It was some 2,800 years ago when a faction of seemingly ordinary Hindu men began defying India’s longstanding religious order by undertaking a spiritual quest that was traditional reserved for citizens of the priestly caste. In addition to permanently transforming the country’s culture by opening up the gates of spiritual practice to all, this monuments movement also brought about the globally cherished scriptures known as the Upanishads and gave rise to the literary genre of spirituality. While many of the east’s earliest sacred writings, coming from the religions of Buddhism and Hinduism, remained landlocked on the Subcontinent for hundreds of more centuries, the advent of accelerated travel, improved means of communication and the invention of the printing press would eventually lead to a new age where the timeless writings of modest monks and mystical sages captivated citizens from both the east and west.
Although one may assume that the western world’s fascination with exotic eastern religions would at some point simmer, quite the contrary has actually occurred. Especially over the past 100 years, with the popularization of spiritual classics such as Aldous Huxley’s The Perennial Philosophy, Paul Bruton’s A Search In Secret India and Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha, westerns’ interest in the Buddha, meditative practices and Sanatana Dharma has steadily grown. In fact, it’s due to this ever-expanding curiosity, in addition to the many recently discovered scientific benefits of meditation and a societal yearning for a more meaningful existence, that some of the bestselling books each year aim to transform the spiritual lives of readers.
In 2017, just like in years past, we’ve been blessed to get our hands on some truly significant and groundbreaking titles that can alter our minds and change our lives. While we released our list of The Top 10 Self-Help Books of 2017 earlier this week, which features titles from the sub-genres of Business & Leadership, Inspirational Biographies & Memoirs, Habits of Success, Psychology, Health & Wellness and Relationships, here we’ll aim to illuminate this year’s most noteworthy writings (published between October 2016-December 2017) focused on the topics of Meditation & Mindfulness, Buddhism, Hinduism, Transcendentalism and Death & Grief. As you’ll soon discover, immersing yourself in the work of today’s greatest spiritual teachers is one of the most life-affirming ways to increase your levels of happiness and stimulate personal growth. With that being said, let’s now turn our attention to Balanced Achievement’s Top 10 Spirituality Books of 2017:
10.) Mother of the Unseen World – Mark Matousek:
Among many of today’s spiritual leaders, there is strong belief that an integration of the divine feminine into our worldview is urgently needed if we are to heal our planet’s woes, eradicate fundamentalist terror, and restore a unifying, feminine vision to our worldly affairs. Until we reintroduce the wisdom of embodiment as symbolized by the Divine Mother into our global conversation—a wisdom deeply rooted in the earth, while God the father looks down from the sky—our future is thought to be perilous indeed.”
9.) An Appeal to the World – The 14th Dalai Lama:
Religious and nonreligious people should work together in these modern times. Religion alone will not be enough to overcome these divisions. My favorite concepts are the education of the heart and the sense of oneness of humanity. By this I mean the unity of mankind and thinking globally about the future of the world. There are no national boundaries for climate protection or the global economy. Also, no religious boundaries. Now the time has come to understand that we are the same human being on the this planet.”
8.) No Time Like The Present – Jack Kornfield:
Eternity is here, always alive in the present moment. Mindfulness invites us to return to now, the present moment, instead of being buried in thoughts of a past that no longer exists or fantasizing about a future that is yet to come. In the present moment, we learn to see clearly and kindly. With the power of mindfulness, we can become fully present to the unbearable beauty and the inevitable tragedy that comprise our human life. We can honorably embrace and tend the life we’ve been given.”
7.) Beyond The Self – Matthieu Ricard & Wolf Singer:
The mind that nature gave us does have the potential for immense goodness, but it also creates a lot of unnecessary suffering for ourselves and others. If we take an honest look at ourselves, then we must acknowledge that we are a mixture of light and shadow, of good qualities and defects. Is this the best we can be? Is that an optimal way of being? These questions are worth asking, particularly if we consider that some kind of change is both desirable and possible.”
6.) The Wisdom Of Sundays – Oprah Winfrey:
What I know for sure is the most valuable gift you can give yourself is the time to nurture the unique spirit that is you. Your life, just like mine, is unfolding according to your own truth. No one has been through what you have been through, not in the way that you’ve experienced it. And yet, all the pain is the same. Our sadness and sorrows, joy and trumps bind us in the common thread of humanity. The sooner we realize the connection, the more elevated life becomes.”
5.) The Nature Fix – Florence Williams:
The idea of solvitur ambulando (in walking it will be solved) has been around since St. Augustine, but well before that Aristotle thought and taught while walking the open-air parapets of the Lyceum. It has long been believed that walking in restorative settings could lead not only to physical vigor but to mental clarity and even bursts of genius, inspiration (with its etymology in breathing) and overall sanity.”
4.) The Bright Hour – Nina Riggs:
I am reminded of an image…that living with a terminal disease is like walking on a tightrope over an insanely scary abyss. But that living without disease is also like walking on a tightrope over an insanely scary abyss, only with some fog or cloud cover obscuring the depths a bit more — sometimes the wind blowing it off a little, sometimes a nice dense cover.”
3.) Braving The Wilderness – Brene Brown:
Stop walking through the world looking for confirmation that you don’t belong. You will always find it because you’ve made that your mission. Stop scouring people’s faces for evidence that you’re not enough. You will always find it because you’ve made that your goal. True belonging and self-worth are not goods; we don’t negotiate their value with the world. The truth about who we are lives in our hearts. Our call to courage is to protect our wild heart against constant evaluation, especially our own. No one belongs here more than you.”
2.) The Collected Letters of Alan Watts – Alan Watts:
The trouble with the American mentality is its readiness to believe that big solutions are possible. But solution is a static concept – allied to the Christian heaven. Note, too, that when we try to absorb Buddhist and Taoist ideas we project this same static quality and think, for example that satori [seeing into one’s nature] is a definitive state at which one arrives, whereas – on the contrary – satori is the realization of the ‘state’ of no fixed state, or, as it is sometimes called, of ‘nonattainment’. The secret is that there is nothing to get, nowhere to arrive, and indeed, no secret!”
1.) Why Buddhism Is True – Robert Wright:
Buddhist thought and modern psychology converge on this point: in human life as it’s ordinarily lived, there is no one self, no conscious CEO, that runs the show; rather, there seem to be a series of selves that take turns running the show—and, in a sense, seizing control of the show. If the way they seize control of the show is through feelings, it stands to reason that one way to change the show is to change the role feelings play in everyday life. I’m not aware of a better way to do that than mindfulness meditation.”
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