religion and philosophy...

[Michele 1]

Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet
Richard Bach's Illusions, Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Whatshisnames Celestine Prophecy
(more when I get home...that's where the books are).

Ciels-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[Vallerina 2]

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Whatshisnames Celestine Prophecy

I was just going to recommend that one myself! I have that book somewhere....it's in a box (I haven't completely unpacked from last August.) That book taught me a thing or two about myself.

There's a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning

[tbrown 26]

The Dalai Lama's "Ethics For the New Millenium". What's cool about Buddhism, at least the way he teaches it, is you can approach it as a religion, or as a psychological system that understands human needs and wants, like your need to be happy and how everything you want isn't necessarily good for you.

C.S. Lewis wrote some really good books about Christianity for the general public from a rational Anglican point of view. "Mere Christianity" is a good one, made up from radio talks he used to do. Also "The Great Divorce" is a trip. It's about a bunch of souls from Hell, taking a British style bus tour of Heaven. They're free to get off the bus and stay anytime they want, but for each of their own reasons they won't.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[AggieDave 6]

Please don't scof at my answer, but try reading the book of Hebrews and the book of Romans in the Bible.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Muenkel 0]

Also an excellent read is "Crossing the Threshold of Hope" by Pope John Paul II.


Edited for title correction.

Chris

_________________________________________
Chris

[Deuce 1]

"On War" by Carl Von Clausewitz
"The Prince" by Machiavelli

"The Prince" is always relevant.

"On War" can get a little dense, but the stuff about the friction of war, and the fog of war and the notion of chaos is pretty perceptive.

[Schroeder 0]

a little correction, if you go looking for the te toa ching, you won't find it, try the Lao Tze's Tao Te Ching. It's called Dao De Jing as well.
Personally, I am partial to this book, and would recommend it.

[Shotgun 1]

Ayn Rand! "The Fountainhead" is one of my favorite books ever... and I'm about to read "Atlas Shrugged"... knowing you, I think you'd like Ayn Rand too. ;-)

[MrHixxx 0]

Joseph Campbell "The Power of Myth" is a good read. He shows how similar elements exist in primal, Western and Eastern religions.

-Hixxx

death,as men call him, ends what they call men
-but beauty is more now than dying’s when

[GARYC24 3]

Not the same subject as your post..But a great book, good reading,too.
"A Case for Christ" be Lee Strobel (?spelling)
If you would like I can give you a copy for free if you want to read it and pass it on?
Gary Calhoun

[Push 0]

"Beyond Good and Evil" and "The Birth of tragedy and the Genealogy of Morals", Friedrich Nietzsche. I personally would advise to avoid reading books by the hardcore Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Descartes etc. Read articles and excerpts, but only read the full books if you're serious about studying the history of the subject. I found "Introduction to Philosophy" by Louis P Pojman to be a good collection of snippets. We used this book in my Philosophy 101 class and I chose which authors I want to become more familiar with from there. There's an entire section on religion in that book that systematically addresses both sides of the major arguments on the subject, and has a particularly good section on the Problem of Evil.

Have fun

-- Toggle Whippin' Yahoo
Skydiving is easy. All you have to do is relax while plummetting at 120 mph from 10,000' with nothing but some nylon and webbing to save you.

[livendive 8]

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"Beyond Good and Evil" and "The Birth of tragedy and the Genealogy of Morals", Friedrich Nietzsche.

Yeah, I was initially going to recommend Beyond Good and Evil alongside Thus Spoke Zarathustra, but figured Zarathustra was an easier introduction to Nietzsche. I keep both books in my office. Deeper topics throughout the rest of the book notwithstanding, some of the one-liners in Beyond Good & Evil are fun for entertainment purposes...e.g.

- buona femmina e mala femmina vuol bastone ("Good women and bad women need beating")

- w/ regard to the wingloading BSR proposed in General Skydiving topics "It is not enough to possess a talent: one must also possess your permission to possess it - eh, my friends?"
- w/ regard to dz.commers and possibly all skydivers "Madness is rare in individuals - but in groups, parties, peoples, ages it is the rule."

- w/ regard to spotting "And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you."

- w/ regard to the fears we went through as students and novice skydivers "The will to overcome an emotion is ultimately only the will of another emotion or of several others"

- another couple jabs at women "Comparing man and woman in general one may say: woman would not have the genius for finery if she did not have the instinct for the secondary role" and "When a woman has scholarly inclinations there is usually something wrong with her sexuality." and "Even concubinage has been corrupted: - by marriage" and finally "Where neither love nor hate is in the game a woman is a mediocre player."

