Book picks similar to
The Derveni Papyrus: Cosmology, Theology and Interpretation by Gábor Betegh
classics
religious-primary-books
ndpr
spirituality
The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 Books 1, 2 and 3
Kisari Mohan Ganguli
You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
Edgar Cayce on the Akashic Records
Kevin J. Todeschi - 1998
This major work provides examples of how we can tap into our records -- our past lives, our present experiences, and our unfolding futures -- and create that destiny.
The Philokalia, Volume 1: The Complete Text
G.E.H. Palmer - 1983
First published in Greek in 1782, then translated into Slavonic and later into Russian, The Philokalia has exercised an influence in the recent history of the Orthodox Church far greater than that of any book apart from the Bible. It is concerned with themes of universal importance: how man may develop his inner powers and awake from illusion; how he may overcome fragmentation and achieve spiritual wholeness; how he may attain the life of contemplative stillness and union with God."This excellent English translation, which takes into account the latest scholarly research into the original works, represents a major 'gift' from the wise men of the East. The fluency of the literary style of this translation and the practical understanding which these writings reveal for the spiritual predicaments facing each Christian in every generation brings the book well within the range of the ordinary reader who seeks spiritual counsel. The complete Philokalia covers the period from the fourth to the fifteenth century. Volume One . . . takes us up to the eighth century and is thus the common heritage of Orthodox and Catholics." - Chrysostom
Quadrivium: The Four Classical Liberal Arts of Number, Geometry, Music, & Cosmology
John Martineau - 2010
It was studied from antiquity to the Renaissance as a way of glimpsing the nature of reality. Geometry is number in space; music is number in time; and comology expresses number in space and time. Number, music, and geometry are metaphysical truths: life across the universe investigates them; they foreshadow the physical sciences.Quadrivium is the first volume to bring together these four subjects in many hundreds of years. Composed of six successful titles in the Wooden Books series-Sacred Geometry, Sacred Number, Harmonograph, The Elements of Music, Platonic & Archimedean Solids, and A Little Book of Coincidence-it makes ancient wisdom and its astonishing interconnectedness accessible to us today.Beautifully produced in six different colors of ink, Quadrivium will appeal to anyone interested in mathematics, music, astronomy, and how the universe works.
Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World
Tim Whitmarsh - 2015
In Battling the Gods, Tim Whitmarsh journeys into the ancient Mediterranean, a world almost unimaginably different from our own, to recover the stories and voices of those who first refused the divinities.Homer’s epic poems of human striving, journeying, and passion were ancient Greece’s only “sacred texts,” but no ancient Greek thought twice about questioning or mocking his stories of the gods. Priests were functionaries rather than sources of moral or cosmological wisdom. The absence of centralized religious authority made for an extraordinary variety of perspectives on sacred matters, from the devotional to the atheos, or “godless.” Whitmarsh explores this kaleidoscopic range of ideas about the gods, focusing on the colorful individuals who challenged their existence. Among these were some of the greatest ancient poets and philosophers and writers, as well as the less well known: Diagoras of Melos, perhaps the first self-professed atheist; Democritus, the first materialist; Socrates, executed for rejecting the gods of the Athenian state; Epicurus and his followers, who thought gods could not intervene in human affairs; the brilliantly mischievous satirist Lucian of Samosata.Before the revolutions of late antiquity, which saw the scriptural religions of Christianity and Islam enforced by imperial might, there were few constraints on belief. Everything changed, however, in the millennium between the appearance of the Homeric poems and Christianity’s establishment as Rome’s state religion in the fourth century AD. As successive Greco-Roman empires grew in size and complexity, and power was increasingly concentrated in central capitals, states sought to impose collective religious adherence, first to cults devoted to individual rulers, and ultimately to monotheism. In this new world, there was no room for outright disbelief: the label “atheist” was used now to demonize anyone who merely disagreed with the orthodoxy—and so it would remain for centuries.As the twenty-first century shapes up into a time of mass information, but also, paradoxically, of collective amnesia concerning the tangled histories of religions, Whitmarsh provides a bracing antidote to our assumptions about the roots of freethinking. By shining a light on atheism’s first thousand years, Battling the Gods offers a timely reminder that nonbelief has a wealth of tradition of its own, and, indeed, its own heroes. From the Hardcover edition.
The Trojan War: A New History
Barry S. Strauss - 2006
Although many readers know that this literary masterwork is based on actual events, there is disagreement about how much of Homer's tale is true. Drawing on recent archeological research, historian and classicist Barry Strauss explains what really happened in Troy more than 3,000 years ago.
