THE TRENCHANT OBSERVATION OF THE DAY.

Gabriel Byrne, who requested a short committment to his role as the unimaginative Jarl Haraldson on Vikings (granted in the best Viking style), reflects on his longer role playing a psychologist on the HBO marathon series Treatment.

"Being listened to and being heard is an experience that doesn't happen terribly often," he muses. "To listen compassionately or nonjudgmentally to another person — not to get too heavy about it — but I once heard somebody say that was a form of real prayer."

Yes, and a counselor or psychologist must be compassionate and nonjudgemental in a way that a priest hearing confessions or a professor hearing explanations doesn't have to be.