THE ALCHEMICAL MAGIC EMERGES, WITHIN THE CONSCIOUS MERGER OF OPPOSITES In any such merger, the primary elements are fire and water, applied through a process of friction and non-attachment. However, for the magical miraculous to emerge, this must be done with conscious harmony, immersed in care and grounded on Truth. The surreal existence of the hybrid-human being, is the product of this: As a physical, sentient, mindful, yet also psychic and spiritual entity, its reality seems improbable, yet somehow, it magically is. If adding to the enigma, that this being is of a finite and temporal form, with an acknowledged understanding of the existant reality of infinity, that exists within a timeless construct known as the Cosmos, the wondrous mystery takes the next level. When then considering its collective organism called ‘civilization’, with all its joy, beauty, innovation and achievement, balanced against fear-based greed and destructive barbarism, then certainly, none of it by rights should exist – and yet it does – and it gets better: This microscopic human being, who exists for only a flash of Time, within the absurdly complex yet magnificent, endless and eternal Universe, can – within that single spark of Time – become aware of the whole: the All and Everything! By Merging the Inner and Outer World of Man we will find, that nothing is random and everything has purpose; the good and bad, the beautiful and ugly. It contemplates WHY this is so, which enables us to understand HOW to live, love and accept, every part – unconditionally. This is important, as non-understanding leads to fear, anger, greed and a cyclic realm of non-existence. The effects of the phenomena, as described in Book I & II, The Inner Evolution of Man, and The Outer World of Man, now enable us to enhance magic, and transcend out of the illusory, by Merging the Inner and Outer World of Man.

THE WORLD THAT SHAPES US, WAS FIRST SHAPED BY US. THUS, TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD, WE MUST STUDY IT FROM THE BASIS OF KNOWING OUR SELF, OUR ORIGIN AND OUR ULTIMATE PURPOSE. The Inner Evolution of Man aimed at assisting the Seeker of Truth in finding this Gnosis. Having become aware of the Self, and embraced the flow of Time, we can now begin to look upon humanity, to try and understand, the perceived reality of others that they live, sacrifice, or do harm and die for. To understand, we must apply an unbiased and open-minded focus, and choose to follow not the words and claims of a selected few, but to understand the reason and logic, in their structures and history. From the source and the firm-ground of knowing our Self, we can learn to understand The Outer World of Man, and enter the mind of the technocrat, politician, elitist and scientist, the atheist and dogmatic priest, but also that of a contemporary man. In order to accomplish this, and not lose track of the ‘greater whole’, we must also zoom out, in scope and time, as far back as we can – to the beginning of all things. This book addresses these observations, by looking at who did what, and then contemplates the WHY and HOW. Ultimately, we may believe we know ourselves, but to understand the worlds of form and formless, we must realize the constant influence their multiple dimensions have, on the physical and sensory body, our thinking-mind and psyche, and learn how our civilized order’s ever-expanding and evolving tentacles, reach for the heart to drain the soul. The contemplations in The Way of the Pilgrim, Book II: The Outer World of Man offer seeds for the truth-seeking contemplative-mind, and to guide its journey.

TO FIND ONESELF IN THE DUALITY OF CONTRADICTIONS, ONE MUST FIRST LEARN TO KNOW ONESELF. THIS HOWEVER IS NOT A NATURAL PROCESS As contemporary human beings, we exist in a one- and two-dimensional world, of fearful desire for food, wealth, sex, recognition, and immortality. Unaware of its illusory state, where perception manifests our reality, we are equally unaware of our own hybrid state: As beings of physical and metaphysical features for which, the attainment of the Higher Dimensions is our very birthright. This ‘attainment’ does not come naturally though; it requires our awareness of the conceptual world, as well as the acceptance of our conditioned mechanicalness within it. These observations and contemplations aim to offer such awareness, and to enhance the Seeker of Truth with the means to discover, understand and accept his or her undivided Self. This book combines philosophy, including gnostic thought, religion, as well as the observed psychology and sociology of contemporary ways, within the arenas of politics, geopolitics and corporatism, through the lens of spirituality and magic. It is this that defines the supernatural wonders into which the Seeker of Truth must cross his or her own threshold. As with all things of substance, the answer to these mysteries, will not be found in selected subjects or even the sum of their parts – as in such, one only finds Chaos. It is only in knowing the Whole of the Self that complete acceptance of All can emerge.

Erich Kahler, renowed author of Man the Measure, The Tower and the Abyss, and The Meaning of Histiory, aims in these essays to "establish the meaning of certain basic concepts that have developed in the course of human evolution, and to examine in what respect they may still be valid in our present circumstances. The essays all deal, from different aspects, with the relation between what mayu be considered permanent in man and what changes with the expansion of political units, the technological transformation of our ways of life, the unification of our globe, and the enlargement of human consciousness."

Explorations: Studies in Culture and Communication, principally edited by Edmund Carpenter and Marshall McLuhan, was the first postwar journal to engage directly with the new "grammars" of mid-century new media of communication. Launched in Toronto in 1953, at the very moment that television made its national debut in Canada, Explorations presented a mosaic of approaches to contemporary media culture and became the site in which McLuhan and Carpenter first formulated their most striking insights about new media in the electric age. The extraordinary breadth of contributions to Explorations from leading thinkers across the arts, humanities, social and natural sciences makes this journal a founding publication in the now burgeoning field of media studies. Originally funded by a Ford Foundation grant, the eight coedited issues of Explorations ran from 1953 to 1957 and are reprinted here for the first time in sixty years. For a listing of all articles in this series, refer to the Summaries at the end of the series foreword.