We are currently being played by great Blues and Jazz radio stations all around the world!! It also looks like we have been picked up by a radio chain with over 2 million listeners and 103 affiliates!!! This is pretty amazing for a totally independent Blues project! We are extremely proud and happy that the new CD is being so well received!! Radio stations playing our CD: http://www.zenbluesmusic.com/radio.html I am not great at the self promotion thing, but this project is sort of starting to take off. Very smart people who are helping us have told me that one important thing we need is reviews on Itunes and Amazon. If you have heard us, or bought the CD, or want to support a great project, would you mind taking just a few moments to post a quick review on Amazon and Itunes? Links: http://www.amazon.com/Again-And-Yet/dp/B0014K8EDK/ref=sr_f3_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1203778690&sr=103-1 and in Itunes just do a search by our band name. I would really appreciate it!! Thanks!!!

Zen Blues Quartet©, and Shunyata Records, is proud to announce the release of the Band's 2nd CD, "Again and yet again"!! Following up the well received debut Album "Zen Blues Quartet", this CD moves to another level altogether as a powerful and unique voice in Modern Blues Music! ZBQ is: Mike Finnigan - B3 and Vocals, (Jimi Hendrix, Etta James, Peter Frampton, Rod Stewart, Ringo Starr, Dave Mason, Joe Cocker, Bonnie Rait, Crosby Stills and Nash...), Steve Ferrone - Drums (Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Average White Band...), Tim Scott - Bass and lead vocals (Jack Mack, Tower of Power, Robben Ford, Stevie Wonder...) and John March - guitars, producer and mixer. Zen Blues Quartet is comprised of some of the best session musicians, who have worked as sidemen for the some greatest Blues, Soul and R&B artists in the world. (Please see credits list below). Zen Blues was originally formed as an opportunity to play Blues the way the musicians wanted to, without being beholden to a Label or branded Artist. The first CD was done as an experiment in Art for the sake of good Art, and it did exceedingly well. The new CD is a tour de force exploration of Modern Blues. Like nothing you have heard before!! Veteran sideman and B3 virtuoso Mike Finnigan has joined the band as the new Keyboard player and Vocalist extraordinaire!! Plus we have the LA Horns featuring: Bill Churchville on Trumpet, (Willie Nelson, Joe Cocker, Elton John, Rickie Lee Jones), Rev. Dave Boruff on Tenor and Alto Saxes (Everyone!! lol),, and Ed Wynne on Baritone and Tenor saxes. Plus many special guests sitting in on the CD, Marty Greb on Keyboards, (Bonnie Rait, Aaron Neville, Rick Danko), Curtis Salgado on Blues Harp, (Robert Cray, Steve Miller, Santana), Carmen Grillo on Backing Vocals, (Tower of Power and Sons of Champlin), and others!! This is an explosive and amazing CD of Modern Blues and Soul music, with unbelievable vocal performances by Mike Finnigan and Tim Scott, great funky grooves and burning Guitar!! If you need more information, or are interested in reviewing or interviewing ZBQ, please email us here or at info@zenbluesmusic.com. Credits The musicians recording with Zen Blues Quartet, at various times, have toured/recorded and or performed with: B. B. King, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Tower of Power, Jimi Hendrix, Crosby Stills and Nash, Etta James, Dave Mason,The Butterfield Blues Band, Janis Joplin, the Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, John Lennon,The Allman Brothers. Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Lionel Richie, Michael Bolton, Chaka Kahn, Cyndie Lauper, Average White Band, Sir Elton John, Chicago, Dave Mustane of Megadeath, Phil Collins, Kenny Loggins, Fleetwood Mac, Mr. Mister, Eddie Money, Amy Grant, Don Henley, Boz Scaggs,Prince, Earth, Wind and Fire,Madonna,Toto, Joe Cocker, Stevie Wonder, Greg Allman, Carly Simon, Sly, Chicago, Brenda Russell, David Foster, Sheila E. Rod Stewart, Natalie Cole, Juice Newton, Bill Champlin, Dolly Parton, Mary Clayton, Dusty Springfield, Mary Travers, Michael Nesmith, Jackie Wilson, Thomas Dolby, Anita Baker, The Joan Rivers Show, Kiss, The Sons Of Champlin, Elvin Bishop, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker, Narada Michael Walden, Lionel Richie, Ringo Starr, Harvey Mason, Rita Coolidge, Richard Page, Steve Gadd, Glen Campbell, The Four Tops, Sheena Easton, Melissa Manchester, Vinny Colaiuta, Thelma Houston, Valerie Carter, Steve Plunkett, Patti Austin,Taj Mahal, Barbara Streisand, Dan Ackroyd, Rosanne Arnold, Tom Arnold, Atlantic Starr, Azteca, Pete Barbutti, B.B.Chun King, Jim Belushi, George Benson, Crystal Bernard, Kurtis Blow, Sir Harry Bowens, Bekka Bramlett, Rick Braun, Julie Brown, Billy Burnette, Rocky Burnette, Gary Busey, Jonathan Butler, Cameo, Tia Carerra, Felix Cavalierre, George Clinton & P-Funk, Albert Collins, Rita Coolidge, Larry Coryell, Scott Cossu, Robert Cray, Gavin Christopher, Steve Cropper, Rich Dangel, Sarah Dash, Kal David, Taylor Dayne, Al Dimeola, The Drifters, El Chicano, Richard Elliot, Keith Emerson, Melissa Etheridge, Buzzy Feiten, Corey Feldman, Mick Fleetwood, Robben Ford, Ronnie Foster, John Goodman, Guitar Shorty, Ellis Hall, Herbie Hancock, Woody Harrelson, Ron Holden, Brenda Holloway, Mark Hudson, The Inkspots, Chris Isaak, Jack Mack & The Heart Attack, Millie Jackson, Etta James, Al Jarreau, Jay & the Techniques, Kid Frost, The Kingsmen, The Kingston Trio, Sam Kinison, Janie Lane, David Lanz, Neil Larsen, Eugene Levy, Mark Lindsay, Little Anthony, Cheech Marin, Roscoe Martinez, Michael McDonald, Mellow Man Ace, Lee Michaels, Buddy Miles, Sam Moore, Gary Morris, Maria Muldaur, Shaun Murphy, Bill Murray, Rick Neilson (Cheap Trick), Ivan Neville, Edward James Olmos, Lee Oskar, Freda Payne, Michael Penn, Billy Preston, Johnny Rivers, Howard Roberts, Merrilee Rush, Katy Sagal, Curtis Salgado, Timothy B. Schmit, Diane Schuur, Marilyn Scott, Steven Seagal, Brian Setzer, B.J. Sharp, Jeff Silbar, Jeff Simmons, Slash, J.D. Souther, Mavis Staples, Stephen Stills, Sharon Stone, Keith Sweat, Mick Taylor, Sam "The Man" Taylor, Tierra, Tony-Toni-Tone, Tower of Power, Ralph Towner, Kathy Troccolli, Tanya Tucker, Big Joe Turner, Phil Upchurch, Steve Vai, Tata Vega, The Ventures, Pat & Lolly Vegas (Redbone), John Waite, War, Wild Orchid, Lenny Williams, Bruce Willis & the Accelerators, Pauline Wilson, Edgar Winter, Peter Wolf, Wolfman Jack, Bobby Womack, Ali Woodson, Dwight Yoakum, as well as headlining many times at the Hard Rock Hotel in Bali and performing at the 2003 Superbowl in San Diego. We are an independent label comprised of the musicians making this CD, so please pass this email along to all your friends and associates who love great Blues music. If you have a website please put up a link or a posting, and we will reciprocate. Help support great independent music and just help us to keep making great music! Let's spread the word about this amazing project!!! Thank you!!! Also Our first CD, Zen Blues Quartet is available for downloading on our website www.zenbluesmusic.com, as well as Itunes, and many other online services. Simply search by our Band name on Itunes. On our website you will find more information about the project and sample clips!! Here are links to a few MP3 samples of what you can hear from this amazing group of musicians: http://www.zenbluesmusic.com/reelingclip1.mp3 http://www.zenbluesmusic.com/womanclip1.mp3 http://www.zenbluesmusic.com/powerfulclip1.mp3 http://www.zenbluesmusic.com/secretsclip1.mp3 http://thecircuitbreakers.com/parttime.mp3 Thank you for your time and consideration. Discography "Zen Blues Quartet" available on Shunyata Records™, www.zenbluesmusic.com, and "Again, and yet again" released November 2007 Please visit our website for more information and mp3's!

