“Finely tuned to the swells of my own and others' hearts, I sensed a deep we'll at my center, a kind of umbilical cord that linked me to a roiling infinity of knowledge and pathos that underlay the trivia of our daily lives... I would read or think or feel myself into a brimming state-- not joy or sorrow, but some apex of their intersection, the raw matter from which each was made-- then lie with my back to the ground, body vibrating, heart thudding, mind foaming, thrilled and afraid that I might combust, might simply die of feeling too much.”