In the degree that we remember and retell our stories and create new ones we become the authors, the authorities, of our own lives.

To be on a quest is nothing more or less than to become an asker of questions.

The spiritual mind is always metaphorical. Spiritual thinking is poetic thinking. It's always trying to put a very diaphanous experience into words, realizing all the while that words are inadequate.

To a large extent, the aged in our society are ghettoized. Old people are seen as useless, bypassed by history, old-fashioned, in the way. So, not surprisingly, when we reach the official mark of old age, we're supposed to go gently into that good night, to get off center stage and hand over the spotlight. Old age is also surrounded by shame - the myth of impotence and inability.

What shapes our lives are the questions we ask, refuse to ask, or never think to ask.

I try to steer away from high metaphysical belief because I think we humans do best when we realize that we don't know all that much.

I've spent my life cultivating knowledge of myself. But the more I know myself, the more utterly mysterious I become.