Author: tomstellawebsite

The most solid advice for a writer is this, I think: Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get … Continue reading Being Wholly Alive

“You’ve got to be carefully taught to hate and fear. You’ve got to be taught from year to year. It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear. You’ve got to be carefully taught. You’ve got to be taught to be afraid of people whose eyes are oddly made. And people whose skin is … Continue reading You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught

“The addictions that afflict many of us as we meander through life are false gods that we worship in order to fill an inner void, an emptiness that, if we embraced it, could make way for the Presence for which we long. A subtle example of a void-filling false god is the busyness with which … Continue reading Avoiding the Void

“I am in love with every church and mosque and temple and any kind of shrine because I know it is there that people say the different names of the one God.” These beautifully inclusive words are the work of Hafiz, a 14th century Persian poet and spiritual teacher. They were as radical in his … Continue reading The One God

“28 seconds…the crowd going insane…Kharlamov shooting into the American end again…McClanahan is there…the puck is still loose…11 seconds! You’ve got 10seconds! Countdown going on right now!…Morrow up to Silk… Five seconds left in the game! … DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? YES! (Al Michaels, sportscaster) People say to me all the time, “I remember exactly … Continue reading Everyday Miracles

Awaken, you buried seeds asleep in your earthen tombs. Rise up with joy to break forth the hard coffins of your shells. Your Easter time has come; the song of the dove is heard over the softening land. Winter has hidden, and spring now dances on your graves to waken the dead. Awaken, seeds of … Continue reading Easter, History and Mystery

“You may have heard the saying that the difference between stumbling blocks and building blocks is the way we use them. What I view as troublesome or problematic may be so only because I choose to see it that way. But if I accept the possibility that there is a script or plan other than … Continue reading Stumbling Blocks or Building Blocks

“We have to fight them daily, like fleas, those many small worries about the morrow, for they sap our energies. We make mental provision for the days to come and everything turns out differently, quite differently... The things that have to be done must be done, and for the rest we must not allow ourselves … Continue reading Peace that Surpasses Understanding

“The purpose of looking is to survive, to cope, to manipulate, to discern what is useful, agreeable, or threatening to the Me. What enhances or diminishes Me. When I “see” I am all eyes. I forget the Me, and am liberated from it.” Artist and author Frederick Franck makes an important distinction between looking and … Continue reading That I May See

“To acknowledge and cross a new threshold is always a challenge. It demands courage and also a sense of trust in whatever is emerging. This becomes essential when a threshold opens suddenly in front of you, one for which you had no preparation. This could be illness, suffering, or loss. Because we are so engaged … Continue reading Crossing a Threshold