Hello Friend, Thank you for your interest in my list of the Top 10 Spiritual Authors You Must Read In This Lifetime. Over the past 40 years I’ve read at least a thousand spiritual and religious books. That’s a pace of about one book every other week. Most of the books were read for my own personal enrichment. Some of them were read in my capacity as a professional Spiritual Book Reviewer, a position I no longer hold.

All of the books listed below are still on my bookshelf. They’ve been read over and over, with every shade and style of highlighting, sticky notes, and dog-ears marking important passages. To me, the authors of these books feel like the dearest, most trustworthy friends and teachers. My selection criteria was simple. Which authors had the greatest influence on my thinking, behavior and life experience? And which authors offer the most practical or profound information?

Many of my favorite authors wrote several books, and I singled out the ones that were the most memorable and meaningful to me. Use this list as a starting point and choose the titles that resonate most strongly with you. You will not be disappointed. With so much love for you,

Karen BentleyJanuary 29, 2016

1) A Course In Miracles, a work channeled by Jesus through the, the scribe, Helen Schucman Hands down, A Course In Miracles has had the greatest, most profound, transformational and lasting impact in my life. A Course In Miracles is also referred to by the acronym ACIM and simply as The Course. It’s a set of three books that are packaged as one complete set. It includes a Text, a 365-day Workbook, and a Manual for Teachers. The object of The Course is to engender awareness that you are love and God is love and that you are of God. It’s not so much a set of books to read as it is an experience of Self as holy, peaceful and joyful. The Course is a path that leads to a closer connection with God, but without the conventions or rituals associated with most religions. There’s no church to go to. There’s no human leader to follow. There’s no ceremony to perform. There’s no money to donate. There’s no uniform or symbol to wear. Most often The Course is described as a self-study program. Reading it takes considerable attention and concentration, and interpreting it is a highly active thinking process that can be viewed as a subtle act of creation. The daily lessons provide the opportunity to commune directly with Source without the need for a special place or more advanced human teacher. That said, many Course-based study groups, ministers, leaders and conventions have popped up, but they remain completely optional. Familiar Christian terms are used throughout The Course, but they do not have the same familiar meanings. The Last Judgment, for example, is not God’s judgment of you after your moment of death. It’s the last time you judge yourself or another as bad or wrong. Forgiveness is not about the accepting or assigning of blame, it’s an act of love that does not judge. This is one of my favorite Course quotes: “In you is all of Heaven. Every leaf that falls is given life in you. Each bird that ever sang will sing again in you. And every flower that ever bloomed has saved its perfume and its loveliness for you.” The Course is not for the casual reader. It’s a serious book that asks you to become systematic and disciplined in your effort to train your mind so that you can heal yourself and others.

8) Carlos Castaneda The Teachings of Don Juan 1968 A Separate Reality 1971 Journey to Ixtlan 1972 The Second Ring of Power 1977 The Eagles Gift 1981 The Fire From Within 1984 Power of Silence 1987 The Active Side of Infinity 1998 The eight books listed above by Carlos Castaneda are the second most personally impactful books in my life. At one time, before I was introduced to A Course In Miracles, I thought my life path would involve my interest and expertise on Castaneda’s work. Castaneda’s books explain his personal experiences with a Yaqui Indian shaman known as Don Juan Mateus. Don Juan presents himself as an impeccable sorcerer. A sorcerer is someone who has direct communion with Source; who acts exclusively on direction from Source; and who lives in devoted service to Source. And the word “impeccable” means that his performance is flawless, spotless and exemplary. Don Juan is also a nagual, the leader of a small group of apprentices who are learning to be sorcerers. Don Juan teaches his apprentices how to access alternative levels of awareness, how to interpret omens and how to tap into extraordinary power that isn’t available to the ordinary person. Castaneda is one of Don Juan’s apprentices. Through his other-worldly vision, Don Juan sees Castaneda’s energy configuration and knows that Castaneda is also a nagual, but an unconventional one. This is why so much information and energy is invested in Castaneda. Castaneda was born on Christmas Day 1925 in Peru and died April 27, 1998 in Los Angeles, California. He immigrated to the U.S. in the 1950's when he was a child and became a naturalized citizen. As an adult, Castaneda attended UCLA where he earned an undergraduate degree and a PhD in Anthropology. For much of his adult life, Castaneda was listed as a UCLA faculty member, but he did not actively teach there. The University of California published The Teachings of Don Juan in 1968 and Carlos Castaneda literally became famous overnight. The book was ground breaking for two reasons. For one, Castaneda directly participated in and reported on his cultural experience with Don Juan. This had never been done by a social scientist before. And for another, Castaneda's recounting of Don Juan's

