There’s nothing I can do to bring me closer to or farther from the infinite love of God, I thought. There are only things I can do that can increase or decrease my awareness of that love. “Sin” wasn’t the “bad thing,” it was unconsciousness.*

I could stop hoping for who they might be tomorrow and just say yes to who they were today. This seemed more holy to me. The Jesus I knew didn’t go around wagging his finger or condemning people. He ate with sinners and thieves. He knew, and He loved. That’s the funny thing. I felt far more Christlike when I stopped calling myself a Christian.

I could finally put down those heavy bags. Up until that point, every single person I met outside church was just another person going to hell, and all that quiet condemnation took a lot of energy. Now that energy was freed up to relax and start trying to actually appreciate people—especially people of different faiths—for who they were without

When our spirituality is tied to a symbol, even a beloved one like a Christ or a Buddha, you are limited to thinking about that symbol. It’s an object you perceive with your mind. You are always removed from it, looking from the outside, two instead of one. But the invitation from the divine is to more than a symbol. The invitation is to transcend

It’s not about certainty. Losing things, changing how and what you believe, is all part of it. It was the plan all along.

Barry Taylor, the road manager for AC/DC, put it this way: “God is the name of the blanket we throw over the mystery to give it shape.”

has never, ever, had Chinese food without pretending that his fortune cookie says, “Help, Chinese cook locked in kitchen.”

Sit with a straight spine and focus on your breath. Thoughts will come and go, notice them without attachment or judgment. Try not to expect anything. Don’t compare, don’t anticipate. Just point your attention to how it feels to breathe.

Having the experiences and the sensations but not identifying with them is at the core of Ram Dass’s message. He teaches that instead of saying, “I’m depressed,” you could say, “There is depression.” Like, I’m over here, looking at it. Wow. That’s a heavy one. I don’t know if people get out of depressions like that one. But he asks, “Is the part of