I · The foundation
The Course, and its students
Where the shelf begins: A Course in Miracles, then two teachers who make it easier to live.
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A Course in Miracles
A self-study spiritual curriculum in three parts: a Text, a Workbook for Students of 365 daily lessons, and a Manual for Teachers. It was scribed between 1965 and 1972 by Helen Schucman, a research psychologist at Columbia University, with her colleague William Thetford, and first published in 1976 by the Foundation for Inner Peace. Schucman described the material as dictated by an inner voice.
Why it is on my shelfA Course in Miracles came to me after a brutal breakup, the end of a relationship I believed then was the love of my life. Was I ever that young? What I discovered was that he was my most profound teacher. I had gone back to Venezuela, lost. I didn’t know what I was doing or where I was going. I registered for two retreats: ten days of Vipassana silence, and a seventeen-day immersion in A Course in Miracles. I simply dove in. The Course was a coming home. It showed me the difference between the madness of a humanity that can kill its brothers and find an excuse for it, and what God really is: the energy that surrounds and supports us, waiting only for us to look, and to merge with it.
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Gary Renard
Gary Renard is an American author and speaker. His books recount conversations he says he had over several years with two teachers, Arten and Pursah, and present them as an introduction to the teachings of A Course in Miracles.
Why it is on my shelfGary Renard is a student of the Course, and a funny, wonderful storyteller. He makes A Course in Miracles easier to understand, and in the process opens your mind to the most amazing truth about our reality.
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Marianne Williamson
Marianne Williamson is an American author and lecturer. A Return to Love, her reflections on the principles of A Course in Miracles, became a #1 New York Times bestseller. In 1989 she founded Project Angel Food, which delivers meals to people living with serious illness in Los Angeles.
Why it is on my shelfA Return to Love is a must-read. It connects you to the true meaning of love. It’s beautiful.
II · Paul Selig, read in this order
The channeled books, in sequence
Each book builds on the one before it. Read them in publication order, the way they were given.
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Paul Selig
Paul Selig is a New York–born author and channel who holds a master’s degree from Yale. He served on the faculty of New York University for more than twenty-five years and directed the MFA in Creative Writing program at Goddard College. He has described a spiritual experience in 1987 as the beginning of his work as an intuitive, and his books are transcripts of material he channels from what he calls the Guides.
Why it is on my shelfI was at a point in my life where I thought I knew every teacher and had read all the books. Then one day I opened YouTube, and there he was: Paul Selig, a sweet, beautiful man with a message like no other. I signed up for a small live class, a few days of an hour each, with the hope of asking one question. By the second day I hadn’t been picked, so I looked through his books, so many of them, wondering which one to begin with. On the third day I finally learned to raise my hand on Zoom, and I asked about change, which I knew was coming. I don’t remember the answer. What I remember is Paul saying: “The Guides want you to know that the book you’re looking for is The Book of Knowing and Worth.” I flipped. They had seen me searching. I was amazed. I had to read the book, and after it, I had to read them all. Each one brings beautiful messages, clarity, and practices I still use today. Paul shows up for the Guides, and we are all blessed for it.
Read in this order
The first trilogy
- 01
I Am the Word2010Find it on Bookshop.org · Direct, no commission
- 02
The Book of Love and Creation2012Find it on Bookshop.org · Direct, no commission
- 03The Book of Knowing and WorthThe Book of Knowing and Worth2013Gillian’s starting point, chosen by the GuidesFind it on Bookshop.org · Direct, no commission
The Mastery Trilogy
- 04
The Book of Mastery2016Find it on Bookshop.org · Direct, no commission
- 05
The Book of Truth2017Find it on Bookshop.org · Direct, no commission
- 06The Book of FreedomThe Book of Freedom2018Find it on Bookshop.org · Direct, no commission
The Beyond the Known Trilogy
- 07
Beyond the Known: Realization2019Find it on Bookshop.org · Direct, no commission
- 08Beyond the Known: AlchemyBeyond the Known: Alchemy2020Find it on Bookshop.org · Direct, no commission
- 09Beyond the Known: The KingdomBeyond the Known: The Kingdom2021Find it on Bookshop.org · Direct, no commission
The Manifestation Trilogy
- 10ResurrectionResurrection2022Find it on Bookshop.org · Direct, no commission
- 11The Book of InnocenceThe Book of Innocence2023Find it on Bookshop.org · Direct, no commission
- 12A World Made NewA World Made New2024Find it on Bookshop.org · Direct, no commission
The newest
- 13Divine UnionDivine Union2026Find it on Bookshop.org · Direct, no commission
III · A yogi’s story
The path of devotion
A life of devotion, told by the one who lived it.
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Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) was an Indian monk and teacher who came to the United States in 1920 and founded Self-Realization Fellowship that same year to teach meditation and Kriya Yoga. His Autobiography of a Yogi introduced many Western readers to the yogic tradition.
Why it is on my shelfNot long ago I discovered that everyone I knew had read Autobiography of a Yogi, and I hadn’t. Strange, because I truly thought I had read everything. It dawned on me that this was a book I had to read. I chose the audiobook, and I believe it’s the best way to receive it: the reader is perfect, and the magic of the book comes alive. I found myself in little fits of tears at its beauty, at the profound devotion with which Yogananda and the Indian people worship. It is breathtaking and fulfilling at once, because we don’t have that culture of devotion. The story is so extraordinary that one wonders whether it can be real. I know in my heart it is. That was his life, and it shows what devotion to a higher spirit truly gives you.
