Family of God: Inspirations and Creative Thoughts

Inspirations and Creative Thoughts

In Search of Ecstasy: A documentary that explores ecstasy as found in various spiritual, religious, and wisdom traditions

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 01:37 AM PST

In the orchard and rose garden
I long to see your face.
In the taste of Sweetness
I long to kiss your lips.
In the shadows of passion
I long for your love.

Oh! Supreme Lover!
Let me leave aside my worries.
The flowers are blooming with the exultation of your Spirit.

By Allah!
I long to escape the prison of my ego
and lose myself in the mountains and the desert.

You are the Essence of the Essence,
The intoxication of Love.
I long to sing your praises but stand mute 
with the agony of wishing in my heart.

- Love Poems of Rumi, Deepak Chopra

What does it mean to "stand outside yourself"? What is the nature of ecstasy and its role in this journey of human experience?

Featured in Link TV, this episode of Global Spirit, host Phil Cousineau explores the ecstatic state - a global phenomenon found in all kinds of spiritual, religious, and wisdom traditions. Cousineau is joined by guests Sobonfu Somé, author and teacher of African spirituality, and Andrew Harvey, a British scholar specializing in the works and teachings of Jalaluddin Rumi. This lively discussion is interwoven with video segments that transport the audience on a journey inside different cultural expressions of divine ecstasy, asking why and how ecstatic trance is practiced around the world, and why it fascinates so many people today.

This episode includes unique video footage of a Sufi Zikr ceremony in Turkey – the practice of remembrance that brings participants to an ecstatic state of connection with God. Also featured are powerful scenes of traditional and modern day trance rituals which uncover the altered state experience which people seek through dance, trance and spirit possession. The program features Orisha priestesses from Nigeria and Brazil, and Shaman healers from the Kalahari and Korea, all pulsating to a provocatively similar beat with thousands of young people losing themselves at an all-night techno-rave event in an Australian forest.

Click on the image above to watch the Documentary: In Search of Ecstasy

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