The secular world is more spiritual than it thinks, just as the ecclesiastical world is more materialist than it cares to acknowledge.

Praying privately in churches, I began to discover that heaven was my true home and also that it was here and now, woven into this life.

My mother was a modern woman with a limited interest in religion. When the sun set and the fast of the Day of Atonement ended, she shot from the synagogue like a rocket to dance the Charleston.

I didn't want to be on the losing side. I was fed up with Jewish weakness, timidity and fear. I didn't want any more Jewish sentimentality and Jewish suffering. I was sickened by our sad songs.

I was not comfortable worshipping another Jew.

For a devotee or lover, the being, worshipped or loved, will always be the only one for her or him.

For some years I deserted religion in favour of Marxism. The republic of goodness seemed more attainable than the Kingdom of God.