Resources
This is a list of books that I have found helpful over the years. I put them into general categories based on their focus.
Disclaimer: there are very few books which I recommend without reservation because most books have some degree of claiming ownership of truth where it cannot exist. This is disguised in the language or belief system used, whether it’s science, spirituality or something else. This can be disempowering because it inevitably walls off some aspect of your experience the way you experience it. However, seen from the perspective that all words are simply one way of describing the universe, these resources may be helpful in building your mental map of the terrain. So, as with everything, I suggest approaching these with a discerning eye and never as a replacement for the wholeness of your experience as it is.
Emotional Feeling Work
Why You Get Sick and How You Get Well: The Healing Power of Feelings, Arthur Janov
Facing the Wolf: Inside the Process of Deep Feeling Therapy, Theresa Alexander
Reclaiming Your Life: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Regression Therapy to Overcome the Effects of Childhood Abuse, Jean Jenson
Universal Perspectives
The Enlightenment Trilogy, Jed McKenna
Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu
Nothing Special: Living Zen, Charlotte Joko Beck
On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious, Douglas Harding
The Mystique of Enlightenment: The Radical Ideas of U.G. Krishnamurti, U.G. Krishnamurti
Mythology
The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell
The Hero with A Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell
Native Perspectives
Continuum Concept: In Search of Happiness Lost, Jean Liedloff
Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, John Neihardt
Original Wisdom: Stories of An Ancient Way of Knowing, Robert Wolf
Don’t Sleep There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle, Daniel Everett
Forest People, Colin Turnbull
The Harmless People, Elizabeth Thomas
Parenting
Continuum Concept: In Search of Happiness Lost, Jean Liedloff
Raising our Children, Raising Ourselves: Transforming parent-child relationships from reaction and struggle to freedom, power and joy, Naomi Aldort
Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers, by Gordon Neufeld & Gabor Maté
The Aware Baby: A New Approach to Parenting, Aletha Solter
Diaper-Free! The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene, Ingrid Bauer
The Other Baby Book, A Natural Approach to Baby’s First Year, Megan Massaro & Miriam Katz