East Meets West

An account of how the philosophy of the East came to be so integrated into the everyday lives of millions in the West, this book focuses on a select group of men and women who endeavored tirelessly to inject Eastern wisdom into a lacking Western worldview. From G. I. Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky, who first perceived a missing element in Western thought, through Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who introduced meditation to the West, to Shantananda Sarawati, who taught the philosophy of nondualism to Francis Roles and Leon MacLaren, this history looks at the lives and work of those individuals who were primarily responsible for bridging the cultural divide. The book also discusses the author’s own experiences with a number of teachers and organizations that have taught meditation, Eastern philosophy, and the “Fourth Way.”