Do you read any books on Philosophy and Spirituality?

[Bodda]

Just curious if anyone has a book/books to hand they dip into or study be it the bible, Bhagavad Gita, Torah, Bardo Thodol etc?.......

During my life the only thing I have grabbed onto is the Hagakure which has served me very well, it took me years after watching Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai to actually find what the quotes came from but on getting a copy it's never left my side & I dip into it on a daily basis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagakure

“There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you will still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everything.”

 

[alasdairm]

perhaps looked down on by philosophy snobs but i have found much wisdom in: the four agreements.

alasdair

 

[thujone]

yeah Ghost Dog is what came to my mind too :D I'm reading Zen and Japanese Culture, which has a section on swordsmanship and the role of zen in the way of the samurai. Also working my way through The Dancing Wu Li Masters which is about quantum mechanics and how what we accept as concrete reality is, fundamentally, still a chaotic abstraction. I picked the two books up randomly at different times, and although they never directly refer to the same thing it's funny how they both point towards the notion that absolute reality still lies beyond what we commonly accept it to be.

 

[L2R]

i've read zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance three times (at least).

during my degree i did quite a bit of philosophy, from the classics through to theories on the mind and justice.

 

[Bodda]

perhaps looked down on by philosophy snobs but i have found much wisdom in: the four agreements.

alasdair

Sounds quite good, added it to my notebook to look into.

yeah Ghost Dog is what came to my mind too :D I'm reading Zen and Japanese Culture, which has a section on swordsmanship and the role of zen in the way of the samurai. Also working my way through The Dancing Wu Li Masters which is about quantum mechanics and how what we accept as concrete reality is, fundamentally, still a chaotic abstraction. I picked the two books up randomly at different times, and although they never directly refer to the same thing it's funny how they both point towards the notion that absolute reality still lies beyond what we commonly accept it to be.

Great minds think alike (Ghost Dog)
That Zen and Japanese Culture sounds also a good read for me, also added to my notebook to read.
On the subject of quantum mechanics I found this yesterday & added it to my Facebook page, you may be interested to have a look.

Quantum physics proves that there IS an afterlife, claims scientist
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ics-proves-IS-afterlife-claims-scientist.html

i've read zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance three times (at least).

during my degree i did quite a bit of philosophy, from the classics through to theories on the mind and justice.

One book I have kept with me for a long time is zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. I like the way he links all of the journey & how the bike parts all fit together into how he views life.

During your degree what was the one thing you read that made the most impact on you?

 

[Jabberwocky]

I wouldn't know where to start with suggesting philo books out of the blue. How is your thinking inclined? What kind of subject matter resonates with you? Do you like older style reasoning or newer age reasoning? Do you prefer science, spiritual, religious, or a mixture?

What do you think of the following statement?

"All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore Socrates is mortal." ?

 

[Bodda]

I wouldn't know where to start with suggesting philo books out of the blue. How is your thinking inclined? What kind of subject matter resonates with you? Do you like older style reasoning or newer age reasoning? Do you prefer science, spiritual, religious, or a mixture?

I have always looked into shamanism really, much outside stuff like Yage ceremonies & the like I am lost.

What do you think of the following statement?

"All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore Socrates is mortal." ?

Taken me a while thinking on it, my grasp of mortal is that we don't actually "die" we just take on another form so I would have to agree.

 

[L2R]

Sounds quite good, added it to my notebook to look into.



Great minds think alike (Ghost Dog)
That Zen and Japanese Culture sounds also a good read for me, also added to my notebook to read.
On the subject of quantum mechanics I found this yesterday & added it to my Facebook page, you may be interested to have a look.

Quantum physics proves that there IS an afterlife, claims scientist
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ics-proves-IS-afterlife-claims-scientist.html



One book I have kept with me for a long time is zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. I like the way he links all of the journey & how the bike parts all fit together into how he views life.

During your degree what was the one thing you read that made the most impact on you?

Jonathan haidt's "the emotional dog and it's rational tail"
http://m.motherjones.com/files/emotional_dog_and_rational_tail.pdf

 

[Felonious Monk]

One book I have kept with me for a long time is zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. I like the way he links all of the journey & how the bike parts all fit together into how he views life.

During your degree what was the one thing you read that made the most impact on you?

Same. I read it for the first time in 2009 (took me 3 months, usually I'd read a book that long in 3-4 weeks) and it helped me immensely through a period of tumultuous emotional growth, when I experienced total ego death, which helped me rebuild my personality and self-actualize, which was in shambles from benzo dependence. Since then I pick it up all the time and have read through it again at least twice.

My favorite concept is like page ~222ish in the mass market paperback, when he really explains how important it is to live in the moment-on the edge of reality, since everything we see has already happened we have to live in harmony with the moment.

To me, the whole book provides an intellectual clarity and rationality of what Ram Dass presents in a more meditational way in Be Here Now. (tied for my favorite philosophical/spiritual book)