Dreamtime by John Moriarty (Lilliput Press, £11.99)

In the epilogue to a revised and expanded version of his classical mystical/shamanic work Dreamtime, John Moriarty reveals his…

In the epilogue to a revised and expanded version of his classical mystical/shamanic work Dreamtime, John Moriarty reveals his hesitation at crossing the threshold into the great tomb of Newgrange. "There are times when we must be content with our profanity," he writes. This timely reference gives us some notion of how we might properly approach what is almost a timeless book. The fruit of a lifetime of reflection, Dreamtime is a monumental book in which passages of crystalline clarity alternate with page after page of cryptic delving into the Western philosophical tradition and into world and Irish mythology. We can get a sense of what Moriarty is against, what he calls "Gorgocogito", a kind of thinking that turns everything to stone, though often we are left floundering as we journey with Moriarty. But still there's life, vision and nourishment for us as we stumble on our way.