MEMORY: Buttering your bread

My father had a characteristic way of buttering his bread: he always did it the same way, never varied.

MEDLEY: Moses 5 ~ Paper trail

Years ago I read a book by a religious scholar on the concept of 'Nazarene' in the Bible. He may have been German; I think he held seminars each summer (in Germany?) on his understanding of the Essene teachings. I searched online this morning and couldn't track it down, but what remains in my memory is the trail of vegetarian stories and references in the books attributed to Moses.

MEDLEY: Moses 4 ~ Challenges of being a seeker

So when the guide finally agrees to let Moses follow him, he tells Moses that he must contain his reactions in silence, mastering his curiosity and asking no questions unless the guide opens up the dialogue. And Moses’ patience and obedience are immediately put to the test.

MEDLEY: Moses 3 ~ Archetypal seeker

There’s a wonderful parable in the Qur’ân that in part addresses the issue of our unawareness – how unconscious most meditators are about what is actually going on in their meditation practice.

SMILING: Live with it

The last Smiling page I did for L'INCONNU ~

As for myself, I met with as much success as I could ever have wanted. In other words, I was enthusiastically belittled by every critic of the time. □ Claude Monet (1840–1926), French pioneer in impressionistic painting

Vegetarianism is harmless enough, though it is apt to fill a man with wind and self-righteousness. □ Sir Robert Hutchison (1871–1960), gastro-intestinal specialist, addressing the British Medical Association, Winnipeg, 1930

SMILING: Trying our honest best

A page I put together for L'INCONNU ~

Man is the religious animal. He is the only religious animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion – several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself – and cuts his throat if his theology isn’t straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother's path to happiness – and heaven. □ Mark Twain (1835–1910), American writer, humourist, vegetarian

SMILING: Light at the end of the tunnel

Another page I put together for L'INCONNU ~

Online snippets
I have it on good authority that, because of the condition of the economy these days, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off. ~ Author unknown

SMILING: My favourite exercise

I originally put these together for the front page of L'INCONNU, THE UNKNOWN ~ a new bilingual magazine bravely pioneering in Senegal, Africa.

When I get tempted to exercise, I lie down until it passes.  G.K. Chesterton

SMILING: Toothbrushes

What are five things you wish you could have shared with yourself when you were in your twenties? It’s rather a daunting thought, the responsibility of selecting five nuggets of wisdom to impart that might change the course of your life. So I find myself coming up instead with a frivolity – my latest brilliant idea for storing my toothbrush during the twenty-three plus hours when I’m not using it. Perhaps if I share it with you I can get it out of the way and start unearthing the nuggets.

ORGANIC: Starting over ~ organically

Organically grown okra and Armenian cucumbers – these ‘exotic’ vegetables are a hot item at the downtown Phoenix farmers' market. And they’re grown by refugee farmers from Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Liberia, Uzbekistan and Iraq, some of whom have only just arrived.

ORGANIC: Composting suburbia

We drove past a gypsy encampment in the south of England when I was about four years old – I don't remember it, but I do remember vividly what my father told me about the gypsies' tradition as we drove on down the road. He said when gypsies camp on your land, they help themselves to vegetables from your fields – whatever they need to eat, no more – and then (and this made a deep impression on me), before they leave, they bury their waste in between the rows, in the fields where they took the vegetables.