Author: Mark J. Chmiel

Just Say “Yes”

“I read your manuscript… twice” “Really?” “Lemme tell you, it was something else” “Oh yeah?” “It’s like … I don’t know how to put it” “Just try” “OK … it’s like … Kafka on acid”…

When People Leave Town

“All that is dear to me and everyone that I love Are of the nature to change There is no way to escape being separated from them”* Dear Bella Levenshteyn Ultimately, I’m glad when people…

Bella Reads Rumi

Dear Kind Soul It’s me again The following are two lines from the September 12th Rumi poem-of-the-day In the book you gave me, But For Us This Day: “Do not wait. The open plain is better /…

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 9

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9: The Royal Path Monday 24 June 2013 Meditation 20 m. Two Reflections “The goal ever recedes from us.  The greater the progress the greater the recognition of our unworthiness.  Satisfaction lies  in…

Drugged by Books

Soon after my father’s death, I started reading Leon Wieseltier’s Kaddish, his journal of reflections on his year of going to shul and saying Kaddish. In the days and weeks ahead, Wieseltier offered me some…

Appreciating Arthur Waley

for my multilingual friends and lovers of literature Notes on Ivan Morris, ed., Madly Singing in the Mountains: An Appreciation and Anthology of Arthur Waley Related Books Ezra Pound, The ABC of Reading; Anne-Marie Schimmel,…

Friday Meditation

Chris and I began by sharing about last night with Sara Rendell.  Then, after meditation and a reading on Dipa Ma, we drew mindfulness cards from Thich Nhat Hanh. Mine read: “There are thousands of…