Whitney Easton This piece of beautiful and insightful writing (or rather, living) reminded me of Phyllis Tickle, who died in 2015 — former Religion Editor at Publishers Weekly, but secretly a flaming mystic. Phyllis ascribes her mystical practices as owing to a tick bite that affected her heart so that she had to lay horizontal for 12 hours every day, no exceptions, which gave her the excuse she need to explore realms of prayer, which she experienced as “going somewhere” more than “doing something”. You might enjoy her biography, Phyllis Tickle: A Life. Also her first memoir, Shaping of a Life. She was the person had a big impact on me and Emily Swan and helped me, in particular, come to a humane place on LGBTQ people.