QOTW: Can you name just one?

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Registered: 03-26-2003
QOTW: Can you name just one?
21
Mon, 05-29-2006 - 11:14am

Looking back to any point on your spiritual journey, what book or author had the most profound impact on you?  Was it a new idea or finally confirmation of something you already believed?  What was your reaction?


 







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Registered: 04-07-2002
Mon, 05-29-2006 - 12:58pm

For me, it was this passage from Matthew's gospel:

Come unto Him,
All ye that labor,
And He will give you rest.

Take His yoke upon you and learn from Him,
For He is meek and lowly of heart
And ye shall find rest unto His arm,
For His yoke is easy and His burden is light

I guess this was something I knew in my heart, but it was such a comfort to read it.

Express!
Beth "Petrouchka"

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Registered: 01-03-2001
Mon, 05-29-2006 - 3:05pm
It would have to be a science fiction author --- possibly CJ Cherryh, although, to be honest, I'm not sure any one author has affected my life philosophy significantly!




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Registered: 03-09-2001
Mon, 05-29-2006 - 3:41pm

Without a doubt, Starhawk's "Spiral Dance." The Goddess was calling me, and my daughter. We went to the bookstore and this book jumped out at us. Later we discovered Scott Cunningham's books, also. But the Spiral Dance told me I was home. That I had found a path to express and honor the Sacred Feminine.

Gypsy



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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-24-2003
Mon, 05-29-2006 - 5:58pm

Just one?




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Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 05-30-2006 - 7:16am

So far- I would have to say it was Marcus Borg's

 

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 05-30-2006 - 10:03am

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It's a wonderful feeling, isn't it?

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Tue, 05-30-2006 - 3:26pm

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Registered: 01-31-2006
Wed, 05-31-2006 - 1:28am

Looking back to any point on your spiritual journey, what book or author had the most profound impact on you?

I would have to say A Course in Miracles.

Was it a new idea or finally confirmation of something you already believed?

I picked it up because it consisted of some of my beliefs, I stayed with it because of some very new ideas.

What was your reaction?

My reaction, over many years, has been growth- sometimes one step forward, two back, sometimes the feeling of leaping ahead in understanding!


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Registered: 07-17-2005
Wed, 05-31-2006 - 10:06am

I'd have to say Philip Carr-Gomm. I picked up a book of his as a fluke really and it was EXACTLY what I needed to hear, EXACTLY when I needed to hear it. He's the head of a big Druid order somewhere in Britain and the book was about his finding his path. I'm not a Druid but there was something about the book that was like "HEY, you can look about and find your path too!" It was just the right push I needed to really dig down deep into my own beliefs and answer some questions and, more importantly for me, find some questions. I liked that it started me on a path of questioning everything and trusting that my answers were right for me. And since I don't believe finding the book was random or really a fluke, it was put on my path for me to trip over, it really had special meaning for me.

As for my reaction, it was like in a movie, a girl standing on a mountain with a wonderful view of mountains and valleys, a beam of sunlight lights her up, a nice breeze blows ... *cue the music, cue the angels singing* ... The Hills are alive with the sound of muuuuusic. :) It was sort of like that.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-20-2006
Wed, 05-31-2006 - 1:36pm

I've been thinking about this question for some time now . . .

Initially I wanted to respond w/ a somewhat glib Lays Potato Chip reply ~ "Nobody can eat just one" sort of thing (*wink*). And in truth sooooo many different books have had an impact for different reasons at different times.

But I do remember one in particular. And it wasn't the whole book ('cos for the most part I didn't really understand/like a lot of it). But it was one of those "it just jumped off the shelf at me" (almost literally) so I boaught the book, took it home and began reading. More than half of the way through the book I was like "What the heck? why this book? I don't understand it". And then . . . . . . *~*one paragraph*~* . . . out of that whole book . . . went ~ **WHAM** ~ like the proverbial 2x4 "upside the head" . . . and years later I still remember what it said . . . .

From Thomas Moore's "Care of the Soul" it said {paraphrased): Sometimes when there is conflict at a deep internal level it is neccessary to NOT take sides but rather to open the heart and soul wide enough to embrace the paradox

It had a very profound impact on me. Yes, it was a new (even radical) idea to me at the time. And my reaction was *WOW*!!!! I applied it to MANY areas of my Life (not just Faith) It confirmed that you can have two seemingly opposing thoughts/feelings occuring simultaneously. You can live in Gray ~ that it's OK not to have all the answers or for everything to be "black/white ~ cut 'n dry". It was incredibly liberating for me (especially in the middle of all my emotional turmoil at the time!).

And oddly, like I said, I didn't really like the rest of the book and when reccomending books to other people this is not one that normally comes to mind first . . . Hmmm?!? And yet it did have quite a dramatic impact on me.

It was also one of the first times I'd ever been able to read a book and say "No, I don't agree w/ that thought at all!!" and still keep reading the book! It was the beginning of finding my voice . . . . .

Many Blessings, "M"

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