This simple, yet eloquent parable celebrates the richness of the human spirit. A young Spanish shepherd seeking his destiny travels to Egypt where he learns many lessons, particularly from a wise old alchemist. The real alchemy here, however, is the transmuting of youthful idealism into mature wisdom. The blending of conventional ideas with an exotic setting makes old truths seem new again. This shepherd takes the advice Hamlet did not heed, learning to trust his heart and commune with it as a treasured friend. Enjoyable and easy to read, this timeless story validates the aspirations and dreams of any spiritual seeker.

From Publishers Weekly In bestsellers like A Separate Reality and Journey to Ixtlan , Castaneda recounted his purported adventures with Mexican Yaqui Indian sorcerer don Juan Matus. Here he tells how, under don Juan's tutelage, he gained control over his dreams and used dreaming as a launching pad to a pervasive but unseen realm of ancestral spiritual forces, good and evil. He goes through tunnels, enters into the consciousness of trees, meets scouts, emissaries and form-changing blobs of energy. Aided by don Juan's companions and fellow apprentices, Castaneda penetrates a realm of "inorganic beings" who set traps for him and attack him, as if to illustrate don Juan's teaching that consciousness is compelled to grow through life-or-death confrontations. For believers, Castaneda's quest offers a tantalizing glimpse of alternate worlds beyond the rational parameters of our mundane reality.

Black Elk Speaks is the story of the Lakota visionary and healer Nicholas Black Elk (1863-1950) and his people during the momentous twilight years of the nineteenth century. Black Elk met the distinguished poet, writer, and critic John G. Neihardt (1881-1973) in 1930 on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and chose Neihardt to tell his story. Neihardt understood and conveyed Black Elk's experiences in this powerful and inspirational message for all humankind.

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'The book' is a fantastic introduction to key tenets of the ancient Hindu philosophy of Vedanta. Alan Watts exposits with convincing arguments the problems with our perspective of the self(the same thought that 'Hermann Hesse illustrates in Steppenwolf), the correct interpretation of the Blakean vision of 'Good and Evil being parts of the same coin', the problems that we carry through the rest of our lives because of the conditioning of the senses and intellect and finally the answers and route to salvation that this great philosophy shows. And to read this book, there is no need to know any history/jargon of vedanta which are major deterrents to people who do not want to get into sanskrit terms, chronology etc.

The erotic sentiments described in the Hindu love classic the Kama Sutra constitute the most famous work on sex ever created. Written almost 2,000 years ago, the Kama Sutra deals with all aspects of sexual life, including the principles and techniques of sexual pleasure and how to best achieve ecstatic expression of life's beauty. Gathered from museums and private collections around the world, these rare images clearly illustrate all 64 sexual positions and the erotic instructions set forth in the Kama Sutra. The result is a dazzling and sensuous reading experience through which the teachings of the Kama Sutra spring to life.

The Final Talks were written shortly before Nisargadatta's death in 1981 and translated directly to English with no changes. In a question and answer format the visitors and devotees accompanied this great master during his final teachings. His message uncompromisingly remained the same to the end, to dwell only on our beingness, giving it no attributes, dwelling prior to our thoughts.

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Part biography, part document of spiritual wisdom, Forest of Visions is a fascinating story that satisfies on many levels. Author Alex Polari de Alverga spent years as a political prisoner during military rule in Brazil. Here he recounts his spiritual transformation after release under the tutelage of Padrinho Sebastião Mota de Mela, one of the founders of the Santo Daime religion. Forest of Visions is also a study of the inner workings of the Santo Daime utopian community of 500 in the heart of the Amazonian rainforest. The Santo Daime is a Christian-indigenous syncretic religion that centers around the drinking of a sacramental psychedelic tea called Ayahuasca as a shortcut to spiritual revelation and growth. After years of study, the Brazilian government decided that Ayahuasca positively benefited society and church members, and declared it legal. Approximately 50 Santo Daime churches now exist around the world, including in the U.S., Japan, and Holland, with various legal statures.

Today nearly everyone is familiar with holograms, three-dimensional images projected into space with the aid of a laser. Now, two of the world's most eminent thinkers -- University of London physicists David Bohm, a former protege of Einstein's and one of the world's most respected quantum physicists, and Stanford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram, one of the architects of our modern understanding of the brain -- believe that the universe itself may be a giant hologram, quite literally a kind of image or construct created, at least in part, by the human mind. This remarkable new way of looking at the universe explains now only many of the unsolved puzzles of physics, but also such mysterious occurrences as telepathy, out-of-body and near death experiences, "lucid" dreams, and even religious and mystical experiences such as feelings of cosmic unity and miraculous healings.

