But I also say this: that light is an invitation to happiness, and that happiness, when it's done right, is a kind of holiness, palpable and redemptive.

I think one thing is that prayer has become more useful, interesting, fruitful, and... almost involuntary in my life.

So this is how you swim inward. So this is how you flow outwards. So this is how you pray.

The woods that I loved as a child are entirely gone. The woods that I loved as a young adult are gone. The woods that most recently I walked in are not gone, but they're full of bicycle trails.

Animals praise a good day, a good hunt. They praise rain if they're thirsty. That's prayer. They don't live an unconscious life, they simply have no language to talk about these things. But they are grateful for the good things that come along.

I read Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet, every day.