IV · The teachers of presence
Stillness, and choice
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Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle is a German-born spiritual teacher who lives in Vancouver. The Power of Now and A New Earth teach present-moment awareness and are not aligned with any single religion; A New Earth was an Oprah’s Book Club selection in 2008.
Why it is on my shelfThe beautiful Eckhart Tolle: soft-spoken, slow, and fully in the now. He teaches that the now is the only reality. It is the only place where God exists, where God listens, where life happens. Not in the past, not in the future: in the now. In Trinidad I bought The Power of Now on CD, and I must have listened to it two hundred times. I played it again and again, until the concept became second nature to me. It is a book to study, and a practice that should be taught in schools.
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Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) was an American self-help author and speaker with a doctorate in counseling from Wayne State University. He taught counseling at St. John’s University before Your Erroneous Zones (1976) became a long-running bestseller, and he went on to write more than forty books.
Why it is on my shelfMy brother Tony gave me this book one Christmas, when I was thirteen or fourteen. He was home from university in Mérida and determined to make me a reader. It was the first book I ever read. My father had died, and I was lost. I didn’t understand what was happening to me, or life itself. This book centered me. It taught me that I control my own destiny. At that age it was a wake-up call, but it was not an easy lesson to live. It took me years, and many other books that reinforced those teachings, to truly apply it. I still keep it close. Wayne Dyer was one of the most inspiring and powerful voices of our time.
V · Mind, memory and the field
Where science and spirit meet, and argue
These authors write at the edge of established science. I read them for the questions they open, not as settled fact.
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Dr. Brian Weiss
Brian L. Weiss is an American psychiatrist, a graduate of Columbia University and Yale School of Medicine, and a former chairman of psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. Many Lives, Many Masters recounts his work with a patient whose hypnosis sessions described what he came to regard as past lives. Past-life regression sits outside mainstream psychiatric practice.
Why it is on my shelfBrian Weiss gave us back our past lives. His clinical stories are incredible. They take you from thinking past lives exist to knowing they do. I had already had experiences that made me sense it was true; it simply made sense to me. After reading Many Lives, Many Masters, it was no longer a question. It was a yes. Then came Only Love Is Real, and after reading it I knew that the love of my life was in this world, looking for me as I was looking for him. I thank Brian Weiss for that understanding.
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Dr. Joe Dispenza
Joe Dispenza holds a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Life University. He teaches meditation workshops and retreats and writes about change, drawing on his interpretation of research in neuroscience and epigenetics. His books describe a meditation practice; they are not medical treatment, and many of his broader claims have not been tested in controlled clinical trials.
Why it is on my shelfJoe Dispenza breaks with the mystique. His work is to bring mysticism into the coherent, practical world and to demystify meditation. He gives us back an understanding of how the brain and the nervous system work, how they design and plan our lives, and how, through meditation and practice, we can touch the veil where God lives. When we let go of who we are, what we are, where we are and when we are, we find ourselves in the presence of God: the void where all possibilities exist. I attended his seven-day retreat in Orlando, and it was life-changing. If you go, go with clear goals, so they manifest as fast as possible. I have followed Joe since the beginning. I practice his teachings, and every time I have the chance to listen to him, no matter how often I have heard it, I do. A truly remarkable teacher, and every one of his books is a must-read. His work is worth a deep dive.
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Gregg Braden
Gregg Braden is an American author and speaker who worked as a computer geologist and a computer systems designer in the energy and aerospace industries before writing about science and spirituality. The Wisdom Codes pairs short passages from spiritual traditions with his reading of language and brain research; it is his own synthesis, not a mainstream scientific position.
Why it is on my shelfI love Gregg Braden. He has a way of explaining things that truly touches your heart. The Wisdom Codes is magnificent. His is work to follow, because he explains it in a way that reaches you. Together with Lynne McTaggart and Bruce Lipton, he is helping shape the new earth we are creating, and giving us teachings that were long kept from us.
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Lynne McTaggart
Lynne McTaggart is an American-born journalist and author based in the United Kingdom. The Field surveys the work of scientists exploring consciousness and the zero-point field, a subject she later extended into group intention experiments of her own. These ideas remain outside mainstream physics.
Why it is on my shelfLynne McTaggart, with The Field and the studies she gathers, including the work of the HeartMath Institute, opens doors in our psyche that many people still don’t believe in. But like electricity, you don’t see it, yet it turns on your light every time you use it.
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Bruce H. Lipton
Bruce H. Lipton is an American developmental biologist and author who taught cell biology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. The Biology of Belief presents his view that environment and perception, not genes alone, shape how our cells behave. His wider conclusions go beyond mainstream biology, and many scientists dispute them.
Why it is on my shelfBruce Lipton, with The Biology of Belief, shows how our genes do not decide our future. Our environment and what we believe shape who we are and what we become, and even, he argues, which illnesses we develop. Their work, his, Gregg’s and Lynne’s, is transcendental.
The Trove takes these ideas into practice, one pillar an issue: Heat, Cold, Light, Field and Spirit. Read every issue, or see how I choose.
— Gillian Parkinson F., curator
Cover images: Open Library, shown to identify each book.
A Course in Miracles1976Find it on Bookshop.org · Direct, no commission
