Meditation can help make your thinking clear and precise – but what do you think about?
The books on this list can give you ideas. With enough new ideas flowing around your nervous system, changes can occur in your mind. The changes open up new thought patterns and new possibilities for thought. Your mind EXPANDS enabling more new ideas to enter and be absorbed by your consciousness. When your mind, consciousness, awareness expands you have a greater likelihood of becoming enlightened.
Read these books, meditate, and embrace opportunities for shifts in your perception. Live with the imagery of enlightenment. Seek new ways of being.
The ideas in these books are often contradictory – one author conflicts with another. Holding alternative and not always complementary thoughts, views and opinions in your mind creates confusion, even chaos. Holding totally erroneous concepts in your mind generates even more chaos. And out of that chaos a possibility for pure thought and sensation can emerge. An enlightened person accepts all things in the universe – not just the things that might be pleasing at any given moment. An enlightened person accepts and also rejects all things in the universe since, for the most part, things in the universe are illusory.
It is unfortunate that so many books on this list have gone out of print – especially considering the innovation in publishing of print-on-demand material. We should, I suppose, be grateful that these books are merely being neglected and not banned or burned in bonfires – as were so many great works in the past.
Each title is linked to the best descriptions available and often they are to sites that offer online versions of the texts. In time, more books will be added to this list and hopefully some better commentary to help you decide which books to actively seek out and acquire.
Non-Fiction and Spiritual Works
Alli, Antero – Angel Tech: a Modern Shamans Guide to Reality Selection
Andrea, Raymond – The Mystic Path
One of the most knowledgeable and important mystics of the 20th century and there is virtually nothing about him online. Even his books appear to be out of print. At least the Amazon.com pages have some reviews of the works – even if you can’t buy them new.
Andrea, Raymond – The Technique of the Disciple
Andrea, Raymond – The Technique of the Master
Aquinas, Thomas – Summa Theologica
Baigent, Michael et al – Holy Blood, Holy Grail
Bailey, Alice A. – A Treatise on White Magic
it’s easier just to advise you to read all her books – but she has become controversial lately, some 60 years after her death – it’s a problem when real mystics write too much – the public can’t always handle it.
Bailey, Alice A. – Glamour: a World Problem
Bailey, Alice A. – Initiation, Human and Solar
Bernard, Raymond – anything you can find
Another great 20th century mystic whose works are out of print – at least in English. The link is to a biography with numerous articles and reviews attached (mostly in French).There are also some online pages available if you look hard enough. Messages From the Celestial Sanctum is particularly recommended if you can find it.
Blackschleger, Herb – Hide!
A weird favorite. Every page is a gem of bizarre insights. The book is, of course, long out of print – there might have been just one printing in 1959 – but it seems to be available in many used additions because no one wants to keep a copy of it around for long. The link is to a fair description of the book. There are other obscure references online if you want to search for the author. It’s a weird book and it makes you think weird things and sometimes that’s a good thing. If you find a copy, get it and read it. It will be fun.
Blavatsky, Helena – Isis Unveiled
Blavatsky, of course, founded the whole New Age tradition. Priceless font of mystical insights and information.
Blavatsky, Helena – The Secret Doctrine
Blyth, R.H. – Games Zen Masters Play
Boethius – The Consolation of Philosophy
A favorite.
Bolles, Richard N. – What Color is Your Parachute?
Branden, Victoria – Understanding Ghosts
A great book now forgotten – apparently even by the author. If you can find a copy it is the most concise, accurate, well written and least “woo woo” book on the subject.
Bucke, Richard – Cosmic Consciousness
Buddha – Dhammapada
The classic collection of the Buddha’s teachings. The translation by Eknath Easwaren is highly recommended.
Campbell, Joseph – The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Campbell, Joseph – The Masks of God
Campbell, Joseph – The Power of Myth
Canfield, Jack and Hansen, Mark Victor – Chicken Soup for the Soul
Capra, Fritjof – The Tao of Physics
Better than Michael Talbot’s book (see below). You need to get the mystery and leave behind the pseudo-science.
Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de – The Divine Milieu
Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de – The Future of Man
Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de – The Phenomenon of Man
Cleary, Thomas – Zen Antics
Confucius – Analects
Crowley, Aleister – Eight Lectures on Yoga
Crowley is misunderstood by most, but extremely important in the history of illumination. The link is to a site that offers most of his books on line.
