Because we lack a divine Center our need for security has led us into an insane attachment to things.

And so I urge you: carry on an ongoing conversation with God about the daily stuff of life, a little like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. For now, do not worry about "proper" praying, just talk to God.

Our problem is that we assume prayer is something to master the way we master algebra or auto mechanics. But when praying, we come "underneath," where we calmly and deliberately surrender control and become incompetent.

Loneliness is inner emptiness. Solitude is inner fulfillment.

Silence is one of the deepest Disciplines of the Spirit, simply because it puts the stopper on all self-justificat ion

The person who does not seek the kingdom first does not seek it at all, regardless of how worthy the idolatry that he or she has substituted for it.

It is Stoicism that demands a closed universe, not the Bible.