sparklekaz
Someone asked me.. What is your religion? I said, "All the paths that lead to the light".
Posts: 3,658
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Post by sparklekaz on Sept 16, 2012 12:06:44 GMT
What is the most inspiring book you have ever read, and why?
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Post by gruntal on Sept 16, 2012 15:59:50 GMT
As a kid I read quite a lot; everything from Carl Barks Donald Duck to Richard Doddridge Lorna Doone and things in between like Helen Hunt Jackson Ramona . There are two rather outstanding examples though of things that continue to guide me even in my old age. They apparently have many multiple levels of insight and meaning.
Early on I read The Tattooed Man by Howard Pease. The story of Todd Moran who survived an early encounter working in the merchant marine seemed to resonate to me in ways sports ,athletics, and soap operas could not. Like Moran I developed a steely determination to survive by keeping my mouth shut; ignoring the pain of life; and letting go of the false images of paradise. Well actually I fell short of that but even now I tend to think so much is phony; you can experience pain and agony untold and no one even wants to know about it. At some point we all must pay our dues by walking that lone some valley and we must walk it by ourselves. Sugar coated platitudes didn't alleviate Moran's sea sickness; he was goaded and mocked to the point he got so resentful he was too mad to feel sorry for himself. That was what saved him.
"I am dieing of sea sickness and you think I am a cry baby". "Well I will go ahead and do my job and then die and what will you think then?" "Then you will see".
(Well I guess it was a male thing). (He didn't die and became very strong).
As an adult I stumbled very badly and I wanted to know why and if it was all my fault. I will never forget reading Compulsory Mis-Education by Paul Goodman. This was a contradiction to every social economic political theory I was raised up on. It seemed the very fabric of society was a lie; we as human beings were deluding ourselves and clinging to nice sounding things that never existed. The truth would indeed set us free but we were not looking for it.
"Education does not make you middle class; middle class people naturally tend to acquire the education they need to become middle class". "If you took all the money given to people for education and gave it to them directly they would instantly be middle class people and they would then use that to obtain what education they wanted and needed."
(Well it's a Libertarian thing). (At some point you stop worrying about helping people and concentrate on creating the best society possible so the human beings can be free to help themselves).
Sometimes I think the highest levels of spirituality are found in places that are not even devoted to that. Stained glass scares me!
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Post by subsidinginsanity on Sept 17, 2012 5:38:11 GMT
What is the most inspiring book you have ever read, and why? A Course In Miracles. It's the closest thing to the truth I've found. |
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Post by soul33 on Sept 24, 2012 16:51:50 GMT
tho book that inspire me the most was the bible.
when i read it by my own as a big boy i finally understand my situation in life and i understand the complicated reletionship inside my people that remain the same like 2000-3000 years ago.
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Post by aceofcups on Sept 27, 2012 18:39:30 GMT
I have read many books which had a significant effect for me...I would have to say for me and one of the most inspiring,,,,,a book I am still delving into over many years,,, is the Secret Doctrine by H.P. Blavatsky. It is a book chocked with Esoteric Teachings and the more I learn from it the more spiritually refreshed I feel. It effects me on multiple levels of my being, and not just mentally.
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Post by clara927 on Sept 27, 2012 22:02:48 GMT
Hello Kaz,
There have been dozens, if not more, books that I've been inspired by to the point where I could say they changed my life and the way I viewed the world. In the last few years, Paulo Coelho books have been inspirational to me, but out of all of them I think "The Witch of Portabello" had the most dramatic affect on my life. It was the first book I had read by this author and it introduced me to his other work. When I read it, I was trying very hard to squeeze into this box that didnt fit me. And I just chalked it up to me being "crazy" or havng a major flaw that I needed to fix in order to be like everybody else. This book spoke to me in a way that made me think "This author thinks some of the things that I do". It also prompted me to ask a lot of questions and in retrospect began another spiritual journey (I've had many) that Im still on to this day.
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