I love reading restaurant reviews. S. Irene Virbila from the LA Times writes lyrically about food, and I respect her immensely. 

I don't recall how I stumbled upon this podcast, but I've been a fan since. Krista Tipett is the host of this radio program, and every week she interviews and explores all matters spiritual. Or aspiritual too. (I don't know how to describe one episode where she interviewed an atheist. He shared about the Humanist movement.) 

I attended two days of lecture and discussion hosted by Mukti, Adyashanti's wife. On Saturday afternoon, she opened up the gathering to participant questions. I raised my hand, approached the front of the lecture space, raised a microphone to my mouth, and let the words flow. My question had to with the Buddhist notion of "monkey mind." Just prior to taking a seat beside Mukti, she provided a guided meditation. During this time, I experienced bliss, then a flood of ego-driven thoughts like flies swarming around a wet turd. As I sat there, in front of many people, Mukti spoke to me as if I were the only person in the room. The love she expressed through words and silence was profound. She was painfully direct, yet her delivery was a radiant love that was nothing less than divine. Earlier she talked about the "reality that we create between our ears." The night before, a woman shared about feeling open and compassionate to the point of crying over a watermelon sitting on a supermarket shelf one day, and the next day feeling angry and hateful. "What do I do with this?" she asked. Mukti carried this person through the events with the compassion that only a bodhisattva could share. I feel a bit spiritually disarmed right now. But this isn't the first time I've been beffudled. She is one amazing teacher.

Alright, I know that over the course of the history, hundreds of gallons of ink have been spent picking apart Mozart's Requiem. Indeed the halls of academia are filled with tomes explaining away this work. And what I'm going to express is about as impressive as the plastic shell that protects my beloved CD. If you're looking for one piece of music that will shake your bones, listen to the Lux Aeterna of the Requiem. I'm no Catholic, but this six minutes of bliss would be one reason to convert. The story behind the Requiem is tragic (Mozart was convinced that he was being poisoned to death and never finished this piece), but it just shows what beauty can emerge from suffering. There's something mysterious and powerful about hearing the words in Latin. Maybe it's because it's foreign, maybe it's just intriguing because it's dead. Whatever the case, I'm drawn to it.

Lately, I've become a fan of Anthony de Mello. He was a Jesuit priest and mystic who was born in India and taught extensively in the US. At one point, his writings were condemned by the Catholic church. You know if it created a stir in an organization this large, there's got to be some good shit in those pages! His book AWARENESS was a mind expanding read that I return to again and again. He wastes no time telling his readers to wake up. To paraphrase his words, the only reason we're not all locked up in an insane asylum is that there'd be no place to put us all. You can read some of his works on the following site: www.demello.org/ Sadhana is a book of guided meditations. And The Song of the Bird is a collection of parables and myths that range from Rumi to Zen Masters.

Support your local farmer's market! Evan Kleinman is host of a public radio program called Good Food. You can hear it on KCRW (in LA that's 89.9 FM). Kleinman's show is one that look forward to every Saturday at 11:00 AM. She is also owner of Angeli Cafe in Melrose (Los Angeles, CA). After listening to her show for months and months, I finally ate at her restaurant. It's fabulous...but I digress. If you are intrested in supporting local agriculture then this show is for you. Not only does Kleinman have a weekly "Market Report" where Laura Avery highlights the latest finds at one the nation's best farmers markets (Wednesday, Santa Monica. The infamous one where the elderly gentlemen mowed through the crowd of shoppers in what was later determined as "pedal error"). Kleinman is a staunch proponent of the slow food movement as well. Every week her one hour program covers a wide range of topics from local restaurants to food matters that are of global importance. Thanks to Podcasts, you can hear her program anywhere in the world. Log on to www.KCRW.com and search for Good Food. If you love food, and are a supporter of grass roots food matters, then you've found the program for you. Does this sound like a commercial? I can't hide my obsession with the program. Maybe one day I'll meet the Food Goddess herself!

For those of you who are looking for direction for your meditative practice, allow me to suggest Adyashanti's True Meditation. It's a CD lecture series that ends with three guided meditations. I've been using the guided meditations for the past few months. They're a fantastic tune-up. When I'm feeling misguided or needing some focus, I'll thumb the wheel on my iPod, click play, and thirty minutes later, I feel back on track again. The CD series is available at Sounds True and Amazon. http://store.soundstrue.com/ They'll give you a nice developmental kick in the arse. Please let me know what you think of them.

This is an amusing take on the paradigm shifting film. It gets a bit racey at the end, so you may have to confirm your age on YouTube. (Please accept this as a notice of sexual content as well.)