If the me of 30 years ago met the me now, I’d probably think I was kind of “out there.” It is very difficult to leap right into the thick of spiritual revelation without being thought mad. These are certain books that I have read that have gently eased me along my path of spiritual and mental discovery:
1) “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett. One of my earliest experiences with how thinking can change your body and mind.
2) “Stranger In A Strange Land” by Robert Heinlein. Again, showing a different way of thinking about things. If you can find the recently published *unedited* edition, it’s way better!
3) “Illusions: A Tale of a Reluctant Messiah” by Richard Bach. He’s best known for “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”, which had cool concepts but Illusions is orders of magnitude better and has such great quotes as, “You’re never given a dream without also being given the power to make it come true.” And “The best way to avoid responsibilities is to say I have responsibilities.” (It’s also a quick read.)
4) “The Power of Positive Thinking” by Norman Vincent Peale. He looks at it from a Christian point of view, but it works no matter what God you put in there (or don’t.)
5) “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. Maybe my #1 most influential book, mainly because she includes a lot of exercises to help change your life.
6) “Creative Visualization” by Shakti Gawain. I still use her visualizations almost daily.
7) “The Bromeliad Trilogy” by Terry Pratchett, which include the three books of “Truckers”, “Diggers” and “Wings”. These kids books would’ve been pivotal if I had read them as a kid. But I loved them as an adult and gave them to my nieces and nephews because they are SO funny. Telling the tale of these little gnomes who live hidden in a department store, but at the same time giving the wonderful message of, “There’s LOTS more out there! Don’t believe everything you’ve been told!”
8) any poetry of Rumi. He knows Spirit and always inspires me thru his words.
9) “Our Dreaming Mind” by Robert Van de Castle. A scientist who studied dreams and had to come to the conclusion of the Collective Unconscious and other mental connections.
10) “The Hunger for Ecstasy; Fulfilling the Soul’s Need for Passion and Intimacy” by Jalaja Bonheim, which validated my spiritual view of physical intimacy.
I hope this will encourage you to read some of these wonderful books!
My book Naked Morsels: Short Stories of Spiritual Erotica is available at:
https://www.createspace.com/4756061
– Robin Rumi
robinrumi 