Acclaimed musician, composer, writer, and teacher, Cyprian Consiglio is a monk of the Camaldolese Congregation. Cyprian's music and his teaching revolve around the Universal Call to Contemplation through spirituality and the arts. A student of the writings of Bede Griffiths and Abhishiktananda, Cyprian has a great love for comparative religion. He has done work in inter-faith ritual and world music, regularly leads conferences on meditation, and has performed his music for audiences around the world. With multiple recordings over the years, Ec*stasis marks Cyprian's first completely instrumental offering. Longtime followers will not be disappointed - the wait was well worth it! Cyprian's arrangements of classic tunes, traditional Indian melodies, his own new compositions, and some old friends from his extensive catalog (including You Are Child, a song from his very first recording in 1979) combine to take the listener on an inspiring musical journey. From the liner notes: Poiesis (Gk. To make) is the root of our modern word, poetry. First used as a verb describing an action that transforms and continues our world, the act of poiesis brings together matter and time and brings us together with the world. Martin Heidegger refers to poiesis as a 'bringing-forth' explaining it as the blooming of the blossom, the coming-out of a butterfly from a cocoon, the plummeting of a waterfall when the snow begins to melt. Heidegger views poiesis as a threshold occasion: a moment of ecstasis when something moves away from its standing as one thing to become another. We envision the journey of ecstasis in three parts: 1. Where we enter reflection and observe our outer and inner realities without assessment or evaluation. We are just taking it all in; 2. Where we pause and allow our inner knowing to emerge so we can imagine our best possible future; and 3. Where we begin to see a way forward and take steps to move to make what we imagine and envision real. Music can carry us through the reflection, discovery, and movement necessary for poiesis, becoming catalyst for our ecstasis and bringing forth. And when we engage in poiesis, we step through a threshold of our making, inviting ecstasis. We hope you enjoy the music and the journey. As Kabir writes, “Wherever you are is the entry point.”