Monday, November 24, 2008

The Ultimate Mystical Mystery

Just a short post today. I'm on an all day driving trip, just stopped in at a Big Boy for some lunch, fired up my wireless laptop to check my email, and there was a note reminder from MM that it was my turn to post today at M3! Fortunately I had a draft partly done and stored, so here goes.

My chosen favorite genre to write in is spiritual/inspirational. And the ultimate mystery writings to me are the scriptures. Pretty heavy dudes, Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Muhammad, those cats. Miracle working, parable speaking, magnanimous beings of light that either authored or were quoted into books that have inspired humankind and led us to the threshold of enlightenment for thousands of years after their physical death. So my question for the day, an invitation for comments is, hey all you mystery writers - any of you ever read The Upanishads, or the Dhammapada, that sort of thing? Probably most of us here in the west have read the Bible. The Old testament is chocked full of incredible stories. And of course the New Testament is full of miracles by Jesus and the Gospel of John is very mystical. Starts right out with, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." That mysterious enough for ya? But for real dazzling and baffling mystical early Christian thinking, try reading the Gnostic Gospels and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Incredible.

Kind of weird subject perhaps, for a mystery writers' blog. But that's what you get for inviting a spiritual/inspirational author on your team! (smile)

So but indulge me. How about it - ever read scriptures? If so why and how do they affect your writing and/or life, and if not, why not?

4 comments:

Morgan Mandel said...

My core beliefs influence what I write, but I don't blatantly preach them. There are ways to include your spiritual side without broadcasting it.

Morgan Mandel - Double M
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
http://www.morganmandel.com

Anonymous said...

Yep. Definitely agree. True dat.

Dana Fredsti said...

I read them when I was in bible school during a brief stint as a southern baptist. I confess, I joined 'cause I had a crush on a boy in the karate class one of the deacons taught. Er....we called it 'karate for Christ.'

I read a lot eclectic stuff, including books on comparative religion, occult, zombies... :-)

Mark Troy said...

Years ago, I read some of the Upanishads because I wanted to learn a little more about Hindu literature. At that time I was captivated by the Ramayana, the great Hindu epic (still am, in fact) and wanted some background. Maybe I'll do a post on the Ramayana some day.