50 Spiritual Classics: Timeless Wisdom From 50 Great Books of Inner Discovery, Enlightenment and Purpose by Tom Butler-Bowdon

50 Spiritual Classics: Timeless Wisdom From 50 Great Books of Inner Discovery, Enlightenment and Purpose Reviews

• 
  Elizabeth

  Since I was in high school, one of my hobbies has been to read and study religious and spiritual writings from all over the world throughout history.
  
  I have not studied all religions nor do I plan to, for I am not drawn to all religions. I study religions that I am interested in and fascinated by for their traditions, history and to build my own faith.
  
  I am very knowledgeable about several major religions traditions as well as many minor ones.
  
  All that said, though I am very firm in my own beliefs, I am also very tolerant of other people and their beliefs. What you believe is none of my business.
  
  I say all this as an introduction to my review of this particular book so that the person who reads this review will understand where I am coming from.
  
  Basically, this book provides an okay general survey of world religions throughout time but this is not a book that I would recommend to a sincere religious seeker.
  
  I would not recommend this book to a sincere religious or spiritual seeker because I feel that some of the people and ideas included in this survey are not spiritual at all and this book claims to contain "50 Spiritual Classics."
  
  A basic dictionary definition of spiritual: "of, relating to, or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things."
  
  I do not consider the so called "Harvard Psychedelic Club" (Timothy Leary, "Ram Dass" & Andrew Weil) to be spiritual whatsoever-- especially in light of the above definition.
  
  I do not consider LSD, "magic mushrooms," and the like to have anything to do with the soul, God or spiritual matters of any kind.
  
  Not only were these men given credence in this book but so were others who used drugs to "achieve self/ God realization" (aka self worship).
  
  This false belief that our culture promotes that "mind expansion" is real, can be achieved through narcotics and psychedelic drugs and that it has something to do with God and the soul has no place in a legitimate book on spirituality.
• 
  Steve

  
  
  Gandhi and Mother Theresa are two famous people I had heard of, but never read any of their works. The author allows me to access some of their stories, without the need to source books. When I look at the other 48 names in the contents, I dip in and get a brief, but informative idea of the theorists views, giving me the choice to either follow up or not.
  
  If you are looking for an overview of 50 spiritual classics, this is the book to read.
  
  
• 
  Kenneth Ferber

  Ahhhhh-mazing is perhaps the best way to describe this series. I am currently re-reading it and its amazing how these 50 spiritual classics can assist me in relating to anyone, and not just in some religious, spiritual sense. Yes, the format is not a novel but 10-12 minute vignettes (on my audio book series, extremely well narrated) but any and every kind of spirituality or NO SPIRITUALITY is available for the seeker. And these are sooooo diverse, from The Road to Mecca, to Black Elk Speaks, Carlos Casteneda, Jonathon Livngston Seagull, to St Augustine's Confessions and Rick Warrens "The Purpose Driven Life."
  Just yesterday my sister asked me if I knew of the Buddhist Nun Pema Chodron. Though I'm ignorant of her vast body of writing, I was able to relate to her style and meditative process from number nine of the 50 classics and her book "The Places that Scare Us."
  
  Perhaps being a "Mirror" may be this series best asset, assisting the reader in delineating their own spirituality. And perhaps it's greatest gift is to know that ALL IS SPIRITUAL.
• 
  Jayme

  This is a nice overview for those who are interested in books on spirituality. The author covers all the major religions with a heavy focus on modern New Age books. The author gives a basic summary of each book and autobiographical information which is perfect for my ADD. I also enjoyed the fact that the author describes the less-than-enlightened thinking of some of the authors.
• 
  Wise Fool

  This is just a book filled with reviews of other books! Although the reviews are good. They are just a collection of reviews! personally I think spirituality is too personal for someone else to tell you what is good to read. A thing that touches one person, may not touch another. Hope you enjoy it if you get it!
• 
  Javatis Midget

  This book is a must read for anyone who's interested in spitituality. It opened my eyes to so many thing until I'm frustrated! I have a new respect for philosophy. There were 5 or 6 books that I'm going to read in the future because of this book! Very good book!
• 
  Kerry Hennigan

  If you have ever wondered what the spiritual best sellers of past and present decades have to teach you, 50 Spiritual Classics could provide the answers you are looking for.
  
  The third in a series by Tom Butler-Bowdon (considered an expert in personal development literature) 50 Spiritual Classics gives a fascinating glimpse at some of the great books that have stood the test of time.
  
