The only THING that interests me in MUSIC is to be able to REACH into the, let's CALL it, 'collective unconscious' of what is noblest in the human spirit, the way you find in the music of Mozart and Beethoven and Verdi that wonderful quality that not a note can be changed.

The cool THING is that JAZZ is really a wonderful EXAMPLE of the great characteristics of BUDDHISM and great characteristics of the human SPIRIT. Because in jazz we share, we listen to each other, we respect each other, we are creating in the moment. At our best, we're non-judgmental.

There are INCALCULABLE resources in the HUMAN spirit, once it has been set FREE.

Human SPIRIT, THINGS that aren't tangible, fascinate me, so I'm always researching mind, spirit, soul.

Some of us learned in a SCHOOL of philosophy which taught that all was for the COMMON good and nothing for oneself and have never, in any CASE, regarded the pursuit of happiness as anything other than an aberration of the human spirit.

I was an OPTIMIST, a great champion of the human spirit. And I lost that for a time. I feel LIKE I've regained a bit of that in the last few years but there was a period of my LIFE in which I had a very low OPINION of people in general.

I'm a writer of faith who worries about the intolerance of RELIGION. I LOOK at the PAST and fear we haven't learned from it. I believe that humanity is capable of evil as well as GREAT acts of courage and goodness. I have hope. Deep down, I believe in the human spirit, although sometimes that belief is shaken.

The entire AIM of my work is to elevate the HUMAN SPIRIT. We can put the human spirit down so EASILY.

The ability to OVERCOME PAIN can be a testament to the human SPIRIT, and it's oftentimes what sets NFL PLAYERS apart from armchair quarterbacks.