Looking for suggestions . . . books, from any and all traditions,

Darmabum

regarding "How to Live a Good Life" . . . I am specifically looking for the names of religious/spiritual texts from the earliest days when moral/ethical/etc behavior was put to paper.

So far I have the Tao Te Ching . . . the Bible . . . Bhagavad Gita . . . can anyone suggest others in this vein . . .

My reason for this thread is that I am on the verge of writing a book, regarding myself and two men - both terminally ill - who I worked with for six months each over a full calendar year. All three men are very much interested, my two charges especially so, in what constitutes a good life, indeed, a life worth living.

In advance, Thank You

__________________
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate; our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure - Marianne Williamson

theyyamdancer

The one which springs randomly to mind is by Erich Fromm: "To Have or To Be?" which is a critique of materialism and in favour of mindfulness.

Any of Thich Nat Hanh's books, the Vietnamese monk who writes about Buddhism, meditation, living mindfully.

In a similar vein: "The Places Which Scare You" by Pema Chodron.

Also: "Living Your Yoga" by Judith Lasater.

__________________
"Wandering seemed no more than the happiness of an anxious man." - Albert Camus

machadinha

<Cross-posting: Ah yes, Erich Fromm, of course. His The Art of Loving meant quite a lot to me when I read it as a youngster, as it must have to many others; I never got around to his The Fear of Freedom (Escape from Freedom), supposedly a classic on authoritarianism & why we fall for it.>

Darmabum, there must be threads already on religious/spiritual books here... See if you can find them.

A link I often leave behind in the context is this one, they collect anything they can find that's in the open domain: http://www.sacred-texts.com/ .

__________________
Reading tips, all picked up at IndiaMike : INDAX's A Comprehensive Guide To India / Dinoj Surendran's Desi Humor / ITHVC on Culture Shock & Travel Health / JetLag Travel Guides For the Undiscerning Traveller / India Travel Links

Nick-H

Does one need a book to tell one how to live well?

machadinha

Well, I guess a book may serve as a reminder or to deepen certain experiences

(Isn't that why we read novels as well?)

theyyamdancer

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. (Groucho Marx)

machadinha

<cross-posted. Ah yes, that fine Marxist saying, Theyyam! >

nb I'm not next to my bookshelf, there must be more of those that I feel "formed" me (including a few novels, indeed); in any case what got me on to Sufism was (besides knowing some people at the time who were involved with it) Idries Shah's The Sufis. It still stands to me as the best introduction I know on the subject.

Shah later became best known for his what I call fluffy (Sufic) books for the new-age mealy-minded (how to live if you yourself didn't have a clue already, indeed); a far cry from some of his earlier and in a word meaty studies, including this one (it's quite accessible though, for those with an interest in the subject). Which can (I feel) however not be discounted on account of those later works; maybe he saw fit to promote his message that way; maybe he just saw the money coming in.

Another comical detail is some of those I know who get closest to anything that might be called "living Sufism" never refer to him; and on asking I've been told by one of those that the Afghans he met at least had never heard of the good man, despite his claims to Afghan nobility & ancestry leading straight back to Muhammad, if I recall (but then any Islamic writer of the slightest spiritual pretension, or even not so, seems prone to claiming such lineage).

(And then, of course, it is entirely possible my spokesman was merely and Sufistically leading me on...)

In any case, and whatever the case may be: A fine introduction I'd say Features an excellent foreword by Robert Graves, or my edition does.

Darmabum

Thank you theyyamdancer for the suggestions . . . my interest in this is academic (more or less), research for my next book . . . just curious about how what constitutes a 'good life' has been perceived by different cultures throughout the ages . . .

theyyamdancer

OK, Darmabum, that's very interesting. So you are really looking for examples from all world religions and all epochs?

Nick-H

Ahhh... Research, I see!

theyyamdancer

If we include novels, then "How To Be Good" by Nick Hornby;

anything by Arthur Koestler;

Bertrand Russell essays;

these are my random thoughts, anyway.

machadinha

<Happily cross-posting along>

... And thinking of Fromm then, at the time I stumbled across him, what little I read by J. Krishnamurti will certainly have spoken to me as well. A free and original thinker, in any case. (Hmm, should pick him up again some day maybe.)

Yes, yes, all legacy of the sixties that I was just merely born into.

machadinha

Aha, I see now, Darma

Not long ago I was reading St. Augustine, I'd have to look up the title later (something on the nature of happiness, or so). Very interesting material, taking the shape of some discussions between this church father and some of his companions, and considering several early Christian theological dilemmas and schisms. One thing I found interesting (perhaps between the lines, so to speak and if you will) is how universal those concerns, and their logical answers, seem once again to be; and how eternal that is, and how little we seem to have progressed with it.

I think that site I gave above features a text or two by him.

An interesting (and lengthy!) piece of oral African religious/mythological tradition I have standing around is the Anthem of the Decades; I forget from which country/people it originates.

I'll have a further look at my bookshelf a next time

(Epicurus and Epictetus spring to mind; the latter rather more my style, I think, and if I don't have the two mixed up.) Well... the options could be and are legion as well as endless, of course. Native American traditions (themselves widely varied) used to greatly interest me as a younger man. Zen Buddhism. Etc.

theyyamdancer

"Meetings with Remarkable Men" by Gurdjieff.

sarkar

Mahabharat
Bhagwat Gita was told by Lord Krishna to Arjun in between the Great War in Mahabharat.