as Karen has the Tao, Butterfly Magic has Tolle, so do I have a book I enjoy reading...
it is:
Astonish Yourself! 101 Experiments In The Philosophy Of Everyday Life
by Roger-Pol Droit
it is a French book, with a lovely English translation. it illustrates 101 methods of changing the way you perceive everyday life, from emptying words of their meanings to "calling yourself" in a dark room.
I thought it would be interesting to post one of the experiments so that others might see if it is a book they're interested in.
#5 See The Stars Below You
Duration: 30 to 60 minutes
Props: a starry sky
Effect: cosmic
Preferably a summer night. There should be no clouds. Even better if you have a garden, where you can lie out somewhere dry, and with an hour or so free in front of you.
So there you are on your back. You look up at the stars, their infinite number and their far-flung strangeness. You must try to feel both awed and relaxed, taken up into the mysterious and reassuring presence of the night.
The scene bristles with clichés: the milky softness, the warm darkness, the twinkling that makes us feel so small. All the conventions are in place. Above all, don't hold back; plunge right up to your neck in them.
Take the necessary time, and wait until you get the feeling you are riveted to the ground, almost crushed by that immensity, a tiny dot with all of infinity above you.
The experiment consists simply in overturning the universe. Little by little you will now convince yourself that the stars you are watching are below you. You are overlooking them. A massive force keeps you on the earth. But the vast sky is down below. You are flying over that abyss of stars, into which you risk falling forever.
It won't work immediately. Some time for adaptation is necessary, and a floating state of reverie is better than a conscious effort. The process is similar in kind to looking at three-dimensional drawings. For a long time you remain there looking at a flat sheet covered with signs that not only look flat but incomprehensible. You have to put up with the waiting. And then suddenly, the whole thing opens up.
You really feel that everything is below you.
It would take nothing, a sudden gust, a brief failure of gravity, possibly even a momentary lapse of attention, and there you are, floating off very slowly, between the earth and nothingness, traveling down the sky.
When you get up, do so slowly - and mind your step.