Although I was raised in a profoundly secular home, I had a belief, an awareness of God, from as far back as I can remember.

Everything that happens in life is there to aid our spiritual growth.

From the age of three on, as far back as I remember, I just knew there was a God behind everything.

In and through community lies the salvation of the world.

What people get admired and appreciated for in community are their soft skills: their sense of humor and timing, their ability to listen, their courage and honesty, their capacity for empathy.

Abandon the urge to simplify everything, to look for formulas and easy answers, and to begin to think multidimensionally, to glory in the mystery and paradoxes of life, not to be dismayed by the multitude of causes and consequences that are inherent in each experience -- to appreciate the fact that life is complex.

But for the first time, I had a religious identity. I had come home. And so I called myself a Zen Buddhist at the age of 18.