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My
Ten Most Significant Books |
In my personal journey, knowledge and
wisdom from books has been a major source of inspiration. Combined with the
experience of living life fully, and the input from some important teachers,
books have opened new doors of inquiry and provided me with many new maps with
which to explore the landscape of reality.
The books are presented in the
chronological order that I discovered and read them. Click on the name for more
information about the book, and some web links where found.
DUNE
by Frank Herbert
| This book heralded an
awakening from a sleepy childhood into a new world of ideas. It was the
first book of substance that I encountered at about age 12. Each time I
have reread it, I have been struck by the mark which the book left on its
youthful reader. In it I find the origins of my concerns for ecology, my
search for greater consciousness and awareness and even my skepticism of
politics. I truly think that the values I attach to the very question of
what it means to be human can be traced back to Dune.
The Dune sequels do not do the
original justice. But the prequels are excellent. |
http://www.fremen.org/
http://www.geocities.com/dartsdune
/dune2.html
http://www.duneworld.org/
http://leighkimmel.freeservers.com
/reading/dune.html
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In Search Of The
Miraculous by P. D.
Ouspensky
| From a very early age my
father discussed with me various ideas of Ouspensky and Gurdjieff. Late
night discussions of the nature of the forth dimension were not uncommon.
Although at a young age I had a habit of falling asleep during them, they
left in me a curiosity about a body of ancient knowledge. In later high
school I had the ability to read In Search Of The Miraculous, which
is perhaps the most complete, yet accessible version of Gurdjieff’s
philosophy and discipline. Gurdjieff’s All And Everything is
unreadable to most. ( However Nicole’s Commentaries is an excellent
resource which I stumbled upon later.)
In these books is found a whole
psychological and cosmological theory about the evolution of man and
consciousness. It is a totally different way of viewing reality and the
nature of the human mind. In it, man is a machine who must strive to
awaken his potential to will power in a world where the interaction of
energies is everything. |
http://www.promart.com
/ISOTM.html
http://www.polymath-systems.com
/phenomen/gurdj/gideas.html
http://www.4thway.com/
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The Outsider
by Colin Wilson
| The "Outsider"
is the person who doesn’t fit into our society. It is the person who is
the "one eyed man in the valley of the blind". Unable to find a
true fulfillment and meaning in life, he/she still knows that there is an
element of vitality that is missing from most people.
Wilson examines literary figures and
real people to identify, explore and illuminate the "Outsider".
The questions which are posed are, to me, among the most important in life,
... and Wilson has spent a life time of writing trying (with varying
success) to answer them. |
http://www-personal.umich.edu
/~jbmorgan/cwilson.html
http://www.raintaxi.com/wilson.htm
http://www.netspace.org/
~moose/fun/essay-cody.html
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Steppenwolf by
Herman Hesse
Acclimatizing
By Steve VanMatre
| Since I was 15 years old
I have always been interested in utilizing the out-of-doors and the
wilderness environment to teach various skills of consciousness,
awareness, leadership and group dynamics. The first great teacher I had in
that area was Steve VanMatre, who I saw speak at several outdoor education
conferences. I looked up his books, and for the first ten years of my
outdoor leadership, these were the mainstay. VanMatre uses a highly
experiential and sensory approach to convey broad concepts about the
ecology and our relationship to it. Acclimatizing and the companion
pieces Acclimatization and Sunship Earth are masterpieces in
the field of Outdoor Education. |
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Tales of Power
/ The Fire Within by Carlos Castaneda
| I started reading the Don
Juan series shortly after beginning university. The earlier books
intrigued me again because they looked at the world with an alternate view
of reality. However, I feel that Castaneda did not truly understand what
he was trying to communicate until the fourth book, Tales of Power.
In this book, his treatment of the "tonal" and the "nagual"
is very similar to Gurdjieff’s mechanical self and true will. It is also
similar to the idea of the logical mind and the spiritual mind, which I
later encountered through Tom Brown. Castaneda’s idea of "shifting
the assemblage point" became pivotal in my later understandings human
knowledge seen from a phenomenological point of view. All perception
depends on attitude and the "filters" through which you are
viewing it.
In The Fire Within, Castaneda
continues to explore new ground about what it truly means to be an
"impeccable warrior", a theme that rang true with all of the
influences I had gathered so far. The theme of "warriorship" has
been the central theme in my personal studies to current times. |
http://www.avalon.net
/~vreloto/cas_main.html
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Being and Education
by Donald Vanenberg
The secondary title for
this book is "An Essay in Existential Phenomenology". A
brilliant Sociology Prof. assigned the first four chapters of this book to
a lecture hall of 600 students. The following week it was trimmed down to
just 16 students. As a book on education, it is excellent. It was more
valuable to me, however, as just a good primer for phenomenology and how
it relates to pedagogy and learning. It is a very heavy book, with
passages like:
"When logically organized
subject matter is emphasized at the expense of the pupil’s
existentiality, all pedagogic effort becomes tailored to transmit a
body of highly structures knowledge."
