"Learning to meditate is the most practical thing in the world. You require only one quality when you begin. That is seriously to want to learn to mediate. "The central message of the New Testament is that there is really only one prayer and that this prayer is the prayer of Christ. It is a prayer that continues in our heart day and night. John Main describes this prayer as the stream of love that flows constantly between Jesus and his Father. This stream of love is the Holy Spirit. It is John Main's conviction that is it the most important task for any fully human life that we should become as open as possible to this stream of love. In order for us to do this we must learn a way that is a way of silence - of stillness - and this by a discipline that is most demanding.John Main talks about the many aspects of silent prayer: the way of the mantra, leaving distraction behind, fullness of life in love and silence. A striking feature of the book is its emphasis on simplicity, on transcending self-consciousness and moving beyond "techniques" of prayer.