I had the opportunity to watch a few days ago, a series of lectures given about the Bible by a true scholar and humanist. And I remember having read long ago, with the same interest, the Bhagavad Gita with commentaries by Sri Aurobindo Ghose, another eminent scholar and philosopher. To me, both books belong to the litterature of the spirit because they depict stories whose heroes ( gods, kings, prophets) are either in search of, either demonstrate truth and wisdom, the qualities of spirit. They make great use of literary artifacts such as metaphors, parables and do not use direct psychological language as opposed to most spiritual teachings, especially modern ones.
There are two ways of reading this literature. Through literalism, often the official version given by the official clergy, or through in depth interpretation. I find the later, as offered by often revolutionary scholars, richly informative and intelectually vivifying. If I dare paraphrase Jesus: the spirit vivifies, the letter kills.
On Dec 7, 2012 Thierry wrote :
There are two ways of reading this literature. Through literalism, often the official version given by the official clergy, or through in depth interpretation. I find the later, as offered by often revolutionary scholars, richly informative and intelectually vivifying. If I dare paraphrase Jesus: the spirit vivifies, the letter kills.