Reddit reviews In the Dark Places of Wisdom

In the Dark Places of Wisdom is a good book that has much relevant information from a philosophical and historical perspective.

Thanks!

The West had the tradition too of fasted meditation during the period of the presocratics.

Peter Kingsley wrote a book about how Plato misunderstood Parmendies and the earlier ontologies which preceded him.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Places-Wisdom-Peter-Kingsley/dp/189035001X

Heidegger talks about these earlier epochs too in his "Intro to Metaphysics."

Plato was the first generation to grow up using the phonetic alphabet with fixed vowels i.e. THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE.

Phonetic alphabet with fixed vowels changes the sensory arrangement. It heavily biases the eye over the other senses i.e. it's the hidden ground to the logocentric metaphysics of presence and the correspondence theory of truth which then collapses with the all-at-once environments that came into being with electronic technologies.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02604020210401

If you haven't heard of him, you may be interested in the work of Peter Kingsley. This book is relevant to your OP.