Interior is Anterior
Over the last 10 years, the literature on consciousness studies has been largely dominated by a discourse based on current neuroscientific assumptions that consciousness is a localised by-product of brain processes. At the margin (but central in Network terms), writers like Dean Radin have collated significant advances in parapsychology with the theoretical underpinning of nonlocality in quantum physics. At the same time, the Network group on the science and esoteric knowledge has conducted many discussions at that interface and produced a manifesto for a new science of consciousness, published in the Network Review in 2001. Many members have an interest in Theosophy, Anthroposophy or the writings of Alice Bailey, which present a wider view of the human being and the nature of human consciousness.

Gary Lachman's book, divided into five parts, looks closely at these and other figures. The main themes are the search for cosmic consciousness, esoteric views on evolution, the archaeology of consciousness, participatory epistemology and 'the presence of origin', mainly devoted to the thought of Jean Gebser. In an introductory chapter outlining the current scientific understanding, the author argues that 'the current monopoly on consciousness by scientists and academic philosophers is unfounded, and the whole history of thought about consciousness and its possible evolution is left out of their official accounts.' This is the title's secret history of consciousness. For this tradition, consciousness rather than matter is primary and is an evolving presence whose development can be traced through different historical periods.

The main characters in Part One are R.M. Bucke, William James, Henri Bergson, Nietzsche, A.R. Orage and P.D. Ouspensky. James and Bergson are closest to the mainstream, and both were concerned with the shallow scientistic vision of their time, which still dominates a hundred years on. Both of these writers are well worth revisiting, as the revolutions that they advocated have yet to come about. For Bergson, the brain is the organ of attention to life, so that cosmic consciousness is a perception of the world not limited by or filtered through the brain. A notable omission in this section is the work of Frederic Myers, who straddled parapsychology and psychology.

A different picture of evolution emerges from the second part. The scene is set by the debate between Wilberforce and Huxley, but the narrative moves on to Blavatsky and Goethe, whose scientific writings were edited by and hugely influenced Rudolf Steiner. Goethe's phenomenological approach leads to the inside of that our thoughts 'are as much a part of the phenomena of the world as the flowers and leaves of plants.' A discussion of Steiner's larger vision leads to the research conducted on hypnagogia and to speculations on the earlier history of consciousness in the work of Stan Gooch, Schwaller de Lubicz, Colin Wilson and Julian Jaynes.

The fourth part on participatory epistemology focuses on the work of Owen Barfield, Colin Wilson and Jurij Moskvitin. The author notes the paradox that science has gradually expelled human consciousness from its objects of study at the same time as advances in understanding of the world have demanded an increasing involvement, as pointed out by Kant and Husserl, among others. Moskvitin goes further by arguing that we project the phenomenal world itself, and that the only difference between dreams and the waking state is that the pattern-making part of the mind is not constrained by information coming through the senses. As Barfield put it, 'interior is anterior', a pithy formulation of the primacy of consciousness. Colin Wilson has been more preoccupied with intentionality and its relation to meaning. Intensity - and indeed danger - makes one feel more alive.

The fifth part begins with an account of Petrarch climbing Mount Ventoux to see the view - a representation from the point of view of a single human consciousness. A new perspective is opened up, which leads into a consideration of the life and work of Jean Gebser, especially The Ever-Present Origin with its detailed map of the evolution of human consciousness. The current situation involves a transition between the mental-rational structure and the integral as a response to the overdevelopment of the rational in an impersonal direction.

The book concludes with some pertinent reflections on our relationship to time. We are seeing a reaction to the stress of constant acceleration with the emergence of relaxation and contemplative techniques as well as movements for slow food and the like. Here the author could have brought in the work of Jacob Needleman from Time and the Soul. What the hurrying ego seeks is the timelessness of the soul. The key is for each of us to strive towards a more balanced way of life, especially the balance between inner and outer orientation. I share the hope expressed by Gebser that the world will perhaps become more appreciative of the things that really matter. This book is itself a cultural corrective to the overemphasis on the material aspect of life.