Steindl-Rast - I am through you so i reflections at age 90

First, a disclaimer: this book contains much that is autobiographical, but it is not actually an autobiography. For each of the nine decades of my life, I have chosen a characteristic theme and written down related memories. The nine interviews then go deeper into the respective themes. I realize that such a framework has advantages and disadvantages. One of the advantages is that it excludes details that spring only from the talkativeness of an old man and only serve curiosity. One of the disadvantages is that not all themes that were important to me fit within the framework. I was especially sorry that I could not include the dialogue between science and religion in which I have repeatedly had the privilege of participating. As a Lindisfarne Fellow since the 1970s, as speaker at the Cortona weeks of the ETH Zrich and the Waldzell Meetings of the Stift Melk, and as a participant in the Mind and Life Fellows Program, I have had the opportunity of meeting important pioneers of the sciences. My life has been additionally enriched by my friendships with Joachim Bauer, Fritjof Capra, Stanislav Grof, Amory Lovins, Pier Luigi Luisi, Reinhard Nesper, Herbert Pietschmann, Rupert Sheldrake, Tania Singer, and Richard Tarnas. To all these encounters, I owe my conviction that science and religion are two inseparable attempts to orient ourselves in the inner and outer realms of this one reality. They belong together.

I also regret that I can mention the names of only a few friends throughout the text. But here I do want to express my thanks personally to those whose help made this book possible: I was able to work on it in silent isolation on the SAlqueria estate of Stephan and Viktoria Schmidheiny; Brigitte Kwizda-Gredler was my first reader and gave empathetic advice; Joan Casey supported me by prayer and encouragement; Johannes Kaup insightfully held the interviews; Diego Ortiz Mugica added new photographs and improved those from the past; Alberto Rizzo, Julian Fraiese, and Michael Casey helped me by helping Quicksilver, my temperamental computer; Brother Linus Eibicht, OSB (publisher), Marlene Fritsch (lector), and Rose Hofmann (rights manager) of Vier-Trme-Verlag awaited, shepherded, and published the German edition with great patience. Special thanks also to Marc Grossman for editorial advice, to Peter Dahm Robertson for translating this revised version into English, and to Father Mark-David and his team at Paulist Press for publishing it. The prayers of many friends and the encounters with many people whom I will never know by name encouraged me and strengthened me in my writing, finally bringing the book into the hands of you, the reader, to whom I am also grateful for your interest.

I want to dedicate this book to my brothersmy two biological brothers, Hans and Max, and their entire families, as well as my Brothers, the Benedictine monks of Mount Saviour, New Camaldoli, and the Gut Aich monastery at St. Gilgen; there especially, Father Johannes Pausch: this book was his idea, and I would never have written it, except in loving obedience to him as Prior.

Brother David Steindl-Rast, OSB

Mount Saviour Monastery,

August 6, 2016