(Part 3) Best religion & spirituality books according to redditors
We found 14,855 Reddit comments discussing the best religion & spirituality books. We ranked the 5,367 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 41-60. You can also go back to the previous section.
58. Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe
13 mentions
William Morrow Company
Bart Ehrman - Jesus Interrupted (2010)
In this deliciously satisfying book, the author, a New Testament scholar, carefully reviews and assesses the New Testament with a detailed and extremely thorough analysis of the figure we call Jesus. This is not a rant, not an attack on Christianity, this is an objective and critical analysis of the New Testament, showing how the entire Jesus myth and indeed, all of Christianity is a purposely-designed fabrication rife with contradictions, inaccuracies, and sometimes outright falsehoods.
John Loftus - Why I Became an Atheist (2008)
If you want a one-stop total critique of Christianity, this is the book you're looking for. The author is a former Christian apologist turned extremely angry and prolific atheist. In this book Loftus attacks the full span of Christianity, addressing the philosophical arguments against theism, the historical incompatibilities and inaccuracies of the Bible, and the contradictions between creationism and modern science, and throughout it all is an undercurrent of personal experience as Loftus explains his own deconversion from devout evangelicalism to enraged atheist.
Concerning atheism.
These are for the people going "Well, I'm an atheist. Now what?" There's more to atheism than eating babies and posting fake facebook conversations on r/atheism. There's much more truth, beauty, and value in a universe without a celestial supervisor, where humans are free to make our own purposes and dictate our own paths. Thinking for yourself and recognizing the natural wonder of the universe is far greater than the false consolation any religion can provide you. These books show how.
Michael Martin - Atheism: A Philosophical Justification (1989)
In this book, Martin attempts a two-pronged defense of atheism: first by attacking theistic arguments regarding the implausibility of morality and purpose without God, second by defending against attacks specifically on atheism. In such a manner he makes a strong case for both negative and positive atheism. Though extremely dated, this book is a classic and a must-read for any atheist.
Erik J. Wielenberg - Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe (2005)
In this book, Wielenberg advances a naturalist philosophy and addresses the problem of nontheistic morality as weakly espoused by the likes of Dostoevsky and C.S. Lewis. First he challenges the claims of theistic morality, next he advances naturalistic ethics and displays how theological justification is unnecessary for a good and moral life. Concepts such as intrinsic morality, inherent human tendencies such as charity and altruism, and the idea of moral obligations are all addressed.
Richard Carrier - Sense and Goodness Without God (2005)
In this book, Richard Carrier, perhaps most well-known as one of the major modern debunkers of the Jesus myth, continues the trend of expanding metaphysical naturalism, but this is a more complex and thorough work covering the full spectrum of a developed worldview, addressing nearly every topic beyond just morality, and presents a complete philosophical outlook on life that is easy to comprehend and evaluate. A solid starting point for the newly atheist.
My personal picks.
Now, since this is my list after all, and after typing up all of that, I think I've earned the right to make my own recommendations. These are books that I think people should read that don't necessarily have anything to do with atheism.
Markos Moulitsas - American Taliban (2010)
This book reads like a collection of loosely-related blog entries, some of them written by angry teenagers, and Moulitsas himself is no philosopher or professor, but is still an important read for those of you who haven't been paying attention. In this book, the founder of Daily Kos draws the extremely obvious and transparent similarities between the religious right of America, and the Islamofascists across the pond, and displays how modern conservatism has largely been hijacked and/or replaced by a complex political machine intent on maintaining the power of a small group of white, male, Christian elite.
Chris Hedges - American Fascists (2007)
Okay, time for a more sophisticated take on the issue than Daily Kos stuff. Those of you who plan on staying and fighting in the US rather than simply getting the fuck out while you still can need this book. With a critical and objective eye, Hedges displays the dark and tumultuous underbelly of America and shows how an extremely powerful and well-organized coalition of dominionists is slowly taking over the country and seeking to transform it into a theocratic state. Those of you who are moderate Christians and similarly despise the lunatic fringe of Christians should also read this book. Hedges analyzes this Christian Right movement, allied with totalitarianism and a denial of reality, that has declared a jihad (or a "teahad", if you're a Tea Partier) on secularism and even on Christianity itself, utilizing religion for its darkest and most sinister purpose - committing cruelty and intolerance upon others in the name of divine supervision.
CJ Werleman - God Hates You, Hate Him Back (2009)
This is one of my favorite books and is a great book to unwind with after a critical look at Christianity. The biggest problem with the Bible is not the contradictions, the outright falsehoods, or even the blatantly made-up and ridiculous bullshit about magic and miracles and supernatural nonsense - it's the fact that, taking it all at face value, the God described in the Bible is the single most despicable and terrifying fictional villain ever imagined by humanity. This is a character that seems to actively despise mankind, and in this book, Werleman shows why with a hilarious and thorough analysis of the Bible. This book reads like Monty Python and is just as funny - not meant to be taken seriously of course unless you're a Biblical literalist, but still a great read.
Well, that's all I got. This list took about half a day to compile and is itself also woefully inadequate, there's quite a bit of books I haven't gotten around to reading yet. But, it should be much more sufficient than the current r/atheism reading lists and I've done my best to include the most recent works. If you have any books to add that you feel are noteworthy, please feel free to post them. I hope this list can help many people in their understanding of philosophy and atheism.
Here's a good TED talk with Matthieu Ricard.
|http://www.ted.com/talks/matthieu_ricard_on_the_habits_of_happiness#t-1749
Ricard is a former scientist and I found this book by him compelling.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quantum-Lotus-Frontiers-Buddhism/dp/1400080797
Hi, not Wiccan, but eclectic druid, which is also a subset of Paganism. There are loads of online communities to check out! Firstly, I'd say browse the r/wicca, r/pagan, and r/druidism (shameless plug lol) subreddits, as they're filled with loads of info and opinions. Be warned on r/pagan, since there are LOADS of different types of pagans, you'll get some wildly different opinions. There's plenty of other subreddits (r/witchcraft, for example), but those were the ones I started with.
I also love the Pagan channel on Patheos, which if you haven't browsed before, is a really interesting conglomeration of religious blogs. While I don't use it very often, WitchVox is also referenced as a really good online hub for finding local groups.
For books, this one is a fucking fantastic introduction to Paganism as a whole. It was my first real read on the topic. For Wicca in particular, Scott Cunningham is typically the one people point to for learning how to practice solitary. I also found Wicca for Beginners to be a super quick but useful intro. If you want a more general history of witchy goddess nature-worshipy religions, I am currently reading Drawing Down the Moon and love it.
Finally, if you have any Unitarian churches in your area, reach out-- they frequently have pagan or earth-centered study groups you can always visit!
Like I said before, I'm way more druidy, so if you want suggestions for learning about that (or just want to talk pagan-y things to admittedly a baby pagan), lemme know! :)
Freemasons for Dummies
The author is also a regular here in this subreddit.
Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet by Matthieu Ricard, PhD and Trinh Xuan Thuan, PhD
"Matthieu Ricard trained as a molecular biologist, working in the lab of a Nobel prize-winning scientist, but when he read some Buddhist philosophy, he became drawn to Buddhism. Eventually he left his life in science to study with Tibetan teachers, and he is now a Buddhist monk and translator for the Dalai Lama, living in the Shechen monastery near Kathmandu in Nepal. Trinh Thuan was born into a Buddhist family in Vietnam but became intrigued by the explosion of discoveries in astronomy during the 1960s. He made his way to the prestigious California Institute of Technology to study with some of the biggest names in the field and is now an acclaimed astrophysicist and specialist on how the galaxies formed.
When Matthieu Ricard and Trinh Thuan met at an academic conference in the summer of 1997, they began discussing the many remarkable connections between the teachings of Buddhism and the findings of recent science. That conversation grew into an astonishing correspondence exploring a series of fascinating questions. Did the universe have a beginning? Or is our universe one in a series of infinite universes with no end and no beginning? Is the concept of a beginning of time fundamentally flawed? Might our perception of time in fact be an illusion, a phenomenon created in our brains that has no ultimate reality? Is the stunning fine-tuning of the universe, which has produced just the right conditions for life to evolve, a sign that a “principle of creation” is at work in our world? If such a principle of creation undergirds the workings of the universe, what does that tell us about whether or not there is a divine Creator? How does the radical interpretation of reality offered by quantum physics conform to and yet differ from the Buddhist conception of reality? What is consciousness and how did it evolve? Can consciousness exist apart from a brain generating it?"
>it seems like they're just trying to show how "mindful" they are, or how "yogi" they are, whatever you want to call it. After a certain point it seems like it's less about the personal benefits and more about projecting a certain image towards other people
Chogyam Trungpa called this "Spiritual Materialism"
In general, academic philosophy of religion is dominated by theistic philosophers, so there aren't many works defending atheism and atheistic arguments in the professional literature.
But there are still a few notable books:
I didn't add him because others have already mentioned him, but everything written by Graham Oppy is fantastic IMO. He is maybe the leading atheist philosopher in the field of philosophy of religion. A good place to start with his writings is his 2013 paper on arguments for atheism.
Awesome! Glad you are on your way. So excited that the aya made it 'stick' this time, and that you were so receptive.
You've already done a very important step: wrapping the memories of those transcendental states in awareness. They will be your reminder if you start to veer. You've been thoroughly convinced to change, AND you have a memory to remind yourself of how absurdly worth it your new perspective is. Consider yourself lucky: the hardest thing for all of us is to be convinced. The vast majority of people are never convinced that to free your inner world is the most important thing - the only thing of true, lasting value - you can do while on this earth.
Sign the vine's contract; obey the spiritual covenant; observe the divine proportion: The more you 'die to self', the more you are born to new life.
Your path is similar to mine. Here's some books I can recommend:
The Bhagavad Gita. This translation has been my most important spiritual book (I've read it nearly ten times - saturation of good concepts is key to reprogramming your mind, especially at the beginning of your path). It's as close to perfection as mere words can get.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Bhagavad-Gita-Walkthrough-Westerners/dp/1608680142
This next one is absolutely essential reading as you advance imo. At a certain point, your ego will try to make spirituality a competition. It may be so subtle you may not even realize it. Reading this book not only gives you some of the best and deepest Buddhist philosophy available, but it also protects you against the remnant bad habits of the ego.
http://www.amazon.com/Cutting-Spiritual-Materialism-Shambhala-Classics/dp/1570629579/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413997741&sr=1-1&keywords=cutting+through+spiritual+materialism+by+chogyam+trungpa
Sigh..
http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Darwins-God-Scientists-Evolution/dp/0060930497
There's entire books written on how to take psychedelics responsibly to maximize the benefit. People shouldn't expect to just take psychedelics and conquer their anxiety without knowing what they're doing. It takes a bit of knowledge about how to navigate your own consciousness to "transcend" the anxiety and attain a state of complete inner peace. Basically lay down with calming music, eye shades preferred, look within your mind. Accept and surrender to everything you experience: even to the point where you think you're dying and you just let it happen. It sounds scary, but when you come out the other end of that, you feel fantastic because you conquered life's greatest fear. Anxiety is normally gone for the rest of the trip at that point. Many people experience jaw tightness while on a psychedelic, but that goes away too along with the anxiety.
There's other pitfalls you have to watch out for too. A main one is that you shouldn't put any expectations on the experience. Just be fine with whatever is happening in your mind and let it all happen on its own.
Reading The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide is what helped me go from having anxious trips to beautiful spiritual experiences:
https://www.amazon.com/Psychedelic-Explorers-Guide-Therapeutic-Journeys-ebook/dp/B0051OHLVG
These are many of the same things that therapists conducting studies into psychedelics have their patients do. It's really decades of illegal personal experience that has determined the more effective ways to take psychedelics, not the recent scientific studies. The studies are just trying to prove the efficacy.
Now lets move onto the real "medicinal" stuff, Psychedelics.
LSD, MDMA and Psilocybin are among the most powerful drugs when used in regards to therapy when fighting depression, anxiety, addiction, PTSD and all sorts of disorders.
Therapy conducted with Alcoholics with LSD found that it took one LSD therapy session to break addiction in 50% of the patients, has any other drug ever had such a success rate?
http://www.amazon.com/The-Psychedelic-Explorers-Guide-Therapeutic-ebook/dp/B0051OHLVG
I would recommend anyone interested in the medicinal use of psychedelics pick up this book from the godfather of Psychedelic therapy James Fadiman, Ph.D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A34x6W-3lJI
I would say yes, but with a few caveats. I myself am a bit of an autodidact, and I study philosophy as a hobby in my free time. I am currently a university student who works part time, so I sympathize with your concerns about limited time and energy. Some things I think you should be aware of:
• Studying on your own will be slower and generally less efficient than getting a degree. You won’t have the same obligations or motivators that university students have.
• You will lack access to resources that university students have. This includes both academic material (journals, essays, books) but also an environment with instructors and fellow students to consult when you’re confused.
• You will not have the benefit of writing essays and having them graded by an instructor.
Despite this, I still think there is a lot to be gained from self study. You have the freedom to pursue whatever you want, and you can go at a pace that’s comfortable to you. Plus there’s something to be said about challenging yourself and doing constructive things in your free time.
It may be best to start with introductory texts like Copleston’s history to get a general idea for each philosopher and to find what interests you. If you are still interested in the thinkers you mentioned, you should move on to primary sources. I’d recommend the following reading plan which should cover some of the “essentials” and has a sort of progression from one thinker to the next:
These four books will give you a solid foundation in western philosophy. You have the fundamental ideas and questions from the Pre-Socratics, Plato, and Aristotle, rationalism from Descartes, empiricism from Hume, and the synthesis of the two in Kant. Moving on:
These three cover your interests in phenomenology, from its foundations in Husserl, to Heidegger’s magnum opus, to Sartre’s interpretation and his development of existentialism. Finally we have:
These two cover Horkheimer & Adorno’s critical take on enlightenment rationality and Derrida’s deconstruction of Husserlian phenomenology.
None of these books are particularly easy (especially Husserl and Heidegger), but I encourage you to try! Take it one book at a time, read slow and take notes, and consult the IEP and SEP if you’re confused, watch YouTube lectures, or ask on this subreddit.
Good luck!
I appreciate the OP's original post as well as your R.D. Laing recommendation. I also 100% agree with the idea of a "predisposition towards realization and compassionate output" when it comes to certain mental illnesses (Specifically, those involving extremely heightened senses of perception).
I've been undertaking a similar "process" as you've (OP) described for about two years now. I had somewhat of an existential crisis as I was finishing out my last semester of college a couple years ago. Not really in the aspect of "how can I face this impending 40 hour work week with no end in sight?," but more of "how can I possibly be happy in this modern society in general when the standard goals are not desired?"
It led me into a deep, later clinically treated, depression that bottomed out for a good month's time as the winter settled in. As things began to become increasingly unstable in my mental state, the voices started becoming distinct and clearer. They never were commanding or provoking, but typically simple commentary or strange basic conversations. Most of the time they were harshly critical of my own life, though at other times they tended to drift off into random dialogue (there were usually two). The fact that they were occurring ended up leading me down a long, long winding spiritual path as I searched for some sort of understanding to them.
I had a new understanding of mental illness, as I was experiencing it myself, but specifically of certain schizophrenic-type aspects. The voices I heard were as real to my consciousness as any other aspect of perception that is picked up by the senses. It sounded as if they were talking in the room adjacent to mine, or at least muffled by a thin wall- usually. I found that at certain frequencies, they were more apparent and distinct. While they varied in clarity, they were undoubtedly occurring and for whatever reason I was hearing them. I was withdrawn and fascinated by this phenomena and was able to successfully communicate through thoughts, though only in what I could describe as a deep meditative state (which wasn't too difficult as I sat in a helpless bout of catatonic depression). This went on for about at week or so before I returned home, saw a doctor and got clinical assistance for my depression. Still, my idea of those with schizophrenic-type mental illnesses had changed from "people experiencing delusions" to "people experiencing reality differently."
I kept a journal during those few weeks of delusion, because I was experiencing things that I couldn't comprehend. The spiritual/knowledge path soon began as I was recovering over the next few months. I began to research ideas that had popped into my head during that time. Now, in hindsight, these revelations really aren't that mind blowing and had I been more educated on the subjects or just more of a true academic in general, I probably would've come across what I ended up with at an earlier time.
My primary empirical conclusion, was that, yes these voices do indeed exist. They hold some sort of reality in some aspect, because my consciousness is experiencing them. I also know that others experience similar instances of phenomena. This led to an idea of there being a higher/alternate dimension that conscious thought can reside in. A place that holds no truth in objectivity to the world in general, yet still a place in the mind of the beholder.
So, that's how I became acquainted with quantum theory and it's possible application to consciousness. I'm not saying that I directly subscribe to all that's laid out in a quantum consciousness theory, but it did open a whole slew of new doors of thinking and understanding quantum physics in general.
Another aspect that I derived from my experience with the voices was the idea of the duality of consciousness and matter. And that's how I began reading more into Buddhism, which I had read about before but seemingly never understood quite as fully as I did after the experience.
Just as all of this was taking place (a few months after the breakdown), I had a moment of synchronicity when I ran into an old friend during happy hour who was in the city for a day before heading back home up north. Without me even mentioning much about my experience or new found ideas, he offered me a book for borrowing (that he just happened to have on hand). It was The Quantum and the Lotus (Ricard, Thuan). It may have been the perfect combination of my two newest obsessions in one book. Reading it finally put my mind at ease and gave me a truly new perspective on life that I've been building off of ever since then.
My views have evolved and adapted with time over the last couple years, but I still haven't lost this unquenchable thirst for learning that began during those darker times. I truly think that the Buddhist perspective on life has fueled this passion while keeping me at peace with my own thoughts. I can still hear the voices, though only through a means of deep meditation, and they hardly interfere with my everyday life.
Sorry for any typos, the sun's yet to rise where I am right now.
TL;DR - Got severely depressed, heard voices that led to a more innate understanding of both quantum physics and Buddhism (neither of which I had extensive knowledge of) that has improved my outlook on life, my empathy towards others and has greatly increased my desire for knowledge than it had ever been previously.
assalamualaikum. The specific steps for salah are not mentioned in the Quran. Muhammad (pbuh) was taught by Angel Jibreel, who then taught his companions and it eventually came down to us. I recommend new converts start by trying to understand the Quran and go through a biography of Muhammad (pbuh). Hadith compilation books aren't meant for the average person to read and try to understand on their own, but if you are going to do that, than i suggest going through Imam Nawawi's 40 hadith and Riyad-Us-saliheen with explanation, resources listed below. I also highly recommend new converts visit their local mosque or finding a Muslim group to learn with, which should make learning a lot easier.
---
___QURAN__
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____LIFE OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD____
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____LEARN TO PRAY (SALAH)____
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____HADITH/SUNNAH____
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full list
okay, I do have some recommendations for people just looking around. Check out this page which listed some of the best books for beginners. Within the list I would strongly recommend "Rebel Buddha" by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche (a really modern look at the teaching of the Buddha at its core), and "What Makes You Not a Buddhist" by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche (A really no-nonsense book by a thoroughly modern and renowned teacher). These two gurus are famous for their no-bullshit teaching style and their familiarity with Westerners and these two books really gets to the heart of Buddhist teachings. If you are interested in meditations, I would recommend The Joy of Living by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. This book is shows you how to meditate w/o any religious affiliations and it has help thousands who use meditation as self-help. It also offer a way to understand beginning Buddhist meditation. You can't go wrong with any of these books.
