Mystical Delights offers a new appreciation of the world's great poets. We agree with East West that the book is "fascinating" and "a delightful collection."
The great poets had mystical experiences that are popular today. For example, Emerson drew upon "a new energy ... a great public power ... of the universe." Yeats believed in the transforming power of the imagination. Even Pope John Paul II, a poet in his youth, once wrote: "When your eyes are half-closed, space fills again with substance beyond understanding."
You can learn more about the mystical experiences of fifty famous poets in the book Mystical Delights by Hilary Huttner. The culmination of well-documented research into the lives and writings of the world's great poets, Mystical Delights combines biographical highlights, sixty gem-like poems, surprising quotations from the poets' prose, and a helpful commentary. The commentary compares the poets' descriptions to classic mystical experiences, such as meditation, spiritual awakening, and God's presence. With a cross-cultural approach, the book points out common themes in the writings of poets both East and West. A good example is the consciousness of unity, described so well by Rumi ("everything blooms from one natural stem"), by Wordsworth ("in all things I saw one life, and felt that it was joy"), by Bunan ("I've become the thingness of all the things I see") and by Allen Ginsberg's vision of "the entire universe being completely conscious."
In Mystical Delights, you will find a special chapter about the power of poetry. It explains why poetic language captures mystical experience so well, the inspiration of the great poets, and the effect of poetry on the reader's consciousness. The other chapters present a series of poems accompanied by commentary. In these chapters, you will find vivid descriptions of esoteric experiences, including transcendence, celestial perception, and enlightenment. You will also find that the poets have a beautiful way of putting into words the preciousness of simpler pleasures, as they tell us of inner silence, spiritual bliss, seeing the divine glory of nature, and a new appreciation of life.
PUBLICATION DATA:
MYSTICAL DELIGHTS: The Mystical Experiences of 50 Famous Poets by Hilary Huttner
ISBN 0-9647057-9-6, Hardcover $19.95, 232 pages. Published in 1996 by Frontline Books and distributed by DeVorss & Co.