Reading List for True Blood Character - Life/Death/Spirituality
September 12, 2011 10:42 AM Subscribe
Give me a hypothetical reading list for Jesus Velasquez of True Blood. (Warning: True Blood finale SPOILERS inside.)
Throughout the season of True Blood, I've been intrigued by the spirituality of Jesus Velasquez. To me, he seems more of an archetype than a character (he doesn't seem to have any real flaws), but I admire the way that his character seems to approach people, life, religion, and death.
So, this morning I found myself thinking over the finale and wondering what would be on Jesus Velasquez's reading list. I especially was intrigued over the character's ghost's attitude toward death - "Everything's temporary," "I'm cool with how things went." I like his metaphysical approach to seeing life on a much larger scale than the everyday.
Suggestions from the well-read Hive Mind?
Throughout the season of True Blood, I've been intrigued by the spirituality of Jesus Velasquez. To me, he seems more of an archetype than a character (he doesn't seem to have any real flaws), but I admire the way that his character seems to approach people, life, religion, and death.
So, this morning I found myself thinking over the finale and wondering what would be on Jesus Velasquez's reading list. I especially was intrigued over the character's ghost's attitude toward death - "Everything's temporary," "I'm cool with how things went." I like his metaphysical approach to seeing life on a much larger scale than the everyday.
Suggestions from the well-read Hive Mind?
Sorry, The Fifth Sacred Thing should totally be swapped out for The Spiral Dance. Always get those confused!
posted by WidgetAlley at 11:47 AM on September 12, 2011
posted by WidgetAlley at 11:47 AM on September 12, 2011
I'm reminded of big-E Epicureanism. Check on Lucretius' incredible On the Nature of Things. There was an interesting New Yorker article on the book recently, an abstract of which can be found here.
posted by Bromius at 12:25 PM on September 12, 2011
posted by Bromius at 12:25 PM on September 12, 2011
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Carlos Casteneda (everything he wrote-- fabrications, all of it, but valuable ones.) Malidoma Patrice Some's Of Water and the Spirit. Alan Watts. Absolutely Maya Deren's Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. Karen McCarthy Brown's Mama Lola. Martin Prechtel. Wade Davis. Lots and lots and lots of Joseph Campbell, probably with this, this and this added in. The World's Religions is a great resource for a lay-reader, I can't imagine Jesus being without it. For mythology, probably The Mabinogion, Ramayana and Mitchell's translation of the Bhagavad Gita. Certainly Coleman Barks' Rumi translations and lots of Hafiz. Probably some Deepak Chopra and the Dalai Lama. His Story: Masculinity in the Post-Patriarchal World. Fire in the Belly: On Being a Man. Awakening to the Spirit World. The Stranger. The Fifth Sacred Thing. King, Warrior, Magician, Lover. Sacred Paths for Modern Men. The Tao is Silent. What the Buddha Thought. Less is More: In Praise of Simplicity. The Seven Storey Mountain. The Golden Bough.
And, let's face, probably a copy of The Mists of Avalon.
In general, I would be looking at Zen, Hindu and Buddhist philosophy updated for Western consumption, mystic Christianity and Sufism, all world mythology, anthologies of fairy tales, mythology as spiritual guide for live (a la Campbell), histories of paganism, modern Wiccan texts, Voodoun, ethanobotany, anthropology, sociology of religion, Existentialist thinkers and shamanism. And probably Thoreau. Have a good time pursuing these topics! They're a blast.
posted by WidgetAlley at 11:41 AM on September 12, 2011 [3 favorites]