"The philosopher Heraclitus was a high-born citizen of Ephesus, who lived in the sixth century B.C. He renounced his high station and became increasingly distant from his fellow men, and disillusioned with the corruption of their thought. He died in poverty." "Heraclitus founded no school, left no systematic philosophy or religion, and all we know of his work has come down to us in the most elusive of fragments. Yet he remains central to the long line of thinkers who have traced the transformative path of inner inquiry through Western culture: from Pythagoras through Plato and Plotinus, to Meister Eckhart and Jacob Boehme." "This study of Heraclitus' thought and place in history argues that we who flounder in the vacuous relativity of post-modern thought are badly in need of new impulses and philosophical renewal."--BOOK JACKET.