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    Waking Up: A Guide To Spirituality Without Religion [Book]

    By: Sam Harris

    Book Overview: From multiple New York Times best-selling author, neuroscientist, and “new atheist” Sam Harris, Waking Up is for the 30 percent of Americans who follow no religion, but who suspect that Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Rumi, and the other saints and sages of history could not have all been epileptics, schizophrenics, or frauds. Throughout the book, Harris argues that there are important truths to be found in the experiences of such contemplatives – and, therefore, that there is more to understanding reality than science and secular culture generally allow. Waking Up is part seeker’s memoir and part exploration of the scientific underpinnings of spirituality. No other book marries contemplative wisdom and modern science in this way, and no author other than Sam Harris – a scientist, philosopher, and famous skeptic – could write it.

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      “I have never doubted you for a moment, I have never doubted for a moment that you are the Buddha, that you have attained the goal, the highest, which so many thousands of Brahmins and sons of Brahmins are journeying to reach. You have found the deliverance from death. It came to you from your own seeking, on your own path, through thinking, through meditation, through knowledge, through illumination. It did not come through a teaching! And—this is my thought, O Sublime One—no one is granted deliverance through a teaching! You cannot, O Venerable One, impart to anyone, tell anyone in words and through teachings what happened to you in the hour of your illumination. The Teaching of the illuminated Buddha contains a great deal, it teaches many how to live righteously, avoid evil. But there is one thing that the so clear, so venerable Teaching does not contain: it does not contain the secret of what the Sublime One himself has experienced, he alone among the hundreds of thousands. That is what I thought and realized when I heard the Teaching. That is why I am resuming my wandering—not to seek a different, better teaching, for I know that there is none; but to leave all teachings and all teachers and to reach my goal alone or die.”

      Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha (Page 32)

      Siddhartha [Book]

        By: Hermann Hesse

        Book Overview: Hesse’s famous and influential novel, Siddartha, is perhaps the most important and compelling moral allegory our troubled century has produced. Integrating Eastern and Western spiritual traditions with psychoanalysis and philosophy, this strangely simple tale, written with a deep and moving empathy for humanity, has touched the lives of millions since its original publication in 1922. Set in India, Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmin’s search for ultimate reality after meeting with the Buddha. His quest takes him from a life of decadence to asceticism, through the illusory joys of sensual love with a beautiful courtesan, and of wealth and fame, to the painful struggles with his son and the ultimate wisdom of renunciation. 

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          “The point of philosophy is to challenge you, to make you uncomfortable. It’s to fix the illnesses of the soul, of the mind. Even though there are passages of Meditations that are soothing and reassuring, a lot of them are jarring, a lot of them are uncomfortable or make you think a lot, and a lot of them you might instinctively disagree with. But that’s the point of philosophy: it’s not supposed to be your instructor, it’s supposed to be a kind of medicine.”

          Ryan Holiday

            “What is important is not a philosophy of life but to observe what is actually taking place in our daily life, inwardly and outwardly.”

            J. Krishnamurti, Freedom From The Known (Page 16)

              “Philosophy is the essential, centering pursuit. It challenges us. It requires work and reflection and self-criticism. It requires that we hold ourselves to certain standards and that we hold ourselves to account when we fail to. It’s the real work, not the busy work. Philosophy is what birthed you, raised you, and continues to re-make you as life goes on. Don’t let some momentum in your other pursuits fool you into thinking you no longer need it. It’s home. Make sure you’re paying the proper respects. Make sure you’re going back often, so that today’s rhythm does not become tomorrow’s rut.”

              Ryan Holiday, Daily Stoic Blog

                ​”Circumstances are never going to give you what you need. You’re going to have to take them. No one is going to give you time to study philosophy, you have to take it. You have to make the time. Externals are never going to restore what is essentially an internal issue. You need that break now…and you must get it by stepping away, not literally but figuratively. Stop fooling yourself. Stop expecting someone or someplace to restore you. The only person who can only do it is you. And the right time for it is not later, but now.”

                Ryan Holiday, Daily Stoic Blog

                  “Look at causation stripped bare of its covers; look at the ulterior reference of any action. Consider, what is pain? What is pleasure? What is death? What is fame? Who is not himself the cause of his own unrest? Reflect how no one is hampered by any other; and that all is as thinking makes it so.”

                  Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Page 117)

                    “When I think back to my childhood, I visualize my father, my mother, and Gigi arranged as a philosophical triangle. My father was one side of the triangle: discipline. He taught me how to work, how to be relentless. He instilled in me an ethic that ‘It’s better to die than to quit.’ My mother: education. She believed that knowledge was the irrevocable key to a successful life. She wanted me to study, to learn, to grow, to cultivate a deep and broad understanding, to either ‘know what you’re talking about or be quiet.’ Gigi: love (God). Whereas I tried to please my mother and father so I wouldn’t get into trouble, I wanted to please Gigi so that I could bathe in that transcendent ecstasy of divine love. These three ideas—discipline, education, love—would fight for my attention throughout the rest of my life.”

                    Will Smith, Will (Page 39)

                      “For Marcus [Aurelius] philosophy was the therapy of the soul. In this sense, his Meditations are his medications.”

                      Diskin Clay, via Meditations (pag xxxiii)

                        “For a philosopher seeking to guide himself repetition is a philosophical virtue. Repetition is a form of spiritual exercise designed to reinforce the main principles of Marcus [Aurelius]’ philosophy; its purpose is to effect a ‘dyeing of the soul.'”

                        Diskin Clay, via Meditations (pag xviii)

                        Meditations [Book]

                          By: Marcus Aurelius

                          Book Overview: Written in Greek by an intellectual Roman emperor without any intention of publication, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius offer a wide range of fascinating spiritual reflections and exercises developed as the leader struggled to understand himself and make sense of the universe. Spanning from doubt and despair to conviction and exaltation, they cover such diverse topics as the question of virtue, human rationality, the nature of the gods and the values of leadership. But while the Meditations were composed to provide personal consolation, in developing his beliefs Marcus also created one of the greatest of all works of philosophy: a series of wise and practical aphorisms that have been consulted and admired by statesmen, thinkers and ordinary readers for almost two thousand years.

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                            “Whereas all the other animals have their heads low, eyes fixed upon the ground, the god desired to give to man a sublime face, a face that could raise its eyes to the heavens above, contemplating the very stars in the sky.”

                            Ovid, via The Daily Laws (Page 421)

                              “One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”

                              Eleanor Roosevelt

                                “To [Bruce] Lee’s way of thinking, any answer he could provide is worth nothing to any other individual, unless that individual has come to see its validity as a result of his own independent thought on the matter.”

                                John Little, via Striking Thoughts (Page xxiv)

                                Striking Thoughts [Book]

                                  By: Bruce Lee

                                  Book Overview: Within the pages of Striking Thoughts, you will find the secrets of Bruce Lee’s incredible success– as an actor, martial artist, and inspiration to the world. Consisting of eight sections, Striking Thoughts covers 72 topics and 825 aphorisms–from spirituality to personal liberation and from family life to filmmaking–all of which Bruce lived by.

                                  His ideas helped energize his life and career and made it possible for him to live a happy and assured life, overcoming challenging obstacles with seeming ease. They also inspired his family, friends, students, and colleagues to achieve success in their own lives and this personal collection will help you in your journey too.

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