ARAUZ INSPIRATIONAL ENTERPRISES  L.L.C.

ARE YOU AN APPLIED EXISTENTIALIST? 

 LIVE THE FOLLOWING WORKS, USE THEM AS THE RESOURCE THEY ARE MEANT TO BE.

THE WORLD HAS WRITTEN DOWN INSTRUCTIONS TO LIVE THE BEST OF LIFE, USE LIBRARIES AS REPOSITORIES OF EXISTENTIAL COOKBOOKS. WRITE THE RECIPE FOR THE GREATEST YOU AND START COOKING. 

As you approach works of a spiritual, literary or mystical nature, you need the proper perspective.

In the Martin Buber book I and Thou, the translator, Walter Kaufmann, described the proper perspective for those tackling works of the soul. "We must learn to feel addressed by a book, by the human being behind it, as if the person spoke directly to us. A good book or essay or poem is not primarily an object to be put to use, or an object of experience: it is the voice of You speaking to me, requiring a response."

The following list of works is in no way exhaustive. It should be a jumping off point to start or further your CONNECTION. If you are interested in the services of A.I.E., then these books, songs etc. will be of use to you personally and professionally. Be present and fully encounter the works; stand in relation to them not apart as a distant other.

"The Self is a bridge between this world and the Real." Gandharvas Upanishads

The Power of Myth by Joseph Campell (1904-1987.) This is an interview with Joseph Campbell by Bill Moyers that took place in 1985 and 1986 at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch and later in the Museum of Natural History in New York. Campbell was a treasure of unlimited knowledge on the world's myths. In this discussion the walls between the cultures and their respective myths vaporize. The universal archetypes are examined to show the unfolding story of human existence was told 10,000 years ago and will be told in 10,000 more years. The language of the soul is shown here to be distinctly human and translated in myth to unify our lives. Link to Joseph Campbell Society.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (120-181.) Roman Emperor in 161 C.E. This is a private book of reflections best described as a spiritual journal. It was written during the author's conquests in Central Europe. "Marcus speaks to us across the millennia about perennial human problems. The book is interesting as an example of stoic thought, but it remains compelling because it bears witness to a profound journey of the human spirit." Stoicism is the most powerful philosophical influence of the work. Aurelius keeps Socrates as the paradigm philosopher; who taught that the practice of philosophy is the solution to all of life's ills. We learn to bear the accidents of life-illness and health, loss and gain, defeat and victory- by seeing them philosophically for what they really are: mere accidents whose meaning is contained in the totality of the universe. Link to Marcus Aurelius Archive at MIT.

Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle by Carl G. Jung (1875-1961.) Jung had a life-long interest in the mystic and the collective unconscious. This is the only extended work of his into the field of parapsychology to incorporate ESP and to ascertain the the nature of the psychic factor into such phenomena. It is a book that will challenge the reader's concept of what is connected in this universe and how it may all relate. Jung wrote, "...from this it follows that either the psyche cannot be localized in space, or that space is relative to the psyche." Link to Carl Jung Page.

The Power of Flow: Practical Ways To Transform Your Life With Meaningful Coincidence by Charlene Belitz & Meg Lundstrom. This is a nice follow-up to Jung's work on synchronicity. The book uses synchronicity as a tool to advance your Flow. It gives pragmatic advice and tools to create these unique occurrences in your daily life and become more connected. Link to Author's website.

Fear by Krishnamurti (1895-1986.) By  far the greatest influence on my own development. This book deals solely with fear, but all his works are recommended. His mantra is that you should look to yourself for the universal answers. The clearer view of yourself the more you know the world. "Look at yourself, go into yourself, inquire into what is there, understand it, go beyond it..." A tremendous companion for your inward journey. Link to Krishnamurti.

