Question of the Week
For the past 20 or 30 years or so, a number of us have been meeting on a weekly basis to discuss topics of “Buddhist Methodist” import. Ten years or so ago (unlike most Methodists and a majority of Buddhists, our archives and record keeping are kept more spontaneously than rigorously) we started sending out a “question of the week” prior to our meeting in order to kick off our
discussion. Most of us, find the “discussion starters” to be quite useful, though a few find such a format restrictive. Nevertheless, recently, it was suggested I start posting these questions of the week here on our website., for the growing number of “non-locals” who find this site useful, or at least interesting. I’ll add more questions– both new and from the archives, as time and inclination allow.4/22/18 Question of the Week: Big I and Little I, Ram Dass , Don Juan and Joel Goldsmith
Mrs. Life and the 10,000 Names for God
Recently wrote a small piece for the Heart Mountain Monastery site with the above title. If such a topic interests you, you can find it here.
Gandhi on Roe vs. Wade
GANDHI IN THE HOOD I drove past our local Planned Parenthood this morning and as usual, (it’s on my regular route) there were two groups of protesters …
Gandhi, Trump, Black Lives Matter and Moi
I was recently reading a delightful contemporary Sufi book—Sacred Laughter of the Sufis, by Imam Ajamal Rahman. Right at the start I came across the story of how Mahatma Gandhi, while still in South Africa, was thrown off a passenger …
One Way to Pleasantly Structure These Unstructured Days
An old buddy called this morning and told me, to my delight, that “this timer thing really works.” He said he had been more “leisurely productive” in the past week than he had been in years. The ”timer thing” he …
How Not to Take the Lord’s Name in Vain
“It’s hard to figure out who is high integrity and low integrity. Generally, the more someone is saying that they’re moral, ethical and high integrity, the less likely they are to be that way. . . . If you openly …
Live Long and Prosper
Here’s a wonderful interview with Leonard Lemoy about the origins or “live long and prosper.” It might be a better gesture than elbow to elbow! So, live long and prosper!
A 5-Second Personal Protection Prayer in the Time of Virus
(The 5-second start-anywhere prayer.) WARNING: It will take a slow to average reader about six minutes to read this little essay. This is five minutes and fifty-seconds longer than it takes to engage the five second prayer (mental health exercise) …
Locked Down with the Dalai Lama
Woke up this morning musing about being locked down with the Dali Lama—made to stay at home, quarantined—with the Dali Lama. Wondered what that would be like if we were one of his household. …
Tarantino Considers Easter
By Liam Rooney So Mr. Tarantino liked my script? He read it, right? What questions? Well I was hoping to talk to Mr. Tarantino himself. Oh no, no. I’m glad to talk to you. Okay, yes…changes? To the script? Uh …
Suggestions on Who We Should Save
Have been pondering the terrible—yet somewhat scintillating—question of “who to save” that a growing number of doctors and health professionals have been forced to consider, what with the seeming scarcity of ventilators. (“If either Joe or Mary get …
