Frederick Franck is a bridge-builder whose marvelous combination of art and spirituality points to a new way of being. In this paperback, the writer and transreligious visionary presents his confessions on a journey inward; two Buddhist-Christian miracle plays; and reflections on faith, belief, and nihilism. Franck traces his early fascination with Christianity and the man on the cross, who for him was "an irresistible Presence." But later in his life, the author welcomed all religions and especially Zen Buddhism which encouraged him to give "fearless attention to what is." To demonstrate this openness he gives the following example:"When in my backyard watching the stars, when feeling my own transiency as equivalent with my cat Sunyata, I feel in the Buddhist mode. I see the Buddha's all encompassing smile.
"When I read the newspaper, see the horrors perpetrated on human beings, I hear the Christ's agonized cry: 'Why has thou forsaken me?'
"When I experience an act of great sweetness and humanness, my eyes get moist as at Emmaus and I catch myself making the sign of the cross, as I did when I a child."
Franck's two plays are contemporary versions of medieval Christian dramas: attempts to ponder the puzzles of suffering, death, and the meaning of life. The author has great respect for mystery — both of God and of the human adventure. These meditations are as far as one can get from Oberammergau, which Franck regards as a vulgarization of the Christ myth. In the concluding essay, he salutes Christianity and Buddhism as life-affirming alternatives to the nihilism afoot in a world that tries to pass off war as justifiable.