“The reason why Jesus got into such severe trouble was that he tried to bring into the present a construction of the world, of God and of the self that belonged to a still-remote future. He was much too far ahead of his time, and suffered accordingly.”

“The future belongs to God, and it is only he who reveals it, under extraordinary circumstances. How do I guess at the future? Based on the omens of the present. The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about the future, and live ach day according to the teachings, confident that God loves his children. Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity.”

“I think maybe part of what got him into trouble was that he did too much thinking. Sometimes he tried too hard to make sense of the world, to figure out why people were bad to each other so often.”

“He was too well accustomed to suffering, and had suffered too much where he was, to bewail the prospect of change very severely.”

“The far-sighted, perfect love that seeks perfection of it's object does not weakly shrink from present, transient, suffering. Our Father's love is too true to be weak. Because He loves His children, He chastises them that they may be partakes of His holiness. With this glorious end in view, He spares not for their crying. Made perfect through sufferings, as the Elder Brother [Jesus] was, the sons of God are trained up to obedience and brought to glory through much tribulation. -- Streams in the Dessert, p. 10”

“He read a lot. He used a lot of big words. I think maybe part of what got him into trouble was that he did too much thinking. Sometimes he tried too hard to make sense of the world, to figure out why people were bad to each other so often. A couple of times I tried to tell him it was a mistake to get too deep into that kind of stuff, but Alex got stuck on things. He always had to know the absolute right answer before he could go on to the next thing.”