Before anyone think I'm being too sectarian, I am a Tibetan Buddhist and this is what I know well. I'm sure there are other books which I heard are great like many works by the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh but I've not had any first hand experience with their work. I can only recommend what I've read and practiced myself.
this is a good book about working with the Thoth tarot
So many of the suggestions so far seem to be of the Theravada or Mahayana lineages. It's important to understand that buddhist teachings vary depending on the lineage you follow. The lineages generally coexist respectfully, recognizing that "there are many ways up the mountain".
I just wanted throw my hat into the ring and suggest What makes you not a Budhhist by Dzangsar Khyentse. It comes from the Vajrayana lineage of teachings, and I love the author's pithy style. I think it's the best introduction to Buddhist teachings I have read so far, but it should be coupled with something more conceptually comprehensive.
In contrast I found What the Buddha Taught to be informative, but slightly dry. It was well worth the read, but I struggled to translate what I learned there into my daily practice. Just something to be aware of.
By far the best thing I did was to find an authentic teacher and supportive Sangha. Reading and learning is good, but this path requires so much more of you than just knowledge. I think that finding a qualified teacher is one of the most important tasks that a novice has in front of them, because there are a lot of unqualified teachers in the west who will inadvertently lead you astray.
I recommend watching some videos by Anthony Magnabosco. He uses "Street Epistemology" techniques originally described in Peter Boghassian's book A Manual for Creating Atheists, although there are some variations. The core idea is to use the Socratic method to examine the reasons for why someone believes what they believe and determine if those reasons are reliable.
There are several advantages to this method:
The disadvantage, of course, is that it takes a long time and isn't as fun of a method to use to debate with strangers online. But for face-to-face conversations, especially with people you want to keep a good relationship with, I don't think there's a better method if you want to address the topic.
Check out Anthony Magnabosco on the YouTube practicing 'street epistemology' as taught by Peter Boghossian in Manual for Creating Atheists.
You should read the reviews http://www.amazon.com/Helping-The-Retarded-Know-God/product-reviews/0570063507
He's the author of Freemasonry for Dummies and other books. He is founder and editor emeritus of the Journal of the Masonic Society. He knows what he's talking about.
Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist by Dan Barker
edit: or Atheism: A Philosophical Justification by Michael Martin
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:
You really should read Randi's book Flim-Flam. It describes how incredibly rigorous his methodology is, he uses the essence of the scientific method. Double-blinding, repeated trials, etc.
He incorporated the one thing scientists assumed they were competent in, but weren't - detecting deception.
This dumb book will answer all of your normal questions.
I'll second A Manual for Creating Atheists! It's a great read. Here's the link for anyone interested in picking it up:
http://smile.amazon.com/Manual-Creating-Atheists-Peter-Boghossian-ebook/dp/B00LKBT0MC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=
Chicken Qabala is a pretty entertaining and informative intro.
For books on the Qabalah, the two best books to have been written on the subject are The Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune and The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford by Lon Milo Duquette. I'd also pick up a copy of 777 And Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley, which is a book of qabalistic correspondences.
The best book on the Golden Dawn would be The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magick, which covers (almost) everything someone would wish to know about the original Golden Dawn and was written by one of the most famous initiates of the Golden Dawn.
There is not many books on Rosicruciaism, and many books that are out there on it are fraudulent and are not an accurate representation of the Rosicrucians. The only book that I would say is worth a read is Zanoni, which is a fictional story written by a Rosicrucian. It is based on Rosicrucian philosophies and symbolism.
As for Tarot, I myself prefer the Crowley/Thelemic system of tarot over that of the Golden Dawn, so I can only really recommend books on that system, which are The Book of Thoth by Aleister Crowley and Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot by Lon Milo Duquette.
For the goetic demons, the best text would simply be The Goetia
Also, some beginner books I usually recommend are:
Circles of Power: An Introduction to Hermetic Magic by John Michael Greer, which is a beginners guide to ceremonial magick.
Book 4 by Aleister Crowley, which is the most comprehensive treatise on the practice of magick to ever be written, in my own personal opinion.
Enochian Magic in Theory by Frater Yechidah with Enochian Magic in Practice by Frater Yechidah, which are guides to the Enochian system of magick, a very popular and powerful system of magick, developed by the famous magician and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I John Dee, and used and improved upon by many occult orders, most notably the Golden Dawn.
And finally, The Corpus hermeticum by Hermes Trismegistus, which is the foundational text of all hermetic and occult philosophy.
Chicken Qabalah by Lon Milo DuQuette is supposed to be pretty good, never read it though: http://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Qabalah-Rabbi-Lamed-Clifford/dp/1578632153
Anyone have an ebook to share?
Loneliness is a state of mind. You can read books on it by the psychotherapist Albert Ellis. There are people in relationships who feel lonely, because loneliness is a mental condition, not based on anything external.
Furthermore, why are you attached to women or people in general? Does your happiness depend on the external?
There is a difference between having a desire, and then being attached to a desire. Attachment means that when the desire cannot be met you suffer as a result. For example, I enjoy food, but if today all I have is potatoes and some veggies I'm not going to lose my mind over it. Likewise, you can enjoy being social, but if there's no one to be social with it doesn't mean you lose your mind over it.
Your attachments to things lead to your suffering. I recommend you pick up a book on meditation, learn about the Jhanas, which is a mental state which you can arrive at through meditation which results in extremely high pleasure and joy that does not depend on the outside world. Furthermore the Jhanas clean your mind and get you off of your attachments and addictions. Here's a great book about it: https://www.amazon.com/Right-Concentration-Practical-Guide-Jhanas/dp/1611802695
Read "The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys" by James Fadiman. It is an outstanding guide to tripping and trip sitting and is essential reading for anyone interested in being well prepared for using psychedelics effectively.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0051OHLVG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_dp_T1_83LDzb2FNQPV4
Hi. It looks like Dr ransom got to you first but it looks like he is going to say much of what I came here to say myself.
I'm a working engineer, highly educated in the sciences, and a devout Christian. I not only accept evolution but recognize it as being as much of a fact as gravity and I have no problem with homosexuality. I have also spoken, at length, on why neither of these two things are in conflict with scripture when it is read in its proper context, (eg.. with consideration of the styles of the original authors, their intended audiences, the historical context of the portions of the Bible being considererd, etc...).
What you are running into is the simple fact that the current, popular, approach of trying to treat the Bible as a scientific textbook on everything isn't what God intended.
If you have any questions that you don't feel others are answering, feel free to PM me and give me a shot at it. If nothing else, I'll point you at some good reading. :)
Like 'Finding Darwins God'
Kennity Miller, the author, is a Professor of Biology at Brown University and has written a host of essays and papers talking about the intersection of evolution and Christianity, (amongst other topics).
So he may be a good place for you to look too. :)
That's an easy one, get "Finding Darwin's God":
http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Darwins-God-Scientists-Evolution/dp/0060930497
But you know, this problem has been resolved before, it's just the new version of Christianity called "fundamentalism" that has re-introduced this debate.
Here's a passage from over 1.5K years ago:
-- St. Augustine, "The Literal Meaning of Genesis" (written circa 401-415 AD)
"Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he hold to as being certain from reason and experience."
"Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men."
"If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods and on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason?
"Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although 'they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion.' [1 Timothy 1.7]"
St. Augustine is right to be worried. I was raised a YEC and I'm [now] an atheist. Creationism was one of the first dominos to fall, once I realized how much evidence there was against it I started questioning the other things I'd been taught to believe. Now I understand I was brainwashed and indoctrinated, but it was creationism that gave me my first glimpse of the light.
Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-centered Religions is the best basic and yet thorough introduction I have found yet. Highly recommended, for I have not found a book that explains this clearly before or since.
I recommend you read Michael Martin's Atheism: A Philosphical Justification. It's one of the best works of rigorous philosophical atheism. Personally I believe his argument for weak/negative atheism is much stronger than his argument for strong/positive atheism, the former of which you seem to fit into.
Sure ... try "Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions"
It also has a great introduction by his friend Isaac Asimov.
Here is a link to it in Amazon, so don't take my word on this, check out the 84 reviews there. http://www.amazon.com/Flim-Flam-Psychics-Unicorns-Other-Delusions/dp/0879751983/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317469950&sr=8-1
https://www.amazon.com/Freemasons-Dummies-Christopher-Hodapp/dp/1118412087 is the best book about Freemasonry that I've ever read.
Creation and evolution can co-exist. Be careful not to force her into a false dichotomy.
To quote another person:
> I think your statement about the compatibility of orthodox Christian belief and the embrace of evolutionary theory is correct. So far as I can see, no contradiction between them obtains. I have Catholic friends who are both devout with respect to Church doctrine and fully supportive of modern evolutionary theory, and I find the theodicy and theology that proceed from that more elegant and robust than special-creationist alternatives. If one is going to proceed under the irrational assumptions of Christian theism in the first place, that seems to be a fairly rational way of proceeding from there. In any case, it doesn't place those Christians in the mental ditch so many drive themselves into with the anti-evolutionary bent, denying reason and evidence in abundance for evolutionary theory.
> Even so, I think you are dismissing the problem in a very simplistic fashion. While I just affirmed that evolution and orthodox Christian doctrine are compatible, evolution is nevertheless quite toxic in many cases to support for Christian belief. Many Catholics, for instance, have maintained a kind of faithful theistic evolution throughout their lives, but for many others, evolution seriously undermines faith in God because it in a significant sense makes God superfluous, an afterthought, an unnecessary part of the explanation.
> I think that explains why so many Catholics here militate against the evidence and the facts on the ground concerning evolution. The objection is NOT that evolution cannot be harmonized with Catholic doctrine -- manifestly, it can be -- but rather that evolution betrays a basic conceit many believers have about their status as humans. Christian theology exalts mankind in an ontological sense -- only man is imprinted with the imago dei, only man has the reasoning faculties to apprehend natural law and the noetic facilities for knowing God in a spiritual sense.
> Man is fallen, but that "fallenness" itself is proof of man's ontological primacy in the world; there is hubris in supposing man had somewhere to fall from in the first place.
> As Christian, I know I was guilty of this conceit. And while evolution does not and cannot discredit the idea that God made the universe, and utlimately designed the world so that man would be man, in such form that he might enventually be invested with a soul, fashioned in some dualistic way in God's image, evolution as a mechanical, natural process really takes the pride out of human exceptionalism. Darwin's dangerous idea was that we are animals in the most thoroughgoing sense, cousins of the chimpanzee and relatives of the lowly cabbage, or even the most virulent bacteria, if we are to trace our lineage back far enough.
> I suggest to you that some of the draw of Christian faith -- not all of it, but some -- obtains from this intuitive desire to classify oneself, one's kind as "special". Not just special in some parochial sense, but "cosmically special". Catholicism can still cater to this innate inclination, but it's a lot harder to cater to through the filter of evolutionary theory. Evolution places man as an ordinary leaf, like all the other leaves, or a very large and ancient tree. Many have a conceit grounded in the idea that man was "formed from the dust" in some special, hands-on way -- a custom job, or as they would say in the UK, "bespoke".
> Evolution works right against this conceit, and while doctrine and faith can be maintained in embracing it, evolution just kills a lot of the joy of the "specialness" many believers are enamored of. If evolution is true, God may still be the Creator, the one forming man with the imago dei, somehow, but it sure does look more remote and mechanistic than it used to. And of course, it continually provides the idea that this is just how things would look if God were imaginary, and that's something many believers understand, and resist strongly on those grounds.
The point of course is that they are compatible, but that one must be humble about it. As Pope John Paul II said when he was accepting evolution, "Truth cannot contradict truth". In other words, if you look at the evidence for evolution, it's very clear that it's correct in at least the broad sense even if some of the specifics are still being researched. From this, you have to ask how this applies to your world view - do you think it's a work of the devil or God is trying to test you or some other nonsense, or will you take it as another building block of truth and apply it where appropriate understanding that even if the entire body is evolved, without help, from a single celled organism that this says nothing about anything regarding souls or spirits or whatever they want to believe. Christians believe we leave the physical world behind when we die, so why fight over it being so special?
Edit:
I also recommend this if she has problems believing dating methods... it's a "Christian perspective" but it's accurate and explains it pretty well.
http://www.asa3.org/ASA/RESOURCES/WIENS.html
And also a Christian biologist talking for 2 hours (with evidence!) about why evolution is true and ID is BS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVRsWAjvQSg
And here is a book written about evolution from the Christian perspective (recommended by Dawkins in a video once), starting at $2.61 used paperback. Just buy her a copy and have it shipped to her.
http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Darwins-God-Scientists-Evolution/dp/0060930497
I am a recovering Christian (grew up Southern baptist, eventually went non-denominational) who is looking for a path of some kind.
My wife has always related to and followed paganism and very easily went back to it after our schism from the church. My mother very strongly associated with Celtic beliefs (our family way back was from the Isles) but she passed away before I was able to talk to her about them in depth. I'm struggling to define what I feel, believe, and desire.
I mention my previous Christianity because that is all I've ever known. I practiced for 39 years of my life by devoting myself to one figure head, reading from one specific book, and channeling one specific spirit. The switch to paganism and its leniency on such practices is both freeing but also a huge adjustment for me to make. I'm not saying I want to devote, read, or channel paganism the same way I did Christianity but I just don't know where to begin. I would love to meditate and see visions of something to lead me where I should be or have dreams that introduce me to something or someone to guide me.
My apologies if this comes off as more of a word vomit than anything else. I would love and appreciate some insight or advice on how to begin this journey. The Seeking website linked above is already open in my browser and I plan to read that. I've also been reading Paganism: An Introduction to Earth- Centered Religions as well. But nothing beats Reddit and hearing from people who have been there themselves.
> I would like to see an atheist debate someone like Plantingna
It's not a debate, but if you're interested in a more philosophically-focused response to Plantinga's reformed epistemology, I'd recommend checking out Prof. Tyler Wunder's content. If you just want a brief overview, here's an interview with him covering the content of his dissertation critiquing Plantinga. The link on that site to his dissertation is dead, but I reached out to him via e-mail a while back and he sent it to me. I can forward you a download link if you find yourself interested.
Also, Michael Martin treats much of Plantinga's ideas in some depth in his book Atheism: A Philosophical Justification. There are plenty of atheist philosophers that are much more careful than Hitchens and co. if you look for them. I'm not interested in an extended dialogue on their arguments, but since you seemed intrigued by Rowe, I thought I'd point out some similar resources. Graham Oppy's Arguing About Gods was recommended to me along with the Michael Martin book, but I haven't checked it out yet. I've only read certain parts of Martin's book too (it's a long read if you were to go straight through).
I think most people here are confusing alternate reality/ethereal/astral entities with physical aliens from other planets. The difference being that humans can relatively easily contact alternate reality entities as we can enter their realms where space/time are not limiting. We've been doing this since the time of the earliest humans have walked on Earth. Wherein, physical aliens from other planets, we can't visit them as we lack the technology (faster than light physical travel and/or teleportation machines). That said, some advanced techniques of Astral travel allow objective human consciousness (but not physical body) to travel infinite distances and witness physical realities without needing to be physically present... Well I should mention there's claims of spiritual masters able to physically materialize anywhere but I digress...
If you want to contact alternate reality type entities, then you may want to pickup some books on "magick" and specifically magical evocation. One of the better books might be "The practice of magical evocation" by Franz Bardon. Warning though, this is not for neophytes, and you're playing with fire if you start playing with this stuff. Much like people to play with Weegee boards, then endup having their houses and lives haunted. Read a lot and understand WTF you are getting into before actually doing anything. You can fulfil your curiosity by learning. Don't jump into the car and drive down the highway before you take lessons from experts in a parking lot.
A safer way to contact and interact with ethereal entities is through Astral Projection. I suggest reading "Astral Dynamics" by Robert Bruce
Lastly, if you want to contact real live physical aliens, (and why in the world would you want to do this since many seem to have a habit of doing ungodly things with humans), then you may want to start by visiting the UFO hotspots of the world. You can google around for that. There's definitely some. Then after that perhaps consider Greer's CS5 protocols to make contact in those hotspots - though I have a feeling he's mostly making contact with Ethereal entities not physical aliens.
Good luck, and stay safe!
PS. Stay away from all drugs, unless you really know what you are doing. Staying sane is the only way to have objective experiences. Taking drugs leads to easy experiences but most are going to be highly subjective like a dream where everything is made up by your mind, not an actual reality - though your brain will interpret it as such - then you become insane, or at minimum start believing in things that your own mind created. You'd be losing your mind as you let the crazy out ;-)
You might consider Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot by Lon Milo DuQuette.
Edit: formatting
It can be confusing at first but I started with a few “easy to digest” books like What Makes You Not a Buddhist, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones (which I re-read often), In the Buddha’s Words and What the Buddha Taught.
And despite some criticism amongst Buddhists I actually like Brad Warner for bringing a little levity into a pretty big topic.
Finally if you want a no-nonsense take on Zen check out The Zennist
If you haven't already picked up [A Manual for Creating Atheists] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LKBT0MC/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1), I'd recommend it. It covers some ways to have these discussions that aren't particularly aggressive or "preachy", if you're worried about that.
[Anthony Magnabosco] (https://www.youtube.com/user/magnabosco210) has an entire channel dedicated to videos of him using these techniques. Some of them are quite interesting.
>What's the difference between things like street epistemology and street preachers?
The difference is that the former is a reasonable, polite, discussion with their permission and the latter is screaming, ranting, bullshitting, and public disturbance with nobody's permission.
If you aren't comfortable hitting the streets and having conversations with strangers like Anthony, just familiarize yourself with the techniques and use them in your own personal discussions when people you know are willing and comfortable with it.
> In case some don't know, Religious-traditional Jew or not a Jew is still a Jew forever, that's what the covenant is about,
I recognize this point of view, though I do not necessarily subscribe to it myself. I say "necessarily", because I'm not intrinsically opposed to the idea either, but I suspect I use these terms quite differently from you.
>but I understand you got the impression i a speaking from a religious point of view because many Christians see Christianity as a faith in Jesus and religion, these seals mix some gospel stuff too which does not work with Judaism, nit even messianic texts.
Again, it's a lot more helpful to describe my outlook on faith as pragmatheism than anything else. I believe in what works. From this point of view, there's no difficulty in syncretizing various traditions even though their original adherents wouldn't be able to make it work like that for themselves. To each his own.
> It may upset some rabbis and provoke curiosity if they see anyone sharing what iam with other nations who may be seeking to use the light from the Jewish nation to bond, communicate and pack with unseen beings hashem banished during creation billions of years ago,
I'm very happy that you're willing to have this conversation, and I hope the downvotes won't put you off. Our perspectives may vary, but we've got plenty to learn from each other, and I wish I could be more helpful in answering your questions.
> Th g-d of Israel is one and everyone's g-d and creator, those who use hashems names to conjure or invoke unseen beings who where banished are using the names in vain, especially if they are Christian and no way around during solomons time, it would mean a pagan is trying to trick hashem or the spirit into a service., and it was the Arabs who wrote stories about Solomon and his ring blending it all with Arabian nights, the gienie in the bottle etc, Arabs believe these spirits get burned for coming near a living person (especially ones thousand of years old) and so they will only do so as long as that person proves them they lower the grace of hashem, his angels and names to their level, some times even mocking, sacrificing something or sharing their own blood to pack or connect with them.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm taking the Holy Names in vain through my practices, but I'm not worried about it. My approach to these names and the Hebrew alphabet is quite Hermetic (or Chicken-ish, if you will), and they work just fine without the dogmatic framework of Judaism. This video gives a good intro to the perspectives I'm describing, please forgive the blatant heresy.
> But since they are banished it's called praying using hashems name in vain.
