( 2 reviews )
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( 1 of 9 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jul 23 2004
The author clearly does not know anything about mysticism except as an intellectual concept. He seems to think a holiday qualifies as a mystical experience and goes on and on about boredom and your "personal best". None of the poets he chooses to write about are considered to be mystics. His essays are too literary and make somewhat eccentric but uninteresting arguments. This book induces the very boredom he is complaining about.
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( 11 of 11 found this review helpful ) Posted: May 21 2001
Colin Wilson has produced a magnificent study of poetry and its relation to the transformation of consciousness often labelled as mysticism. Standing pretty firmly in the tradition of deep romantic thought (a la Coleridge or Goethe), this book is a significant contribution to an oft neglected field. More existential and less occult than Wilson's latter works (most of this was completed in the sixties) it remains a brilliant study of the pschology of peak poetic and mystical experiences. Readers should also consult Owen Barfield's Poetic Diction and Saving the Appearances.
