An infinite question is often destroyed by finite answers.

We do not know and cannot tell when the spirit is with us. Great talent or small, it makes no difference. We are caught within our own skins, our own sensibilities; we never know if our technique has been adequate to the vision.

Plato spoke of the necessity for divine madness in the poet. It is a frightening thing to open oneself to this strange and dark side of the divine; it means letting go our sane self control, that control which gives us the illusion of safety. But safety is only an illusion, and letting it go is part of listening to the silence, and to the spirit.

When the bright angel dominates, out comes a great work of art, a Michelangelo David or a Beethoven symphony.

Refusing to accept God's love because we're unworthy - of course we're unworthy! - is another golden calf.

Believing takes practice.

The unending paradox is that we do learn through pain.