Leaves from the Colonel's Bonfire

Some of Elvis Presley’s favorite spiritual books. In the background is one of his gospel LP’s, given to me by my grandmother.

Inspired by Mitch Horowitz’s recent pilgrimage to Graceland, as my reading project for 2020 I am going to dive into the spiritual books known to have been read by Elvis Presley. Like Elvis, I was brought up in the Assemblies of God denomination of Pentecostalism and went on to develop a passion for metaphysics, as well as for other forms of spirituality very different from the paths of my childhood. Elvis was mentored on his spiritual journey by Larry Geller, who introduced Elvis to metaphysical classics like this one:

A very different gospel from the one taught in Elvis’s (and my own) Pentecostal youth.

I will be sharing my impressions here as I embark on my own journey. The vast majority of these books are ones I have never read or had even heard of before starting this project. I’ll write something about each one, with in-depth essays on the titles I find most moving or significant.

I’m starting out with the book pictured above, Levi Dowling’s “The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ,” in large part an account of Jesus’s “missing years.”

Join me, won’t you?

For now, I leave you with one of Elvis’s most cosmic songs…”Life.”

Elvis Presley - " Life " (words & music by Milete) Somewhere out in empty space, long before the human race, Something stirred, A vast and timeless source began, Intelligence was born and then, there was the world, Powers filled the universe, matter formed and broke the curse, Of nothingness,

P.S. The significance of this blog post’s title will be made clear later on in this adventure.