For someone who is interested in learning more about the inner life, about consciousness and mystical insight, the works of the poets are a great resource. The gift of the poets is that when they write about the outer world, we get a sense of the inner life, and when they write about the particular, we get a sense of the universal. To read their poems is to share their joy and peace, to discover extrasensory delights, to learn metaphysical secrets, to awaken to the possibilities of enlightenment, to fall in love with the divine, to swing from universality to the tender being of things here and now, and in the end to come to a larger understanding of yourself.
In this book, we explore the works of the world's great poets for their mystical content. We look at poems that tell how the poets felt, what they saw, and what they concluded about reality. Their poems bear evidence of a common core of mystical experience that is part of our literary heritage worldwide, from ancient times to the present. They are an inspiring testimony to experiences of higher consciousness and insights into the mystic oneness of the universe.
The poets tell what it is like to awaken into peak moments of enlightenment. Exhilarated with a feeling of rebirth and personal freedom, they rejoice in a wide-awake appreciation of life. Sensing the spiritual essence of the created world, they hear and see the divine glory. They embrace a new, cosmic identity and a unity with all things. Marveling at the harmony of life, they feel sympathy with all living beings. Glad to be alive, they see life for what it is and have a sense of humor about it. They are blessed with inspired creativity, intuition, and inner strength. These are the fruits of an enlightened life.
The beautiful writings collected for this volume as examples of the growth of enlightenment are truly gems, whose beauty is established in the literary world but whose mystic meaning has yet to be fathomed. To enhance your understanding of the mystic meanings of the poems, they are organized in this book according to common themes, with a commentary to introduce the themes and notes to explain the relevance of each poem.
In the past, when poets have written about mystical experiences, their work has been dismissed as mere imagination by an unmystical readership. What to the uninitiated seems fanciful is to the wise a truthful description of the mystical reality. The poets write with uncanny accuracy.
Poetry is the natural speech of mysticism. Because the imagery and tone of a poem can convey more than ordinary words can express, poetic language is used to describe what would otherwise be inexpressible. Through image and tone, a poem can allude to an abstract experience or evoke a feeling which captures the after-effect of a mystical moment, even though the moment itself may have been beyond words. Poets, who have gifts of language beyond the ordinary, can put into words what other people can feel but cannot express themselves.
Many cultures have made use of poetry to express mystical insight and to expand the mind's capacity for higher consciousness. In classical China and Japan, poetry was the natural accompaniment of the meditative life. Monks wrote poems to celebrate their awakening into enlightenment, and among laymen the writing of poetry became a means to cultivate sensitivity to Buddha-nature. Throughout the ancient world, poetry was the natural mode of language for mystical and religious scripture. The Vedas, Bible, Buddhist sutras and Koran rely on verse. The mystical function of poetry survives today in native cultures where poetry, praise, prayer and prophecy are blended into one, and verses learned by heart preserve metaphysical wisdom. It is no accident that the Eskimo word for poetry derives from the word for soul.
In studying the close association between mysticism and poetry, Henri Bremond concluded that poets conceive the germ of a poem in a naturally mystical state of consciousness. He believed that poems stimulated the mind of their reader so that the reader was led into the same deep level of awareness from which the poems had sprung. This resonance of inner awareness is a theory which readers will need to test for themselves! At least it may be claimed that poetry nourishes the mystical sensibilities of the mind and that as a result the mind feels more satisfied.
Mystical poetry is a blend of universality and individuality. The universality is colored by the unique personality of each poet and the culture in which the poet lived. Yet through these filters, a universal consciousness shines and brightens the universality which is in each of us.