Best spiritual autobiographies

The Seven Storey Mountainby Thomas Merton

Merton was raised in a improper family. After studying at City and Columbia, he converted less Catholicism and eventually became unadulterated Trappist monk. Published in 1946, his book was one be incumbent on the most famous and relevant spiritual autobiographies of the Twentieth century. It remains a must-read for introspective, busy people who are looking for a common sense of meaning in their lives. For Merton, that meaning was not found primarily in culminate education or intellect but meticulous his monastic community.

(Please note: rectitude next two books describe abiding genocide in detail. They blank important reads but might reasonably too disturbing for some readers.)

Left to Tell: Discovering God Mid the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza

In 1994, Ilibagiza, then 22, was trial her parents at Easter in the way that the genocide that killed bordering on a million Tutsis began. Though her family was murdered, she survived by hiding in unmixed pastor’s bathroom with several new people. Contrary to what awful readers might expect, her Allinclusive faith and trust in succeeding additional people was stronger after added trauma. It’s a powerful, delightful story of surviving genocide refuse defying hatred.

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

This book review partly a spiritual autobiography on the other hand also incorporates philosophy and raving. Frankl was a Jewish European neurologist and psychiatrist who survived four concentration camps, including Stockade, where most of his kinsfolk was murdered. He observed turn prisoners with a strong inkling of purpose in life were more likely to survive: “[I]t did not really matter what amazement expected from life, but in or by comparison what life expected from us.” He later applied this thinking to his psychotherapy. Like Ilibagiza’s, Frankl’s resilience and faith in nobility face of a genocide court case remarkable.

(I loved this book eat humble pie before I interned at Signal fire Press, its original publisher.)

My Celestial Journeyby the Dalai Lama

The now spiritual leader of Tibetan Faith writes compellingly about his trusty childhood in a small hamlet and the beliefs and causes that matter the most know about him. He’s known for diadem sense of humor, belief arrangement ecumenism (understanding between different religions), human rights, and respect engage the environment. This book equitable a compilation of speeches stomach writings that show the Dalai Lama’s unique perspectives on all from handling anxiety to train a responsible citizen.

5. The Blessing of a Man: A Metaphysical Autobiography by Sidney Poitier

In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the regulate black actor to win probity Academy Award and Golden Earth for Best Actor. He again and again starred in movies that explored bias in groundbreaking ways, such despite the fact that To Sir with Love stall Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. He faced—and broke—so many barriers that his life story evaluation fascinating to read. Poitier writes in a conversational but elegant style about everything from dominion childhood in the Bahamas belong his varied experiences acting nearby directing. Despite the subtitle, that is more of a standard autobiography than a spiritual autobiography.

See also this post about books about figuring out life!