"Because people can be connected all the time, they [now] have to make a conscious choice of when not to be connected. How do you reclaim your own time when you can be reached all the time?" (Tara Lemmey of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, quoted in the January 2000 Consumer Reports)

It takes silence. It takes regularity. It takes a quiet space. It takes more silence. It takes patience. Maybe most importantly, it takes un-interruption, which, as we have been saying, is an increasingly rare commodity in the year 2000.

Un-interruption. Heaven knows, that the mind does a good enough job of interrupting itself. Anyone who has sat for a half-hour or an hour in meditation, can see their "monkey mind" in action. Forget monkey mind, try "monkey army"!

My teacher, Bhante Gunaratana, has long encouraged me and other practicioners to sit at home for an hour. He encourages serious students of meditation to resolve to sit that long routinely, once in the morning, once in the evening. The reason, aside from the salutory aspects of a regular meditation practice, is that in any meditation session of, for instance, an hour's duration "there may only be 10 to 15 minutes of real meditation," he says.

If that, I would add, for those of us routinely beset by erratic practices and workaholic lives that tucker us out. By minds over-stimulated by the razzamatazz of contemporary culture. By internal value systems that prize ego gratification over meditation cushion exploration of what Buddhist teachers call that illusion "ego."

Ten to 15 minutes of meditation from an hour's commitment of time, undertaken day and night? Are you crazy? What's on TV tonight? Honey, get the phone! I never got your page!Did I get an e-mail from the computer company today? Son, get OFF the computer! Where is that remote control...?!

"'Connected' is the triumphant cry these days. Connection has made people arrogant, impatient, hasty and presumptious. ... I found out much more about the world and myself by being unconnected." (Paul Theroux in "Fresh Air Fiend: Travel Writings, 1985-2000," Houghton Mifflin)

I am pleased to be able to publish Alan Altany's excellent Page One feature that delves deeply into the story of Thomas Merton's own attempt at connections -- between his Christian faith and Eastern spiritual teachings. Upon finishing it you will have a richer and more subtle understanding of the fundamental nature of "Father Louie's" interest in Buddhism and the bridges that he helped to build between East and West. The descriptions of Merton's encounters with the Dalai Lama are worth the price of admission alone (which, since Hundred Mountain is stone-cold free, is added value, indeed). And please do check out the many resources Prof. Altany provides at the end of the story for further investigation of Merton's influence and what's up with inter-religious dialogue these days.

The article is of special interest to me personally, aside from the fact it was Merton's book of essays written with D.T. Suzuki, "Zen and the Birds of Appetite," that was the first bridge I crossed from my own native Roman Catholicism over into Buddhist teachings. In late October, I will fly to Belfast, Ireland to attend the John Main Seminar 2000: The Way of Peace, sponsored by the World Community for Christian Meditation. Billed as an event to promote "Inter-Religious Harmony in the Third Millennium," the key guest and featured speaker will be H.H. the Dalai Lama. The event features noted Christian meditation figures such as Laurence Freeman OSB, the Therevadan Buddhist monk Santikaro and Swami Dayatmanada among others. Lots of folks are meeting on the bridge Merton helped to make.

I will be reporting on the event for the Winter issue of Hundred Mountain. That same issue will have the theme "Hit the Road, Jack: Spiritual Journeys at the Turn of the Century." Walter Parks will report on a visit to Thich Nhat Hahn's Plum Village, Lisa Kelly will report on her travels through Buddhist India and elsewhere, and Bhante Yogavacara Rahula will detail his footloose wanderings on roads less traveled through Nepal and the Himalayas.

BUT FIRST THERE'S this Fall issue, which is chock full of lots of connections itself. As an editor, you often compile articles willy nilly so as to have lots of choices for piecing together an issue. And then -- well, will you look at that-- serendipitous interconnections turn up in the stack. So it was that Tom Armstrong's brain-stretching review of "The Elegant Universe" is neatly elaborated upon by guest columnist James Haught's lecture on why the universe isn't really here like we think it is. And speaking of science, Donald Craig's review of "In Search of the Medicine Buddha," itself poses some questions about the mysteries of the science -- and art -- of medicine. Both reviews make you wonder if at the heart of the heart of physics and medicine you ultimately find poetry -- a challenging, inscrutable, mysterious, damnable, hilarious, ineffable poem.

It could be worse. It could be a busy signal.

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