“This is a book about getting naked—not physically, but spiritually. It’s about stripping away the symbols and status of public religion—the Sunday-dress version people often call “organized religion.” And it’s about attending to the well-being of the soul clothed only in naked human skin.”

“Spirituality is about being awake. It’s the attempt to transcend the mundane, sleepwalking experience of life we all fall into, to tap into the wonder of being a conscious and grateful thing in the midst of an astonishing universe. It doesn’t require religion. Religion can, in fact, and often does, blunt our awareness by substituting false (and dare I say inferior) wonders for real ones. It’s a fine joke on ourselves that most of what we call spirituality is actually about putting ourselves to sleep.”

“Even if you’ve taken off every stitch of clothing, you still have your secrets, your history, your true name. It’s hard to be really naked. You have to work hard at it. Just getting into a bath isn’t being naked, not really. It’s just showing skin.”

“And when I don’t feel it, it’s pointless.Think about getting up it’s pointless.Think about eating it’s pointless.Think about dressing it’s pointless.Think about speaking it’s pointless.Think about dying only it’s totallyfucking pointless.”

“The point is that being a minority isn't only about the color of your skin or your religion. it's about not fitting in, being on the outside.”

“Spirituality is for people. It’s not just for those who you might have read about in books, it’s for people.”