IN THE DARK PLACES OF WISDOM Peter Kingsley, Duckworth, London, 2001. Paperback, 256 pages, £12.99. ISBN 0-7156-3119-5.

Peter Kingsley’s book is impeccable scholastically, but written simply, intended for a general audience. He describes how the ancient philosopher Parmenides, in search of Truth, passed through the gates of death and returned to write a symbolic rhythmic poem which, itself, was designed as a catalyst for such a mystical journey. The `dark places of wisdom’ were, on one level, the still and dark underground crypts or caves in which men or women would retreat for mystical encounters with the source of all Divinity; on a deeper level, to enter this dark place of wisdom necessitated a journey, like Parmenides’, through the gate of death itself.
    Rarefied and academic, you may think; but you would be wrong. This wisdom directly concerns us today. Kingsley reveals that these early philosophers - priests, teachers, mystics, healers, and shamans - were interested in experience rather than argument. He explains how philosophy later became reduced to an intellectual game in which elegant prose and sophisticated arguments counted for more than deep experience.
    Most of the ancient philosopher-shamans – often loosely termed ‘Pythagoreans’ – lived in the Greek colonies in Sicily or Southern Italy and maintained close contacts with Egypt and Mesopotamia. Since the Sicilian and Italian colonies were usually at war with Athens, the latter had no great respect for them. In fact, the Athenian, Plato plundered their tradition, removed the experiential – the ritual, the chanting, the music, the healing, the visions – and replaced it with intellectual argument and discussion which then, in his hands, became the definition of philosophy. The abstract and the theoretical thus replaced the real.
    University teaching has been so focussed upon Athens that this important early material has been ignored, lost, or deliberately misunderstood. Yet, the teachings and practices of these early philosophers never actually disappeared. Archaeology has revealed that in ancient Velia, the home of Parmenides, this tradition was maintained by priest-shamans in unbroken succession for at least 446 years; into the early Christian era. This suggests that the post-Christian Neoplatonic movement with its mysticism and ritual was less of an innovation than a revival.
    With its explanations of the crucial linkage between symbolism and experience, with its focus upon the ancient heritage of the search for Truth, this book is important reading for every Freemason.
    Michael Baigent