Your favourite book and its impact on your life

astro11

astro11

Well-known member
We all have read many books but there is likely one or two that stand out as most influential in our lives. I thought it may be interesting to find out what your favourite book is, when you read it, and what impact it had on your life.

My favourite is the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. I first read it when I was 15 and it was responsible for starting me on my unique spiritual path. Before that point, I hadn't given much thought to the deeper questions in life and didn't feel like I had a well defined vision for my life. Rick is Christian but the principles in the book can be applied to anyone regardless of what religion you practice or even if you aren't religious. The book is inspirational and really causes you to think about your life in a different way. I was excited to read a new chapter each day for 40 days and contemplate the wisdom contained in each. After the 40 days, with honesty my outlook on life had been totally transformed. It is the best selling non fiction book in history according to Publishers Weekly and that honor is very well deserved.
 
Z

Zarathu

Account Closed
How to Enjoy your life in spite of it all, by ken Keyes, Jr. Made me understand that life is a series of either teachings or blessings, and how I feel about what happens is entirely up to me. It has no bearing on others or what actually happens.
 
serafin5

serafin5

Well-known member
Ive read so many great books but hands down the most profound has to be a book called "Aztec" by Gary Jennings. This book answered a lot of personal questions for me as far as my ancestry but the story, while historically accurate, was beautifully written.

Serafin5
 
S

Stephen

Well-known member
The Duties of the Heart by R Bachya Ben Joseph Ibn Paquda. A spiritual teaching from the middle ages originally written in Arabic that teaches ten gates to living a spiritual life.
The teaching is a life long project, teaching how to work from the Heart and control the physical animal body.
The most Spiritual teaching I've ever read.

Best.
Stephen
 
astro11

astro11

Well-known member
All of the books mentioned sound really interesting, I will have to try and read them sometime. I own the Art of Happiness, I agree the book was filled with precious gems of wisdom from a truly peaceful man.
 
princess valhalla

princess valhalla

Well-known member
"The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran first read around 15, I fell in love with his philosophy. Also, "Mythology" by Edith Hamilton. That book is so worn, I adore mythology!

I really have sooo many, too many to name! lol
 
astro11

astro11

Well-known member
I own The Prophet and have read it many times, each time I read it I get something new from it. He writes so eloquently and his way of looking at the world really makes you think on a deeper level.
 
serafin5

serafin5

Well-known member
Ditto to Princess and Astro on "The Prophet". My mom got me that book when I was 13yrs old and I have always cherished Khalil Gibran's wisdom. One of my favorite quotes is the one that says, "speak of Good and Evil".

Great thread!
S5
 
Sagakkan

Sagakkan

Well-known member
One book that kind of got me started on psycho-spiritual things was definitely Mysteries by Colin Wilson. I read it one summer about 7 years ago and just could not put it down. I think it helped me to make some sense of things I had experienced, and to know that other people have and do experience them. Also it helped pry my mind open, and free it from a lot of the dogma regarding the nature of reality that we are fed, subtly and not-so-subtly, by things like school, media, everywhere, etc.

Though because my interest in these things is mostly very practical, I feel compelled to say that the book that has been of the greatest help to me is Urban Shaman by Serge King. I really feel that Serge's books came into my life to get me through seemingly insurmountable difficulties, they are invaluable to anyone for whom personal power and successful living are priorities.
 
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princess valhalla

princess valhalla

Well-known member
My favorite chapter of 'The Prophet' is the one on children. :love:

"Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday."
 
princess valhalla

princess valhalla

Well-known member
Continued:
"You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable."
 
Z

Zarathu

Account Closed
retinoid said:
The art of happiness, written by a psychiatrist who interviewed the dalai lama.
Click to expand...

I loved this little inspriational book by the Dalai Lama about getting old. He commented that you know you are getting older when you seem to have developed a huge amount of stiff little hairs in your ears.

I knew right then I was OK. If the Dalai Lama could get those stiff little hairs in his ears then having them in my ears too couldn't be that bad.
 
astro11

astro11

Well-known member
princess valhalla said:
My favorite chapter of 'The Prophet' is the one on children. :love:

"Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday."
Click to expand...

I wish more parents would be required to read and reflect on this passage. It would really make a difference in the way kids are raised and in the overall happiness of the family unit.
 
mrdecc

mrdecc

Premium Member
The book with the biggest impact on 'my' life was 'condensed chaos' by Phil Hine way back in 1999, it broke 'me' out of my intellectual mold.
The book 'I' constantly refer back to, the one that gives me comfort is 'The chymical marriage of Christian Rosenkreutz' by Adam Mclean.
 
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