The best books to inspire and/or facilitate your personal mystical quest

Of Madeleine L’Engle’s books, A Wrinkle in Time gets all the attention. But as often happens, praise sometimes misses something great. Her follow-up to Wrinkle in that same series, A Wind in the Door, is extraordinary. In one particular way, Wind gets at a truth; that the scale of big to small, human to mitochondria, mitochondria to galaxy, is actually not as distancing as it seems. No matter what size, everything has an essential part to play. There is also a theme to the book that, then and now, I find particularly poignant; the value of putting down roots and deepening into your life. As sometimes happens with YA books, Wind offers something really valuable for adults. Plus it’s short, which is pretty cool.

This is a work of fiction written by Jane Roberts, famous as the writer of the Seth books. Through the novel form, Roberts gets across a plausible way to look at life, the fluid nature of time and some possible meaning and purpose to be found in reincarnation. It’s also pretty entertaining. Yay novels! There are three books in the Oversoul series. This, the second, is my favorite. 

Here are two facts that don’t seem to go together. 1: I am a grown man. 2: I am recommending a novel about Merlin. On an outer level, this is a story about the making of an iconic character; how Merlin became Merlin. But on an inner level, it’s about a boy discovering his inner connectedness to the world around him, with its many subtle messages. There was a time when humans looked for and found signs in nature. That may be superstition and delusion sometimes, but I think life is constantly communicating with us. This is a story about listening, letting go of the mind’s will, being open and empty and receptive. This book can be a model for one’s mystical quest. Plus it’s a really fun read.

Mystical quests are all well and good, but most things, even our quests, can be fodder for self-delusion. That’s just how humans are built. Learning the particulars of how we’re built is a powerful way to lessen that delusion. Sooner or later, some actual self-work becomes necessary. I haven’t come across a more effective roadmap to the self than what’s found in the Pathwork Lectures of Eva Pierrakos. This is channeled work, the idea of which may make you punch your computer screen. But the information in these lectures, about the inner workings of the human psyche, seems spot on. This book contains a sampling from a few of the lectures, a sort of dim sum of psychological wisdom.

I saved the best for last. In the mid-’80s, I was in a meditation group, and though we were centered around the teachings of Edgar Cayce, we read every new age and self-help book that came along. Far and away our favorite, with the most inspiring viewpoint, was Emmanuel’s Book. It was written a bit like poetry and I think there’s a reason for that. Emmanuel had a way of bypassing the human mind and speaking to us on a level deeper. As he liked to say: “Your life is none of your mind’s business.” Emmanuel has a way of putting you in contact with a knowing place within. As to whether or not you stay there, well that’s your personal mystical problem.