Foreword

‘Letters to my sister’ encapsulates my philosophy; what I have learnt through a combination of perseverant, passionate study and life experiences. The topics explored are many and various, topics which have fascinated the mind of men since time immemorial (old age, death, change, self-development, awareness, etc.).

They are, however, all underpinned by two recurring themes; the endeavour to reconnect ourselves to the Ultimate Source and the idea of Balance. I feel it is the right time to share my thoughts with whoever may happen to read them; someone may find it useful or perhaps even life-changing. I endeavour to speak to everyone; hence the mixture of a more colloquial language with some ‘specialist’ vocabulary.

I have decided to adopt the structure of a collection of letters for several reasons. First, I do miss letter writing. Our world today does not know the sense of expectancy that a person used to feel whilst awaiting an answer from a dear one. Everything today is much more simultaneous and not much thought is placed in what one writes. In writing letters, one takes his time; he removes himself from his surroundings and focuses only on the task at hand, trying to maximise what he wants to say in the limited space he has at his disposal.

Secondly, such an overall structure helps itself very well to the tackling of several topics (at times very different among themselves) whilst maintaining an underlying thread which unites them all.

Finally, I have modelled myself on one of the pieces of literature which has influenced me the most: Seneca’s Letters to Lucilius, to which I owe so much of whom I am and where I am now.