What a question. I’ve been asking it all my life. Publicly, I am known for writing and workshops about the spiritual search, intuition, the still, small voice of God, angels, and miraculous time-warped synchronicities that seem directed to our benefit. I have written about my own mystical illuminations in A Book of Angels, The Ecstatic Journey, The Path of Prayer, in novels, plays, stories, and poetry. My work is translated into some 25 languages (most recently Chinese). But underneath I’m an ordinary flawed, failed human being, stumbling, searching for meaning, struggling toward God, and trying to be of some small service before I go back home.
I wrote...
The Treasure of Montségur: A Novel of the Cathars
By
Sophy Burnham
What is my book about?
How do you find hope in the midst of horror? From what aquifer springs blinding faith even when faced with being burnt alive? For two centuries the medieval Church worked to exterminate the vegetarian, pacifist “heretic” followers of Christ, known as Cathars or pure ones. Women were priests. Holy script was translated so everyone could read. Finally, 230 perfecti, trapped in the fortress of Montsegur in the south of France, lowered 2 perfecti and a guide on ropes down the sheer cliff face to escape and continue the Church of Love —before they were all burnt at the stake.
My novel begins when Jeanne, their guide, having lost the two, is looking for them. The Inquisition is looking for her. Everyone is looking for the immense Cathar treasure. What was the treasure of Montségur?
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The Books I Picked & Why
Autobiography of a Yogi
By
Paramahansa Yogananda
Why this book?
Named one of the 100 best spiritual books of the 20th century, this autobiography of a guru’s spiritual search for enlightenment reads like a page-turner thriller. Here’s one story: when he was a young boy, his atheist brother dared him (if he believed so firmly in God) to go without money to a far-off city, live well for a day, and return without having spent a cent. That story alone changed my life.
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The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature
By
William James
Why this book?
Taken from his 1901-01 lectures at the University of Edinburgh, this book offers the quintessential psychological study of mysticism and spiritual experiences, identifying commonalities and taking seriously the Reality of the Unseen. A true spiritual illumination, says James, is authoritative, temporary, optimistic, and always verifies union with something larger than the conscious self.
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Rumi: Poems
By
Jalal Al-Din Rumi
Why this book?
I am not suggesting any particular book of the poems of this famous Persian poet and Sufi mystic. There are dozens of translations. Read any. His ecstatic poetry, as well as reflective musings all, lead to deepening love, the center and meaning of a spiritual experience.
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Mysticism
By
Evelyn Underhill
Why this book?
This is sometimes heavy slogging, and irritating for the absence of her personal spiritual stories, but it remains a seminal work. Her lifelong quest was a source of private angst, provoking her to research and write novels, poems, and this psychological exploration of how the mystic fits into both worlds with joy. It includes a valuable appendix of mystics over centuries.
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In Love with the World: A Monk's Journey Through the Bardos of Living and Dying
By
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche,
Helen Tworkov
Why this book?
Reared from sheltered babyhood as a fully enlightened being, the abbot decided at the age of 36 to leave the monastery and wander begging like the Buddha for food. I was amazed. He openly recounts the emotions of grappling for the first time with physical needs – including his descent into dying, his recovery, and his joy of this difficult world.