- finally just a couple I like, all humor aside:

Dans le veritable amour c'est l'ame, qui enveloppe le corps "In true love, it is the soul which envelops the body"

What we do in dreams we also do when we are awake: we invent and fabricate the person with whom we associate - and immediately forget we have done so.

When we have to change our opinion about someone, we hold the inconvenience he has therewith caused us greatly to his discredit.

There is an innocence in admiration: he has it to whom it has not yet occurred that he too could one day be admired.

Under conditions of peace, the warlike man attacks himself.

'I have done that,' says my memory. 'I cannot have done that' says my pride, and remains adamant. At last - memory yields.

OK - that was probably WAY too many (and possibly too much) for this forum, but I'm glad I posted them, cuz it allowed me an excuse to read quite a bit more.
Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[CrazyIvan 0]

Don't forget a good book for meditation: The Kama Sutra (ilustrated)

__________________________________________
Blue Skies and May the Force be with you.

[skydyvr 0]

Quick read: Illusions -- The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, Richard Bach

Long Read: Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand

. . =(_8^(1)

[uma 0]

Carlos Castaneda's books,
Joseph Campbell's books on Myths,
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - can't remember the author,
Be Here Now & Miracle of Love - Ram Dass
...

[Galen 0]

My favorites (not necessarily religous or philosophical straight out but enlightening):

Winesburg, Ohio
John Cheever short stories
Hemmingway short stories
F. Scott Fitzgerald short stories

Respect the Dolphin

[Zennie 0]

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Joseph Campbell "The Power of Myth" is a good read.

I've gotten several recommendations of that book myself. Looks like I need to go buy it.
I'll throw out some that really influenced me...

"Living Buddha, Living Christ" - Thich Nhat Hanh
"Zen & The Birds of Appetite" - Thomas Merton
"The Age of Reason" - Thomas Paine

A really great comparison of philosophical Taosim and Zen is "The Tao of Zen".

- Z
"Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

The Apology by Plato

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[tbrown 26]

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Please don't scof at my answer, but try reading the book of Hebrews and the book of Romans in the Bible.

Thanks Dave, for bringing up the Bible. It really is a good read, there's also the Gospels, Psalms, and so many more. The Bible gets a bad rap too quickly because of the power hungry types who use it to justify their nasty little schemes. But it is a very worthwhile read for anyone .

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[cptfunky 0]

Marx/Engels/Lenin: Communist Manifesto

Nietzsche: The Antichrist

Hofstadter, Douglas: Gödel, Escher, Bach

[Samurai136 0]

I was a physics/philosphy double major in school.

For non-technical religion reading go with C.S. Lewis _Mere Christianity_. It is the transcriptions from his WWII radio broadcasts. If you can get past the -isms of that era (mostly sexism), it's a good read (and short at ~120 pages).

For Philosophy, start with Plato's _The Republic_ and then read Descartes. Probably best to pick up an intro to philosphy course text and read that. It is hard to advise philosophical texts. It all depends on your pre-existing interest in 'philosophy'. What do you expect to get out of a philosophical text?

Ken

"Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian
Ken

[Ripple 0]

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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - can't remember the author,

...

Robert Pirsig.

Fantastic book.

Next Mood Swing: 6 minutes

[bivar 0]

Dear Lisa. You should really read a book named "Sophies world", by the norwegian author Jostein Gaarder. This novel is a resume of the history of philosophy. It has been translated to 49 languages, and did sell more than 25 million copies. It is a fantastic novel.

A couple of reviews:
http://members.lycos.co.uk/sophiesworld/
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?isbn=0425152251

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[Ripple 0]

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Dear Lisa. You should really read a book named "Sophies world", by the norwegian author Jostein Gaarder. This novel is a resume of the history of philosophy. It has been translated to 49 languages, and did sell more than 25 million copies. It is a fantastic novel.

Hmm, its probably just me, but that book gave me the impression there was a bit of paedophillia going on......

Next Mood Swing: 6 minutes

[LadySkyDIve 0]

Atlas Shrugged is a fabulous book! I forgot about that one when I wrote my list. It's long but I enjoyed every page of it and the message was quite interesting to ponder as well.