"There’s a lipstick mark in my copy of God in Search of Man from when I was so overwhelmed by this idea of radical amazement that I let the book drop from my hands. I was thinking then of the experience of being in deep forest, where it is both so very quiet—absent the noise of people and traffic—yet also so wholly alive with sounds—the presence of the trees, the birds, and the wind. Prayer also allows us to voice that sheer gratitude we feel just to be alive.

"Furthermore, Heschel explained that the very purpose of worship was to become aware of those moments in which we are no longer locked within the confines of our own needs and desires, but rather united with the whole of life. In prayer, we are attempting to rise above ourselves, to transcend what we are capable of doing alone, to seek that which is more meaningful than our passing existence."