24 Books Like Collision with the Infinite

This book is the number one book I’d bring along if stranded on a desert island. Like my magickal friend Stephanya once said, “I rejoice that such a beautiful thing can spring from the brain of a human being!” I couldn’t agree more. This book begins with a story documenting the author’s psychedelic research as a Harvard professor (then known as Richard Alpert), as well as his adventures in India, where he met his mountaintop Guru, Neem Karoli Baba. Ram Dass would soon become a Guru himself and help introduce Western spiritual seekers to deep mysticism and Eastern philosophy.

So, why is this relevant to empaths, even those who aren’t into psychedelics? The reason is simple: every part of this book, most especially the profoundly artistic “brown pages,” deeply, acutely, and spiritually reminds us that separation is an illusion, that we are all one, and we need to live in… show more.

When it was published in 1992, Rinpoche’s superior translation replaced the first English translation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead from 1927. This has been a go-to for anyone preparing for their own death or that of a loved one, when the Western way of dying falls short. This book is an indispensable guide to the process of life and death. 

This is the book that introduced the Indian sage Ramana Maharshi to the Western world.

An enlightened being, Ramana Maharshi’s teachings have transformed the lives of millions and his influence is growing around the world.

Brunton was a spiritual seeker who came to India in colonial times and toured widely. His accounts of meetings with holy men and charlatans comprise about two-thirds of the book and they are entertaining.

The final third is about his meeting with Ramana Maharshi and the impact the silent sage had on him and how his fevered, relentlessly restless mind finally became quiescent. This book is required reading for my course.

This treatise is no ordinary commentary on the sacred Bhagavad Gita. Every page in this two-volume set is loaded with spiritual wisdom! Each time I dip into it, I emerge with clarity and upliftment. 

Paramahansa Yogananda put himself in a state of attunement with the originators of this sacred text as he wrote this commentary. The result is unparalleled insights into the yogic path and practical wisdom for higher consciousness. Easily the best writing on the Gita I have come across.

For many years the Science and Nonduality (SANDs) conferences have been bringing together scientists and mystics to discuss where science and spirituality meet.

This beautifully arranged collection of essays and insights highlight SANDs topics on the convergence of spirituality and science, weaving scientific theory and spiritual wisdom from some of the most influential thinkers of our time, with pieces that get straight to the heart of the matter. This volume offers timeless wisdom and new insight into humanity’s age-old questions that encourage our spirit and challenge our mind.

Adyashanti is a firestarter, and he got my spiritual adventure going at the beginning. I entered a one-day retreat he gave at a nearby spiritual center as an atheist, a rationalist, a relatively happy corporate executive, a non-meditator, and a scorner of spirituality.

I believed all religions to be ridiculous superstitions with some nice life lessons mixed in. I came out of the one-day session fascinated by the idea of spirituality as a world of its own that could be explored scientifically.

That’s what Adya does, with plain language and easy-to-believe examples: He encourages people, me included, to become aware of the possibility of greater awareness. 

Eckart Tolle is well known for offering inspirational and simple ways of helping people. This is perhaps his most enlightening book and defines the ego's games better than anyone.

One of his main messages is that emotional issues like anxiety and depression are not our natural states and are reflective of too much identification with the ego. And letting go of our ego is needed for a new consciousness.

What we value is that his writing is powerful and really drives home his points.

This is one of my all-time favorite books for introducing a non-dual approach to therapy. I love that each chapter is written by a different well-known spiritual teacher (Adyashanti and Peter Fenner) or an experienced therapist (e.g., Stephan Bodian, Dorothy Hunt, Lynn Marie Lumiere, and John Welwood). 

These practitioners describe the healing power of the unconditioned mind in their own way (with a diversity that I truly enjoy). They explore the question: What happens when therapists act as a “sacred mirror” for their clients' essential nature? "How might a therapist reflect back to their clients not only the contents of awareness—e.g., thoughts, feelings, and sensations—but also awareness itself? Such provocative and important questions, and how delightful to hear the responses presented in this book!

This book enters a territory that very few books do—describing ways of facilitating an encounter with our most intimate yet ineffable true nature. Each time I read a few pages (usually the most I can digest at any given time), I feel so grateful for it!

In this uniquely valuable guidebook, I learn things I’ve not learned anywhere else about accessing and sustaining a “field” of nondual awareness in which psychological suffering simply cannot exist. Instead, this apparent suffering naturally dissolves to reveal the radiant awareness that is our true nature.

I’ll confess right off the bat that I’m the only person I know who genuinely enjoys reading Spira’s books. His philosophical, highly conceptual, contemplative chapters might not be for everyone. But if you take the time to carefully read and contemplate what Spira discusses, his books can be deeply impactful.

Spira is a “Direct Path” teacher, who conveys some of the deeper teachings of Tantra, Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, and other nondual traditions in a secular, direct, philosophical way. If you want to dive deep into what experience is, what can make life a struggle, and how to experience greater happiness, Spira can be a powerful teacher. The Transparency of Things is a great introduction to his work, but the concepts Spira discusses cannot be understood intellectually. Ultimately, they must be directly experienced to be grasped, and that can take a bit of time, work, and luck.