The West is in decline? Chapter One of Aphrodite Rising deals with the thinkers who believe it is. The rest of the book advances a brand new idea: the West rests on two strands of thought inherited from its Greek origins - the Platonist (spiritual) and Aristotelian (materialist and scientific). Both are needed but one - the Platonist - has been eroded and the result is a lopsidedness leading to decay. The concept of a Creator-God is at the heart of the decline - it poses too many problems for the Aristotelian wing. The problem with atheism is explained and the evolution of Western consciousness traced, with a chapter on the inability of science to account for it. The book also points out that materialism and the spiritual aren't incompatible. Other chapters explain Platonism, with the practical example of Oscar Wilde who became a Platonist in jail. Finally, the book suggests how Platonism and Christianity can be brought together, hence Aphrodite Rising.