From the foreword: ​”I hasten to say that by clinging I intend to convey the experience of prayer, not any special sort of method or discipline. Instead, what I have written is an experiment. I have set out to draw a picture of prayer from the perspective of one person. The hope is that its very singularity will strike a more general chord. Within the metaphor of clinging I want to describe several aspects of prayer. But these ought not to be thought of as stages or steps. Instead, they are facts of the one jewel, some random gleams issuing from the precious stone [that is prayer].”

2003