I have published on this website, a booklet on ‘Prayer & Meditation’.  Written over thirty years ago, it is a simple introduction to the subject.  The booklet starts at the very beginning and assumes no knowledge of prayer or meditation. Yet, although basic, it also includes some deep mystical insights.

The booklet does not seek to explain in great depth, but rather, being somewhat cryptic in style, points to directions that can be explored.  It provides keys for the imagination to explore prayer and meditation.

Although prayer and meditation begin with our intentional effort, the exploration soon leads the practioner, into places where God is more the initiator than we are.

The booklet was written in 1983, for the Mothers’ Union in the Anglican Diocese of Bendigo, and, consequently, was written for a Christian audience.  Yet, it has many universal undertones.  Prayer, silent prayer, meditation and contemplation, quickly leads us into mystical experience of God, the realm where most major religions, truly converge.

An example of the pamphlets universal undertones is given where Elijah, one of the greatest prophets of Israel, is led by God to the ‘Holy Mountain’.  He hides in a cave, (representative of the inner place), when God calls him from the cave:

“The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.”

(1 Kings 19:11-12 NIV)  (You might like to read from v1 to v12)

The Hebrew word for ‘gentle whisper’ or ‘still small voice’ is demahmah, which means a soft murmuring sound.  The word is onomatopoeic, that is it means as it sounds.  The 19^th Century, Hebrew linguist, Gesenius, said that demahmah was related to the Sanskrit word ‘Ohm’, representing and then leading to an experience of ‘the primal sound of the universe’ or possibly, what scientists call the sound of ‘the Big Bang’ that still resonates throughout the universe.

This booklet has been updated since first posted in 2016.