“Even though you can't finally grasp me, guess what? I still want to be known.”

“I don't just want a piece of you and a piece of your life. Even if you were able, which you are not, to give me the biggest piece, that is not what I want. I want all of you and all of every part of you and your day.”

“Nobody knows what horrors I have saved the world from 'cuz people can't see what never happened. All evil flows from independence, and independence is your choice. If I were to simply revoke all the choices of independence, the world as you know it would cease to exist and love would have no meaning. This world is not a playground where I keep all my children free from evil. Evil is the chaos of this age that you brought to me, but it will not have the final say. Now it touches everyone that I love, those who follow me and those who don't. If I take away the consequences of people's choices, I destroy the possibilities of love. Love that is forced is no love at all.”

“Why would the God of the universe want to be submitted to me?'Because we want you to join us in our circle of relationship. I don't want slaves to my will; I want brothers and sisters who will share life with me.”

“Tony stood up and began pacing the room. “Jack,” heconfessed, “my life that I defined as a success is actually a totalshambles, and yet you’re suggesting that underneath it all, thereis an unimaginable beauty? Are you telling me that I matter?That even though I am this ugly, ordinary-looking root, that I wasdesigned and intended to express a unique and extraordinaryflower? That’s what you are telling me… right?”Jack nodded, again removing his pipe for a puff.“And I assume,” Tony continued, “this is true about everyhuman being, each person born—”“Conceived!” interrupted Jack.“Each person ‘conceived’ on the planet, each one living inlife-before, each one is a root in which a flower is waiting?Right?”Again Jack nodded”

“You want to know why I live here, in this ‘hovel’; I think thatis the word you used, based on your civilized and educatedperception?”There was no use denying it. “Yes, I was wondering. Sowhy?”“It was the best you could give me.” She didn’t turn from herwork.“Excuse me? The best ‘I’ could give you? I had nothing to dowith this. I could build you something much better, but not this.How could you think…?”“It’s all right, Anthony! I have no expectations. I am grateful tohave found even this small place in your heart. I travel light”—she smiled as if at some secret thought—“and I make my homeinside the simplest gifts. There is nothing to feel bad or ashamedabout. I am thoroughly grateful, and being here is a joy!”“So… because this is me, my world somehow, I have onlymade this small place for you?”

“I am what some would say 'holy, and wholly other than you.' The problem is that many folks try to grasp some sense of who I am by taking the best version of themselves, projecting that to the nth degree, factoring in all the goodness they can perceive, which often isn't much, and then call that God. And while it may seem like a noble effort, the truth is that it falls pitifully short of who I really am. I'm not merely the best version of you that you can think of. I am far more than that, above and beyond all that you can ask or think.”