The Arisen Flame

In this impassioned work, utilizing both poetry and prose, Elsa de Visser recreates the faith of William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Wordsworth for the modern believer and unbeliever alike. As refreshing as Anne Morrow Lindbergh's A Gift From the Sea, this spiritual odyssey could easily be subtitled, "A gift from the earth and heavens." With overtones of Thomas de Quincy and Kahlil Gibran, as well as the more religious and sagacious works of Allen Ginsburg, Elsa de Visser's The Arisen Flame lights the path to true knowledge of God, world, and self.

Combining both Cartesian logic and Gnostic mysticism, the author takes us from revelation to revelation, from insight to insight, putting life under the microscope of her fantastic vision and faith. We find ourselves outside of our normal world, looking within, into an apocalyptic picture of the supreme mystery: not through a glass darkly, but through an ethereal space, so bright that it blinds the inner as well as the usual eye. This is not a voyage for the fainthearted or the easily deterred reader: those in search of easy answers, and painless paths to truth had best look elsewhere. However, those that choose to take to the hardy, brilliant waves encountered on this trip will certainly be the better for it: their spirits uplifted, and their minds at peace with the sublime "at oneness" celebrated herein.