Recently I was interviewed by Jeffrey Mishlove for his Thinking Allowed series of podcasts. This is the first of what will most likely turn out to be several such conversations. We talked about Rudolf Steiner in this one, and yesterday Jeffrey interviewed me about my book Dark Star Rising. The next installment we have planned is a chat about Madame Blavatsky. I enjoy Jeffrey’s interviews; he clearly knows the subjects and he guarantees a good discussion by asking intelligent questions. Here’s one place in which thinking is definitely allowed.
Gary Lachman 
(It’s so annoying to compose a long comment and then to hit the wrong key, lose it, and have to start all over, even one only tangentially related to Jeffrey Mishlove, Rudolf Steiner, and the redoubtable Madame Blavatsky…)
I’m reading and enjoying _Dark Star Rising_ after just finishing _Beyond the Robot_.
Long a Wilson fan (and familiar with Mishlove, Steiner, Blavatsky, et al) and a fan, as well, of “G” and Ouspensky since the early 1970s, I first became aware of you through The Daily Grail website, but took my time before ordering _Beyond the Robot_; I’m glad I did.
I’ve long wondered whether Colin Wilson ignored the Seth material (the collective teachings, not the book of that title) because he thought it too lightweight and/or associated with the commercialized “New Age.”
I might have thought the same had I not had an unusual experience. One day in 1982, I decided to teach myself how to meditate. Hiking into Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA, with _How to Meditate_ by Lawrence LeShan, I found some steps leading from a tomb to a small pond (I had no idea at the time that the tomb housed the mortal remains of Ms. Mary Baker Eddy), sat on them and gleaned what I could from LeShan’s book. Then I relaxed my body, closed my eyes, took a few long, slow deep breaths, and allowed my thoughts to come to a stop. At that moment, I was astounded to “see” (with my mind’s eye) a full-color, crystal clear, persistent image of the cover of the paperback version of _Seth Speaks_ then in print.
Mind blown, I stopped, hiked into Harvard Square, found the book and purchased it. Forgetting how I’d initially come across it, I read it — and found it interesting, but being somewhat skeptical, nothing more. It was interesting enough, however, for me to gradually purchase additional books then in print. Then I finally stopped and actually did one of the exercises embedded in Seth’s dictated books, in this case the “Preliminary Probable Self” exercise found in _The “Unknown” Reality, Volume One_. This resulted in a major alteration in consciousness lasting about three days and extending into my dream life; that experience made me realize that the material was more than just “interesting.”
At the time I was unemployed, in the middle of a recession. Using some of what I’d learned, I got (“created”) a job, but one that was so demanding that anything related to Seth went on a back burner for many years, (How that changed and why and what it had to do with the defunct Bonzo Dog Doodah Band is well beyond the scope of this comment.)
Anyway, if you have been and remain skeptical of Seth and his teachings, I note that the woman through whom he spoke, Jane Roberts, probably wasn’t familiar with the “New Thought” movement. Also, Seth began speaking through her in 1963, well before the rise of the commercialized “New Age” movement.
You might wish to investigate the material (if you haven’t already done so) and include it in future books tracing the influences of various esoteric, “New Thought,” “occult,” etc. material upon subsequent authors, movements, and personalities. Certainly the material is connected with all previous and subsequent related material simply owing to its subject matter, yet it is unique, as well.
“Most of my readers are familiar with the term, ‘muscle bound.’ As a species you have grown ‘ego bound’ instead, held in a spiritual rigidity, with the intuitive portions of the self either denied or distorted beyond any recognition.” ~Seth in _Seth Speaks_
I look forward to your interviews on the New Thinking Allowed channel. I wonder if you are familiar with the book The Dream of the Cosmos by Anne Baring. I’m reading it now, and there are areas of overlap with your book about the imagination-I think, though I haven’t read your book yet.
I don’t know the book but I’ll check it out. Thanks for mentioning it.