You are The Magician

Skill, wisdom, adaptation. Craft, cunning, depending on dignity.

Eleoquent and charismatic both verbally and in writing, you are clever, witty, inventive and persuasive.

The Magician is the male power of creation, creation by willpower and desire. In that ancient sense, it is the ability to make things so just by speaking them aloud. Reflecting this is the fact that the Magician is represented by Mercury. He represents the gift of tongues, a smooth talker, a salesman. Also clever with the slight of hand and a medicine man - either a real doctor or someone trying to sell you snake oil.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

A Precious Human Life Everyday Think as you wake up Today I am fortunate to have woken up I am alive I have a precious human life I am not going to waste it I am going to use All my energies to develop myself To expand my heart out to others To achieve enlightenment for The benefit of all beings I am going to have kind Thoughts towards others I am not going to get angry Or think badly about others I am going to benefit others As much as I can. - His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama

Most recent great recording!! While our KBD player Jeff Young is on the road with Steely Dan, Mike Finnigan will be subbing on B3 and singing with us. We are honored! Mike has played with everyone from Jimi hendrix on Electric ladyland, to etta James and Crosby, Stills and Nash, and many others. He is one of the great B3/Blues Vocalists on the planet!! I was honored to do this!! Here is a recent Live recording: http://www.thecircuitbreakers.com/parttime.mp3 From that same gig!! http://www.thecircuitbreakers.com/tata.mp3 http://www.thecircuitbreakers.com/nuthin.mp3 Yay great music!!! ;) John

I wrote the following thoughts below just before going on the retreat described in the essay enclosed, and see them now as an expression of the place of "doing", of content expressing its desire to connect with stillness. Of my desire to eradicate my own belief systems and realize that it is so clearly my attachment to these forms in content, ideology and thinking that were actively disavowing the silence available at any moment. I now can appreciate these musings as a description of the edge of the precipice that allowed me to leap into non-movement. This is, i believe, the path that leads to the cessation of suffering: in essence: I've spent a large portion of my life battling various aspects of depression. From early childhood, and a sense of displaced anxiety, to my early 40's, and a sense of complete cultural dissociation. As an artist, and a thinking human being, I find there is a great deal of detail and almost a sense of poetry in the darkroom of depression. I use the word a "darkroom", to describe my sense/projection of depression, as it seems to evoke an image in my mind of the enclosed invisible space that depression creates, at least in my experience of it. For a long time this image/projection seemed to be somewhat claustrophobic, I now realize that it was an artificial construct of my imagination/karmic conditioning, that varied in size and dimension with the scope and depth of the depression that I was currently battling. I also realize that it was my attachment to the position of, not only observation, but willingness to participate in the projection, that caused me to suffer. This is not an attempt at rhetoric so much as a insight into what I perceived of as a dilemna in my relationship with life. The most current image that comes to mind for me, regarding the space i inhabited in long-term depression, is of an ancient Greek building, like the pantheon. I picture a large circular enclosure with Greek columns supporting a large overhead circular cover. This cover blocks out the light and creates a very dark interior dimension to this enclosure, and yet not a contained space. The columns I envision, as various aspects and dimensions of the depression itself. The columns to me represent the various aspects which color and determined the texture and shape of the overhead enclosure. These columns support the entire structure, and yet are in and of themselves quite insubstantial. That seems to be a contradiction, or paradox, but the very nature depression is in and of itself a contradiction, a contradiction to life. One can have a great deal of information, through books, through meditation, through teachers, through life experience, through all the myriad potential ways one can learn about life, and still be completely defenseless in the face of deep and abiding depression. Depression can take a life of its own. One could almost anthropomorphize the very nature of the process. By that I mean one could assume or actually assign a conscious existence to this black beast, this unnatural engine that seeks to smother the light of imagination and the gift of life itself. My experience with depression has many pillars, many columns that I think are fairly commonplace within the arena of depression. I am also profoundly grateful to this beast and the path it lead me on because each moment that I saw as an assault or an injury, was in fact a great teacher showing me, leading me to my best opportunities for liberation. The essay below more fully explores the experience of transformative stillness and surrender, that I experienced and that I am pointing to, and that thoroughly and completely changed my life for the better. At the point when I left to go on this retreat I was quite literally at the end of my rope. I had lost most of my family to illness, orphaned late in life and living