Gary Lachman is the author of twenty-one books on topics ranging from the evolution of consciousness to literary suicides, popular culture and the history of the occult. He has written a rock and roll memoir of the 1970s, biographies of Aleister Crowley, Rudolf Steiner, C. G. Jung, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Emanuel Swedenborg, P. D. Ouspensky, and Colin Wilson, histories of Hermeticism and the Western Inner Tradition, studies in existentialism and the philosophy of consciousness, and about the influence of esotericism on politics and society.
Here he describes life in the eighteenth century as a time of both enlightenment thought and biblical reverence. Swedenborg’s father was a bishop who also attained a title of nobility. Swedenborg travelled widely and developed many scientific interests. From childhood he began developing breathing practices for purposes of concentration. He explored many nuances of the hypnogogic state. Later in life he published many books about his visionary experiences. He was widely recognized as a visionary and for his psychic skills.
(Recorded on January 9, 2018)
Published on January 10, 2019