(Part 2) Best christian worship & devotion books according to redditors

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We found 461 Reddit comments discussing the best christian worship & devotion books. We ranked the 180 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.

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Subcategories:

Catechism books
Christian prayer books
Christian meditation books
Christian hymns & hymnals books
Worship sacraments books
Christian rites & ceremonies books
Christian monasticism & asceticism books
Devotional books

Top Reddit comments about Christian Worship & Devotion:

u/OcioliMicca · 19 pointsr/Catholicism

It's a great idea. When I committed to saying the Rosary every day, it was like a special someone hit the gas pedal on my spiritual and prayer life and I haven't looked back since. There's a great book on the contemplative rosary and Pope John Paul II wrote a great letter on it.

"The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, which gradually took form in the second millennium under the guidance of the Spirit of God, is a prayer loved by countless Saints and encouraged by the Magisterium. Simple yet profound, it still remains, at the dawn of this third millennium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness. It blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian life, which, after two thousand years, has lost none of the freshness of its beginnings and feels drawn by the Spirit of God to “set out into the deep” (duc in altum!) in order once more to proclaim, and even cry out, before the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour, “the way, and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6), “the goal of human history and the point on which the desires of history and civilization turn”. APOSTOLIC LETTER ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE

​

If it works out for you, see if your friend has ever listened to or read The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. He may enjoy it a lot!! It's on YouTube as well.

u/b3k · 10 pointsr/Reformed

I'd recommend picking up a The Book of Psalms for Worship. Most hymnals are pretty bad. My elders have about 20% of the hymnal (that the church already had before the Pastor came) that they've approved for use in services, and we pretend the rest isn't there. When you get a Psalter, you know that all the songs will be sound, because it's the Bible set to music.

If you must have a hymnal, the Trinity Hymnal is a classic. If you prefer the original, Presbyterian edition of the Trinity Hymnal, find that here.

u/dark_rabite · 9 pointsr/linguistics

http://www.amazon.com/The-Invention-Air-Steven-Johnson/dp/1594488525

I believe this would be related to your interest in the concept of air.

u/[deleted] · 8 pointsr/Christianity

The doctrine of the Trinity has very serious implications for human life and relationship. The idea of person assumes a communal and relational existence. I recommend reading Being As Communion by John Zizioulas. It's heavy, but a very very good resource on this topic.

EDIT

You can read a good deal of it here: http://books.google.com/books?id=l4yaKM9SRQ8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=being+as+communion&source=bl&ots=bHc_2oLKNr&sig=9KDCIFVWW724DCdWaR9XPCrLBJs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lZIFUJ3SL-Hg2AWJsr2zBQ&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

The introduction should tackle a few of those questions.

u/Victorianoddities · 7 pointsr/Buddhism

It helps me to accept the things I don't like about having Autism so I can focus on the positives. It has helped give me a sense of peace with life and all of the suffering in the world. Buddhism just seemed to make sense to me from the moment I first heard about it. It allows me to be comfortable with who I am as a human rather than an oddball with a label.

Check this book out! It will help

Also, try to visit a temple or monastery if you haven't yet. You can gain a lot of wisdom from a good teacher.

~Peace

u/Temicco · 6 pointsr/zen

Oh, no need to apologize anyway. There's just a lot of... backstory.

You'll need to couple source material like the below with the above historical scholarship if you want to come to a full understanding.

As for some primary sources:

Tang dynasty teachers who were students of Mazu (one of the most influential Zen teachers ever)

Dazhu (although, relevant)

Huangbo

Baizhang (this text is prohibitively expensive on Amazon, so look in local libraries.)

Song dynasty teachers

Yuanwu (1, 2)

Hongzhi (1, 2) (note, take Taigen dan Leighton's introduction to Cultivating the Empty Field with a grain of salt, as he's a shitty scholar. He basically just misrepresents Hongzhi and Dahui's relationship. See Schlutter's How Zen Became Zen for more details.)

