Reddit mentions: The best inspiration & spirituality books

I would read SHORT but incisive texts from great religions or religious thinkers. Just one or two a day to start with.

I personally love The Hidden Words by Baha'u'llah, but there are many great interfaith collections as well. One nice one is God's Big Instruction Book, here used, which is actually many tiny delicious nuggets from different world Faiths.

I'd read one or two short interesting pieces, and meditate on them.

I think the spirit is quite easily reawakened and nourished! Also looking forward to seeing others' recommendations...

I also really like this prayer:

>O God! Refresh and gladden my spirit. Purify my heart. Illumine my powers. I lay all my affairs in Thy hand. Thou art my Guide and my Refuge. I will no longer be sorrowful and grieved; I will be a happy and joyful being. O God! I will no longer be full of anxiety, nor will I let trouble harass me. I will not dwell on the unpleasant things of life.

>O God! Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself. I dedicate myself to Thee, O Lord.

Here in musical form

There's also a really neat event called Soul Food that happens in several cities, with very uplifting and inspiring interfaith readings. Attending something like that might also be helpful: but really, I think short prayer, meditation, and reading are the best.

Ya, it's still convo with God but book for under a,new subtitle. Same author of course.

4. Home with God discussing death and afterlife.

https://www.amazon.com/Home-God-Life-That-Never/dp/0743267168

5. Friendship with God discussing the step by step process on how to make God your best friend and work with him to forge your future.

https://www.amazon.com/Friendship-God-Neale-Donald-Walsch/dp/0425189848/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0425189848&pd_rd_r=8TPW9GPDST108FE6A0AM&pd_rd_w=U3TqC&pd_rd_wg=t7isz&psc=1&refRID=8TPW9GPDST108FE6A0AM

6. Communion with God. I think this covers ancient myths that formed and have harmed our planet to this day and how to overcome them.

https://www.amazon.com/Communion-God-Neale-Donald-Walsch/dp/0425189856/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0425189856&pd_rd_r=8TPW9GPDST108FE6A0AM&pd_rd_w=U3TqC&pd_rd_wg=t7isz&psc=1&refRID=8TPW9GPDST108FE6A0AM

7. Tomorrow's god - this has to do with actually understanding the real god vs the Biblical God and how this god plays out in our lives.

https://www.amazon.com/Tomorrows-God-Greatest-Spiritual-Challenge/dp/0743463048/ref=la_B000APZH4Y_1_20?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483810346&sr=1-20&refinements=p_82%3AB000APZH4Y#customerReviews

8. New revaluation concerns the peaceful revolution we are in.

https://www.amazon.com/New-Revelations-Conversation-God/dp/074346303X/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=074346303X&pd_rd_r=KQSYN4Q8S91CF23FWWWX&pd_rd_w=YwD35&pd_rd_wg=yWn5i&psc=1&refRID=KQSYN4Q8S91CF23FWWWX

/u/Toptomcat nailed it. Wholeheartedly agree in reference to Bubishi, not very practical but interesting nonetheless. I loved Draeger's CAFA and Unante is comprehensive thesis on the historical origins and lineages of the Okinawan fighting arts. These titles might not be for everyone but I am a history buff in addition to a martial artist so I enjoyed them.

Couple of others:

• Book of the five Rings-Miyamoto Musashi
  
  
• Karate-do: my way of life- Funakoshi
  
  A few off-topic but related titles:
  
  
• Ways of the Peaceful Warrior
  
  
• Autumn lighting
  
  
• American Shaolin
  
  
• The Ronin
  
• Musashi-perhaps on of my favorite novels of all time
  

> What does Christianity have for me?

Grace.

Here's my story. The word grace doesn't appear in it anywhere, but that's what it's all about. God knows us but loves us anyway. His grace is the pivot-point of a life with purpose, meaning and direction.


I'm the ghost of a not-dead man
A waste of space
An also-ran
A failed attempt at something great
A player caught in fools' mate
A man who saw the truth, and yet
Risked everything and lost the bet
A swine who took his pearls and
Cast them into sinking sand
A battery - flat
A dieter - fat
An eaten hat, a dead cat
A pointless careless worthless loveless good-for-nothing rat

BUT

I'm the child of a not-dead God
who comforts me with staff and rod
whose love will never, ever end
and in whose hands I'll break
and mend
and who, despite my flaws intends
into this broken world to send
such punched-up patched-up stitched-up love-struck
Ragamuffin men.

If you've forgotten this, or never known it, read the book which inspired me to write that poem, The Ragamuffin Gospel, or the book in which my poem appears, Moving Beyond Mediocrity.

God bless you - the Best is Yet to Come!

Not counting shipping, this is only a penny (but costs four bucks with), or there is this for 99 cents total.

This pretty purple dress is $36.99, free shipping.

