'The Imitation of Christ' first appeared 1418. It was published anonymously but spread quickly around Europe. A Latin manuscript from 1441 exists, but there was a German translation as early as 1434. A French translation appeared in 1447, a Spanish edition in 1482, and an Italian one in 1488. The first English translation appeared in 1503, which was just Book 4, but the other three books followed in the same year and a complete translation appeared in 1556. In 1663, an Arabic edition was printed in Rome, and in 1837, a Hebrew version printed in Frankfurt. It has since been translated into many languages, and has won for itself a variety of celebrity admirers. John Wesley and John Newton were men of the Evangelical wing of the Church yet both named this Catholic manual as important in their conversion, while General Gordon took it into battle with him. Thomas More, St Francis Xavier and Dr Johnson were other famous devotees. The work is comprised of four books, though they are not all found in all manuscripts, and neither are they always in the same order. This makes little practical difference to the reader, however. This manual of devotion is pitched at a challenging level of Christian experience, but does not offer an ordered journey. Like a merry-go-round, the same themes are visited again and again throughout the books; Thomas is a teacher who believes in repetition. Book 4 is unique in that it has a specific subject, the Eucharist, and explores our attitudes towards the bread and wine. But even here, the author weaves in themes familiar from the other three books: human worthlessness, the need for humility, advice on temptation and adversity, disdain for the attractions of the world, contempt for scholarship, sorrow for sin, forgiveness of perceived injustice, submission to God in all things and ardour for union with the life of Jesus in his death and resurrection. There is a manic-depressive feel to much of the writing, which can be disturbing for the modern reader. Although Thomas calls Christians to an equanimity that is neither too happy when things go well or too sad when things go badly, the author's own mood tends to be either one of extreme despair and self-hate or an ecstatic happiness at the sweetness of God and the joy to be found in him. To an extent, this mirrors the character of the God he describes who both loves us unendingly whilst also preparing eternal punishment for the unfaithful. Kempis offers no resolution to this paradox; but sensed in all he writes is the fire of personal dismantlement through which humans must walk in the cause of their spiritual development. Here is a radical and disturbing self-help book, penned for the 14th century monk. Thomas writes as a monk for monks, but clearly his passion and insights spill well beyond the cloistered world of the monastery. One writer called it 'The diary of a soul on its way to perfection,' which captures well the author's spiritual ambition both for himself and others. As he himself says in the second book, 'Disdain that which is superficial, dedicate yourself to your inner being and you shall see that the Kingdom of God grows inside you.' St Augustine was patron of Thomas' monastery and it was he who famously said, 'Oh God, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their place in you.' The restless Thomas a Kempis could not have agreed more.

Vincent van Gogh is best known for two things - his sunflowers and his ear-cutting. But there are many other ways of knowing this remarkable son of a Dutch pastor, who left his chill homeland for the sunshine of Arles in the South of France; and left us over a thousand frank letters of struggle and joy, to help us glimpse his inner world. Vincent came late to painting after spending time in London trying to be a Christian missionary. And though he is now amongst the most famous artists on earth, in his day, no one saw him coming - apart from one French art critic called Aurier. It is possible he never sold one of his paintings in his life time. When he discovered the sun in Arles, he also discovered energy. Yellow for him was the colour of hope, and in his last two years he painted almost a canvass a day. But hope ran out on July 27th , 1890 when he shot himself, aged 37. He was at this time six months out of a mental institution, where perhaps he experienced his greatest calm. Vincent compared himself to a stunted plant; damaged by the emotional frost of his childhood. 'Conversations with Van Gogh' is an imagined conversation with this remarkable figure. But while the conversation is imagined, Van Gogh's words are not; they are all authentically his. "Speaking with Vincent - which he insists on being called - was a privilege,' says Simon Parke. 'He's endlessly fascinating, contradictory, moving, funny, insightful and tragic. There's a fury in him; but also a great kindness. He found harmony in human relationships elusive; his love life was a painful shambles. But with colour, he was a harmonic genius, and he has much to say about this. And here's the thing: for a man who killed himself - he died in the arms of his brother on July 29th - spending time with him was never anything but life-affirming.'

