this is why we are here

To say that I'm a Buddhist would be jumping the gun. I stumble into Buddhist imagery fairly often in my work. Esthetically it's undeniably powerful. How often the folks getting this imagery are actually practicing Buddhists themselves, I could not say. It's not uncommon at all to put images on people who are more jazzed about how a thing looks, than the associated belief system behind it. I make a good living putting crosses on non-practicing Christians.
I've begun exploring the Buddha deeper after having seen a very good documentary film on cable recently. That sounds terribly lame to admit out loud, but there it is. The greatest impact of the film was in the realization that everything I thought I knew about Buddha was nothing but a series of complete misconceptions. I learned that the Buddha was an actual man. That he, too, had to contend with his own mortal human condition every day of his life. I had perceived him as possessing super powers, and assumed that he was not born of this world. I guess I believed he was just another god. Not here. Not among us. Not weak and alive and human.
It is in this realization that I've come to desire more information. I've begun to ask questions. The hunger for information is one of my favorite desires. I don't feel it all the time. Sometimes it's just way easier to not know.
This is the reason for starting this blog. It is intended to be a chronicle of my attempt to make something legible out of the answers.