100 Books Like Emmanuel's Book

In my thirties, I had just come out of a long-term relationship and was on a blind date. We were talking about love, and I said, “What even love anyway?”; to which my date replied: “Love is letting go of fear.” He told me I had to read this book.

I have reread this book numerous times. It is a manual for leading a life of authentic integrity. I used to think of it as the Cliffs Notes for A Course in Miracles (a book I bought 30 years ago and have yet to read). Because, why? Everything you need to know is in this book!

The gist is this: there are only two prime emotions, love and fear. All other emotions are derivatives of those two emotions. We also have a choice, the choice for love. 

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. 

This book was like a fisherman with bait on the hook. I was the fish; the fantasy setting and the author’s magnificent ability with words were the bait.

Mary Stewart was, of course, the sportswoman out to snag something in my soul. I was prepared to be entertained, but the story carried a surprising amount of weight, asking questions like What do we live for? Can humanity ever be enough? Merlin came into an understanding of his place in the world — not through romance or fantasy adventures as we so typically read —  but through internal revelation.

With his journey, I was invited into soulful reflection and some uncomfortable truths of my own. In the end, I decided Mary Stewart knew very well what she was doing. The stinker.

When I started channeling, I was overwhelmed.

I had talked to Pat Roderquest, and she said that the Pathwork information saved her and gave her guidance. She didn’t give me the whole name; she just said, “Pathwork.” I looked for this book for 2 damn years. Everywhere. Then, at a used bookstore, the angels would leave me a stack of books on the corner of the check-out counter. To my delight, The Pathwork to Self-Transformation was there!

This book isn’t an “easy” read. I have worked with it for over 20 years. In the beginning, I could hardly register the information. Now, I can comprehend most of it. This is channeled material. I would recommend this over A Course in Miracles. If there is a concept in the book I don’t understand, I just sit with it awhile until something shifts and I see it. 

Most people doing a list of metaphysical life-changing books would include Ram Dass’s Be Here Now. I recommend How Can I Help?. It is much more nuanced.

His living legacy is compassion. This book has personal stories about having a loving heart and want to help. If we are more specific with our helping, we can avoid burnout and find joy. By bringing happiness to others, we bring it to ourselves, too.   

It is about treating all with dignity, never losing sight of the fact that we all have our own path. That the help that is most desperately needed is that which is wanted, and it will work because it will be accepted. Love this book!

Mr. Emoto proved that water also has consciousness.

He exposed water to music, then took pictures of the resulting crystals it formed. The beautiful music would form gorgeous crystals, and then words like retarded or hopeless would form distorted crystals. This is proof that sounds with emotional charges affect how water holds the consciousness of the vibration.

He suggests that intention and language may influence human well-being, given the body’s 80% water. Blending experimental results with spiritual themes, the book emphasizes interconnectedness, personal responsibility, and collective consciousness. If you want a better life, tell your cells!

I heard Emoto speak excitedly about raising the vibration of the planet by using positive words with water. He talked about crossing earthbound spirits so they wouldn’t drag the vibration of the planet down, something I had been working on for a few years. A delightful author with an incredible gift to the world!

I like this book because it articulates the importance of spiritual growth in our era and because it helps me do my work as a Spiritual Director or companion. Starr provides interfaith access to ideas and practices that can help us understand that we are all standing on holy ground. 

I appreciate her appeal to the growing number of people (as much as 30% of Americans) who consider themselves “spiritual but not religious.”  And I love the direct, unvarnished way she calls on us to give up the perpetual “self-improvement project” and commit to a life of connecting with others and tending to “beloved community.” 

When I met Danielle Sunberg on Zoom during the pandemic, I was impressed with her ability to listen to her inner voice, to use it as the GPS for navigating her life.

Without relying on the language of the mystics, she describes her transformation from a corporate lawyer in Anne Taylor suits to a backpacking truth seeker as she travels the world in search of her real self. This deceptively simple book can carry the reader into their own insights on the nature of self, life, and spirit through the guidance and questions at the end of each chapter.

It's easily relatable to Westerners who have no interest in Eastern spirituality but are looking for a grounded awareness and higher consciousness. And it's a fun travelogue!

I love the simplicity of the stories with the catchy one-word titles. Short and sweet. They need not be read in any specific order. Each story stands on its own and each has a depth of meaning so that every time I read it I see something new in the story. This book was a model for me in my writing of Sages of Young Ages.