In many ways, Meister Eckhart has had to wait seven centuries to be heard. Born in 13th century Germany, much of his life was spent in a monastery; though not all. The 'Meister' in his name means 'Master', and is an academic title from the University of Paris. An admired member of the Dominican Order, he was often sent to reform ailing priories. He was known also as a spiritual counsellor; a safe haven for many who sought God in their life, but found themselves troubled by the dire state of the institutional church. And in a century of flowering female spirituality, he was a supportive figure for many Dominican nuns and women in the burgeoning lay communities which arose. He was best known, however, as a preacher - an original preacher who used his native German language to startling effect. Eckhart preached a spiritual vision which distrusted the artifice of both ritual and church dogma. Instead, he aimed at nothing less than the spiritual and psychological transformation of those given to his care. To this end, Eckhart made the disposition of the human heart the key to all things. 'Conversations with Meister Eckhart' is an imagined conversation with this 13th century mystic, around such themes as detachment, which he famously placed above love; spirituality, God, the soul and suffering. But while the conversation is imagined, Eckhart's words are not; they are authentically his own. One of his controversial claims was that God cannot be described. Indeed, in one sermon, he went so far as to say 'We must take leave of God.' 'The church became very hostile towards him,' says Simon Parke, 'accusing him of heresy; and he spent his last days on trial before the pope. They also tried to ensure he'd be forgotten when he died, and nearly succeeded. But he's more popular now than ever.' Eckhart's teaching is an adventure, not a system; a call, not a creed. The depth and universality of his work means it can be contained by no established religion, but draws to itself seekers of truth from all backgrounds. 'Here we have a teaching open to all, but possessed by none,' says Parke. 'And therefore free like a butterfly, in the garden of the soul. Its perhaps my most challenging and rewarding conversation.'

Although he committed suicide at the age of twenty-five, Mario de Sa-Carneiro left behind a rich corpus of texts that is inventive, playful, even daring. The first collection in English to be dedicated to his work, this volume brings together scholars from Portugal, Brazil, and the USA to reassess Sa-Carneiro's contribution to Portuguese and European Modernism(s). In the book, established researchers and younger scholars delve into the complexities and paradoxes of his work, exploring not only the acclaimed novella Lucio's Confession, but also his poetry, short fiction, and correspondence. Each essay engages in the necessary task of placing Sa-Carneiro's work in a wider literary and artistic context, bringing back to his texts the creative energy of early twentieth-century Europe. Plural in their methods, the essays propose multiple lenses through which to tackle key aspects of Sa-Carneiro's oeuvre: his aesthetic and artistic influences and preoccupations; his negotiations/performances of identity; and the ways in which his work emerges in dialogue with other Modernist authors and how they in turn engage with his work. Though he is sometimes overshadowed by his more famous friend and artistic comrade, Fernando Pessoa, this collection shows just how much one misses, if one overlooks Sa-Carneiro and other writers of the Orpheu generation.

In 1982, aged twenty-three, Simon Parkes paid GBP1 for a virtually derelict building in Brixton. Over the next fifteen years he turned it into Britain's most iconic music venue. And now he's telling his story: full of fond - and wild - reminiscences of the famous musicians who played at the venue, including Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Lou Reed, The Ramones, New Order, the Beastie Boys and The Smiths. This is about one man's burning desire for success against the odds, his passion for live music and the excitement of those wilderness years, a far cry from the corporate world that controls the scene today. From rock-star debauchery and mixing it up with Brixton gangsters to putting on the first legal raves in the UK and countless backroom business deals, this is the story of how to succeed in business with no experience and fulfil your teenage fantasies.

Alexander McCall Smith on Marylebone House: 'A very interesting and varied list.'

An extraordinary story set in the political and religious melting pot that was England after the Civil War

Sometimes we can lose touch with ourselves so much that we don't even know we have done so, until suddenly we realize with a start that we have just been going through the motions, without really experiencing our lives. The simple fact is that in today's world, we spend so much time looking forward, rushing on to the next thing, or looking backwards, stressing and worrying about our perceived mistakes, that we rarely still ourselves and our minds enough to truly be in the present moment. In One-Minute Mindfulness, Simon Parke uses stories and simple thoughts to help us see through clear eyes how we can return to the present moment and remain there. This subtle change can be startlingly healing, bringing peace into every area of our lives, allowing us to live freely and fully, and to honour what is true for each of us. Both inspiring and practical, this book is for anyone who wants to come home to themselves.