Congratulations on having your first contest!! And thank you. :)

The Maze of Mormonism is an older but very good book about the history and beliefs of Mormonism, including photocopies of actual LDS church documents. It might be too much to get through in a week, but it's still a great resource for a solid understanding of what Mormons actually believe.

Interesting! I hadn't noticed thar the text lectures on the Neville & Carl website were abridged. From what I have, Neville rambles a little, like any older man and isn't quite as succinct.

I don't listen to Neville in his own voice much due to hearing problems, which is why transcriptions are so important to me. I guess I will have to compare the original audio to the transcriptions I bought.

I bought these on Amazon Kindle. The books are supposedly exact transcriptions and go from year to year and appear to be from 1963 - 1968. I have 1963 -1967 and they are amazing and massive. I am a prolific reader and I've only finished one book completely. I learn something new with each one. If you get the kindle editions, they're only about $4 each, which is well worth the price. Yeah, they're not free, but for me personally, they're worth the price.

Here are the links:

The Awakening: 1963 Lectures

Imagining and the Transformation of Man: 1964 Lectures

The Wonder Working Power of the Imagination: 1965 Lectures

I Am Is the Way: 1966 Lectures

Imagining Creates Reality: 1967 Lectures

The Fall and Restoration: 1968 Lectures

No, not a man of peace, not me.

I didn't mean to suggest you should not have posted Richard Rohr.

I can see how that could be posted here. There was a time when I was a big fan of Brother Lawrence, Practice of the Present. http://www.amazon.com/The-Practice-Presence-God-Teachings/dp/1434410137

One of my oldest friends was a monk in Cistercian monastery for years.

He is more interested in Zen now. It has been interesting to see the evolution.

I suppose there would be a place for a polite approach to where Richard Rohr is coming from, the kinds of issues he is attempting to reconcile. Its interesting.

When he tries to address modern culture issues, Fr Seraphim sounds a lot like Constance Cumbey and other pop Christian writers of the early 80s.

I'll stick with his translations of the fathers and his later writing on Christianity of the heart. That's the good stuff.

The Flight of the Feathered Serpent by Armando Cosani

a fantastic book from a journalist during the second world war who befriends a most peculiar fellow, later disappearing amidst the turmoil of the war and politics, but later sending him a copy of some things to publish with the book he was writing about their friendship, so all ended up compiled into one book. The best book on earth.

This is a book (don't downvote me please!) but it's called the Kindness of Stangers and is very cool.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Kindness-Strangers-Penniless-America/dp/0425154556

The Science Of Yoga By I. K. Taimni


The most direct and rapid means to eternal bliss

The most direct and rapid means to eternal bliss (full text website)

Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm: Beyond the Doors of Perception into the Dreaming of Earth

Neville lecture transcripts are also available via Amazon, if you prefer either printed paper or Kindle format, and don't mind paying (links thanks to /u/Andalusian_Dawn):

The Awakening: 1963 Lectures

Imagining and the Transformation of Man: 1964 Lectures

The Wonder Working Power of the Imagination: 1965 Lectures

I Am Is the Way: 1966 Lectures

Imagining Creates Reality: 1967 Lectures

The Fall and Restoration: 1968 Lectures

Here's a free book from a Protestant perspective that might be of interest to you: https://www.amazon.com/Hope-Beyond-Hell-Righteous-Judgment/dp/1461019540

There's also been two books written about the case:

Innocence : The True Story of Steve Linscott, which was published by Zondervan, a religious publications outfit

and [Maximum Security by Steve Linscott himself, via Crossway Books] (https://www.amazon.com/Maximum-Security-Steven-Linscott/dp/0891077871/ref=la_B001KJ0BE0_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525452899&sr=1-1)

If this is the right case, I'm guessing the first book is the one the OP read.

Pretty sure it is his son. He was selling motivational tapes for youth by the time he was in college, thanks to Daddy's connections. Ashamed to say I owned them, but only because the parents bought them for me. I still remember his derogatory joke about BYU coeds on one tape. Yikes. how did those get past his LDS publisher when they were minting them for publication?

​

https://www.amazon.com/Life-Like-Football-Game-Troy/dp/1555039642

I am sorry for your loss. I had a good friend of mine die last October and the most random things make me cry occasionally. Harold Ivan Smith has written a couple of very good books on the subject, which I found very helpful. The books do have some religious stuff in them which I just skipped over and I don't feel that it detracted from the advice.

surreptitiously adding Taiwan Tibet and is that Japan to their geographic outline is wishful thinking. Don't panic until they add Russia and environs.

You can guarantee she is a snooper and probably trying to find if he has condoms etc. He needs to get these two books and put them where she'd look for condoms etc:

https://www.amazon.com/Single-Saved-Embracing-Celibate-Life/dp/1496951891

https://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Christs-Virginity-Celibate/dp/0898701619/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1506136070&sr=1-3&keywords=Celibate+Life

The purpose being to make her think he is not interested in sex. Sometimes you have to go with the long game.