The Default Library
Paths / Path 13

Beliefs and Meaning

The world's religions in their own words and in historians' words, and the experiences beneath them.

For: believers, non-believers, and anyone who wants to understand the neighbours.

20readings
9.4 hoursof reading
3stages
2 quick reads · 7 reads · 11 long reads
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Stage 1

Start

4 readings · 20 min
  1. 01ReadQuiz7 min

    The World's Religions, One Page Each

    The world's religions, one page each.
  2. 02ReadQuiz5 min

    What They All Seem to Agree On

    What they all seem to agree on.
  3. 03Quick readQuiz4 min

    Ritual: Why Humans Can't Quit It

    Ritual: why humans can't quit it.
  4. 04Quick readInteractiveQuiz4 min

    Meditation, Without the Woo

    Meditation without the woo.
Stage 2

Understand

5 readings · 26 min
  1. 05ReadQuiz6 min

    How the Sacred Texts Were Written

    How the sacred texts were written.
  2. 06ReadQuiz5 min

    Indigenous and Folk Religions: The Oldest Faiths on Earth

    Indigenous and folk religions, the oldest on Earth.
  3. 07ReadQuiz5 min

    Mysticism 101: The Experience Beneath Every Religion

    Mysticism: the experience beneath every religion.
  4. 08ReadQuiz5 min

    Rumi: The Ecstasy of Divine Love and the Longing of the Soul

    Rumi; then any mystic in section 21.
  5. 09ReadQuiz5 min

    Pilgrimage: Why Humans Walk to Holy Places

    Pilgrimage.
Stage 3

Go deep (the long reads: up to an hour each)

11 readings · 8.7 hours
  1. 10Long readQuiz48 min

    How Religion Began: From the First Burials to the Axial Age

    How religion began.
  2. 11Long readQuiz42 min

    The Vanished Gods: Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, the Norse and Mesoamerica

    The vanished gods: Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, the Norse, Mesoamerica.
  3. 12Long readQuiz52 min

    Hinduism: The World's Oldest Living Family of Traditions

    Hinduism.
  4. 13Long readQuiz48 min

    Judaism: A People, a Covenant and a Conversation Across 3,000 Years

    Judaism.
  5. 14Long readQuiz37 min

    Zoroastrianism: The Ancient Faith of Iran and the Ideas It Gave the World

    Zoroastrianism.
  6. 15Long readQuiz50 min

    Buddhism: The Path of Awakening, From the Ganges to the Whole World

    Buddhism.
  7. 16Long readQuiz46 min

    Jainism and Sikhism: India's Paths of Non-Violence and the Saint-Soldier

    Jainism and Sikhism.
  8. 17Long readQuiz46 min

    Christianity: From a Galilean Teacher to More Than Two Billion People

    Christianity.
  9. 18Long readQuiz58 min

    Islam: From Mecca to Two Billion People

    Islam.
  10. 19Long readQuiz46 min

    China and Japan: Confucianism, Daoism and Shinto

    China and Japan: Confucianism, Daoism, Shinto.
  11. 20Long readQuiz46 min

    Religion in the Modern Age: New Faiths, Secularisation and What People Believe Now

    Religion in the modern age.
When you finish

read one scripture you've never read, beginning to end; Karen Armstrong's A History of God.

Next path →

How the Universe Works

From atoms to galaxies: the forces, the energy, the time and the end of it all, with maths as the language.