While history is filled with great people who have succeeded in politics, business, sports, entertainment and other disciplines, far fewer have found greatness through enlightenment and spirituality.

The following list features individuals who understood the path to enlightenment and used that knowledge to inspire millions of other people to travel that same road.

Mahatma Gandhi

We are all seeking enlightenment, peace and fulfillment in our lives.  The following list is comprised of classic books that get us all a little bit closer to that goal.  Some of the books are not traditionally “spiritual” tomes, but they all enrich the soul and point us, in more ways than one, in the right direction.

We are always struggling to find balance in our lives. With the constant demands of work and family, often our mind, body and spirit pay the price for getting things done. What follows are several important strategies you can employ today that will help you achieve a terrific balance and give you the power to do more things that really matter.

I visited a friend today for the first time several months after she had brain surgery in an effort to attack her cancer. The surgery was a last ditch effort after several doses of radiation had failed to kill the growing tumor. As I sat with this once amazingly vivacious, vibrant woman as she struggled with slowly measured speech and basic things like bringing food to her mouth, and remembering if the man across from her that she has been married to for over 30 years is her husband, I thought "what if this too won''t pass?"

Once in a generation, an individual comes around who is able to help millions of people improve their lives through insight, wisdom, compassion and just plain common sense. For many people around the world, that individual is Eckhart Tolle.

Most of us chase after things in life that do not really bring any satisfaction. Happiness eludes us at every stage of life. We live our life in a confused state and end our lives that way. Through Eckhart Tolle’s book, “A New Earth,” an enlightenment movement has been initiated that tries to bring an end to all of our confusions.

Happy are those who have reached the state of enlightenment and bliss. There is a longing within each one of us to reach this ultimate state of happiness that wealth and pleasure cannot bring. Some of us realize this true meaning of happiness and go after that happiness while others preoccupied and busy with other useless endeavors of life reach the end without even catching a glimpse of this true state of happiness. It is even wrong to equate enlightenment with happiness; it is much more than happiness, a state of absolute bliss.

If you've ever used a physical reminder as a spiritual motivator, you should know that you're in good company. One enduring folk tale finds King Solomon himself searching for some kind of help for his sadness and finding it in a ring made with the engraving "This too will pass." When he looked at the ring, it changed his mood.

Many of us know that saying as the cool balm that it is to the sad or depressed soul.

But let's dig deeper to see if we can add back some of the power that cliché has claimed, and even find it ourselves in the ring as a gentle and constant reminder.