Meditation, John says, is in essence the art of concentration. Because the higher we climb up the mountainside, the fainter becomes the mantra sounding in the valley below us. And therefore, we have to listen to it more attentively, and seriously. So because the mantra is becoming fainter, because we are coming to the top of the mountain, that doesn’t mean that we stop listening to it. In fact, the fainter it becomes, the more attentively we need to listen to it. And that’s the essential teaching of our community and of this tradition.
(The Art of Waiting by Laurence Freeman OSB)
