In Letters from the Other Side of Silence, Joseph Little chronicles his search for a meaningful life after slipping into a mystical state atop Pacaya, an active volcano in Guatemala. The journey takes him to a reclusive Russian mystic meditating in the Himalayas, an American theologian in St. Louis who helps him turn the quest inward, and eventually to an Agent Orange orphanage in Vietnam, where Little begins to realize the wholeness of a life that balances the inner fire of wordless prayer with the satisfaction of serving others.