This book is a spiritual gem, an extended cry of love, joy and freedom shouted from an open heart and mind. There are times when a writer of talent and grace produces a piece of writing directly from the experience of revelation. Towards Democracy by Edward Carpenter is such a piece. Its words carry the ring of Truth and transmit the vital energy of awakening. Democracy is a central theme of the poems, but not in a political sense as much as in the spiritual sense of universal equity. Carpenter sees every aspect of existence as part of the gradual awakening of spirit. If one has the eyes to see, one will see the emergence of the soul in every creature, landscape, and occurrence on Earth. This is a book that can be read slowly, savoring the taste of a page or two at a time. It is also a book that can be read in the full absorption of a single long sitting. It is a book to be read once and then again, and again and again. This publication includes an original introduction by Jeff Carreira which offers each of the following: The biographical context of Edward Carpenter’s life and the circumstances surrounding the writing of this book. An explanation and interpretation of the spiritual perspective and message that is expressed in the poems. A description of Carpenter’s influence on the development of alternative spirituality as it took shape in the time since he lived.