  The works feature range from the lives of saints to autobiographies of modern inspirational leaders such as Gandhi and Malcolm X. But the majority are books that pass on tips for living a more balanced life, one in tune with the Creator and creation.
  
  Mini biographies of each author whose work is featured give fascinating insights into some of the varied minds and personalities that have passed on their usually hard-won wisdom.
  
  Mother Teresa, Teresa of Avila, St Augustine, Black Elk and Ram Dass are just a few whose lives and/or teachings are delivered here in glimpses sufficient to whet the reader’s appetite for more.
  
  And this is the best thing about this sort of book – while not pushing its own self-help agenda, it suggests a variety of methods from which the reader may find one that rings true for them. In that case, the original work is probably as close as their local library.
  
  
• 
  J

  This was great. I've read a few of the books in this work, and I think they were described very well. What I really enjoyed was biographical information about each book's author. Essentially most spiritual works emphasis the same points: live simply, forgive, take time to reflect but live in the present, and reject materialism.
  
  I also read the 50 Psychology Classics by this author and liked it a lot. Both were very uplifting:)
• 
  Sam Boomer

  Tom Butler-Bowden has found a real niche for himself with these books. I read the 50 psychology classics and found it was a great advert for some of the best titles in the field, while still offering a fair amount of substance. This one was no different. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even as someone who's already read a fair few of the titles he summarises.
• 
  Darlene

  I thought this was going to be direct quotes or excerpts with the author expanding upon them, but it felt like one big rant. It was hard to follow and I could barely recognize which spiritual classic was being talked about at any one time.
• 
  Kat Robey

  Love these! I learn about the books and their authors and watch my reading list grow!
• 
  Tiago Faleiro

  I have read 50 Philosophy Classics, also by Tom Bowdon, which I really enjoyed. I was surprised to find there was an addition to spirituality as well. Given my interest in religion, I thought that would be valuable and put some trust into it based on my previous good experience with the philosophy edition.
  
  I was initially very disappointed that most of the books was modern books about spirituality. Many topics, like science, are things that are hard to go back in history in a way that is still relevant. Spirituality, on the other hand, is in some way eternal, given by self-consciousness and our ability to think about our nature and how to think and act in the world. And given the very long history of religion and spirituality, I was almost offended at the absurdity that most of the books here were from the 20th century onwards.
  
  Even more so because I had a bias against more modern works, but I try to keep an open mind. I enjoyed it a lot more than expected after my initial disappointment. While I still think the modern emphasis is misplaced, there are some benefits. For one, it captures well the modern trend of spirituality. No matter how old the topic of spirituality is, we can't help but live in a culture that is influenced by its modern conception. And thus learning about it is beneficial even if you think it's completely misguided.
  
  Very much like the philosophy edition, I really enjoyed that I could learn about so many different books. It also makes it really easy to see common themes among many kinds of people and culture on how they conceptualize spirituality. For example, the importance of love, giving to others, not being egocentric, and being present in the moment. They all have different formulations and different narratives that symbolize it, but it's a very persistent pattern throughout.
  
  What I love about these types of books is because the content is so diverse that allows me to learn about topics that I would never go into on my own. In this case, what most allured me was books from religions that I know little about. I've read a fair bit on Christianity and Buddhism, but for example, I know close to nothing about Islam. I really enjoyed the writing of Ghazzali and his attempt to popularize Sufism and try to recover the decaying spirituality that he perceived in his region.
  
  My ignorance also extends to Judaism. Here the work of the theologian Abraham Heschel marked the most about the importance of the Sabbath, and how it tries to transform worship from being spatially located (mountains or totems) into being centred around time.
  
  There were several books that I don't think are very high-quality, and of course, those tend to be modern ones. Especially from "gurus" in the East that travelled to the West and gained incredible popularity, which was a virus-like phenomenon in the 20th century. Nevertheless, there were some modern works that were quite solid and deserving of great respect, such as Simone Weil's 'Waiting for God'.
  
  Likewise, even some more ancient spiritual works don't mean that they are that good. While some I consider great classics and incredibly valuable, such as Augustine's Confessions, some were disappointing. For example, Emanuel Swedenborg wrote in the 18th century and very popular. It influenced figures like Blake, Dostoevsky, Helen Keller, John Wesley, and Carl Jung. But while I don't deny that there is some insightful symbolism in his work, as the whole it honestly seemed like the ramblings of a schizophrenic.
  
