Mine is just a simple old human story - of one person trying, with great rigor and discipline, to comprehend her personal relationship with divinity.

Gilbert frames her narrative not as an exotic travelogue or a manifesto, but as a deliberately modest, universal “human story”: a single individual undertaking a demanding inner project. The emphasis on “rigor and discipline” pushes back against the idea that spirituality is merely sentimental or spontaneous; it suggests sustained practice, self-scrutiny, and ethical seriousness. By calling it a “personal relationship with divinity,” she also signals an intimate, experiential approach to faith rather than adherence to a single institution or doctrine. The quote thus positions spiritual seeking as both ordinary (human) and exacting (disciplined), inviting readers to see private devotion as a legitimate form of knowledge-making.