I'm fascinated by zeitgeist. It's as though an idea has a life of its own and forces itself into consciousness through a multiplicity of minds at more or less the same time.

Blackwood credits some of his ideas to William James (which surprises me) and to a German philosopher called Fechner whom I've never heard of before. It seems like Fechner developed a strong version of what has come to be known as the Gaia hypothesis. I think I need to Google him.