From Object to Icon Quotes

“One person I know, when praying before the icon of Christ to overcome his addictive behaviors, asked God to bless him by opening his desires for good instead of for these petty evils, and to connect him to the real world rather than his own fantasy world. Afterward, he said, it was difficult for him to function in everyday life for a while. At one point, shortly after praying this way, he went to pick up a cup, and its beauty overwhelmed him. The texture and weight of it were so significant that it was hard for him to let go of it. For a while, the beauty of everything he saw and touched filled him with such an intensity of feeling and appreciation that he was physically almost overwhelmed. The feeling faded after a while, but perhaps it was an intimation of the fullness of life beyond the veil.”
― Andrew Williams, From Object to Icon: The Struggle for Spiritual Vision in a Pornographic World

“A Prayer for True and Deep Joy Blessed are You, O Lord, teach me Your statutes. I am the image of Your ineffable glory Though I bear the marks of straying: Have compassion for Your creature, O Master And purify me by Your loving-kindness; Grant me the homeland of my heart’s desire, Making me again a citizen of Paradise.1”
― Andrew Williams, From Object to Icon: The Struggle for Spiritual Vision in a Pornographic World