world of sorcery was completely new, completely startling and extraordinary in every way.

The veracity of Castaneda's work remains highly controversial, and many consider it a fake. This is compounded by Castaneda's personal womanizing, the group of devoted apprentices he established, and the cultish events surrounding his death. None of this matters. The wisdom relayed through and from Don Juan to Castaneda is revolutionary and is not available elsewhere. This makes the Castaneda series of books worth reading. 3) Thaddeus Golas The Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment The Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment is a very short book. Most people can read it in about 30-40 minutes, and it’s worth every second of your time. Goals wrote the book in 1971 at the height of the drug scene where, presumably, he gained much of his insights from his own experiences with non-prescription drugs. He talks, for example, about bummers and being stuck in a “weird place.” Disregard all that, and read this book anyway. Golas makes the profound accessible to us all, and he does it with a rare precision and clarity.

Here’s an excerpt: “Violent human beings are precisely those who refuse at some time to conceive that they could be violent. It also happens that if you are unwilling to conceive of people being the victims of violence, you may become a victim yourself, for you will not be sufficiently aware of how it happens to avoid it…The way out, as hard as it may be to believe, is not by resisting further…but by being willing to conceive of it—by loving it, in short. As we should have done in the first place.” 4) Books by Sanaya Roman, a channel for an entity known as Orin. Personal Power through Awareness Living with Joy: Keys to Personal Power& Spiritual TransformationSpiritual Growth: Being Your Higher Self If you only have the time and the appetite for one book, read the first one: Personal Power through Awareness. Here’s an excerpt from it: “Most of you tense up when you encounter negative energy. That attracts even more negative energy. To avoid being affected by

negative energy, relax. Any process of relaxation will work. Then visualize or imagine a peaceful feeling. By visualizing what feelings you want, you will not pick up negative energy.”

Orin is a higher being, and as you can see from the above quote, he explains relevant spiritual principles in an easy-to-understand way. He also offers concrete and sometimes playful examples for applying these ideas in real life. There is no judgment or fear-based thinking in Orin's work. It’s all about increase: increasing love of self and others, increasing joy, increasing abundance, increasing inner peace and connectivity. Sanaya and Orin’s books are particularly appropriate for people who are just starting out on an inward journey and/or who don’t want to work too hard at reading or grasping the content. 4) Abraham-Hicks Esther Hicks is a channel for a collective group of entities known as Abraham. These books are typically referred to as being authored by Abraham-Hicks. The Law of Attraction The Astonishing Power of Emotions Ask and It Is Given, Learning to Manifest Your Desires Esther Hicks began receiving messages from Abraham in 1984. Abraham said to her “I am Abraham. I am your spiritual guide. I am here to work with you. I love you. We will write a book together.” This book turned out to be The Law of Attraction, a uniting and core theme that connects all works by Abraham-Hicks The Law of Attraction is the simple idea that like attracts like. Our thoughts radiate an unseen signal that attracts a matching signal, which then gets sent back to us. Or said another way, you get what you think about. The law of attraction as presented and explained by Abraham is the basis for several popular spiritually-oriented works by other authors, most notably The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. I particularly like Ask and It Is Given. In some spiritual circles, desire is thought of and treated like a bad thing that causes suffering. In Ask and It Is Given, Abraham-Hicks present a more uplifting and useful idea about desire and explain why blocks to desire must be undone. How can you, for example, go towards something you think is bad for you? If you have a desire that you want to manifest, this is the book for you. Here’s an excerpt from it.

