[Siant] Francis resembles the tantrikas, the practitioners of Tantra, in that he has taken up the shadow side of his existence, the most disturbing experiences in life, and pursued them relentlessly as the means to achieve higher states of consciousness — "ecstasies", in which one stands "outside" (ek-stasis) one's ordinary self and outside the everyday world in order to contemplate and to live a larger reality. Like the more disreputable saints of Tantra, Francis sought out experiences that scared, disgusted, aroused and humiliated, while cultivating equanimity in the face of them.
— John Ryan Hauled, The Ecstasies of St. Francis