It explores the division between the sacred: timeless, meaningful, divine; and the prophane which is secular, mundane and ordinary. It encourages people to find meaning, depth and rootedness in a fragmented world. 

“Even the most desacralized existence still preserves traces of a religious valorization of the world.”

Goethe explores the human condition and illustrates how the desire for more can be both destructive and divine. In this work, Goethe affirms the value of human striving when it is directed to higher truths. 

"A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart."

Carl Jung describes synchronicity as an acausal connecting principle, aiming to explain the underlying order in meaningful coincidences. It encourages thinking outside of cause and effect structures.

“The belief in cause and effect is so strong that we cannot abandon it even where it is not applicable.”

It is one of the most fascinating exposé of Russia's Gulag concentration camps and its horrors between 1917-1956 under Stalin. Aleksandr insists that suffering, although horrific, can strip away illusions and forces one to challenge the truth about self, freedom and the soul.

“Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.”

“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds... But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”

Machiavelli uses a kind of mental structural simulation in his analysis of historical accounts of power exchange in political circumstances to offer insights into how a ruler new to power can hold on to it and prosper. Machiavelli offers an image of the human society stripped by realism, granting us multiple insights into power dynamics. The wise use of this knowledge can help one keep safe.

"Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience who you truly are."

This book talks about the kife of Maria Predescu and the tragic case of her divorce with Mr Predescu. It offers insight into the human experience and how childhood and past events shape one's character. 

"The woman doesnt have the right to speak, but she is obliged to create soldiers for the defense of our country."

Marcus Aurelius's guide to himself is a collection of meditations based on stoic observations of the world. It provides insights into the human existence and the ultimate necessity. Useful to build a strong resilience and composure.

"For everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be".

Scott Peck investigates the nature of good and evil through case studies and spiritual insight. He determines that evil hides behind a facade, parading as perfection to hide the inner rot that will ultimately spread outward in families, societies and structures. Denial, moral laziness and narcissism lead to evil while conscience, truth and spiritual growth heals it. However, the first step for healing both the victim and at times the perpetuator too is indentifying evil.

“Evil people actively resist any awareness of their own condition.”

This book outlines the war present in our daily lives against pride, self will and illusions of the ego. It is a classic christian book explaining the spiritual reality of human life and its manifestations. Scupoli insists that true spiritual gain does not come through emotional fervor, but through humility, self-denial, vigilance and trust in God. It calls the reader to take life seriously as an unending struggle for purification and union with God.

“The more a man knows himself, the more he is humbled in his own eyes.”

This is a foundational work in Eastern Orthodox Theology from the 14th century and it aims at defending and better articulating the pratice of hesychasm (prayer tradition leading to expirience of the divine through stillness). It militates for and provides a distinction between God's essence which is unknowable; and his energies, through which He communicates Himself to creation. With this book, one can better understand the forces that drives human behaviour and how to tune to the one that preserves life and truth. This vision helps reclaim the body, heart and the whole person as capable of becoming vessels of the divine light which purifies and transforms us.

“We ascend to God by our activity, but we enter into Him by stillness.”

This is a book based on the life, teachings and sayings of Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia, who was a modern orthodox elder of deep humility, spiritual insight and insatiable love for Christ Jesus. This helps understand that fighting evil, obsessing over sin and mistakes or any form of grim effort is not what leads to peace. St Porphyrios urges believers to fill themselves with so much love for Christ that evil has no space anymore.

“The soul is healed with love, not with force.”

George Bacovia was a romanian symbolist poet who lived between 1881 - 1957. His works are oriented through repetitive symbols and minimal language towards exploring human life from a lens dipped in of claustrophobia, meaninglessness and existential desolation. His poems create a sustained atmosphere of psychological and environmental suffocation. His work can help one see the elegance of the grayest moments of their lives. Despite the hopeless perspective, Bacovia does not despair but invites the reader to see the world in all its fragilities. 

"- Listen carefully now, my darling,

Don't be alarmed and don't weep -

Listen and hear how the hard earth

Is calling to us, from deep." - Melancholy (Lead)

This book explains the inner life of prayer and particularily the Lord's Prayer. In this book a prayer is not just us asking God for things we want; it is an encounter that changes and transforms the person. St Gregory Palamas says that the highest theology is lived and not studied. Here he teaches the discipline of "nepsis" (guarding of the mind) and describes various spirits that describe the human behaviour in a deeper structure of reality. Useful for understanding the human condition. 

“The vision of divine light is given to the humble and pure of heart, not to the wise of this world.”