Song dynasty kanhua Chan teachers (kanhua is the main approach to Zen in both Rinzai and Seon)

Dahui (Yuanwu's student)

Wumen

A Japanese Zen teacher

Bankei (1, 2)

A Korean Zen teacher

Daehaeng (1, 2, 3)

___

Note that this leaves out huge swathes of the literature, including all of the literature associated with the East Mountain teaching, the Northern school, the Oxhead school, Soto, most of Rinzai, Obaku, most of Seon, etc. Of course, some people with more fixed and essentialist ideas of what "Zen" is object to the idea that some of these other schools/lineages are actually "Zen". Use your own head. (I'm not saying they're necessarily wrong; I'm just saying that once you feel comfortable with the basics, start to think critically about Zen and your own study of it, including e.g. how you would decide which teachings to follow, and why.)

There's no roster of "Zen masters^TM " anywhere, so the above is a bit of a random mix of my own choosing.

While reading, note what people say and ask yourself questions -- where do they agree? Where do they disagree? If they disagree, should that be reconciled or not, and why?

Some more pointed questions to ask for each book: What can one do to reach awakening? What ways to reach awakening are preferred over others? What practices and doctrines are criticized? Is there any cultivation necessary at any point along the path? If yes, what is to be cultivated? If the teacher is talking about the teachings of earlier masters, are those teachers being represented accurately, or are extrinsic frameworks being laid onto them to fit the later teacher's presentation of Zen? If you had to sum up the teacher's teaching in a slogan, what would it be?

Really, the main thing is that you can think critically about what you're reading, but the above reading list and approach would give you a really solid foundation for the things people tend to talk about on this forum.

u/whiskythree · 6 pointsr/Anglicanism

Assuming based on post history you're looking for 1979 prayerbook resources, I use the settings in the 1982 hymnal for most of MP and EP, and this for chanting psalms.

Also, hidden in the organist edition of the hymnal (but not the pew edition) is plainchant settings for noonday and compline, which is very annoying to me. You can purchase them separately here, but they often go out of stock/the algorithm sends them to unreasonable prices.

edit: if you have more questions I'm happy to answer them :)

u/amoris313 · 5 pointsr/magick

Traditionally, to be initiated meant to join a group or secret society. It can also imply participation in a life-changing spiritual/religious ceremony or rite which links you to others who have had the same experience e.g. being initiated into the mysteries at Delphi/Eleusis/etc. Once you've joined a group, you can technically claim the title of an Initiate and begin your training. Initiation implies a Beginning. The term Initiation likely comes to us in the occult world through (translations of texts from) ancient mystery religions, Freemasonry, and especially from The Golden Dawn, a late 19th c. British Hermetic order whose members included Aleister Crowley and W.B. Yeats. Until very recently (by my reckoning - I'm probably much older than most of you), Hermetic orders and Golden Dawn style magick were the only legitimate entrance points into this world. You almost HAD to be initiated into a real group to receive good information, training, and mentorship. Note that initiation into some (usually Hermetic) groups also involves an attunement process whereby the officers of the lodge ritually invoke/implant various energies into the sphere of the recipient so as to open him up psychically and hasten development. THIS is what initiation means to most older practitioners that I've known and worked with. It works, but it's not always a pleasant experience. Being forced to immediately deal with years of one's internal issues over a period of a few weeks can create considerable instability.

If you're interested in learning more about this topic, I highly recommend studying the rituals and Initiation ceremonies of The Golden Dawn, along with their commentaries describing the energy work that temple officers have to perform which isn't always described so well in the ceremony transcripts. While many groups/societies merely run you through a bit of psycho-drama/theatre in the hope that you might be affected subconsciously thereby, there are some that actively perform energy work to open up chakras and implant various energies and connections so you can learn to make use of them in your study. You still have to do the work, but the work becomes slightly easier, or at least more guided.

Edit: See John Michael Greer's book Inside a Magical Lodge. It'll answer many of your questions about what Lodges/Orders do and how they typically do it.

u/MagickalMason · 5 pointsr/occult

John Michael Greer has a neat little book that can walk you through the entire process...

http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Magical-Lodge-Western-Tradition/dp/156718314X

Also, study GD and Masonic ritual.

Manly Hall's lost keys of freemasonry has some interesting insight into the nature of initiation that extends beyon Masonry

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1585425109/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?qid=1452196442&sr=8-5&pi=AC_SX118_SY170_QL70&keywords=manly+p+hall&dpPl=1&dpID=51LfyBpwM7L&ref=plSrch

u/WingChunist · 5 pointsr/aspergers

Theravada Buddhist here. My primary methods are mindfulness of breathing and metta (sometimes called lovingkindnesss) meditation. I also practice walking meditation on retreats.