At the end of the 19th century, perhaps every man wanted to be Arthur Conan Doyle. He had written historical novels, short stories of horror and the supernatural; and displayed huge energy and talent in a variety of fields. He was a fine cricketer (he once took the wicket of the great WC Grace); played football, rugby and golf. He practiced as a doctor; campaigned for underdogs, introduced skis to Switzerland; and knew both Harry Houdini and Oscar Wilde. He was an adventurer, a controversialist, war reporter and knight of the realm. But most famously of all, he had created Sherlock Holmes, the world's most famous detective - based on his former medical professor, Joseph Bell. All in all, Doyle was a Boy's Own dream. Yet for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, all such achievements paled into significance when set against his commitment to spiritualism. Although interested in the subject for many years, he publicly converted to the cause around time of the First World War - much to many people's amazement: 'Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has many striking characteristics,' wrote Ruth Brandon. 'He is gigantically tall and strong. He is a gifted story teller. He is a man of strong opinions and considerable political influence. But perhaps the most extraordinary thing about him is the combination of all the attributes of worldly success with an almost child-like literalness and credulity of mind, manifested particularly in relation to spiritualism.' 'Conversations with Conan Doyle' is an imagined conversation with this remarkable figure. But while the conversation is imagined, Doyle's words are not; they are all authentically his. 'For many, Conan Doyle's commitment to spiritualism is an embarrassing aberration,' says Simon Parke. 'They want him to go back and just be the creator of Sherlock Holmes. But people don't fit into boxes, and Doyle certainly doesn't! So I want people to meet the man, hear him speak - and then make up their own minds. He's often passionate; but never dull.'

'Conversations with Van Gogh' is an imagined conversation with this remarkable figure. But while the conversation is imagined, Van Gogh's words are not; they are all authentically his. ' Vincent van Gogh is best known for two things - his sunflowers and his ear-cutting. But there are many other ways of knowing this remarkable son of a Dutch pastor, who left his chill homeland for the sunshine of Arles in the South of France; and left us over a thousand frank letters of struggle and joy, to help us glimpse his inner world. Vincent came late to painting after spending time in London trying to be a Christian missionary. And though he is now amongst the most famous artists on earth, in his day, no one saw him coming - apart from one French art critic called Aurier. It is possible he never sold one of his paintings in his life time. When he discovered the sun in Arles, he also discovered energy. Yellow for him was the colour of hope, and in his last two years he painted almost a canvass a day. But hope ran out on July 27th , 1890 when he shot himself, aged 37. He was at this time six months out of a mental institution, where perhaps he experienced his greatest calm. Vincent compared himself to a stunted plant; damaged by the emotional frost of his childhood. 'Speaking with Vincent - which he insists on being called - was a privilege,' says Simon Parke. 'He's endlessly fascinating, contradictory, moving, funny, insightful and tragic. There's a fury in him; but also a great kindness. He found harmony in human relationships elusive; his love life was a painful shambles. But with colour, he was a harmonic genius, and he has much to say about this. And here's the thing: for a man who killed himself - he died in the arms of his brother on July 29th - spending time with him was never anything but life-affirming.'

Portugal was not always the best place for poets in the sixteenth century. Against the backdrop of an expanding empire, the country's annexation by Spain in 1580, and ongoing religious controversy, poets struggled to articulate their worth to rulers and patrons. This did not prevent them, however, from persisting in their craft. Indeed, many of their works reflected precisely on the question of what poetry could do and what, ultimately, its value was. The answers that poets like Luis de Camoes, Francisco de Sa de Miranda, Antonio Ferreira, and Diogo Bernardes offered to these questions, and which are explored in this book, ranged from lofty ideals to the more practical concerns of making ends meet when one depended on the whims of the powerful. This volume articulates a 'pragmatics of poetry' that combines literary analysis and book history with methods from sociology (network analysis, sociology of professions, valuation studies) to explore how poets thought about themselves and negotiated the value of their verse in the court, with patrons, or in the marketplace for books. It reveals how poets compared their work to that of lawyers and doctors and tried to set themselves apart as a special group of professionals. It shows how they threatened their patrons as well as flattered them and tried to turn their poetry from a gift into something like a commodity or service that had to be paid for. While poets set out to write in the most ambitious genres and to better their European rivals, they sometimes refused to spend months composing an epic without the prospect of reward. Their books of verse, when printed, were framed as linguistic propaganda as well as objects of material and aesthetic worth at a time when many said that non-devotional poetry was a sinful waste of time. This is a book about the various ways in which poets, metaphorically and more literally, tried to turn poetry and the paper it was written on into gold.

