To be in the mainline is to have a history and not simply to be an amalgam, a community church of who knows what that came from who knows where.

There was no time anymore to be quiet or still or pray. So, in many ways, that's what led to my downward spin.

The boundaries became constrictive in what I was doing, and if my faith grew, it was because I pressed some of the boundaries in ways I hadn't felt comfortable or responsible doing that before.

Because I'm a "strong person," the symptoms hit me by surprise. It was, as I write in the book, stinging in my eyes after Sunday that I thought was an allergy, until one day I sat in the car and decided to just let my eyes tear up so that whatever was in them would come out, and what came out were tears that wouldn't stop. It was literally a physical reaction that was my first indication there was anything wrong.

The great wisdom traditions of the world all recognize that the main impediment to living a life of meaning is being self-absorbed.

If God is about putting God ahead of myself then I've just quit being religious, because that's what got me into such deep trouble.

You can create an intimate community of about 20 or 25 people, and beyond that you're into a different kind of relationship.