Books on Advaita/Nondualism
Books have changed my life. I started thinking about books, videotapes, and audio for beginners concerning advaita or nondualism. I tried to limit my entries to just five things. I also am interested in things that are free as much as possible from Hindu terminology.
Here in the order that I encountered the five things are the ones I have chosen. I would be interested in your list. I attempted this in a Beliefnet forum, but nobody came up with a list of five things.
1. The Experience of No-Self by Bernadette Roberts. Very unusual. Read it years before I found out about advaita/nondualism, and I could see after the fact how this fits in. Someone in Beliefnet told me that Roberts did not believe in nondualism but her experience was very interesting to me.
2. As It Is by Tony Parsons. This book shook me up and got me thinking about advaita/nondualism.
3. Spiritual Enlightenment by Jed McKenna. Only fictional piece. Very sassy and entertaining.
4. When Fear Falls Away by Jan Frazier. Biographical story about woman who becomes enlightened. Enlightenment is nothing what we thought it was after reading this book.
5. Podcasts by John Sherman. “You are not your life” is what Sherman says in all his podcasts. Follows Self-Inquiry method by Ramana Maharshi. Over age 60, Sherman spent about 20 years in prison for political bombings. His web site is http://www.riverganga.org/.
Here in the order that I encountered the five things are the ones I have chosen. I would be interested in your list. I attempted this in a Beliefnet forum, but nobody came up with a list of five things.
1. The Experience of No-Self by Bernadette Roberts. Very unusual. Read it years before I found out about advaita/nondualism, and I could see after the fact how this fits in. Someone in Beliefnet told me that Roberts did not believe in nondualism but her experience was very interesting to me.
2. As It Is by Tony Parsons. This book shook me up and got me thinking about advaita/nondualism.
3. Spiritual Enlightenment by Jed McKenna. Only fictional piece. Very sassy and entertaining.
4. When Fear Falls Away by Jan Frazier. Biographical story about woman who becomes enlightened. Enlightenment is nothing what we thought it was after reading this book.
5. Podcasts by John Sherman. “You are not your life” is what Sherman says in all his podcasts. Follows Self-Inquiry method by Ramana Maharshi. Over age 60, Sherman spent about 20 years in prison for political bombings. His web site is http://www.riverganga.org/.
posted by Brother Bob @ 11:08 AM
1 Comments:
At June 7, 2008 at 5:47 PM,
Anonymous said…
Having attended many retreats given by Bernadette Roberts over a period of nearly twenty-five years, I know for certain that her paradigm is completely different from "nondualism"-- Advaita or otherwise.
Indeed, she calls the nondualist misconception of her paradigm "forcing the fit," which she defines in a recent book as "redefining, clipping, pasting, twisting-- to make the original fit a dissonant paradigm" (Roberts, "Forcing the Fit," Foreword, 2008).
In her essay, "Nondualism," she writes: "It is unfortunate that those who aspire to a nondual state will never reach it-- because it doesn't exist. In truth it is just another illusion to be dispelled. With or without self, there is no state in the journey truly 'nondual,' neither in our earthly journey nor in heaven" (Roberts, "Essays on the Christian Contemplative Journey," 2007, p. 71.)
In addition, she clearly distinguishes her paradigm from that of nondualism in another work, "What Is Self? The Spiritual Journey In Terms of Consciousness." All books cited above are available at http://www.bernadettesfriends.blogspot.com/
Post a Comment
<< Home