The Book On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts

The Book On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts is a bit hard to digest, especially if you have a certain view of yourself, your life, the universe and religion. Being a philosophical concept, it took me several reads of certain paragraphs in order to fully comprehend the ideas proposed here. If you are religious, this book might not be for you because it tends to destroy your already programmed vision of a deity, thus it might offend you or shift your beliefs. 

As hard as it may be, the author suggest that you're IT. Let's go with the generic term of GOD. So he says that you're GOD and you have absolute power of the universe by pure existence. The concept is simple, yet hard to swallow: you are part of this whole, thus you are not an individual. Your reality is based on your actions and observations and they change the world around you through your own perception. I liked the analogy with the rainbow: in a certain position, where air humidity is optimal and light pends at an optimal angle you see a rainbow, but others might not if they are not in that same place or not looking in that direction.

Through this book the author tries to say that we have been educated to live within a box a tiny box of consciousness that was imposed by society in order for us to become obedient by giving us double standards: you should be independent, but you cannot do this or that. We see ourselves as individuals through our material form, even though we are better defined through our actions and thoughts. He goes beyond this by trying to say that we define the universe with our existence, even though we are just mayflies in a larger scale. This theory is somewhat full of contradictions, but so fun to play with it and see it evolve.

I would say this is one of the most interesting books I have come across lately. As long as you manage to read it while leaving your beliefs at the door, you would probably enjoy it a lot. I was expecting a self-improvement book with dos and don'ts  but this came as a big surprise and a good workout for my intellect. Read it at your own risk.

Maktub by Paulo Coelho

Maktub or "so it was written" is a book with lots of small stories, each with its own meaningful conclusion. Some are purely Christian and others very general. The book is easy to read, it took me 4 hours to read everything, but then again this is how long all of Coelho's books are.

Without further ado, I shall post the conclusions I liked from the book. "If you are still alive, it is because you haven't gotten to where you are supposed to be." "If you know how to say NO to temptations, they cannot hurt you." "If you have to make a decision, it is better to take it and act accordingly." "when a vice becomes habit, it is hard to control. But when we are required to develop new attitudes and take new decisions, we become aware that it is not worth it (the vice)."

"It is important in life to accept when the opportunity arises." "Lack of determination might be similar with the lack of interaction with strangers, which proves bad for the self." "You will die. It might be tomorrow or after 15 years, but sooner or later you will die. Even if you do not want to. Even if you have other plans. Think carefully what you will do today and tomorrow and for the rest of your life." "Have the courage to contradict yourself without feeling embarrassed. It is your right. It doesn't matter what others think - because they might see things differently. Be calm and let the universe move forward."

 To find out more, read the book yourself. You will surely find some words of wisdom that might apply to you either way.

Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get Sucked into an Intellectual Black Hole by Stephen Law

Do you want to nail your theist friends to the cross? Read this book and start destroying their belief system, one argument after another. Everybody believes in something: from ghosts to aliens, from the almighty God to the Loch Ness monster; but this doesn't mean it's not complete and utter bullshit.

I am going to state from the beginning that in a way this book is very offensive because it attacks the belief in the supernatural. "Believing bullshit" is a hard book due to the fact that it does require a certain amount of intellect, education and open-mindedness to be understood at its true value. It is very entertaining and gives some pertinent arguments in the fight with the bullshitters.

Law seems to be an atheist and in this book you get the feeling that he preaches exactly that. At the beginning of the book he mentions the fact that he doesn't dismiss the existence of a higher power and that he only wants to make you aware of the theists' tactics of forcing their beliefs on you. The so-called "intellectual black holes" are ways of explaining something completely ludicrous by claiming it to be a mystery of the supernatural, hence no matter how many scientific arguments you throw at the believer, he will always find an counterargument.

The moral of this book? Keep an open mind, think for yourself and don't follow James 1:6 - "But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt." In my first review I had mentioned the next book that I was going to read simply because I had my mind set on it. Afterwards I had realized that I'd rather not mention the next title because I might change my mind  after the post.  Who knows what interesting book might drop into my clutches?!