(Part 3) Reddit mentions: The best religions and sacred texts books

Exactly, times 1,000. This should be the basis for such a website. Pointing out to people they are the fringe, even in their own churches.

To expand more on your greater points there I want to point you to the following, excellent book;

http://www.amazon.com/Search-Meaning-Life-Reflections-Experience/dp/089243774X

Written by a monk who basically says: "So what if Jesus is made up, let's just like the story and learn from it". Granted he does assert at points the story is likely true, because of his life-calling and all, but cites so much from differing religions to show it's about universal truths about humans - not about god. The reviews say it's about mysticism, and that's mostly true in a way, but it's got a greater reckoning of differing religious beliefs than I've seen elsewhere. I guess the point is that it's normal for humans to want religion (cue the responses... now!) but that the religion isn't important, the introspection is.

Dogma and theology kill the spiritual mind was what I took away from it. Religion is suffocating the religious by being so dogmatic and cites so many people who left their churches because they felt something, but what they were being taught wasn't what they were feeling.

Disclaimer, I'm not religious, but I think it's good to be well versed in these things

Also just read this while at work, and then proceeded to browse his website. I think he has a good insight into certain areas where the craft has lessons and his writing style may appeal to a generation that needs literature to be presented in a different fashion.

My brother and I started a book club at our Lodge (there were 3 of us including ourselves for a first meeting) to encourage some change. We just read Old Tyler Talks, and are working on Operative Freemasonry: A Manual for Restoring Light and Vitality to the Fraternity. I may have to suggest some of these articles as a way for some younger (I'm 29 and feel old) guys that are coming in to make them feel comfortable.

Thanks for the find!

That website is good, can see why you like it.

Yeah, I've discovered that myself. I did get one book on kindle it was Satanism by Brother Nero He is a Traditional Satanist. It was very do this, do that, don't do this/that etc etc. It was interesting but not for me. I got the impression he feels that his way is the only way.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've now got the Satanic Bible and will read it. As for the Necronomicon - I've got the complete fiction of H.P.Lovecraft. Love his stories. I did not know his works were associated with Satanism.

See https://bahaipedia.org/%E2%80%98Abdu%E2%80%99l-Bah%C3%A1 which includes a short biography and lists some books discussing 'Abdu'l-Baha's life or specific experiences about Him, such as personal experiences of early Baha'is (in the West in English) and His travels in Europe or North America ( https://www.amazon.com/Abdul-Baha-Their-Midst-Earl-Redman-ebook/dp/B006BBMQIQ is a book about 'Abdu'l-Baha's travels in Europe and North America from 1911 and 1913 told from the perspectives of reports and reactions from people who met and witnessed Him).

*There is an older history text by Hasan Balyuzi https://www.amazon.com/%60Abdul-Bah%C3%A1-Covenant-Bah%C3%A1ull%C3%A1h-H-Balyuzi/dp/0853980292 that is widely regarded (and may be available in pdf form for free which is sometimes the case with older Baha'i texts or found relatively cheaply in paperback and used on Amazon).

* Mary Perkins wrote a more recent biography of 'Abdu'l-Baha that is popular and well read (easier to read). A link to a reference is at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/servant-of-the-glory-mary-perkins/1115883806 .(Also available on Amazon and other sites and from Baha'i book stores.).

Shoghi Effendi discusses the life of 'Abdu'l-Baha in God Passes By, which is available for free download online. The third section of the book, eight chapters, covers the ministry of 'Abdu'l-Baha from 1892 to 1921. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/shoghi-effendi/god-passes-by/ It is a fairly densely written text (Shoghi Effendi often wrote precisely and with sometimes long sentences.), so you really have to take time to read it.

Vignettes from the Life of 'Abdu'l-Baha is a book of short stories about 'Abdu'l-Baha (during His ministry mostly) that, while many are not authoritative ("pilgrim's notes"), are very instructive and inspiring and organized around various themes to illustrate His life and actions as an Exemplar. https://www.amazon.com/Vignettes-Life-Abdul-Baha-Honnold-Annamarie/dp/0853981299 (Must be out of print, because some listed prices seemed a bit high but used prices are more reasonable.)

Afroukhteh, Youness (2003) [1952], Memories of Nine Years in 'Akká, Oxford, UK: George Ronald, ISBN 0-85398-477-8 is book I enjoyed.

