Over 17 years ago, a new neighbor moved into my building. He was always kind, calm, and thoughtful. Our initial interactions were neighborly, but for some time they did not go much beyond that. 

Later, though, I would sometimes encounter this neighbor when I came home from work earlier than usual suffering from a severe migraine. On these occasions, he would often say, “You rest, and I will be thinking of you.” I did not fully understand what he meant by that, but I always felt his loving care for me, and after a few hours I would be relieved of the pain.

After one of these occurrences, I told my neighbor about the migraine going away, and he commented, “What’s needed is for thought to be spiritualized.” This caused me to ponder how one spiritualizes thought. I had been seeking spirituality for many years, and now I found the neighbor’s reference to spiritualizing thought so intriguing that I asked him about it, wanting to better understand what was involved.