"I rest at the centre of space. Unimaginably vast space everywhere I look, disappearing into the distance, seemingly without end. I look into the night sky, aware of countless nebulae, stars and galaxies, seen and unseen. I am also aware of the darkness in which they have their being. I marvel that the light that enters my eye from each will have taken years, if not eons to complete its journey. I am seeing the universe as it was. With the farthest objects, I see the universe before the Earth was. Now and the past, present in the same moment. I feel very small, a pinprick of consciousness filled with awe. I become very aware of the tiny lump of rock on which I stand, orbiting an insignificant sun, on the edge of a galaxy of millions of suns. As I look up, I stand at the bottom of a shallow pond; a pond not of liquid, but of gas, without which this pinprick of consciousness would within seconds be no more. My fragility is terrifying and inspiring. My life, utterly mysterious".

 

"Two thousand years ago a man came to awaken us to the Mystery of Existence. He was the Mystery made flesh, the Mystery fully aware of itself. He taught awakening in different ways to different people, for reasons only he understood. In some he nurtured the seed of contemplation that it might grow and fill their minds. He has continued to teach this down the centuries and continues to teach it today. In our age, many are ready to listen".

(from the Prologue to "From the Bottom of the Pond: the forgotten art of experiencing God in the depths of the present moment")