In “Moments to change a life” (Life & Arts, April 16) Enuma Okoro’s Easter reflections on the Emmaus story — so timely and timeless — invited us to celebrate good reading, with echoes of Archimedes’ Eureka turning point in a lightbulb moment for Mr and Mrs Cleopas in Saint Luke’s Gospel.

Okoro’s optimism, coupled with “Believe it or not”, Nick Spencer’s review of Robin Dunbar’s book How Religion Evolved, all point towards the universal truth happily acknowledged that meaning is retrospective, experience comes before understanding.

Like the way we laugh at a joke before we see what triggered the laughter. Okoro writes of those moments “where our heart and our guts can speak before our heads”.

Brendan Staunton SJ
Dublin, Ireland