A Flower in the Desert

Book excerpt: At seventeen, following the directions of the philosopher and mystic Douglas Harding, David Lang pointed his finger at his own face and discovered he didn't have one. Instead, he found himself staring at nothing. But it was a very special nothing-a nothing filled with everything. Taking this revelation as his starting point, Lang shows how the vision of nothingness—the Desert—turned his life upside down. In image-rich language, he draws the reader into the Alice-in-Wonderland world of “the given.” You will see buildings and trees that move, a man who expands and shrinks like a balloon, and a room built around a black hole. You will witness scenes of joy, wonder, confusion, and despair. And you will find the Flower, that mysterious and profound destination which adds everything—and nothing—to the vision of the Desert. In the appendix, Lang gives explicit directions so that you can experience the book's key insights yourself.