  It's a great compilation, and while I think it emphasized modern works way too much, I still found it very enjoyable and valuable. The writing is excellent, and each book has a good summary of its themes and some minor information about the author.
  
  I liked that it was so culturally diverse and that the author wasn't afraid to deviate from typical standards. For instance, even Malcolm X is featured. While this may look bizarre, if you read the entry it will make some good sense and I really liked learning about how his spirituality informed his views and what he tried to achieve, especially later in life when he wasn't as radical.
  
  The book also achieves a good balance between not trying to exclusively cater to a more secularized version of spirituality but also having the edition intelligible for non-theists. He wasn't afraid of talking about God in very direct and traditional terms, but likewise, a lot of the works covered can be applied no matter your faith.
  
  It's a very solid edition and highly recommends it if you're interested in spirituality. As mentioned it does have a very modern take on it, but it's a flaw I'm willing to overlook for the overall benefit I got. I ended up with the same feeling as I did with his philosophy edition, I wish the book was twice as long!
• 
  Hailey Kim

  Muhammad Asad The Road To Mecca (1954)
  St Augustine Confessions (400)
  Richard Bach Jonathan Livingston Seagull1 (1970)
  Black Elk Black Elk Speaks (1932)
  Richard Maurice Bucke Cosmic Consciousness (1901)
  Fritjof Capra The Tao of Physics (1976)
  Carlos Castaneda Journey to Ixtlan (1972)
  GK Chesterton St Francis of Assisi (1922)
  Pema Chödrön The Places That Scare You (2001)
  Chuang Tzu The Book of Chuang Tzu (4th century BCE)
  Ram Dass Be Here Now (1971)
  Epictetus The Enchiridion (1st century)
  Mohandas Gandhi An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth (1927)
  Al-Ghazzali The Alchemy of Happiness (1097)
  Kahlil Gibran The Prophet (1923)
  GI Gurdjieff Meetings With Remarkable Men (1960)
  Dag Hammarskjold Markings (1963)
  Abraham Joshua Heschel The Sabbath (1951)
  Herman Hesse Siddartha (1922)
  Aldous Huxley The Doors of Perception (1954)
  William James The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902)
  Carl Gustav Jung Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1955)
  Margery Kempe The Book of Margery Kempe (1436)
  J Krishnamurti Think On These Things (1964)
  CS Lewis The Screwtape Letters (1942)
  Malcolm X The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1964)
  Daniel C Matt The Essential Kabbalah (1994)
  Dan Millman The Way of the Peaceful Warrior (1989)
  W Somerset Maugham The Razor's Edge (1944)
  Thich Nhat Hanh The Miracle of Mindfulness (1975)
  Michael Newton Journey of Souls (1994)
  John O'Donohue Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom (1998)
  Robert M Pirsig Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974)
  James Redfield The Celestine Prophecy (1994)
  Miguel Ruiz The Four Agreements (1997)
  Helen Schucman & William Thetford A Course in Miracles (1976)
  Idries Shah The Way of the Sufi (1968)
  Starhawk The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess (1979)
  Shunryu Suzuki Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1970)
  Emanuel Swedenborg Heaven and Hell (1758)
  Teresa of Avila Interior Castle (1570)
  Mother Teresa A Simple Path (1994)
  Eckhart Tolle The Power of Now (1998)
  Chögyam Trungpa Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism (1973)
  Neale Donald Walsch Conversations With God (1998)
  Rick Warren The Purpose-Driven Life (2002)
  Simone Weil Waiting For God (1979)
  Ken Wilber A Theory of Everything (2000)
  Paramahansa Yogananda Autobiography of a Yogi (1974)
  Gary Zukav The Seat of the Soul (1990)
• 
  Socrate

