The greatest enemy of ordinary daily goodness and joy is not imperfection, but the demand for some supposed perfection or order.

Pain that is not transformed is transmitted.

Jesus is never upset at sinners; he is only upset with people who do not think they are sinners.

All great spirituality is about what we do with our pain. If we do not transform our pain, we will transmit it to those around us.

People who think they can just do a non-stop flight to mystical, non-dual thinking, to get it out without going through the process, are usually not right. That's airy-fairy thinking. They have to wait until they are hurt themselves, or they are cheated, or lied to or betrayed, and they will see that their non-dual thinking is not tested, or truly a gift of the spirit. It's simply fuzzy thinking.

If you're the head of the organization that has to pay salaries, bills and keep the money coming, you have to be concerned with pleasing the middle. I find it means you have to dumb down your message to something less radical than the gospel. It can't be the real gospel. It has to be "churchiness" that pleases everyone, so they come back next Sunday and keep putting money in the collection plate. I don't mean that in a cynical way. I just think it's what happens.

Religion is one of the safest places to hide from God.