I am the Buddha
but so are you.
In the morning
the Buddha smiles at me
from the mirror
and the people I meet.
When I’m hungry
the Buddha feeds me
in the food I eat.
When I’m weak
the Buddha makes me strong
through the strength of others
who help me.
When I’m sick
the Buddha heals me
through those who know
the healing arts.
When I’m afraid
the Buddha comforts me
in a friend’s embrace.
Where is the Buddha?
I am here in you.
June 27, 2008
Where is the Buddha?
June 19, 2008
A Question of Substance(s)
Earlier this week the subject of steroidal use came up on Live with Regis and Kelly as Regis related about his chronic back pain and subsequent Cortisone shot, which he dubbed “roids.” It’s become an ongoing joke throughout the week and I expect the term to be picked up by pop culture in no time. However, I began thinking about the whole controversy over the use of steroids outside of prescribed medicinal purposes and what’s at the heart of the steroid controversy? Do steroids really provide an unfair advantage to their users? If the athlete did not have any athletic skill prior to taking steroids, would they miraculously become world-class players simply due to steroids? I’m confident that no matter how many or what brand of steroids I could take would improve my complete inability to hit a baseball or out perform any athlete who has spent the better part of their lives training for their sport. In our society, we use performance-enhancing substances every day. Caffeine to wake us up and keep us going 24/7, preservatives to keep our foods “fresh” forever, Nicotine to make us feel better. Alcohol to make us forget, unwind, distress. We take isolated vitamins to “improve” our health and daily performance. We alter the genetic code of plants and animals to produce “improved” livestock and agriculture. Michael J. Sandel raises a moral argument stating “…what is troubling about enhancement is that it represents the triumph in our time of willfulness over giftedness, of dominion over reverence, of molding over beholding.”1 Man over nature? Don’t worry yourselves. Man will never preside over nature. Man is finite while nature is infinite. It is the nature of man to both want to know and control his own nature and that around him. This is called progress. Sure, it has its pitfalls. Look at the pharmaceutical industry. Is animal testing morally right if it saves human lives? Is it morally right to market drugs with deadly known side effects? Is it morally right to charge outrages sums of money for life saving drugs? What about education? Is it morally right that American children are vastly under educated? Is it morally right to charge for an education? In politics, is it morally right to invade another country under false pretenses? What about civil rights? Is it morally right to deny rights to some based on criteria? Whose morals anyway? Based on what? It all seems so overwhelming. The problem in America today is we get so caught up in whatever Congress or the media has decided to crusade over for the moment. We aren’t focused on what really matters. Who is America today? What is our place in the world? How do Americans act humanely to each other and others around the world? How do we see ourselves and other nations, races, religions, languages, and identities as extensions of our own and not as “other?” The question we should be asking isn’t who is using what forms of progress to gain an advantage over others but why aren’t we using progress to improve the lives of others more. Why aren’t we using progress to improve the lives of Americans (all Americans) more? Why aren’t we using progress to improve relations with all mankind more? What are we waiting for?
1. Sandel, Michael J., What’s Wrong with Enhancement, President’s Council on Bioethics, 2002.
June 16, 2008
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