Esotericism/Mysticism

I have a casual (and gradually more serious) interest in esoteric/mystical philosophy and spirituality. Please post here if you're interested in this sort of thing.

My current beliefs owe a lot to Bill Hicks, Joseph Campbell, Manly P. Hall, and lots and lots of mushroom trips, to name a few. Sort of a silly list of influences, but it's true. I believe that consciousness is fundamental... that all "reality" is the self-reflexive, subjective experience of a single, unified divine mind. "All is One" in the truest sense!

There's a fine line between esoteric wisdom and New Age nonsense, however, so I'm pretty wary about what I read on these subjects. But, some of it resonates with me pretty deeply and I'd like to hear what others here might have to say on the subject, since our little green friend has also been a "powerful spiritual ally" for me!

Have you ever read anything my Krishnamurti? Nothing to do with Krishna, he is an indian philospher who claims to be enlightened. He had and still has a cult following, but I swear the man is gen up, in my view. I've read some of his transcripts, they are simple, but very deep.

J. Krishnamurti or U.G. Krishnamurti?

J. Krishnamurti

Not too familiar with J. Krishnamurti... U.G. is the more cynical of the two. He died pretty recently, actually. Wiki article.

Do you have any J. Krishnamurti readings to recommend?

To piggyback on my earlier post, I heartily recommend Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces and Manly Hall's The Secret Teachings of All Ages! They both strike me as rather erudite, yet down-to-earth.

Try ebaying his later compendium, Fear of the Unknown, its made up by someone after he died, a selection of his most profound words. Or anything really, he is an interesting man. Some stuff on you tube, better maybe you read the words on paper maybe.

Cool, will look into it.

BTW, are you familiar with Hicks? I know he has a pretty healthy following in the UK... for my money the best stand-up of all time!

Yeah I've heard of him. can't remember laughing much, but I've never really given him the time. I like Larry David, the current US funny man of the time over here.

Yeah, I identify quite a bit with Larry David, myself. ;)

Hicks isn't so much laugh-out-loud funny to me, esp. since his territory has been well-trod by other comics in the past 10-15 years. He's more of a "stand-up philosopher" type. Rant in E-Minor might be a good place to start if you want to give him a chance.

Maybe. It seems like lesser talents like Dennis Leary have been able to make decent careers out of Bill Hick's old material.


I agree that Krishnamurti has got some pretty legit ideas. Afterall, it's not his fault that other people considered him to be the next great incarnation since he was a child.

For philosophy I think you might be interested in some of the works of post-structualism, deconstructualism, and phenomenology as a whole. There's a philosophical view that holds consciousness as the basis of all things called pan-protopsychism that's very similar to what you were talking about, I think.

I'd also mention Terrence McKenna, if you haven't already come across that name. Literally wrote the book (or several books) on hallucinogenic philosophy.