The Galaxy on Earth: A Travelers Guide to the Planets Visionary Geography - Softcover

That phrase may mean nothing to you now. By the time you have gotten halfway through this book, you will be hard put to believe it was not always obvious to you. You will see the world differently, and will experience yourself differently. Indeed, it would not be too much to say that this book provides you a way—regardless whether you travel widely, occasionally, or not at all—to become more fully yourself, and to see the world truly for the first time.

The ideas in this book can change your life, as they have changed mine. My friend Charles Sides mentioned in his preface that he and I went to Machu Picchu together. What he did not mention is that when we climbed Huena Picchu, the mountain that towers over the city, we went through an old tunnel and found ourselves looking across the Urubamba River at the wonderful mountain of Putucusi. I had carried with me a printed version of a meditation that Richard had led me though at Monticello (another sacred site) some months before. I pulled out that piece of paper and led Charles through it, with remarkable results that made believers of us both.

That meditation is included in this book, and it is part of the passport Richard provides you. It’s a passport that is sorely needed. For five centuries, since the Renaissance, we in the West have been held captive by the mistaken idea that the material world is all that is real. That idea has traveled world-wide, and holds almost every culture in thrall, even as the West begins, slowly, sluggishly, to shake it off.

There is death in that idea. Nations can die of it. Civilizations can die of it. Just possibly, the world could die of it. Clearly, individuals can. And, oddly, many people who think of themselves as religious are as firmly entrapped in this perceptual materialism as are the militant atheists. For it is not so different to say, on the one hand, "this world is all there is," and to say, on the other hand, "there is another world, a spiritual world, but it is separate from this one."

It is true, this world is paralleled by the Other Side. But it is also true that this world, this material reality, is as holy as anywhere else. The question is, can you perceive it? Can you learn to perceive it? And what would happen to you when you did?

In The Galaxy on Earth, Richard Leviton sketches the world’s hidden reality. He provides instructions on how to experience this reality first-hand. And he grounds esoteric knowledge in mythology, history, and travelers’ impressions, which opens new links to portions of our cultural heritage that have been forgotten or mis-read.

That’s a lot to accomplish in one book. And of the things he accomplished, I am quite sure that providing a key to personal experience is the greatest. Indeed, one day while I was editing this book, I called him up and said, "I feel like I have been living in the presence of angels all day." It was a wonderful experience, one I hope you experience as well.

—Frank DeMarco, chairman
Hampton Roads Publishing Co., Inc.