The dedicated religious life of monks and nuns has a fascination for many of us-at a distance. We live in the world we have, and it’s hard to figure out how to do it in a God-filled way. The World is Our Cloister is about the new religious life; a life to which Protestant, Catholic, Hindu or those with no label can relate. It is a guide to living the devotional life, not behind the walls of a monastery, but in the world. It’s about engagement in the world as well as withdrawal, the balance between a life of action and one of contemplation; how to be in the world but not of it. It is also a guide to the mystical experience at the heart of all religion. Beyond the barriers of belief and practice lies the stark and simple reality of relating to God: the practice of the presence of God .