The Inferno by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321.)  This beautiful poem is an epic work dealing with the state of souls after death written during the author's exile from his home: Florence, Italy. The journey is a conversion experience of one man's journey from darkness to light from spiritual exile to divine union. I enjoy the use of Virgil in the work. It shows the need of guidance in these journeys into self and the value of having a person with you that has been there before and will not leave you, i.e. sensei, therapists, friends, clergy and sponsors. Link to Inferno website at University of Texas at Austin

"Hell is yourself and the only redemption is when a person puts himself aside to feel deeply for another person."
Tennessee Williams

Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God by Ranier Maria Rilke (1875-1926.) Rilke is a German, existentialist poet of unbridled tenderness and love. This book is an authentic look into the soul of a true spiritual seeker beseeching his higher power to unite with him. The tone of each poem bellows into the universe his desire to hold his God in a loving embrace and function in a continuous atmosphere with no divine separation. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Link to Archive of Ranier Maria Rilke.

I and Thou by Martin Buber (1878-1965.) Buber, a Jewish Theologian and Hasidic revivalist, created this work that we may fully 'encounter' another in our conversations and interactions. You work in the word-pair 'I and Thou' when you give completely your 'present-ness' in the moment and see the other in their totality: beyond description and interpretation. It is a tool to find the divine in others and therefore, yourself and remain connected to the universal spirit in all you do. Link to page dedicated to Martin Buber.

The Mystic Christ: The light of non-duality and the path of love according the the life and teachings of Jesus by Ethan Walter III. This is a book of unity and love dedicated to one of the sweetest and most pure mystical teachers of all time. It is irrelevant on how you define Jesus to get much from this work. It introduces you to Ammachi, the healing and hugging saint of India and pours forth scripture attributed to Jesus with its congruency to all the other great teachings from all the world's religions. Toaism, Judiasm, Hinduism and Islam are well represented in this work to allow for connection and spiritual challenge to your ever changing essence. Link to further information on Gnosticism and the Mystic Christ.

 Bhagavad-gita author unknown. It is the essence of Vedic knowledge and one of the most important Upanishads in Vedic literature. This is the primary spiritual text read by Gandhi in his later years. It is a discussion between Prince Arjuna and Lord Krishna. The speaker of Bhagavad-gita is Lord Sri Krishna. He is mentioned on every page of Bhagavad-gita as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavan. The book is intended to be read as if it comes directly from the Supreme personality itself. It is a text of beauty and release, instructing its readers to connect to the larger Self, the universal oneness. Link to site dedicated to the Bhagavad-gita.

As a Man Thinketh by James Allen (1864-1912.)  A brief work on positive thinking based on the premise, "They themselves are makers of themselves."  This book works with the laws of attraction and ownership of self. It is a quick read designed to put you in control of your mind and perspective. Link to site dedicated to As a Man Thinketh and James Allen.

Awakening to the Sacred: Creating a Personal Spiritual Life by Lama Surya Das. This is a book for seekers of truth.  Das says, "...seekers are ubiquitous: They can be found in every nation; they can be part of any religious group or denomination. The search for truth and love-something beyond and bigger than ourselves-is the common element."  This book will give you the tools for enlightenment. Link to Archive of Lama Surya Das.

The Englightened Mind by Stephen Mitchell. This is a  magnificent compilation of sacred writings from all traditions. From the I Ching, Chief Seattle, Jesus, the Buddha to Walt Whitman, this book strings together the writings of spiritual masters from all parts of the globe and from all epochs. Also worth looking into, Mitchell's, The Enlightened Heart, this is a wondorous anthology of Sacred poetry from all sources available to the modern mind. Link to Stephen Mitchell's website.

"I know but one freedom, and that is the freedom of the mind."
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Kim by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936.) This literary masterpiece, set in India, deals with the question of identity. It springs from Kipling's own journey as an Englishman born in India in the 19th century. It is said Kipling spoke, thought and dreamed in Hindi until he was six years old. The protagonist of the novel experiences life on both sides of the internal Indian struggle between its' British occupiers and its' natives. The use of disguise and masks to society and to oneself, raise questions of consciousness and awareness useful to all seekers. Link to complete collection of Rudyard Kipling's poems.

Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939.) This is a smart book, following The Future of an Illusion and that book's glaring look at religion and man. This work shows the commonplace malaise that an individual develops that is ruled by his ever reaching super-ego. It takes the logical step into a societal consciousness that develops its own super-ego like constraint of thought and revolutionary progress, damning cultural thought as viciously as the action. This becomes a cerebral restraint system that paralyzes a global psyche to tread on the fear filled paths already walked and accepted. A thought provoking treatise that can be used as a mirror back to self and the environment we populate, hopefully creating a loophole in the cultural psyche to transgress mind and fly above the norm. Link to archive of Sigmund Freud with the Brill Library.