It took half a year of discussions
to plod through it, but I recognize the power that these particular ideas
have had on my development. |
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Chuang Tzu
| About 250 BC, The Way
of Chuang Tzu was written by the great Taoist master. It is a witty
and entertaining presentation of Taoist thought, far more accessible that
the more known Lao Tzu. The stories range from a few verses to a
few pages, but every one is a starting point for profound contemplation.
Taoism has been said to be the world
"religion" that most closely resembles the spirituality of many
Native American tribes. It is not as much a formal religion as it is a way
of life.
I had the privilege of being exposed
to this book in a university half course, by a professor who would spend
an hour reflecting on a single verse, ... and we were never bored. |
http://www.digiserve.com/mystic/
Taoist/Chuang_Tzu/index.html
http://www.coldbacon.com/
chuang/chuang.html
http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/
gthursby/taoism/cz-list.htm
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No Ordinary Moments
by Dan Millman
| Dan Millman wrote several
earlier books, most notably The Way Of The Peaceful Warrior, which
explored many concepts relating to the HUNA tradition of Hawaii.
Presenting the ideas in the form of a story gave it an entertaining
appeal. However, with No Ordinary Moments the ideas took on a
concise and clear format. Here is a model of how the body channels
energies and how we are divided into three selves. It is an easy to
understand, but intensive roadmap to the way of the warrior. |
http://www.danmillman.com/
http://www.newtimes.org/
issue/0009/millman.html
http://www.wie.org/j15/millman.asp
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The Vision
by Tom Brown Jr.
| During my early years as
a teacher, I wanted to write a novel about city kids discovering the
spiritual traditions of Native Americans. I never finished it. (Perhaps
one day I’ll post parts of it on this site.) While I was researching
this project I encountered The Vision. It was the third in the
series, but the first Tom Brown book I picked up. Just as well, since it
is by far the best of the first three.
When I finished reading the book I
had a burning desire to be taught by this author as his words spoke to me
profoundly. I was surprised to find on the last page of the book an ad for
the Tracker School. And there began a distinct chapter in my life and my
spiritual development.
The Tracker approach combines
wilderness survival, awareness, warriorship and native spirituality in a
perfect mix. It was as if it was tailor made for the path I was walking. The
Vision is full of interesting adventures mixed with authentic
spiritual lessons. There’s nothing hokey about these lessons. They come
from a man who is as hard as nails and who trains Navy SEALS. -But who can
also bring forth subtleties of awareness and an appreciation of
wilderness. For the past 12 years these teachings (most of which are not
in Tom’s books!!) have been the keystone of my beliefs. |
http://wmuma.com/tracker/
http://www.trackerschool.com/
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Boomeritis / A brief
History of Everything by Ken Wilber
| Ken Wilber's books have been on my
shelf for some years, and I've always had some difficulty actually reading
them. With the release of Boomeritis, Wilber makes an effort to place
many of his ideas in a more reader-friendly form. It is (thankfully)
repetitive, allowing the reader many opportunities for understanding.
With Boomeritis under my belt, I decided to tackle A Brief History of
Everything, with positive results. Between the two books, Wilber
presents his unique philosophy about the levels of meaning, truth and
reality, and gives you a reasonable map on how to navigate through those
levels. Our relationship to reality is given as a dynamic process
rather than a static picture. It is a meta-picture, allowing for
greater understanding of all people, and a tool by which one may bridge
those levels of reality. |
http://wilber.shambhala.com/
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HONOURABLE MENTIONS:
The Infinite Self
By Stuart Wilde
Thirty-three steps to warriorship.
The Craft of the Warrior
By R. L. Spencer
One of those books where after
reading it, I wished I had written it. Wow! It combines the work of Gurdjieff,
Castaneda, Millman and several others who have written about warriorship. Tailor
made for my path.
Embracing Our Selves
by Stone & Stone
This is the origin of the
self-dialogue psychological movement, which seems to have gained some wide
spread support. Recognizing that we are not a self, but rather selves, this book
strives to identify some of the more common selves and suggests ways in which
dialogue among selves can lead to greater inner balance. I feel that, combined
with some of the meditation techniques of The Mind’s Eye (by Rachel
Charles), this has incredible potential for both therapeutic and day-to-day use.
CURRENT RESEARCH
Neuro-Linguistic Programming
Carl Jung
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