Books like The Seat of the Soul

01

The Untethered Soul

Michael A. Singer · Religion & Spirituality

The Untethered Soul is Michael Singer's guide to liberation through the direct investigation of consciousness — specifically, the question of who or what is aware of the constant stream of thoughts, emotions, and sensations that constitute ordinary experience.

Both dig into consciousness.

02

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

Eckhart Tolle · Religion & Spirituality

A New Earth is Eckhart Tolle's follow-up to The Power of Now, applying the same framework of presence and ego-transcendence to a broader account of human dysfunction and its transformation.

Both dig into consciousness.

03

Man's Search for Meaning

Viktor E. Frankl · Psychology

Man's Search for Meaning is Viktor Frankl's account of his years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and the psychological theory he developed from that experience.

A kindred philosophy read.

04

Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

Sam Harris · Religion & Spirituality

Waking Up is Sam Harris' argument that the insights of contemplative traditions — particularly Buddhism's claim that the sense of self is an illusion — can be separated from religious metaphysics and investigated directly through meditation and introspection.

Both dig into consciousness.

05

The Perennial Philosophy

Aldous Huxley · Religion & Spirituality

The Perennial Philosophy is Aldous Huxley's anthology and commentary on the mystical traditions of the world, arguing that behind the diversity of religious forms lies a single metaphysical core: the divine ground or ultimate reality is one; the human soul contains a spark of this reality; the purpose of human existence is to realize this identity; and the path to that realization requires ego-transcendence through contemplation, virtue, and love.

A kindred philosophy read.

06

Being and Nothingness

Jean-Paul Sartre · Philosophy

Being and Nothingness is Sartre's major philosophical treatise and the founding text of French existentialism.

Both dig into consciousness.

07

Consciousness Explained

Daniel C. Dennett · Philosophy

Consciousness Explained is Daniel Dennett's attempt to replace what he calls the Cartesian Theater — the intuitive picture of consciousness as a single unified stream of experience observed by a self — with a model he calls Multiple Drafts.

Both dig into consciousness.

08

Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking

Daniel Dennett · Philosophy

Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking is Daniel Dennett's handbook for thinking well — a collection of seventy-odd conceptual tools assembled across a long career in philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and evolutionary theory.

Both dig into consciousness.

09

Phaedo

Plato · Philosophy

The Phaedo is Plato's account of Socrates' last hours before he drinks the hemlock, written as a dialogue between Socrates and several of his friends.

Both dig into soul.

10

Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives

David Eagleman · Philosophy

Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives is a collection of forty short, fictional vignettes, each imagining a different version of what happens after death.

Both dig into consciousness.

11

The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

Alan Watts · Philosophy

The Book, published in 1966, is Alan Watts's most direct attempt to explain the central illusion he spent his career examining: the belief that each of us is a separate self, enclosed in skin, confronting an alien world.

Both dig into consciousness.

12

The Mind's I

Douglas Hofstadter & Daniel Dennett · Philosophy

The Mind's I is a collaborative anthology edited by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett, two of the most influential thinkers on consciousness and mind of the late twentieth century.

Both dig into consciousness.