in LA as a single parent. I was feeling a sense that I was somehow distinctly separate from life, and that in fact that Life had it in for me and was determined to make me more and more isolated and miserable, despite my best efforts to resolve or change that experience. Reading hundreds of self help books on spirituality, psychology, meditation, etc... nothing was helping because I was firmly entrenched in a belief system that was not only self-sustaining but self -fulfilling, as long as I stayed true to my beliefs about life and depression. In fact, i now believe that depression for me, was essentially that strong identification with an aspect of my soul that firmly believed that the state of darkness surrounding me at the time of depression was a permanent condition, and from an experiential point of view that condition is not a liveable situation. I believe that if someone like myself, (a layperson living in the world between the polarizing tensions of the existential dilemna we all face, and the transcendent calling a lot of us are seeking), can achieve some measure of solace, of release from the vicious cycle of depression and immobility, through meditation and surrender, then the truth that the possibility is imminently available to anyone and everyone. in other words, if a guy like me can find some freedom, anyone can do it! lol I would hope in sharing stories like this we can all support each other not "as human beings trying to lead a spiritual life, but as spiritual beings trying to live a human life." Experiencing Stillness A personal essay, May 2004 Having just returned from an 8 day silent retreat at a Zen monastery I am struck so powerfully for the true need for stillness and silence in our culture. In these challenging times we all face, and in a culture where words like compassion and transformation have become new age buzzwords, I can so clearly see the healing attributes and true need to transform the cultural imagination in positive ways. To be honest I am somewhat at a loss for words. Which may seem contradictory or paradoxical considering the long essay I am about to write, but...I have just returned from a silent retreat, and am overwhelmed with something inexplicable, some glimpse of the ineffable, that I cannot entirely describe. Yet there is something call out in dialog, in voice, that requires I write this experience out. I have been practicing and studying Buddhism and meditation for over 30 years now. I had a strong insight that a lot of the struggles and frustration that i had been experiencing on the cushion were in regards to a misunderstanding that i had been holding with regards to the 3rd Noble Truth. Specifically attached to the idea that "there is a PATH that Leads to the cessation of suffering." My mind had decided early on that there was "somehwere to go". Some goal to be achieved by sitting in meditation that would somehow miraculously save me from the ongoing depression and anxiety that formed the basis of how i perceived life and my place in it. This misinterpretation was a cause of great suffering, and to be honest caused a lot of struggling within my practice and resistance to it. I simply believed I must be a bad meditator or doing it wrong, and beat myself up on the cushion for over 30 years based on that misunderstanding. I went to a retreat at the Zen center Monastery and something happened in the stillness, and also in hearing the voices of suffering and the commonality shared in those dialogs of sangha. All the language, all the dialog started to sound like the same thing to me, both a question and a statement at the same time: regardless of the content, the statement was "I do not want to suffer this way", and the question I heard over and over was paradoxically, "How can I prolong this suffering?" My heart broke. And in some moment of utter surrender something in me shifted into stillness that is still moving through me. I know that is a strange image of stillness moving, but some floodgate has opened, I am laughing and crying and tremendous energies are moving through me, and I recognize that even this amazing and beautiful thing of relief and of release requires that I let go and not attach, to relax and just let it happen. I drove home for 6 or 7 hours in silence and when I arrived home there was my son waiting. and just when I thought it could not get any more beautiful something else happened. I arrived home a bit tired and extremely sensitive and quiet. Talking was actually somewhat difficult. My son saw this. He told me that he had missed me and would not stop hugging me. We are quite close as father and son, and I simply stood there quietly hugging him. Then he said that he had missed me terribly and so had spontaneously decided that week that since his dad was at the monastery "doing Zen", that he would not watch tv or cartoons or video games so he could see what stillness and quiet felt like, quite a commitment for a little guy. I was very quiet listening as he told me all this, told me all of his projections about Zen and what the monastery was like in his imagination. I was still in a very quiet place and so I listened appreciatively and when he was done all I could do was quietly tell him how amazing that was and how proud of him I was. Now we are very close he and I, but then he came over and cuddled in my arms on the couch and it got very quiet and still and he said I love you daddy, and I said I loved him, and then he said it again, and all I could do was say reassurances, and he kept saying it over and over, so I kept quietly responding with reassurances, and I quite