"Learning to meditate is the most practical thing in the world. You require only one quality when you begin. This is seriously to want to learn to meditate. The process is absolute simplicity. On of the questions all meditators have to face is, why do we meditate? We come to meditation because an unerring instinct tells us that if we can"t find any ultimate satisfaction in consuming or producing nor can we find ultimate meaning outside of ourselves. We have to begin with ourselves."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. The stream of love is the Holy Spirit.It is John Main"s conviction that it is 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 disciple that is most demanding.John Main talks about the many aspects of silent prayer: the way of the mantra, leaving distraction behind, fulness 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.