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Dec. 29th, 2003 09:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sophiaserpentiaFive books that have influenced me greatly. I'm going to cheat, though, and list more than five books. Pbbt! Too bad.
This is a meme taken from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mommybird, but delayed about a week because I've had bigger things to worry about.
I think it would be better to indicate them in the order in which I encountered them.
1. The Naked Ape (and The Human Zoo) by Desmond Morris. In many ways this book, which I read when I was 18, started my career of rational inquiry. It is not so much the ideas expressed in the book that have influenced me, as much as the approach taken by the author of looking at familiar things from a new perspective that forces a reconsideration of the most basic premises. The thesis set out by the author is that much of the behavior we see in human beings can be explained by a simple premise: humans are a species of primate living in a self-imposed domesticated environment. Common patterns of human behavior have obvious parallels to what we see in other apes. Furthermore, many of the drives and instincts called "sinful" by most religions are precisely those which derive from primate behavior but which conflict with the needs of domesticated existence.
2. A collection of books I acquired and read at the same time, when I was 19: Tao Te Ching translated by D. C. Lau; The Upanishads: Breath of the Eternal translated by Swami Prabhavananda; and Bhagavad Gita translated by Juan Mascaro. I picked up these slim little paperback volumes at a time when I was willing to search high and low to see what answers had been provided by people of other times and places. I found that there are common elements of belief that transcend time and place. I was also moved by the depiction of divine presence found herein; it seemed a worthy description of the divine. At that time I had not received any sophisticated instruction in Biblical scripture and so had only learned to read it at face value, and at face value it presented an image of the divine that I could scarcely understand or treasure.
3. Book Four by Aleister Crowley. Technically the title Book Four refers to a three-part volume, but in publication this has been divided into two books: Part One and Two, published under the title Book Four, and Part Three, published under the title Magick in Theory and Practice. I refer here specifically to the volume including Part One, which lays out a no-nonsense approach to yoga. With some guidance from the mysterious and elusive Frater Alav, I found this book to be extremely helpful.
4. Delta of Venus by Anais Nin. Is a volume of literary erotica out of place among these titles? I don't think so. Even in translation the vision of Anais Nin veers into territory that is simultaneously sacred and profane. As someone who has written a few fledgling pieces of literary erotica, I found in Anais Nin a model to work from, a high standard to aspire to.
5. The Hidden Gospel by Neil Douglas-Klotz. Actually here I am picking one to represent several volumes that have been very influential in shaping the progress of my spiritual inquiries of the past few years. I read a small fragment of this book online and ordered it immediately. I was not disappointed; I found every page of this book to be transformative and inspiring. I do not know if Douglas-Klotz has given a historically-accurate rendition of Jesus' message or not; I don't care. It doesn't matter to me. There is a timelessness in the truths given in this book that speaks directly to my heart and mind.
This is a meme taken from
mommybird, but delayed about a week because I've had bigger things to worry about.I think it would be better to indicate them in the order in which I encountered them.
1. The Naked Ape (and The Human Zoo) by Desmond Morris. In many ways this book, which I read when I was 18, started my career of rational inquiry. It is not so much the ideas expressed in the book that have influenced me, as much as the approach taken by the author of looking at familiar things from a new perspective that forces a reconsideration of the most basic premises. The thesis set out by the author is that much of the behavior we see in human beings can be explained by a simple premise: humans are a species of primate living in a self-imposed domesticated environment. Common patterns of human behavior have obvious parallels to what we see in other apes. Furthermore, many of the drives and instincts called "sinful" by most religions are precisely those which derive from primate behavior but which conflict with the needs of domesticated existence.
2. A collection of books I acquired and read at the same time, when I was 19: Tao Te Ching translated by D. C. Lau; The Upanishads: Breath of the Eternal translated by Swami Prabhavananda; and Bhagavad Gita translated by Juan Mascaro. I picked up these slim little paperback volumes at a time when I was willing to search high and low to see what answers had been provided by people of other times and places. I found that there are common elements of belief that transcend time and place. I was also moved by the depiction of divine presence found herein; it seemed a worthy description of the divine. At that time I had not received any sophisticated instruction in Biblical scripture and so had only learned to read it at face value, and at face value it presented an image of the divine that I could scarcely understand or treasure.
3. Book Four by Aleister Crowley. Technically the title Book Four refers to a three-part volume, but in publication this has been divided into two books: Part One and Two, published under the title Book Four, and Part Three, published under the title Magick in Theory and Practice. I refer here specifically to the volume including Part One, which lays out a no-nonsense approach to yoga. With some guidance from the mysterious and elusive Frater Alav, I found this book to be extremely helpful.
4. Delta of Venus by Anais Nin. Is a volume of literary erotica out of place among these titles? I don't think so. Even in translation the vision of Anais Nin veers into territory that is simultaneously sacred and profane. As someone who has written a few fledgling pieces of literary erotica, I found in Anais Nin a model to work from, a high standard to aspire to.
5. The Hidden Gospel by Neil Douglas-Klotz. Actually here I am picking one to represent several volumes that have been very influential in shaping the progress of my spiritual inquiries of the past few years. I read a small fragment of this book online and ordered it immediately. I was not disappointed; I found every page of this book to be transformative and inspiring. I do not know if Douglas-Klotz has given a historically-accurate rendition of Jesus' message or not; I don't care. It doesn't matter to me. There is a timelessness in the truths given in this book that speaks directly to my heart and mind.
