The Ecstatic Journey (Hardcover)

by Sophy Burnham (Author)

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. -- Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 323 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st 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: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,345,413 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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

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

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.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peace, January 8, 2000

By	Claudia Mulder (The Netherlands) - See all my reviews

Reading this book gave me a sense of peace, because i recognised so many things that i kept on saying 'yes' almost on every page! So many familiar events, finally i can put aside my worries about 'weird' thoughts and feelings; it seems they're not weird at all! Just forgotten in this world where there is so little room for mystic and spiritual development. Thank you Sophy, for the 'homecoming' feeling your words gave me.