A List of Subjects to Study and/or Blog about

Exploring

• Road Tripping / Nomadic Travel / Vagabond Travel

Religous / Spiritual / Philosophical

• Humanism
• Existentialism
• Universalism
• Animism

Other

• Spirit Quest / Vision Quest / Heroic Journey
• Lucid dreaming
• Sleep Journalling
• Four hour work week

Personal Victories List

Daily

• 10 minutes of Deep Breathing or Relaxation at Lunchtime
• Stop useless Internet surfing
• Spend time reading / enriching myself

Weekly

• 1 Hour personal activity with each daughter
• Work out at least 3 times per week

Monthly

• Completing a 30 Day Challenge
• 30 Day Challenge Ideas
  • Do 50 Pushups and 50 sit-ups
  • Eat Healthy
  • No Coffee
  • Take 1 Picture of something or someone every day
  • Walk or Ride Bike (any kind of outdoor activity)
  • No Computer or TV

Weekend Warrior Activities

Nearby

• Renfrew Park Trail Run
• Rocky Knob Loop Jog/Climb with possible overnight on AT
• Chimney Rocks Hike
• Caledonia Trail Run or Bike
• Lower Long Pine Run or Bike
• Upper Long Pine Run or Bike
• Sunset Rocks hike

Far Away

• Western MD Rail Trail Bike Ride
• Pole Steeple (Pine Grove Furnace) Hike
• Pine Grove Furnace ATV/Log Sled Mountain Bike Trail
• Hashawha Env. Center Bike Trail
• Bike Cumberland Valley Rail Trail (Ship to Newville)
• Bike Cumberland County Bike/Hike Trail Pine Grove Furnace
• Bike Iron Horse Trail (Big Springs State Park)
• Overnight (Van/Campground stay) bike trip on North Bend Trail or CO Canal
• Kayak Black Hill Regional Park

Even Farther Away

• Kayak and Fish New Yorks Finger Lakes Region
• Kayak/Bike Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge

Recommended Spiritual Reading List

Recommended Spiritual Reading List
(prepared by Ron Gardner)

Advaita Vedanta

Highly Recommended
Ashtavakra Gita—Hari Prasad Shastri (tr.)
Sat-Darshana Bhashya and Talks with Maharshi—Sri Ramanasramam
Sri Ramana Gita—Ramana Maharshi
Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi—Ramana Maharshi (a truly great spiritual book)
(Note: Sat-Darshana Bhashya, Sri Ramana Gita, and Talks With Ramana Maharshi are available at www.arunachala.org.)
Recommended
Be As You Are (The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi)—David Godman (best introductory book on the teachings of Ramana Maharshi)
I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj—Maurice Frydman
Vivekachudamani (Crest Jewel of Discrimination)—Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood

Buddhism (Original)

Highly Recommended
Some Saying of the Buddha—F.L.Woodward
Recommended
A Popular Dictionary of Buddhism—Christmas Humphreys (excellent dictionary)
Buddhism: An Outline of its Teachings and Schools—Hans Wolfgang Schuman Mindfulness in Plain English—Venerable Henepola Gunaratana (best introductory book on Insight meditation)
The Doctrine of Buddha: the Religion of Reason—George Grimm
The Heart of Buddhist Meditation –Nyaponika Thera (classic text on Insight meditation)
The Way of Non-Attachment—Dhiravamsa (unique, Krishnamurti-influenced book on Insight meditation)

Buddhism (Tibetan)

Highly Recommended
A Treasure Trove of Scriptural Transmission: A Commentary on The Precious Treasury of the Basic Space of Phenomena—Longchen Rabjam (a truly great book)
The Cycle of Day and Night—Namkhai Norbu (outstanding Dzogchen meditation manual)
The Precious Treasury of the Way of Abiding—Longchen Rabjam
The Supreme Source—Namkhai Norbu
Teaching of Tibetan Yoga—Gharma C.C. Chang (wonderful Mahamudra presentation)
Wonders of the Natural Mind—Tenzin Wangyal (the Essence of Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet)
Recommended
Naked Awareness—Karma Chagme
Self Liberation Through Seeing With Naked Awareness—John Myrdhin Reynolds
The Golden Letters—John Myrdhin Reynolds
The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation—W.Y. Evans-Wentz
Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines—W.Y Evans-Wentz

