
Here are a few links of places where you can find information to fulfill your spirituality.
Religious/Spiritual
Gnostic, the Hidden Side of Christianity: Two places to start is the inevitable Wikipedia for a jump start and the Gnosis site.
Kaballah, the Hidden Side of Judaism: For century, the Kaballah, the practice was only taught to high scholars. As with most esoteric paths, it opened turn of last century despite much reluctance. Again Wikipedia and the Kaballah Center are good places to start. The Kaballah Center is very active and is a good introduction. Also check out this site.
Sufism, the Hidden Jewel of Islam: Sufism is the jewel of Islam and the famous poet Rumi puts it in no better ways. The University of Georgia has a good introduction. See also Rumi here.
Don’t forget to check out Zoroastre who travels a fine line between India and Persia.
Hinduism, the Many Paths: There are many paths to chose from in Hinduism from the loving and nurturing Vishnu, to the fiery and multi-faceted Shiva to directly at the source, Brahma and its countless manifestations.
Related books:
The Upanishads, The Bhagavat Gita, The Mahabarata
Buddhism, Going Back Inside: Buddha had followed countless systems, starved himself almost to death in order to find that illusive “liberation”. What he found in the end is that everything is within. There are countless of different Buddhism, Tibetan with this website of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual and political ruler of Tibet, Thai, Japanese, to name but a few, all different yet the same in essence.
Western Philosophies, Sciences, Movers and Shakers:
Joseph Campbell is famous for having rationalized many religions and philosophies worldwide: as well as his foundation:
Quantum Physics, if you want to twist your brain around and see where science meets the esoteric.
Also do a Wikipedia search on famous Greek philosophers, such as; Socrates, Plato and Aristotle to get an idea of how our western philosophies differed from the East. Don’t forget to look up Pythagoras of Samos.
The Theosophical Movement, reining in the different systems. An interesting
Hermeticism, the Golden Fountain Head: Hermeticism is said to have been the fountain from whence came mathematics, arts, esoterics, science in general, etc, via Hermes, Thoth in ancient Egypt. One nice introduction to Hermetics is the The Kybalion (PDF format download), and a search on the Internet will yield other intriguing bits and pieces, the Corpus Hermeticum, the Emerald Tablets, etc. One this is known, true Hermeticism doesn’t have any centralized school, no “masters” to speak thereof, but has many students throughout the globe and true to the definition of the word hermetic, it is hermetically sealed…
Books
Ramtha. A great book that traces the life of Ramtha, the first great god of war, as we know him. The first book was inspirational but gradually changes in volume 2 and number 3 which clearly becomes written by the hand of a human. The take away, Ramtha says he never trusted the teachings of any man and learned from nature only. There are no filters there. This influenced me greatly.
Siddartha, by Herman Hess. Herman Hess traveled to India and learned of the story of the first Buddha, Sakyamuni. The story is so well told, you will feel you were there. A great introduction to Buddhism and a great reminder that all masters finally go within to find their own personal path.
Illusions, The Story of a Reluctant Messiah, Richard Bach. Another magical book where Richard Bach flies his two seater airplane in the Mid West of the USA with another intriguing fellow who never has to clean his airplane, no refill the oil, nor do another. Did I say magical?
The Alchemist, Paolo Coelho. Another magical book where Coelho brings you along the lives of a shepherd who follows what he feels are prophetic dreams all the way to the Egyptian pyramids. A great allegory.
Tao Te King, a good way to start describing what It is by saying what It isn’t. A must to get you going on the greater question of what is God, the Source of All things, that which everything happen, that which is and isn’t.
Ask and it is Given, Abraham-Hicks. An excellent book you can read and re-read. It hashes out a simple technique on how to attract what you want through feeling better, and better, and better, etc. It’s the real Law Of Attraction that was vulgarized in The Secret movie. An excellent read for western thinkers.
Popol Vuh an excellent vestige of what is left from the Mayan culture and beyond. It survived the Spanish invasion and burning of holy books. An interesting read since it also describes the beginning of the world, much the same way as others with water…
Zanoni. A great hermetic story of how two hermetic disciples different in their paths. Very poignant and a great teacher.
Places
In New York City;
Utah;
Los Angeles;
The Philosophical Research Society
Anything else?
