The real work is inside us. If we truly want to find out what the Buddha meant, that’s where we need to focus.” – Marshall Glickman
Beneath a clear, diamond-studded celestial canopy, three score noble silence practitioners are assembled within the sanctuary of an oceanfront shala, for our pre-dawn vipassana meditation. Before closing my eyes, I observe how completely enveloping the darkness is that surrounds us – there is absolutely nothing visibly distinguishable beyond the perimeter of our huge tent……
There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Today would have been my father’s 100th Birthday if he were still alive. When Dad passed away in 1999, he passed on to me a philosophy of life which has put me in good stead ever since. As I mention in the opening of the…..
Our purpose, the meaning of it all, is revealed to us one step along the journey at a time. If we’re confused, or feel stuck, or are frustrated because we don’t know what to do next, the thing for us to do is to take the next step, without knowing.” – Chloë Rain
I was 22 years old when I bought a one-way ticket, in steerage, aboard the S.S. Leonardo DaVinci, an Italian liner bound for the south of France. On…..
What is tolerance? It is the prerogative of humanity. We are all molded with weakness and errors; let us forgive each other’s foolishness, this is the first law of nature.” – Voltaire
Thirty years ago, I owned a café restaurant named Hemingway’s. One of the staple items on the menu was escargots. I only mention this fact because I am currently in Paris – the home of cafés, escargots, and a young Ernest Hemingway. Thinking of the escargots that we…..
It was the third of September That day I’ll always remember, yes I will” – Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone (The Temptations)
It just occurred to me that the subjects of my last two posts (Ernest Hemingway and Sir Edmund Hillary) both share my wedding anniversary date of September 3rd. Hemingway married his first wife, Hadley Richardson, on that date in 1921, and Hillary married his first wife, Louise Rose, in 1953. My parents were also married on September 3rd,…..
Ultimately, we all aim for the same truth while walking on different paths.” – Sri Swami Satchidananda
Having been born less than two months after the first ascent of Mount Everest (by New Zealand beekeeper Edmund Hillary and his Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay), I have always had a deep fascination for that historic event. While in New Zealand this past December, I had the opportunity to go to several museums and learn more about the 1953 British Everest expedition that…..
To thine own self be true.” – Hamlet 1.3.78.
My first introduction to Ernest Hemingway was through his short stories. I was a 19-year-old soldier from Michigan, stationed in West Germany, when I went to our post library and checked out a newly published collection of Hemingway’s short stories entitled The Nick Adams Stories. As I began to read the stories of this central character, Nick Adams – growing up in Michigan, going off to war as a soldier, and then returning home to…..
Let There Be Peace on Earth And Let It Begin with Me.” – Jill Jackson & Sy Miller
The oldest stereotype concerning beauty pageants may be the number of times that contestants have answered “World peace” when asked what they most hope for in life. The sentiment, however sincere or feigned it may be for each contestant, seems to always impress the judges. And, now that the bathing suit competition has been eliminated from all future pageants, the “World peace”…..
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men Gang aft agley.” – Robert Burns
Recently, I auditioned for a part in a summer musical that I thought I might have a good chance of getting. Since I had taken a five-year hiatus from acting (my last role being the Bishop of Digne in Les Misérables), I was very much looking forward to possibly being in another big production musical again. Because rehearsals would run through the entire summer, I knew that…..