We all grow up somewhere. No two families are the same, but everyone experiences them in some way. What everyone doesn't do, however, is consider the effect of these experiences on the person they become. This lack of awareness can have significant consequences in their future relationships in the world. Forsaking the family, full of story and illustration, starts by considering the surprising approach of Jesus to his own family - in turns, rude, dismissive and warm. His family values would hardly be applauded today. The book then reflects on how we perceive, understand and grow from our family experiences. In his search for freedom, Jesus sought always the truth - even in the family, and even at the expense of people's feelings. He celebrated the good in family, but would not collude in manipulative and negative behaviour from his nearest and dearest. To what extent are we able to live in honest relationships? How free can we be in relating? Perhaps sometimes, you have to leave the family to find it. This is a book for those who want to come home.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a child prodigy who became an adult genius, died in debt and was buried in an unmarked grave in his adopted home of Vienna. Mozart needed no formal lessons in composition. He'd been composing since the age of five, and possessed astonishing musical memory, able to re-create whatever he heard or saw. He could mimic different styles and his travels, which were endless, gave him plenty to imitate whether sacred, dramatic or instrumental. As he said, 'I can pretty well adapt or conform myself to any style or composition.' He was not the tortured artist but could compose whilst playing billiards or skittles, ordering the musical ideas in his head so exactly that writing them down was a slightly mechanical affair, requiring little effort. The music was there in its entirety in his head. Mozart struggled with relationships, revealing a strong sense of abandonment beneath the surface. Quick to judge, he possessed a sharp manner himself, but saw only the upset that others caused him. He had a long list of foes and his battles with them he describes in much detail. A difficult relationship with his controlling father Leopold was partially offset by a happy marriage to Constanze, a genuine oasis in a world he found frustrating. Mozart was a phenomenal performer as well as composer, enjoying moments of great adulation. But these never turned into financial security. For this reason, he was a reluctant piano teacher throughout his life. 'Conversations with Mozart' is an imagined conversation with the man behind the music who died largely unnoticed at the age of 35. But while the questions are imagined, Mozart's words are not; they are all authentically his, taken from his many letters. He was the eternal child. As his sister Nannerl said, 'Outside of music he was, and remained, nearly always a child.' But he was a child with a seat at the very top composers' table; a conduit for the most perfectly shaped musical argument, sublime harmonies and with a deep understanding of drama and emotion. 'There's never a dull moment with Wolfgang, ' says Simon Parke. 'He's fascinating on the subject of music, and beguiling on the soap opera of his life. He understood music better than he understood himself, which brought suffering. But he was determined to be cheerful. Hope was always round the next corner for Wolfgang.'

The Enneagram is a time-honoured way of understanding personality types and human behavior. It is both ancient and modern. Developed over 1500 years by Sufi and Christian mystics, it was revised and extensively expanded in the 20th century by the disciplines and insights of Western psychology. It identifies nine types of personality, nine ways of being, describes how they interrelate and is widely used today as a perceptive guide to self-understanding. In this original and thought-provoking book 'Enneagram' unveils her insights in the form of letters to and from enquirers. These finely-drawn portraits of the nine faces of humanity will not only give you a deeper understanding of who you are, but will also guide you through the complex inner world of others.

Who was Jesus of Nazareth? Many admire his spiritual teachings; some go further and claim him as the messiah, while a few deny he ever existed at all. But everyone has an opinion about this obscure preacher who lived his brief life in one of the less significant regions of the Roman Empire; and who, in being crucified, died the traditional death for criminals and trouble-makers. Jesus lived in turbulent times. Under Roman rule, Judea was a hotbed of nationalist, political and religious interests, all vying for power. Jesus was caught in the middle of these, allied to none and ultimately reviled by all. 'My kingdom is not of this world, ' he said, though he agreed taxes should be paid to the Romans. 'Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.' He taught simply but challengingly, advocating love for our enemies, a spirit of forgiveness and respect for children. What else was new about Jesus? He spoke of a new way of being which he called 'the kingdom of God.' This was not a place but an inner state, and the doorway to this kingdom was trust in a heavenly father. As he would often say: 'Have anxiety about nothing.' It was a trust Jesus himself required in a life full of conflict; not least with his family who largely disowned him. 'Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?' he famously asked when they attempted to rein him in. In 'Conversations with Jesus of Nazareth', the questions are imagined, but the words of Jesus are not; they are authentically his, taken from the various records of his life in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Thomas. Jesus himself never wrote anything down, but in a culture of oral transmission, his words, deeds and stories were well-remembered, and it's not hard to see why. 'It's the shape of our heart which Jesus is interested in, ' says Simon Parke. 'This is what comes across when talking with him. It's not what we do that matters, but who we are, and that's why he upset the religious people of his day: he didn't give them anything to hide behind. He's not always easy company, I agree, but his life and his words - they have the undoubted ring of truth.'

