David Bohm

A quantum physicist who managed to rise above the blinders of science to see an idealistic “big picture,” Bohm described his elegant philosophy his Wholeness and the Implicate Order. 

James Carse

This history and religion professor writes eloquently of how to wake up to one’s life in his Breakfast at the Victory and Finite and Infinite Games.

Andrew Cohen

The founder of What is Enlightenement? magazine is an author uncompromising in his insistence that knowledge alone is not enough to change ourselves or our world.  We need, says Cohen in Embracing Heaven and Earth and other books, to change ourselves through dedicated spiritual practice.

Oriah Mountain Dreamer 

Beginning with The Invitation, and continuing with The Dance and The Call, this writer’s books read like a heartfelt conversation with a spiritual friend who is struggling with many of the same day-to-day problems we all struggle with.  You may not learn to see the world in a new way exactly, but reading them, you certainly feel less alone in the struggle.

Jean Houston 

One of the founders of the human potential movement, Houston is a “leading figure in the cross-cultural study of spirituality and ritual processes,” says Wikipedia.  In books such as Search for the Beloved: Journeys in Mythology and Sacred Psychology, and A Mythic Life: Learning to Live Our Greater Story, Houston’s uplifting idealism is balanced with practical advice to bring ideas and beliefs into daily life.

Carl Jung

This enormously influential psychologist first put forth many of the ideas embraced by the New Age (synchronicity, collective unconscious, etc.). According to Wikipedia , Jung “emphasized understanding the psyche through exploring the worlds of dreams, art, mythology, world religion and philosophy… He also emphasized the importance of balance. He cautioned that modern humans rely too heavily on science and logic and would benefit from integrating spirituality and appreciation of the unconscious realm.”  The Portable Jung gives a broad overview of work, while Man and His Symbols, an anthology edited by Jung, is written for a popular audience.

Jack Kornfield

Since 1974, this American-born Buddhist monk has been teaching Westerners how to live an authentically spiritual life.  From a Path With Heart to After the Ecstasy, the Laundry, their books unfold in simple and beautiful language that illuminates.

Stephen & Ondrea Levine

An uncommonly gifted couple, the deep-thinking Levines write books that look through the lens of relationships (To Love and Be Loved), or dying and grief, (Who Dies?) to help us discover what truly grants life meaning.

Guy Murchie

Murchie’s fat volume Seven Mysteries of Life, based on seventeen years of research, Murchie delves into the interconnectedness of all life on the planet and of such fields as biology, geology, sociology, mathematics, and physics.

Hugh & Gayle Prather

This levelheaded couple of writers have shown us how to “walk the walk” of idealism through 14 books on spirituality and relationships.  Notes to Myself and Spiritual Notes to Myself inspired me in many ways, while their Book for Couples has made a dramatic impact on my own relationships.

Theodore Roszak

A professor of history who has written for decades with penetrating insight into the state of our society and culture.  According to Wikipedia, Roszak writes about how “we must look closely and holistically at the technologies we use. The kernel of Roszak's outlook is something well articulated by Plato (in Timaeus) many centuries ago—that the cosmos is ‘a living creature, one and visible, containing within itself all living creatures, which are by nature akin to itself.’” While his more recent work focuses on ecology, his Where the Wasteland Ends and Making of a Counterculture were fascinating looks at the evolution of idealism in America.

David Spangler

Considered one of the founders of the modern New Age movement, Spangler is also one of the movement’s greatest critics.  His first book, Revelation: Birth of  New Age, was supposedly channeled, but over time, Spangler has become a more “practical mystic.”  His book with William Irwin Thompson, The Re-Imagination of the World, is a well-written introduction to New Age themes as well as New Age hopes for the future.

Gary Zukav

With the 1979 Dancing Wu Li Masters, an exploration of quantum physics and spirituality, Zukav won an American Book Award for Science.  A decade later, The Seat of the Soul was on the New York Times bestseller list for three years.

Do you know of other authors and books that belong in this category?  Please let me know at teenabooth@newagepride.org.

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