“…you will discover that all desire that you hold can be easily realized—-for there is nothing you cannot be, do or have…You cannot desire something, predominantly focus on the absence of it, and then expect to receive it…there is an avalanche of Well-being at your fingertips, ripe for your plucking—provided you are in vibrational alignment with it.” Like Orin, Abraham is exceedingly practical, helpful and easy to understand. Like Orin, he provides many learn-by-doing exercises for applying ideas being presented.

6) Joel Goldsmith Living the Infinite Way Spiritual Power of Truth The Art of Spiritual Healing Goldsmith lived from 1892 to 1964. He was born a Jew but became interested in Christian Science after he and his father were healed by Christian Science practitioners. Goldsmith was too young to personally know Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science who died in 1910, but it’s highly likely he was profoundly influenced by her legacy of healing and miracle work, which drew millions and made Eddy a celebrity. After 11 years as a Christian Science practitioner, Goldsmith left the church and proceeded independently. People began approaching Goldsmith for prayers and healing, and his healing services worked. Thus, Goldsmith began his own career as miracle worker. We are fortunate Goldsmith devoted so much of his time to writing and to have instant access to the clear, love-based thinking of a modern-day healer.

Altogether Goldsmith wrote 30 books. His first, Living The Infinite Way, was published in 1948 and was based on letters to his students. An active Infinite Way student community continues today. The Art of Spiritual Healing, was published 11 years later in 1959. Here’s an excerpt:

“Let no reader misunderstand this. I am not saying that you do not have to work. I am saying that you do not have to work for a living. There is a vast difference. The closer you come to living by grace, the more you will work and the harder you will work. Only then, it will not be for a living; it will be for the joy of expressing yourself, and the living will be wholly incidental to that expression.”

Goldsmith advocates contemplative meditation as the foundation of spiritual practice. 6) Don Miguel Ruiz The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom The Mastery of Love: A Practical Guide to the Art of Relationship The Voice of Knowledge: A Practical Guide to Inner Peace Don Miguel Ruiz is another Mexican shaman, nagual and healer. He picks up and expands on many ideas that were previously introduced through Castaneda, but without the sense of wonder and mystery. Ruiz refers to his work as Toltec wisdom. He burst into the book scene in 1997 with The Four Agreements, which immediately skyrocketed to bestseller status. Ruiz has many appealing qualities. His writing style is particularly strong, concise and clear. All of his books are relatively short but jam-packed with helpful, insightful information. They all have beautiful covers that reflect the happy colors of Mexico. And they all repeat and reinforce his core theme that we are “pure love, pure light.” Here’s an excerpt from The Mastery of Love: “If it doesn’t work, then do yourself and your partner a favor: Walk away; let her go. Don’t be selfish. Give your partner the opportunity to find out what she really wants and at the same time give yourself the opportunity…Don’t waste your time, and don’t waste your partner’s time. This is respect.” 7) Chogyam Trungpa Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior Chogyam Trungpa had a short but productive 44-year life from 1939-1987. He was a Buddhist meditation master, a scholar, teacher, author, artist and poet. When he was just 20, Trungpa fled Tibet and moved to India which is where he learned English. In 1970 Trungpa moved to the U.S. where he opened 100 meditation centers, 3 retreat centers and Naropa University in Boulder. Some of his most prominent students included Pema Chodron, Allen Ginsburg and Ken Wilbur. Trungpa’s influence was so strong and deep, he’s considered the father of Tibetan Buddhism here in the West. In 1976 Trungpa began a secular training program called Shambhala. Shambhala introduces the concept of “spiritual warriorhood” and relies on tools such as mindfulness and

meditation to re-connect with basic goodness and to bring confidence, dignity and wisdom into daily life. I liken it to the most noble aspects of Buddhism but without the Buddhist religion. Here’s an excerpt from the book “What the warrior renounces is anything in his experience that is a barrier between himself and others. In other words, renunciation is making yourself more available, more gentle and open to others. Any hesitation about opening yourself to others is removed For the sake of others, you renounce your privacy.” 8) Adi Da Samraj Easy Death

