Customer Reviews

The Ecstatic Journey: Walking the Mystical Path in Everyday Life

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_This the third time that I have read this book now. It is an attempt to describe the mystic experience. It is an attempt to explain the unexplainable. Yet the author comes far closer than perhaps any other modern writer. She draws on her own personal mystic experiences to do this. Then she shares the accounts of other mystics throughout history that attempted to communicate the same thing. She sought out these accounts to verify her own experiences- for she knew not what was happening to her. That is the chief value of this book, as reassurance and validation of what has already happened you. I know, I also sought out most of these same sources after my own experiences. If you have had a mystical experience, a taste of samadhi, or of cosmic consciousness in its varying degrees, then you will immediately understand what she is speaking of here. However, if you are consciously trying to have such an experience this is not a "how to" book. It doesn't happen on demand- or on a time schedule.

_The author was working in Machu Picchu when her first great experience of illumination hit her. It first hit me working in the Black Hills. As she says, the essence of this is direct experience of the Divine. It is the timeless state that that Plotinus called "the One" and "the Supplier of True Life." It doesn't, it can't, last forever, but having once experienced it you cannot doubt or deny that it did once happen. And it may very well happen to you again. Even in the depths of the Dark Night of the Soul you have unshakeable certainty and trust. Nothing is ever the same again. Nor would you ever want it to be.

_If you have an affinity for this work then you might also appreciate the author's, _The Path of Prayer: Reflections on Prayer and True Stories of How it Affects our Lives_.

Sophy Burnham's "ecstatic journey" traces every twist and turn of the mystical path, from the divine revelations received by biblical figures and medieval saints to the cosmic experiences of ordinary contemporary people and her own transformative moment at Machu Picchu in Peru. Some of these are well-known stories and some come from letters that Burnham has received from her readers. These mysteries, known and unknown, describe the fiery light of God's love, the flash of complete understanding that cannot be put into words, the melding of self with every part of creation. Their stories alternately fill me with awe and discouragement. Awe, because these experiences prove for me that God is more wonderful than anything I can imagine. Discouragement, because these tales stir up those old longings for divine revelation which I thought I had replaced with contentment and inner peace. For those of us who are on the quiet mystical path, Burnham assures us that we are in good companpy. When she interviewed the Dalai Lama, asking him if he was enlightened, he replied: "'Me? No, no, no,' and broke out laughing. 'I personally have no experience of the Awakening Mind,' he confided happily." I found this to be one of the most reassuring passages in the book, along with Burnham's observation that "A mystical experience does not always come as a vision of light or an ecstasy or sense of union. Sometimes it is marked by the most fragile 'knowing,' like a ripple on the surface of a lake." In her description of what the Buddhists call "emptiness" or "luminosity of mind," Burnham says, "This is the state in which you hear music as if the notes were falling stars. Then everything and everyone around you is seen as holy, and nothing exists except the holiness, the sacred gound. Nothing is dirty anymore, or despicable." Perhaps I don't need to experience this holy state firsthand. I can read passages like this and catch a glimpse of the world through the eyes of the person who has experienced it. THE ECSTATIC JOURNEY is one of those books that induces a deep awareness of the sanctity of all Creation. --Emily L. VanLaeys, author of DREAMWEAVING: USING DREAM GUIDANCE TO CREATE LIFE'S TAPESTRY

As someone who's been on an extraordinary mystical journey over the past year, Sophy Burnham's book detailing her own experiences, interwoven with those of the great mystics, was a great solace. As she so exquisitely notes, you have to ask yourself, repeatedly, "Am I crazy?" even while you KNOW that you are not.

Though I originally checked the book out of the Georgetown Public Library, I am ordering it immediately, so that I can pass it around to famly members who need to understand who I am, and where I am going.

And as a writer myself (THE DEWEY DECIMAL SYSTEM OF LOVE/NAL trade, Sept., 2003), I was tremendously impressed by the control of her language and the structure of the narrative.

I am so grateful. Thank you, Sophy Burnham

Josephine

You are led through the accounts of the moving experiences of some well known Saints, the Budda and Krishna. Interviews with the Dali Lama provide insight. Easy and fascinating reading as the author travels on the mystical path.

This is a book I am most impressed by, because never have I seen such an impressive description of the pathways of great and lesser-known mystics over the years.
Sophy Burnham writes from an intensely personal perspective, focusing heavily on her own experiences throughout, and the way in which she writes is touching to me even though I find it impossible to imagine what occurs in the lives of mystics except as a dream. Sophy shows throughout that she can characterise the mystical way with remarkable clarity throughout, always using real-life examples that she has read about herself, from times before the birth of Christ right up until this very day. She shows clearly the simplicity and beauty in the lives of the mystics that is so touching and intriguing in today's world. And Sophy Burnham is far better than anyone I have read at expressing the work done by these mystical figures when in action, as opposed to prayer.
At the same time, Sophy Burnham shows clearly what guideline are needed to develop this pathway and is exceptionally effective at demonstrating the qualities a mystic must have. Given the intense focus on her own life, it is not surprising that she can relate these msytical experience to everyday life perfectly.
This is a perfect book to read if you want your first insight into the lives of great spiritual figues past and present.

The Ecstatic Journey helps you understand how we experience mystical events in our everyday life. It also references many great mystics and their experience.

[***** = breathtaking, **** = excellent, *** = good, ** = flawed, * = bad]

... a spiritual awakening. Unfortunately she sometimes retreats into impersonal generalities when personal anecdotes would add even more. Still worth reading. Longer at ImpatientReader-dot-com.

In this fairly well researched and documented book, Burnham offers evidence and hope for mystical experiences. She offers concrete suggestions for increasing one's spirituality and balances them with humble quotes from gurus like the Dali Lama so as to keep things in perspective. At times she's a bit dogmatic and draws conclusions based more on emotion than intellect, and in parts, it seems like the book was written more for her own therapy, so it would be to one's benefit to read other books of this nature and not view this one alone as an authoratative work on this subject.

i have also bought its 1997 edition not knowing that both book are the same, only their subtitle are different, the one : transforming power of mystical experience, the other : walking the mystical path in everyday life. its disappointing from a "sufi" writer. (otherwise i can use the money to buy other books) wasuku.