In 2016, after retiring from a 40-year career in health care policy, David Hanig embarked on a journey of personal growth. As part of this spiritual path, he took a hallucinogen, hoping to attain penetrating insights. Instead, the drug opened a hidden doorway in his mind, revealing years of repressed childhood trauma and leading to months of panic attacks and years of unrelenting anxiety. His subsequent spiritual odyssey, as he gradually emerged from profound darkness to illuminated grace, is chronicled in his first book - "In Every Breath a Prayer―a Journey of Healing in Verse and Prose".

Through this period, Hanig was inspired to write several hundred poems, a few of which were included in his first book. Now, three years later, Hanig has selected a few dozen of these poems for inclusion in a new book: "Everything Bends Toward Love". The collection is unique in that each poem is grounded in one of three mystical traditions - Judaism, Zen, or Sufism. While all have roots in mysticism, the poems vary in approach - some may challenge one's beliefs; others may prompt laughter, but together they can provide guideposts to your own journey into the self. As one reader put it: "Your poems serve as a hypnotic induction, helping me to delve deeper into myself."