Meditation, from my perspective, is really the cultivation of particular states. Broadly, these states can be divided into two types: states of calm and states of insight into the nature of experience. Different meditation techniques develop one or both of these, and gaining skill at one tends to lead to getting skill in the other.

As far as an Aspie-friendly method, it would really depend on how Aspergers manifests for them. Fortunately, there are lots of methods.

There is one book on the topic I'm aware of, also from a Buddhist perspective. Asperger's Syndrome and Mindfulness

u/kingledion · 4 pointsr/Catholicism

So, a book by a woman would be best, but hard to come by. I'm not aware of anything by Sts Hildegard, Catherine of Pisa, or Theresa of Avila on the matter directly.

So for a Doctor of the Church I'd recommend John Chrysostom: https://www.amazon.com/Marriage-Family-English-Ancient-Greek/dp/0913836869

As for more modern historical reviews in social science, I view any work published since the 1960s on with the gravest reservation.

u/Agrona · 4 pointsr/Anglicanism

OP: I started with the linked material here; it's an excellent resource and served me for at least a year or two.

I recently got the Plainchant Psalter for Christmas and am in love with it.

u/armillanymphs · 4 pointsr/streamentry

I really appreciate lojong training and think it's pretty underrated. The Great Path of Awakening, Training the Mind, and The Practice of Lojong are great texts to work with.

Like contemplating insight, studying lojong is a pithy way of integrating / absorbing dharma. I've found that studying them intensively allows them to arise in the conditions they best benefit in. For example, yesterday I was feeling contracted and the slogan regard all dharma [experience] as dreams spontaneously arose in mind*,* which effected an instant release and shifted perception into a dreamlike state.

>Slogan 19. All dharma agrees at one point -- All Buddhist teachings are about lessening the ego, lessening one's self-absorption.

This reminds us to not get caught in sectarian squabbling, or perhaps help us appreciate whatever tradition is most available and keep us from continuously shopping for something "better."

>Slogan 22. If you can practice even when distracted, you are well trained.

This can help prevent us from overly-criticizing our practice when our minds are frantic rather than still, recognizing that we are being mindful all the same.

Hopefully you'll find something worth exploring in the slogans listed on the wiki!

u/Pope-Urban-III · 3 pointsr/Catholicism

Any way you can. Go in and sit and pray. Or just sit quietly. Meditate on Christ. Read the Bible. Pray the rosary. Sit and say, "Ok, Lord, I am here. What do?" Or as the good book says, "Be still and know that I am God."

If you want more, you could read The Real Presence. It's written by a saint!

u/dulcetone · 3 pointsr/Christianity

Some excellent family/marriage advice from St. John Chrysostom. I believe he has a homily or two about how to pick a spouse.

u/ludwigvonmises · 3 pointsr/zen

Those aren't books of instruction, ewk. They are popular collections of certain people's enlightenment encounters.

Is Red Pine's translation of Bodhidharma not a direct teaching? Are letters of practice instructions from Foyan, Yuanwu, and Hongzhi not direct teachings? I suppose that Takuan Soho's instructions to Munenori on maintaining no-mind in daily life doesn't count either?

Why is it better for novices to dive deep into stories about Gutei's finger or think about whether the flag moves or not than it is to read directly from Huangpo? Isn't that like asking a baby to chew a piece of meat?

u/Elvis_von_Fonz · 3 pointsr/Catholicism

Liturgy of the Hours Inserts are awesome for this.

u/Dhammakayaram · 2 pointsr/zen

You might be interested in Braverman's transl.

u/gnonbread · 2 pointsr/OrthodoxChristianity
u/Cordelia_Fitzgerald · 2 pointsr/Catholicism

You're very lucky. It's really confusing trying to figure it out on your own and fairly easy once you sit down with someone who knows what they're doing. I struggled with it for months on my own in college before I went home for the summer and was able to start praying Morning Prayer with my friars every morning. That's when I finally started understanding it.
Whenever someone's new at it and confused, my first suggestion is to see if their priest would be willing to help them.

