100 books like Bottoming Out the Universe

This book was recommended to me by the first sound practitioner who facilitated a memorable sound healing session with me. Trusting my intuition, I decided to give it a chance. I found myself deeply engrossed in Inayat Khan’s soothing and logical approach to sound, so much so that it inspired me to embark on a similar journey of my own. Shortly after reading this book, I left my corporate life behind to write my first book and open my sound healing practice. 

This book is a true gem. Khan’s masterful presentation of abstract concepts like imagination, desire, mysticism, mortality, and immortality, and their connection to sound, has a profound, Rumi-like effect on the soul. I find myself returning to its wisdom every few months, continually reaping the rich bounty it offers. 

This book profoundly shaped my life. I discovered Eleftherios through my astrology community; he’s an expert in mystical connections between number theory, the Pythagorean theorem, and life on Earth. After one consultation, I knew I wanted to explore gematria and its hidden wonders.

What I love most about Eleftherios’ ancient approach is how he effortlessly connects the significance of gematria to various aspects of human knowledge. Eleftherios skillfully reveals the relevance of ideas, historical events, and philosophy through numbers.

I’ve read this book at least 20 times—and plan to revisit it again—and highly recommend it to anyone seeking deeper meanings and correlation between seemingly unrelated concepts by numbers.

This is a book that I will undoubtedly recommend to future generations as we collectively expand our consciousness and recognize the importance of synchronicity in our lives. 

Having collaborated with Bernie on projects related to synchronicity and consciousness, I have witnessed firsthand his immense passion and keen perceptions derived from his lifelong research on meaningful coincidences. Bernie expertly guides readers through a wealth of data and personal experiences, revealing how we can become more attuned to this critical phenomenon and its role in fostering a stronger collective consciousness.

This book builds upon Carl Jung’s pioneering work and will resonate with readers for generations to come. Bernie’s humor and personal anecdotes make it an engaging, enlightening, and truly delightful read. 

This book holds a prominent place on my most accessible shelf. Veda’s mesmerizing imagery, engaging descriptions, and exploration of knowledge on water-focused activities involving intention, vibration, and consciousness are truly thought-provoking.

I had the pleasure of participating in one of Veda’s workshops, where I experienced water readings through frozen crystallography firsthand. This technique greatly influenced my research and deepened my fascination with water. The underscoring idea that water holds wisdom and life-giving essences paves the way for a new frontier of knowledge and understanding in the future. 

It is possible to understand a fact intellectually while being unable to viscerally believe it, such as the proven reality that time slows down in conditions of extreme velocity or gravity (thanks, Dr. Einstein). In a scholarly yet friendly and appealing manner, Bentov explains and illustrates some of these surreal realities, including the myth of linear time, the existence of multiple dimensions, and the infinitude of the psyche.

This is an earlier incarnation of the global workspace theory of consciousness (which in turn follows up on Baars’ book from nearly a decade earlier, titled A Cognitive Theory of Consciousness). Although some of the evidence Baars draws on is a little bit dated today, the theory is still valid, and the book is a great read.

John Lilly, a Caltech and University of Pennsylvania trained doctor who also probed the murkiest waters of the psychedelic experience, was the inspiration for Dade Harkenrider in my book, Ann Marie’s Asylum. Lilly was a genius, who crossed over the edge more than once.

As a spoken word artist accustomed to embodying different characters, Embracing Our Selves provided me with a profound insight: our personalities are a tapestry of internal characters.

This book masterfully unpacks the various voices within us, from the vulnerable child to the ambitious pusher. It teaches that these voices, each a distinct part of our being, seek recognition and understanding. By identifying which 'character' is in control at any given moment and exploring its desires, we gain deep insights into our own psyche.

This book has been instrumental in my life, offering a framework for understanding the complexity of human personality in a way that aligns with my experiences as an artist. It's a must-read for anyone interested in delving into the multifaceted nature of their inner self and learning how to harmoniously integrate these diverse aspects.

Most things are ultimately explained by physics, but what if consciousness isn't? David Chalmers explores the idea that consciousness can't be explained in terms of bits of matter and energy scattered across spacetime; instead, consciousness is another basic part of the universe.

I’m impressed by how Chalmers’s arguments are extremely rigorous, but he also makes them accessible to ordinary people. It’s no surprise that this has become a classic of recent philosophy.

The Gospel of Mary is often interpreted as a Gnostic text. Gnosis is mystical and esoteric and refers to knowledge based on personal experience with the divine. It is an inward ‘knowing,’ and I was interested in interweaving a psychological approach. This book dived into spiritual aspects in an exploration of the soul’s journey and the spiritual heights attained from a psychological position and was instrumental in some components of Sara’s personal development. My character Sara is a messenger for Persephone, and I used this book to examine the deeper, mythical meanings of how our wounds can become the source of spiritual grace.