The religions of the world are luminous in their individuality, and they have valuable social and soulmaking functions. Surely someday we will quit killing each other over their different strategies.

Ramana Maharshi and Rumi would agree: the joy of being human is in uncovering the core we already are, the treasure buried in the ruin.

I think we all have a core that's ecstatic, that knows and that looks up in wonder. We all know that there are marvelous moments of eternity that just happen. We know them.

When you meet a new friend, the world has more light in it, doesn't it? Things become more spontaneous, and more full of laughing and freedom and novelty.

It's such a foolish thing to argue about names, when what we're doing is all one thing.

Just being sentient and in a body with the sun coming up is a state of rapture.

Longing becomes more poignant if in the distance you can't tell whether your friend is going away or coming back. The pushing away pulls you in.

Anything you grab hold of on the bank breaks with the river's pressure. When you do things from your soul, the river itself moves through you. Freshness and a deep joy are signs of the current.

It's a beautiful lucid dream that has language that I can fiddle with.

There's some sort of exchange that goes on between human beings that is one of the highest things we do.

I had never heard of Rumi until Robert Bly handed me this book and he said, ah, “These poems need to be released from their cages.”

Love your life. That's a direct route to something people used to call "happiness".

All the armies of Europe combined could not by force make a track upon the Blue Ridge, or take a drink from the Ohio. If we are to be destroyed, we must do it ourselves.

Self-denial is indulgence of a propensity to forego.

The reason you often get in comedy is because you're not getting laid.

Many people feel their outer self isn't the whole self.

When Mutti and Vati came in I didn't speak to them. I just unfurled the CAT MOLESTERS banner I had made.

Love is like the measles, all the worse when it comes late.

I've learned that it's important to spend some time in a relationship with yourself and not being defined by your partner.

Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, and it holds the world together.

Kevin and Annette... I wanted them to do it together. They clearly wanted to work with each other.