Imagine a man besottedly in love: he won't waste time speculating whether other women equally merit his affection.

A nation can assume that the addition of the words "under God" to its pledge of allegiance gives evidence that its citizens actually believe in God whereas all it really proves is that they believe in "believing" in God

People are not losing their religious needs, but they are going to three places to get their needs met. One is to conservative churches, which, for all their social benightedness, nevertheless do present their congregations with a different view of reality. Second, they are going to Asian religions. Third, they are going to the New Age, which when I'm feeling cynical I refer to as "New Age frivolity," because some of it is rather flaky.

...the only thing that continues is the consequences of our action.

The first koan do not have rational answers. They are techniques devised over the millennia for triggering an actual experience.

Poetry is a special use of language that opens onto the real. The business of the poet is truth telling, which is why in the Celtic tradition no one could be a teacher unless he or she was a poet.

...the single destination of sanctity could admit of so many different avenues leading to it.