Consciousness Is All There Is – Dr. Tony Nader
The Illuminati Handbook – Magus Incognito
Spiritual Telepathy – Colleen Mauro
Letter to a Young Poet – Rainer Maria Rilke
There’s a reason for the spiritual slant to the stuff I’ve been reading.
In my peer recovery class, we started talking about how what we do affects everyone, because we’re all connected. There was a passing mention to physics.
Colt said he reading a book with similar themes. It sounded interesting, so I asked to borrow it. He brought “Consciousness is All There Is” the following week.
Dr. Nader is the spiritual successor to the Maharishi. He was the Yoga the Beatles travelled to India to study under. This book is replete with the Maharishi’s teachings, which are based on the ancient Veda of India. It’s in the vein of books like “The Tao of Physics,” although more focused on the individual aspect and the experience of consciousness than the aforementioned title.
Nader’s primary thesis is contained in the title. He posits that consciousness preceded the material universe, and is contained within all matter. A good chunk of the book delves into the scientific underpinnings to this belief, but does get overly repetitive.
At the end, he mentions Transcendental Meditation (which is promoted heavily by the organization he and the Maharishi founded) as a way to transform the world. He cites multiple studies claiming a concentrated group of people practicing Transcendental Meditation promotes peace, as well as lessening societal ills like domestic violence, substance abuse, and suicide.
The number of people needed to make a difference in the U.S., he claims, is 10,000.
I don’t know how legitimate these studies are, but the idea is interesting. I do think prayer on a massive scale changes attitudes and behaviors, and this is a similar concept.
Colt lent “The Illuminati Handbook” next. I thought it was gonna be some a bunch of esoteric secrets, but it was mostly a repackaging of common meditations, positive thinking, and visualization techniques. A history of Freemasonry and its various branches (eg Rosicrucians) are included. I don’t think “Magus Incognito” was actually a member of any lodge. Most probably, he’s just an internet rando trying to make a quick buck.
There’s a shelf at the front of unit where people dump old books they don’t want. It’s mostly filled with religious material, old Bibles and such. That’s where I discovered “Spiritual Telepathy.”
It’s based on Theosophical philosophy. Theosophy, formulated by Madame Blavatsky in the late 1800s, is a syncretistic belief system, combining Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, and other traditions. The book covers chakra centers, the three bodies, and the parallels between Western mysticism and Eastern religion. The second half puts forth a dozen or so meditation techniques.
The history of the “Wisdom” teachings was interesting, as was the list of scientific experiments conducted in academic settings that tested telepathic abilities. The results all but proved their existence. However, the meditations provided at the end were a little too New Age-y for my taste.
In the early 1900s, a young, aspiring poet reached out to Rainer Maria Rilke for advice, feedback, and insight. The responses, written over a 5 year period, are collected in this slim (less than 100 pages) volume, and serve as a source of inspiration for young artists everywhere.
Rilke possesses an unmistakably artistic voice in the letters. Here is a typical excerpt:
“Irony: Do not let yourself be governed by it, especially not in uncreative moments. In creative moments try to make use of it as one more means of grasping life. Cleanly used, it is too clean, and one need not be ashamed of it; and if you feel you are getting too familiar with it, if you fear this growing intimacy with it, then turn to great and serious objects, before which it becomes small and helpless.”
Only an accomplished poet can write like that with a straight face.
Easy Trouble 