Dr. Stockman has a really good book on 'Abdu'l-Baha's travels in North America in 1912. https://www.amazon.com/Abdul-Baha-America-Robert-H-Stockman/dp/1931847975

Yeah, well, this is exactly the point where apophatic theology reaches the its culmination point. When saying "God is not a being", or "God is being itself", or "God is outside being" you could change being with language or concept: "God is not a word or a concept", "God is Nous", "God is beyond, God is beyond speech", etc. This is, of course, problematic. If you say "you cannot speak of God", you still refer to God with the word "God" and are effectively speaking about God. This is an interesting theological question. I've read quite a few books about it. One of the most interesting ones was Mystical Languages of Unsaying by Michael A. Sells. (For example, see page 2-3 for this same topic; at least my LookInside shows them!)

My own personal view on this is that a claim that "You cannot speak about God" or "God is outside reality" is not a claim on the superessential = outside-the-existence-being God, but a claim on the borders of language or reality. Saying this shorter: there is a border of reality and language and we can talk about and point to that border and use the term of otherness or beyond-the-border, but this is not a proper concept that would "reach" or "contain" that thing-which-is-not-a-thing-but-outside-thinginess, but simply saying that there is a border of our language.

Of course, classical philosophy (Neoplatonism, to be more exact) and Christian theology in quite a similar fashion claim that this thing-which-is-not-a-thing-but-outside-thinginess (this long phrase is usually simplified with the term super-thing) is the cause of world. Christians go further, still, and name this Cause to be God, and that this God has become man, and that this God is triune, etc.

These, of course, are things that according to this metaphysical ontology cannot be proven, as they are beyond the scope of language, logic and concepts.

No release date for a while yet. We are quite early in preproduction.

Sure, here are some of the resources we used for research. I didn't yet get to go through all of these, especially the books, but I'm going through them one by one :)


Free books

• http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/srp/
  
• http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/sfs/
  
• http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22373
  
  Some nice sites
  
  
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Slavic_mythological_figures
  
• http://meettheslavs.com
  
• http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/SlavicMythology
  
• https://www.pinterest.com/pablozychu/slavic-bestiary/
  
• http://www.mythiccrossroads.com/europe.htm (bottom of the page)
  
• http://www.mythicalcreatureslist.com/menu/Eastern+European
  
  Books that you'll have to buy
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Slavic-Folklore-Handbook-Greenwood-Handbooks/dp/0313336105/
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Russian-Magic-Traditions-Enchanted-Landscape/dp/0835608743/
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Slavic-Faith-Rodnoverie-Yngliism-Book-ebook/dp/B00OGSQ4R0/
  
• http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_seeall_7?rh=k%3AThe+Slavic+Way%2Ci%3Adigital-text&keywords=The+Slavic+Way&ie=UTF8&qid=1422009000
  
  

In her book "Going Undercover to Rescue My Daughter From the Cult of Jehovah's Witnesses", Nancy Sage described how her 16-year old daughter, Tammy, decided to leave the WT.

Tammy asked one of her JW friends if she would drink poisoned Kool-Aid if the GB said she must. This friend replied she certainly would.

Tammy bailed.

You can hear the story in an interview with Sage on Youtube. It comes up around the 6:08 mark.

I'm not sure about essential to every occult library (and I realize some of these aren't necessarily considered primarily 'occult' texts), but here are a few I've found useful:

• The Golden Dawn - Israel Regardie
  
• Morals and Dogma - Alfred Pike
  
• Modern Magick - Donald Michael Kraig
  
• The Secret Teachings of All Ages - Manly P. Hall
  
• Initiation into Hermetics - Franz Bardon
  
• Sefer Yetzirah - Aryeh Kaplan
  
• The Secret Doctrine - Madame Blavatsky
  
• Liber Null & Psychonaut - Peter J. Carroll
  
• The Book of Thoth - Aleister Crowley
  
• Undoing Yourself with Energized Meditation and Other Devices - Christopher S. Hyatt
  
• Prometheus Rising - Robert Anton Wilson
  
• Enochian Vision Magick - Lon Milo DuQuette
  
• The Chicken Qabalah - Lon Milo DuQuette
  
• Brain Magick - Philip Farber
  
• Info-Psychology - Timothy Leary
  
• Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson - George Gurdjieff
  
• Initiation, Human and Solar - Alice Bailey
  
• The Red Book - Carl Jung
  
• Principia Discordia - Malaclypse the Younger

you can't go wrong with the Tao Ti Ching by Lao tzu. I have a book that I find a pretty good reference even though it is more religiously oriented called "The Worlds Wisdom" by Philip Novak. It has primary texts from almost every major religious group. With the overlap between eastern religion and philosophy you can get a feel for a lot of the eastern philosophical ideas by reading the sections on confucianism, buddhism, and taosim which are the big three in the east.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Worlds-Wisdom-Sacred-Religions/dp/0060663421/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405714358&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=the+worldswisdome

Epicurean: Introduction to the Epicurean Way of Life (Epicurean Philosophy Series, Book 1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074M26P5T/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_Iv2KAb64M81K2

Tending the Epicurean Garden https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O2D62QW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_vx2KAbKDJ5GH5

So far what I've found. I've read the first book listed it basically just goes into more detail behind the meanings of various verses of Epicurus. The second one I've just read the tablet of contents and section 5 on epicurean therapy.

