Publisher's Synopsis
Unity In Diversity: T.S. Eliot and Religious Liberalism by Stephen Williams
Unity In Diversity: T.S. Eliot and Religious Liberalism is a critical examination of Eliot's search to discovermeaning and unity in his life. Through an examination of his published work, especially the poetry, this spiritual questis detailed with full illustrations from the poems. The content of Eliot's poetry can suggest four significant distinctions: a seemingly agnostic or rebellious phase leadingto the poet's absorption in Indian religious belief; an interest in the Book of the Tarot as being at least representative ofan 'alternative', an almost 'supernatural' form of mysticism; a return to the Christian belief of the West, and to the lesscommon Christian mysticism in particular; and, finally, to the essence of these outwardly diverse fields being embracedinto a united whole. Eliot strives to cultivate the essence of Reality existing within the Self of humankind, the essence that might ultimatelybring about an ecstatic illumination of the One, the ground of all Being. Section One examines Eliot's research into Eastern religions of Buddhism and Hinduism, showing how this interestappears clearly in the imagery of his poetry. Section Two examines Eliot's interest in mysticism and the Tarot. Taking the Tarot cards Eliot introduces into his majorpoem The Waste Land, an identification of the cards he uses is made, together with showing how these cardscan be read, or interpretted to show how they are precisely selected cards and not random images, and so give a clearpicture of Eliot's intent. Section Three examines Eliot's profound interest in the Mystic Way. Section Four examines Eliot's return to the more orthodox Anglicanism whilst still retaining a union, a collocation, of his lifetime of research and spiritual questing. Appendices and a glossary cover terms used in the text, footnotes contain detailed references to enable further research, and there is a full bibliography. About The Author Stephen Williams is the author of: Novels ... Servant Of Desire, Death Speaks In Whispers, The Dead List, A Bad Place To Die, Beast On The LandingShort Story Collections ... Games Men Play, Avoiding Lebanoth Non-Fiction ... Unity In Diversity: T.S. Eliot and Religious Liberalism, Tarot: A Book Of Secrets Poetry ... Walk With Strangers, Going For The Throat, Laced With Cobwebs, Rags Of Old Conversations, Doves Eat Hawks Collected Poems 2013 Stephen Williams has also written numerous articles, essays and short stories for newspapers and magazines across the world.In reviewing and awarding the prize for "Computerised Judas", contained in Avoiding Lebanoth, Mr Stephen Frycommented that Williams' work is formally and stylistically imaginative.
