The language of paradox is written all over creation. It is there for us to read and discern. When we do attend to it, it seems to make life more tolerable, more bearable; dare I suggest, more meaningful. When we fail to attend, we expose ourselves to forces that can be cruel and devastating. Apparently, we do have a choice. The big problem, however, is that the choice seems to lead in directions that are alien to our imperial Western consciousness, to our rational ways of perceiving and acting, to our prized sense of being in control of the contingent nature of the world we inhabit. To opt for the other choice feels like betraying or abandoning all we have worked so hard for, all that constitutes the very foundations of a civilized world.
—from the book Paschal Paradox: Reflections on a Life of Spiritual Evolution, by Diarmuid O’Murchu, page 72