
Long Day's Journey Into the Night is a play I have seen.
@suzianne saidThat's a great list with some very thought provoking books on it. I'm pleased to see the list isn't diluted with any of C.S.Lewis' overrated prattle.
26 Books Every 'Spiritual But Not Religious' Seeker Should Read
This list appeared on the Huffington Post website the other day. I saw it while reading another story, and it caught my eye. I present the 26 books here in list form only, leaving it up to the reader to explore any of them to further understand how it relates to the wider topic of "Spirituality". I believe ...[text shortened]... others, with an ever-present bend toward the human condition.
As always, "Your mileage may vary."
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Ghost, personal taste may be at play comparing Well's two books. Maybe a good English teacher could say which was better written.
The story of a man who was free from the constraints of time absolutely fascinated me. This more so then a man who could be physically invisible.
The underlying theme of The Time Machine therefore I found personally intriguing, Also its kind of predictions of life and earth's history, taking us all the way to the end of the life on the planet earth, was interesting.
I think all of Well's books or short stories I read were fun to read.
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@sonship saidIt has the best opening of any of his books and his characters have an almost Dickens like quality to them. I've re-read it a few times over the years and strongly recommend it if you haven't.
@Ghost-of-a-Duke'The Invisible Man' is a better read.
Interesting.
Why ?
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@sonship saidHow about a man free from the constraints of visibility. What moral implications are there for a man who can go about his business unseen?
Ghost, personal taste may be at play comparing Well's two books. Maybe a good English teacher could say which was better written.
The story of a man who was free from the constraints of time absolutely fascinated me. This more so then a man who could be physically invisible.
The underlying theme of The Time Machine therefore I found personally intriguing, Al ...[text shortened]... net earth, was interesting.
I think all of Well's books or short stories I read were fun to read.
The book explores this brilliantly.
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How about a man free from the constraints of visibility. What moral implications are there for a man who can go about his business unseen?
The book explores this brilliantly.
I think I read Well's The Invisible Man.. But my memory may be wrong. Ralph Ellison also wrote an Invisible Man about being a black man in America.
However, the moral matters are explored in Well's book there.
But I was not thinking so much of moral issues.
The sheer curiosity of the Time Traveler to explore all of earth's history and the technology to do it, was what interested me.
As for the moral message, I recall the closing of The Time Machine. The friend of the Time Traveler makes a comment that the flower left by the Time Traveler before he left, was evidence of the tenderness of the human heart even in the collapse of society into the negative utopia that the future held.
That part always touched me, the closing pages of the book.
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How about a man free from the constraints of visibility. What moral implications are there for a man who can go about his business unseen?
Okay.
And The Time Machine paints a bleak picture of the outcome of Evolution into a dystopia. It was a kind of prediction of a nightmarish class struggle that Wells hints the current class dichotomy of his day would develop into.
There was definitely a moral dimension there, though pessimistic IMO.
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@sonship saidNo.
Doesn't Well's The Invisible Man envision a government or something consisting of people who cannot be seen ?
It really follows the main protagonist's descent into murder and insanity.
It's always interesting to me to see book lists and count up how many I have truly read. Form this list, there are six. There are a few of which I am familiar but have not yet read so I didn't count them. Thank you, Suzianne for posting this. I love having a selection from which I can draw.
3. Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder...a chronological survey of a young girl's exploration of philosophy. It's a bit quaint, but I found it a good "jumping off point" for further reading. My daughters loved it and used it to continue their own discovery of philosophy.
4. Thirst: Poems, by Mary Oliver...one of my favorite modern day poets.
9. The Red Tent, by Anita Diament...Diament offers women's perspective on a rarely discussed (in traditional churches) biblical story.
20. Letters to a Young Poet, by Rainer Maria Rilke...Rilke is thoughtful and reads like Sufi poetry. His poems in the original German led me, in part, to my current study of German poets and philosophers, particularly Goethe...and a journey to Germany in March 2020.
23. A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, by Santideva...I did a really nerdy thing with this one; I found the original Sanskrit and transcribed side by side its entirety by hand in the the Sanskrit and English...and then I gave it away. For further reading related to this one, I recommend Pena Chodron's No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to theWay of the Bodhisattva.
25. Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl...this is one of the most important books in my life. Before I was permitted to walk across the stage to receive my high school diploma, may mother required that I finish reading it. Frankl's assertion that humankind's greatest freedom is the power to choose one's attitude in the face of even the most extreme circumstances, has carried me through every joy and grief I have encountered since.
Again, Suzianne, thank you for the list and the opportunity for reflection.
@ghost-of-a-duke saidNot to take away from The Invisible Man, and you're correct in that it is a terrific read of itself, but The Time Machine, with its conflict between the Eloi and the Morlocks, shows a slightly more spiritual side to Wells, exploring the idea of class warfare and the ethical questions it raises.
'The Invisible Man' is a better read.