If it doesn't come with a 2018 St. Joseph's Guide, pick one of those up with it. They're only like $2 and they tell you the page numbers for each day. You can look the page numbers up online for free, but I find it easier to just have the little booklet. You may also want to buy the inserts if it doesn't come with them. Again, they're only a few bucks and it saves you from a lot of flipping around.

u/pseudokapi · 2 pointsr/Christianity

I think Pope Francis is sincere, but I also think that it is more complicated than merely "doing what is needed to heal the breach." The Schism is as much about people as it is about theology. Human beings and the relationships between them are complicated at the best of times. The self-understanding of these two communities has been distinct for so long that it is easier to argue than to find common ground. There are currently "Byzantine" Churches in communion with Rome and it hasn't worked out terribly well for a lot of them (though there have been bright spots).

If I might be so bold, the "liberal" people (I don't like that word, but I don't have another one) in both camps can hardly see the point in being separate, though they would like to change things in both their Churches in other ways that would make them unrecognizable. The challenge is to have the "conservative" people satisfied with the process and expected result of re-approachment, enough to establish common cause between them. A traditional Catholic has to see that the Orthodox showing up won't force them to budge on things that they are fighting with progressives in their own Church about. The same with the Orthodox. The famous resistor of "false union" Bishop Mark of Ephesus doesn't just appeal to those seeking to preserve the Orthodox faith, but also traditionally committed Catholics.

And what happens if the Catholics are willing to compromise on a great many things, but the Orthodox get difficult on some point? Would not the Catholics feel abused? "We've come all this way and it hurts us and you still won't give up on point 9?" This has been the problem with the Miaphysites. It looks like all the theological issues have been resolved, but we seem to be left with Saints and Anathemas on both sides that have rooted the problem beyond reconciliation. We seem to be "right there" except we have beloved saints on both sides that effectively said, "you can never go there." What do we do with these saints? How do we understand them?

As for something to read. There are several books depending on your interest in using big words. :)

Lossky would be the heavy weight: http://www.amazon.com/The-Mystical-Theology-Eastern-Church/dp/0913836311/

Though I much prefer Zizioulas, more approachable and puts apophatic theology in balance: http://www.amazon.com/Being-Communion-Personhood-Contemporary-Theologians/dp/0881410292/

Of course Bishop Timothy Ware's book is the usual "internet standard recommendation: http://www.amazon.com/The-Orthodox-Way-Kallistos-Ware/dp/0913836583/

If you want something very approachable (almost no technical terms) and a little more "what does this mean" you might try an introduction to sacramental theology in general: http://www.amazon.com/For-Life-World-Sacraments-Orthodoxy/dp/0913836087/

And probably the least "theological" but I think this is both my wife and my favorite: http://www.amazon.com/Bread-Water-Wine-Oil-Experience/dp/1888212918/

u/Rhizobium · 2 pointsr/AskScienceDiscussion

I'm not qualified to make a recommendation on basic physics, but here are some of the best examples of science writing I've come across for the other subjects you've listed:

  1. Scientific History and Chemistry - The Invention of Air, by Steven Johnson. This book is about Joseph Priestley, and his contribution to the discovery of oxygen. Priestley was incredibly prolific, and made a ton of contributions to completely unrelated fields. It also touches on why science started to really take off at this point in history, and the necessary conditions for good science to occur.

  2. Natural Sciences - Why Evolution Is True. Jerry Coyne takes a college-level biology class on evolution, and condenses it into a single book. It is very easy to understand, even if you don't have a biology background.

  3. Scientific History and Astronomy - The Big Bang by Simon Singh. This is probably the best popular science book I've ever read. A lot of these books will tell you how scientists think the universe works, and stop there. This book is different, it explains the reasons why scientists think the universe is a particular way, and lays out the history of how these ideas changed during the development of astronomy.
u/Basidion · 2 pointsr/OrthodoxChristianity

I will name some names, link some links and include some quotes.

For a description of the symbolical meaning of the Liturgy you can read Maximus the Confessor's Mystagogy. You can find that text in parts in this book "Tasting Heaven on Earth" , or try his "Selected Writings" for the full text. I highly recommend the Mystagogy!

