Letters to My Friends: A No Guarantees Guide to Awakening

If you are looking for secrets, do not read this book, for I do not know a single secret. On the other hand, if you would like to enter deeper into Stillness, perhaps this book is for you. As I read the letters in this book, I felt moved by the power in them. I felt strength and hope surge in me. I felt truly stunned that I had written them. But mostly I felt humbled. In reading these letters, I see that I am a wise man. Or to be more exact, I sometimes stumble over wisdom and fall so hard that even I recognize it! But I am also just John, confused, frightened, and sometimes bumbling. As a young man, I was scarred by life; and that young man is in these letters. I was full of pain. I hurt everyone I loved. Lord knows I wanted to be a good man, but there was so much hurt and anger stored in me that no matter how much I tried to do the right thing, I would sabotage myself. I loved deeply, but my love was always mingled with a desperate need to be accepted. And invariably I drove away those I loved. But now, as I enter more and more into what I call Stillness, I feel somehow untouched by the hardships of my life. I feel young. I feel silly. I seek peace, but I am unafraid to speak my truth. I can love deeply with no expectation of anything in return. I am unpredictable. I am a little wild. I am intense, very intense. I love to hug and dance and sing. I am learning to treat myself with compassion, and as I do, I am healed. And as I am healed, my sense of Stillness deepens.