Second hand experience of God is not the real thing

The fact is, it’s in the midst of daily life that you’ll meet God or you’re not likely to meet God at all—not really. Sure, you can think nice thoughts about God, and there’s a part of you that’ll congratulate itself on how religious or spiritual these ideas about God might make you feel, but thinking God is very different from loving God. Loving God is a genuine experience that cannot be thought. It’s the difference between reading about love and being in love.

Once you’ve tasted love yourself, no amount of second hand experience through reading can substitute for the real thing.