"Mount Athos, or else the Holy Mountain. Its name includes two words: the word mountain—something you can climb with your feet, and the word holy—which you can 'ascend' through your prayer. On the mountain, you discover peaks. In the inner ascent, the caves reveal themselves to you. The caves of the mountain hide much more than what the peak reveals: for the caves are hidden, while the peaks are visible. Here you could hear what cannot be said and see what cannot be seen. Each hermitage is like a deep well. The naturalists say that from the bottom of a well, you can see the stars in the middle of the day. The walls of the well absorb the sun's rays that reflect on them, and the hermitage absorbs every sound, image, or worldly concern, allowing the ascetic to hear, see, and think clearly without distraction... What exactly is an ascetic and what does the ascetic life, or the solitary life, mean for the case? What does a saint look like and what does he do and say? Can the human being surpass what is humanly possible? Can the absurdity or the illogic of the madman be greater and more logical than the logic of man? All these questions, and many more, are the signs that the author follows in his spiritual quest as he walks the paths of Mount Athos, descending the inner way of the spirit, climbing to the highest position on earth...