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ecosophia
Back in John Gilbert's time, the Universal Gnostic Church always had a recommended reading list posted on its website, which was edited from time to time. I've done a little editing and updating of my own, but the books below include most of the titles that John recommended to UGC members and other interested people. If you're studying the Gnostic Lessons, if you're interested in the Order of the Universal Monk or the Order of the Universal Nun, and especially if you feel a call to the priesthood or priestesshood of the UGC, books from the list below would be worth adding to your bookshelf (or electronic equivalent). I am interested in expanding this list, within reason. If there's a book you'd like to recommend -- especially if it's in the field of mysticism, which is not my strong suit -- please post a comment explaining why you think it should be included. Books available for free download will get preference, as inflation is making life difficult for so many people.
Please note that this is the last post on the UGC I will be putting up before mid-September. It is not the last post in the sequence, however. I need to make some arrangements and set up some things online before I proceed. There has been enough interest expressed by readers of my blogs and books, and students of the various UGC-related traditions, that I'm going to go ahead with the process of making training for ordination in the UGC available. Stay tuned for the details -- and in the meantime, you know what to do. (Hint: Practice!)
Universal Gnostic Church
Recommended Reading List
Spirituality cannot be learned from a book. It unfolds from the individual quest for knowledge of the Divine, which is also the quest of the Divine to be known by Its creation. However, certain books chronicling the experiences of other individuals in this quest can be helpful as signposts along the way. Like the finger pointing at the moon in the Zen parable, they direct the attention of the seeker toward the goal, but are not the goal themselves.
This list should not be considered in any way complete. There are many books not listed here that may be as useful to you as the ones that are.
Many classic works of mysticism are fortunately out of copyright and may be downloaded free of charge from various online archives. Books currently out of copyright in the lists below are marked with an asterisk, *. (In the case of works in languages other than English, the asterisk indicates that there is at least one English translation not in copyright.)
The following books are recommended for all members of the UGC and required for aspirants to ordination as priests or priestesses.
The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James * (can be downloaded for free here)
Practical Mysticism: A Book for Normal People by Evelyn Underhill * (can be downloaded for free here)
The Many Paths of the Independent Sacramental Movement by John Plummer (can be purchased here)
The following books are among those recommended for members of the UGC who wish to deepen their understanding of the Universal Gnostic tradition and the broader realm of mystical spirituality that it was created to teach and preserve. Many other books could be added to each of these lists. Feel free to expand and adapt the lists for your own needs.
Sacred Scriptures
The Bhagavad-Gita *
The Corpus Hermeticum *
The Dhammapada *
The Elder Edda *
The Kojiki *
The Mabinogion *
The New Testament *
The Orphic Hymns *
The Popol Vuh *
The Tao Te Ching *
The Upanishads *
Western Esotericism
Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic by Eliphas Lévi *
The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
The Kybalion by William Walker Atkinson *
Mystery Teachings from the Living Earth by John Michael Greer
The Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune *
Self-Unfoldment through Disciplines of Realization by Manly P. Hall
Western Mysticism
The Cloud of Unknowing by anonymous *
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis *
The Interior Castle by Teresa of Avila *
Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill *
New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton
The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence *
Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich *
The Sepher Yetzirah by anonymous *
The Spiritual Guide by Miguel de Molinos *
The Way of a Pilgrim by anonymous *
Eastern Mysticism
Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
Be Here Now by Ram Dass
Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism by Lama Anagarika Govinda
The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo
The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley
Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda
The Yoga Sutras by Patanjali *
The writings of Chuang Tsu *
Other Resources
Perhaps the most useful online resource for participants in the independent sacramental movement (ISM) is the James M. Ford ISM Archive, which is hosted by the Apostolic Johannite Church. Materials from many branches in the ISM may be found there free for the downloading:https://www.johannite.org/learn/the-james-ford-ism-archive/
Thank you!