> But if your a Jew you talk to hashem and ask permission which is how it should be done, that's the point of the names of hashem, but I guess depending on what someone is asking it's gonna be hard to go that route,
>
> Anyway, so the Latin text and other esoteric writing on Solomon's seals was contributed by who?
I wish I could answer your final question. I believe the texts are traced back to the 1500s, but I'm in no way sure. There are people frequenting this subreddit that are way better versed in the Solomonic tradition than I am, Here's hoping some of them will chime in.
^^Paging ^^dr. ^^/u/Lucifereus!
If you really want to dig into this buy a Thoth Tarot deck, Crowley's book, and probably also Duquette's book to give you a good primer on Crowley.
Modern Tarot decks are visual representations of the Tree Of Life because almost all modern decks are based on either the Rider-Waite-Smith deck or the Thoth Deck. Waite and Crowley were members of the Hermetic Order Of The Golden Dawn which used the tarot as a tool for learning Kaballah(among other things). I'm suggesting the Thoth because it's better in almost every way and you will really appreciate the artwork. The small cards are the sephiroths (ace=kether, 2=chokmah... 10=malkuth, the suit of wands represents the tree of life in the kabbalistic world of atziluth(the classical element fire and the first Yod in the Tetragrammaton) etc...) and the major arcana represent the 22 paths between the sephiroths(Atu 0 The Fool connects Kether and Chokhmah, Atu 1 The Magus connect Kether and Binah, etc...). Here is some of the artwork The Magus, The Universe, The Ace Of Cups. The cards will give you more to meditate on then you could possibly get through in a single lifetime.
Also Malkuth means Kingdom and is related to the physical world. The Knowledge and Conversation Of The Holy Guardian Angel is attributed Tipheret.
I'm glad to see some conversation about the occult on here. I don't think anyone would argue that all occult and mystical practices arise from the type of shamanism the people in this forum practice. The two types of approaches go great together whether you are into Kabballah, Buddhism, Daoism, or any other system.
The Tree Of Life is just a map created by people who have been there before. It might be fun to just storm off into the wilderness without knowing where you are going, but your chances of finding something interesting will increase greatly with the help. I've had great luck performing a little ritual where I get into a trance, take a hit of hash, invoke one of the cards, and experience it's energy. It's much more powerful than just taking a drug to see what will happen and all kinds of interesting synchronicities will start appearing in your life.
Good luck! If you have any questions I can try to answer them.
Easily the most outstanding translation of them all is the Muhammad Asad (Leopold Weiss) translation of the Quran. It can be found here
After that I'd have to say Allamah Noorruddin's translation here. Excellent translation. And as a book itself, probably the best. Leather bound. It's something to pass on to children and read many times.
After that I prefer Arberry's translation. He was a Cambridge linguist. He was non-muslim, but he had excellent command of the language.
Following that I prefer Mohammad Marmaduke Pickthall's translation. He was one of the first English muslims. Converted, learnt the language, translated it.
After that I'd go with Yusuf Ali, an Indian-born muslim with a western education. For some odd reason, his translation and Shakir's translation are the 2 most common ones, although easily out done by Muhammad Asad's. Asad was born Leopold Weiss, a Polish Jew. He moved to the middle east, spent time with the bedouin, learnt the language, and created an utterly brilliant translation that I've linked to.
EDIT: Just a note on myself. I've read about 5 english translations. I would avoid the Sahih International, as well as the Shakir one. They are influenced too much by the Saudi authorities. I've skimmed through Haleem's version, which others have mentioned here. It seemed really good. But go with Asad, you won't regret it.
You can't force someone to change their mind, but there are actually some methods for helping them look at their beliefs that are better than nothing.
The book A Manual for Creating Atheists demonstrates some of those methods.
Much like you, I've also recently developed a strong interest in Levinas. I've yet to read him, though, so please take that into account when considering my recommendations.
I recently asked some of my professors and a friend of mine who wrote his master's thesis on Levinas to help me out with getting started. This is what they recommended:
I'm not too knowledgeable of Husserl, so all I can really recommend from him is the Cartesian Meditations, which sort of serves as an introduction to Husserl's own method of phenomenology.
For Heidegger, the most important work in this regard is certainly Being and Time. If you have the time, I recommend picking up the Basic Writings and reading through most of it.
On a final note, Levinas was steeped within the Jewish intellectual tradition. Jewish philosophers often emphasize the role of community and social contextuality in general. It might serve you well to read works such as Martin Buber's I and Thou and Gabriel Marcel's Being and Having.
EDIT: Another good compliment to Levinas is Maurice Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception.
I don't view the expression that gods are, essentially, Santa Claus for adults to be a sarcastic or negative viewpoint. That said, maybe you'd enjoy Good without God by an author who seems to share your viewpoint.
>more about how living peacefully without it is possible.
The thing is, we don't have any problem living peacefully. It's not something we have to learn. Maybe you need a book about recovering from religion. Try googling for that in conjunction with your specific religion.
You might enjoy atheism parenting books because, in a way (and I don't mean this to be insulting), you're a bit like a child to be believing in fairy tales, so it might be instructive for you to see how children are taught about moral behavior, finding purpose in life, etc.
Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion
Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief
I would recommend staying away from the polemics. Authors like Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris all have books worth reading, but not really if you want a primer on atheistic alternatives in the areas of worldview, ethics, etc. I will say that Dawkins's earlier works on science would be good, but God Delusion is not an exposition of an atheistic worldview, but rather an attack on religion, and a messy, at times ignorant and oversimplified one at that (I bet I'll get crucified for saying that). As one religious studies student to another, it is a book that gets awfully frustrating every time you realize that he has a horrible grasp of the relevant data.
Books that would be really great to read:
George H. Smith's Atheism: The Case Against God is an approachable critique of some of the more popular arguments for God's existence.
Julian Baggini's Atheism: A Brief Insight is a really good and thorough survey of the explanation, arguments, history, and ethics of atheism.
Greg Epstein's Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe really gets into where someone goes once he/she has already concluded that God doesn't exist. He looks at how one builds a nonreligious life of meaning. Epstein is definitely in the "friendly atheist" category. As the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard (strange, oxymoronic titles aside) he has done a great deal of work with the Pluralism Project in their School of Divinity. He has even worked with inter-religious groups like the InterFaith Youth Core.
A long, but very much worth the time and highly recommended book is Jennifer Michael Hecht's Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson. In it, she goes very thoroughly through the long history of religious skepticism. She looks at the lives and questions of philosophers, scientists, poets, politicians, even some religious figures who have gone through the "dark night of the soul." This is a book that I think every atheist should read to learn that religious folks aren't the only ones with a long and storied tradition. It is a good grounding in history for secularists.
Alternative Title
The reviews are a total riot.
https://www.amazon.com/Helping-Retarded-Know-H-R-Hahn/product-reviews/0570063507
I see this book recommended pretty often, and it's the book I initially picked up. It was a very enjoyable read in very understandable vernacular. I know you're asking for something quick, and a book might not be it, but I mostly read this on my lunch breaks. It was nice to have little bits at a time to mull over through my day.
Books I like The God Delusion myself. That said, I think the best work on Atheism from a philosophical justification is probably Atheism: A Philosophical Justification by Michael Martin. I also like his book The Case Against Christianity.
I could get into this topic down and dirty the best of anyone from /r/Atheism if I really wanted too. But I normally just stick to Isaac Asimov and Stephen Fry.
> Freemasonry for Dummies
That
https://www.amazon.com/Freemasons-Dummies-Christopher-Hodapp/dp/1118412087/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485737448&sr=8-1&keywords=Freemasonry+for+Dummies
I would also recommend that you check out some channels around this.
The Round Table
https://www.youtube.com/user/MasonicRoundtable
What is a mason
https://www.youtube.com/user/OneFreemason
There is a few others. But, I don't know any other active ones. I was going to make a channel on it, but not many people are looking for that type of content. So it's not profitable enough for the amount of time it would take to keep up a channel like that.
I would start by reading Freemasons for Dummies. It will give you some great background on the Fraternity. You can also check out The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry. Both have just been updated and in their second editions.
I have never personally experienced any derision for being a Mason but I know other Masons who have. At some point, it's impossible to debate those who have developed a Anti-Masonic stance.
I HAVE THE ANSWER!!
Sorry, got excited there. The single best book I've ever read on evolution (and I've read a few) is Finding Darwin's God by Dr. Kenneth Miller, premier biologist, and devout Catholic.
He makes a very compelling (and surprising) argument that religious faith and evolution are not mutually exclusive, and states even that religion is strengthened by science. Richard Dawkins recommended it as the most concise explanation of evolution he's ever read, and he's flamingly anti-religious.
Edit: Stupid mistake.
Why is this book not on the list!?!?!
Before I start answering your questions, I want to point out that you are pretty fixated on magic in your questions. I think it should be noted that magic, while it does have a relationship with paganism and some pagan traditions use it very heavily, is separate and distinct from the religious practices of paganism. Not all pagan traditions practice magic and its debatable that this sub is meant for the the discussion of the religious aspects of paganism rather than discussion of magic. You should by all means feel welcome to seek information about paganism here, but if magic is what you are interested in, you might have more luck asking in more magic oriented subs like r/occult or subs like r/Wicca or /r/witchcraft that cater specifically to the traditions that do use magic. I should also mention that I'm by no means an expert on paganism or magic, but I know a thing or two about a thing or two. On to the answers!
Magick is for all, I would recommend working on the kabbalah for a start, or reading the liber 4, not necessarily in that order, maybe try liber 4 and then A Garden of Pomegranates by Israel Rgardie and Mystical Kabbalah by Dion Fortune. The Hardcover edition of Liber 4 is a great edition. I have it and it is amazing, and not as complex as most of his writings. This book has a lot of appendixes too, that helps. Having the Thoth Tarot deck and the Book of Thoth and studying its correspondencies with the tree of life is very helpful too.
Fascinating readings anyway.
About what he is in relation to mankind, better judge yourself from his writings.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Thoth-Egyptians-Equinox/dp/0877282684/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_z
http://www.amazon.com/Thoth-Tarot-Deck-Aleister-Crowley/dp/1572815108/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422560601&sr=1-1&keywords=thoth+tarot+deck
http://www.amazon.com/Magick-Liber-ABA-Book-4/dp/0877289190/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422560336&sr=1-2&keywords=magick
http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Pomegranates-Skrying-Tree-Life/dp/1567181414
http://www.amazon.com/Mystical-Qabalah-Dion-Fortune/dp/1578631505/ref=pd_sim_b_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=0TNF7RPG3Y67DX4G00QH
Hey, I've never commented or anything in this sub, but your post caught my eye. I (like many redditors) consider myself a member of the skeptics community, and I mostly subscribe to this sub b/c these stories are fun to read around halloween time. The one book that I cannot recommend highly enough is James Randi's "Flim Flam". Randi is kinda considered the grandfather of the modern skeptic movement, he's an awesome dude, super nice, super funny, super smart, and this book does a great job of explaining all kinds of popular superstition from psychics to alternative healing. here's the link to the book on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Flim-Flam-Psychics-Unicorns-Other-Delusions/dp/0879751983/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373087973&sr=1-1
but also you can check out his site randi.org or watch some of his youtube videos. Penn and Teller's show "Bullshit" also covers a lot of these topics, videos of which are also on youtube. I'm actually very much into these topics so let me know if you have any other questions or anything.
Cheers
Discussion between an astrophysicist and Buddhist monk who originally trained in molecular biology (someone also once termed "the happiest man in the world" by the British tabloids): The Quantum and the Lotus
I'd recommend checking out general "energy work" stuff. This book is one of the best I've ever found:
https://www.amazon.com/Astral-Dynamics-Out-Body-Experiences/dp/1571746161/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=astral+dynamics&qid=1572989589&sr=8-1
Unfortunately, I haven't done any of these yet. I'm still learning but have been on the verge of having my first astral projection, which I believe is close.
If you do a bunch of searches within this subreddit, you'll see plenty of people writing about their experiences and such, traveling to other locations on earth, going to different planets, etc.
There is one author/APer, Edgar Cayce, also known as the sleeping prophet. He allegedly observed Jesus on several different occassions during his APs. He also made some prophecies about the future as well. What they are and what he claimed I'm not sure yet. I haven't started reading any of his books yet but I'll get there eventually.
I'm currently reading Robert Bruce's book, "Astral Dynamics," which helps you learn his methods. Just recently trying out his suggested light trance work, I believe I was on the verge of having my first ever astral sight. Sadly, I got distracted by the loss of my meditation music and that my closed eyelids were getting brighter even though my room was as dark as I could make it for 11:30 am. If you're curious about learning, I highly recommend the book.
I mentioned above I'm still learning but I've only been at it for about 2+ months now. I believe I've picked it up rather quickly but I tend to do that with anything. My initial process of trying to AP was very chaotic with no focus. I found a YouTuber I like that helped me understand the process, in a scientific method. Picking up the above book by Bruce has truly expanded my understanding. It's not hard to do but just like anything, it takes intent, commitment, patience, and practice. You can check the majority of my comments by clicking my name to see the links that I lead most people back too.
Any other questions, I'd be extremely happy to answer! :)
It's easiest to think of the astral plane as a real place, lower levels of which roughly correspond to our physical plane (while even lower levels could correspond to some people's ideas of 'hell'), while other higher aspects can be like alternate realms/worlds. When you sleep, a part of you often floats above your physical body like a boat tied in the harbor. If you train yourself to see through that floating astral body, you can do 'astral work' i.e. have a presence in the land of dreams, and then see just how real that land can truly be, especially around the 'real-time zone' (in the part that corresponds to the physical world you know).
Because I've dealt with spirits for years, I would say that what you experienced was an astral encounter with helpful spirits, the results of which became apparent after you woke up. It's not uncommon to become suddenly more aware while dreaming and then have a dream turn into a fully conscious astral event. I've been pulled out many times by spirits and human mentors. Welcome to our world! It only gets weirder and more fascinating from here. ;)
Edit: Buy or download this book. It will tell you everything you need to know.
Its one of the best psychological toolkits available for diagnosing and analytical problem solving.
I would recommend this book: The Psychedelic Explorers Guide
Crowley's book is not an easy starting point, more of a reference work. As usual, Lon Milo Duquette offers a much easier starting point.
But it is also worth keeping in mind that "the occult" isn't really a thing. There are plenty of hidden things out there, and there are plenty of techniques for making sense and nonsense of the clues that may or may not point there. But there isn't a grand hidden conspiracy of great knowledgable masters who communicate via arcane symbols and snatch aircraft out of the sky.
Or is there?
Personally speaking, I use the Crowley Thoth deck. You are probably on the right track in regards to dumping the R-W deck for this colossus of Tarot. It is a bit intimidating to get all the symbols and their meanings in the Thoth deck but hang in there. Should you need any help along the way, there is this book-
http://www.amazon.ca/Understanding-Aleister-Crowleys-Thoth-Tarot/dp/1578632765
As well as other resources. So far as how it all relates, I think it relates somewhat nicely. There is still debate as to how the Tarot Cards got lumped together with the Tree of Life, but I'm not going to get into that. For me, I found the relation to the Paths a very helpful one. The meanings/relationship to the Tree of Life and the elements, from the Tarot are yours to interpret, yours to discover and make your own. This is what is both maddening and wonderful about the Tarot. In many ways, it's rudderless nature allows for the person working with it to make up the story for themselves And there's the beauty! No need to worry about forcing meaning when it is not relevant. If it feels relevant to you, meaningful to you, go for it. That's magic.
I'll give a quick example. To me, Tiphereth/Beauty is the highest human point on the Tree of life. Before that we have Netzach/Victory. Connecting the two is path 24 Death- which for all intents and purposes is Change. How do I connect these? Again, to me Netzach is a highly emotional Sephiroth, it's chief gods being that of Love- Venus, Aphrodite, etc. Love prompts one to feel a great deal of emotions, some good and some bad and some very very bad. This is why I equate it to this Sephiroth, among other reasons. Alright, so this isn't a short example but bear with me. So, how does one get to the higher Sephiroth Tiphereth? Death. Change. Killing those lower base things within us that hold us back. All the petty emotions; the ones that sully the name of love. Cut 'em down. Conquer your emotions, claim Victory over them. Then, one can get to a place of greater understanding; A place of Beauty- Tiphereth. Crowley, when writing about this card put it this way- 'The Universe is Change; every Change is the effect of an Act of Love; all Acts of Love contain Pure Joy. Die daily!'
To me, this makes sense. It carries meaning.
Hope this helps.
You may find Leigh Brasington's instructions on jhana practice to be of some help. Here's a link to his book.
I recommend reading Leigh Brasington's Right Concentration: A Practical Guide To The Jhanas
I never consistently reached jhana 1 before i realized that 'watching the breath' doesn't mean manually breathing and paying attention to it. You let your body breathe the way it does when you're doing other things, but watch it.
I extra strongly suggest reading:
If you read these two books it will 100% without any doubt get you to jhana, zero questions, zero gimmicks. The fruit of reading these two for me is indescribable, I genuinely cannot communicate how big the payoff on this is.
This is the best Quran for an english speaker, as far as I’m concerned.
It has everything you need and more.
https://www.amazon.com/Message-Quran-revealed-accompanied-transliteration/dp/1904510353
Although there are a lot of people recommending Ibn Kathir, the best translation with a complete set of footnotes that works for myself and a lot of non-Muslims are by Muhammad Asad. Here's are some very helpful reviews on the book: link
Here's a link to the copy at Amazon: link
That's just my opinion if you want as much historical information and context of revelation and related footnotes as possible, this book does an amazing job. Also, as a graphic designer I have to commend the publisher on their artwork and organization as well :)
"The Study Qur'an" cites multiple tafsir, which I quite like.
The problem is that many of the more readily available tafsir are more conservative, or have a wahabi bend to them, which can give you a false impression that all Muslims agree with certain statements. The Hilali-Khan translation/tafsir is just a summarized version of Ibn Kathir, which is a Salafist interpretation. (Again, I urge that anyone study tafsir from multiple schools of thought, and I am not bashing any one sect, it's just that there are many, many, many interpretations of the text and a knowledge of more than one is beneficial.)
Yusuf Ali's commentary is good, and in fact his Qur'an was the gold standard for the last 100 years in English. It's probably a bit old fashioned for most, though.
Muhammad Assad's is very good. Extremely good, and the one 90% of people would reccomend, and one you should just get anyway. Though some of his commentary is not inline with Islamic thought (his views on Jesus, for example, are controversial in general), but you should read any tafsir with a grain of salt.
Ma'ariful Qur'an is an excellent modern tafsir. Usmani was a Hanbali or Hanafi, I believe, but manages to be neutral and quite moderate in his commentary. The cost of the full 8 volume set is a bit much, but you can get a cheap version from India for a low price if you don't mind imperfect binding (I found all 8 volumes in a local shop for around 60$ CAD, which is awesome.).
If you want to read an AMAZING Shi'a commentary (you likely are not Shi'a, but still.....people should understand multiple views on any topic whether or not you agree), then Tafsir al-Mizan is incredible. It's not 100% translated into English yet, but it is available for free online. Whether Shi'a or Sunni, I think it can be agreed that Muhammad Husayn at-Tabataba'i was a great scholar.
The only work in English which includes multiple tafsir from multiple schools and multiple writers is the Study Qur'an, and it is insanely exhaustive, listing all of the sources and even telling the reader where to go and read most of the tafsir cited on the internet. It's amazing. Spend the money and also buy some "Bible highlighters" (the kind that work on thin pages). (I have been using a regular Staples brand "Hype!" highlighter and it doesn't bleed through, though, so the pages are quite tough despite being thin. Pen doesn't go through either, as I have been underlining quite a lot and have had no problems, but I would still recommend a .005 fine line marker just in case.]
