the English language is very poor in its vocabulary

Eleanor Wachtel: You mentioned the idea of numinous moments. Do you think of yourself as spiritual or religious?

Carol Shields: I'm not religious. I was brought up in the Methodist Church and for a while I went to the Quaker meeting. I do believe in these moments, though I don't know where that belief comes from. Not from any spiritual centre. I think it comes from the accidental collision of certain events. I think the English language is very poor in its vocabulary to describe mysticism, so a lot of this never gets talked about. Or only clumsily, or by people that we think are only marginally sane. Or it's something discoverable through poetry.

- Carol Shields, in conversation with Eleanor Wachtel. As published in More Writers & Company: New Conversations with CBC Radio's Eleanor Wachtel.