Finding Tranquility, Quickly
Are you one of those people who considered taking up meditation but couldn't see allocating an hour or more a day to the practice, as recommended by various practitioners?
Take heart, says Jon Kabat-Zinn, a best-selling author and researcher and a leading authority on stress reduction using a technique called "mindfulness meditation."
What's important is to be "fully present" in the meditative state, even if it's just for one second, Kabat-Zinn told the Dallas Morning News. Five minutes "is great" if that's all the time you have, 45 minutes even better.
But you cannot be thinking about something else, as Americans have a tendency to do, and you need to turn off the BlackBerry, the cell phone, the pager and the computer because today "people can get to you anywhere," he said.
Americans "are addicted to doing. But we are human beings, not human doings," he added.
Celebration
This month's spotlight: Passover, or Pesach.
Date: April 24 (begins at dusk the night before) through May 1.
Description: Passover, the most widely observed Jewish holiday, commemorates the release of the Jews from Egyptian bondage. The name is associated with the last of 10 plagues God imposed to secure the Israelites' release: the death of every first-born Egyptian child. As a signal to the Angel of Death to pass over their household, Jews were instructed by Moses to slaughter a lamb and sprinkle its blood on their doorposts.
More information: www.jewfaq.org/holidaya.htm
Religion 101
Why do mosques have no statues or other religious imagery?
Muslims believe that Allah is wholly spirit and that efforts to depict God are blasphemous. The prohibition extends to any depiction of humans or other animate beings because pictorial representation imitates the creative act of Allah, which is a sin. Mosque decorations, inside and out, typically consist of Koranic verses written in elaborate calligraphy.
E-mail questions on religious traditions or practices to religion@washpost.com.
-- Compiled by Bill Broadway
Saturday in Religion: Books about spiritual journeys.
