I have no idea about what death is, but because I have been in association with it so intimately, I have a much greater sense of the value of life and of what life can be.

Our wounds are our sources of growth.

Illiness could be considered a Western form of meditation.

When you listen generously to people they can hear the truth in themselves, often for the first time.

Of course love is never earned. It is a grace we give one another. Anything we need to earn is only approval.

Most people have come to prefer certain of lifes experiences and deny and reject others, unaware of the value of the hidden things that may come wrapped in plain and even ugly paper. In avoiding all pain and seeking comfort at all costs, we may be left without intimacy or compassion; in rejecting change and risk we often cheat ourselves of the quest; in denying our suffering we may never know our strength or our greatness

The sacred lives beyond labels and judgment, in the wood-of-no-names.