Author: tomstellawebsite

Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Borgart), having had a bit too much to drink the night before, awakens to find Rose Sayer (Katharine Hepburn) pouring his bottles of gin into the Zambezi River. “Whatcha bein’ so mean for, miss?” he pleads. A man takes a drop too much once in a while, it’s…it’s only human nature. “Nature, … Continue reading Intoxication

“Depression, aggression, stress, and purposelessness are some of the common symptoms of our time. People wonder why we are plagued with such things and how to get rid of them. As I see it, the problem is that we have lost religion – in the deep meaning of the word. We have formal religions that … Continue reading Real Religion

     “There are many varieties of addiction, but, sooner or later, we each have to address what is the paramount addiction in the Western world: our psychological dependence on the world-view and lifestyle of Western civilization itself…The Western worldview says, in essence, that technological progress is the highest value and that we were born to … Continue reading The Paramount Addiction

“Every day, I get closer to the brink of everything. We’re all headed that way, of course, even when we’re young, though most of us are too busy with Important Matters to ponder our mortality. But when a serious illness or accident strikes, or someone dear to us dies – or we go to a … Continue reading Living on the Brink

“I am… noisy full of the racket of my imperfections and passions, and the wide open wounds left by my sins. Full of my own emptiness. Yet, ruined as my house is, You live there.” “No matter how low you may have fallen in your own esteem, bear in mind that if you delve deeply … Continue reading Hitting Bottom

“When from our better selves we have too long Been parted by the hurrying world, and droop,                                    Sick of its business, of its pleasures tired,            How gracious, how benign, is Solitude;                                    How potent a mere image of her sway”      With a poets mind, heart, and gift for words, William Wordsworth, in … Continue reading Sweet Solitude

     “There’s a branch of Christianity that promises a cure for tragedy. It is called by many names, but most often it is nicknamed the “prosperity gospel” for its bold central claim that God will give you your heart’s desires: money in the bank, a healthy body, a thriving family, and boundless happiness...      The … Continue reading The Prosperity Gospel

“When we confine ourselves to the village, we lose touch with our true nature. No wonder soul alienation is suffered by most people in the industrialized cultures of the Western world… At one time in our lives…we’ve experienced an emptiness at our core, a sense that our lives don’t make sense, that something essential is … Continue reading Live Large

     “Life always gives us exactly the teacher we need at every moment. This includes every mosquito, every misfortune, every red light, every traffic jam, every obnoxious superior (or employee), every illness, every loss, every moment of joy or depression, every addiction, every piece of junk, every breath. Every moment is the guru.”        Perhaps … Continue reading Ready or Not

“A priest of the Greek Orthodox Church…tells of a monk he met on Mount Athos.     He was in a very bad state, very dark, very bitter, very angry. When asked what was the matter, he said, “Look at me; I’ve been here for thirty-eight years, and I have not yet attained pure prayer.” And … Continue reading Pure Prayer