(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best religious worship & devotion books

The rapturous states are signs of high concentrative abilities, enjoy. However, this is just a factor of awakening.

Being present is. That is enlightenment. Not trying for anything, but being at total peace, acceptance of all the flow of phenomena, pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral.

If you are interested in some detailed talks on the 7 factors of awakening according to the Buddha, consider listening to Joseph Goldstein's talks on The Satipatthana Sutta, parts 27-35, and # 27 is here. Joseph is ridiculously modest. Do not let that fool you into thinking he does not know. He teaches in that tone.

If you want more stories of high yogis, try Miracle of Love. It's about Neem Karoli Baba, Ram Dass and Krishna Das's teacher.

Also, Be Love Now has a number of stories about modern saints/yogis.

Also, Osho has quite a lot to offer. His book, Tantra might be of interest to you. I went through an extensive kundalini awakening and Osho's talks and books helped me a lot through those times.

I'll say, you are correct in seeing that what you've experienced so far is not "it," not enough. That is wisdom. Carry on.

Get a Bible you would read. I like the RSV-CE, but you can also go with the Douay Rheims if you want archaic English or the NAB. Of the Bibles, the Navarre Bible (RSV) has commentary sections from Saints throughout the centuries. They have a single volume version of the New Testament that I use. (Also good, the Ignatius Study Bible, also New Testament only).

I recommend Thomas Howard's If Your Mind Wanders At Mass and Healing Through the Mass by Fr. Robert DeGrandis.

Get the Official Catechism of the Catholic Church, and get the helps put out by Ignatius Press (which contain the texts of all the footnotes). The Compendium is also good, if you want an abridgement.

For Philosophy, I recommend The Fulfillment of All Desire by Ralph Martin. In that book he takes the writings of seven doctors of the Church and encapsulates them so that a layperson can follow them. You can use that as a springboard to discover your own readings about St. Augustine, St. John of the Cross, etc.

These are all affiliate links, but you do not have to use them.

There is a daily devotion of Spurgeon called Morning and Evening.

I have used Day by Day with Calvin in the past.

A pastor I respect greatly did a yearly devotional on The Prayers of the Bible. That could be a good resource to increase your prayer life.

I thank you for your sacrifice.

On a related note, I'm trying to read Why Evolution is Not True specifically to address an acquaintance's statements regarding it - he thought it raised "good questions" and brought up things that showed that evolution is false. It's a $4 Kindle book, so I figured "Why not?"

I've only made it through rather lengthy introduction, so far, and the Amazon reviews were spot on: it's going to be a summary of every "creation science" book written in the last 20 years. The thing even has extensive references...all to "creation science" books. (The writing style, however, is very decent.)

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.

His writings are timeless, almost prophetic I'd say. I can recommended a book or two from him, since I've read some of his works. They're insightful, thought-provoking and he's very orthodox. They're easy to read for the faithful.

Life is Worth Living,
Lift Up Your Heart,
The World's First Love

Two books:

Darrel Johnson's Discipleship on the Edge

and

Eugene Peterson's Reversed Thunder.

Both superb, accurate, studies. Well worth your time whether or not you teach it!

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

Here's one for teens. It was one of a handful that popped up on Amazon when I searched for "plain english book of mormon." I've seen others as well. They seem to be relatively popular and I can already tell you they're all better written than JS Jr.'s version.

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

I quite enjoyed the book Fasting by Fr. Slavko Barbaric.

The best fast is supposedly on bread and water alone, but you can start off slow with fasting from certain foods on certain days (meat, junk food, alcohol, etc.). Fasting on Fridays was a previous Catholic tradition to commemorate his death, but the Church thought people were simply doing so out of habit and changed fasting to only 2 days a year. If you do choose to fast, Wednesday's are also good days to choose from as that was the day Judas sought out to betray him, the beginning of his passion.

Also, one cannot fast from their sins. We are all called to repent of them and leave them in the confessional. Fasting is of good things, not the bad. It is giving up something good out of love for Christ. Imagine you would say, "I shall give up my sin 2 days of the week, and sin the other 5..." you get the point.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EGX21IG/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1

A different approach would be to bring your practice into the mystical side of Christianity. Here is a link to a book by a Baptist pastor , just a hundred pages or so, where the non-duality of the Christian teachings are highlighted. It's right there in plain sight in the Bible, the same insights that Buddhist practice is supposed to lead to. I had similar reactions from my family and in 25 years I never really made any progress in getting them to respect any alternatives to their beliefs. They just see me as confused at best or at worst, lost. If you use the language they are familiar with to describe your practice, then you sidestep a lot of drama, and also retain the possibility of helping them go deeper into their own faith. The Zen practice of "just sitting" comes to mind, call it "devotions" and they won't give it a second thought.

Can't go wrong with the Psalms. It's specifically Jewish, but there is nothing objectionable in it to Christians or Muslims, and are just prayers to God.


The only thing like this I am aware of is "The Interfaith Prayer Book" by Ted Brownstein". That's about it.

I've heard good things about this book, which has the added benefit of being formatted for reading with the Daily Office.

• Worshipping Aphrodite: Art and Cult in Classical Literature by Rachel Rosenzweig
  
• Theoi.com's entry on Aphrodite
  
• Crown of Violets, a devotional anthology
  
• Cult of Aphrodite: Rites and Festivals of the Golden One by Laurelei Black
  
  Beyond that, consider looking on JSTOR and Google Books for older texts on archaeological finds and anthropological considerations of ancient Greek cult, as well as reading up on the astrological and qabbalistic associations of the planet Venus (with whom Aphrodite is intricately tied into).
  
  You might also consider going to /r/HellenicPolytheism and /r/RomanPaganism and asking there.

That would probably be in the Three Cranes Devotional, as crafted by the ADF Druids of the Three Cranes Grove in Columbus, OH.

https://smile.amazon.com/Fire-Our-Hearth-Devotional-Cranes/dp/0615879799/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483989739&sr=8-1&keywords=three+cranes+devotional

(note; not a member of the Cranes, but friends with many).

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.

I know it's trendy, but I enjoyed Praying Backwards by Chapell.

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

>Let me know if I am wrong.

Well, you asked.

From Tibetan Buddhism: Here is a nice prayer composed by the Dalai Lama, in praise of some scientific masters.

From Chinese Buddhism: Here is a collection of prayers from a Mahāyāna Sūtra

From Theravāda Buddhism: Here are some evening prayers recited daily at a Thai temple.

From Zen: Here is a book of prayers by Thich Nhat Hanh, and here are morning prayers being chanted at a Zen temple in Japan.

Prayers are not at all uncommon in Buddhism. In fact, forms of Buddhism that don't involve prayer are quite rare.