>CHAPTER FIFTEEN
>
>Of what the closing of the doors of the holy church after the reading of the holy Gospel is a symbol.
>
>The closing of the doors which takes place after the sacred reading of the holy Gospel and the dismissal of the catechumens signifies the passing from material things which will come about after that terrible separation and even more terrible judgment and the entrance of those who are worthy into the spiritual world, that is, into the nuptial chamber of Christ, as well as the complete extinction in our senses of deceptive activity.

For more information on how services ought to be performed you can read the "Abridged Typicon".

>The roofs of the temples are adorned with cupolas or domes: one cupola signifies the highest head of the Church, Christ Jesus Himself; three cupolas tell us of the three hypostases of the Holy Trinity; five cupolas express our Lord Jesus Christ and the four Evangelists; seven cupolas symbolize the Seven Holy Mysteries, seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, or the seven Ecumenical Councils; nine cupolas indicate the nine ranks of angels; thirteen indicate Christ and His twelve Apostles.

For a history of the development of the Orthodox liturgy you can read this.

>For Western Christians the Liturgy offers an experience of eucharistic worship of a kind which they cannot find in their own tradition, and which for many of them has a profound appeal. Their own rites have been renewed in accordance with what modern scholarship assures them was the practice of the early Church. The Liturgy appears to embody principles widely at variance with those they have come to regard as fundamental in worship: and yet for many of them it provides an experience which is deeply worshipful. Familiarity with the Liturgy provokes at least two questions for the Western Christian: How did a rite which claims to go back to the early Church come to assume a form so different from what we know of early Christian worship? and, Might the Western Churches have something to learn from the eucharistic worship of Orthodoxy? The rest of this book will be largely occupied with answering the first question, but will also suggest some answers to the second.

Another guide through the liturgy you can read is "Let us Attend: A Journey through the Orthodox Divine Liturgy".

>The practice of the laity receiving both the Body and Blood of Christ together on the spoon did not come in until the eighth century, and its use only gradually spread. Even by the middle of the eleventh century, its use was not universal. Byzantine canonist Theodore Balsamon wrote in the twelfth century that “in some churches” they had abandoned the age-old practice of receiving Communion in the hand—showing that even then the practice of receiving from the spoon was not universal. Scholars have no certainty regarding why the use of the spoon became the preferred method. Some have suggested that the faithful were taking the eucharistic bread home from the service for private and illicit use, and that using the spoon to deliver the gifts directly into the mouths of the faithful ensured they would actually consume it.

​

u/besttrousers · 2 pointsr/politics

You'll want to check out The Invention of Air

u/hummingbirdgaze · 2 pointsr/Retconned

Check out the book Cosmic Cradle for more "pre birth" stories like this.

u/Katari · 2 pointsr/CaminoDeSantiago

Hi Mattoy,

Yea I would love to share.

First off, the trip was amazing and life changing. We found out about it from watching Martin Sheen pretend to do it in the "The Way". I remember watching this movie and turned to my girlfriend and said "We will be doing this within a year." She laughed at me, said I was crazy and that she had a PHD to finish and start a job.

Fast forward to August, she finished up her graduate school, I proposed, and off we went. We had done the research, gotten the guidebook and went off.

We started in St Jean and ended up in Santiago in 32 days.

Things we struggled with:

  1. Finding a place to say. I would say in about 40% of the cases the first alburge we tried to get in to was full. As Mattoy mentioned you can only reserve a spot in the alburge if it is private. I guess the thing that bothered me was I didn't want to call ahead. I never not know where I am sleeping at night and really loved the fact that it wasn't set in stone. Additionally, there were days where my fiance' couldn't continue so if we had made that reservation we would never had made it.

    2. This is a little dirty and not a huge deal but there is shit everywhere. You are walking through rural spain with livestock all over the place. As a result, fecal matter is all over the place. As a result, people who weren't careful with washing their hands got gastro. Not the end of the world, but also not pleasant.

    Things I Loved

  2. The people. You will meet some of the coolest people on the trip. You will here so many fascinating stories and realize just how truly different and awesome some people are. I got to meet a monk on the trip. Enjoying a dinner with her was one of the highlights of the trip.

    2. Wine!!! Wine is super cheap and you have a bottle with every meal almost. My fiance' and I had Sangria or wine at every meal and it was really really nice. The beer is also super cheap and good.

    3. The scenery. There are obviously some parts that aren't that great but over all WOW!!! The walk is amazing for the scenary and things you get to see.

