Introduction

I am writing this because I am afraid.

Afraid of forgetting something I experienced. Afraid of misunderstanding it. Afraid that if I do not find the right words, preserve the right ideas, and explain them clearly enough, something precious might slip away.

There is already a contradiction here.

I am about to write about a spiritual practice that seeks to move beyond thoughts, concepts, and the human need for control. Yet I am using thoughts and concepts to capture it. I am trying to preserve through language something that, by its very nature, may exist beyond language.

Perhaps that is the first confession I must make.

Even this book is, at least in part, an act of fear.

But I have come to believe that recognizing fear is different from surrendering to it.

And that distinction began with a very simple prayer.