Tarnas' book is an overview of more than 2,000 years of western thought. >From Plato to Postmodern, he goes within the best minds of each era, presenting that culture's view of the great questions. Societally and individually, we grapple with the ongoing struggle to define what is permanent, what is transitory; how does that which is clearly evolving relate to an inherent structure in the universe. Is there such an underlying structure? And if so, is it in some way "intelligent" or knowing? If intelligent, is it manipulative or merely observant? Can it be known? Is it separate from us, or does it reside within us? Can we, through ritual or other religious means, manipulate it? Is the fundamental nature of the universe itself changeless or evolving? Can changeless principles be discovered and if so is logic, spiritual intuition, scientific investigation or some combination of these, the true vehicle to understanding? Or, is the fundamental nature of the universe unknowable? And beyond this -- should we try to determine these things, or are they best left in the realm of mystery?

>From the Greeks, through the Reformation and Romanticism to the present -- there are identifiable eras of coherent thinking on these issues, which Tarnas delineates masterfully. "The Greeks," he observes, "were perhaps the first to see the world as a question to be answered." The way we view that answer in turn determines what questions we can ask about our place in the universe, delimits what we permit ourselves to know and in fact, how we interpret the condition of "knowing" itself. Through Tarnas' investigation of the history of thought, one develops a profound appreciation for the tangible reality created through a world view. The medieval Christian world, for example, at the time of the great cathedral-building era, is as removed from our present experience as if it existed on another planet at the further end of the galaxy. Yet the thinking from that time in identifiable ways continues to color our outlook down to the present.

The essence of postmodern thinking is appreciation of the flux of reality and knowledge. In the face of universal ambiguity and deconstruction, no thought system can reign supreme. There is a primacy of subjectivity even in empirical judgments -- and all is constantly subject to test against other standards. All is in a state of potential reorganization of analysis, process and outcome. From this contradictory and inherently unfathomable situation, Tarnas sees a new world view emerging. He sees this as composed, perhaps for the first time in the history of Western thought, OF a complete melding of the masculine and feminine outlook, the unification of male anomie with the feminine principles of the natural and reconnection to the body.

Tarnas' book is fascinating, thought-provoking, informative: an extraordinary tour of Western thought with a charming guide. Never mind reading it, reread it...