BURNING ILLUSION Poems for Avatar Meher Baba by David Stewart 'David sent me most of his poems over the years and often he would reveal a little of the poetic process and his philosophy on life and poetry. I would like to quote two of them here because I think they are revealing: "I feel that I started writing poetry a bit late in life but my early years were for living to the hilt and being impressed by other writers. Also it takes time to undo the damage done by too much critical and analytical study of poetry at university level. In scientific terms it is the logical left side of the brain dominating the creative right side. The impulse for poetry is deadened by an academic training. Better to read poets and be inspired by them than critical formulas... Poetry helps keep you human rather then abstract spiritual... It has been said that Philosophy is a simple thing made difficult. A difficult thing made simple is awakening. This awakening is to the devine unity of all life and a constant converse delight in its infinite variety. Whether you serve God or humanity the effect is the same and a lot of Deists can take heed of Buddha who stated that it was ridiculous to say you loved God if you turn your back on humanity. The Master I accept, Meher Baba, claims that athiests who cheerfully fulfil their wordly obligations are closer to Him than those Deists who go seeking after saints to relieve them of their wordly obligations. The obligation of the poet is to render beauty and soul's delight in forms for the enhancement of others". A few words about David's (and my own) Spiritual Master, Meher Baba. He was born in India in 1894 and dropped his physical form in 1969. He claimed to be the Avatar of the Age, the Christ, the Buddha, the Imam Mahdi, God on Earth in human form, the Divine Incarnation. In this Age of false gurus it is important to question to the fullest extent any such claims before committing oneself and I have done that for the past 51 years and have come to the conclusion that he could be no other than who he claims to be. The type of poems that David has written to his Master, that of a lover to the Beloved have a long tradition in the East and Middle East and in the West in the works of John of the Cross, Teresa and the Christian Mystics. David's poems prove the therapeutic value of good doctors and writing poetry as therapy for the soul and mind and as a process of self-discovery and meditation and of placing your destiny in the hands of a God-realized soul, a true Spiritual Master. There are five more poems here than in the first edition. Dave passed on to the One over 20 years now but these poems remain fresh, honest & beautiful. These are brave poems: original and searching, sometimes demanding, literate, loving, longing, but above all... unforgettably human. Here are haikus, free-form verse, ruba'is, rhyming poems and ghazals.' Paul Smith, from the Introduction. Large Format Paperback 7"x 10" Pages 224.