The Secret Teachers of the Western World by Gary Lachman

 

Possibly the only writer on esotericism who's also a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Secret Teachers of the Western World is an exploration of the ideas that have, collectively, come to be known as Western esotericism. It is a survey book that ranges from the teachings of the 6th-century BCE pre-Socratic philosophers to the metaphysics of the New Age movement that grew out of the cultural ferment of the 1960s. It's a fairly long book (460 pages) but, because it covers so much ground, it suffers a bit from the problem most books of this type have: it explains a little about a lot of things but not a lot about anything in particular. It is also a fairly dense book, not in the sense of being obtuse or hard to follow, but rather in the sense of being packed with so much information that the reader is forced to slow down considerably to fully take it all in.

The word "esoteric" means secret, or belonging to the select few. Another word that is often used in the context of Western esotericism is "occult," which means hidden. As Lachman points out, esoteric or occult beliefs can, to some extent, be thought of as rejected ideas, i.e., rejected by mainstream Western religion, philosophy, and science. Thanks to cheap printing and the ubiquity of the Internet, however, there's really nothing "hidden" about these ideas at all anymore. With the click of a key you can order any volume of arcane and occult lore your heart may desire and have it delivered next day, and you would be hard pressed to find a general bookstore today that doesn't carry a selection of tarot cards, astrology guides, and wiccan spell books. As for "rejected," many practices that were borrowed from the East and thought of as esoteric in Western culture -- such as yoga and meditation -- have gained widespread acceptance and respectability. The study of the Western esoteric tradition, as such, has even begun to find academic respectability.

Lachman touches on just about everything that has contributed to Western esoteric thought in the great span of time that the book covers. In his assiduous tracing of the connections between one esotericist and the next, Lachman provides a detailed roadmap for the serious student but perhaps too many byways for the average reader. In Lachman's defense, though, he has written separate, in-depth books about several of the more important figures he touches on lightly here, including Swedenborg, Crowley, Steiner, Blavatsky, and others.

I should mention that Lachman has a spin on esotericism that sets this book apart from a purely straightforward history of Western occult philosophies. He has been greatly influenced by the work of the Scottish researcher Iain McGilchrist, in particular his book The Master and His Emissary. McGilchrist's work centers on our divided brain and how the two hemispheres interpret the world differently. The simplistic model we're all familiar with is that the left hemisphere is analytical, or logical, and the right is wholistic, or intuitive. Lachman believes that much of what characterizes Western esoteric thought is a right-brained approach to understanding the world as opposed to the left-brained approach that characterizes mainstream Western thought. That's a superficial sketch of what Lachman is getting at, but it would be hard to explain further without writing at length. I'll just say, it leads him to some valuable insights that have affected my way of thinking about these topics.

In my mind, I group Gary Lachman with other writers like Mitch Horowitz, Mark Booth, and Richard Smoley who explain esoteric thinkers and occult ideas to a popular audience with a certain degree of objectivity but also of open-mindedness toward their subjects. At nearly five hundred pages, The Secret Teachers of the Western World may be more than you want to read straight through, but it's a useful reference if any of the subjects covered interest you.