Notable Books

 Michael Shermer. The Believing Brain; From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies – How we construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths. Available on Amazon. For more details click HERE

 Fantasy and fiction, truth and deception, magical thinking and plausible reality are all around and often within us. Emotionally driven faith with its feel-good beliefs and superficial convictions, in contrast to experientially verified relative truths, whether spiritual, psychic, or material, are always vying for our attention. For theosophists trying to find their way through this maze of illusionary reality, “The Believing Brain” could be a helpful guide on their journey. The work reviews scientific ideas that may require some deeper reflection, in its quest to better understand the brain’s tendency to perhaps blindly believe.

Kashmir Shaivism, The Secret Supreme, Swami Lakshman JEE - State University of New York Press under the imprint of the Universal Shaiva Trust. Available at Amazon. For more details click HERE

It has been stated that Kashmir Shaivism and its traditional views, had remained concealed for at least eight hundred years, prior to the public exposition of its teachings. It was also believed to be an exclusively “oral tradition”, and that Swami Lakshman JEE, of our time, was the last living authentic teacher in the line of this wisdom tradition at the time of his transition, September 27, 1991. 

Six Theosophic Points and Other Writings, Jacob Boehme, Ann Harbor Paperback; The University of Michigan Press. Available at Amazon. For more details click HERE

Although we have done a previous review of Jacob Boehme’s work,  The Key, it was felt that a reading and study of this text, by students of deep theosophical study, would be of significant benefit. It can be read alongside HPB’s The Secret Doctrine, especially that of cosmogenesis. As HPB felt that Jacob Boehme was a “nursling of the Nirmanakaya’s, these writings will be found to be a great complement to her work.

Jhana Consciousness: Buddhist Meditation in the Age of Neuroscience, Paul Dennison. Available at Amazon. For more details click HERE

For those having an interest in underlying neurological correlates of subjective stages of meditative withdrawal, this work will be found enlightening. It presents the idea that our overwhelming attachment to this sensory based objective world, and sense of “I”, can be progressively and systematically overcome through meditational practice. The author seeks to demonstrate this by providing us with data obtained from meditators, using the techniques of Buddhist based Jhâna meditation, as practiced according to the methods used by practitioners of the “Samatha Trust Tradition”.  The research study was carried on from 2014 through 2019 utilizing electroencephalogram brain wave recordings correlated with “Jhâna states”.

Cults, Inside the World’s Most Notorious Groups and Understanding the People Who Joined Them, Parcast’s, Max Cutler with Kevin Conley, Based on the Acclaimed Podcast, Cults. Gallery Books. Available at Amazon. For more details click HERE

It might seem surprising that this book is being suggested for reading, but in our current world and time, spiritual discrimination is of great importance. Throughout history, there have been charlatans, imposters, and manipulators, preying on people’s sincere desires, needs, and especially spiritual aspirations. And in their pursuit of good, many seekers often follow false prophets and claims, ending their journeys by losing their souls, and the very goal they sought.

Begin Where You Are: Messages of Meaning by Betty Bland*. Available at Amazon. For more details click HERE

How does one wake up to a spiritual quest?  Sometimes it comes from a sudden realization and sometimes more gradually from a growing understanding of life’s experiences. Betty Bland’s particular “wake-up call” came suddenly as a result of a Near-Death Experience (NDE) in 1968, well before that became a main-stream term. The NDE catapulted her on a search to understand her experience and to put that knowledge into practice. (Because the NDE so deeply influenced Betty’s perspective, a description is included as an appendix in the book.)