If you are a cheapskate, go to altafsir.org, which is what "The Study Qur'an" advises also. You can either search for individual verses and pull up different classical tafsir for that verse, or just download/read a PDF of an entire tafsir if you prefer. Tafsir al-Jalalayn is, as I understand, the most universally used in teaching Qur'an because it is short, and only provides the context of revelation for verses. You may want more in-depth tafsir, but al-Jalalayn has been the jumping off point for Muslims for 500 years. And is available on altafsir.
tl;dr - "The Study Qur'an"
Other posters are correct, feel free to read the book front to back. A Muslim friend of mine recommended to me The Message of the Qur'an it's a very good modern translation into English and has an extensive scholarly apparatus and footnotes. It is not a "readers" copy, it's intended for serious academic study. I also bought The Book of Hadith at the same time.
A few points worth keeping in mind:
I hope this helps. Good luck wrapping your mind around the texts.
Biocentrism. It's a really interesting look at how the universe is shaped by consciousness and the scientific search for the meaning of life http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1935251740?pc_redir=1396332448&robot_redir=1
i'm not suggesting any course of action but i understand mushrooms are easy to grow at home after a certain learning curve (shroomery.org has lots of info on this), and trichocereus pachanoi, a mescaline-laden cactus frequently used in ceremonies, can be purchased on ebay, flourishes in gardens all over california, and can be prepared easily on a stovetop. both of these offer an experience nearly identical to lsd (though experienced psychonauts can tell the difference in much the same way experienced marijuana users can tell the difference between cannabis strains) and avoid the whole "drug trade" thing. it's still illegal to do unfortunately so i'm not recommending it, just passing on readily available information i've read.
if you'd like to know more about the therapeutic use of psychedelics i would highly recommend reading the psychedelic explorer's guide, by james fadiman www.amazon.com/kindle-store/dp/B0051OHLVG
Psychedelic therapy
The "Why" Book: Pollan's How to Change Your Mind
The "What" Book: MAPS's A Manual for MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy in the Treatment of PTSD (alternatives would be this treatment protocol from Phase 2 MDMA trials and Grof's LSD Psychotherapy)
The "How" Book: R. Coleman's Psychedelic Psychotherapy: A User-friendly Guide for Psychedelic Drug-assisted Psychotherapy (the runner up would be Fadiman's The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide)
----
X-posted from this post on the EA forum: Cash prizes for the best arguments against psychedelics being an EA cause area
You Need:
The Psychedelic Explorers Guide by Dr. James Radioman
The book outlines exactly what you should do for a therapeutic session, with directions for both the subject and the guide. It was written by Doctors who practiced psychedelic therapy (including MDMA) before it was made illegal.
I highly recommend this for what you're trying to do.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051OHLVG?btkr=1
Consequences in today's world are so far reaching (e.g. financial collapses, power of military weapons and forces, environmental degradation) that if we fail to have a revolution in human cognition, we may hit a major reset button for civilization.
As /u/maga-bigly mentioned, The Closing of the American Mind describes the start of this problem 50+ years ago when moral relativism made it immoral to criticize the ideas of others, effectively shutting down discussions (i.e. closing minds) and coddling those who FELT offended.
The Righteous Mind gives great insight into just how biased all of us are (libs, conservatives, and everyone in between) and how our inability to seek out and identify our own biases can doom us.
A Manual for Creating Atheists, poorly named by the publisher (should be called "Intro to Street Epistemology"), is a great book on methods to get people to contradict themselves, in turn identify their own biases, and hopefully create the critical thinkers necessary to achieve a cognitive revolution in what we actually know, what we don't know, and reliable heuristics for finding out.
Check out this guy's channel. He employs methods taught by Peter Boghossian in his book A Manual for Creating Atheists. Both these guys have a gentle, thoughtful Socratic approach that seems to be relatively successful.
> I have tried to remove profanity and barbed phrases like "imaginary friend" from my conversations. I have practiced listening for much longer periods of time and I even focus on my tonality, sometimes hoping I come across as thoughtful and reassuring, but... I think I'm missing some things.
It's definitely not easy. Simply identifying yourself as an atheist is offensive to some people. It's no different than saying "Hi, I think you're deluded."
When you get past the anger phase, check out: A Manual for Creating Atheists by Peter Boghossian
Or:
A Manual for Creating Atheists https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LKBT0MC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_V5F2DbC6SVS4K
Finding Darwin's God by Kenneth Miller is THE book to read on this topic. In the first half of the book, he talks about how all creationism versions (young earth, old earth and irreducible complexity) are not only bunk, but actually bad theology. Then in the second half he goes on the explain how evolution makes perfect sense given a God who gives us free will. In the end, I felt like evolution was actually proof for God, not against. Really, anyone with an interest in this topic should read this book. Amazon Link
Finding Darwin's God was pretty good.
Here you go.
This too.
And this one is probably most important.
FYI, I was specifically told not to use the Stambaugh English translation of Being and Time, the one you linked to.
Anyways, in my edition the chapter is "How the worldly character of the environment announces itself in entities within-the-world."
The sentence you pick out is in bold, here's the surrounding paragraph for context, as I think it will help you see what Heidegger is saying: "To the everydayness of Being-in-the-world there belong certain modes of concern. These permit the entities with which we concern ourselves to be encountered in such a way that the worldly character of what is within-the-world comes to the the fore. When we concern ourselves with something, the entities which are most closely ready-to-hand may be met as something unusuable, not properly adapted for the use we have decided upon."
This comes from the the Macquarrie and Robinson edition which was recently reprinted.
Good without God by Harvard Humanist Chaplain Greg Epstein is a great read to help you realize the inherent good and meaning in life without the need of a deity.
EDIT: Also The Portable Atheist by Christopher Hitchens.
I found Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions to be useful when I was just starting out.
Paganism: An Introduction to Earth- Centered Religions https://www.amazon.com/dp/0738702226/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_6P6KDbP3YDEE4
It will ask you what you believe and lead you through the questions.
> And does anyone know which meanings Crowley personally ascribed to the cards?
Check out the Book of Thoth.
The Thoth Tarot is special in that its genesis in symbolism and meaning is very well documented through the letters Crowley and Harris wrote during its creation, the Book of Thoth itself and by Crowley's other works which shed light on what he thought about some aspects of the Tarot and its various correspondences. Nonetheless reading the cards is a matter of interpretation. Individual, personal interpretation. You might have wondered why the chapter with the divinatory meanings of the cards in Lon's Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot is so short compared to the rest of the book. It's because these are Lon's interpretations, not yours or any kind of objective truths. Get to know the cards by heart, check out the correspondences on the Tree of Life and from astrology and alchemy, the connections between them and the symbolism depicted in the images. Of course be inspired by the interpretations of others, but do not consider these as truths. Rather try to reconcile the apparent contradictions in different interpretations and find your own way to read their message.
There's a reason why the cards are images, not text. They speak at a intuitive, asthetic level to us, beyond rationality, and they speak directly to you.
Bad Science by Ben Goldacre, Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan for general science.
Stuff by James Randi, Michael Shermer for general stuff about new age crap.
The Panic Virus by Seth Mnookin and Deadly Choices by Paul Offit on the Anti-Vaccination movement.
Damned Lies and Statistics by Joel Best and How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff (Also see How to Lie with Maps by Mark Monomonier for a similar subject) for questioning stats and graphics used in the news.
Is there anything specifically you're interested in?
James Randi, master of such topics.
http://www.amazon.com/Flim-Flam-Psychics-Unicorns-Other-Delusions/dp/0879751983/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1
Not about the topics, but on how people get scammed into them.
http://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Robert-Cialdini/dp/0688128165
Wow, I just started watching and one of his intro slides is, "There's lots of fiction about this stuff in movies, so there must be something to it." I can't imagine that he's going to use that as some sort of actual point, but it's kinda sad to see it even brought up...
Edti: Hrm... he's gone on to special pleading and a number of other fallacies.
I feel like a lot of this was covered in Flim Flam and elsewhere. I don't know enough about the specific stuff he's presenting as evidence to comment. It's interesting, but I'd have to look a lot further to be convinced.
You might enjoy this book: https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Lotus-Journey-Frontiers-Buddhism/dp/1400080797
It's a conversation between a Buddhist monk and an astrophysicist. Science and spirit.
Oh! In case you're interested, check out The Quantum and the Lotus, by Matthieu Ricard and Trinh Xuan Thuan.
"Matthieu Ricard trained as a molecular biologist, working in the lab of a Nobel prize—winning scientist, but when he read some Buddhist philosophy, he became drawn to Buddhism. Eventually he left his life in science to study with Tibetan teachers, and he is now a Buddhist monk and translator for the Dalai Lama, living in the Shechen monastery near Kathmandu in Nepal. Trinh Thuan was born into a Buddhist family in Vietnam but became intrigued by the explosion of discoveries in astronomy during the 1960s. He made his way to the prestigious California Institute of Technology to study with some of the biggest names in the field and is now an acclaimed astrophysicist and specialist on how the galaxies formed.
When Matthieu Ricard and Trinh Thuan met at an academic conference in the summer of 1997, they began discussing the many remarkable connections between the teachings of Buddhism and the findings of recent science."
https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Lotus-Journey-Frontiers-Buddhism/dp/1400080797
SO MANY!
["Lies my Teacher Told Me"] (http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0743296281) by James Loewen. This is about how the world really works, basically. It's all about history and politics and economics and how world powers interact with each other and their own population. It's incredibly eye-opening and will make you understand why everything is the way it is today! It's also ridiculously fun to read :D
["The Quantum and the Lotus by"] (http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Lotus-Journey-Frontiers-Buddhism/dp/1400080797/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383171898&sr=1-1&keywords=the+quantum+and+the+lotus) by Matthieu Ricard and Trinh Xuan Thuan. This is a super fascinating read! It's actually a transcribed conversation between a Buddhist who became a quantum physicist and a physicist who left science and became a Buddhist! It's this AMAZING look into complicated science and it's explained in such simple terms anyone can understand it. But beyond that, it's this really fascinating glimpse into a world where science and spirituality can co-exist. It's like science explaining spirituality, or spirituality giving a wholesome quality to science. It's just so unique and amazing!
["The Power of Myth"] (http://www.amazon.com/Power-Myth-Joseph-Campbell/dp/0385418868/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383172215&sr=1-3&keywords=joseph+campbell) by Joseph Campbell. If you can, read EVERYTHING by this guy that you can get your hands on! This book is especially poignant because it's addressing all of the aspects of our modern day society, from religion to gangs to marriage, even education. It is incredibly powerful and eye-opening and explains so much about the way we work as humans and the way the individual interacts with society. Plus, you'll learn a shit ton about mythology that you never knew before! And you'll be looking at mythology from a ridiculously profound perspective that I've never seen anyone else address before.
I can give you more if you tell me what you're interested in learning more about :)
EDIT: Typos.
While it's good to spend that time alone learning about your self, ridding your self of negativity, etc. that time alone means nothing if you cannot find how it translates in a group setting.
>>Its not that I don't want to engage with people, but the way most people engage in conversation, constantly adjusting their facial muscles, making appropriate noises "Ohh!", these things make it difficult for me to really appreciate the content of a conversation. I would rather listen dispassionately to a message someone has to deliver and then respond consciously. I do not care for non-conscious interacti
There are times for both. What you will learn is to eventually meld into either situation. It's not about what you think is better. It's about being contextually aware. You can do things like put your self in more situations where certain conversations happen but even if you, say moved to a commune in the middle of nowhere, eventually people would want to PLAY and do something other than talk deeply about things.
>>If I refuse to turn off my conscious mind and allow my unconscious to run amok then I cannot "merge" or "mesh" into the group. Then I sit back and analyze. I analyze the group that forms. What they talk about, what they value, or more importantly what they don't talk about. Most conversation has nothing to do with communicating. Most conversation seems to be about bolstering our own ego's. Talking up our own achievements and talking down on other peoples achievements. From the perspective of increased awareness all of this just feels Alien to me, or maybe I'm the Alien.
But see, those are forms of communication. Everything is communication. Communication isn't reserved to certain forms of conversation. Silly faces are a form of communication. While talking up achievements, your peers are communicating their insecurities. An equanimous person will know how to be on their level while not compromising their sense of self like it seems you're fearing. You feeling alien, or starting from where you are, is just acknowledging unnecessary distance. You are right there with them and that's the perfect place to be. From where they are, as you describe them, they may need to have their hand held so as to be guided to where you are. Maybe it's not going to be you that does that for them so for your own sanity it might be best to find a group of friends that gets it. But just understand what is really happening.
>>I can either interact with people the way they want me to (down on their level) which depresses me just being down on that level. Or I can not interact with people and remain on my pedestal of expanded consciousness, which makes me feel conflicted.
Here's another thing.. You feel like you're above others because you feel like you have discovered something above and beyond them with your journeying as a psychonaut. This is not true. Being a psychonaut we must eventually learn to see spirit in everything. Everything you witness on a mushroom trip or while seated in meditation is just a reminder of what can be seen at any moment in time.
>>Which always brings me back, why do other people matter at all?
Other people matter simply because they exist. To matter is to materialize.
>>My whole universe of experience is only experienced by me. If I can achieve optimal happiness being completely secluded then that is what I should work towards achieving. I see now why people become hermits.
And why is that?
I think you would do good reading the book "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism" -> http://www.amazon.com/Cutting-Through-Spiritual-Materialism-Chogyam/dp/1570629579
Just started reading Chogyam Trungpa’s book Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, it speaks to this exact phenomenon. It’s great so far, I’d recommend it: https://www.amazon.com/Cutting-Through-Spiritual-Materialism-Chogyam/dp/1570629579
gonna share three books that deal with this, from less directly (at least initially) to most directly dealing with it:
​
1- Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
2- A Guide To The Huna Way
3- Oneness
​
#1 and #3 are reference books to come back to every decade or so.
#1 addresses in great depth and detail the psychological processes you're now beginning to deal with (consciously) and warns of the pits on the way not so much to 'show' you how to avoid them but to make you know that you're not alone at all with any of those feelings and inner processes. Specially so regarding your last sentence.
#2 and #3 are directly dealing with the time-less nature of Reality.
#2 presents the Huna's 'Higher Self' –the most timeless entity out there; the Huna presents a hard-to-miss way of actually experiencing that timelessness yourself (if it goes anything like it did with me).
#3 may seem too 'fringe' to some people; I know it would have me years ago. Still, give it a chance, ignoring anything that may not resonate at first. I did; then it was non-stop mindblowingness. And my stomach feels funny when I think of reading it again, like 'ooooh rollercoaster ahead!'
​
There is also Jung but you already know his work.
Last thing I want to share is (again maybe? if so, well my bad), I had come to such 'realizations' way before coming across any of these books or authors, it happened via 'journaling'; I write everyday, I've recently found out there's a thing called Narrative Therapy, this fused with my earlier routines of stream-of-consciousness writing and [Julia Cameron's] the Morning Pages, it's the way I have been 'journaling' all these years –a kind of fusion of them all. By doing this writing I was 'able' ('allowed') to become aware of this phenomenon. It sure fucked with my mind back then -at the very beginning, knowing nothing or no one into this- but ultimately it helped me discern what was (possibly) a synchronicity and what was entirely a fabrication of my mind.
​
Give some feedback if you ever do get into any of that.
https://www.amazon.com/Cutting-Spiritual-Materialism-Shambhala-Classics/dp/1570629579
I need to go mow my lawn unfortunately, but for start Ken Miller, an evolutionary biologist at Brown University is wonderfully smart and wrote a book on evolution and god. Was decent. But yeah, he would count as a brilliant guy I think. Google is your aid if you want more.
I have not read it but i've heard that Kenneth Millers Finding Darwin's God is really good. He is a catholic and was an expert witness in the Kitzmiller v. Dover case.
Here is a short snippet from his 2006 lecture on intelligent design: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi8FfMBYCkk
You can find the whole two hour lecture on youtube and i highly recommend it if you haven't seen it.
I'm a Mormon who believes in evolution. In fact, in a recent discussion on r/lds and from what I've seen in the majority of my conversations with other Mormons most of us do. Links to discussions [1](http://www.reddit.com/r/lds/comments/eiu9e/as_a_member_of_the_church_what_is_your_opinion_on/?sort=controversial
) and 2
We also have doctrines specific to Mormonism that seem to support evolutionary theory to me such as an un-determined period of actual time for the "days of creation" (creation may have taken place outside of time all together), in much of LDS specific scripture God created the world is replaced with God organized the world and that matter (and spirit) has always existed and cannot be created nor destroyed. More on Mormonism and Evolution here
My personal belief (read not church doctrine and pure speculation on my part) is that evolution was the mechanism that God used to create the world we live in. His role was in essence to guide the seemingly random chance of natural selection to make us and everything else what he wanted it to be. Thus religion answers the why question and science answers the how. For an overview on the Why read this. When everything was the way he wanted it to begin the test of man-kind he sent down the first spirit to inhabit a body created through evolution. Making Adam the first complete man with body and spirit.
An interesting read on all this is Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution. I disagree with the author on several theological points (he's catholic) but reading it helped me sort out what I thought God's role in evolution was.
Edit- An article about how evolution is taught at BYU Link
Well, I was a Jehovah's Witness until I was 24.
If you're serious about trying to get to them, the book that finally woke me up was Finding Darwin's God by Ken Miller. It's about evolution but since he's a nominal Catholic (and also head of Biology at Brown University) it isn't at all antagonistic toward religion (though it is insanely badass in shooting down all of the intelligent design arguments).
http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Darwins-God-Scientists-Evolution/dp/0060930497
That's only going to work if the person's faith is evidence-driven. As the old adage goes, you can't reason someone out of an idea that they didn't come to through reason.
This one's good for witnesses, too: http://www.amazon.com/Crisis-Conscience-Raymond-Franz/dp/0914675044
>I didn't know continental vs analytical terms are outdated.
Dated perhaps isn't the right term, but just know that they do have certain limits.
As for post-WWII philosophy, there's a lot, but I'm going to let you know that much of it can't be well-understood without a basic understanding of Heidegger, much of whose thought was pre-WWII. His best known work is Being and Time, but it's one of the most challenging texts in the western canon. For an easier introduction to prep you for it, I'd recommend some of his early lecture material, such as The Hermeneutics of Facticity and The History of the Concept of Time. This could just be me, but I've found his lectures to be generally easier than his primary texts. If you want to trace the development of his thought, much of which was post-WWII, the Basic Writings anthology has a number of essays by him. While nothing really eclipsed Being and Time, much of his later thought is still studied. I'd say the most significant work of his later career was his Contributions to Philosophy, which took the form of briefer aphorisms and anecdotes, more similar to Nietzsche in style, but still grounded in much of his own thought and terminology.
If you want to move away from Heidegger, some of the big texts would be Gadamer's Truth and Method (Gadamer was a student of Heidegger's, so the former's thought is very deeply influenced by the latter), Sartre's two texts Being and Nothingness and Existentialism is a Humanism (note the similarity to Sartre's title with Heidegger's Being and Time, and also note that Heidegger would respond rather critically to Sartre's Existentialism with an essay in the Basic Writings), and Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (a key feminist work heavily influenced by Sartre and Heidegger).
