Category: Religion

Smiling and Living Fully

Even the present is filtered through a Rube Goldberg mechanism we call a brain. Which is why we do the best we can to accomplish what sounds like a paradox — quieting our mind in order to be mindful.

5 Key Words — Mel’s Mouth Glossary

Words unite us and words divide us, whether they are understood as intended or not. I live in an area where I sometimes get asked: “Are you a Christian?” My reply: “Probably not in the sense that you intended.” I post in melsmouth.com the words I need to write in the hope that you need…

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Happy Birthday, Thay!

Thay’s messages are simple. He conveys them over and over again: Stop. Breathe. Enjoy the moment. Listen mindfully to others. Cultivate your compassion. Speak and act from love.

What’s Wrong with Liberals

…it no longer feels like games we’re playing – more like a war. We no longer recognize the humanity of the other side. We fail to see how “their” belief system can be anything other than selfish or stupid.

I Love Autumn

I wonder what it is that predisposed me, or opened me up, to fall, autumn colors, impermanence and Buddhism.

Everyday Healers

I wanted to honor the doctors, nurses, and other volunteers who put themselves in harm’s way because, well, they say to themselves: “If I don’t do it, who will?”

Resonance

…It’s a something-ness we don’t yet understand. It may simply be the quality of being fully right here now in the present moment that awakens our Resonance. It may be the sense that overwhelms us when we look up at the sky on a clear dark night or hear a particular musical passage.

Confession and Redemption

I believe that Kelly Gissendaner achieved confession and found redemption. As you probably know, she was convicted in 1998 and sentenced to death for the murder of her husband, which she is said to have orchestrated. She was 28 at the time of the murder, a survivor of prolonged and repeated sexual abuse in childhood. In…

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Taking Stock

I wasn’t sure when I started exactly how to describe what I want to say, but I realize now that the message is about religion – in the broadest sense of the word.

Belief in God

After all, as the Buddha seemed to understand, everything in our universe is made of the same cosmic dust particles that are ever-moving, ever-changing, ever-dancing, and always connecting and reconnecting.

The Book of Mel

“I made ministers and priests and rabbis and shamans and imams and monks and churches and synagogues and mosques and temples and so on to help heal my people’s souls, to help them with their overwhelming questions about intangible things, like why are we here, why do we suffer, and how do we face death.”