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Some of my most intense experiences of faith have come at the small window that overlooks a field and a ridge, which I’ve dubbed Freedom Ridge. It is at this prison cell window that I have come face-to-face and, quite literally, nose-to-nose with spiritual teachers that have given me glimpses no human teacher could.

This aspect of my spiritual enlightenment has come with curious sniffs, wet-nosed nudges and a few loving licks. You see, I encourage skunks to come to my window—and I have a selfish reason for doing so: They feed me spiritually. Therefore, it’s the least I can do to feed them physically.

When one of their sleek, black faces appears in my window, my heart fills with love, and I simultaneously know that it is this feeling that I am supposed to have for all beings (including humans), all the time. If my black-and-white friend thinks I have done well in realizing this need, then he graciously allows me to pat his head before waddling off to preach elsewhere.

By John Sanger, CLF Member, incarcerated in Oklahoma.