Beyond this my knowledge is a bit scattered, as I've only just completed undergrad. I really would recommend David West's text as a decent overview that will guide you in what the key texts are, as well as good secondary sources. I've not brought up Derrida, who was also huge, as well as Alain Badiou, Slavoj Zizek, Michel Foucault and Charles Taylor just to name a few. On top of those, there's a ton of pre-WWII stuff that's hugely important for understanding these thinkers, such as the ideas of Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Husserl, and the whole field of psychoanalysis (Freud, Jung and Lacan). Then there's postmodernism, postcolonialism, the various strands of feminism, and tons more. The more I type, the more I'm just reminding myself how little I know about this area (even though it's the area I'm most interested in).
Let me know if there's anything more you need to know or if you want to know a decent secondary source.
I wish I had more info for you. Hopefully someone else reading this can chime in. I can only recommend the [translation I read.] (https://www.amazon.com/Being-Harper-Perennial-Modern-Thought/dp/0061575593/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8), Macquarrie & Robinson. This is a more recent translation and I don't speak German. The classic version was the [Stambaugh] (https://www.amazon.com/Being-Time-Translation-Contemporary-Continental/dp/1438432763).
Those are the two main ones as far as I know. Once again, I'm sure there are people far better qualified to speak to this than me reading.
Good without God is a pretty good introduction to humanism. Good opener. If you want to branch out further you might also want to look into Stoicism ("All men are made one for another") and Epicurean philosophy as these are ancient versions of humanism.
My brother, I feel your pain and struggle. You are losing the only foundation you’ve known and are in free fall regarding your faith, or lack thereof. This struggle is actually good, but painful to go through.
I’m not qualified to tell you what to become, or to believe. That depends on your research and desire. I found solace through Humanism (as an agnostic atheist) and it’s not a sad grumpy existence at all. Others have channeled their faith into other religions. Sadly, others have transitioned to other cults, but that’s a different story by itself.
I highly recommend a book called Good Without God by Greg Epstein. I think it may clarify some things for you.
Maybe others can recommend resources for those inclined to remain faithful to the concept of a deity but in a healthier way.
Good Without God on Amazon
Bart Ehrman's books & videos are a great start for the accuracy of the Bible. He is very clear especially considering he's an academic. Forged would be the best one specifically about the accuracy of the Bible. His books are linked at his website: http://www.bartdehrman.com/books.htm
There are no historical documents of Jesus' life, only a few references to Christians from later documents. Nobody disputes that people believed in Jesus, so those don't really prove anything. It's clear that people believed in Thor and Zeus too. That doesn't mean a thing.
Whether faith is helpful or good, can't help you there. I think it's totally useless except to control sociopaths with low IQs.
For morality, check out Good without God: http://www.amazon.com/Good-Without-God-Billion-Nonreligious/dp/006167012X
or Sam Harris The Moral Landscape: http://www.samharris.org/the-moral-landscape
Science vs religion: that's kind of apples & oranges despite what believers keep saying. Science is a method of investigating hunches. Religion is subservience to an unproven deity.
How about the science of religion? Try Michael Shermer: The Science of Good and Evil: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805077693/ or The Believing Brain: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1250008808/ or Why We Believe Weird Things: http://www.amazon.com/People-Believe-Weird-Things-Pseudoscience/dp/0805070893/
Thanks for visiting. An unexamined belief system is not worth believing!
I love the amazon review http://www.amazon.com/Helping-Retarded-Know-H-R-Hahn/product-reviews/0570063507
First thought was: Don't all the retarded already know more than enough about god??
Then: oh....
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The reviews are great! Favorite is a satiric review which "20 of 22 people found the following review helpful".
I'm reading Paganism: An Introduction to Earth- Centered Religions. I like it so far, but I'm only at chapter two.
Sidebar and wiki, obviously. You might also want to try out a couple books and resources to get you started. I'm partial to Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions to give an overview of all of the various aspects of nature-based religions (so it covers Wicca, modern druidism, and other paths).
If you're looking for more of a magical introduction, though, Lisa Chamberlain's Wiccan series isn't abominable. "Wicca for Beginners" is a good read in particular if you're looking for more on specifically Wicca.
Be aware that there seem to be as many interpretations of the Wiccan path and magic practice overall as there are stars in the sky and so you'll run across people who will disagree/despise any book you pick up. Also, for many, Wicca is a religious practice, not just a magic path. (For me, magic and religion are deeply intertwined.) So it's not just "sorcery" or a magic path that you're going to be exploring--you'll also be learning about deities and spirits that many practitioners truly believe exist and should be respected/worshiped for magic to "work."
... and then you'll run across Wiccans who say the gods are allegorical and it's all just a symbolic way to think about cosmic energy. It runs the gamut.
So yeah, start there, and it ought to give you a pretty good foundation from which to continue your magical and spiritual explorations.
If a book appeals to you, I picked up this one recently. What's neat about it is that it has exercises in it such as going for a nature walk to connect with the current season, meditation to meet a deity, and so on. It serves as a good source of general pagan information while also giving you the tools to figure out what YOU believe.
For Atheism:
For Christianity:
I wouldn't. I'd just go to my bookshelf, and pull off something like this, where a philosophy of religion professor has done the work already. I'd also like to point out that all such philosophical proofs eventually hit an unbridgeable chasm. To get from something to the theist god who cares what you do with your reproductive organs requires personal revelation.
Some people have done a great job of attacking the arguments in this thread, but I don't really see the point of asking psbp123. None of the arguments, in the original form, are treated with much respect by current philosophers. My linked book thoroughly destroys the original versions, then tackles the best moderns versions put forth.
First and foremost, I strongly recommend you cross-post this to /r/askphilosophy (and probably also /r/philosophyofreligion) since they'll be much more qualified than here to suggest topics and lesson-plans.
Second, you should probably include the Leibnizian cosmological argument alongside the Kalam, since they are sufficiently different. There's plenty of good material out there on this: Pruss' article for the Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology (this book is a very good resource, see here for more chapters) is pretty definitive, but both he and Richard Gale have written stuff on this.
Third, I think you should use different atheistic arguments. Drop Russell's teapot: especially given your expected audience you should stick to positive arguments against the existence of God. Russell's teapot you can work in as a side comment that argues that if the negative case (i.e. refuting theistic arguments) succeeds then we should be atheists, but other wise leave it be. Better topics I think would be the Argument from Non-Belief (see also here) and Hume's argument against belief in miracles (I have a bunch of resources on this I can send you, but the original argument in Of Miracles is pretty short and is free online). You might want to read one of Mackie's The Miracle of Theism, Martin's Atheism: A Philosophical Justification or Oppy's Arguing About Gods for a good source of atheistic critiques and arguments.
What are you interested in? Wicca, candle magick, hermeticism and alchemy, Setianism, Qabalah, tarot, mythology, astrology, goetia, esoteric christianity? A little bit of everything?
My recommendation is to start with something you're really interested in and pick up that one thing. If you're interested in Crowley, then you might be interested in tarot. My suggestion is getting a simple book by a laymen's author like Amber Jayanti on the tarot. As you read the book, circle, highlight or write down (or add to a shopping list) sources to which that author refers - Jayanti may cite Paul Foster Case a lot. Once you read some Case books, then you'll start to see Crowley pop up. Pick up Lon Milo DuQuette's book on Crowley's Tarot. Then you can probably read Crowley's Book of Thoth.
My other advice is not to worry about not picking up every little detail of every book. You won't have the schema necessary for every small detail in every book, and part of reading in the occult is rediscovering the deeper meaning of something you thought you already knew, like a spiral upward.
93 - I would look in Book of Thoth for a lot of symbolism as well as, of course, 777. I can tell you that the Vesica Piscis is understood to be a feminine symbol, composed of two intersecting circles, forming the Yoni. It is usually 'balanced' by various 'masculine' symbols, often those of the cross or some form thereof, in or around it. That one is fairly obvious.
I completely agree with your comment.
The Thoth tarot is wonderfully deep, if you are also interested in studying the occult symbology.
If you prefer a gentler approach to learning, then other decks - especially R/W are a good starting point.
I only came to love the Thoth deck after using RW for tarot for several years, and, in addition, studying occult disciplines. And I read The Book of Thoth before I read "Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot"
Rider-Waite is a fantastic learning tarot, and far, far more powerful as a teaching deck than most others on the market today IMHO.
Freemasonry for Dummies was a huge help for me. Just skip the chapter on the degrees.
https://www.amazon.com/Freemasons-Dummies-Christopher-Hodapp/dp/1118412087
I would take a look at Claudy's Entered Apprentice Manual after you're initiated and as you work on your proficiency. It gives a bit of a historical perspective on what you went through along with a bit of review of what's taught in the lectures.
I'd also recommend reading /u/chodapp 's book at your leisure along with the Idiot's Guide.
https://www.amazon.com/Freemasons-Dummies-Christopher-Hodapp/dp/1118412087/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3VU815UWFMKD4&keywords=freemason&qid=1555553244&s=gateway&sprefix=freemas%2Caps%2C197&sr=8-4
Just started it myself.
Best place for you to look at would be the Lodge he was a member of. They'd likely be able to tell you a TON of information about him and there may be people there that were friends with him that could tell you tons of stories.
32nd degree means he was a member of the Scottish Rite and attained that degree within that body. Scottish Rite is an appendant body, you have to be a 3rd Degree Master Mason to join it. 3rd Degree is the highest degree, all the other degrees just "branch out" so to speak. I'd recommend hitting up a local Barnes & Noble or book store and check out this book Freemasonry for Dummies written by Bro Chris Hodapp, or if you want you can buy it. It's got a lot of great info, more than we could probably address here.
Any one of these books should ameliorate your fears.
Failing that, he really can tell you everything you want to know about what he's been through/doing apart from the secrets, which are just a couple of words and salutes.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quantum-Lotus-Frontiers-Buddhism/dp/1400080797
I was going off memoryl The quantum and the lotus. Also, this is a good read too.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Universe-Single-Atom-Spirituality/dp/0767920813/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=0F1EZMS2M1EFEE0YXR46
They are both extremely good reads.
Perhaps I should have said "the way the mind works". True they may not have made direct statements about the biology of the brain, but many sutra's were written about the way the mind functions for sure. As for how it relates to modern science a good start is the book Zen and the Brain by James Austin http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Brain-Understanding-Meditation-Consciousness/dp/0262511096. Theres also the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds http://www.investigatinghealthyminds.org/ which has some very useful info. Another good example is this book http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Lotus-Journey-Frontiers-Buddhism/dp/1400080797/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382480784&sr=1-1&keywords=quantum+lotus
may not be the original place he wrote this, but I know I read it in here as well.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quantum-Lotus-Frontiers-Buddhism/dp/1400080797/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333420840&sr=8-1
Edit: it's a good read for anyone interested in physics and Buddhism
Here's some relevant advice from Chogyam Trungpa.
http://www.amazon.com/Cutting-Spiritual-Materialism-Shambhala-Classics/dp/1570629579
From the Amazon summary:
In this modern spiritual classic, the Tibetan meditation master Chögyam Trungpa highlights the commonest pitfall to which every aspirant on the spiritual path falls prey: what he calls spiritual materialism. The universal tendency, he shows, is to see spirituality as a process of self-improvement—the impulse to develop and refine the ego when the ego is, by nature, essentially empty. "The problem is that ego can convert anything to its own use," he said, "even spirituality." His incisive, compassionate teachings serve to wake us up from this trick we all play on ourselves, and to offer us a far brighter reality: the true and joyous liberation that inevitably involves letting go of the self rather than working to improve it. It is a message that has resonated with students for nearly thirty years, and remains fresh as ever today.
After some unique meditative experience and a couple rabbit holes thanks to r/conspiracy I've been practicing, so I am by no means a seasoned astralnaut. I'm reading the following right now and it's been very helpful. I've had some mediocre success but the symptoms I've experienced align with what I've been reading. /r/AstralProjection is a great place to start.
Astral Dynamics: The Complete Book of Out-of-Body Experiences by Robert Bruce
If you're interested, pick up a copy of Astral Dynamics. I find a lot the metaphysics advocated for highly speculative and to be taken with a few grains of salt, but the exercises have been very effective, at least for me. It's also a fantastic primer for the sorts of experiences you are likely to have across a broad range.
Have a look at Robert Bruce's book Astral Dynamics. I don't care for his new-age style marketing, but his material is sound, original, and road-tested.
There is good old John Chang, in the Magus of Java books. While John Chang is an interesting dude, don't expect anything practical from the books.
Chronicles of Tao is fiction, but an entertaining story. His writing is esoterically accurate in that he draws from other teachers. For example, the different planes described in Astral Dynamics are things he sees while in deep meditation. This absolutely blew my mind at the time until I read a little more about the guy who the books is about. Now I've come to the conclusion that he draws from other authors and teachers.
The author Hua Ching Ni writes a lot of books. He has an acupuncture school in Los Angeles called Yo San University. Some of his stuff is pretty esoteric, but not much practical instruction.
It's definitely worth it to learn some TCM theory.
I honestly haven't come across any good qigong books. I took a class with one of this guy's students, it had a good breadth of standard stances. The book would probably make a good introduction. I'm pretty sure that book is available online somewhere if you are willing to violate copyright laws.
I read a pdf of this book on Taoist Sorcery. It gave some insight to some of the esoteric spirit petitioning crazyness. A lot of ritual and burning of yellow paper.
Other than that it is a lot of meeting different teachers, learning their practices, then going home and working on that stuff. You shouldn't need to keep paying someone in order to keep practicing.
The Mystical Kaballah by Dion Fortune is probably the best book on the subject, if you are looking to learn directly about the tree of life.
From there I recommend looking further into kaballah through the tarot (literally the tree of life sorted into cards), Liber 777 and Liber ABA (and really most of the thelemic works) by Crowley, and maybe some less "religious" sources, like The Chicken Kaballah..
Above all, I recommend trying to work with the model and apply it to yourself and your meditation. That is the most important thing; the tree can be applied to pretty much anything, and Liber 777 is a great starting point for correspondences for home-made sigils, seals, and rituals :)
"It's all in your head. You just have no idea how big your head is!!!" - Lon Milo DuQuette
} from this awesome book y'all might wanna read:
https://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Qabalah-Rabbi-Lamed-Clifford/dp/1578632153
By far the best place to start is with Lon Milo DuQuette's book.
The Chicken Qalabah by Lon Milo Duquette. His humorous voice helps me understand fundamental concepts of ceremonial magick. After I read this, I started looking at the world differently, connecting things.
Please, please, don't take this the wrong way or be offended, but reading this made me extremely sad -- especially the part about giving up and moving to chaos theory instead.
If you want to understand the basics of the structure of the Tarot and learn some simple rituals, then I would strongly suggest this book and deck by the Ciceros.
Without a firm grasp of the basic Tarot, I feel that Crowley's Thoth deck and book will be too confusing. If you insist on learning the Thoth before the basic Tarot, then I would suggest supplementing Crowley's text with this book by Duquette.
Please don't give up... just study a lot more theory! Good luck!
P.S. PM me if you'd like and I can point you copies of these books online.
EDIT: You may also be interested in this other book by the Ciceros. I have a copy but I've only flipped through it. Don't let the cover or title turn you off. Check out the Table of Contents and you'll see it hits a lot of important topics and provides a lot of example rituals.
Some years ago I read Lon Milo Duquette's book on the Thoth deck
https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Aleister-Crowleys-Thoth-Tarot/dp/1578632765
and came away with the impression the king/queen/knight/page sequence is a matter of emphasizing, respectively, the fire/water/air/earth aspects of the particular suit energy. I read these as a matter of enacting or embodying these aspects, and I have (almost) completely gotten away from identifying, say, queen wands as a particular individual, but usually as an aspect of the querent, or a role she is undertaking.
Which I guess also means I am largely disregarding imagery, but that was sort of baked into my early experiences with a "dark" deck in which some of the imagery was literally so dark as to be almost indecipherable. These days I mostly read with playing cards.
Crowley's Book of Thoth is also available online for free as it's now public domain. There's also an excellent thoth book by Don Milo that's almost required reading if you're into Crowley mysticism as it relates to the Thoth tarot: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Aleister-Crowleys-Thoth-Tarot/dp/1578632765
I'd recommend getting the large format Thoth deck, there's a ton of tiny detail that kind of gets lost in the smaller reprints.
That said, the Rider-Waite deck comes from the same Hermetic tradition and has much of the same symbolism. The imagery is a little less... dense? Surreal? and a bit easier to relate to at first (plus all the pip cards are illustrated, making the minor arcana easier to learn). There are also a bunch of excellent resources for the RW since its sort of the "default" deck.
This is my favorite book on the Major Arcana.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Fools-Pilgrimage-Kabbalistic-Meditations/dp/0835608395
I think the author is Donald Tyson, but Portable Magic is a great book on constructing rituals for tarot.
As for learning card meanings almost any is fine to get yourself started. I usually recommend starting with whatever your local library has on it instead of spending money or searching for a .pdf.
However if you get a Thoth Deck this is the most reccomended book on it.
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Aleister-Crowleys-Thoth-Tarot/dp/1578632765
Good question. Another one is: What Makes You Not a Buddhist? Actually, this is the title of a great book for beginners on the path:
https://www.amazon.com/What-Makes-You-Not-Buddhist/dp/1590305701
> So you think you're a Buddhist? Think again. Tibetan Buddhist master Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, one of the most creative and innovative lamas teaching today, throws down the gauntlet to the Buddhist world, challenging common misconceptions, stereotypes, and fantasies. With wit and irony, Khyentse urges readers to move beyond the superficial trappings of Buddhism—beyond the romance with beads, incense, or exotic robes—straight to the heart of what the Buddha taught.
This is book thats an introduction to Buddhism written by a Vajrayana Buddhists it gives a good explanation of what Buddhism is, why you should follow the teachings and how it improves life in general
https://www.amazon.com/What-Makes-You-Not-Buddhist/dp/1590305701
The book, "What Makes You Not a Buddhist" indicates that acknowledgment of the four seals is essential if one is a Buddhist.
There is also this interesting comparison of the different schools of Buddhism
I have not practice extensively with metta, but /u/Share-metta might be able to provide some pointers. He had a helpful thread on this subject a few weeks ago, here. Leigh Brasington, in his book Right Concentration discusses various appropriate objects for developing concentration and cultivating the jhanas, including metta.
It sounds to me like your concentration and focus were on point, and with the inclusion of the tingling sensations, that you may very well have been on your way.
The focus/concentration are probably one of the two most important precursors to going into jhana, the other being full acceptance of everything, especially at the physical level.
If you're ever compelled to try to steer your meditation towards jhana again, I would recommend reading up on it. Leigh Brasington's book is highly regarded. He also has a handful of dharma talks available online as well.
Tread carefully, because this is one of those things that can become very vexing for some people in their efforts to recreate the experience.
\> It seems the perfect time for deep consideration.
Yes, you are correct. Some buddhist teachers like Leigh Brasington make the argument that that is "Right Concentration" from the eight fold path i.e. stable concentration leads to jhanas (flow like states) and which are then conducive for insight meditation practices e.g. insight into annicca, dukkha and anatta (What is the self?).
TMI alludes to a similar process in the middle to later stages through jhana and still point/witness practices.
https://www.amazon.com/Right-Concentration-Practical-Guide-Jhanas/dp/1611802695
This is the quran that convinced me to convert. I believe he wrote it as part of zakat.
Message of the Quran is the best available. The author who is a convert has very limited reliance on weak and fabricated hadith and so what you get is a translation less encumbered by historically inaccurate information.
(courtesy of /u/lightnlng):
Check what you like from this list of Resources. I recommend starting with the Quran and a biography of prophet Muhammad (pbuh). If you want books, these ones are popular:
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Introduction book to Islam:
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Some popular videos on YouTube:
Today's Ayat for Monday, 2017-01-16 / 18 Rabi` al-thani 1438
And God's is the east and the west: and wherever you turn, there is God's countenance. Behold, God is infinite, all-knowing.
