The Secret History of the World By Mark Booth

Writing my own opinions about religion is always a little tricky for me since my views are usually at odds with the majority. However, in order to properly review this book I need to insert my own opinion from time to time so I might as well get it out of the way at the beginning so everyone knows where I stand.  I wouldn’t say I am anti-religion, but more religion-weary. I generally do not trust any institution that tells me what is proper or right to believe in and spends more time making laws and dogma rather than cultivate true spirituality. True spirituality is a purely individual endeavor, one that no one else can tell you how to do or what to believe. Others can provide experiences that have worked for them but only as an example, not as the rule. I believe that modern religion provides an easy answer to most who would rather be told what to believe and how to act rather than look for spirituality in their own lives.

I say all this because the book I am reviewing tackles just this subject. In essence it is a summary of esoteric history of secret societies. Mark Booth tries and succeeds in connecting a common thread of belief from ancient civilizations all the way to modern times and provides plenty of supporting evidence along the way. There is even a bibliography and further reading list at the end if you are interested in further research. After reading this book I got a new sense of awe for the ancient Egyptians and all that they have accomplished and understood so long ago, it has made characters in the bible much more intriguing, and even modern artists and authors have a secret undercurrent that was unknown to me before. 

The common thread of belief that Booth traces is a history of the evolution of spirituality throughout the ages. As the material world grew around us, the spiritual was slowly squeezed out of our world in a long process more fully described in the book. In order to regain this spirituality one must meditate on yourself so fully that you must open your mind to the spiritual realm.  In other words, you must open the “third eye” that allows you to look into the spiritual realm. Booth spends a lot of space in the book detailing people throughout history who have been able to do this such as Elijah, Zarathustra, Jesus, and Buddha to name a few important ones.

There is so much information in this book that I can’t go into a lot of detail about it without retyping it word for word here. It is a fascinating look at an alternative history of spirituality not filtered through a major religion.  Some of it is kind of far-fetched to the reasonable mind but it’s not more far-fetched than a literal interpretation of the Bible either.  There are times when Booth talks about people who were able to affect the material world like magic in a completely serious manner. To me that sounds a little fantastical but who am I to say what is and what is not possible in this world.  All I can say is that this book has made me more interested in esoteric thought and Eastern religions in particular since they seem to remain closest to a purely personal spiritual religion.

What this book did for me was to confirm most of my beliefs in spirituality as a personal quest. It also piqued my interest in all kinds of religious literature. I now want to read the Bible in its entirety along with the Toa Te Ching, the Bhagavad-Gita, and others because if you can keep an open mind there is a lot to be gained from all of them. Just be wary of those who try to tell you what to believe.  

Beware of the person of one book. 
Saint Thomas Aquinas 

When ignorance is destroyed

By knowledge of the self,

Then, like the sun, knowledge

Illumines ultimate reality.

                Bhagavad-Gita

Introduction

I have had many interests throughout my life that have come and gone but the one that has stuck with me throughout is my love of reading.  I started reading books at a fairly young age and was one of the few people I knew in high school who actually enjoyed doing it.  I mean, Reading Rainbow was one of my favorite shows as a kid, I love books that much.  Along with reading I also enjoy collecting books. Not like old first printings or anything, just buying a new book is very satisfying to me. So why not write about them too? My wife Jenny has a blog about movies and she keeps telling me I should have one about books since I love books as much as she loves movies. So I’m going to give it a shot and hopefully anyone who reads this will gain something from it. If you decide to enter into a discussion about any of the reviews or topics than maybe I’ll gain something from it too.

I need to talk about my taste in reading. I will usually read anything that looks interesting but at the same time I am kind of a literary snob.  I say this because I generally stay away from popular fiction. I have nothing against it but I just don’t care to read something for mere entertainment. A good book is one that is entertaining but also thought provoking and I distrust any author who puts out a new book every year or more than once a year. That just says to me that they are mass producing novels that lack interesting content. Not that I haven’t read a few popular fiction novels from time to time, for instance I read Stieg Larsson’s’ Millennium Trilogy and I do enjoy Dennis Lehane’s mystery novels. I m just warning anyone who reads this that if you are looking for reviews of current or former best sellers than they probably won’t be here. The books I review may be old or new it just depends on what I feel like reading at the moments.   

I will try to review every book that I finish reading from now on. Sometimes I may not get as much reading done so it might take me a while to get a new review done. In the meantime I will try to write about a favorite book or author, or one that I don’t like, or some other topic relating to books. I want to do a new blog at least once a week but of course that may change. If anyone cares about what my opinion is then you could suggest a book for me to read and review or any other topic for me to look into.  I recently finished The Secret History of the World by Mark Booth, so that should be my first review coming shortly.