The genius of religions is that they structure the inner life.

As victims of hurt, we frequently don't bring up what ails us, because so many wounds look absurd in the light of day.

It is the most ambitious and driven among us who are the most sorely in need of having our reckless hopes dampened through immersive dousings in the darkness which religions have explored. This is a particular priority for secular Americans, perhaps the most anxious and disappointed people on earth, for their nation infuses them with the most extreme hopes about what they may be able to achieve in their working lives and relationships.

What is fascinating about marriage is why anyone wants to get married.

Intuition is unconscious accumulated experience informing judgement in real time.

We feel something, and reach out for the nearest phrase or hum with which to communicate, but which fails to do justice to what has induced us to do so....We stay on the outside of our impressions, as if staring at them through a frosted window, superficially related to them, yet estranged from whatever has eluded casual definition.

Choosing a spouse and a choosing career: the two great decisions for which society refuses to set up institutional guidance.