Grof offers this book in which he unravels the complexities of the human mind through the assessment of observations of "non-ordinary" states of consciousness (such as LSD-induced, etc.) at a time before it was labeled as "evil" by the West. The mind, according to Grof, is essentially "holotropic," that is, like a hologram wherein the whole can be reconstructed from a tiny part.After analying life in the womb and the painful process of birth, he movew onto a controversial theory of our "infinite transpersonal consciousness," wherein he feels we can transcend not only the time-space continuum, but visit other dimensions and parallel universes as well.

Ishmael is such a novel, it is filled with ideals and discussion that truly leaves you feeling enlightened about the true state of our apparently advanced civilization. Once the silliness of the psychic gorilla has been disregarded, you are left with a truly astounding book that takes you on a mental journey, challenging your pre-conceived ideas and comforts that society is the great savoir of mankind when really it is a slowly acting poison, ultimately leading to oblivion. The one overriding idea in the book is that "Why should mankind claim the right to separate itself from nature?" You may find yourself with a different opinion after reading these reasoned arguments. I found myself drawn into this book and finished it with a strong feeling that I had read something important, something different.

What if...
- there was no evidence for the existence of a historical Jesus?
- for thousands of years Pagans had also followed a Son of God?
- this Pagan savior was also born of a virgin on December 25 before three shepherds?
- turned water into wine at a wedding?
- died and was resurrected, and offered his body and blood as a Holy Communion?
- these Pagan myths had been rewritten as the gospel of Jesus Christ?
- the earliest Gnostic Christians knew that the Jesus story was a myth?
- Christianity turned out to be a continuation of Paganism by another name?

This is a provocative and incredible story by a well-informed religious historian.

This book is really a story about a journey through the human spirit as Carlos went searching for answers to his questions about peyote, but ended up receiving much much more. Don Juan, throughout the entire story never realy gets into showing carlos where or what the peyote is, but instead teaches him about himself and how he belongs to nature, and that nature does not belong to him. Through Don Juan's teaching about death, it helped Carlos learn what he needed to live a life with peace and harmony in his soul.

This book is the tale of plant researcher Chris Kilham's investigations into this plant and his far-ranging explorations deep in the South Pacific in search of a source of kava. Kilham takes the reader on an adventurous journey through the mystical native legends, outlandish history, and exciting science surrounding this potent plant. A story replete with pulpit-pounding missionaries, kava-drinking natives, sorcerers, a mysterious Tahitian prince, and the author's own humorous outlook amidst difficult and perilous circumstances, Kava is a must-read for those who love tales of travel and adventure and those interested in plant medicine.

With Kava: The Pacific Elixir, geneticist Vincent Lebot, ethnobotanist Mark Merlin, and anthropologist Lamont Lindstrom let us in on Oceania’s best-kept secret. This thorough-yet-highly-readable text summarizes almost all major research on Kava, and will answer every question one is likely to have about Piper Mythesticum and its place in traditional Pacific Island cultures. Written with a combination of scientific precision and easy accessibility, Kava covers everything from the origin of the Kava species, to its cultural and social significance, its preparation, effects, religious and medicinal use, and its impact on the world as a whole.

Mystics and "idealist" have always propounded the idea that the world is an illusion. Now quantum physics is putting forward theories that reinforce this belief. Until recently, the empirical approach of physicists such as Newton has taught us that the world exists with or without human consciousness to observe it. But we can never be totally objective about reality. The human mind, with all its preconceived notions, and prejudices, always intrudes, even in the most scientific of experiments, making true objectivity impossible to achieve. The new physics state that reality is combination of the laws of the physical world, quantifiable and unequivocable, and the subjective viewpoint of the observer. This "omnijective view" of the universe challenges all our most deeply held scientific beliefs and could radically change the way we view reality in the future. As our constructs are amended to this shift in approach, we can anticipate monumental changes in Western thought.

Davis, a compelling writer and intrepid ethnobotanist best known for The Serpent and the Rainbow (1987), proves himself a master of synthesis in this engrossing history of plant exploration in the Amazon. He alternates between accounts of his amazing adventures in the field and rich descriptions of remote Indian tribes and their plant-based cosmologies, tales of conquering Spaniards and missionaries, and...

Renowned anthropologist Wade Davis shows us how preserving the diversity of the world's cultures and spiritual beliefs is just as important as preserving our endangered plants, insects, and animals. In this collection of personal essays, Davis tells of dramatic personal adventures during which he visits and often lives with indigenous communities in the remote regions of the world. He offers reports of toad-smoking shamanistic journeys in the Amazon forests, tracking an elusive cloud leopard in the mountains of Tibet, and a soulful lament for the lost American buffalo.