The best books to accompany you on your spiritual journey

Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmin boy who abandons the comfort of his wealthy family to seek illumination. Written in rich, seductive prose, it helps the reader to understand that the spiritual journey doesn’t prevent the seeker from living. Siddhartha lives fully—which allows him to release the things of this world and find salvation. One of the greatest lessons of the novel is that there are no shortcuts on the spiritual path. You will lose and find your way many times. What matters is that you don’t give up.

The hero of Somerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge, Larry Darrell, is a classic seeker. Crushed by his time in the war, he leaves his family and fiancé behind and heads to Paris—then Germany—and finally India. He’s not really sure what he’s looking for, but he knows that the answers lie down a path far different from the one he’s left behind. Larry’s friends back home feel sure that he’s lost his way; only when their own worlds begin to crumble do they start to realize what he’s attained. The Razor’s Edge makes it clear that the spiritual journey may lead you far from what’s familiar to you. But the journey is worth every sacrifice.

The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson is one of literature’s most intimate records of the struggle to know God. Emily Dickinson spent most of her life in Amherst, Massachusetts, in the Calvinist home where she grew up. But while she eventually drifted away from organized faith, she found God in other ways: “Some keep the Sabbath going to Church/ I keep it, staying at Home.” Like so many spiritual seekers, Dickinson experienced doubt: “Of Course—I prayed—/ And did God care?”  Yet her faith persisted: “I know that He exists/ Somewhere—in silence—”. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson reveals the seeker’s need to move beyond forms. And it shows how God, in the end, permeates everything.

There are no other poems like Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies. Lyrical and intense, they express the poet’s struggle with existence, and his deep belief in the transformative power of suffering. Rilke asks the question that all spiritual seekers ask: “Look, I live. And for what?” He offers the answer that we live to strengthen the soul. In the Duino Elegies, Rilke encourages the reader to use his or her suffering to become closer to God. Reading his work helps the seeker to understand that the spiritual journey is on a larger scale than that of one’s fleeting life.

Peter Ouspensky’s In Search of the Miraculous is an inspiring record of the author’s spiritual quest. Published in 1949, just after the author’s death, it recounts the time he spent with the great spiritual teacher George Gurdjieff. In Search of the Miraculous presents Gurdjieff’s system—“The Fourth Way”—as a kind of golden thread that runs through all spiritual teachings. For some, his ideas seem too scientific to lead to enlightenment. But Ouspensky suggests that all paths lead to the same destination: consciousness, presence, God. If you feel the need to shake off the ancient traditions, In Search of the Miraculous may be the perfect map for your spiritual quest.