Easy Death was first published in 1983. It’s mostly written by an American-born guru now known as Adi Da Samraj and features a collection of transcribed talks he gave from 1977 to 1982. There are additional chapters on relevant topics written by Adi Da’s followers. Easy Death is one of Adi Da’s easier books to read. This is because the use of capitalization is minimal and conforms to normal punctuation conventions. The introduction to Easy Death says “we live in the shadow of death: we cannot evade it; we cannot minimize it.” The only way to deal with this situation is to cultivate the transcendence of attention and to practice joyful surrender before death, and that is what this book’s about. The spiritual process Adi Da provides is a way to transcend fear and self-contraction—not just at death but now, in every moment. Adi Da lived from 1939 to 2008. He was born as Franklin Albert Jones in Queens, New York, but changed his name numerous times. Adi Da claimed to be an avatar, which is a divine incarnation in human form. He founded a religious movement known as Adidam and established an ashram in Fiji. There are still about 1,000 worldwide followers, and his books still sell strongly on Amazon. Many videos of Adi Da are on YouTube. Here’s an excerpt from Easy Death: “All this that seems to be happening to you is an illusion, a self-created form of bondage, which requires that you observe your separate and separative self and understand your separate and separative self and come to a point of a new responsibility in the midst of conditions…Therefore, what is your relationship to conditions? This is the real question. Your ability to be

bewildered depends entirely on your orientation to conditions and not on whether you are alive or whether you are dead or what effects seem to be happening.”9) Eckhart Tolle The Power of Now Eckhart Tolle was born in 1948 in Germany and now resides in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He claims the first part of his life was characterized by unhappiness, constant anxiety and periods of suicidal depression. Then, at age 29, he woke up and “spent almost two years sitting on park benches in a state of the most intense joy.” His first book, The Power of Now, was published in 1997. Only 3,000 copies were printed. Tolle recalls personally delivering small quantities of books to book stores in Vancouver. By 2000, The Power of Now was on The New York Times bestseller list. Tolle has been called the most popular spiritual writer in America. There’s an extensive library of videos by Tolle on YouTube and at his own website. Here are excerpts from The Power of Now. “One of the main tasks of the mind is to fight or remove that emotional pain, which is one of the reasons for its incessant activity…The good news is that you can free yourself from the mind. This is the only true liberation.” “All cravings are the mind seeking salvation or fulfillment in external things and in the future as a substitute for the joy of Being.” “The pain that you create now is always some form of nonacceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is.” “The secret of life is to die before you die — and find that there is no death.” “Time isn’t precious at all because it’s an illusion.”

“When you create a problem, you create pain. All it takes is a simple choice, a simple decision: no matter what happens, I will create no more pain for myself. I will create no more problems. Although it is a simple choice, it is also very radical. You won’t make that choice unless you are truly fed up with suffering, unless you have truly had enough.”

10) Mother Meera Mother Meera Answers Mother Meera was born in India in 1960 but now lives in a small village in Germany. She’s an avatar, incarnating as the divine mother here on Earth. Mother Meera offers her blessings and the power of divine light to all who need it. For some reason, I am magnetically attracted to this book. I have personally contacted Mother Meera for help and received it. Mother Meera Answers is a short collection of questions and answers. Here’s an excerpt. Q: I feel ashamed of this anger I have for someone. MM: What use is shame? You must look at this anger simply. It is best not to get angry at all, but if you have to get angry try to give your anger as a gift. If the person does not change, detach yourself calmly from him or her, and abandon your anger. Whatever you do, do not get absorbed in it. Q: Fear seems terribly destructive. Is there any value to it at all? MM: When we are afraid we ask for divine help, so fear helps us to remember the Divine. Q: What should I do about the despair I feel when I fail? MM: Failing is not important. Everyone will f ail for some time. Everyone will make mistakes. But you must not be discouraged. You must never think “I cannot do this.” You must know it is not you that is doing the work: it is the Mother. You must have faith in her. Of course you must work too—but in a peaceful way, with an open heart.