Gems From My Bookshelf

Greetings and welcome! This Steemit blog is all about exploring the mysteries of the world and the oddities I encounter in life, all with the intention to optimize my development and wellbeing. 

Most of my books are digital these days, however, I still keep physical books for various reasons: furnishing, writing in the margins, sentiment, artwork, etc.

Here are some I love.

Psychotherapy East & West - Alan Watts
I love Alan Watts. A great storyteller on the philosophy on non-dualism, among other things. He makes many psychological & spiritual concepts accessible to everyone. THIS book happens to be a first edition! I found it in a used bookstore outside of Houston and it's a great treasure of mine.

The Red Book - Carl Jung
Not fully published until recently, The Red Book contains Jung's (one of my favorite Psychologists) subjective, imaginative, and creative (non-scientific) experiences all within a psychological context. A really memorizing, although downright puzzling, read.

The Dhammapada
While I'm not Buddhist, I actually consider myself to be Agnostic, this work (which is essentially just quotes from the Buddha, but is considered a religious text) is something I find to be instructive in my own life and its lessons resonate with me even in 2018 (although it was written before the Common Era.)

Buddhism Plain and Simple
While many of the teachings of Buddhism can be considered straight-forward with detailed instructions for contemplative practice, the religious traditions has evolved over time and expressed in many different ways by different cultures, making it historically complex. This is probably the best book I've read that breaks it all down in an easy to digest way.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell
I love Joseph Campbell. His work has really increased my understanding of practical storytelling and how we organize our psyche in that context, both individually and collectively.

Path to Buddhahood - Gampopa
Written about a thousand years ago, this text gives a neat perspective on following the teachings of Buddhism. This was recommended to me by a friend and I do consider it a key text in my spiritual collection. Buddhism Plain and Simple was a bit easier to digest, however. 

That's it for now! Just a quick Saturday post. Let me know if you like this kind of thing and maybe I'll do more :) And, if you like my content, please consider giving me a follow and an upvote! Thank you!