I Was A Lousy Nun. I Couldn't

Pain Is Something That's Common To Human Life. When We Ignore It, We Aren't Engaging In The Whole Reality, And The Pain Begins To Fester.

Religion Is A Practical Discipline And In The 17th Century In The West, We Turned It Onto A Head Trip. But It's Like Dancing, Or Swimming, Or Driving, Which You Can't Learn By Texts. You Have To Get Into The Car And Learn How To Manipulate The Vehicle.

Theology Is-- Or Should Be-- A Species Of Poetry,which Read Quickly Or Encountered In A Hubbub Of Noise Makes No Sense. You Have To Open Yourself To A Poem With A Quiet, Receptive Mind, In The Same Way You Might Listen To A Difficult Piece Of Music... If You Seize Upon A Poem And Try To Extort Its Meaning Before You Are Ready, It Remains Opaque. If You Bring Your Own Personal Agenda To Bear Upon It, The Poem Will Close Upon Itself Like A Clam, Because You Have Denied Its Unique And Separate Identity, Its Inviolate Holiness.

Jewish, Christian, And Muslim Theologians Have Insisted For Centuries That God Does Not Exist And That There Is 'nothing' Out There; In Making These Assertions, Their Aim Was Not To Deny The Reality Of God But To Safeguard God's Transcendence.

If Your Child Dies, Or You Witness A Terrible Natural Disaster, Yes, You Certainly Want A Scientific Explanation As To What's Happened. But Science Can't Help You To Find Meaning, Help You Deal With That Turbulence Of Your Grief, Rage, And Dismay.