No tribal rite has yet been recorded which attempts to keep winter from descending; on the contrary: the rites all prepare the community to endure, together with the rest of nature, the season of the terrible cold.

What is a god? A god is a personification of a motivating power of a value system that functions in human life and in the universe.

What if we choose not to do the things we are supposed to do? The principal gain is a sense of an authentic act - and an authentic life. It may be a short one, but it is an authentic one, and that's a lot better than those short lives full of boredom. The principal loss is security. Another is respect from the community. But you gain the respect of another community, the one that is worth having the respect of.

If you want to change the world, you have to change the metaphor.

Poetry comes out of an elite experience, the experience of people whose ears are opened to the song of the universe.

All life stinks and you must embrace that with compassion.

The purpose of the journey is compassion. When you have come past the pairs of opposites, you have reached compassion.