Date: 2023-08-31 07:22 pm (UTC)I've been offering blessings to tree frogs who are using a recessed space at the top of one of the garden shed doors for shelter. I also apologize to them for disturbing them every time I open the shed door. They respond by showing themselves for a short while so that I can talk with them. For the 21 years my husband and I have lived here, we've never seen tree frogs on the property until this year, though we hear their calls every spring and summer.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2023-08-31 08:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-08-31 08:38 pm (UTC)Can we start reading the mandatory books now?
Do our 3 scriptural books need to be approved by you or the UGC?
(no subject)
Date: 2023-08-31 08:55 pm (UTC)With regard to the scriptural books, I'd recommend that you ask me if you have any questions, so that you know in advance what will be acceptable. The standards are very broad, however. What scriptures do you have in mind?
(no subject)
Date: 2023-08-31 09:47 pm (UTC)I can't remember in which order it was mentioned (I'm slowly working my way through the FHR, MOE, UGC, OSA) that it was mentioned that you will be reviewing our notes and we will be doing writing on our experiences with the work for UGC ordination. Is there a particular format I should be using. I've just been jotting down my daily divinations and insights from meditations and scrying down in a cheap notebook, nothing fancy.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-08-31 11:47 pm (UTC)2) Nothing fancy is fine. I'll be asking you to describe certain parts of your training, and you'll want to have notes to refer back to.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-08-31 11:01 pm (UTC)Gawain
(no subject)
Date: 2023-08-31 11:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-01 01:02 am (UTC)Otherwise, I've just ordered The Sunlilies: Eastern Orthodoxy as a Radical Counterculture, which seems pretty specific to Orthodoxy, but from a review I read, sounded like it might have some interesting perspectives on contemplation and its relation to nature: https://treedweller.zyrosite.com/page-zpuz3q?store-page=The-Sunlilies-Eastern-Orthodoxy-as-a-Radical-Counterculture-p467455069
As these two indicate, most of what I have to contribute here I originally got from you, JMG, so I'll be interested to see what others say!
Thanks,
Jeff
Study towards ordination
Date: 2023-09-01 02:07 am (UTC)My name is Frank R. Hartman and I would like to express my interest in the ordination program.
Sincerely,
Frank aka shimrod
Re: Study towards ordination
Date: 2023-09-01 06:00 pm (UTC)Book recommendation
Date: 2023-09-01 02:38 am (UTC)I do have a book recommendation, though unfortunately it’s not free. It’s called “Mysticism: Experience, Response, and Empowerment,” by Jess Byock Hollenback. This link to the publisher’s site, Penn State Univ. Press, gives a good description of it.
https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-01551-9.html
It has been one of my go-to books for years, a much broader view than usually found in academic theology. The two mystics featured as ‘case studies’ are Teresa of Avila and Black Elk. The book attends to religious, psychological, and parapsychological aspects of mysticism, and looks at both mainstream and indigenous types of religions.
Perhaps interested folks could find it at a library or through inter library loan.
Gods speed the work!
Winifred Hodge Rose
Re: Book recommendation
Date: 2023-09-01 06:01 pm (UTC)Simple question
Date: 2023-09-01 07:49 am (UTC)Re: Simple question
Date: 2023-09-01 06:01 pm (UTC)Re: Simple question
Date: 2023-09-02 11:52 am (UTC)Hate it when that happens :(
grin - does that mean some part of me likes looking like an idiot for some reason?
A Few Books
Date: 2023-09-01 02:38 pm (UTC)What do you think about the study of William Blakes epic poems as "Sacred Scriptures"?
What about the Red Book by Jung for the Western Esotericism section? At least there is a readers edition available.
I also found Inner Christianity: a guide to the esoteric tradition by Richard Smoley interesting.
