The Caretakers of the Cosmos

My new book ,The Caretakers of the Cosmos, published by Floris Books, will be released on August 22 on both amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. It addresses the question of the meaning of human existence and develops themes I address in my earlier books A Secret History of Consciousness and The Quest for Hermes Trismegistus. In it I look at ideas about the human task of ‘repairing the universe’, as expressed in the Kabbalistic notion of tikkun and relate these to similar ideas in Hermeticism, and in the work of Swedenborg, Abraham Maslow, Colin Wilson, Iain McGilchrist, Rudolf Steiner,and philosophers such as Max Scheler, Nikolai Berdyaev, and Ernst Cassirer, among others. I will be posting excerpts from it in the coming months, so keep an eye out for them. And please, take care.

17 thoughts on “The Caretakers of the Cosmos

  1. BTW, Gary, have you seen Wouter Hanegraaff’s new book, Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed?

    It’s also available for Kindle.

    I’ll have a review up on Theosophy.Net in a few days.

  2. Great news on the book Gary, strangely I literally just finished reading your wonderful book, the quest for Hermes trismegistus, and was meditating on our role in a ‘participatory’ universe and its implications, when I saw the news on your website. What a wonderful synchronicity. I can’t wait for the book and will be pre-ordering. Good luck, and I look forward to some preview chapters.

    1. It is gratifying when things like that happen, isn’t it? I look forward to hearing your comments on the book. All the best, Gary

  3. Hey Hey !

    Just read your “History of Consciousness” >

    Have you encountered ‘Uncle’ John Blofeld
    (1913~1987 Wikipedia)?

    I have summaries of him & Lama Govinda, et al,
    I’d be happy to share with you,
    if you send me your email address.

    Peace & Love ~ Tam

    Tam Beeler
    Mountain Stream
    Walloon Lake, Michigan

    1. Dear Tam,
      I read some of John Blofeld’s books some years ago. Sadly I don’t remember which ones. I’m pretty sure I read his book on the I Ching and another on Tibetan Buddhism, but I know this is rather vague as he wrote about Buddhism quite a bit. To be honest, while I have profited much from studying some Eastern traditions - such as Zen and the I Ching (In fact I wrote an article on the I Ching for Gnosis magazine back in the 90s) I am more inclined to western approaches. But this is solely a personal preference and not a judgement. My main interest in the last ten years or so has been to bring together some western esoteric or inner teachings with some aspects of the mainstream western philosophical traditions. The Caretakers of the Cosmos does this a bit, linking up aspects of Kabbalah, Swedenborg, Rudolf Steiner and others to philosophers like Max Scheler, Ernst Cassirer, and Nikolai Berdyaev, who, sadly, no one but myself seems to read any more… All the best, Gary

      1. Hey Hey !

        Thanks for your reply !

        re: Cassirer
        “no one but myself seems to read any more”

        As I recently wrote to Melissa Lane,
        “Eco-Republic:
        What Ancients Can Teach Us About
        Ethics, Virtue, & Sustainable Living” 2011 >

        Cassirer is in my heart~mind,
        every day !

        Lane:
        “An ancient road map for social change:
        my primary purpose is to chart
        psychosocial contours of what
        acting from such a standpoint will require.” (5)
        “An intuitive & imaginative model,
        inspired by the ancients,
        is what I seek to provide.” (6)

        as natives say in my neck-of-the-woods >

        “U~BET~CHA!”

        >>><<

        William Ophuls,
        “Plato’s Revenge:
        Politics in Age of Ecology” 2011

        >>><<>><<<

        Cheers !

  4. Hey Hey !

    Thanks for Elizabeth Sewell,
    “Orphic Voice:
    Poetry & Natural History” 1960

    found in your
    “Secret History of Consciousness”

    I had never heard of her before,
    although I had read
    W.K.C. Guthrie,
    “Orpheus & Greek Religion” 1952.

    >>><<

    Rilke:

    Werk des Gesichts ist getan,
    tue nun Her~Werk !

    Face~work is finished,
    do now Heart~Work !

    >>><<>><<>><<<

  5. Dear Tam —

    Not sure my last message made it into the string. Last Tuesday in Tomales thought strongly of you and our dear Martha. There, I was struck by the wonder and awe that is everywhere present. It is no surprise that (while living there) you would have written a complete survey of religion/spiritual thought (Eastern/Western.) I hope you are well in Michigan. I am thinking of you strongly this week and missing you.

    Your friend from Novato,

    - Caitlin

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