I think the worst atmosphere for a six-year-old is one in which there are no expectations whatsoever. That is, it's worse for the child to grow up in a vacuum where "whatever you do is alright, I'm sure you'll succeed." That is a statement of disinterest. It says, "I really have no fantasies for you at all."

Reconnecting to the animal means getting to a more sensitive, more artful and more humorous place in the psyche.

Aptitude can show calling, but it isn't the only indicator. Ineptitude or dysfunction may reveal calling more than talent, curiously enough.

Character forms a life regardless of how obscurely that life is lived and how little light falls on it from the stars.

Follow the lead of your symptoms, for there’s usually a myth in the mess, and a mess is an expression of soul.

Attention is the cardinal psychological virtue. On it depends perhaps the other cardinal virtues, for there can hardly be faith nor hope nor love for anything unless it first receives attention.

We need to work on the world so it will not be so oppressive.