Once, in the middle of the dance floor at some annual ball, a young lady had a sudden glimpse of the immortality of her soul; and as this vision flashed upon her inward eye, she was struck with the thought that all this swirling around the dance floor was utterly futile.  Amazed and disturbed, she wrote to the recluse:

“Is this normal, or is it a morbid hindrance to a desire for a happy life in the world?”  The answer to her question evoked the correspondence which resulted in this volume.

St. Theophan the Recluse, possessing a rare degree of patristic scholarship, combined with a thorough understanding of the soul of contemporary people, was enabled to formulate a genuine understanding of spiritual life for modern man.  He made this understanding accessible to the average person, for he knew that each “average person” is the possessor of an immortal soul, and each soul is to be attuned here upon earth to live eternally with God in Paradise.

In this book, rightly called a primer for spiritual life, St. Theophan with fatherly care leads the reader with a gentle yet firm approach on the narrow way to which we are called, but also explains life and all that it can bring in a light that stresses hope, forgiveness and mercy.