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When I was a kid, I would become enraptured by books. I read /at least/ a book a week throughout much of elementary and middleschool, before my focus turned entirely to the internet. Recently, while working as a barista, a regular gifted me a great book! A passion was reignited, and the following journey is catalogued here.
My reading, like most of my habits, has historically been pretty disorganized. I'm experimenting with a more structured approach - three active selections, each scratching a different itch; and a pool of passive reads to browse and slowly digest. As far as I'm concerned, these are the only books I have available until one is completed.
The bread and butter I grew up with, often of the science fiction/fantasy variety.
The Discordian mythos, the culmination of the LSD and cocaine-influenced thought of the late 70s, and an epic I've wanted to read for a while. It has a reputation for blending fact, fiction, and folktale so thoroughly as to make you question reality, even if just for a moment. I'm excited for this one.
Something on political theory, philosophy, ethics - usually the most difficult reads.
I've seen this book praised as the best modern effort toward explaining and defending rule-consequentialism, an ethical framework I am very sympathetic toward. This book has been recommended for upper-level or graduate ethical theory courses, yet it's accessible enough (so far) for me with no formal education in ethics. That's a literary accomplishment, and marks an impressive piece of rhetoric.
The most nebulous category. Occultism, spirituality, and the like; taken with salt.
Written as a book for students of the Illuminates of Thanateros, an occult fraternity that mostly came about in the 80s. It's viewed as the seminal work on Chaos Magick, a more modern school of occultist thought. As a framework, it is particularly compatible with my perspective on the occult: that something is all in your head does not mean it is meaningless. I've skimmed through this before, but would like to work through it more intentionally. I have little interest in the present-day IOT - but much of the culture and thought surrounding its past have already been very influential to my life.
Textbooks, reference guides, poetry books, and other texts experienced piecemeal over time.
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Reading spiritual or occult text is inevitably an exercise in separating truth from useful bullshit from useless bullshit. Suspension of disbelief must be practiced not just toward the narrative or specific plotpoints, but toward conveyed meaning and assumed truths. Peaceful Warrior is unique among new-agey spiritual works in that its bullshit is firmly relegated to its narrative; to the scenarios constructed to represent various revelations and experiences in Dan Millman's life. In its teachings and messages, there is irreverence, concise answers, and surprisingly little bullshit to be found. Way of the Peaceful Warrior appears to be a Discordian book disguised as a mainstream classic, something an average middle-aged mother might have on their bookshelf. I'm happy to have read it.