Listmania!
Classics of hippie spirituality
By an Amazon.com customer
The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You AreThe Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts
Buy new: $9.32 / Used from: $2.78
The world is your body . . .
On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the ObviousOn Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious by Douglas E. Harding
Buy used from: $16.55
. . . _and_ the world is your mind.
The Ethics ; Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect ; Selected LettersThe Ethics ; Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect ; Selected Letters by Benedictus de Spinoza
Buy new: $10.88 / Used from: $4.94
And -- holy Spinoza, Batman! Thought and extension are two of God's attributes! (Okay, it's not exactly a hippie classic. But it should be.)
Your Brain Is GodYour Brain Is God by Timothy Leary
Buy new: $10.36 / Used from: $7.21
You don't actually need entheogens to realize this stuff, but some have found them helpful.
This Season's People: A Book of Spiritual TeachingsThis Season's People: A Book of Spiritual Teachings by Stephen Gaskin
Buy new: $7.95 / Used from: $2.73
Including Stephen, who has also written a fine book on "Cannabis Spirituality." But this one is the Diamond Sutra of hippie spirituality.
Das EnergiDas Energi by Paul Williams
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $2.15
And this one is the hippie Tao Te Ching.
Tao Te Ching, 25th-Anniversary Edition (English and Mandarin Chinese Edition)Tao Te Ching, 25th-Anniversary Edition (English and Mandarin Chinese Edition) by Lao Tsu
Buy new: $12.89 / Used from: $3.79
(This is the real Tao Te Ching, in perhaps its most influential edition. Every hippie who knows what Taoism is has seen, and probably owned, this one.)
Lazy Man's Guide to EnlightenmentLazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment by Thaddeus Golas
Buy used from: $9.15
This great little book by the late Thaddeus Golas is the hippie Dhammapada.
Living on the EarthLiving on the Earth by Alicia Bay Laurel
Buy used from: $18.83
Another '60s/'70s classic. "Back to the land," but vegans beware; this one even has instructions for tanning your own leather.
Remember, Be Here NowRemember, Be Here Now by Ram Dass
Buy new: $10.30 / Used from: $8.71
Richard Alpert's book has been on every hippie bookshelf in the world. Heavy on the Hinduism. (If "losing your ego" sounds threatening, see Golas for what it really means.)
Zen Mind, Beginner's MindZen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
Buy new: $9.32 / Used from: $0.92
And Suzuki-Roshi's little classic introduced lots of kind folks to zazen. (The introduction was written by Richard Baker; if you know anything about the history involved, you'll appreciate the irony.)
An Introduction to Zen BuddhismAn Introduction to Zen Buddhism by D.T. Suzuki
Buy new: $9.23 / Used from: $2.75
The _other_ Suzuki made some waves with this one (and quite a few other fine books too).
Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle (Vol. 8)Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle (Vol. 8) by C. G. Jung
Buy new: $10.17 / Used from: $4.85
A highly influential alternative account of causality, karma, and coincidence.
How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World: A Handbook for Personal LibertyHow I Found Freedom in an Unfree World: A Handbook for Personal Liberty by Harry Browne
Buy used from: $38.95
The spirituality of "hippie libertarianism." At times perilously close to sheer libertinism, but still very helpful in avoiding moralistic "traps."
Kabbalah: The Way of The Jewish Mystic (Shambhala Classics)Kabbalah: The Way of The Jewish Mystic (Shambhala Classics) by Perle Epstein
Buy new: $11.21 / Used from: $0.01
This one should be better known than it is as a Judeo-hippie classic.
The River of Light: Jewish Mystical AwarenessThe River of Light: Jewish Mystical Awareness by Lawrence Kushner
Buy new: $11.53 / Used from: $4.40
So should this one. Kabbalah was very influential among Judeo-hippies who had initially been attracted to Eastern spirituality and hadn't realized there was a mystical tradition in Judaism too.
The Doors of Perception and Heaven and HellThe Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley
Buy used from: $1.94
This one's here because of its influence (there's even a famous band named after it), but as I mentioned above, entheogenic drugs aren't strictly necessary.
Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and ChemicalsCleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals by Huston Smith
Buy used from: $1.25
Which doesn't mean there's nothing to be said for them.
The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of KnowledgeThe Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Castaneda
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $0.21
Here's another extremely influential book, Carlos Castaneda's first one about the teachings of a Yaqui shaman.
Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the SoulSeth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul by Jane Roberts
Buy new: $12.21 / Used from: $3.95
And here's another. Heck, I know people who have named their kids Seth because of this book.
Stranger in a Strange LandStranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $0.01
To understand '60s/'70s countercultural spirituality, you need to grok this work of speculative fiction.
Messenger from the Summer of LoveMessenger from the Summer of Love by David Rey Echt
Buy new: $11.01 / Used from: $2.42
Is this what really happened when the Love Bomb went off? This somewhat fictionalized account contains sound spiritual advice.
The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers LibraryThe Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Library by Gilbert Shelton
Buy used from: $17.99
This one's here just for fun (which is spiritual, isn't it?). Hilarious, and better than Crumb (who, incidentally, hated hippies).
American BeautyAmerican Beauty by Grateful Dead
Buy new: $14.98 / Used from: $0.84
Yes, this is a classic of hippie spirituality. So is the band itself.
Hippie Dictionary: A Cultural Encyclopedia of the 1960s and 1970sHippie Dictionary: A Cultural Encyclopedia of the 1960s and 1970s by John Bassett McCleary
Buy new: $14.96 / Used from: $5.54
To follow up, start here. This isn't just a dictionary; it's an extended argument for keeping The Dream alive.