  50 de clasici – Spiritualitate este a treia lucrare dintr-o serie a dezvoltării personale, care a început odată cu volumul 50 de clasici – Dezvoltare personală. Primul volum explora numeroase repere din literatura dezvoltării personale, printre care și cărțile „inițiale“ ale dezvoltării personale, cum ar fi Biblia, Tao Te Ching, Dhammapada și Bhagavad-Gita, alături de scrieri contemporane cum ar fi: Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Susan Jeffers, Thomas Moore și chiar Dalai Lama. I-a urmat volumul 50 de clasici – Succes care punea în evidență nume sonore din domeniul leadershipului, al motivației și prosperității, și se baza mai mult pe succesul concret, tangibil. 50 de clasici – Spiritualitate pornește de la premisa că nu este suficientă siguranța materială pentru a fi mulțumiți, și că nici măcar pacea emoțională și cunoașterea academică nu sunt de ajuns pentru a ne susține. Am fost cu toții concepuți să căutăm răspunsuri la întrebări mult mai complexe. Paradoxul dezvoltării personale este acela că, dusă la bun la sfârșit, ne poartă dincolo de sine. Înțelesul se găsește în afara perimetrului micilor noastre preocupări. Cuvântul „spiritual“ provine din latinescul spiritus – care înseamnă respirație, funcția noastră naturală de bază. Cartea aceasta încearcă să demonstreze faptul că experiența spirituală nu are nimic străin în ea; din contră, ea este cea care ne face umani.
  Dacă te confrunți cu lipsa misterului și cu absența unei credințe într-o forță sacră, cartea aceasta îți poate oferi cheia spre bogăția interioară după care tânjești. Dacă ai atins succesul, dar simți că nu te satisface, această carte te poate face să te întrebi dacă nu cumva scopul tău este unul mai profund.
• 
  Santiago

  In case it's not obvious, this book series essentially provides an overview of 50 spiritual classics. Note that these are not summaries, but rather more of a take from the author, which gives you a sense for what kind of book it is and what are the topics it deals with.
  
  Within this list you can find books reviewed from various religions and philosophies. I'd say that Christianity and Buddhism are the most represented, but there certainly are examples of spiritual books on the Jewish, Islamic and Pantheistic philosophies/traditions, as well as others that are harder to categorize.
  
  Overall, you'd be hard pressed not to find books that personally resonate with you and what intuitively feels true to you. And that's what I'd say is the biggest value of this book -- not to make you an erudite in any of the topics or philosophies described, but rather to help you decide which books might be worth your time reading.
  
  An unexpected insight from reading these books notes is that the topic of enlightenment is present in all philosophies, albeit with different words. The theistic philosophies relate it to a communion with an external God, and the Buddhist philosophy to a sudden realization of our infinite nature and the nature of reality. But in the end, I couldn't help but notice the similarity of the feelings and even the conclusions coming from those who achieved it regardless of their approach, giving credence to the existence of such phenomenon.
• 
  Rick Wilmot

  A fascinating book with insights from many people across the centuries. TB-B has a remarkable way of putting into a few words the gist of all of the books in this one. He seems to understand the thread running through all of these writers and their writings.
  I would recommend this book not to those searching for enlightenment but to those who have had glimpses of it and are looking for confirmation of their experience.
  From St. Augustine to Rick Warren the teaching is the same and the task, in the words of Castaneda, is to 'stop the internal dialogue'.
  I would have included Jung's 'Modern Man in Search of a Soul', but maybe that appears somewhere else in Mr. Butler-Bowden's work.
• 
  Yochi

  I liked the format of this a lot. Got a good summery of books and ideas, some that that I'll never end up reading but now have an understanding on, and some got put on my want to read list. I wish my library had more of these "50 Great Classics" series. I may end up breaking down and buying that Philosophy one.
• 
  Heidi Smith

  An impressive book for covering a wide array of philosophies from around the world and explaining each in easy to follow summaries. This is an effective introductory book which condenses core beliefs and the varying sects/ interpretations in each religion discussed and elaborates on how each individual applied and advocated for their points of view during their lifetime.
• 
  Jay Best

  Im mainly Atheist or Buddhist, so I'm not sure what I was hoping from this book.
  
  I did take some notes which is a sign that I gained from it, but I just still struggle to connect with a lack of critical thinking and relying instead on blind faith.
  
  Listened to at 2x via Libby.
  Also skipped chapters where I didn't connect with that book.
• 
  Joshua Lawson

  Not as good as his 50 Philosophy Classics, but still worth the time for all the new titles I found to add to my wish list. Even though a few of the selected works were laughable (at least when considered among a host of "classics"), I was pleased with the overall diversity of Butler's collection.
• 
  Frederico Santos

  Uau, a Excellent approach to the spiritual side in each one of us.
  Read it once, will read it again soon and, even being personal opinion, strongly recomend.
  Expect a book with some critical report about other books.
• 
  Patricia

  This is a book of reviews of 50 books. Although some of it was interesting with some of the biographical information there was not enough of a review to have me say I can't wait to read the book being reviewed.
• 
  Shishir

  A brief overview on some spiritual thinkers. Little disappointing on some of the choices of thinkers
• 
  Justin

  Had some useful information but didn't seem like it was worth buying