In my sleeping dream I’d been camping with a group of strangers who’d embarked on a journey to the top of a mountain range I somehow knew held the Holy Grail of all I ever wanted. Standing in a lush ravine, we gazed up at enormous mansions clustered like exotic fruit among the densely wooded […]
Her: exploring the belief that matter matters
Sick of entertaining a nagging suspicion of something gone missing hanging around like a guest that’s long overstayed his welcome; I fled to the theater last weekend to take in the movie Her, the wonderful, whimsical tale of a lonely man searching for an all-too-elusive sense of connection. Directed by Spike Jonze (of Adaptation and […]
Empty Nest? Not!
Home for the holidays
“RESPONSIBLY RAISED TURKEYS!” I sat in the parking lot in my little Subaru, staring up at the sign still standing outside the local Whole Foods store, although Thanksgiving had come and gone, along with the aforementioned politically correct fowl. Only a week ago, I had smiled at the irony of the sign’s message, the guilt […]
Fear of redemption
I sat cross-legged on a cushioned chair in the darkened, candle-lit room of the little drop-in neighborhood meditation center I’ve begun frequenting, alone again with the vast depth of my resistance to doing what this Course says, the busyness of my robotically wandering mind. The bamboo-sheltered fountain gurgled. The white noise of an overhead fan […]
Hooray for Hollywood Redux
(Here’s another excerpt from my recently published book of forgiveness essays, Forgiveness Offers Everything I Want. Hope you enjoy!) In the middle of a winning performance with one of my costars the other day the ego apparently hacked into the script. “You always …” “I can’t believe you …” “How could you …” Her accusations […]
Breaking News: “There is no peace except the peace of God.”
“Seek you no further. You will not find peace except the peace of God. Accept this fact, and save yourself the agony of yet more bitter disappointments, bleak despair, and sense of icy hopelessness and doubt.” (From A Course in Miracles workbook lesson 200, paragraph 1, lines 1-3) “There is no peace except the peace […]
Which teacher are you listening to?
I awoke again horrified to find the ego once more center stage in my puny brain. “Hey, sunshine,” it boomed, in an all-too-familiar voice, reminiscent of Bill Murray playing Nick the Lounge Singer in the old Saturday Night Live routine. “How’s it rolling?” What part of vacate the premises did it continue to not understand? […]
A Conversation with Ken Wapnick: be gentle with yourself
(Lots of external seeming disruptions in my imaginary forgiveness classroom this week, so decided to share an interview I did with Ken Wapnick in February 2012—enjoy!) I was fortunate enough to sit down again recently with Ken Wapnick while attending a workshop at the Foundation for A Course in Miracles (FACIM) in Temecula, California. Many of […]