    4. I was able to get away and just focus on me, my relationship with God, and my future with my soon to be wife (June 7th!). I haven't been away that long without calling anyone from home or anything.

    What I gained
    I gained an immense understanding of myself. I also was able to relax, disconnect and focus intrisically on me and what I am doing. You have so much free time while you're walking to just reflect. A few times I just put on the headphones, blasted the music and started walking.....amazing time.


    The Camino is what you make it and what you put in is what you get out of it. I met some people who were so determined to get to a certain place the quickest, or had to meet their planned out schedule and as a result, they didn't have time to focus on themselves they had to get their day done. An example, we stopped for lunch and were having a beer and some people we were friendly with came up. We asked them to join us but they were too far behind "their schedule" to stop. I feel like you're missing the point of the Camino if that is your thought.


    tl;dr - buy a sim card and make your reservation in the morning for the Alburgue you plan to sleep in at night, bring ear plugs, and don't feel like you are chained to your schedule.



u/QueenPoopyButt · 1 pointr/CaminoDeSantiago

Hey!

I walked the French Way in November and a part of December. I walked from the 12 November til the 5 of December. I started in Leon however (had to be home by Christmas).

And I loved it. So few people on the road, it is amazing. You keep running/walking into the same people.

Clothing: I wore leggings together with a pair of pants, but in the end I just wore leggings with rain pants over them. They are also easier to clean when you get mud on them. Then I wore a merino wool long sleeve t-shirt and a fleece vest and also a waterproof coat (it was a coat for sailing so it was warm too). I bought all these things at Decathlon. My shoes turned out to be waterproof, but most Albergues have newspapers laying around to stuff in your shoes when they are wet. I didn't really have that many cold days, some days I just walked in my long sleeved shirt. The rain was something else. When it rained, it poured!

Paths: The paths were still safe (Keep in mind, that I can only talk about the French Way starting in Leon). The only thing that wasn't safe was going up to O'Cebreiro when it rained, it is a pretty steep climb. I was lucky that it was a sunny day when I walked, but I talked to some people who did it in the rain and slipped a few times. Sometimes, due to the rain, when you go downhill, the rocks can get slippery too, but if you go nice and slow, you'll be fine. I had the Brierley book with me, I checked it religiously, but thinking back now, I didn't really need it, except from when I was in a town to look for an Albergue.

Albergues: Like u/chookkyy said, a lot of the Albergues will be closed. But there is this awesome site, Gronze. Here you can look up the Albergues on the Way and check if they're open. Really a life-saver. I checked before I went and I didn't once stood in front of a closed Albergue.

I don't really know how much I spent, but not much. I tried to stay under 25 euro a day. I highly suggest to go for the Pilgrim's menu when you have to eat. You get a 3-course meal with a drink and you get a lot of food. Most of the times it was 10 euro. I did it really cheaply. I always chose the cheapest Albergues, except for when I was in Santiago.

You said you would like your own room at the end, but it you're lucky, it could happen on the Way too! One of my Camino friends slept all alone in some Albergues. She had the Albergue all for herself. She did, however, always stop in small towns, not in big cities. Sometimes she was even asked to close up in the morning.

I slept in one Albergue with donation and I paid 5 euro there.

Feel free to PM me when you have anymore questions! I'd love to help!

Buen Camino

u/fearsofgun · 1 pointr/AskReddit

You probably already know what meditation is, so I'll skip the "meditation for dummies" references and jump you to the best literature I have come across.

Chögyam Trungpa

Training the Mind - Cultivating Loving-Kindness

He has a whole series of books on talking about his philosophies and training your mind to generate only good thoughts.

I came across him through a podcast on Shambhala teachings and it turns out that he is the Tibetan Buddhist who created it.

u/LittleOde3 · 1 pointr/books

The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson. One of my favorite books, about the intersection of science, religion, and politics.

u/hooahguy · 1 pointr/asatru

Living Asatru by Greg Shetler

Short but sweet. A very concise introduction to Asatru, Ive found it extremely helpful.

