In quest of understanding the interconnection between, and deeper significance of, both ordinary and extraordinary matters, Georg Feuerstein shuttles freely between factual and metaphoric, contemporary and historical, as well as personal and public spaces. This book is intended to motivate the reader to pause and ponder the incredible complexity in which we are involved and, hopefully, to find the simple Ariadne thread that shows the way out of the labyrinth of ignorance, incomprehension, and meaninglessness.

Whether the author talks about human evolution, the quest for sunlight and spiritual illumination, our species’ nomadic impulse, the outer and inner fire, labyrinths, maces, and mosaics, mythology, the pharaohs, ancient navel gazing and modern navel piercing, earthquakes, the circuitry of the brain and mind, language, symbolism, art, history, politics, terrorism, ethics, philosophy, mysticism, space travel, time travel, or the environmental crisis—he always manages to make revealing cross-connections and to render the world we live in transparent. Numerous personal anecdotes add fascinating dashes of color to an already multihued portrait.