Jim saw his father's ecstatic gaze directed toward his mother while she was giving a piano recital.
2. Referring to a person's reaction of being enraptured; delighted beyond measure: She was in a state of ecstatic joy when the publisher decided to publish her short storeies.
3. Etymology: A compound formed from the prefix ek-, "out" and histanae, "place" (a distant relative of English word stand). In other words, anyone who is ecstatic can be described as being "out of his/her mind."
The underlying notion of being "beside oneself, in the grip of extreme passion" has survived in modern English as it relates to mystic experiences or trances, and also, in such phrases as "an ecstasy of rage", and the specific sense of "delight" developed more recently, as historical times are concerned, perhaps in the 17th century.