If Professional Religious Leaders Can [no Longer]

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.

In Order To Always Treat Others, As We Would Wish To Be Treated Ourselves, We Have To Learn About Each Other. Not Just Relying On An Op-ed Piece We May Have Read Here, Or A Half-remembered Interview On The Television Program There That Happens To Chime With Our Own Views.

The Constant Reprimands Made Me Hyperconscious Of My Own Performance, And So Instead Of Getting Rid Of Self, I Had Become Embedded In The Egoism I Was Supposed To Transcend. Now I Was Beginning To Understand That A Silence That Is Not Clamorous With Vexation And Worried Self-regard Can Become Part Of The Texture Of Your Mind, Can Seep Into You, Moment By Moment, And Gradually Change You.

From The Rabbis Of The Early Talmudic Age I Learned That There Is Never A Last Word On God. There's, You Always Continue To Question. Even God Himself Could Be Questioned And You Can Keep Arguing With One Another And There Will Be No End To This Conversation About The Divine Because No Human Expression Of God Can Be Ultimate.

A Gentleman Is Not Born But Crafted. He Had To Work On Himself In The Same Way As A Sculptor Shaped A Rough Stone And Made It A Thing Of Beauty.