-- al-Baqarah 2:115 as rendered by Muhammad Asad
وَلِلَّهِ الْمَشْرِقُ وَالْمَغْرِبُ فَأَيْنَمَا تُوَلُّوا فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ
http://www.islamawakened.com/quran/2/115/
Or go deeper: http://www.islamawakened.com/quran/2/115/w4wcv.html
(please share)
Today's Ayat is also on Facebook
Check out Biocentrism by Dr. Robert Lanza. His entire life's work is a theory that amounts to this - that the physical world as we know it is derived from biological experience; in essence, we are all rendering our personal video game within a server that manages the bigger picture. It's really, really compelling.
His answer is that the tree in the forest doesn't exist in the first place, so there's nothing there to make a sound if no one is rendering it. He actually uses that example several times in the book.
These are not fast questions, haha.
>What do you think is on the other side of the black hole?
Theoretically, if the black hole is part of a pair that were created from entangled subatomic particles, then they would be connected by an Einstein-Rosen bridge, and (again, theoretically) if you were to allow yourself to be sucked into one of them you'd emerge wherever the other one happens to exist. This could be in another galaxy, or yeah, some people think it's possible you could end up in another universe.
>Is there a lot of universes?
Theoretical physicists (particularly those working in string theory) are starting to think that yes, there are. Brian Greene and Michio Kaku have written reasonably accessible books on this theory, if you're interested.
>what about aliens?
Of course. It is highly unlikely that in a universe filled with billions of galaxies, each of which contains hundreds of millions of stars, only one of them would have a planet in its orbit that is capable of sustaining life. Robert Lanza hypothesizes that, in fact, the universe is biocentric - that life and consciousness are not mere accidents, but what the structure of the universe is based around. This, too, would suggest that life cannot then be confined to one planet.
>What happens to the infj emotion after their death? Are you thinking of reincarnation?
Not reincarnation exactly, no. My beliefs are pantheistic in a way that isn't really compatible with reincarnation in the traditional sense. My concept of "God" is, essentially, "the combined energy of the universe". Part of this energy is used to power my body and mind; what some might call a soul. But my "soul" isn't a discrete entity; it is made of energy, which is fungible. So, when I die, that energy (and therefore, I) will return to "everything". Of course, it will then be used to power other things... perhaps another life form, perhaps a star, or wind, or electricity. But it won't be the "same" energy - just as, if you pour a cup of water into the ocean and then fill another cup from it, it won't be the "same" water. It comes from the same source, but the individual molecules are probably going to be different. But I do think our thoughts and memories remain, as a sort of... resonance, let's say. They become part of everything, too. When people talk about remembering past lives, most likely they are accessing these resonating memories. But, not because your soul has moved into their body - rather, because you, and they, are part of the same whole.
Which, I guess, might sound like quibbling - it's not that different from reincarnation, not really. It's just that one view sees every soul as separate, and the other does not.
This is a very detailed working out of a kind of stoicism/epicureanism. I appreciate the thought you've put into this. Some books I've enjoyed on stoicism and philosophy of life:
Thought-provoking books that challenge naturalism from a secular perspective:
There is actually a whole theory about this;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Biocentrism-Consciousness-Understanding-Nature-Universe/dp/1935251740/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
If you want to further your understanding of the universe you should read this and this. 2 of the most mind altering books I've read.
Here's a good resource: https://www.amazon.com/Psychedelic-Explorers-Guide-Therapeutic-Journeys-ebook/dp/B0051OHLVG
Excellent, nobody has pointed it out.
https://www.amazon.com/Manual-Creating-Atheists-Peter-Boghossian-ebook/dp/B00LKBT0MC?ie=UTF8&btkr=1&redirect=true&ref_=dp-kindle-redirect
This book advocates Street Epistemology which is where you ask a believer why they believe something, and see if it comes down to faith. If it does, you ask for a definition of faith, and whether faith is a reliable epistemology to find truth. If Person A has faith in Allah and Person B has faith in Vishnu, and they're contradictory religions, then how can Person C use faith to find an objective truth?
Read this book to find out why faith is unreliable. I'm not happy with the dictionary definitions because they do not reflect the way that you're approaching faith even in this very thread.
Thus, the best way to think of faith is:
>Pretending to know things you don't know.
/r/streetepistemology
And BTW, your Amazon link can be reduced to https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LKBT0MC
Maybe he would benefit from reading "A Manual for Creating Atheists"? The procedure described there is non-confrontational.
Absolutely. He's my favorite AP researcher/author -- very pragmatic, non dogmatic approach based on empirical evidence. I've even paid to work with him during a weekend seminar.
He has a lot of great work, but the seminal piece in my opinion is Astral Dynamics. That's a link to the 10-year revised/updated version, but the original is just fine if you run across it.
You can get a taste of his style with 'Treatise on Astral Projection', an early online work from 1994.
>Again, it is not their historicity that is important - you said yourself that doctrine isn't any more true because it is older and I agreed.
Well, let's distinguish age from accuracy. By "historicity," I mean the degree of verifiable reliability of a text. Something can be old but still be reliable. However, the gospels do not appear to be a reliable record. Only an old one.
>The "proof" you seek will most likely never come to you if you are approaching it from this angle. This is not something you "think about" for a while and then "get". It is something you live, and then experience. I mean this in a very practical sense.
I look at it like this. Claims of miraculous events are made about a man. He walks on water, raises the dead, casts out evil spirits, converts water to wine, multiplies fish and bread enough to feed a small army. He's purported to have said that he's the son of God. And not in the colloquial way they used back then, that we were all "sons of God" or "children of God." And not even in the way that the regional kings used. He's purported to have said that he's the direct issue of the creator of the universe. Half man, half deity, and no one comes to his dad but through him.
If this person was standing in front of me right now, saying these things, I'd back away slowly and keep my hand on my wallet. If other people were saying these things for decades, in an oral tradition where facts get mixed up and the storytellers embellish, and it's getting translated from Aramaic to ancient Greek in the process, I think I'd have even less reason to believe their claims. I don't think it's a bad angle to say, "I'm not so sure about that" until shown otherwise. What I live and experience never crosses over into a realm where such claims become compelling.
And I do actively explore the possibility of the supernatural. I just don't do it from a theistic perspective. While theistic perspectives of this phenomenon do exist, they are decidedly outnumbered by non-theistic experiences of people who have no particular implulse towards challenging or doubting the claims of any religion. Of course, I readily admit that their claims are just as potentially suspect as those of a theist. But these are claims that I can actually test.
@flyinglotus:
>2012-02-28 06:54:21 UTC
>If astral projecting is something you're curious about, this is something I suggest you read. amazon.com
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It seems very boring to a lot of mystic newbs but I've been evangelizing the shit out of Qabalah lately. If you want to see the connections between all things and the machinery that runs the universe, this is the place to start.
Begin with something breezy that'll let you ease into the concepts: Lon Milo DuQuette's Chicken Qabalah. It's like an exegesis of Douglas Adams's Life, The Universe, and Everything.
Then dive in deep.
Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah
Aleister Crowley's Book of Thoth
This shit will blow your mind wide open. You can see how the 10 Sephiroth directly correspond to the 10 dimensions of the universe, how the first 4 correspond to actual space and the 5th to time as we understand it.
It'll show you the operating schematic for literally everything and how we are all connected and sprang forth from the same no-thing. Every new page I read blows my mind.
Kabbalah is basically Jewish mysticism, there's all sorts of source books and modern writings on it. I can recommend The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford: Dilettante's Guide to What You Do and Do Not Need to Know to Become a Qabalist.
Qabalah is great. But I recommend you read some work by Alan Watts first. He takes the greatest lessons the Qabalah has to offer and distills them into ideas so simple and self-evident, you'll be amazed that you never realized it before. His best works are "The Book" and "This Is It."
Then, if you still want to study Qabalah (you should), start here: http://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Qabalah-Rabbi-Lamed-Clifford/dp/1578632153
"...for if ye take but one step in this Path, ye must arrive inevitably at the end thereof."
I just mentioned it in my big check-in post in the Lesson 2 topic, but thought I should give you a personal recommendation for Lon Milo duQuette's Chicken Qabalah. He's got a nicely tongue-in-cheek humor about the whole thing which really helped me feel more comfortable with it all.
Check out [this book](Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot https://www.amazon.com/dp/1578632765/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_RnwAyb7JQ3T1Q) instead. It's basically The Book of Thoth rewritten to be more easily understood. Liber Theta is also available for free as an online resource.
Honestly, you don't need to feel connected to your deck immediately. That connection sometimes doesn't develop until you've been using it for a while and have really gotten to know it. I'd suggest continuing to study with your Thoth deck while you research other Thoth based decks until you find one you like. Tabula Mundi is my personal favorite.
Not entirely sure if this is what you're looking for, but, there's a handful of books that people have written that attempt to explore the symbolism and meaning of Crowley's deck.
A friend of mine, a member of the local OTO Lodge and EGC, has several. I know these two are in his library for sure:
- Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot
- The Thoth Companion
There's also the old stand-by, Crowley's own exploration and essay about the deck:
- The Book of Thoth
Apologies if these aren't what you're looking for, and I hope someone comes along that can answer your questions more satisfactorily.
I recommend reading books. There are a zillion books about the Waite-Smith deck. For the Thoth deck, this book is a must read.
Edit to add: This series was very helpful to me. The "Tarot Reversals" one by Mary K. Greer is the bomb.
I'm using these to learn
Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot:
https://www.amazon.ca/Understanding-Aleister-Crowleys-Thoth-Tarot/dp/1578632765
Book of Thoth
https://www.amazon.ca/Book-Thoth-Egyptian-Tarot/dp/0877282684/ref=pd_sim_14_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=CWZHPFQA9ETTKABGTTGP
It's a great question with a potential myriad of answers. While I can't know your specific situation, I would offer this book you might find value in:
https://www.amazon.com/What-Makes-You-Not-Buddhist/dp/1590305701
Before starting on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, you might want a survey book of Buddhism. Although not at all complete, I do think the book The Buddha and His Teaching is a great academic survey covering many foundations of Buddhism including the Buddha's story, Karma, the eightfold path, ego, attachment, and meditation. It mainly follows the Tibetan model in organization: Part 1: Hinayana, Part 2: Mahayana, Part 3: Vajrayana, excluding focus on schools like Zen and Theravada. All in all, though, an excellent read.
There are also a number of contemporary readings that will explain Dharma through a modern lens. What Makes You Not a Buddhist? was recommended to me awhile back.
Also, if you'd like to get to the heart of it, start meditating. You only need 10 minutes a day of basic shamatha and vippasana practice to start becoming a student of your own mind.
Good luck
EDIT: it just dawned on me that Shamatha and Vippasana might be foreign terms to you. You can do a google search, or you can PM me and I'd be happy to help
If you liked Art of Happiness you'll probably love Ethics for a New Millennium (Amazon link).
I don't know how into Buddhist philosophy you are, but What Makes You Not a Buddhist is one of my favorites (Amazon link).
I think the best plan of attack is try both. Study both Mahayana and Pali tradition buddhism. For the pali perspective read this https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~buddhism/docs/Bhante_Walpola_Rahula-What_the_Buddha_Taught.pdf
​
For mahayana read this... https://www.amazon.com/What-Makes-You-Not-Buddhist/dp/1590305701
​
Theres millions of books these days. Dont waste your time, choose wisely. Some authors are more concerned with selling books then helping you along the spiritual path.
>1.Different schools of Buddhism? I understand that their are different ones, are there a lot of differences? For example, Zen, Tibetan, etc.
Lots of differences. But, that's not so important right now. Just look at everything. Finding the right style of practice, and more importantly, the right teacher, is like falling in love. You can't plan it, you can't prepare for it, but if you're open to it, it will happen. For now, commit to nothing but honesty and curiosity and look at everything you can find.
>2.Best beginner book for Buddhism? Something that can teach me a lot about Buddhism, and books to explore different sects.
I'd advise anyone to read Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche's "What Makes You Not A Buddhist". Very good introduction, from a Tibetan background. As with everything in the Dharma, the purpose is more to learn about you than about Buddhism, though ;)
>3.What are you. supposed to do when you mediate? Some compare it to lucid dreaming, the ability to do whatever, but what exactly are you supposed to do? Aren't you supposed to focus on being awakened, if so, how?
Best (only) way is to learn face-to-face. And there are many many techniques, which may or may not work for you. For now, sit up straight, but relaxed. Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat. If you get distracted, no problem, just breathe in again. You're not "supposed to" feel this way or that way. Just breathe, be present and come what may. Start with 5 minutes a day, every day.
>4.How would you know if you were "Awakened"?
Dunno, I'm not. Not worrying seems to be a factor.
>5.What school of Buddhism do you prefer and why?
Karma Kagyu, one of the Tibetan "schools", because that's what my teachers teach me. And my teachers are my teachers because when I think of them I can't think of being anything but their student.
>6.How do I become a Buddhist?
By sending me $ 3.50! ;) No, if you feel Lord Buddha is your guide, his teaching (the Dharma) is your path, and his students (the Sangha) are your homeboys, you're a Buddhist. Different schools may have different rituals to confirm this, which is fine but unimportant.
Keep your doubt! It's useful. Keep your faith too, for the same reason. Feeling strongly about something does not make you right, and being right does not make you kind, which is arguably the best thing to be. Investigate everything (with the exception of non-prescription opiates and asshattery) and enjoy yourself! Good luck!
what makes you not a buddhist
So many great books. Change of Heart by Chagdud Tulku was a complete meal, or What makes you NOT a Buddhist by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse was concise, direct and humorous. Of these I would start with the second, and, if still with it, try the first.
Read Thanissaro's advice on the path, check out The Mind Illuminated and Right Concentration. These books provide balanced, mutually compatible approaches for the cultivation of jhana. Their instructions are effective and many people have achieved great results by putting them into practice.
Don't worry about when you're going to reach stream-entry. Enjoy the development of relaxation in your practice. Best of luck to you.
Another question: Anyone read this book on jhanas?
https://www.amazon.com/Right-Concentration-Practical-Guide-Jhanas/dp/1611802695/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TEARQQRH0X10CXM6T1Y0
Thank you, will check. Did you have a chance to read Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhanas? My recommendations. Available on b-ok.cc.
this is a popular book about jhannas, how to reach them and description of all nine jhannas: https://www.amazon.com/Right-Concentration-Practical-Guide-Jhanas/dp/1611802695/
Yeah, I think qigong is the chinese equivalent of kundalini yoga. My understanding is that qi, kundalini and the holy spirit all refer to the same thing, in Buddhist terms it is something like the recognition of impermanence / vibration at a very fine level.
Obviously I am still at a very low energy level, I found a bit of a cheat by using nitrous to increase my sensitivity to it but I look forward to working on increasing it.
What you are experiencing sounds like 1st or 2nd jhana, I have read that there is a way to control the "volume" of the pleasure to make it less distracting. You may be interested in this book:
Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhanas
Did you experience this state through kundalini circulation or purely by concentration on the 3rd eye?
I don't know where you would get a free pdf, but Amazon has an excellent version here.
Hey man, I read a really interesting book which talks about this whole conscious-centric where there exists no objective reality. We could very well be the centre of the universe. Do your research on the author before reading the book if you want. The book's called Biocentrism by Robert Lanza. Have an open mind and maybe, just maybe, your view of the world could be wrong. It's worth seeing an in-depth perspective of the other side, one which makes a lot of scientifically proven claims (it's not a pseudo-science-y kind of book). Anyways, yeah it's up to you. Just putting it out there.
This same man wrote a book on Biocentrism which will blow your mind.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Biocentrism-Bob-Berman-Robert-Lanza/dp/1935251740/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1462720932&sr=1-1&keywords=biocentrism
For those interested, here's the relevant book:
http://www.amazon.com/Biocentrism-Consciousness-Understanding-Nature-Universe/dp/1935251740/ref=la_B004NDEASI_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408994278&sr=1-1
It's also available on iTunes as an audiobook, which I found interesting for the most part. And I think you'll see more of what the article title implied was in the article.
So interesting! I had exactly the same thought the other day and meditated on it. My interpretation is that our physical senses help us perceive what is inside us (the physical world). It is the past, the distillation of causality through our bodies, and that our intellectual, emotional and spiritual senses (brain, heart and soul) help us perceive what is outside of us, it is the future and the space of "free form causality". Almost as if the role of our selves (body + soul) was to convert free-form causality into reality like plants convert mud, energy and CO2 into physical structures (the plants themselves).
There is an interesting book on the topic by the guy who cloned the first embryos http://www.amazon.com/Biocentrism-Consciousness-Understanding-Nature-Universe/dp/1935251740/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415340655&sr=8-1&keywords=biocentrism and a section on this in Pickover's book here: http://www.amazon.com/Chaos-Wonderland-Visual-Adventures-Fractal/dp/031212774X
Uhmm, no, sorry but Psychic Phenomena has been proven in laboratory settings. Hell even Quantum Physics is starting to acknowledge the relationship between mind and matter, just look up the Observer Effect.
A close family member calling you out of the blue, somehow "sensing" or "knowing" that youre contemplating suicide isn't a "coincidence".
https://www.amazon.com/Entangled-Minds-Extrasensory-Experiences-Quantum/dp/1416516778
This is precisely what is wrong with this world. We are psychic beings by nature, but because of the selfishness of a handful of fear oriented "Elites" who've decided that they need to have more perceived material wealth than others and privilege and prestige have done everything within their power to chemically and culturally lobotomize this out of us (via Sodium Fluoride, Vaccines, and primary "education" and media enculturation, and now GMO foods).
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=14949
http://www.wakingtimes.com/2014/08/22/fluoride-affects-consciousness-will-act/
To make matters worse (or to have a poster child to spread the fear oriented, hopeless gospel of the "Elites") we had the emergence of Mechanistic Reductionistic Science via Rene Decarte and this related nonsense that if a million monkeys typed on keyboards randomly for a million years eventually the entire works of Shakespeare will be produced.
No. Sorry. Divine Intelligence is a part of it. Reincarnation is real. ET's are real. Having to karmically deal with suicide, which I believe is the point of this life for me (to deal with the karma of suicide via a time out, possibly as a ghost) is a real potential consequence of said act.
https://www.amazon.com/Biocentrism-Consciousness-Understanding-Nature-Universe/dp/1935251740/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1479113035&sr=1-1&keywords=biocentrism+by+robert+lanza
https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Truth-Forbidden-Steven-Greer/dp/0967323827
So yeah, this really irks me when I hear people chalk up psychic experience to random happenstance.
They then invariably go on to claim that consciousness is an epiphenomenon of interactions of bio-chemistry within our nervous system.
What a crock.
I personally prefer the idea that the human brain is a filter that allows us to function in this exquisitely compelling virtual reality experience (as both Albert Einstein and more recently where we incarnate ad infinitum to learn and grow as spiritual beings.
If we were to see the glory of all of existence without said filter we would be overwhelmed and incapable of functioning in this plane.