Crowley, Aleister – Little Essays Toward Truth
Crowley, Aleister – The Book of Lies
Crowley, Aleister – The Book of the Law
De Ropp, Robert S. – The Master Game: Pathways to Higher Consciousness
Dennett, Daniel – Consciousness Explained
Dennett, Daniel – Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life
Dennett, Daniel – Elbow Room
Descartes, Rene – Meditations on First Philosophy
Descartes, Rene – Passions of the Soul
Dion Fortune – Psychic Self-Defense
A favorite author. All her material is worth reading. Her books go in and out of print fairly often (maybe depending on the current “powers that be.”) When you find her books – get them. They are also usually available online as is the case with this link.
Dion Fortune – The Cosmic Doctrine
The link is to an intelligently written review.
Dion Fortune – The Mystical Qabalah
Dion Fortune – Through the Gates of Death
Elias, Jack – Finding True Magic
Emerson, Ralph Waldo – Essays: First Series
Emerson, Ralph Waldo – Essays: Second Series
Ferris, Timothy – Coming of Age in the Milky Way
Fort, Charles – Collected Works
Fossey, Dian – Gorillas in the Mist
Fox, Emmet – Power Through Constructive thinking
Franklin, Benjamin – Autobiography
Franklin, Benjamin – The Way to Wealth
Frazer, James – The Golden Bough
Freud, Sigmund – Civilization and Its Discontents
Freud, Sigmund – Moses and Monotheism
Freud, Sigmund – The Future of an Illusion
Freud, Sigmund – The Interpretation of Dreams
Freud, Sigmund – Totem and Taboo
Frye, Northrup – The Great Code
Goodall, Jane – In the Shadow of Man
Graves, Robert – The White Goddess
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich – Phenomenology of Spirit
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich – Science of Logic
Hill, Napoleon – The Law of Success
Hill, Napoleon – Think and Grow Rich
Hittleman, Richard – Guide to Yoga Meditation
One of the best books on meditation. May be difficult to find, but worth the effort.
Hume, David – A Treatise of Human Nature
Husserl, Edmund – Logical Investigations
Husserl, Edmund – On the Phenomenology of the Consciousness of Internal Time
James, Muriel – Born to Win
James, Tad – The Secret of Creating Your Future
Jaynes, Julian – The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
Jung, Carl – Man and His Symbols
Jung, Carl – Memories, Dreams and Reflections
Jung, Carl – Modern Man in Search of a Soul
Jung, Carl – The Undiscovered Self
Kant, Immanuel – Critique of Pure Reason
La Vey, Anton Szandor – The Satanic Bible
Lao Tzu – Tao Te Ching
Leibniz, Gottfried – Discourse on Metaphysics
Leibniz, Gottfried – Making the Case for God
Leibniz, Gottfried – New Essays on Human Understanding
Lewis, H. Spencer – Anything you can find
A favorite author. A great mystic, founder of the Rosicrucian Order AMORC. His books are all worth reading especially The Secret Doctrines of Jesus, Mansions of the Soul: the Cosmic Conception, and The Mystical Life of Jesus
Lewis, Ralph M – Anything you can find.
Like his father, H. Spencer Lewis, he was a great mystic and did much to promote Rosicrucian doctrines around the world. Since his death, there has been a void in genuine Rosicrucian teachings. Look for these books – The Conscious Interlude, Behold the Sign, and The Sanctuary of the Self, among many others.
Lindsay, Hal – Selections
He wrote a lot of books including Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth, The Late, Great Planet Earth, and The Liberation of Planet Earth and was very influential in Christian evangelical circles. Read some of his books. They express a certain point of view that is useful to developing an illuminated mindset (although Hal Lindsey is probably off the mark in his own life). You don’t have to agree with him or accept him or even like him. But as with Anton LaVey, Osho, and others he just might open your mind to new possibilities.
Locke, John – Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Lucretius – De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
Machiavelli – The Prince
Maimonides – Guide for the Perplexed
Marcus Aurelius – Meditations
Martin, Malachi – Hostage to the Devil: the Possession and Exorcism of Five Living Americans
Michail, Michael A. – Practical Mysticism
Wink.
Nietzsche, Friedrich – Beyond Good and Evil
The book not the game.
