In every sacred tradition, mountains are the dwelling-places of the gods and destinations of spiritual journeying. This text describes the sacred traditions which attach to mountains in every continent of the world, and explores through discussions with travellers, climbers and adventurers the transforming effect of mountains on their own lives in the modern world. The themes that emerge tell of the most deeply felt personal journeys through new insights and turning points - finding freedom of worship, celebration and meditation; experiences of returning to the source and of spiritual transformation through loneliness, darkness and suffering; discovering God's earthly paradise; being overwhelmed by a sense of one's liberating universal wisdom, but also knowing fear in the encounter with the sacred.
Made largely of interviews with ordinary people who found being in the mountains to be an extraordinary experience that opened them in a new way to various aspects of life and themselves. Organized by continents the particular mountain chains are on.