Reading plan

May 16th

When I was 14, my future seem easy and already set. I wanted to be a priest, and a Roman Catholic priest at that. I was not religious anymore at that age, but I thought that this whole belief and faith stuff had potential. Especially with me working from the inside to repair the system. Also, it seemed like an easy and pleasant and not really taxing job. I already knew the bible quite well. I had a lot of problems and questions about it and what could be the better way to understand it better than studying and then having it as my career and a calling?

Then I discovered music, booze, and freedom of thought, but mostly it was the fact that being celibate wouldn’t really work for me. So, I quashed my plan of going to a seminary or a monastery. Interest in religion stayed in me though — especially when I started to discover other religions and the mythology on which they were based. I started to see patterns and commonalities among all the religions and the more I studied it (as a hobby) the more fascinating I was becoming. And completely irreligious and atheist as well, in proportion to my growing knowledge and interest.

It is still a major interest, definitely a lot more than a hobby, for me. I already read hundreds of books on it (especially early Christianity and comparative mythology) and still have a constantly growing pile of new books (modern and classics and sourcebooks) on the wholly encompassing subject of religion. I am trying to expand my interest to different cultures and societies outside of Europe (and the so-called Western World) and looking at the books that are on my to-read list it seems quite interesting and thorough — Upanishads, beliefs of Paleo and Neolithic people, expanding my knowledge of Sumerian and Egyptian mythology, Tantrism, basis and divisions of Islam, Zarathustra, Buddha, and Lao Tzu. Gnosticism, alchemy, the mythology of Grail, illuminists, and romantics and positivist views of religion. Freud and Jung and Bonhoeffer, cabalist, Avicenna, and Chasidic movement and an almost untouched by me subject of North, Central, and South American Indian mythology (Quetzalcoatl and Viracocha). Uffff. There is a lot and I just cannot wait. Now just to find time for all this reading and still keep myself enjoying the summer activities and summer sun. But it seems like a pleasant task and perfectly doable.

Nothing really makes me so happy as seeing another pile of books ready for reading. And having time and a clear mind to enjoy them.