Below is a list of African traditional spiritual texts which may be potentially covered:

Post any desired additions to this thread and the group will find a diplomatic method of determining which to cover.

* = scheduled
# = completed

* Metu Neter Vol I & II
* Pert Em Heru
Instructions of Ptah-Hotep
The 42 Precepts of Ma'at (also known as the Negative Confessions )
Knowing the Evolutions of Ra.
Pulling No Punches The Religious Factor
The Bhagavad Ghita
The Upanisads
The Mystical Journey from Jesus to Christ
(all below are available at http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/index.htm)

1 The Religious System of the Amazulu
2 Specimens of Bushman Folklore
3 South African Folk-Tales
4 Xhosa Folk Tales
5 Myths and Legends of the Bantu
6 Myths of Ífè
7 Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort
8 At the Back of the Black Man's Mind
9 Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria
10 Fetichism in West Africa
11 Hausa Folklore
12 Woman's Mysteries of a Primitive People
13 The Yoruba Speaking Peoples
14 Drums and Shadows
15 Jamaica Anansi Stories
16 The Holy Piby
17 Last of the Voudoos
18 New Orleans Superstitions
19 Voodoo and Obeahs
20 Psychic Phenomena of Jamaica

lol @ # = completed ... whew ... it'll be awhile before we see one of those ... lol

But it's good to know what it's going to look like when we get there ... :love:

:heart:

Destee

I would like to add "The Upanisads" for your consideration as well. I'm thinking of beginning a series of essays on the subjects of the Hindu scriptures. Pending the formation of a forum for this discussion, I will begin placing them in the general Spirituality Forum.

Hetep.

Anuk - added The Upanisads to the list...also added Ashby's book...The Mystical Journey from Jesus to Christ.

Many of the books we will look at are not strictly what one would call "scriptures." I started a thread in the general spirituality forum about what constititutes scripture but it did not get too many responses.

One might think that we would want to have a clear definition for an endeaver such as ours but maybe not. Since all manuscripts, whether they are considered scripture or not, were written by men then translated, edited, aompiled and versioned by more men the question is why do we even differentiate between scripture and non scripture?

I have told this story before elsewhere when one day I was feeling particularly depressed. Solomon Burke's song "Down in the Valley" came up on my playlist. As I listened to the words of that unabashedly secular song my spirits lifted because I began to see my emotions from a cosmic perspective. I became aware of mySelf in a universe where others had been through the same valley and had come out and I knew that I would come out too. In that moment that somg became for me the infallable, inerrant and inspired word of the living God.

Given that experience I see that we can not artificial put limitations on the Creator's ability to speak to us. His words are not subject to the approval of the Nicean Council.

Does that mean anything goes? From a personal perspective, yes. But collectively, we need to be able to make a connecttion between our own hearts and what we read in a book before we share what is in that book with others. Otherwise what's in the book is just a dead letter.