The Mind of God: the Scientific Basis For a Rational World by Paul Davies. Davies, a mathematical, theoretical physicist, takes the most complex ideas involved in cosmology and the big bang theory and shows there relation to the larger philosophical issues of all time discussed by Plato, Descartes, Hume, Kant and others. It is his assertion that by the means of science we will see into the Mind of God. A mind bending challenge to what you know, what you think you know and what it is you may be afraid to know. Link to Paul Davies website at Arizona State University.

Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss, M.D. A non-fiction account of an Ivy League psychiatrist and his encounter with a patient and there ensuing adventure involving regression (past-life) therapy. Weiss' patient began to channel messages from "the space between lives" containing remarkable revelations about the Dr's family and even his dead son. This 'space between lives' is also discussed in the Tibetan Book of the Dead.  It is referred to as the three stages of the intermediary state or the Bardo Todol. Weiss' work shows some insight into connection to a universal past and can be healing to those feeling a transpersonal calling to other realms of consciousness not encountered in their current existence. Link to Brian Weiss M.D. website.

On The Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900.) This work, a companion to, Beyond Good and Evil, calls into question the history of ethics and the various interpretations of prevailing moral values of his time. He takes a look behind the inception of the Judaeo-Christian values that stand as absolutes in the moral fabric of society. He sees a larger 'will to power' that creates the historical narratives accepted in the global canons to be used as 'law.' It is a work that can aid the reader to look behind his own beliefs and challenge him/herself at their core to see who and where they are today in the present. Link to archive of Friedrich Nietzsche.

The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963.)  Du Bois, the first African-American to earn a Ph.D from Harvard, wrote this book as a discussion on the state of blacks in America coming out of slavery and still living predominantly in Jim Crow. The key in this dissertation is the discussion of 'double consciousness' and the 'Veil' that stands between this oppressed citizenry and whites. The 'double consciousness' is a standing apart from oneself without the ability to identify oneself as a whole entity. The veil blocks the person from seeing themselves and allows the white ruling class to determine the black citizens identity from the outside. It is the closest to identifying the dissolution of self upon release from maximum security mental hospitals standing on the doorstep of society as man, American and lunatic: a monster realized and divorced from the ability to actualize intrinsically. A book for the ages, an aid for reconciliation with one's past to stand in the present-viscerally whole. Link to site dedicated to W. E. B. DuBois.

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (1819-1889.) The volume has nine editions starting in 1855 to the 'deathbed edition' of 1891-92. The various poems sing to the connection between all humanity. His optimism and inclusiveness speak straight to the reader and allow for individuality and communion. In 'Song of Myself," he writes "The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains of my gab and my loitering. I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs ot the world." Link to Walt Whitman at University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Everyman by Philip Roth. This work shows the life and death of a 71 year old retired man as he deals with his mortality. The work starts with no windshield and hits the reader right between the eyes. It is an awakening to what we see each day and allows us to live in the head of a man facing his diminishing life cycle. The focus is secular and the end is faced without the aid of any organized religion and is met without a buffer. This work is hard to live in but is wonderfully real and allows for true self-searching. Connection takes effort and many face the reality of a lonely end to this world without partners, families and friends. This book can aid in awakening to living in the moment and showing love and caring to those around us.  Link to the Philip Roth Society.

The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hahn. The author is a Vietnemese Zen Buddhist that was nominated by Martin Luther King Jr. for the Nobel Peace prize. This work shows easy practices to develop mindfulness in all you do. It allows for the expansion of awareness through a total acknowledgement of the present moment. Link to Thich Nhat Hahn website.

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. The best and most simple text I have read on how to separate you and your mind. He states with clarity and consistency the need for space in your life. He gives working ideas on how to observe yourself and achieve emptiness. I love his works and especially his audio books. Link to Eckhart Tolle website.

I do hope this list is of some help to other seekers as you make their way on the path. If you have any literary suggestions to aid my growth please contact me.

"Failing to fetch me at first,

 keep encouraged,

Missing me one place search another,

 I stop somewhere waiting for you."

Walt Whitman