u/crapadoodledoo · 1 pointr/BPD

You have a real need for mindfulness/self awareness when socializing to avoid misunderstandings since having BPD and NPD will make it difficult to get along well with others. You have to learn to watch yourself and to stop and consider the alternatives instead of allowing yourself to act solely on your emotions. I would suggest DBT and Buddhism. From DBT, you will learn a lot about socializing with other people effectively. From Buddhism, you will learn what you are and Buddhist meditation will train you to be mindful. It is really training for the mind. Both DBT and Buddhism will teach you radical acceptance which is infinitely useful.

u/lrlb125 · 1 pointr/Reformed

The Trinity Hymnal is hard to beat.

https://www.amazon.com/Trinity-Hymnal-Cover-Great-Commission/dp/0934688605

The OPC and URCNA are soon completing a joint project on a revised Trinity Psalter-Hymnal. Keep an eye out for it, I think it'll be a tremendous resource for reformed believers.

u/WinterKoala · 1 pointr/Catholicism

Find the virtues in all the mysteries and apply them to your life. It may well have a different meaning but same good purpose for you in the different life stages and moments you recall them. The Contemplative Rosary: With St. John Paul II and St. Teresa of Avila may be a book well worth your time. Here's an encyclical on the Rosary of the Virgin Mary as well

u/adamthrash · 1 pointr/Christianity

I have one similar to this or this. You should be able to find one on Amazon.

u/TreesAndDoughnuts · 1 pointr/heathenry

Coming from a Christian background, I understand the oddity. I am viewing the transition more of a set of tools which I did not have previously. Myself, I'm not much for the praying to a god as I am praying with a personality. My objection to the whole praying "to" is that it is myself that needs to do the work. The notion and idea of something external to myself to which I am dependent on and whom will be doing the work doesn't feel quite right. An addict can pray to their hearts content, but it is the practice of life that makes change.

In Buddhism, it is called practice for a reason. It is also work. It is participatory. I think that this is a major difference. Something that Christianity has pointed at and talks about but seemed to have lost in the somewhere. Religion is the intersection of politics and entertainment. The Protestant revolt was, basically, who collects your taxes.

The structure of Hinduism is very interesting as this religion is, in all essence, applied psychology. The book Living Asatru by Greg Shetler has been very good to me - I love the attitude that the author has.

My point of view is that we, as humans, need certain tools. Our conscious minds are specialized for linear tasks - a BEAR! Run! (Or free beer, same thing.) Our subconscious minds are great at abstract things. This subconscious brain also doesn't have to deal with eye-brain visual object recognition requirement which frees up a lot of brain power. The disadvantage is that it can only communicate through symbols.

This need for a linear structure within a circular system called the Universe, Time, is why we have the solstices and equinoxes -- it takes a circle and converts it into a line. Beginning, middle and end. This is what the linear brain is good at dealing with.

There is a lot of psychology and practical aspects to a polytheistic interaction between human and Universe. Feel free to take what you have learned from previous work and apply it with these new tools. Also ask yourself why you moved away from the Christian structure - what were you missing with that structure? Other people will be going through the same process as yourself.

All the best in your journey!

u/Luo_Bo_Si · 1 pointr/Reformed

I enjoyed Being as Communion by John Zizioulas when I read it a few years ago.

u/Alt_troll_Guru · 1 pointr/zen

Dazhu Huihai, Hongzhi, Dahui all teach meditation.

http://terebess.hu/zen/huihai-eng2.html

http://www.amazon.com/Cultivating-Empty-Field-Illumination-Hongzhi/dp/0804832404

/r/chan/wiki/swamplandflowers

u/tom-dickson · 1 pointr/Catholicism
u/songhill · 1 pointr/zen

Read Bassui. He far exceeds Dogen who only manages to stumble around making Zen almost incoherent.

u/Sapperdoc · 1 pointr/Christianity
u/StandardToaster895 · 1 pointr/Christianity

Ah, I'm in college too, so I sympathize with the time constraints!

I don't know if you want to put up any money for a book (maybe check the library?), but there's a short little 90 page book called On Living Simply that's quite excellent. In reference to our discussion on marriage, there's a pretty short thing titled On Marriage and Family Life which is also quite good. My third and last suggestion would be On Poverty and Wealth which is around 150 pages. Also, very good reading. Like I said, definitely check the library!

u/Hank-the-Pigeon · -56 pointsr/PoliticalHumor

Great, and pre-birth life exists And there is ample evidence that we choose our parents

I highly recommend you do some research before you pass judgement so quickly.