Review
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'Very important' -- Philip Pullman '[A] compact,
erudite and thoughtful book.' -- David Lorimer, Paradigm Exporer
(Scientific and Medical Network journal) 'An excellent book --
scholarly but eminently readable by anyone seeking appreciation
of the spiritual.' -- Howard Jones, Alister Hardy Society 'One of
the leading students of the western esoteric tradition, Lachman
has published critical studies of Swedenborg, Madame Blavatsky,
Aleister Crowley, Rudolf Steiner, P.D. Ouspensky and Jung -- and
he has done so without being raptly worshipful or casually
dismissive.' -- Michael Dirda Washington Post 'Lachman...manages
to make basic concepts in esoteric philosophy and history lively
as well as readable.' -- Kirkus Review 'Lachman creates a history
of ideas that fascinates and excites' -- New York Journal of
Books 'The Lost Knowledge of the Imagination rejoins the parted
Red Sea of modern intellect, demonstrating how rationalism and
esotericism are not divided forces but necessary complements and
parts of a whole in the human wish for understanding. Let's be
done, once and for all, with the shallow and misdirected notion
that reason and mysticism are at odds. Lachman demonstrates their
harmony.' -- Mitch Horowitz, PEN Award-winning author of Occult
America and One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped
Modern Life 'Gary Lachman has done an impressive a of
research. His thesis is very carefully laid out and his
conclusions are sensible and attractive.' -- Magonia Review of
Books 'I thought this was an excellent book -- scholarly but
eminently readable for anyone seeking appreciation of the
spiritual.' -- De Numine, The Journal and Newsletter of the
Alister Hardy Trust 'Gary Lachman is one of my favorite authors
alive. Scholarly in his approaches to esoteric topics and
historical figures, Lachman has blessed us with a deep crop of
books... Thankfully, Lachman is here to emphasize the importance
and power of the imagination, and the inner and outer worlds of
the mind -- 4.5/5 stars' -- Rusties
From the Inside Flap
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Imagination is a core aspect of being human. Our imagination
allows us to fully experience ourselves in relation to the world
and reality. Imagination plays a key role in creativity and
innovation.
Since the seventeenth century, however, imagination has been
sidelined and dismissed as 'make believe'. Four centuries ago, a
new way of knowing the world and ourselves emerged in the west
and has gone on to dominate human life: science. Imagination has
been marginalised - depicted as a way of escaping reality, rather
than coming to grips with it - and its significance to our
humanity has been downplayed.
Yet as we move further into the strange new world of the
twenty-first century, the need to regain this lost knowledge
seems more necessary that ever before.
This inful and inspiring book argues that, for the sake of
the future of our world, we must redress the balance. Through the
work of Owen Barfield, Goethe, Henry Corbin, Kathleen Raine, and
others, and ranging from the teachings of ancient mystics to the
latest developments in neuroscience, The Lost Knowledge of the
Imagination introduces the reader to a philosophy and tradition
that restores imagination to its rightful place, and argues that
it is not only essential to our knowing reality to the full, but
to our very humanity itself.