Books that make a good resource for ex-BKs

for ex-BKs to discuss matters related to experiences in BKWSU & after leaving.
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primal.logic

ex-BK

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Books that make a good resource for ex-BKs

Post03 Jul 2006

Since leaving the BK's I have stumbled upon some books that have been really useful - Gyan is so specific and BK's so pointed in their beliefs that it kills both ones personal ideas and any sense of universality or objectivity. Getting my head out of an indoctrinated belief system and into a 'free flowing' and constructive, useful world view has been my biggest challenge. These books have helped. I list 3 books here that others may also find of value. I am sure that others have also found books that they feel the same about and would be interested to list them in this thread too:

"The Power of Now", by Ekhart Tolle. Tolle is a Canadian who defines the relationship between time, ego and confusion. His point is that ego cannot exist without consciousness being trapped in past and future. This means that when we become fully aware of the present moment, of here and now, (soul conscious) we become free of the identity we have created through our relationship with the past. This in turn frees us from living for some future moment with the mistaken belief that it holds the solution to our unhappiness or problems. I don't want to make this book sound cliché, because it definitely is not. It is original and profound and has really had a deep impact on me.

"Woulda, coulda, shoulda", by Dr Arthur Freeman and Rose DeWolf. I got this off Amazon.com and found it to much more profound than I anticipated. The guts of it is a definition of 13 ways in which we think that are guaranteed to make us unhappy - and I found myself prone to almost all of them at some point. That was depressing in itself, but I found that simply the awareness of these processes was enough to limit them. One point in particular that is raised in this book is just how much we use imagination to amplify the wrong thinking we are engaged in the first place - a kind of destructive thinking on steroids.

"A short history of nearly everything" by Bill Bryson. This is described as a 'rough guide to science' - it is hysterically funny at points and Bryson has a brilliant way of taking the reader through the history of science and scientists (an unusual collection of oddballs) and what they have found out along the way. It is easy to read, incredibly informative and all over very enjoyable - this is not a text book, but will leave you much wiser about everything from DNA to evolution to the theory of relativity to what the earth is made of to where humans fit in the grand scheme of things.

I hope you find these useful and look forward to any other books you can recommend.

amaranthine

BK

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Post03 Jul 2006

A good resource for BKs too.

Thanks.
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jamesy

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Books that make a good resource for ex-bks

Post03 Jul 2006

Hi,

It’s strange but I was just thinking of posting some of my own post-gyan reading material and “The power of Now” would have been high on the list. Guess that sort of synchronicity of thought is what Tolle would attribute as a symptom of the ‘emergence of consciousness’ into the world. :)

Anyway I’d like to mention another couple of excellent Tolle titles. In Tolle’s latest book, ‘A New Earth – Awakening to your Life’s Purpose’, he re-visits and builds on the themes in his earlier work, suggesting that as more folk tune in to the ‘Power of Now’, humanity will collectively enter a period of heightened spiritual awareness. Just in case a few folks are starting to find this sounding a little bit too familiar, it’s worth mentioning that his vision of a new earth is no Satyug. Here’s a bit of the flavour..

Is the vision of a new earth not just another utopian vision? Not at all. All utopian visions have this in common: the mental projection of a future time when all will be well, we will all be saved, there will be peace and harmony and the end of our problems. There have been many such utopian visions. Some ended in disappointment, others in disaster.

At the core of all utopian visions lies one of the main structural dysfunctions of the old conciousness: looking to the future for salvation. The only existence the future actually has is a thought form in the mind, so when you look to the future for salvation, you are unconsciously looking to your own mind for salvation. You are trapped in form, and that is ego.


Secondly just to mention ‘Stillness Speaks” a collection of aphorisms that capture the spirit of ‘The Power of Now” and which I really have found to be far more effective as an initial focus for Yoga than the many ‘blessings’ and ‘Murli essence’ books which I used to accrue. The obvious difference being that Tolle truly is focused on just ‘being’, in contrast with the BK concerns about ‘becoming’.
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zhuk

non-BK

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Re: Books that make a good resource for ex-BKs

Post12 Jul 2006

jamesy wrote:Secondly just to mention "Stillness Speaks" a collection of aphorisms that capture the spirit of "The Power of Now" and which I really have found to be far more effective as an initial focus for Yoga than the many 'blessings' and 'Murli essence' books which I used to accrue. The obvious difference being that Tolle truly is focused on just 'being', in contrast with the BK concerns about ‘becoming’.

I wholeheartedly agree on Tolle ... I've found his books really helpful in combatting the residual remnants of BK-dogma :).

The "becoming" instead of just "being" that you mention ties in with all the BK angst about "getting somewhere", "attaining" and concern about your "numberwise" position ... all that striving and comparing to others to get your place in the 900,000 no matter what ... :roll:.

What a relief just to BE instead.
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heshe

reforming BK

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Post24 Jun 2007

"After the Ecstacy the Laundry", by Jack Kornfield. Thoroughly recomend. :)

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