Dear Peter, coincidental that you should mention Thomas Aquinas, because I was just discussing a point from the Summa Theologica a couple of days ago with a person who was born and raised in a cult, who is coming to terms with the misconceptions she has had regarding religion, since her father claimed to be THE messenger from God. She knew at age 8 that something was very wrong with what she was taught, and knew at 14 that she had to leave, because staying was unbearable. She is now in her 30's. I pointed out that according to Aquinas, the greatest thing we can know about God is that God is unknowable. When Aquinas realized this, he went into a great silence that lasted for years. He realized that up until that point, he had been writing about the indescribable, and ultimately, those who 'say' do not 'know', and those who 'know' cannot 'say'. I loaned her one of my favorite books on this subject, "Awareness", by Anthony deMello, S.J., and she headed off to Chicago with it. I know she will send it back, but at this moment it is probably just as well I don't have it... I would be copying quotes from it into this thread ;->