Reader's note This is an abridged version of Swedenborg's original, which is about twice the length. When deciding what to omit, avoidance of repetition was usually the determining factor. Even in this edition he revisits his main themes frequently. The original numbering of the paragraphs has been maintained, however, to enable readers clearly to see which passages have been omitted. Swedenborg wrote this work in Latin, so it is now two languages away from his native Swedish, (though he could speak English well.) The only editing has been to abbreviate some of his sentences which can creak under the weight of multiple sub-clauses. Thus on occasion, what was originally one sentence might now be three, though the literary style remains that of Swedenborg. I have also brought some variety to the vocabulary, to free Swedenborg and his ideas from the constraints of the Latin text, and return them to the vivid colors of his visionary experience. The language has also been made inclusive, which I'm sure would have been the author's 21st century wish. But the overall purpose of this new edition is not in doubt: it is to make Swedenborg entirely clear, entirely fresh and yet entirely himself. Simon Parke. London 2010 Heaven and Hell These themes are visited often in 'Heaven and Hell', which was first published in 1758. It was the result of a series of 'out-of-body' experiences given to Swedenborg in which he saw the world beyond and spoke with spirits there. One of the most startling features of the next world is that it has a remarkable likeness to this one - only on a spiritual and not physical level. With Swedenborg playing the role of tourist guide, we discover that in the next life, space and time do not exist as we know them, but spirits there eat, sleep, talk, read books, work and celebrate just as humans do here; but they do so clothed in a spiritual rather than a natural body. Swedenborg's vivid descriptions of the people he meets and places he sees, both wonderful and terrible, can't help but stimulate our thoughts about both this life and the next. And there is a gripping description of the moments after death, when the human spirit leaves the body and enters the world of the spirits, before the journey to heaven or hell.

What does solitude mean to you? Albert Einstein once said: 'I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.' In his latest book Simon Parke, author of The Beautiful Life and One-Minute Mindfulness describes solitude as the active path to inner silence and takes us on an enthralling journey there. In a world of haste and distraction he commends the way of stillness and withdrawal where we can 'recover the power of alone'. 'It's a journey to our selves and a place we can call our own,' he says. 'It's here, away from the crowd that we reconnect with our inner knowing - so different to our outer knowing.' A capacity for silence is what distinguishes us as humans, yet many of us fear to go there. But there is nothing to fear in solitude and everything to gain. If you want to be still but wonder how, this book is the perfect friend.

When most think of Tolstoy, they think of the great author. 'War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina' brought him worldwide fame, and a good deal of money. Had he done nothing else in life, these two novels would have ensured him status and respect. Few others had written both a national epic and a great love story; and some might have been content with that. For his last thirty years, however, Tolstoy walked a different track. After his spiritual crisis, when he was 50, he exchanged his author's clothes for those of a prophet - a prophet who was to have a great influence on Gandhi amongst others. Through his prolific writing, he now became the scourge of the rich, the Church and the Government. Neither did he miss an opportunity to denounce both science and art. Darwin? Dostoyevsky? Shakespeare? No one was to be left standing. In 'Conversations with Leo Tolstoy', Simon Parke grants us the honour of sitting with the great man, towards the end of his life; and gives us the chance to chat with him. The conversation is imagined, but not Tolstoy's answers. This is Tolstoy is his own words, drawn from his extensive books, essays and letters; and the military, vegetarianism, marriage, non-violence, death, God and sex are all on the agenda. 'I want people to come away feeling they know Tolstoy,' says Simon Parke, who was keen to use only Tolstoy's authentic words. 'They will be become aware of his opinions certainly, for he was forthright in those. He had an opinion on everything! But I hope also that people leave with a sense of the man beneath the opinions. I don't always agree with him; but it is hard not to admire him. He was far from perfect, but as he says: just because he walks the road like a drunk, doesn't mean it's the wrong road.'