I just found this interesting book when doing a keyword search in the library system: Architecture, Mysticism and Myth by W.R. Lethaby and looks like it would be of interest to others working the GSF system. Available also on internet archive: https://ia800202.us.archive.org/17/items/cu31924008729349/cu31924008729349.pdf
Anyway, I have some work ahead of me, before I get to this point, but I add some of these to my reading mix.
Justin Patrick Moore
Re: A Few Books
Date: 2023-09-01 06:07 pm (UTC)Seven Sermons
Date: 2023-09-01 03:24 pm (UTC)JPM
Re: Seven Sermons
Date: 2023-09-01 06:17 pm (UTC)Another resource
Date: 2023-09-01 03:49 pm (UTC)Re: Another resource
Date: 2023-09-01 06:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-01 05:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-01 06:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-01 05:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-01 06:17 pm (UTC)Anyone else?
mysticism from a polytheist perspective
Date: 2023-09-02 03:12 am (UTC)(Ramakrishna was well known for having pursued mystical union in several religious traditions (including Christianity and Islam) -- and also for giving up mystical union, saying that he wanted to taste sugar, not be sugar.)
Somewhat more contemporary is Jeffrey Kripal, who again is quite comfortable with multiplicity (and who has a striking encounter with Kali which had a major effect on his subsequent work. His book on Ramakrishna is worth a read, as is The Serpent's Gift: Gnostic Reflections on the Study of Religion.
Polytheistic monasticism
Date: 2023-09-01 07:32 pm (UTC)Winifred Hodge Rose
Books on mysticism
Date: 2023-09-01 09:59 pm (UTC)Agehananda Bharati (https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/research/moynihan-institute-of-global-affairs/regional-centers/south-asia-center/about-agehananda-bharati-and-his-work) brought a double vision to his study of modern (at his time) mystical currents. On the one hand, he had a highly critical, analytic mind, heavily shaped by analytic philosophy and Karl Popper's Logic of Scientific Discovery, as well as a sharp personal reaction to what he saw as pretense and fakery. On the other hand, he was a participant in, add advocate of, two major mystical currents in India, and a student of mystical traditions and practices in general. He has some very pointed things to say about the relationship between ethics or morality and mystical practice and experience.
His book is available for borrowing at archive.org (https://archive.org/details/lightatcentercon0000ageh), and of course can be bought in the usual places.
Michael Saso's book studies a number of mystical traditions, many of which he knows by personal participation and extensive study. He was an ordained Jesuit, and also was also ordained as a Taoist priest and Buddhist monk. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Saso) His core idea is that apophatic mystical practices (the "way of negation") lead to pretty much the same experiential place (something like what Bharati calls the "void experience", but that they always exist in a cultural context that provides different kataphatic (way of affirmation) resources and experiences that amount to culturally specific experiences and practices. In these terms, roughly, mysticism is apophatic, going from the manifest to the root, and magic is kataphatic, bringing energies into manifestation. The book also contains an ample amount of autobiographical material, which among other things provides a fascinating picture of a world that has largely ceased to exist.
This book is available as far as I know only on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Mystic-Shaman-Oracle-Priest-2nd/dp/B0B3NJC4RV). He used to have his own web site, on which he sold his books and his massive CD of a set of additions to the Taoist Canon, but he was born in 1930, and he seems to have decided to simplify things. The first edition is almost unavailable, and preposterously expensive.
One of the great virtues of both of these books is that few readers will be tempted to swallow them whole. The authors are both quite idiosyncratic, and many readers will be tempted to chuck them across the room. People who are able to wrestle with the ideas of very learned and sophisticated authors who each have informed but unconventional ideas about mysticism may find the books well worth reading.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-02 03:03 pm (UTC)I do like No Man Is an Island by Merton, but in a certain sense it (and all of Merton's works) are fundamentally Catholic, so may not be for everyone.
Perhaps also Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, especially The Divine Names, Mystical Theology, and Celestial Hierarchy?
Axé
The Republic
Date: 2023-09-05 02:32 pm (UTC)