If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" then surely we are also permitted doubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.

How do you live with evil? Art is traditionally - certainly with my secular background - the answer, but art is very self-referential, whereas religion claims to go beyond the bounds of human existence.

If you don't have dreams, how do you maneuver reality? Where do you get the ideas to change reality if not from dreams?

I can't live for more than four years outside of Canada. I'm Canadian, so ultimately that is my reference point.

High calls low and low calls high. I tell you, if you were in such dire straits as I was, you too would elevate your thoughts. The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar.

That's what fiction is about, isn't it, the selective transforming of reality? The twisting of it to bring out its essence?

Repetition is important in the training not only of animals but also of humans.