The Athlete

Seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday for allegedly lying to Congress about using steroids and growth hormone. The criminal case writes a new chapter in one of Major League Baseball’s worst scandals, the rampant use of the banned substances.

This legal matter is yet another red herring; does anyone in the room believe that if they took steroids or a human growth hormone, they would develop the pitching prowess of Clemens? Sure, these substances might harm your health, but to ban them because it might give one an advantage (level playing field notwithstanding) is ridiculous and hypocritical.

The Scientist

According to believers, ‘Francis Crick, the Nobel Prize-winning father of modern genetics, was under the influence of LSD when he first deduced the double-helix structure of DNA more than 50 years ago.’ Whether this questionable and anecdotal account took place or not is irrelevant.

Regardless of how it happened, we do know this discovery was the result of ingenuity coupled with passion: a circumstance of a prepared mind meeting intuitive information. We thank Crick and his research associate, James Watson, for being sufficiently aware in March of 1953 to ‘see’ what was in the genie’s bottle: the molecular structure of DNA. Unless you were looking for it, how many would have recognized the double helix, the genetic instructions, or blue- print of life, if they saw it standing on their kitchen table? How many in the presence of an innovation in art would recognize the breakthrough for what it was before it was sanctioned by the powers that be?

The Artist

The topic of drugs and art is a volatile one; and we know that many an artist has, with disastrous results, turned to drink or substance abuse to cope with feeling blocked, rejected, or even accepted. If you think that ingesting substances will make you a better artist or give you courage, then you don’t yet see a clear picture of what I am writing about in this book (An Artist Empowered).

An artist in dharma is already ‘perfect’ because he acknowledges the source of his gift. Nothing from the outside can improve upon the inner harmony that already exists. If you have a gift of art, you are then also charged with a duty: you must protect that gift from any vice that would destroy it.

Veteran’s Day, an intense moment to feel gratitude for those who fought on your behalf—an ongoing reality lost on all too many, especially on a generation bedazzled on reality programming and the cult of celebrity.

One can denounce war, turn the other cheek, or appease the aggressor. In the end, when the sword is at your neck, you must make an existential choice: live or die.

Of course, one can point to Gandhi, for example, where nonviolent civil disobedience eventually won the day over British colonial rule. But would this same strategy have worked against a totalitarian regime? 

Unless one has faced mortal combat, there is no way to fully appreciate the sacrifice of those who did. So, when your moment of right action comes, do so with honor and awareness. Ignorance in this world is now no longer an option.

Twenty years ago the Berlin wall came tumbling down, mercifully freeing people from a police state psychosis.

There are other walls, invisible structures that are no less destructive to society—and that is mass social conditioning. If you buy into the program, products, and propaganda without looking through the wonderful and unbiased lens of awareness, then you have been co-opted. Or, you many have also built your own wall with the mortar and bricks of questionable belief systems where nothing gets out, or in.

Artists, if you have been doing your work, then you have confronted many walls on your journey. The question is always the same. What did you do about it? Did you step up, or sell out?

Freedom fighters enter the fray with their lives on the line; the true artist can do no less.

In recent times, how often have you heard (or uttered) this virulent query: How’s that workin’ out for ya?

Of course, mindlessly repeating often used phrases may keep you connected to your group, or gang, or generation ‘whatever’; doing so, however, is not the path to original work.

Suggestion: the next time you catch yourself about to enter the land of cliches—stop. Reconsider and articulate in your own words. If none come, then this is your wake up call. You have been absorbed. Fortunately, knowing that this situation exists is also the catalyst for extricating yourself from the morass of mass social conditioning.

The other day I saw an ad for a spiffy GPS that helped you navigate to your intended destination. One of the points made in the ad was this: studies showed that you are more likely to go somewhere new if you already know how to get there.

Knowing the route to your destination is helpful. But when I speak of dharma—the destination of your work, your mission on earth, then that is another matter entirely. There are no road maps for this adventure; you must take the plunge and discover your path on your own.

Risky? Maybe. But what choice do you have?

Not knowing is the mystery, and the mystery leads to original work.