Nietzsche, Friedrich – Human, All Too Human
Nietzsche, Friedrich – The Antichrist
Nietzsche, Friedrich – The Gay Science
Nietzsche, Friedrich – Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Nietzsche, Friedrich – Twilight of the Idols, Or How to Philosophize with a Hammer
Nietzsche is just not like other philosophers. His ambition was “to say in ten sentences what others say in a book—what everyone else does not say in a book.”
Noe, John R. – Peak Performance Principles for High Achievers
Osho – Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic
Osho – The Book of Secrets
Osho – The Mustard Seed
Pantajali – Yoga Sutras
Various translations of this must have book are available. The Edwin Bryant version has great commentaries but find a translation that suits you.
Paramahansa Yogananda – Autobiography of a Yogi
Paramahansa Yogananda – Journey to Self-Realization
Paramahansa Yogananda – Man’s Eternal Quest
Paramahansa Yogananda – The Divine Romance
Pauwels, Louis and Bergier, Jacques – Morning of the Magicians
Plato – The Republic
Plotinus – Enneads
Poole, Cecil – Anything you can find.
Another great mystic disappearing from memory. His many books seem to be out of print and there is not much about him online (except for this Youtube video of Poole giving a brief lecture). If you can find his books, get them – especially Cares that Infest, Cosmic Consciousness, In Search of Reality, and Mysticism: the Ultimate Experience
Rand, Ayn – Philosophy: Who Needs It
Rand, Ayn – The Romantic Manifesto
She claims to hate mysticism, which is funny since she is clearly a mystic herself.
Rand, Ayn – The Virtue of Selfishness
Repps, Paul – Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
Ringer, Robert J. – Winning Through Intimidation
Read this and his second book Looking out for Number One
Rousseau, Jean Jacques – Confessions
Sagan, Carl – Broca’s Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science
Sagan, Carl – Cosmos
Sagan, Carl – The Cosmic Connection: an Extraterrestrial Perspective
Sagan, Carl – The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Sagan, Carl – The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
Schopenhauer, Arthur – The World as Will and Representation
Schwartz, David – The Magic of Thinking Big
Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center – Yoga: Mind & Body
Spinoza, Baruch – Selections
See especially A Short Treatise on God, Man and His Well-Being and Ethics
St. Augustine – Confessions
St. John of the Cross – Dark Night of the Soul
St. Teresa of Avila – Everything
A favorite. Her main books are Autobiography, Interior Castle, The Way to Perfection all gems.
Swami Janakananda Saraswati – Yoga, Tantra & Meditation
At least it is still in print.
Talbot, Michael – Mysticism and the New Physics
An example of someone who gets it wrong but still makes you think – even if you just think of all the ways the writer is getting wrong. It’s fun.
Thoreau, Henry David – Civil Disobedience
Unknown – Avesta: Zoroastrian Sacred Texts
Unknown – Cloud of Unknowing
Unknown – I Ching
Very popular work and available in several versions.
Unknown – The Upanishads
Valentinus – The Gospel of Truth
Various – The Bible
You should already know about this one.
Venerable Narada Mahathera – The Buddha and his Teachings
Von Daniken, Erich – Chariots of the Gods?
Finally a book with a lot of reviews and a big web presence. The book is not well written, well researched or well conceived – it is silly! And I knew it was silly when I read it at the age of ten. But, c’mon, it’s so much fun to read and the book inspired a whole industry. And it has never been out of print! (which might be another knock against it). The book takes the reader on a tour of some of the strangest and most mysterious places on earth and at least it tries to make sense of the weirdness of our planet. In doing that, Von Daniken opened the minds of millions of people to possibilities they would never have dreamed of before. It is well worth a reading.
Vyasa – The Bhagavad Gita
This web site has it all.
Watts, Alan – Various
He wrote a lot but the two books that really should be read are Beyond Theology – the Art of Godmanship, and The Book – On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
Wilber, Ken – No Boundary
A popular writer.
Wilson, Robert Anton – Prometheus Rising
Wilson pretty much defines the subject of Illumination for our time. A favorite all around.
Wilson, Robert Anton – Quantum Psychology
Wilson, Robert Anton – The Illuminati Papers
Zukov, Gary – The Dancing Wu Li Masters
The most fun of the “zen physics” type books.
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Michael
Thanks.