Fully Alive

Fully Alive is a previously unpublished book by John Main, one of the 20th century's most influential spiritual teachers, who reintroduced to the contemporary church the practice of contemplative prayer - a tradition that had been lost since the era of the Desert Fathers. John Main's teaching is striking for the depth and richness of its simplicity. This is a practical prayer companion for every stage of the contemplative pilgrimage. At a time when religious faith is often seen as socially embarrassing, and many Christians underestimate the mystery and wonder of their own tradition, John Main is a challenging teacher. He is deeply traditional and his faith is personal, heartfelt and explicit. He issues a demanding yet realistic call to practise regular meditation as a spiritual discipline so that silence may do its radically transformative work and reveal the meaning of goodness and love. During his lifetime, hundreds of groups gathered at his monastery to learn meditation from him and this book is based on his talks to them. His words are directed not to more words and thoughts but to entering the experience of silence in regular times of practice. Today, through the worldwide family of prayer he founded, the World Community for Christian Meditation, many thousands of people in countries across the world continue to discover the transformative effect of being silent before God.