Buddhism (Zen)

Highly Recommended
The Zen Teaching of Huang Po—John Blofeld
Tracing Back the Radiance (Chinul’s Korean Way of Zen) —Robert E. Buswell, Jr.
Recommended
Kensho, The Heart of Zen—Thomas Cleary
Selected Sayings from the Perfection of Wisdom—Edward Conze
The Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Hui Neng—A.F. Price (tr.)
The Practice of Zen—Gharma C.C. Chang
The Way of Zen—Alan Watts (classic introductory text by the godfather of American Zen)
Zen Mind, Beginners Mind—Shunryu Suzuki

Christianity & Judaism

Highly Recommended
Meditations on the Tarot—Valentin Tomberg
Recommended
Jewish Meditation—Aryeh Kaplan
The Mystic Christ—Ethan Walker (excellent book for Christians)
The Secret Book of John—Steven Davies (translator)
The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta—Swami Prabhavananda
The Work of the Kabbalist—S’ev Shimon Halevi

Daism

Highly Recommended
Hridaya Rosary (Four Thorns of Heart-Instruction)—Adi Da (excellent technical devotional-meditation book)
The Dawn Horse Testament—Adi Da
The Knee of Listening—Adi Da (the best spiritual autobiography ever written)
The Method of the Siddhas (a truly great spiritual book)

Hinduism (Yoga)

Highly Recommended
The Bhagavad Gita, Translations of: Prabahvananda and Isherwood; Radakrishnan S.
The Yoga Philosophy of Patanjali—Swami Hariharanananda Aranya
The Yoga of Spiritual Devotion: A Modern Translation of the Narada Bhakti Sutras—Prem Prakesh
Recommended
Be Here Now—Baba Ram Dass (best introductory book on Eastern philosophy)
How to Know God—Prabhavananda and Isherwood (Best introduction to Patanjali)
The Essential Swami Ramdas—Swami Ramdas
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna—Swami Nikhilananda
The Synthesis of Yoga—Sri Aurobindo
The Upanishads, Translations of:  Mascara; Prabhavananda and Isherwood
The Yoga Tradition—Georg Fuerstein (outstanding reference book on the history, literature, philosophy, and practice of yoga)

Kashmir Shaivism

Highly Recommended
The Doctrine of Recognition—Jaideva Singh
The Doctrine of Vibration—Mark S.G. Dyczkowski
The Triadic Heart of Siva—Paul Eduardo Muller-Ortega
Recommended
Kundalini, Energy of the Depths—Lilian Silburn
Siva Sutras—Jaideva Singh
The Philosophy of Sadhana—Deba Brata SenSharma (good introductory book on Kashmir Shaivism)

Miscellaneous

Highly Recommended
First and Last Freedom—J. Krishnamurti
Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology—Ayn Rand (must reading for all mystics)
Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand–Leonard Peikoff (must reading for all mystics)
Recommended
Alan Oken’s Complete Astrology—Alan Oken
Ayurveda: The Science of Self-Healing—Vasant Lad
Awaken Healing Energy Through the Tao—Mantak Chia
Return to the One: Plotinus’s Guide to God-Realization—Brian Hines
The Ayn Rand Lexicon—Harry Binswanger (Objectivism from A to Z)
The Perennial Philosophy—Aldous Huxley
The Way of Chuang Tzu—Thomas Merton

Buddhism (Zen)