Life and Death in One Breath
Sadhguru - 2011
If you get the joke, when you fall on the other side, it will be wonderful. If you don’t get the joke, when you are here you fear the other side, and when the other side comes, you just don’t know what it is about. If death becomes a laughing matter in your life, life becomes an utterly effortless process – there is no need to restrain yourself in the process of life; you can live your life absolutely, totally.” – SadhguruFor ages, most of humanity has placed 'life' and 'death' at two ends of the existential spectrum – favoring one, fearing the other and continuously floundering between the two. Only when someone who has consciously traversed between both life and death offers to articulate some aspects of it, does humanity get a glimpse of what lies beyond the horizon of its normal perception. In this book, with his extraordinary insights, coming from a profound inner experience, Sadhguru reveals that life and death are, in fact, two sides of the same coin. It is only by embracing both that we can break the shackles of our self-made struggles and be set free.
Contemplative Prayer
Thomas Merton - 1969
But, as A. M. Allchin points out in his Introduction to this new edition, Contemplative Prayer also shows us the present day in a new perspective, because we see it in the light of a long and living tradition. Merton stresses that in meditation we should not look for a 'method' or 'system' but cultivate an 'attitude' or 'outlook': faith, openness, attention, reverence, expectation, trust, joy. God is found in the desert of surrender, in giving up any expectation of a particular message and 'waiting on the Word of God in silence'. Merton insists on the humility of faith, which he argues 'will do far more to launch us into the full current of historical reality than the pompous rationalisations of politicians who think they are somehow the directors and manipulators of history'.
Finding of the Third Eye
Vera Stanley Alder - 1968
She made it her task to simplify and summarize this knowledge in order to present it to others. She offers a guide to attainment through the path outlined by Ancient Wisdom which she summarizes in relation to man, comparing it with the discoveries of modern science. She surveys the philosophies of breathing, color, sounds, numbers, diet and exercsie. Finally she discusses the functions of the Third Eye, Astrology, Meditation, and thier ultimate aims.
The One by Whom Scandal Comes
René Girard - 2008
“No question is more debated today. And none produces more disappointing answers.” In Girard’s mimetic theory it is the imitation of someone else’s desire that gives rise to conflict whenever the desired object cannot be shared. This mimetic rivalry, Girard argues, is responsible for the frequency and escalating intensity of human conflict. For Girard, human conflict comes not from the loss of reciprocity between humans but from the transition, imperceptible at first but then ever more rapid, from good to bad reciprocity. In this landmark text, Girard continues his study of violence in light of geopolitical competition, focusing on the roots and outcomes of violence across societies latent in the process of globalization. The volume concludes in a wide-ranging interview with the Sicilian cultural theorist Maria Stella Barberi, where Girard’s twenty-first century emphases on the continuity of all religions, global conflict, and the necessity of apocalyptic thinking emerge.
Angel Inspiration
Diana Cooper - 2001
Diana Cooper introduces us to the importance of them in our lives by drawing on countless stories of people who have had their own lives changed by the miraculous assistance of angels. These incredible accounts prove what a difference the divine messengers can make and are an inspiration to us all. Everyone has their own guardian angel, there to help and protect whenever possible. Few of us yet understand, however, the healing and support these angels can bring us and how to invoke their help. Diana Cooper introduces us to the whole hierarchy of angels and the special powers that we can call upon. With exercises and lessons to encourage your angelic presences, Angel Inspiration not only brings you closer to your angel but helps change other people's lives too.
The Forbidden Religion
José María Herrou Aragón - 2007
But we are not referring to just any knowledge. Gnosis is knowledge which produces a great transformation in those who receive it. Knowledge capable of nothing less than waking up man and helping him to escape from the prison in which he finds himself. That is why Gnosis has been so persecuted throughout the course of history, because it is knowledge considered dangerous for the religious and political authorities who govern mankind from the shadows.Every time this religion, absolutely different from the rest, appears before man, the other religions unite to try to destroy or hide it again.Primordial Gnosis is the original Gnosis, true Gnosis, eternal Gnosis, Gnostic knowledge in its pure form. Due to multiple persecutions, Primordial Gnosis has been fragmented, distorted and hidden.By recovering and uniting the scattered fragments, Primordial Gnosis can be reconstructed and brought to the world once again. This book is a complete synthesis of the forbidden theology of Primordial Gnosis.
The Flight of the Feathered Serpent
Armando Cosani - 1953
His life changes inexplicably after he meets a mysterious man who leaves him a series of profound writings. One of the writings is a firsthand account of Judas’s life with Jesus and the events leading up to his betrayal. The writings also contain extraordinary insights into the lives of Judas, Jesus, and the Disciples, which seem to correlate with the recently discovered Gospel of Judas. Could these be the teachings of Judas Iscariot and his account of his relationship with Jesus? Could this be Judas’s attempt to clear his name in an effort to change the world’s perceptions and help humanity in its spiritual quest?
The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis. Summary & Study Guide
BookRags - 2010
61 pages of summaries and analysis on The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis.This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.
The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life: Volume 1
Drunvalo Melchizedek - 1999
Now a new dawn is streaming through the windows of perception. This book is one of those windows. Drunvalo Melchizedek presents the Flower of Life Workshop, illuminating the mysteries of how we came to be.