Stopping.com / DavidKundtz.com

... to a Quiet Corner of the Web. The background image on this web page is a photograph of a nebula from outer space, the result of gasses escaping from a dying star. I chose it because such images of space as seen through the telescopic camera can help give us earth-dwellers a sense of perspective which, when transformed into a practical expression, give us what I especially need, patience. DK

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... you can browse the books by reading reviews and a few excerpts, learn some biographical information, and by clicking "Blog/​Speaking/​Etc" you can link to my blog [temporarily on hold]-- and you might find anything.

...you can also order any of the books on amazon.com. Clicking the title at the very bottom of the right column will take you to the amazon link.

Thanks for your visit. I warmly welcome feedback and commentary from site visitors -- about the books, the web site, or any ideas that they might stir in you. My email is at the bottom of the column just to the right.

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True Religion

It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business. --Mohandas K. Gandhi

In describing true religion, Gandhi summarily dismisses anything but befriending your enemy as “mere business.” It seems very nearly an insult to religionists to call what they do “business,” let alone “mere business.” To say Gandhi had strong feelings upon which he staked his life is almost understatement; certainly stating the obvious. He had feelings about what is called “true religion;” “true” not in the sense of “the one and the only” but in the sense of authentic.

Many years ago I had a theology teacher whose mantra in and out of class was “Be kind!” He’d repeat it so often that we would imitate the way he said it and, in the typical way of students, mock him for what seemed to us at the time an oversimplification, or at least mouthing the self-evident. How wrong we were.

Consider all of the facets of religion, all of the liturgies and services, all the dogmas and teachings, all the practices and moral injunctions; all the beliefs and customs, all the gatherings and identities; all the history and all the writings – they all mean little or even nothing if the people who are believers are not kind to other people, especially to enemies.

Kindness to all is where the religious rubber meets the road of life. It’s the only true measure of success as a religious practitioner. It is, as Gandhi says, the quintessence of authentic religion. The rest by comparison is not much, is important only insofar as it contributes to one’s day-to-day kindness to others.

By that standard, how successful a religionist am I? Are you? What do we make of non-religious people who are truly kind to others? If you’re like me, you’ll experience some dilemma and unrest as you answer these questions.

Be kind! Especially to your enemies.

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Kundtz's radical self-help book says that the best thing to do to improve one's life is nothing. Yup, nothing--just stopping awhile and seeing what happens. Therapist and priest Kundtz contends that many today suffer from living on "the mountain of too much." They have tried to deal with overloaded lives very typically, cramming more into each hour and cutting back on some things. Trouble is, they have reached the point where they can't cram more into the little time they have, and they are cutting out pleasurable things (lunch, friends, holidays) to try to accommodate crowded schedules.

Kundtz then offers three kinds of stopping: "stillpoints" (little pauses), "stopovers" (longer times of stillness), and "grinding halts" (life-changing periods of stasis). Written in pithy, short chapters--his audience is the overscheduled, after all; they don't have time to read for long--the book is a good, commonsense adviser on a pervasive problem. --The Rev. John S. Livingston, UCC

This is a straightforward but profound book on cultivating pauses in our lives to enrich our lives and ultimately improve the quality of our existence. It seeks to maximize "the beats in between the notes" as moments to cherish. In a rush/​rush world that seems to have ADD, the suggestions of author David Kundtz resonate. It offers excellent suggestions to "sharpening the saw" by incorporating tiny, medium-sized or extended pause points in our lives to step back, take stock and get ourselves centered. A wonderful book that merits multiple readings! --from a review on amazon.com

A pioneer in the sphere of men's mental health In the popular book Nothing's Wrong: A Man's Guide to Managing His Feelings, dynamic author and speaker David Kundtz sheds light on three steps men can take to achieve emotional fitness. Written exclusively for male audiences, Kundtz's entertaining journey through "Feelings 101" encourages men to be comfortable with experiencing, identifying and expressing emotions. --from comments on Hazeldon Books Web site: hazelden.org

David Kundtz offers a soothing, experienced and wise helping hand to readers in desperate need of a break! More than just a meditation book, Quiet Mind is a wonderful series of reflections that can illuminate every aspect of life. These reflections invite you to do nothing, but with purpose, meaning and value in order to become more fully awake and to remember who you are.
-- from a review on Alibris.com

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Difference is the essence of humanity. Difference is an accident of birth and should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace: respect for diversity. --John Hume

Americans are both deeply religious and profoundly ignorant about religion. --Stephen Prothero

Why should one imagine that when there is a problem there is always a solution? --Terry Eagleton

Human diversity makes tolerance more than a virtue; it makes it a requirement for survival. --Rene Dubos

There is a strange kind of tragic enigma associated with the problem of racism. No one, or almost no one, wishes to see themselves as racist; still racism persists, real and tenacious. --Albert Memmi

As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of of the darkness. --Justice William O. Douglas

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. -- Bertrand Russell

Family isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about. -- Trey Parker and Matt Stone

It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into. --Jonathan Swift

Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace. --Oscar Wilde

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet. --Franz Kafka

A person buying products in a supermarket is in touch with his deepest emotions. --John Kenneth Galbraith

Not to transmit an experience is to betray it. --Elie Wiesel

The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them. --Alfred Hitchcock

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is in you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you. --Jesus, Gospel of Thomas

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. --Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have spent many days stringing and unstringing my instrument, while the song I came to sing remains unsung. --Rabindranath Tagore

I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the...fear which is inherent in the human situation. --Graham Greene

To be enlightened is simply to be absolutely, unconditionally intimate with this moment. No more. No less. --Scott Morrison

Someone sold us out -- but only when we ceased to pay attention. --Timothy Findley (The telling of Lies)

If you are what you do, when you don't you aren't. -- William J. Byron

The only thing that keeps us from floating off with the wind is our stories. They give us a name and put us in a place, allow us to keep on touching. --Tom Spanbauer

Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
--T.S.Eliot (The Four Quartets)

If I hazard a guess as to the most endemic, prevalent anxiety among human beings -- including the fear of death, abandonment, loneliness -- nothing is more prevalent than the fear of one another. --R.D. Laing

There's nothing very mysterious about free will. You do what you want to do, and you don't do what you don't want to do. --Rebbe Nachman

The deepest feeling always shows itself in silence. --Marianne Moore

Beyond living and dreaming
there is something more important: waking up. --Antonio Machado

When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. And that's my religion. -- Abraham Lincoln

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