Back to psychic phenomena, I mean please explain away a few dreams I've had where weeks later I was doing exactly what I was in the dream I had a few weeks earlier, or all of those moments knowing that something specific was going to happen moments before it happened, or hey, how about this one, which most everyone has, knowing someone is going to call you, sometimes to the point where you look at your phone, think of that person, and then your phone rings. Or how about all of the dogs that know their owners are coming home (Rupert Sheldrake).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKHUaNAxsTg
https://www.amazon.com/Dogs-That-Their-Owners-Coming/dp/0609600923/ref=mt_hardcover?_encoding=UTF8&me=
Mainstream Science has become the new high priesthood tasked with perpetuating the current [failed] paradigm, the Status Quo, the current order (any coincidence here between the Elites poisoning and literally brainwashing you and paying people large sums of money to confirm the idea that youre just having this one finite life experience on this little lonely rock floating in space and then that's it? Sounds like a great way to bring out the worst in people, to create a world seething with conflict as everyone "has just this one life so I better fucking get mine, even if I have to step on your head to do so" all of which benefits the "Elites"), just as the Catholic Church was tasked with doing the same in the 16th century and locked away Galileo under house arrest for daring to suggest that our planet occupied a helio-centric orbit around the parent star and not the other way around. Now it's the same thing all over again with Quantum Physics and the dawning realization that mind and matter are related, that we can influence others through intent and prayer, and that we are likely eternal spiritual entities occupying temporary host bodies for: boredom, entertainment, lessons, pick one or all of the above. (our actual psychic potential is far more extensive, to include, yes, telekinesis via yogic lore etc. and astral projection, remote viewing, hell the CIA was paying remote viewers in the 1980's at Stanford Research Institute to spy on the Russian's and they wouldn't have paid millions of dollars without first ascertaining the effectiveness! I can't make this up, look up Project Stargate, I'm tired of posting links).
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/there-is-growing-evidence-that-our-universe-is-a-giant-hologram
https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Souls-Studies-Between-Lives/dp/1567184855
My $ .02. Sorry if I offended anyone here.
Hold the door open for me, I'm right behind you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq69-MI9TA0
"Reality is an illusion, albeit a very persistent one" - Albert Einstein
If anyone wants to know what this guys getting at read the book Biocentrism by Robert Lanza. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1935251740?pc_redir=1411497125&robot_redir=1
I suggest you do a little reading on psychedelics https://www.amazon.com/Psychedelic-Explorers-Guide-Therapeutic-Journeys-ebook/dp/B0051OHLVG#nav-subnav this is the book I read. You really want to do your first trip right the first time:)
If they actually want to learn, there is literally no better source than Fadiman's The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide
If you like to read.
The psychedelic experience is by Timothy Leary, and is a manual based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. On amazon here.
The pyshcedelic explorer's guide is by James Fadiman, found here.
The power of now is good too, it will certainly prime you for ego death. I definitely recommend reading Be here now too, the illustrated middle part that I used during the come-up are just fantastic, you see people mention it all the time here. So many great things to meditate on in there. Opening the doors of perception, I have not read this one, but I have had it recommended often. The joyous cosmology by Alan Watts is short but great too. He describes his experiences with LSD, and the world that you enter. He is amazing with language.
Yleisesti teemasta suositellaan luettavaksi James Fadimanin kirjaa The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide. Fadiman tutki psykedeelejä jo puoli vuosisataa sitten, ja mikroannosteluilmiö on saanut paljon tulta purjeisiin juuri hänen jutuistaan.
I initially heard that idea from the Psychedelic Explorer's Guide which has a lot of great tips on tripping if you are wanting to do a bit more in depth reading. It's written by a guy named James Fadiman you was a psychologist that basically had a job of trip sitting people back in the 60's when he was working on his PhD. Anyways, I wish you the best of luck with whatever you decide.
> what do you mean that a few weeks of research is not enough?
I believe OP is alluding that people 'studying' the effects of LSD (and it's pharmacology etc) for weeks is STILL insufficient in preparing them for the actual experience.
It's the difference between reading a book about swimming and getting in the pool.
It's an entirely different ballgame.
With that said, OP, for a newbie it is FAR MORE important that they trust you and you are patient with them than their 'knowledge' about a substance.
Take a look at James Fadiman's book for some ideas on how to communicate the importance of set/setting/mindset etc. and always start small.
I've introduced many newbies to psychedelics and I always take it super slow and step through their (irrational) objections together and explore their fears etc...
Most of the time their response is: "oh man! I had no idea" and overwhelmingly positive.
My advice would be to ask about their life goals, challenges, intentions, and motivations for exploring psychedelics etc. and reverse engineer those so you could easily connect them with the benefits of psychedelics.
At least, that's my approach.
https://www.youtube.com/user/magnabosco210
r/StreetEpistemology
Based on the book A Manual for Creating Atheists by Peter Boghossian
I'm not sure if I can commit to that. However, if you haven't already maybe check out A Manual for Creating Atheists, or watch some of the videos on Anthony Magnabosco's channel for some tips on a softer, more persuasive approach to these kinds of interactions.
I study evolutionary biology as a hobby and have read many books on the subject, several of which actually argue in favor of a designer (a position I disagree with based on the evidence). The facts and evidence overwhelmingly support the history of the eye's development as I have described it whether you agree with it or not. If you are interested in the subject, I highly recommend checking out "Finding Darwin's God" by Kenneth R. Miller and "Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes" by Stephen Jay Gould, both of which are very informative and excellent reads.
If you are a blind, ocean-dwelling creature who's food tends to hang out near the surface, a mutation that allows a cell to detect light would make it easier to find food, thus increasing the likelihood that you would survive and pass on that mutation. Furthermore, if another mutation multiplied the number of those light detecting cells, you might be able to better determine your distance to the surface and more precisely hone in on your meal without getting too close to the surface and putting yourself in potential danger. If a further mutation granted you enough of the light-detecting cells that you determine movement, you would be in a much better position to both find food and evade predators.
It is small mutations like this that have selective advantages that result in the development of things like eyes and the rest of our organs. It's not that the creatures "knew what they wanted to see"; it's that mutations provided sensory inputs that increased the likelihood of those creatures surviving. It is the survivors that pass on their genes and spawn the next generation. This is happening constantly in all living things, humans included, and that is an indisputable fact. It can be and has been observed.
Different atheists think different things about it. And here where I live, most theists accept it. Why is an atheists understanding of something outside of atheism any more relevant than say Ken Miller's?
Why address atheists on that point at all?
Is your main concern actually something other than evolution?
Your repeated focus on evolution as if it was somehow atheism - and your unwillingness to be moved from that - is utterly frustrating. Why do you persist?
Easy peasy.
Enjoy.
Being and Time by Martin Heidegger
If phenomenology of time peaks your interest, Edmund Husserl speaks about "Internal Time Consciousness." The sort of "how?" of experiencing time.
I wouldn't worry about college; you'll be studying things more attuned to your interests, and you'll be surrounded by similar sorts of people. College is actually great for figuring yourself out for this very reason, since you'll be exposed not just to all sorts of different types of content and perspectives, but you'll also get some chances to go more in-depth on particular topics of interest, especially once you start taking upper-level courses that expect specialization. My favorite college memories are actually of afternoons in the library reading, taking notes and putting papers together. I loved this so much I've even started writing my own stuff post-college.
As for getting to know yourself, I'd recommend reading. Since this is the INTJ-sub, I know everyone here prefers things to be a bit more direct, and while I certainly read more nonfiction, I've found things like art, music, poetry, film and fiction are great ways to understand yourself better than any nonfiction work could tap into. I got into fiction via Joseph Campbell, a literary critic who himself was heavily influenced by Jung, and from there it was writers like Hermann Hesse, James Joyce, George Saunders and Olga Grushin that taught me things about myself that I doubt any nonfiction work could. This isn't to downplay the importance of nonfiction (Heidegger, Marion and Kierkegaard have all been huge for me as well), but since fiction and the arts in general don't seem as valued throughout reddit, I thought I'd throw that out there. Read.
Heidegger wrote an eighty-eight page first draft to Being and Time. Unless you have a crazy amount of time on your hands, I'd recommend going after the first draft. Whichever version of the book you read, it will most likely be one of the most difficult philosophy books you will come across. I don't mean that demeaningly. Heidegger's writing is almost indecipherable. There are a few threads made here in /r/askphilosophy that have better recommendations as to where to begin with Heidegger. Hopefully someone will respond to this post with more and better info!
There's probably a few ways you could go about expanding your knowledge base. The two that seem most fruitful are
If (1), then I'd probably suggest one of two courses. Either, (a) read the stuff that influenced the existential thinkers that you've listed, or (b) read some literature dealing with issues related to the thinkers you've listed.
For (a) I'd suggest the following:
For (b) it's really a mixed bag. I'd suggest going through the SEP articles on the thinkers you've listed and looking into some good secondary literature on them. If you're super interested in Nietzsche, I'd definitely suggest reading Leiter's Nietzsche on Morality. I really couldn't tell you more unless you told me something more specific about your interests.
If (2), then I suppose I'd suggest one of the following:
Again, it's hard to give you better directions without more information on what you're actually interested in. I've just thrown a bunch of stuff at you, and you couldn't possibly be expected to read, say, Schopenhauer's World as Will and Representation over break and be expected to really understand it.
http://www.amazon.com/Being-Time-Martin-Heidegger/dp/0061575593?pf_rd_mnb=ATVPDKIKX0D34&pf_rd_stb=center-2&pf_rd_rat=0817NMRY4ZRQZM6P18TH&pf_rd_t3r=101&pf_rd_ptd=470938631&pf_rd_ied=507846&tag=buaazs-20&pf_rd_ptd=470938631&pf_rd_ied=507846
Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe might be a start. Check your local library.
> Questions about the role of God and religion in today's world have never been more relevant or felt more powerfully. Many of us are searching for a place where we can find not only facts and scientific reason but also hope and moral courage. For some, answers are found in the divine. For others, including the New Atheists, religion is an "enemy."
> But in Good Without God, Greg Epstein presents another, more balanced and inclusive response: Humanism. He highlights humanity's potential for goodness and the ways in which Humanists lead lives of purpose and compassion. Humanism can offer the sense of community we want and often need in good times and bad—and it teaches us that we can lead good and moral lives without the supernatural, without higher powers . . . without God.
I've already got my mom Good without God as a gift, and she was "offended." I'm done trying to get them to understand my position for the time being.
The strongest thing that keeps people going is a strong sense of purpose that they give themselves.
My motivation is doing good for good's sake. I try to make every day a day where I did something meaningful and to try and experience empathy for someone or something and attempt to show some decency and dignity towards them/it. This can come in many ways but that is the gist of it. Living in a big city leaves a multitude of possible things for me to do. Sometimes I'm dropping off some food+soda to a small group of homeless folks. Other times it's just being able to sit down and listen to someone's troubles. Your life is your responsibility (too adult sounding sorry!) and it's important to find purpose and meaning in it. Human beings are unique and no two are alike and even with the same dna they can become different people. Each human life therefor is priceless and we must find it in ourselves to do justice and dignity to each other because once someone is gone we will never see that person ever again. I don't like thinking about shoulda woulda coulda guilt trips when I see I had failed to do something in hind sight. But I always feel at peace when I do the right thing for someone.
A good book to read sometime is Good Without God. It is a book about secular humanism and really helped me when I was looking for some answers and insight into the way I felt but didn't have all the words to explain it more clearly.
Another thing that keeps me rolling is learning new things about the world around me. When I was a kid I wanted to learn everything I could about everything. Even though kids in school were always mean to me I always had a friend in learning. After I graduated high school there was a time I felt comfortable with all that I knew and didn't feel it was important to learn. I lost something along the way. Ever since I became an atheist I have that strong urge to learn again, like a rekindled fire. i have been rebuilding my math skills using khan academy and have been reading science and technology websites every day so I can learn new things and feel that small sense of accomplishment from learning.
TL:DR
I have a sense of purpose that I assigned myself as a means to self motivate and my life is better for it.
It is a sensitive subject to people, because it is so powerful in how ideas and beliefs influence our actions and thoughts. I know why atheists can be so aggressive and mean. A lot of them are suffering from a lack of a moral/value guidance system, secular humanism can be the cure for most atheists and the irreligious. I would be very careful to remove someones belief if it is the sole reason for being, that is akin to murder, and some will fight to protect that reason/belief for their life. Some people lack non-violent communication and discussion skills. I might challenge a deeply held belief but not without offering a replacement of better value and worth. In a dream I had, while changing my beliefs, I dreamt that I went to the core of reality and my soul and changed it like a light bulb, immediatly the chaos and confusion settled down, and the entire world, or my perspective of the world came into order and meaning. Some atheists have had the light ripped from their soul and they search for something to replace that light source. The fact that so many lack this source of light means that it is a social problem that needs professional attention, it is a matter of life and death. I hope you can understand the source of this hostility and maybe you can offer a light source that works for them, like secular humanism, aristotle eudaimonia, or existential psychotherapy and existential philosophy. All those things can help those who rely on reason for establishing a source of light/meaning. So understand that they can not rely on beliefs with out reason, and that they lack a source of light to show them what is valuable. I hope this helps, it depends on your reason for being here to, if it is to serve the world you would learn these things but if you are here to serve your self you will not. I was a christian before and now I am agnostic and a secular humanist, after much academic study of philosophy and the new testament, and after reading "Good without god" by Epstein.
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Without-God-Billion-Nonreligious/dp/006167012X
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_morality
Sucking it up and going to church is disingenuous.
Maybe this book can be of some use to you:
Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe, by Greg Epstein
Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe by Greg Epstein https://www.amazon.com/dp/006167012X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_6DybBb0ZVMVM3
Here, I have some recommended reading for you Rick... single moms are all part of his plan... duh
I was ready to call bullshit on this but nope, it's right here on Amazon.
Amazon forgot to credit George "Maddox" Ouzounian as a contributor to this book: https://www.amazon.com/Helping-Retarded-Know-H-R-Hahn/dp/0570063507
I don't find that funny.
But other reviews of the book are
I've seen the book on this, probably right in this sub.
Here it is.
This book isn't a bad place to start. It's a tad on the fluffy side, but it's an okay primer.
I recommend Paganism: An Introduction to Earth- Centered Religions
And good luck my friend
>The "professional philosophers" who use incorrect definitions, on the other hand, I couldn't care less about.
First off, let me be clear again, you're the one using the incorrect definition. We can know that because we have rational minds that can understand rational arguments. And luckily, we have redditors that are very proficient at providing just the rational arguments we need to show that weak atheism is not intellectually viable.
>. If you could be so kind as to point out some of these "professional philosophers" - with sources - so I could dismiss anything they have to say on the matter, it would save me a lot of time.
First, I do so love the overconfidence. You've clearly proven my point there. You're completely unaware of even who these philosophers let alone what they argue, yet you're absolutely convinced of your ability to dismantle whatever it is they have to say.
The question is why would you want to? Clearly you're attached to the label atheist, and you're here so you at least like the impression of being intellectual, so why would you be interested in dismissing the arguments of professional atheists philosophers out of hand? Surely you'd want to at least see what they had to say. In fact, I'd say that you'd want to study and really understand their arguments. But maybe that's just me projecting what I want onto you.
Just in case, here are a few atheist philosophers of religion you ought to be reading up on.
>And just because "professional atheist philosophers" make arguments that gods don't exist, that doesn't change the definitions.
Read all of those links (remember to check your local library or your local university's library!) and you'll see that atheists who aren't a part of the cacophony of the unsophisticated group think do not argue for weak atheism. They do not simply argue against the theist's argument and, convinced they have sufficiently undermined that argument, declared themselves free of any belief. They believe there is probably no God and they argue there is probably no God.
You take pride in your belligerence, but it's a shame that belligerence comes from a position of ignorance. I worry about the status of atheism not because I think the theist arguments have won but because people like you are so completely ignorant of the topic that they can't even get straight what atheism even is, what arguments actually support it, and what obstacles there are for atheists to overcome. And yet you feel justified in spewing your nonsense in the most jackass way you can muster.
I would also recommend Michael Martin as well.
Impossibility of God
Atheism: A Philosophical Justification
Have you thought of trying a different deck? I could only find one source of information on that type of deck.
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Thoth-Short-Egyptians-Equinox/dp/0877282684/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396830124&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Book+of+Thoth
here is the book
and here is the deck
also, here is a stylized reworking of the crowley thoth deck, which has illustrations for the pips and is a little simpler. I would recommend getting the original thoth, but if it simply does not speak to you, this is very close.
Check out the Thoth tarot book for more info on reading the cards. I also recommend reading Lon Milo Duquettes book on understanding the Thoth Tarot. Also also, check out liber Theta from Temple of Thelema . There's also an explanation and analysis on divination with Tarot from Soror Meral in Temple of Thelema's periodical called In the Continuum.
book of thoth
understanding Thoth tarot
liber Theta
in the Continuum vol 1
You'll want to read issue no.7 for divination
Could it be James Randi's Flim-Flam?
>able to pierce themselves with large swords / skewers, after their rituals.
Fuck that. I can do that. You can do that.
If they can do that, then anybody can do that.
If you can't do that either, then they can't do it. It's what magicians call a "trick".
>They wouldn't be able to do so before the rituals.
Bullshit.
If they can do it after the ritual, then they can do it before the ritual.
>I have seen it
I believe that.
But what you saw wasn't supernatural or paranormal.
It was just people sticking pointy objects into themselves (or pretending to.)
I've seen someone doing that too. The guy doing it specifically said that it was just a trick. I have no idea how he did it.
The most likely explanation based on what I saw is that he just stuck a pointy object into his body. I could be wrong about that.
>you are dismissing that they are illusionist who have nothing better to do but perform in temples or along the street??.
Please, please, please -
read this
Net of Magic: Wonders and Deceptions in India, by Lee Siegel
- http://www.amazon.com/Net-Magic-Wonders-Deceptions-India/dp/0226756874 -
It's a very good book about the thousands of illusionists in India who have nothing better to do but perform in temples or along the street. The author is an anthropologist and a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and a good friend of a lot of these street illusionists.
and read this
Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions, by James Randi
- http://www.amazon.com/Flim-Flam-Psychics-Unicorns-Other-Delusions/dp/0879751983/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312470111&sr=1-1 -
Yes, you know what you saw. But you don't know anything else.
The people that you saw were doing magic tricks. People have been doing these tricks for thousands of years. They know how to fool people.
They fooled you.
Film flam on Amazon
Sure!
The book basically talks about the way we come to conclusions in everyday life, the things we believe and why we believe them. The author delves into commonly held (and untrue) beliefs like the belief that there are more E.R. visits during a full moon, etc. While he does debunk some of these myths,this isn't a "debunking" book like Flim-Flam. Some of the most interesting stuff he talks about involves confirmation bias and how we evaluate inconsistent or ambiguous data. If this type of stuff interests you at all, I cannot encourage you enough to pick up this book from Amazon or your local library.
>John of God will seat a subject for his "visible surgery" stunt and apparently scrape the eyeball of the patient with the edge of a knife. I believe that this is a variation of the usual trick — illustrated on page 177 of my book, "Flim-Flam!" — in which a knife-blade is inserted under the eyelid of a subject with little or no resulting discomfort. With the Brazilian faker, the "scraping" motion gives it a much more fearsome aspect, but for several good reasons I doubt that any contact takes place with the cornea.
>
>The sclera — the white section of the eye — is relatively insensitive to touch. Try touching that area with a finger or any clean object, and you'll see this is true. The cornea, however, is very sensitive — among the most sensitive areas of the body. Incidentally, it's also the fastest-healing organ, which accords very well with Darwinian standards; being able to see is one of our very best sensory means of defense.
>
>Most persons — and I'm one of them — have a difficult time watching the eye being touched. We tend to empathize with the situation, and I'm sure that some readers are at this moment involuntarily squinting in distaste as they read these words; we're that reactive to eyeball-touching. Few persons will resist looking away when John of God seems to scrape an eyeball, and I note that he's furtively watching the position of the camera as he performs this stunt, blocking the view with his body when a close-up is sought.
