Being religious or not, being spiritual or not, is not a principal concern to me for myself, but prioritizing Love in being and action, is.

*AREM .

After I left the convent, I began to reevaluate questions about God and meaning. I have great respect for the ancient intuition sometimes expressed in Judaism and Buddhism in which practitioners refuse to give a name to mysteries they experience. It seems to me that we damage ourselves and our communities when we claim infallible conclusions based on subjective spiritual experience or ancient tradition. I don't consider myself a religious person today. I believe in living life to the fullest. I try to live mindfully and to treat others and myself well. I believe in the power of love and in the importance of exploring the world around us and of speaking honestly about what we find. Until we can be honest about our own experiences—the joys and the pains, the mistakes and the triumphs—we won't really know how to make our communities better.

*Interview with author Mary Johnson, at www.oprah.com . Mary Johnson is author of the book An Unquenchable Thirst: Following Mother Teresa in Search of Love, Service, and an Authentic Life. Mary's search led her from the vowed life and the Catholic church, after twenty years of being a Sister in the Missionaries of Charity.