Status Updates From The Secret of Secrets (Robe...

"What she had come to accept was that human consciousness was not as we believed it to be. Something real and profound lay beyond our physical experience… beyond our physical end."

"It’s the precise opposite, Katherine believed, seeing them as rays of enlightenment that flowed inward… representing the stream of cultures, languages, and ideas from the seven continents, all coursing into the melting pot that was the mind of America. This nation,after all,had been created as a kind of receiver,pulling in disparate souls from around the world, all of them flowing inward toward a shared experience."

"The seven spikes, each over nine feet long, were said to symbolize the rays of enlightenment that would radiate outward from this young country and illuminate all seven continents."

"Ravel’s orchestral masterpiece was widely considered the most erotic piece of classical music ever written. Often called “the perfect soundtrack for lovemaking,” Boléro was fifteen minutes of insistent, pulsing rhythm that crescendoed into a full orchestra fortissimo climax that reviewers had referred to as a C-major orgasm."

"“And as my prep school English teacher Mr. Lelchuk used to tell us: ‘The right book at the right time can save your life.’”"

"“GABA levels,” he intoned, “fell precipitously in the moments before death, and with it, the brain’s ability to filter out the broadest spectrums of human experience that are normally unknown.”"

"“Most remarkably,” he continued, “we have now detected irrefutable evidence of intense gamma wave activity in the brain as it dies.”"

"“It has now been proven,” he orated dramatically, “that infants are capable of conscious experiences from birth… thereby undermining our current model that consciousness develops over time.”"

"The interior of St. Vitus Cathedral was precisely as Katherine expected— cavernous, opulent, and imposing— just like every other European cathedral she’d ever visited. She remained perplexed that humans had toiled for centuries to construct these shrines to an all- powerful, benevolent God… during an era when plagues, wars, and famine were killing the faithful by the millions."

"While The Golěm knew he had the power to leave Sasha entirely, to untether and return to the realm from which he had come, he sensed that a part of him would forever be with her… a guardian angel. He would manifest quietly in the ways so many angels appear… as an instinct, a hunch, a knowing… a helpful nudge from a more experienced soul, streaming in from another world."

"The less she needs me, the more I have served her."

"America would be a fresh start for Sasha… as it had been for millions of people throughout history. A second chance. The Golěm finally felt confident that his dedication and love for Sasha would be rewarded. The universe helps those who understand it."

"“Only Kissinger could convey such a complex truth in only sixteen words.” A country that demands moral perfection in its foreign policy will achieve neither perfection nor security."

"“It all funnels into one larger concept,” Katherine said fervently. “Death is not the end. There’s more work to do, but science continues to discover evidence that there is indeed something beyond all this. That message is one we should be shouting from the mountaintops, Robert! It’s the secret of all secrets. Just imagine the impact it will have on the future of the human race.”"

"It’s an unusual idea, but I’ve come to believe that our current technological explosion is actually part of a spiritual evolution… a kind of training ground for the existence that, in the end, is our ultimate destiny… a consciousness, untethered from the physical world, and yet connected to all things.”"

"“When we lose ourselves in the virtual world,” Katherine said, “we are giving ourselves a kind of nonlocal experience that, in many ways, parallels an out- of- body experience— we are detached, weightless, and yet connected to all things. Our filters are dropped… We can interact with the entire world through one screen and experience almost anything.”"

"“The online world,” Katherine said, “is untethered from your location. You inhabit it as a bodiless mind… free from all physical restraints. You move effortlessly anywhere, see what you want, learn what you want, interact with other bodiless minds.”"

"“That could be true,” she said, taking a sip of her tea. “But first of all, it’s not just young people doing it. And second, I think you have to consider that the online world is a real world.”"