The Ecstatic Journey [Hardcover]

Sophy Burnham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 1997

For millennia, mysticism has spread a special radiance over humanity. Today interest in mystical practices is increasing, and just as Sophy Burnham first focused modern awareness on the presence of angels in our lives, she now explores the drama and mystery of mystical experiences, and their power to change our lives.

In this rich and deeply personal book, Burnham describes her own arduous and momentous journey into mystical awareness--the rowing toward God, as she calls it. That journey began with a subtle, unnamed longing, passed through various stages of prayer and spiritual awareness, and broke open in a single transformative moment at the ancient Peruvian site of Machu Picchu. Threaded through her own story, Burnham gives us scores of first-hand accounts of mystical encounters as recorded by ordinary people today, as well as by saints, seers, ecstatics, and holy men and women of every faith.

In addition, Burnham delves into the physical side of mystical experience--levitation, elevated body temperature, psychic ability--and warns against an overemphasis on such powers. She also describes the age-old practices that invite mystical experience--prayer and fasting, meditation, ascetic discipline--and points out the landmarks that one passes on this extraordinary spiritual journey.

Passionate, beautifully written, and comprehensive, The Ecstatic Journey is a feast of fact and myth, knowledge and wisdom, that will nourish and enlighten every spiritual voyager.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Within this spiritual autobiography, bestselling author Sophy Burnham (author of The Art Crowd and A Book of Angels) reveals the myths, ordinariness, and facts of mystical experience. The myth, according to Burnham, is that angels will appear before you in times of soul-wrenching duress. The fact is that mystical experiences rarely happen when you expect them. And the ordinariness is that an encounter with the divine can occur at any time, such as immediately following a weary prayer in a bathtub (as it has with Burnham). Threading her own story with numerous firsthand accounts of mystical encounters, Burnham demystifies the mysterious while showing readers how to recognize, invite, and learn from extraordinary encounters. --Gail Hudson

Review

"Sophy Burnham has written an inspiring book about the most majestic dimension of human experience: the mystical realm. Mystics, it is said, swim in the sea in which the unwise drown. Learn to swim: Read this book."
--LARRY DOSSEY, M.D.
   Author of Prayer Is Good Medicine and Healing Words

"Passionate, comprehensive, and beautifully written, The Ecstatic Journey is a feast of fact and myth, knowledge and wisdom that will nourish and enlighten every spiritual voyager."
--Women's Magazine

"Sophy Burnham has written another very rich contribution to our coming into contact with the human spirit. I greatly respect and admire her work."
--CAROLINE MYSS, Ph.D.
   Author of the New York Times bestseller
   Anatomy of the Spirit


From the Trade Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 323 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1 edition (October 21, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345395077
• ISBN-13: 978-0345395078
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,718,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly useful for mystics (& others) in the everyday world., February 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ecstatic Journey (Hardcover)

I just finished Sophy Burnham's "The Ecstatic Journey," and highly recommend it. So many people are having mystical experiences now, and those of us who have been having them for a while could really have benefited from Burnham's book back when we began.

A practitioner of Vipassana Buddhism herself, Burnham synthesizes nuggets of gold from Buddhism and several other traditions into a highly readable account of how a mystic lives in the "real" world. This book also includes a useful bibliography and list of suggested reading. Perhaps most the valuable parts of this book, though, are the two appendices. One is a handy summation of how to meditate in a Christian context, a process that is not as widely known as in other traditions. The other is a word about how to tell a healthy spiritual organization from a cult, how to know if a teacher is ethical, and what to do if (all too common nowadays) you find out your teacher has feet of clay. Burnham has also included hints throughout on how not to freak out if one day you find yourself face to face with a spiritual visitation and you know you're not crazy.

If you are a closet mystic, this is a valuable point of connection. If you've never had the Divine grab you by the front of your shirt and reorder your life via an intense mystical experience but are curious what it can be like and what effects it can have, this is a good book to read. It's lucidly written, and not "weird." A definite thumbs up.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very personalized introduction and insight into mysticism, February 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ecstatic Journey (Hardcover)

I hesitated reading this book for many months because I was afraid it might be too "new age" for my taste. I could not have been more wrong. It is an excellent introduction to mysticism without being overly simplistic or overly complicated. Ms. Burnham writes with a style that is a once knowledgable and very easy to read. I have read just about all there is on this subject from Underhill to Merton and this is as good as it gets for the beginner.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars enlightening and consoling, August 27, 2006

By 

Abrean "April" (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ecstatic Journey: The Transforming Power of Mystical Experience (Hardcover)

I've read this once already, and it was very insightful and
meaningful to me at that time. Spirituality, to me, is a whole
life experience, not just limited to say, studying about how to
have 'visions' or 'synchronicities' in our lives.

Upon my own spiritual awakening, having such experiences as
above mentioned happen(ing) to me-I have searched on my own
quest for confirmation and education on these 'gifts' and have
found Sophy's book to be-of all others-the one I refer to
most for the confirmation that I am not alone. And that the
mystical experience or emergance is not uncommon.

Her style of writing is easy to follow and warm; I wish she
would write another on the subject. Though she says 'God'
for her meaning of the Divine, you can easily use the name of
whatever your own personal Divine or Spirit is in its place.

As I re-read it yet again, I get new insightful perspectives
and see my own growth since my last read-thru! I recommend this
book highly for those interested in learning about the mystical
experience, and especially for those even suspecting they are
having a spiritual emergence. Can I recommend also Marsha
Sinetar's 'Ordinary People As Monks And Mystics'? Sophy's is
more personal-but Sinetar writes in a graceful style of her
own too; though more of study-I find helpful as well.

I am grateful to have found 'The Ecstatic Journey' and hope it consoles and enlightens others as much as it has for me personally.

Many blessings on your own journey!