I haven't read this one below but looks promising.

EPICURUS and THE PLEASANT LIFE: A Philosophy of Nature https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071KKHF3Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_MH2KAb02GG8V9

Well, despite being a Lizard Person and all, he types very pretty with his lizard claws.

His bio says:

"The Revd Neville Barker Cryer, the Past Grand Chaplain UGLE, Prestonian Lecturer (1974) and Batham Lecturer (1996-1998) is a well- known and ever-popular Masonic author and international lecturer. He is also a senior member of the SRIA, The Royal Order, The Operatives and The Order of Eri.
Born: 1934 (age 84 years)"

...which is just what a lizard person would say, amirite?

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

This is a great source for quick little bits of masonic trivia

https://www.amazon.com/Masonic-Trivia-Amusements-Curiosities-Champion/dp/146636629X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536941529&sr=8-1&keywords=masonic+trivia

great for meetings when guys are getting restless

In the past, the economic contest (to win in business) was separate from the legal contest (the pursuit of justice). This broke down when some entities became so rich as to make it prohibitively expensive for anyone to match their legal resources.

A great discussion of this issue in Beyond the Culture of Contests by Michael Karlberg.

One of these missions is described in a book entitled Mission Into Time. But I will warn you that none of these Source Missions mean anything. L. Ron Hubbard was simply using his position as cult leader to play games and pretend that he was doing something meaningful when he was just screwing around.

There is a lot of literature on evolution and the Bahá'í Faith. The book I like to recommend is Evolution and Bahá'í Belief by by Keven Brown and Eberhart von Kitzing Link https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-BahaI-Belief-AbduL-Bahas-Nineteenth/dp/1890688088

I strongly recommend The Laughing Jesus by Timothy Freke. Sunday school left a lot out.

Yes, however it depends on your proficiency with sorcery. Think of blood as a universal ritual component. You can replace anything with blood with the appropriate currents of transmutation. There are some excellent rites regarding this here



https://www.amazon.com/Rites-Thirteen-Tongues-Intimate-Maergzjirah/dp/1534973168/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=rites+in+the+13+tongues&qid=1572417013&sr=8-1

These are all good books on the topic, and cover it effectively to some degree. The most famous book is probably the examination of Skinwalker Ranch which just takes it's name from the creature, and which doesn't necessarily explore the creature by itself too deeply.

https://www.amazon.com/Some-Kind-Power-Skinwalker-Narratives/dp/0874802385/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468140712&sr=1-1&keywords=Some+kind+of+power

https://www.amazon.com/Skinwalker-Witchcraft-Related-Spiritual-Phenomena/dp/0965601404/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=41E9Ejlcj5L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL320_SR240%2C320_&psc=1&refRID=BKS7D7CQDBVJ39H6FQ5T

https://www.amazon.com/Navaho-Witchcraft-Clyde-Kluckhohn/dp/0807046973/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=316K5XDNPWL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL320_SR214%2C320_&psc=1&refRID=XX423BBAX3MPJFMDGVZH

https://www.amazon.com/Witchcraft-Sorcery-American-Native-Peoples/dp/0893011274/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=51QgGUKd1EL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL320_SR224%2C320_&psc=1&refRID=EQ8757NR2RMZQVACXQF4

https://www.amazon.com/Native-American-Tribes-History-Culture/dp/1492195227/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=419fuLUq%2B0L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL320_SR214%2C320_&psc=1&refRID=XX423BBAX3MPJFMDGVZH

The Gospel According to L. Ron Hubbard

Yea. Pretty scary.

Lots more facts here son. Knock yourself out.

For those saddened by the message in this video:

I have found the notion of "Power With" - as opposed to Power Over to be a refreshing principle.

If you dig this, you'll like:

• A Path of Justice by Holly Hanson
  
• Beyond the Culture of Contest by Michael Karlberg and/or accompanying TEDxTalk
  
  Edit: Fixed formatting.

On an up note, notice the Tags Customers Associate with This Product

"cult(463) fraud(430) junk science(369) avoid at all costs(348) evil(345) insane(334) crazy(327) snake oil(313) quackery(203) scientology(148) dangerous(104)"