Torkington - Wisdom for the Western Isles: the making of a mystic

First published by O-Books, 2008

Reprinted 2010

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Text copyright: David Torkington 2008

ISBN: 978 1 84694 119 1

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Design: Stuart Davies

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An adventure in serious prayer life: Reading like a rambling, atmosphere-filled 19th century English novel: A thought-and-action-for-prayer packed trilogy from English author and retreat master David Torkington it deals with the experience of being rooted in the great spiritual traditions of the Church in a way that will enrich life in any century. Filled with journeys, island-seaside-and-urban vistas, the English language artfully employed, British wit at its best, deft insight into the essential human quest for intimacy with God. By itself, it may just bring back the written word, at least in terms of spirituality. Filled with insights into spiritual growth and the options for meeting God in daily prayer time.

Crux of the News, August 30, 1999

One gains the immediate impression on taking up this book that it is not some glib response to an editorial suggestion but rather something carefully meditated. Torkington writes about prayer and one feels that he writes from experience, with the authority of one who has prayed and this book succeeds in presenting theology as lived experience. Torkington has the happy knack of marrying style and content. At no time do we think this is a prayer manual dressed up as a novel. Torkingtons books may well end up on the shelf marked Popular Theology. This is unjust, as this book is far from simplistic; indeed, it is a welcome antidote to modern ignorance. But St Francis de Sales wrote popular works too, and if this book ends up next to Introduction to the Devout Life, they will be in fitting company.

David McLaurin, winner of the Daily Express Book of the Year

Award for his novel Bishop of San Fernando

David Torkingtons Trilogy on Prayer immediately reminds one of that rich tradition which stretches back to the first days of the church and moves on through the Middle Ages with masters like William of Saint Thierry and reaches into our own century in such works as the masterful Three Ages of the Spiritual Life of Garage-LaGrange. Indeed three ages of the spiritual life might be the best way to sum up Torkingtons volume. But Torkingtons book presentation is no ponderous tome its delightful use of story so dear to the Lord himself and increasingly popular in our time is a refreshing experience, and Torkington, an experienced lecturer, is a good storyteller.

M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O. in America

David Torkingtons book has the format and flow of a novel but the impact of a work of deep mysticism. The story itself is intriguing, and includes a genuine Blueprint for Prayer (and an explanation of how best to use it) that is powerfully practical. This little book can revolutionize the way you pray. To get better at doing the most important thing in your life, we recommend you read this book.

Larry Holley, O.S.B in Book Nook from Dove Publications, Pecos, NM, USA

Torkingtons views on prayer and spirituality are based on the thoughts of the Desert Fathers, Dom John Chapman, Bernard Basset, SJ, St Augustine, Martin Buber and others. Torkington is a master of prayer. His engrossing style masks the depth of his practical advice and specifics about many forms of prayer from the traditional to the new.

Stanley M. Grabowski, PhD in Pastoral Life

Every book David Torkington writes is about prayer, the true deep prayer of the heart that surrenders us to the Father of Jesus. Put in another way, all his books are about holiness, but so simply expressed, so colloquial, that we understand the total love of God as the essential act of being human. People tend to think that Torkingtons books, so easy to read, so attractive, so interesting, are therefore less serious. But their seriousness is that of Jesus himself, a matter of the inner spirit and not that of the outer casing.

Sr Wendy Beckett, Mount Carmel: A Review of the Spiritual Life

This fascinating novel is successful because Torkington has recognized that what draws us to God are people who are alive to God, so he sets out to paint us models who are fully human, with whom we can identify. The style is limpid, full of simplicity and a sense of awe, but also touched with humour. The beauty of the Scottish Highlands comes off the pages. This is an original, deep and surprising book. David Torkington has done for prayer what Jostein Gaarders Sophies World did for philosophy.

Rima Devereaux The Tablet

To my parents, my brother Peter on whom the main character is based and to my wife Bobbie without whom this book could never have been written.

Introduction

Whilst giving a series of lectures on prayer at Belmont Abbey Retreat Center, I was cornered by one of the participants who demanded to know my qualifications. Although I was taken aback, I couldnt but concede that he had every right to know whether or not the lecturer was worth the time and money he had spent. After all, if Id been giving a course on Scripture, theology or canon law the participants would have had every right to expect that I had an MA if not a PhD in the relevant subject on which I was holding forth. I found it embarrassing to admit that I hadnt any such qualification. On reflection, however, I realized that it was precisely because I had no such qualification that I was able to give the lectures and, for that matter, write this book.

You see, My name is David and I am a dyslexic. It took more than forty years before I was able to say those words, thanks to a chance meeting with a doctor who knew something about what she called my gift. It was a tremendous relief to meet someone at long last who understood what nobody had been able to understand before, and that included me. At school my teachers subscribed to one of two theories either That boy is stupid! or That boy is lazy. For myself I didnt know what to think. All I knew was that I wasnt stupid; I knew I had a good mind even if it didnt easily conform to traditional teaching methods devised for the majority and the examinations set to validate them. When my form master wrote on my school report, You could scourge this boy and he wouldnt work, I just had to accept that what he said was true. Funnily enough, when in later life I had managed to master most of the other deadly sins, I found that despite what I had been forced to believe I never really mastered sloth.