I've Read A Number Of These
anonymous
August 2 2009, 02:47:41 UTC
I guess my first book that could be considered "pop spirituality" was Pirsig's tome, "Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance." Originally purchased because I was a biker and wrench, I discovered quite quickly that it would help neither my riding or wrenching abilities, but that it just might have some "other" effect on me. I've read it five times since the age of twenty, and each time I've gained greater insight.
Other books that have made a positive effect on my life include, "The Celestine Prophecy" and its followups, Dan Millman's "Way of the Peaceful Warrior," "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee," and "Black Elk Speaks."
These days, I am concentrating on the writings of Mohandas Gandhi and Thomas Merton, two very spiritual human beings, both of whom passed from this like far too quickly.
Saving the best for last, the teachings of a young Carpenter from Nazareth have profoundly affected my life in recent years. I am still held in awe by the depth of love in His heart.
Book Recommendation
anonymous
August 2 2009, 22:01:42 UTC
Long before I even thought about going to a UU church and before I heard of Joseph Campbell I read a novel by D. H. Lawrence with the title "The Plumed Serpent." It's a tale of a widow who goes to Mexico and becomes mixed up with a group of people who work to toss out the Christian church and who seek to install Quetzlcoatl as the legitimate god of Mexico.
The novel has some interesting themes: For one, Lawrence suggests that even the gods lave life-cycles, that it was time for Jesus to go to sleep and ime for Quetzlcoatl to return to his people. Another theme is that Christianity is not suited to all peoples, that the worship of Jesus is merely a patina on the real Aztec religion. He suggests that that human sacrifice occurred because the aancient religion had become senile, but now it has re-awakened. The essence of the religion according to Lawrence is that we live the best kind of loving life that we aspire to.
spiritual books
anonymous
August 4 2009, 12:56:16 UTC
Of the books you list I've read: DaVinci Code; Celestine Prophecy (ages ago); Five People You Meet in Heaven; and The Sparrow. I also had to read parts of Purpose Driven Life for a class on ethics. I find The Sparrow, and its sequel Children of God, to be good springboards for discussion of religion and spirituality. The rest range from "meh, mostly harmless" to self-indulgent, self-centered, bad theology.
Some time ago, I wrote about the books that had been influential for me on my own spiritual path: Significant Science Fiction and Influential Nonfiction. None of the nonfiction are particularly "pop" but were available at major bookstores (as opposed to just at the seminary co-op). More recently the novel "Fledgling" by the late Octavia Butler has intrigued me - I've read it repeatedly and think about the ethical and moral issues it raises in different ways each time. I'm also reading more religious naturalists, e.g., Karl Peters' "Dancing with the Sacred." Chet Raymo's "When God is Gone, Everything is Holy" just arrived in
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Re: spiritual bookspatrickmurfinAugust 4 2009, 15:00:27 UTC
Thanks for the interesting contributions. There was a period in my life when I read a lot of science fiction/fantasy. Some of it did spiritually inform my life. I was particularly taken with the work of Ursula K. LeGuin. And the good ol' Lord of the Rings trilogy, besides being a rip-snorting tale set in an amazingly detailed alternative word, was filled with deep meditations on good and evil, the seeds of each with in the other, mortality, grief and loss (the song of the Entwives), and who is truly of my tribe and who is truly other. Tolkien was informed by unfolding carnage of the Second World War. Mordor must have seemed very real to him. He also brings the sensibility of his deeply held Catholicism without an over word, or even labored symbolism for Christianity in the work. I assure you that's no easy feat and something that Tolkien’s friend and acolyte C.S. Lewis could never match in his work
Re: spiritual books
anonymous
August 5 2009, 00:24:41 UTC
LeGuin is one of my old favorites, too. I nearly laughed out loud when a rather self-important young man informed me that he wouldn't see the LOTR movies, as they were "un-Christian." The wizards, you know, were demonic... I weep for the literal-minded who can't handle symbolism (labored or otherwise). They miss so much.
Comments 8
I have been meaning to reread it but keep procrastinating even though I have a copy handy.
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My version of "The flies have captured the flypaper." is "All U*U Asses Are Bilong To Us!" :-)
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Other books that have made a positive effect on my life include, "The Celestine Prophecy" and its followups, Dan Millman's "Way of the Peaceful Warrior," "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee," and "Black Elk Speaks."
These days, I am concentrating on the writings of Mohandas Gandhi and Thomas Merton, two very spiritual human beings, both of whom passed from this like far too quickly.
Saving the best for last, the teachings of a young Carpenter from Nazareth have profoundly affected my life in recent years. I am still held in awe by the depth of love in His heart.
Reply
The novel has some interesting themes: For one, Lawrence suggests that even the gods lave life-cycles, that it was time for Jesus to go to sleep and ime for Quetzlcoatl to return to his people. Another theme is that Christianity is not suited to all peoples, that the worship of Jesus is merely a patina on the real Aztec religion. He suggests that that human sacrifice occurred because the aancient religion had become senile, but now it has re-awakened. The essence of the religion according to Lawrence is that we live the best kind of loving life that we aspire to.
Reply
Some time ago, I wrote about the books that had been influential for me on my own spiritual path:
Significant Science Fiction and Influential Nonfiction. None of the nonfiction are particularly "pop" but were available at major bookstores (as opposed to just at the seminary co-op). More recently the novel "Fledgling" by the late Octavia Butler has intrigued me - I've read it repeatedly and think about the ethical and moral issues it raises in different ways each time. I'm also reading more religious naturalists, e.g., Karl Peters' "Dancing with the Sacred." Chet Raymo's "When God is Gone, Everything is Holy" just arrived in ( ... )
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