'The Imitation of Christ' first appeared 1418. It was published anonymously but spread quickly around Europe. A Latin manuscript from 1441 exists, but there was a German translation as early as 1434. A French translation appeared in 1447, a Spanish edition in 1482, and an Italian one in 1488. The first English translation appeared in 1503, which was just Book 4, but the other three books followed in the same year and a complete translation appeared in 1556. In 1663, an Arabic edition was printed in Rome, and in 1837, a Hebrew version printed in Frankfurt. It has since been translated into many languages, and has won for itself a variety of celebrity admirers. John Wesley and John Newton were men of the Evangelical wing of the Church yet both named this Catholic manual as important in their conversion, while General Gordon took it into battle with him. Thomas More, St Francis Xavier and Dr Johnson were other famous devotees. The work is comprised of four books, though they are not all found in all manuscripts, and neither are they always in the same order. This makes little practical difference to the reader, however. This manual of devotion is pitched at a challenging level of Christian experience, but does not offer an ordered journey. Like a merry-go-round, the same themes are visited again and again throughout the books; Thomas is a teacher who believes in repetition. Book 4 is unique in that it has a specific subject, the Eucharist, and explores our attitudes towards the bread and wine. But even here, the author weaves in themes familiar from the other three books: human worthlessness, the need for humility, advice on temptation and adversity, disdain for the attractions of the world, contempt for scholarship, sorrow for sin, forgiveness of perceived injustice, submission to God in all things and ardour for union with the life of Jesus in his death and resurrection. There is a manic-depressive feel to much of the writing, which can be disturbing for the modern reader. Although Thomas calls Christians to an equanimity that is neither too happy when things go well or too sad when things go badly, the author's own mood tends to be either one of extreme despair and self-hate or an ecstatic happiness at the sweetness of God and the joy to be found in him. To an extent, this mirrors the character of the God he describes who both loves us unendingly whilst also preparing eternal punishment for the unfaithful. Kempis offers no resolution to this paradox; but sensed in all he writes is the fire of personal dismantlement through which humans must walk in the cause of their spiritual development. Here is a radical and disturbing self-help book, penned for the 14th century monk. Thomas writes as a monk for monks, but clearly his passion and insights spill well beyond the cloistered world of the monastery. One writer called it 'The diary of a soul on its way to perfection,' which captures well the author's spiritual ambition both for himself and others. As he himself says in the second book, 'Disdain that which is superficial, dedicate yourself to your inner being and you shall see that the Kingdom of God grows inside you.' St Augustine was patron of Thomas' monastery and it was he who famously said, 'Oh God, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their place in you.' The restless Thomas a Kempis could not have agreed more.

In many ways, Meister Eckhart has had to wait seven centuries to be heard. Born in 13th century Germany, much of his life was spent in a monastery. 'Meister' means 'Master', and is an academic title from the University of Paris. An admired member of the Dominican Order, he was often sent to reform ailing priories. He was known as a spiritual counsellor; a safe haven for many who sought God in their life, but found themselves troubled by the state of the institutional church. He was best known, however, as a preacher - who used his native German language to startling effect. Eckhart preached a spiritual vision which distrusted both ritual and church dogma. Instead, he aimed at nothing less than the spiritual and psychological transformation of those given to his care. To this end, Eckhart made the disposition of the human heart the key to all things. 'Conversations with Meister Eckhart' is an imagined conversation with this 13th century mystic, around such themes as detachment, which he famously placed above love; spirituality, God, the soul and suffering. But while the conversation is imagined, Eckhart's words are not; they are authentically his own. One of his controversial claims was that God cannot be described. Indeed, in one sermon, he went so far as to say 'We must take leave of God.' 'The church became very hostile towards him,' says Simon Parke, 'accusing him of heresy; and he spent his last days on trial before the pope. They also tried to ensure he'd be forgotten when he died, and nearly succeeded. But he's more popular now than ever.' Eckhart's teaching is an adventure, not a system; a call, not a creed. The depth and universality of his work means it can be contained by no established religion, but draws to itself seekers of truth from all backgrounds. 'Here we have a teaching open to all, but possessed by none,' says Parke. 'And therefore free like a butterfly, in the garden of the soul. Its perhaps my most challenging and rewarding conversation.'