Synopses & Reviews
REALITY introduces us to the extraordinary mystical tradition that lies right at the roots of Western culture, and to the magic of the ancient masters of wisdom who laid the foundations for the world we now live in.
It has become common in the West to turn to Eastern civilizations for real understanding and enlightenment. And yet at the origins of our own seemingly materialistic culture lies a tradition of incredible wisdom and significance which we need, now more urgently than ever, to rediscover and reclaim.
This book is the story of Parmenides, Empedocles, and others like them: spiritual guides and experts in other states of consciousness, prophets and magicians, healers and interpreters of dreams. It also documents the excruciating but inevitable process which led to their work and teaching being distorted, covered over, forgotten. And, most importantly, it presents the original teachings of these people in all their astonishing immediacy and power--revealing their ability, just as vibrant now as at the dawn of the Western world--to awaken us to what reality truly is.
Nothing less than a manual of transformation, REALITY is destined to become a classic.
Review
“It would be difficult not to conclude that, through his research into our past, he has found the key to the modern world impasse.” —Robert A. Johnson, author, He: Understanding Masculine Psychology
Review
“Reality contains the purest and most powerful writing I have ever read.” —Michael Baigent, author, Ancient Traces
Review
“Stunningly original, and momentous in its implications, Reality is aimed at one of the highest ends I can imagine—to restore to us the understanding that the original purpose of Greek philosophy was to launch the Western mind on a profoundly spiritual course.” —Huston Smith, author, The Worlds Religions
Synopsis
The mystical tradition that lies at the root of Western culture and the magic of the ancient masters of wisdom who laid the foundations for the world we now live in are introduced in this book. Containing lost and forgotten ancient Greek texts in modern translation, this book relates the teachings of Parmenides, Empedocles, and others like them—spiritual guides and experts in other states of consciousness, prophets and magicians, and healers and interpreters of dreams. Based on texts from more than 2,000 years ago, it also documents the process that led to their work and teaching being distorted, covered over, and forgotten.
About the Author
Peter Kingsley is an honorary professor of philosophy at the University of New Mexico and an honorary professor in humanities at Simon Fraser University in Canada. He is the author of
Ancient Philosophy, Mystery and Magic and
In the Dark Places of Wisdom. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.