Meditation classes in ancient Rome? Ashrams in Europe BC? Greek philosophers studying in India? Though the thinkers explored here (including Plato, Aristotle, and Plutarch) are acknowledged for having laid the intellectual and moral foundation of the Western world, Linda Johnsen shows that a vital aspect of their wisdom and teaching is unknown, denigrated, or even suppressed in the West. What has been lost – and which Johnsen illuminates in lively and accessible prose – is the importance the Greeks themselves acknowledged of their contact with the East, and the way the Greeks were regarded not just as philosophers but as sages and spiritual masters as late as the Renaissance. As a shared mystical tradition comes into focus, ancient teachings that may have seemed dull and outdated become vibrant and relevant while profound practices previously deemed alien and other can be embraced.

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