>
>There's also the distinct possiblity here that John of God introduces a temporary local anaesthetic — benzocaine would work — onto the eye surface, which would allow contact with the cornea. We don't know, though we could have found out....
>
>In any case, unless an anaesthetic has been introduced, it is impossible for this man to be touching the cornea of a human eye as he appears to do, without causing immediate involuntary flinching from the patient. The JREF will stake its million-dollar prize on that statement.
Reference -
From James Randi's commentary on John of God's modus operandi. James Randi is a professional magician and scientific skeptic who has offered a One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge to anyone who can demonstrate a supernatural ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria. He has written a book Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions about such fakery.
Flim-Flam by 'Amazing' James Randi.
I was given this book in college by a (physics) professor, partly in response to another (philosophy) professor's promotion of Carlos Castaneda's works. I hadn't been particularly swayed by Castaneda, but Randi opened up the world of skepticism and rationality.
You may be interested in the debunking efforts of magician/illusionists like The Amazing Randi, Penn and Teller and Houdini. They explain clearly how many of these illusions are performed. My first book of this type was called Flim Flam, by James Randi. (https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0879751983/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_oCldBb1CNAYME)
You also may want to check out The Skeptical Inquirer: https://www.csicop.org/si
Good luck. Leaving a family tradition can be traumatic.
The bit about having your partner's support says a bit more about the last question you had. The lodge wants to make sure that you joining isn't going to cause undue strain on your family. That includes the financial aspect of paying dues as well as being out of the house an evening or two a month (or much more if you choose to be more involved).
If you were joining without concerning your SO's opinion, I'd vote against you. We're interested in making good men better and a man who chooses not to care about the thoughts and feelings of those most close to him isn't ready for Masonry.
Don't let Freemasonry cause problems in your personal or professional life. I've told my lodge brothers that I can't take a chair in the lodge because I end up working after-hours too often and I'm at the point in my career where going the extra mile makes a big difference. I've also told them that I just want to spend some quality time with my fiance. Every single time, my brothers are very understanding.
Truth be told, little to nothing that we keep secret has remained a secret. There have been books published "exposing the masons" for about as long as we've been around. Should you choose to join, you'll better understand the 'secrecy' aspect of our order, but it's not like we've got the lotto numbers or Hoffa's body or something lol. Having said that, I'd encourage strongly that you don't seek out those 'secret teachings' if you do intend to join at some point in your life. The history of initiatic tradition deals so heavily with the aspect of shared experience that trying to get a head-start is nothing but detrimental.
I hope we haven't scared you away too much haha. If you want to take more time to dwell on it, Freemasons for Dummies by /u/chodapp is a fantastic book that answers the most common questions people have about us from the outside. Again, if you think you'll join someday, take the author's advice and skip sections as advised.
Please feel free to reach out if you have any more questions or if we can help!
Sorry? I think you are mistaken sir. The only official secrets we have are our modes of recognition. Everything else more than fair to be shared. It makes me wonder if you are in fact a mason, and if you are, if you bothered to open up the copy of the constitution they handed you as soon as you finished your first degree.
Have you never wondered why lodges have entire WEBSITES set up explaining the things I am? How authors like these are still members:
http://www.amazon.ca/Freemasons-For-Dummies-Christopher-Hodapp/dp/1118412087
You should apologize to me for that comment. Or even better, how about we place a wager? We both put $1000.00 In an escrow account. When I get home tonight, Ill post my certificate(s) as well as the relevant passages in our constitution. If I check out your $1000.00 goes to a charity of my choice. If I don't, my money will go to you or your charity?
But before you take my bet I would advise you to take a look around:
http://www.askafreemason.org/topten/
Here is right from the grand lodge of Albertas website:
http://www.freemasons.ab.ca/primary/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=31&Itemid=290
Why is Freemasonry so “secretive”?
It really isn’t “secretive,” although it sometimes has that reputation. Freemasons certainly don’t make a secret of the fact that they are members of the fraternity. We wear rings, lapel pins and tie tacks with Masonic emblems like the Square and Compasses, the best known of Masonic signs which, logically, recalls the fraternity’s roots in stonemasonry. Masonic buildings are clearly marked, and are usually listed in the phone book. Lodge activities are not secret picnics and other events are even listed in the newspapers, especially in smaller towns. Many lodges have answering machines which give the upcoming lodge activities. But there are some Masonic secrets, and they fall into two categories.
The first are the ways in which a man can identify himself as a Mason — grips and passwords. We keep those private for obvious reasons. It is not at all unknown for unscrupulous people to try to pass themselves off as Masons in order to get assistance under false pretenses.
The second group is harder to describe, but they are the ones Masons usually mean if we talk about “Masonic secrets.” They are secrets because they literally can’t be talked about, can’t be put into words. They are the changes that happen to a man when he really accepts responsibility for his own life and, at the same time, truly decides that his real happiness is in helping others.
It’s a wonderful feeling, but it’s something you simply can’t explain to another person. That’s why we sometimes say that Masonic secrets cannot ( rather than “may not”) be told. Try telling someone exactly what you feel when you see a beautiful sunset, or when you hear music, like the national anthem, which suddenly stirs old memories, and you’ll understand what we mean.
“Secret societies” became very popular in North America in the late 1800s and early 1900s. There were literally hundreds of them, and most people belonged to two or three. Many of them were modeled on Masonry, and made a great point of having many “secrets.” And Freemasonry got ranked with them. But if Freemasonry is a secret society, it’s the worst-kept secret in town.
It is literally word for word what I said in my AMAA, ONLY OUR MODES OF RECOGNITION. You should be careful pretending to know about something you clearly dont. Every once and a while someone might show up and make you look foolish.
Non-mobile: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1400080797/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1427589476&sr=8-1&keywords=quantum+and+the+lotus&pi=AC_SY200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=41Vkky1nICL&ref=plSrch
^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?
You might try this book:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1400080797/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1427589476&sr=8-1&keywords=quantum+and+the+lotus&pi=AC_SY200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=41Vkky1nICL&ref=plSrch
Most of what is done by meditators today reinforces the ego. There are very few people that talk about this much less books about it as it isn't a popular topic. People self-invest in their idea of themselves as a meditator and all the amazing things it does for "them".
Awakening by Rodney Smith talks at great lengths about this.
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism by Chogyam Trungpa is another.
"There is no such thing as spiritual practice except stepping out of self-deception and stopping our struggle to get ahold of spiritual states. Just give that up, other than that there is no spirituality." - Chogyam Trungpa
Sorry if this is a repeat, but Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism is a great read. It can be a mind fuck, but it's precise and clear.
Desire for truly positive, transformative results is called aspiration. It is still desire, but a different category of desire. One uses it until one overcomes other attachments. Then the dualistic spiritual desire can be let go as well.
Letting go is, of course, also put into practice during meditation. Your aspiration brings you to practice; but when you're actually applying choiceless awareness, you can let go of all thoughts of where you're going to or coming from. Only return to the method, only return to application of the awareness. Then, outside of meditation, when self and attachment habitually arise, you can again apply your positive aspiration to cut them off.
~
One of the all-time classics of Dharma and dharmic practice is Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. I highly recommend this book if you're into reading.
Great questions! I'm a bit of a noob myself, but I would recommend avoiding paying too much attention to some of the more superficial aspects of Buddhism: monastic life, positions, temples, ceremonies, etc.
I would suggest reading about and studying basic Buddhist principles: 4 noble truths, 8 fold path, non-attachment, impermanence, etc.
Through your study of the Dharma you'll encounter many cultural variations of Buddishm, which like any other religion / philosophy can be deeply rooted in and absorb local culture and tradition. Buddhism in the West is a relatively new concept and only in the past 60 years are North Americans creating their own definition of what it means to be a Buddhist when it comes to ritual, dress, and salutations. Different sanghas (communities) appropriate from Eastern practice what they like, amalgamating it with more modern secular traditions, and leave the rest behind. However, the underlying principles and the Dharma continue to hold true as they're pitted against science, psychology, and philosophy.
Also, be sure to check-out "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism". http://www.amazon.com/dp/1570629579
This might help you avoid a lot of pitfalls of any spiritual path.
I think looking at monks, ritual, dress, temples, and ceremonies when starting to learn about Buddhism is like taking a tour of the Vatican as an introduction to Christianity. It's one interpretation of the teachings with lots of sociological-economic-political-cultural-historical layers heaved on top.
Strip all the superficialities away and you'll get to the heart of the matter - the inner workings of the mind.
I watched an interview of the Dalai Lama once by Larry King. Having very little knowledge of Buddhism, Larry King asked him what he does when mosquitoes land on him to suck his blood.
The Dalai Lama replied that it depends entirely upon his mood at the moment. If he's in a good mood, he said, he blows on it to send it away. If he's not in a good mood, he smashes it to bits!
And then he laughed and laughed the way he does. I love Tenzin Gyatso.
Writing this just reminded me of a very helpful book by Tibetan Buddhist, Chogzam Trungpa that I hope to god OP will read, called "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism".
This is a great book for everyone interested in Buddhism or religion in general. It's well written and very easy to read and understand. If I knew OP's address, I'd buy one and send it.
https://www.amazon.com/Astral-Dynamics-Out-Body-Experiences/dp/1571746161
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Exploring-World-Dreams-Stephen-LaBerge/dp/034537410X
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Dreaming-Carlos-Castaneda/dp/006092554X
I haven’t mediated regularly in a long time. I do it now for helping me calm myself when I need to. I think some of my experiences freaked me out a little bit. But buzzing in the ears (and ringing) is common and is said to be associated with exiting the body- this is very accurate in my experience, although ear ringing is also associated with passing out. I recommend you read this book for guidance on astral travel as it’s the best one I’ve found. It talks about the trance phase and gives excellent techniques. I only ever did once, maybe twice- but I had many lucid dreams around this time as well. I say maybe twice because one time it seemed to go wrong and one time it seemed to go right. I asked for guidance and protection the time it went right.
heres a way to experience other dimensions.
It describes a lot of different techniques you can use to induce your own out of body experience along with a lot of other things you can do with your astral body.
​
​
https://www.amazon.com/Astral-Dynamics-Out-Body-Experiences/dp/1571746161/ref=sr_1_1/144-3013289-5983700?ie=UTF8&qid=1537768574&sr=8-1&keywords=astral+dynamics+robert+bruce&dpID=51rNaBMGpvL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
​
​
Here ya go.
You aren't agnostic about fairies. It's a question of realism.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_realism#Scientific_realism
It's very difficult to hold a position of anti realism. This is a good book:
http://www.amazon.com/Atheism-Philosophical-Justification-Michael-Martin/dp/0877229430
You're probably aware of Russell's teapot and Hitchen's razor. However, you probably haven't read The God Delusion, in which case I direct you to chapter 2, the Poverty of Agnosticism.
It really depends on what aspects interest you the most. Arturo de Hoyos has a good suggested reading list here or you might consider taking the Master Craftsman 3 course. It utilizes Albert Pike's Esoterika which was personally one of the most eye opening books on Craft Masonry I have read.
ETA: Hodapp's Freemasons For Dummies is a good read for new Brothers as well.
This is awesome. What group am I in as I tout anarchy, deep in the woods, as I grow cannabis, rejecting all politics, from all angles? Hmmm?
Is it the old ''they don't swallow the zombie trance pablum I do, so they must be for Trump!''
Hilarious.
You: ''we can go years carrying the weight of the world on our backs''
Me: Your whole philosophy is based around personal ownership, and linguistics seriously designed for you to constantly self doubt.
''Weight of the world''?
''I exaggerate about my burden, in MY world, which is MY life, and MY back carries the planet.''
Jeez dude. You are doing some hard line spiritual materialist self bamboozling. This is helpful advice:
2 books.
https://www.amazon.com/Cutting-Spiritual-Materialism-Shambhala-Classics/dp/1570629579
And
https://www.amazon.com/Be-You-Are-Teachings-Maharshi/dp/0140190627/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1494341846&sr=1-1&keywords=teaching+sri+ramana
You will hopefully throw off the ''ownership paradigm'' that has infected you from the NEW Age cult.
This is the largest cult around, over a hundred years old, and very very affiliated with the UN:
https://www.lucistrust.org/world_goodwill/key_concepts/education_in_the_new_age1
GO to a Lucis trust library and look around.
Attend a meeting. https://www.google.com/search?q=arcane+school+conference
Examine cults and ''ownership based'' pseudo spiritual teachings.
Avoid them. Maybe the ''weight of the world on your back'' will show itself to be an illusion of your own making,as you stop greedily trying to create things for your personal ownership. Problems are also something you can decide you own as a possession. New Age cults feed on that.
Other ''ownership'' cults are the Course in Miracles, Eckencar, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Tibetan Buddhism.https://www.google.com/search?q=arcane+school+conference Examine closely for when cults trick you into thinking you own something.
Just be. Chill out and stop trying to have things.
Be and do. Pretty simple.
''Don't get caught up'', ''Dont get carried away'',
If the Buddha meets you on the road..................
EDIT: Please let me know what group you thought I was in? I am fascinated.
Anyone can read my 8 years of comments to actually see that I am a lone anarchist,
who prefers spiritual teaching over cultish New Age programming.
I shit on scripture.
>Also what is this I found called, "The True Religion of God?" by Dr. AB Phillips?
Dr. Bilal Philips has some Salafi leanings but overall most of his works is a good reference point. I wouldn't take every he writes as truth.
Also Islam House is a Salafi site. Salafi are a tiny minority of Muslims in the world yet they flood the internet with their propaganda. Only recently, within last five or years or so ,has traditional scholars has begun to refute their propaganda. My advice is stay away from any person who has ties to Saudi Arabia (Umm al Qurra University,Madeenah University,Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University) until you are grounded within traditional understanding of Islam.
Moreover watch out for anything from Dar Us Salam publishers, the largest English language publishers of Islamic Books, they have been known to rewrite traditional books from scholars to suit their Salafi ideology.
My advice to start with Treatise For The Seekers Of Guidance. Which gives an overview of traditional Islamic morals and behavior. As well as English language Qur'aan,which unfortunately all them have their bias and problems with them. The only three that I can recommend are M.A.S. Abdel Haleem translation , Muhammad Asad translation or Aisha Bewley's translation. Though all of them have their problems.
Peter Boghossian defined it best. Pretending to know something you don't know. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LKBT0MC/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
>I didn't even imply that, speaking of intellectual shortcomings. Furthermore, I could just snipe back and say your intellectual shortcomings are quite obvious if you don't recognize pragmatism as bullshit. Can we not do this?
>I'd have much more respect for you if you bothered tackling what I actually said.
>So instead of wasting our time pointlessly going back and forth like that, I'll just repeat what I said and see if you deal with it this time.
>1) I said that most everyone understands "truth" to have a particular meaning, and if you use "true" to mean something else, you're going to mislead and confuse people. That is entirely independent of whether or not pragmatism has any merit.
Everyone once thought the Earth was flat. Just because something is widely accepted doesn't mean it's right (or true)
>2) I said there are other words you could use that mean the same thing you're trying to say, but are not going to needlessly confuse people.
I agree that saying knowledge is much easier to understand. Jordan is just using the lingo that pragmatic philosophers use
>3) Peterson should have acknowledged that and used another word. "When I say "true" I mean X, but I realize that's confusing, so instead I'll say it like this."
See question #2
>4) Peterson's refusal to do so shows he has an ulterior motive. This is, I believe, being able to say some religious belief that has no evidence is true.
Again he is going off of a previously formed philosophy. He never once every says Religion is historical fact, or true. Only that it is useful. I explain it more below.
>4a) This is a bastardization of pragmatism.
No it isn't. You guys keep getng stuck on this one word and not the actual views Jordan is presenting.
If you expand your understanding to something other than Material Realism, we could actually have a decent conversation. His argument is that you can't form an ought to be from an is. Science cannot answer it all, and Mythology is just as important to forming a usable truth (I would call it something like "necassary knowledge" but I understand why JP uses truth, as in science sometimes provides, or could provide, insufficient truths)
Biocentrism and Beyond Biocentrism, both by Dr. Robert Lanza, are good books if you're looking for an opposing view from Material Realism.
LSD is a powerful therapeutic tool. With great power comes risks. Of course there's stories of people messing up their brains on LSD because there's a lot of stupid people who take too much, take it in the wrong setting, take it with the wrong mindset, or take it when they're predisposed to schizophrenia.
Proper education will prevent more harm than criminalization ever has. People who want to do a psychedelic need to be taught to respect the drug first, instead of taking it to "get fucked up" or "trip balls" or some other immature shit. There's entire books written on the subject of how to maximize the therapeutic value of psychedelic experiences. Using a psychedelic immaturely is like letting an immature 12 year old drive a car.
Still, the stats relating psychedelic use to mental health don't show too much overall risk.
21,967 respondents (13.4% weighted) reported lifetime psychedelic use. There were no significant associations between lifetime use of any psychedelics, lifetime use of specific psychedelics (LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, peyote), or past year use of LSD and increased rate of any of the mental health outcomes. Rather, in several cases psychedelic use was associated with lower rate of mental health problems.
The other reviews for this book are also hilarious:
I have been finding people that are all retarded up and telling them all about god, they now understand that they are a test for the people that care for them, so they can go to heaven.
I have also been spreading the word to other species, chimps. Because what are chimps if not hairy retards."
it goes on and on
I found this several years ago. I saved it and still laugh my ass off when I go back to read it.
http://www.amazon.com/Helping-Retarded-Know-H-R-Hahn/product-reviews/0570063507/ref=cm_cr_pr_btm_link_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=byRankDescending
>Could you kindly point me to any content which I have copied and pasted from anti-Islamic websites please.
Here
and here
If you did the research yourself, then you didn't do a very good job of it and it would be quite obvious that you were looking for something to hate about Islam. Probably because you think all religions are the same, and Islam MUST be exactly like Christianity. Your lack of knowledge in Islam shows that. All of those "arguments" you posted are EASILY findable in Google, probably within the first page of results. It's the same arguments over and over again and it's become cliche to the internet Muslims. We just roll our eyes, like how you roll your eyes when a Christian comes to you preaching about Jesus. These so called "issues" have been refuted over and over again, and many of them can simply be refuted with just a basic understanding in Islam.
>If your holy book makes you look silly, why not pick a new one?
Looks silly to who? Someone who isn't Muslim? Why should I listen to them for?
>Please point me to better translations so I can learn.
Here is a good translation, with some commentary. If you want to go all out on commentary then get this. And this is the abridged version. It's translated from 11th century Arabic, but at least its 400 years newer than the Qur'an. You might be able to borrow a volume or two from your local mosque. However, do not make the claim that just because you read a couple of books on Islam, you are some sort of scholar. If I read "A Brief History of Time", it does not make me an astrophysicist.
>If pointing out what it says in your holy book is so irritating to you, what does that tell you about your holy book?
It tells me that the Qur'an was correct about non-Muslims after all. But since you read the entire Qur'an, you already know what I mean.
>further comment on your remark on the fairness of the Qu'ran's translations and scientific accuracy: why is it that the salt and fresh water thing and creationism are still taught in modern Islamic schools even in Europe?
I can't access youtube since I'm at work. Creationism in Islam is different than creationism in Christianity. Read this if you're interested.
As for the fresh water/salt water thing, this thread does a pretty good job explaining it.
Open mind, remember.
Yes, there are humanist churches all over the world.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_humanism
I also highly recommend the book Good Without God, What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe by Greg M. Epstein.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1935251740/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
^_^
Summer reading my friend