Close to a year ago, I did a challenge that involved skimming a lot of classic philosophy texts from the very ancient to the contemporary. Some of the most enduring and insightful concepts that I gathered were from the books on the list that might fit easier into a religious studies course than a philosophy course. The 2 books I am thinking about specifically are the Upanishads and the Dao De Jing.
The Upanishads introduced me to the dialectic of the personal self and the universal self, which allowed a reimagination of one of my purpose statements in a way that deeply connected me to the universe and all conscious entities therein. The Dao De Jing describes the Tao: a term that eludes any frozen definition, but which denotes the highest principle of the Universe, or “that which exists through itself.” Both of these texts allowed me to better grapple with my understanding and application of panendeism.
I have no desire or inclination to become a Hindu or a Taoist, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t benefit tremendously from reading some of the principal texts associated with these belief systems. I figure the same could be true of the other major religions that exist as well. The next 40 days then will be a journey through 9 of the largest world religions or sects.
Two notable omissions from the following list are any Buddhist texts and, of course, the Bible, as I have already spent a large amount of time with these. Without further ado, here is the list of religions ordered by number of adherents, and the holy book I will be perusing:
- Islam (1.9 billion) – Quran
- Catholicism/Orthodox Christianity (1.4 billion) – Apocrypha
- Hinduism (1.2 billion) – Rig Veda
- Sikhism (26 million) – Shri Guru Granth Sahib (An introduction)
- Seventh-day Adventism (22 million) – Steps to Christ (by Ellen G. White)
- Mormonism (17 million) – Book of Mormon (An overview)
- Judaism (15 million) – Talmud (2 books: one, an introduction; the other, a biography)
- Taoism (9 million) – Lieh Tzu and Chuang Tzu
- Shinto (4-88 million depending on source!)- Introduction to Shinto (by Yoshikawa Katsumi)
Like previously, I am utilizing Kindle Unlimited, which allows free access to all of the above works. The Sikhism holy book and the Babylonian Talmud were too lengthy, so I chose introductions to each of these for this challenge.
There are 3443 total pages I want to read by the end of the challenge.
For weekdays (70 pg/day):
- 10 pages first thing upon rising
- 5 pages right before lunch
- 15 pages before leaving for home (or before dinner)
- 30 pages after finished with yoga for the day and before bed
- 10 pages right before retiring for the day
For weekends (125 pg/day):
- 10 pages first thing upon rising
- Average 15 pages per hour during PAT segments
Like I did with my philosophy book skimming challenge, I will provide weekly reflections on things I’ve gleaned from reading these texts.
Namaste.