resources:

the Way of Spirit

resources:

the Way of Spirit

Spiritual teachings, both ancient and modern, can connect us to a time when we humans were more attuned to the reality of the unseen realms and the power of soul and spirit to guide us. A selection of meditation resources follows. ~Reminder that this resource section is new and the lists are works in progress, not exhaustive by any means. Suggest a resource here.

books

Spiritual Classics & Ancient Teachings

  • The Bhagavad Gita
  • Chuang Tzu: The Inner Chapters
  • The Cloud of Unknowing
  • The Dhammapada
  • The Essential Rumi, Coleman Barks
  • The Handbook of Epictetus
  • The Nag Hammadi Gospels
  • Selected Writings, Meister Eckhart
  • The Tao Te Ching
  • The Upanishads
  • The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Modern Classics & Contemporary Recommendations

  • Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda
  • In Search of the Miraculous, P.D. Ouspensky
  • Freedom from the Known, J. Krishnamurti
  • Passage Meditation, Eknath Easwaran
  • The Perennial Philosophy, Aldous Huxley
  • The Seven Storey Mountain, Thomas Merton
  • Using the Mind as an Ally, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
  • When Things Fall Apart, Pema Chodron
  • The Wisdom of Insecurity, Alan Watts

films & videos

Into Great Silence (Documentary), 2005. An examination of life inside the Grande Chartreuse, the head monastery of the reclusive Carthusian Order in France.

Meetings with Remarkable Men, 1979. Film based on the book of the same name by the Eurasian mystic, G.I. Gurdjieff, chronicling his and his companions’ search for spiritual truth.

We Are All One. Interview with Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee exploring the path of his Sufi lineage. A thought-provoking call to stop wasting time and wake up into life and spirit while we can.

podcast episodes

from Wake Up, Human:

meditation resources

(Taken from Wake Up, Human Podcast Ep.9: Meditation as Medicine. Some repetition from above.)

Meditation Centers / Teachers

  • Eknath Easwaran and Blue Mountain Center for Meditation: I recommend Easwaran’s books, videos, and the community/courses offered at BMCM.
  • Shambhala meditation centers: The lineage is Tibetan Buddhism, teachings are practical and modern.
  • Transcendental Meditation: a simple meditation practice similar to what’s discussed during this episode. You can find a teacher and take classes. But for background, I would start by just searching YouTube and watching a few videos on TM from personalities who interest you.
  • Vipassana Meditation: For those ready to go deeper, I highly recommend the 10-day meditation experience of Vipassana meditation in the tradition of S.N. Goenka. (There is also a documentary on Vipassana, “Doing Time, Doing Vipassana,” which highlights the power of the practice to transform violence and pain into the power of compassion.)

Recommended Books:

Extra: "Meditation Lab"

“There’s a lab for this class. It’s called meditation.” ~Michael Nagler

If you were intrigued by the Ep.9 segment about meditation being a “practice lab” for the Peace and Conflict Studies course, check out this link. Michael Nagler’s Metta Center hosts a recording of his 2-part PACS course at University of California at Berkeley, recorded before he retired in 2007.

In the right sidebar are links to an updated set of recordings Prof. Nagler has produced since retiring, followed by a note on the Meditation Lab, including instructional videos and a short e-book on “Meditation for Peacemakers.”

May it be of benefit.

The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.

~ Joseph Campbell

The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.