literally watched this amazing child melt in my arms. It was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. After leaving the monastery I was inspired to read Durckheim and found so much resonance in his words as to be amazed that this individual could so clearly outline and describe my experience: "Durckheim begins his teaching by focusing on our rare moments of higher consciousness, those numinous experiences which he names "privileged moments" and "life's starry hours." These are unforgettable times when something greater than our usual awareness breaks through and floods us with unaccountable serenity, joy, or certainty. Such experiences call us toward a new way of living and initiate us into a different view of reality. Mystics, philosophers, saints, and esotericists of all times have pointed to these radiant moments as proof that we are meant to be more than we seem to be. These events have opened our eyes to the higher influences present in our world. " Something shattered in me in surrender, and simultaneously moved into stillness. or rather somehow got out of the way, and allowed stillness to arise. Whatever happened, I am seeing the world around me in an entirely different light. Upon arriving home I was in a state of stillness and quiet that my son saw and immediately responded to. It became so obvious to me, the ripple effect that stillness has. When i arrived home, and for several days after, speech was not easy, in fact my voice has actually physically changed in tone and character as well as the tempo and meter. I realized that as time was passing, almost like putting on a suit of clothes, the busy-ness around me, which I was required to once again engage with, was actually seeming to separate me from that precious stillness that had created a tremendous energetic release in my being. Tears and laughter, subtle sensitivities to movement and sound, sight perception. A picture of myself as a young boy that I had always disliked now seen so clearly as a sweet loving boy with bright eyes... But the requirements of the world called me back. Having a very eager and beautiful 11 year old son was very intense, and his needs to engage, even though the silence and stillness were profoundly moving him, were still calling me back, but now the relationship to that busy-ness had changed profoundly. Over time I felt my body and spirit responding with irritation and a sadness about letting go of the still space. Then I let go again, the relationship to those assumptions and beliefs had changed, and realized that the still space was not going anywhere, rather I was putting back on the mantle of doing, the aspects of movement and content that obscure the still moment. The next day out and about I was still quite still, (funny to write that.) But I could again see so clearly the ripple effect on others as i changed my relationship to my projections and allowed my silence to be relaxed and at ease. People and things responded. At one point we arrived at a large fountain in a beautiful modern courtyard. One of those tall open fountains with timed water ballet apertures. My son remarked that he wondered what it would be like to walk through, and without hesitation I said " let's find out" and so we did, laughing and getting soaked and in the fountain. It felt great to see his wonder at the possibility and openness. I feel that the turning point for me, in retreat, was hearing all the suffering in speech, in questions, in the constant ongoing dialog about the details of doing, and the contrast of having had some glimpse of the clarity of not-doing, My heart burst, and for the first time in my adult life I felt joy. It was not just the sangha and the voices communally suffering, but also the echo in my own experience of the repetition of the content obscuring the opportunity to actually surrender and experience for myself the stillness of not-doing. I look at my path in life again, and rather then complaint for the challenges and suffering I have endured, I find Gratitude for the pummeling, as it allowed me to reach a place of surrender that perhaps otherwise I never would have seen. " A conscious being is one through whom the divine life radiates. The personality has been made entirely permeable and obedient to essence, the subconscious has been cleansed and liberated, and the way is cleared for our higher centers to express themselves through our state of openness, receptivity, and presence in the moment. To be released from our misconceptions and buffers is not merely a mental effort but requires dissolving the physical knots and distorted postures which express these attitudes. Clenched jaws, cramped stomachs, raised shoulders all keep us outside of the realm of essence which is the only threshold to our true becoming. Letting go also means "forsaking the brilliance of the rational mind and entering the semi-darkness of another form of consciousness" (8). The tyranny of the intellectual center and of a cultural worldview reduced to the surface of the five senses can be a powerful barrier to the reception of divine inspiration. "By letting go in the right way, we learn to 'let in' and 'let happen' that which, in spite of all our ideas, projections, desires and prejudices, meets us directly in the shape of the world and comes from the constantly stirring essential being within." (9) " My experience of this description of physicality, especially related to tension in the body, and my jaw in particular, so resonates with Durckheim's description I was in shock. Again Durckheim: "This work on oneself is not centered on self for the sake