Zen Moments

“He has said to us that we can keep it!” Elusive artist Banksy made his own addition to the collection of Gallery 49 in the British Museum. A drawing in the style of prehistoric cave art showing a caveman with a shopping trolley, appeared alongside finds from 4th Century Roman Britain. A British Museum spokeswoman [...]

“Without a doubt, that was the biggest surprise I have had in three years of this show…” Susan Boyle – Singer – Britains Got Talent 2009 “SHE lives alone with her ten-year-old cat, has never been kissed, and is teased by children in the street. But 47-year-old Susan Boyle could just be the UK’s next [...]

“It is my intention to work into each of my lectures … one lie” One of my favorite professors in college was a self-confessed liar. I guess that statement requires a bit of explanation. The topic of Corporate Finance/Capital Markets is, even within the world of the Dismal Science, (Economics) an exceptionally dry and boring [...]

“We can all use a little piece of Zen in our lives…” Webster’s defines Zen as a Japanese sect of Mahayana Buddhism that aims at enlightenment by direct intuition through meditation. The online Urban Dictionary gives this definition: “One way to think of zen is this: a total state of focus that incorporates a total [...]

“…the answer is staring you in the face – if only you can see it” Depression can appear to be without antidote. For years I struggled with it, even though I made a good living from my paintings and to the observer, my life typified the creative dream. Horses had always been my passion and [...]

“Mooring on Chien-Te River” The boat rocks at anchor by the misty island Sunset, my loneliness comes again. In these vast wilds the sky arches down to the trees. In the clear river water, the moon draws near. Meng Hao-Jen Translation from the Chinese by Gary Snyder Photograph kindly contributed to Zen Moments by Sam [...]

“A tree, would be enough Or even a rock…” …A tree, would be enough Or even a rock, a small creek, A bark shred in a pool. Hill beyond hill, folded and twisted Tough trees crammed In thin stone fractures A huge moon on it all, is too much. The mind wanders… Excerpt from Piute [...]

“It was palpable… I could feel his words…” I had an amazing thing happen last week. It all started with an innocent email from an old friend sharing a highly “web-circulated” story of miraculous magnitude. I may have seen this story before, seemed familiar, but this time “The Cab Ride I’ll Never Forget” hit me [...]

“He has a lot of personality, but he couldn’t possibly defend himself in court…” Angry fishermen in Scotland wanted a grey seal shot for eating valuable salmon stocks. The hungry grey seal found his way into in a shallow stretch of the River Leven near Balloch, south of Loch Lomond, and appeared to get trapped [...]

“More than anything else, attention is the act of connection.” The reward for attention is always healing. It may begin as the healing of a particular pain – the lost lover, the sickly child, the shattered dream. But what is healed, finally, is the pain that underlies all pain: the pain that we are all, [...]