My favorite books on spirituality and self-discovery

Why am I passionate about this?

I was 5 when I saw my grandfather die. He drank morphene from a bottle, to stop his cancer pains, and soon after he stopped breathing. In the silent peace that followed, I realized that I too shall die one day, and life on earth will continue. The questions, Who am I? Where do I come from? What am I doing here? and Where will I go when I die? felt like the most important questions to find answers to before I die. The book, In Search of the Miraculous: Healing into Consciousness, was written fifty years later, and is the fruit of my search and discovery of answers to these questions.


I wrote...

In Search of the Miraculous: Healing into Consciousness

By Eliza Mada Dalian,

Book cover of In Search of the Miraculous: Healing into Consciousness

What is my book about?

In Search of the Miraculous: Healing into Consciousness is a comprehensive guidebook for seekers of truth, and desire to find their way out of fear, pain, and suffering. Recipient of seven book awards, this book is filled with ageless wisdom that brings a new level of understanding to our journey on this planet. It is both a thought-provoking mind feast and a step-by-step road map to transforming the limitations of the ego-mind and becoming more conscious and free. Many exercises and Q&As on how to heal the wounded ego and transform it into consciousness are also offered to make your reading practical and experiential.

This book has also been translated and published in Spanish, Estonian, and Russian.

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The books I picked & why

Book cover of Crime and Punishment

Mada Eliza Dalian Why did I love this book?

I might not have come across this book if it was not on the list of required reading in school.

It was the first time that I felt excited about reading a book. This book, as all the other writings of Dostoevsky, have a soul and penetrate into the deepest depth of the human psyche.

Crime and Punishment was written in 1886, but it is a timeless classic. If you are interested in exploring and understanding the paradox of life’s challenges, this book cannot be missed!

(Other must-read classics written by Fyodor Dostoevsky between 1869 and 1880: Brothers Karamazov and The Idiot.) 

By Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Pevear (translator), Larissa Volokhonsky (translator)

Why should I read it?

13 authors picked Crime and Punishment as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Hailed by Washington Post Book World as “the best [translation] currently available" when it was first published, this second edition has been updated in honor of the 200th anniversary of Dostoevsky’s birth.

With the same suppleness, energy, and range of voices that won their translation of The Brothers Karamazov the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Prize, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky offer a brilliant translation of Dostoevsky's astounding pyschological thriller, newly revised for his bicentenniel. 

When Raskolnikov, an impoverished student living in the St. Petersburg of the tsars, commits an act of murder and theft, he sets into motion a story that is…


Book cover of In Search of the Miraculous

Mada Eliza Dalian Why did I love this book?

I was 25 when I came across a well-known book by P.D. Ouspensky, In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching.

This book is based on the teachings of a spiritual teacher Georges Gurdjieff. Reading this book was a turning point in my life. It gave me hope and direction, and revived my quest in self-discovery.

This book is a delightful must-read for anyone who is searching to find life’s meaning and familiarize themselves with an esoteric understanding of life.  

By P.D. Ouspensky,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked In Search of the Miraculous as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

New


Book cover of In Search of the Miraculous: Chakras, Kundalini and the Seven Bodies

Mada Eliza Dalian Why did I love this book?

Osho is one of the greatest mystics of the 20th century. He has over 650 books in print, translated into 68 languages.

This particular book is for those who are interested in deepening their understanding of the Eastern esoteric teachings about chakras and energy bodies.

Explained from an experience and perspective of a mystic, it can help to increase your understanding and widen your perspective of how the energy centers inside and outside of the body work.

By Osho,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked In Search of the Miraculous as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Osho writes in a style which is clear, simple and often humorous.


Book cover of Black Elk

Mada Eliza Dalian Why did I love this book?

What do the Native American elders know that is not easily accessible to others?

Through the eyes of, and experiences of Black Elk, a Lakota Sioux elder, you will enter into the mysterious world of Native American wisdom.

You will begin to understand the vital importance of the wisdom that the elders have carried from generation to generation, while silently balancing the positive and negative forces on this planet.      

By Wallace Black Elk, William S. Lyon,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Black Elk as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"An unprecedented account of the shaman's world and the way it is entered."
STANLEY KRIPPNER, PH.D., coauthor of 'Personal Mythology: The Psychology of Your Evolving Self' and 'Healing States'

"Black Elk opens the Lakota sacred hoop to a comic


Book cover of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

Mada Eliza Dalian Why did I love this book?

If we want to live life fully we must embrace death fully.

Death is an integral part of life, which cannot be ignored.

This book helps the reader understand the wisdom of the Tibetan Book of the Dead and its purpose to help the dying soul to dis-identify from the worldly attachments and find liberation from within.

By Sogyal Rinpoche,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Explains the Tibetan understanding of what happens when a person dies, and how this can help in a person's daily life, in caring for the terminally ill and the bereaved, and to deepen one's understanding of life.


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Book cover of The Complete Eldercare Planner: Where to Start, Which Questions to Ask, and How to Find Help

Joy Loverde

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What is my book about?

Trusted for more than three decades by family caregivers and professionals alike, this comprehensive and reassuring caregiving guide offers the crucial information you need to look after your elders and plan for the future.

Being a caregiver for aging parents, close friends and family, and other elders in your life is an overwhelming experience, whether you are one who has stepped into this role without warning or one who is also contemplating their own care plan. Now in its fourth edition, The Complete Eldercare Planner will help you navigate today’s complex caregiving landscape while addressing your unique needs.

By Joy Loverde,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Complete Eldercare Planner as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Trusted for more than three decades by family caregivers and professionals alike, this comprehensive and reassuring caregiving guide offers the crucial information you need to look after your elders and plan for the future.

“The most complete resource between two covers.”—Woman’s Day
 
Being a caregiver for aging parents, close friends and family, and other elders in your life is an overwhelming experience, whether you are one who has stepped into this role without warning or one who is also contemplating their own care plan. Now in its fourth edition, The Complete Eldercare Planner will help you navigate today’s complex caregiving…


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