The Mystic Mountain

Using imagery from fields as far apart as the Gospels, classic mythology, and modern astrophysics, in his book The Mystic Mountain, Dunstan Massey explores what some might call the chimerical hope of a risen life. Nevertheless, one is allowed to ask, will the Mourner, bereaved by the sudden death of Miriam, his wife, and his young son Jonathan, ever know consolation for their loss, or even see them again?

In his desolation edging on despair, the Mourner is accompanied by three mysterious voices. He asks them at the sill of the grave, ""Shall they rise, these dead?""

As if in reply, the consolers lead him on a long visual search for the transcendent answer: will it be here, where death's inevitability and finality have shattered his hopes? Or, could it be beyond death? The cry, the craving of the human heart, will never rest, save in a deathless state of infinite joy. We strive for it here, but find it not. Only the Infinite One who chose to die for love can give it when he calls us--so come as I call thee, my sister and brother and mother, unto me.

""The soul's analogue in bone and stone, borne through grave and ocean's deep to revelations height, is art from long contemplation.""
--The late Gerald Morgan, Former faculty member of the Seminary of Christ the King

""Dunstan Massey's illustrated poem, The Mystic Mountain, is a perfect wedding of text and image by one artist that has not been seen since at least the work of William Blake. By making the resurrection visible he has made it believable. Even more, Dunstan's text speaks to our deepest longings--not only to escape the conquest by death, but also to be fully known and loved--there is no work in poetry, art, or Christian spirituality which gives such flesh to the hope of Resurrection. A magnificent achievement!""
--Loren Wilkinson, Retired Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and Philosophy, Regent College, Vancouver B.C.

Dunstan Massey (b. 1924) became the youngest person to have a one-man show at the Vancouver Art Gallery at age sixteen. Instead of a promising arts career, however, he decided to ""throw away his life,"" entering a Benedictine monastery in 1949. A faculty member at SCK for sixty-one years, he is a sculptor, fresco painter, and poet. His film Crown of Fire won the Golden Eagle at the 2001 Cine Awards in Washington, DC, and his drama entitled The Stone Ship was published in 2014 with Resource Publications.