The theological virtue of hope is the patient and trustful willingness to live without closure, without resolution, and still be content and even happy because our Satisfaction is now at another level, and our Source is beyond ourselves.

Change is not what we expect from religious people. They tend to love the past more than the present or the future.

If you work with such people almost on the level of spiritual direction, you see that they are people who prefer a world view of order and even punitiveness. And for some reason, there's a feeling that the male psyche is going to give that to them. And if that's your view of religion, which it is for many people, if they've never come to the mystical level, religion is for social order and to maintain social order.

I decided years ago that if I'm going to keep teaching contemplation, then the last years of my life should be contemplative.

What we know about God is important, but what we do with what we know about God is even more important.

Most Christian 'believers' tend to echo the cultural prejudices and worldviews of the dominant group in their country, with only a minority revealing any real transformation of attitudes or consciousness. It has been true of slavery and racism, classism and consumerism and issues of immigration and health care for the poor.

Our job as conscious humans is to bring the beauty and goodness of everything to full consciousness, to full delight, to full awareness.