My Sources
Many people have asked me whether I had reading or other material to go deeper into what I talk about in my videos.
Answer: yes, plenty!
My personal path – which officially began 7 years ago with meditation – came with a huge amount of reading, listening, videos, podcasts (...) that were essential to give a framework to what I was discovering.
Problem: most of my sources are in English... and haven't been translated.
Worse: the few French sources I came across struck me as... how to put it? Less rigorous. Mixing a bit of everything: spirituality, wellness, alternative medicine, astrology...
What I've appreciated in most of the sources I list here is a certain rigor. Not always, not everywhere, but on the whole: they don't use pseudoscience to justify what belongs to the spiritual; they stay very conservative in their everyday advice; they rely above all on practice and personal reflection rather than devotion to anyone; they encourage free, independent thinking rather than joining a sect.
Another problem: some of the sources I list here cost money. Not a fortune, but they're books or recordings I couldn't find for free.
If you're not discouraged, here they are in order of preference 👇
Alan Watts' Recordings 🇬🇧
The most important for me.
Alan Watts was an English writer and philosopher who did a lot to bring Eastern philosophy (Hinduism, Buddhism, Zen) to the US.
But above all: he was a speaker like no other.
He's funny, smart, a great teacher, deeply cultured (in philosophy as much as in science), and hundreds of hours of his lectures were recorded.
I started by listening to dozens of hours of Alan Watts in the street, in lines, on the subway...
But there are three problems...
Problem 1: the sound of his voice can't be separated from what he says. You have to listen to him. So I'd avoid dubbed versions, or worse, AI recreations. With subtitles, it can work very well.
Problem 2: his family exploits his recordings commercially, so they aren't freely available.
Problem 3: they're audio recordings. So when you find bits of them on YouTube, they often come with images... not always well chosen.
So essential for me... but paid, and hard to access if you don't understand English.
Yes, he wrote books that have been translated into French, but they had less impact on me than his recordings.
Acharya Prashant's Books 🇬🇧
Acharya Prashant is an Indian guru in all his glory (i.e. a teacher).
The first book of his I read was one of the most important for me: Advait in Everyday Life.
If you can get past the very kitschy cover (Indian style), don't worry about the word Advait in the title (it means non-duality, but that doesn't matter), and skip the first chapter they recently added to the digital edition (probably for marketing reasons), it's a deeply transformative book of Eastern philosophy.
So much so that it's what led me to read...
The Bhagavad Gita 🇬🇧🇫🇷
The Bhagavad Gita (the "Song of God") is a very small part of the famous Mahabharata, the Indian sacred poem.
In this story, Krishna (an avatar of the god Vishnu) drives King Arjuna into battle. On the way, he explains... life.
The precepts he shares are the basis of a life well lived – at peace, yes, but without withdrawing from the world, quite the opposite. It was one of Gandhi's bedside books.
That said, you'll probably struggle to tackle the text on your own. It's very old, very Indian, and full of references you don't have.
That's why most people – me included – read commentaries: books that contain the whole poem with, after each chapter, an explanation, examples, advice.
I've read several books like that, but the best, in my view, was Acharya Prashant's version – the author I just mentioned. BUT: it's paid, in several volumes, and only in English.
Then again, I have no doubt you'll find plenty of French authors who've written very good books on the subject, and plenty of very good translations. But you'll have to look a little, that's part of the game.
The "Waking Up" App 🇬🇧
No, I've never tried the "Petit Bambou" app. I have nothing to say about it... except maybe that I get the impression, from several friends who've used it, that it's... how to put it... a bit "storified"? A lot of what's supposed to be guided meditation is more like stories, contemplations. Why not, the stories are probably very instructive, but then... is it meditation?
An app I used for a long time is "Waking Up," by Sam Harris – which is paid and only in English.
But it's interesting for two reasons:
It offers a series of guided meditations for beginners. With a certain rigor, precisely. It helps you really understand what meditation can be for – which is what you need at the start.
But also: it gives you access to dozens of hours of recordings by great teachers... including Alan Watts! (Who I talked about above.) Or Rupert Spira (who I talk about below). Or James Low (further below)!
So a wonderful way to discover other sources... but all in English.
James Low's Recordings 🇬🇧
James Low is a Scot, still alive, who for me took over from Alan Watts.
I discovered his recordings in the Waking Up app, and he too has a breathtaking intelligence and clarity.
He explains the basics of Dzogchen, the principle of emptiness in Buddhism, meditation, balance in everyday life (...) so simply that you feel transformed just listening to him.
But him too... English only.
Krishnamurti's Videos and Books 🇬🇧🇫🇷
Jiddu Krishnamurti was an Indian thinker who refused to belong to any school.
In fact, he held that there is no collective solution, and that you shouldn't trust any group or any guru. Only yourself.
As it happens, there are loads of video recordings of his talks, some of them subtitled (sometimes badly). As with Alan Watts, you need to see him in the flesh. His face, his voice, his intonation.
He also has books translated into French, but they can be a bit hard to get into.
Osho's Books and Videos 🇬🇧🇫🇷
Come on, you know Osho (aka Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)! He's the scandalous guru from the documentary Wild Wild Country!
But he's also one of the sharpest thinkers and writers on Hinduism, Eastern philosophy and living well. And most of his books are translated!
I'm currently reading "The Book of Secrets" (which also exists in French) and every chapter is a revelation. But I might not start with it if I weren't at all familiar with Eastern philosophy.
"Seeing That Frees" by Robert Burbea 🇬🇧
Speaking of fascinating books you maybe should NOT start with, Bob Burbea's Seeing That Frees was very important for me.
It presents advanced meditation methods, builds a fascinating case about emptiness, and shows us how much it can matter for living better.
The Present with Eckhart Tolle 🇫🇷🇬🇧
On the other hand, in the "excellent introductory books that also exist in French" category, there is of course Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now.
With his books, his seminars, his look, his manner, Eckhart Tolle has become a central figure of spiritual growth through presence.
I didn't start with him, but when I read him I found it very interesting. He also makes lots of videos... but in English, rarely subtitled.
Rupert Spira's Books and Videos 🇫🇷🇬🇧
Rupert Spira writes books and runs retreats in England.
His approach is based on awareness, non-duality, and the teachings of Ramana Maharshi (like many others!).
His guided meditations are always interesting (but in English). His books are very interesting too, and are now translated into French.
Ramana Maharshi 🇫🇷🇬🇧
He's the source for many of the people above – including Alan Watts, Rupert Spira, etc.
As a young man, Ramana Maharshi was terrified of death. So he started meditating... and kept at it his whole life.
He's the proverbial hermit who went off to meditate alone on the mountain. Little by little, people joined him. He found himself at the center of a community he never tried to control.
He wrote nothing himself, but many people have written about him or transcribed his teachings, sometimes word for word. So you'll find plenty of different books about him and his teachings.
And Also 🇫🇷🇬🇧
In no particular category, and in the order I discovered them, these (fairly well-known) books also helped me a lot and are often available in French:
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki, The Gateless Gate by Wumen Huikai, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones compiled by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki (haven't read it all, but interesting), Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (great! a must-read), The Way of Liberation by Adyashanti (not bad, a former cyclist turned spiritual teacher), Journey from Many to One by Swami Bhaskarananda, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche (a very well-known, very good book), The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (not something you read in one sitting, but a paragraph now and then).
And Finally 🇫🇷🇬🇧
And of course, you can read my writing in the journal.