Meditation at the Edge of Askja

The text of this book deals with the individual experience that any traveller undergoes when faced with the unfathomable, sheer enormity of Mount Askja in the centre of Iceland. Using this deeply inspirational experience as a starting point, Pall Skulason goes on to draw a range of conclusions concerning the position of humankind not only in nature and the universe, but also in the 'man-made' world, for example in an enormous city like Paris. Askja strikes the observer as an independent world, and opens new insights into our overall understanding of reality. As Skulason comments, 'A natural experience of this kind brings any human being back down to earth, and provides them with an invaluable connection with a form of reality upon which all modern human society - a society of consumerism, stress and complicated plans made in the name of the race for material value - eventually comes down to rest. There are innumerable forces at work in Askja; natural forces that could break loose at any moment and cause human beings untold damage.' It is experiences such as this that have drawn - and continue to draw - thousands of foreign travellers to Iceland.