Thus when I have to summarize naturalized spirituality in a single phrase, it is this: the thoughtful love of life.

Indeed, some kitsch seems to be flawed by its very perfection, its technical virtuosity and its precise execution, its explicit knowledge of the tradition

Trust is built step by step, commitment by commitment, on every level.

The trumped-up charges against kitsch and sentimentality should disturb us and make us suspicious.

The dollar is currently the principal reserve currency in the world.

There is a European Central Bank, of course, established and it has the structure similar to the Federal Reserve system, not precisely the same but similar.

What gives life meaning is a form of rebellion, rebellion against reason, an insistence on believing passionately what we cannot believe rationally. The meaning of life is to be found in passion—romantic passion, religious passion, passion for work and for play, passionate commitments in the face of what reason knows to be meaningless.