Photo of author, courtesy of Hridaya Yoga
For the Spirituality Challenge, I wanted to share some of the bits of wisdom that I have found useful throughout my spiritual journey.
Simple, free parables
I love these for both being simple and profound at the same time. You will likely think about them often.
First, read The Little Soul and the Sun by Neale Donald Walsch ...
It's free and available online, so you have nothing to lose. I read it out loud often and cry literally every time.
... and watch The Egg by Andy Weir
The video is narrated & animated by Kurzgesagt who do the best educational videos in the world. Few are spiritual, all are fascinating.
And after that, you can go deeper
The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer
This is the book which I recommend to people first starting their spiritual journey. It gives some deep wisdom in a manner which is easy to read and follow. The parable of the house that we build to stay safe, and then we forget that we built it at all, is one that I still tell to people. And if you like that book, his follow-up The Surrender Experiment is incredibly inspirational and also one of my favorites.
You can buy it on Amazon.
mooji.tv
Mooji is my favorite living teacher and his live satsangs bring tears to my eyes. He combines a simple message of self-inquiry (originally from his teacher's teacher Ramana Maharshi) with a beautiful loving presence. While the best experience is to be live with Mooji (which I have never done), and second-best is to be live with him online (which I've done twice and they were both extremely powerful), you can also hear his wisdom with the many online recordings on mooji.tv. They have really high production values and the website makes it easy to find what you want.
Here is a very funny video which shows Mooji's great sense of humor. Even just watching it again reminds me of how the universe gives me what I need to evolve. You might next want to continue with The Invitation Toolkit which contains videos about "Immediate Awakening for Everyone", a short guided meditation which you can do every day.
Conversations with God (books 1 - 4) by Neale Donald Walsch
I avoided these books for awhile because of the cheesy title, but they are really a great spiritual gift. Neale Donald Walsch heard a higher power (aka God) talking to him, and he wrote down their conversation. What God says will likely challenge your beliefs of what God wants (spoiler alert: NOTHING). I gifted these to my mom, a devout Catholic, and she found a lot of it challenging but also inspirational.
BTW I listened to the audio for book 4 because the text wasn't available on Apple Books, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Try it out!
You can buy it on Amazon.
Meditation
Image by Bhikku Amitha from Pixabay
Meditation is absolutely necessary for a spiritual practitioner. Being able to sit with your mind is one of the more surprisingly difficult things to do, but it is accessible to anyone with enough practice. Every time you sit on the cushion to meditate, even if the mind is constantly wandering, you are making progress. It's called your practice for a reason: consistent effort will always eventually achieve results.
And the people who can meditate for long periods of time? Their mind would also never shut up. So don't use that as an excuse to not start :)
There are plenty of meditation resources out there, and the best is the one which you resonate the most with. But one you might not find is the Reddit group r/streamentry; check out the Beginner's Guide which will take you on a path whether you are an experienced meditator or never even tried.
Plant medicine
Image by Sergei Tokmakov, Esq. from Pixabay
More and more people are experimenting with Ayahuasca, magic mushrooms and LSD (not technically a plant medicine, but has similar effects). Sadly these are illegal in the U.S. and most of the world and so I'm not going to provide links on how to find them. But my spiritual journey would never have been the same without access to these medicines. The most memorable experiences in my life were thanks to their ability to force the mind to see things from a completely different perspective. Using the words "terrifying" and "cathartic", while true, don't really describe the depth of the experiences I have had.
One caution: Always choose wisely who to guide you with any of these medicines, as people with underlying psychological issues (known or unknown) can experience major and lasting negative side-effects. Do Your Own Research. And yes, don't take these alone.
And also: some people keep going back to the medicine, trying to find an answer outside. In my experience, these medicines are a window to higher consciousness, not a door. In other words, they can show you what is beyond but they cannot take you there. The truth is within.
It's a never ending journey
I've just touched on a few of my favorites. My life would not be as rich as it is without these other gems:
- The Presence Process by Michael Brown which I'm reading now.
- J. Krishnamurti was a genius philosopher but can be difficult to start with. You might go with the core of his teachings about freedom and how truth is a pathless land.
- Do a 10 day vipassana meditation at one of the many centers around the world; you will come out a different person. (P.S. There are more types of vipassana than Goenka which is linked to above; for example, here in Thailand there are many places to have as long of a stay as you want).
- Yoga of course is part of many peoples' spiritual journeys. I started with ashtanga yoga, moved to hatha, dabbled in Bikram as well. I highly recommend going to Hridaya Yoga in Mexico if you can. The teachers are kind and smart and the lead teacher is a beautiful, kind soul. The picture at the top is after the 30 day level 1 retreat.
Thank you
Thank you to 
And if you have other suggestions, please add them to the comments! I always love to find other sources of wisdom.
♥️ shawn.