I’m here, safely

Here safe

But…

Where am I?

I am part

Of the One

I am part

Of nothingness

I am part

Of everything

Wait…

I’m not a part

Of anything

Because I am

One and everything

Seems contradictory?

Confused?

This just shows

That our mind

Our language

Does not fit

The Universal reality

Yeah, my head is melting too.

Installment #1 of my books

On my bottom shelf, wedged between my binders of collegiate papers and a scattering of personal sports memorabilia, is my Holy Bible. Is it watching over my pleasurable past? No, it’s just participating with the others, like another piece of memorabilia.

As you can probably gather (from a recent post), that I’m not really into Western religion. I tend to lean more on Eastern philosophy like Buddhism and Taoism. Seems kinda weird from a guy who teaches at a Catholic school, eh? Sometimes I am a living, breathing contradiction.

This Bible is a little more personal than that.

When I was about 12-years old, I was sitting in church on Sunday morning. I don’t really think I listened to anything the preacher said. Strangely, when the preacher said something about wanting be “saved”, I mindlessly walked to the front with a few others. I felt no emotion; I just did it. After the service, an aunt, who I rarely spoke to, came up to me and gave me a hug that was full of love. (I honestly didn’t know anyone I knew was looking.) She acted as if I had just won some prestigious award. I just bashfully smiled.

When I got home, my mother was just beaming with love and pride. (Her narcissism and inconsistent behavior always kept me hyper aware of her. Anyway, that was when I was gifted this Bible.

When I unzip this book and look inside, many memories creep into my head. Like, my parents seemed a little more caring about this time. I remember trying to read this book and getting bored and confused. (This doesn’t include my confusion of all the white people in the pictures in the biblical scenes, supposedly in the Middle East.) I tried several times to read this, through different approaches. Nothing seemed to work.

I also wondered why a kid’s Bible is full of very thin paper that could easily rip. It’s amazing that this book has lasted since 1971, without a single tear. It’s probably due to the sealing of the zipper and fact that I never read it. I just threw it in an unknown drawer for many years.

I open the Bible a few years ago, after many years of not opening it. When I opened it, I opened it to a page where I used a football card as a bookmark. It was 1977 card of a defensive end named Ezra Johnson of the Green Bay Packers. (Kinda biblical name, eh?!) I don’t know the deep symbolism of this fact. But I did find him on Facebook and sent him a message. I never received a return response. I guess I was expecting something miraculous or something.

By the way, this Bible made the cut. That was a better fate that the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Bible that former University of Georgia football coach Mark Richt personally gave to me. That one is currently on sale on PangoBooks.com. (Look for Dr. Bo’s Library.)

Everything

In this world

Exist as a reaction

To everything else

In this world

That is how

We manifest

Our existence

That is what

Makes the Universe

So simple

Yet so complex

I was never a great book reader as a kid. My main interests were sports and mathematics. I liked doing math problems, watching various sports, riding my bike and playing the various pickup games in my neighborhood. I would read magazines, newspapers and books about sports. But that was it. In school, we studied classic literature but I kinda fudged it on those days.

Then, in my 30s, I met a pretty girl and she loved to read. She got me to read “Of Human Bondage.” Then “On the Road.” Then “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.” I was hooked. I started reading other books by Kerouac. This led to the poetry of Allen Ginsberg. And Hank Bukowski. Then, on a train traveling through Montana, I started writing her poetry.

This all led me to returning to college for my first degree. Then a second degree. And a third. And a fourth. (PhD in psychology.)

This all led to quite a collection of books. Most of them were on psychology. But there were math books, poetry books, philosophy books, a couple of biographies, humorous books and even books on Quantum Theory.

At this point in my life, it has gotten pretty out of hand. So I decided to start dumping many of these books. I tried selling them on Amazon but it seemed way too complicated. (I didn’t really want to give Bezos any more money anyway!)

Then I found PangoBooks.com. This app made it really easy to put my books up for sale. I haven’t sold any yet but I’m hopeful. (I’ll give it a few months and then I’ll give them away to the local library or Goodwill.)

But this post is not about selling. It is about giving a review about the books that were spared. It will not be a book review, per se, but a review of my life with the book as a focal point.

There are about 80 books that made the cut. They sit on a bookshelf in my bedroom. They are stacked in a personal hierarchy; important ones at the top and less important ones at or near the bottom. On the lowest shelf is binders of my papers from graduate schools. Next to it is The Bible. Then there is scattered personal memorabilia like sports cards and a photo of my dad joyously smoking a cigar. On the next shelf are some poetry, fiction, philosophy, books of instruction, important psychology and two great sports autobiographies (Andre Agassi and Mike Tyson.)

On the next shelf are lots of books by Carl Jung. There is another one by Carl Rodgers. There are a few others about dream work and physical fitness. (By the way, this is where I store my own dissertation.)

On the next shelf are books on vibrational science, quigong, yoga and “Integral Spirituality” by Ken Wilber.

On the top shelf are the really important ones; I Ching, Kabbalah of Money, The Power of Meditation and Prayer, The Secret of the Golden Flower, A Year with Rumi, a book on Navajo traditions, Rumi Day by Day and The Book of Myself.

I will review all of these influential books, from the bottom shelf up. (Not including things I have written.) I hope you enjoy this process.