A note to the reader

This book begins with Proverbs 3:5–6 and follows its invitation into prayer: wholehearted trust, the surrender of self-sufficient understanding, and a relationship with God carried through every way of life. Its central conviction is that we can direct ourselves toward the Creator without possessing a mental image of Him.

The chapters offer a Godward reading of scripture and a practical development of that reading. Biblical Hebrew, rabbinic interpretation, and Kabbalistic teaching meet here without being treated as identical voices. The exercises are the practices of this book, rather than techniques attributed wholesale to an ancient source. Numbered notes identify the texts behind the discussion; unmarked meditations develop the book’s own spiritual argument.

Read slowly. When a sentence helps you turn, allow the sentence to become quiet. You need not finish explaining an opening before you enter it.