Stairway of Surprise

Stumbling through life, gazing at the stars, we can miss the greatest treasure beneath our feet. For the ordinary faculties of our soul—how we think, how we feel, how we act—are the rough and fallen forms of our highest spiritual capacities.

This book shows how six of these common abilities—thinking, feeling, doing, loving, opening, thanking—can be intensified infinitely. We already think; we can learn to think more deeply, more livingly. We already feel; we can learn to train our feeling life away from ourselves so that we feel the world in its richness. We already thank; we can learn a depth of gratitude that makes life and love intensely real.

These exercises are simple, but demanding. By strengthening our capacity to pay attention, they allow us to say the right word and have the fresh thought just when we need to. They gradually lead us out of the mire of distraction and confusion, and allow us to practice what we need most: continual presence of mind.