Highly Recommended
The Zen Teaching of Huang Po—John Blofeld
Tracing Back the Radiance (Chinul’s Korean Way of Zen) —Robert E. Buswell, Jr.
Recommended
Kensho, The Heart of Zen—Thomas Cleary
Selected Sayings from the Perfection of Wisdom—Edward Conze
The Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Hui Neng—A.F. Price (tr.)
The Practice of Zen—Gharma C.C. Chang
The Way of Zen—Alan Watts (classic introductory text by the godfather of American Zen)
Zen Mind, Beginners Mind—Shunryu Suzuki
The Method of the Siddhas—Adi Da (a truly great spiritual book)

Books, Authors, Subjects to read about

Specific Books

• “The Vision” by Tom Brown Jr
• “For the new intellectual” by Ayn Rand
• National Geographic: The Photographs” by Leah Bendavid Val
• The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand
• “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand
• “The Adventurist” by Robert Young Pelton
• “Take Big Bites” by Linda Ellerbee
• “Post-Atheism” by Matt Berry
• “Demon Haunted World” By Carl Sagan
• “Virus of the Mind” by Richard Brodie
• “Getting Things Done” by David Allen
• “On Desire” by William Irvine
• “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho
• “One Day My Soul Just Opened Up” by Iyanla Vanzant
• “Vagabonding” by Rolf Potts
• “The Hero’s Journey” by Joseph Campbell
• “Natural Atheism” David Eller
• “Emerson: The Mind on Fire” by Robert D Richardson
• “Party of One, The Loners Manifesto” by Anneli Rufus
• “The Best American Science and Nature Writing” by Richard Dawkins, Tim Folger – 500B
• “The Introvert Advantage” by Marti Olsen Laney 155.232L
• “The Best American Travel Writing”by Various Authors – 910.4 and 914.4
• “Travel Writing, a guide to research, writing, and selling” by L Peat Oneil 808.06691O
• “Ishmael” by Daniel Quinn (read once or twice – plan to revisit)
• “The Road Less Travelled” by M Scott Peck
• “The Magic of Thinking Big” by David Schwartz
• “How to make millions with your ideas: An Entrepreneur’s guide” by Dan S Kennedy
• “The E-myth” Revisited: Why most small businesses dont work and what to do about it” by Michael E Gerber
• “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau
• “Less is More: The art of voluntary poverty-An anthology of ancient and modern voices in praise of simplicity” by Goldian Vandenbroeck
• “The Monk and the Riddle: The education of a silcon valley entrepreneur” by Randy Komisar
• “The 80/20 Principle: The secret to success by achieving more with less” by Richard Koch
• “Godless in America” by George Ricker
• “The Road Within: True stories of life on the road” by Sean O’Reilly, James O’Reilly, and Tim Oreilly
• “Art of Pilgrimage: The seeker’s guide to making travel sacred” by Phil Cousineau
• “The way of the traveler: Making every trip a journey of self-discovery” by Joseph Dispenza
• “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac
• “Naked Lunch” by William Burroughs
• “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson

List Of Authors to read

• Kurt Vonnegut
• Michael Shermer
• Bertrand Russell
• Richard Dawkins
• Sam Harris
• Ayn Rand
• Carl Sagan
• Paulo Coelho
• Carlos Castenada
• Tim Cahill
• Jon Krakauer
• Karen Armstrong
• Thich Nhan Hanh
• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Derrick Jensen
• Mark Jenkins
• Soren Kierkegaard

List Of Subjects to Search to read

• Mindfulness
• Simplicity
• Simple Living
• Voluntary Simplicity
• Meditation
• Travel Diaries / Travelogue
• Technology Social Aspects (303.483)
• Child Psychology
• Unitarian Universalism
• Dream Control / Sleep Control / Lucid Dreaming / Sleep Journal
• Mind / Brain / Subconscious
• Existentialism
• Introversion
• Bushwhacking, Minimalist Hiking, Backcountry survival
• 4 hour work week
• Early Retirement