Vital Statistics

  • Height - 5'7" and shrinking
  • Weight - 150 lbs and growing
  • Birth date - 3/7/46
  • Diet - Strictly vegan
  • Religion - Seeker of the truth... Atheist/Buddhist
  • Social status - Hermit King
  • Education - hundreds and hundreds of
    college credits with no paper trail
  • Income - More than enough
  • Politics - To the left of most
  • Musical interests - Jazz, Blues, classical, Folk,
    R&R.  I play: Flute (fair), Guitar (poor),
    Piano (struggle)

Bob's Main Page

My "spiritual" path (the way I relate to the rest of the world)

I describe myself as an atheist/Buddhist.  I don't believe in anything supernatural, but I do think that our mind is capable of better things than what is commonly "normal."  I think that Buddhism's approach to the nature of suffering is essentially correct for me, although I am always suspicious of ritual in the process of mind changing.  

So... even Zen is too mystical for me.  But I can still follow the basic tenets of Buddhism.  I know that the process of meditation, at the very least, makes me happier.  And my self-examination helps me to understand my own follies and the follies of others.  Of course, I could always be wrong!

A vegan is one who eats only vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains.  Why do I follow that path?  It is a "moral", ecological, and health decision:
  • Moral - We are all part of the food chain, but also (in my estimation) equally valuable.  Eating low on the food chain minimizes the killing.
  • Ecological - Eating low on the food chain minimizes the amount of land required to feed me.  Animal products are notoriously inefficient, requiring 2-5 times the grain, etc by the time the food finally gets into our mouths.  Farming, unfortunately, is one of the greatest land and water polluters - even when it is done organically, and uses the majority of non-renewable ground water.  If you do a little research, you will find that water scarcity (together with overpopulation) will be the source of much of the conflicts of this century, and has already been one of the driving forces in the Middle conflict - and of course African and Asian human tragedies.
  • Health - I have lousy genes, with a tendency toward clogged arteries.  I don't intend on dying any sooner than I have to!