The more you become a connoisseur of gratitude, the less you are a victim of resentment, depression, and despair.

When you genuinely lose your illusions, you begin to marvel at things, because you don't have the answers any more.

If we had a better understanding of the ways we think about enemies, we might be able to think of more rational ways of settling conflict.

The spiritual journey is one that we must take "alone together," in the same way that a good marriage involves a dance between solitude and communion. The life of the spirit entails a continuous alternation between retreating into oneself and going out into the world: it's an inward-outward journey. There is a solitary part to it, but that solitude helps us to develop richer and more in-depth relationships with our friends, our children, our community, and the political world.

There has always been a part of me that saw wilderness and risk-taking as the path to freedom.

To love is to return to a home we never left, to remember who we are.

There is a saying in Bali: "We have no art. We do everything as beautifully as possible." This reflects my philosophy of practice. I try to remember daily what a gift it is to have the privilege of living in this wondrous world.