of self. Durckheim has a much wider panorama in view. Our efforts are meant to prepare us to reach a state where life in the service of transcendent Being becomes second nature. In discovering our own essential self, we participate in the manifestation of what can only be described as divine, the source of mercy, compassion, and conscious love. Such a possibility requires work on all parts of our nature. But Durckheim is especially insistent on the body as a key to breaking through to a greater consciousness. "Whenever a wrong posture has become deeply ingrained it blocks the redeeming, renewing and preserving forces that arise from the depths of Being." (2) Durckheim respects it as an expression of transcendent Being in a particular form and calls upon us to seek our right center of gravity within it. This requires work on posture, tension, and breathing. The primary practice to achieve such centering is meditation. This fundamental exercise, however, is not to be confused with the various methods used in our New Age culture. Durckheim tells us that "the purpose of correct practice is not to bring man to a state of tranquility but to keep him in a condition of constant watchfulness and prevent him from coming to a standstill on the Way." (3) " "Durckheim identifies this center as a state wherein a person moves continuously toward his innermost nature. It is not a place but our driving force calling us home. From this center we are able to acquire a clear sense of inner direction, and above all, a "self-confidence that is independent of the world's praise or blame." (5) Without this center, we are the plaything of inner and outer forces. "Practice on ourselves, in the physical and spiritual sense, is always of two kinds. It involves both the pulling-down of everything that stands in the way of our contact with Divine Being, and the building-up of a 'form' which, by remaining accessible to its inner life, preserves this contact and affirms it in every activity in the world." (6) Durckheim insists that if we have become conscious of our essence, we have become conscious of our union with transcendence. But to achieve this, we need to have the courage to meet the unknown, and to "endure the mystery that cannot be conceptually comprehended--in short, to pause and inwardly dwell in that to which we are all too unaccustomed, the radiance of Divine Being." (7). Durckheim calls upon us to risk over and over again all that we think we have understood, all that we hold onto as security. " I know now that this retreat allowed me to experience the truth of those words, and my life path is moved to so clearly embrace that possibility, that I can serve from a place of stillness. What I see so clearly now is the unspoken communal yearning for the still place, the place of rest, the center of the still lake before the ripples of intention move out. I believe that in experiencing stillness we so clearly see our own innate quality, our organic penchant for compassion and release, and the beauty and joy that that state evokes in, not only the being who is still, but also those who are experiencing that stillness in action. Again a paradox in language but not in experience. (Commentary on Durckheim in quotes are from an internet article by Theodore J. Nottingham, an author and translator who works in a variety of genres, including Historical and Metaphysical Fiction, Screenplays, Teleplays, Children's Books, and Non-Fiction. He is also a television and video producer. He is the author and producer of numerous documentaries and has regularly published articles in national and regional magazines.) article can be found here; http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?AuthorID=821&id=3290

"Those who, being really on the way, fall upon hard times in the world will not, as a consequence, turn to that friend who offers refuge and comfort and encourages the old self to survive. Rather they will seek out someone who will faithfully and inexorably help them to risk themselves, so that they may endure the suffering and pass courageously through it, thus making of it a "raft that leads to the far shore." Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over again to annihilation can that which is indestructible arise within us. In this lies the dignity of daring. Thus, the aim of practice is not to develop an attitude which allows us to acquire a state of harmony and peace wherein nothing can ever trouble us. On the contrary, practice should teach us to let ourselves be assaulted, perturbed, moved, insulted, broken, and battered--that is to say, it should enable us to dare to let go our futile hankering after harmony, surcease from pain, and a comfortable life in order that we may discover, in doing battle with the forces that oppose us, that which awaits us beyond the world of opposites. The first necessity is that we should have the courage to face life, and to encounter all that is most perilous in the world. When this is possible, meditation itself becomes the means by which we accept and welcome the demons which arise from the unconscious--a process very different from the practice of concentration on some object as a protection against such forces. Only if we venture repeatedly through zones of annihilation can our contact with Divine being, which is beyond annihilation, become firm and stable. The more we learn wholeheartedly to confront the world that threatens us with isolation, the more are the depths of the Ground of Being revealed and possibilities of new life and Becoming opened." from The Way of Transformation by Karlfried Durckheim