Clint Dharma

       The first time I ever heard the word “Dharma” was when I was thirteen. I wasn’t checking out any sort of sacred text, however. I was examining the back cover of the first album I ever bought: Agents Of Fortune, by Blue Oyster Cult. The lead guitarist, who’s work I was already in love with, thanks to B.O.C.’s hit “Don’t Fear The Reaper”, was one Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser. Come to think of it, considering the impact that music would have on me, this was indeed sacred text.
       Sacred musical connection notwithstanding, I would later discover the Sanskrit word “Dharma” to be translated as “sacred duty”, “true nature”, “divine order”, and “life’s work”, amongst many other incomplete definitions. Digging deeper, I discovered that one’s dharma is unique to the individual. In the words of Stephen Cope, from his book The Great Work Of Your Life; “We might say that every person’s dharma is like an internal fingerprint. It is the subtle interior blueprint of a soul.”
       So my dharma is unique to me, and is in fact a function of that which makes me unique, that which makes me, ME. And, I can only be that which I am. According to the concept of dharma, I can not really be anybody I want to be. Although the possibilities are wilder and broader and more incredible than I can imagine, it is not, as some self-help literature suggests, a complete tabula rasa.
        I can not be somebody else, or somebody else’s dharma. To be somebody you are not, to live the dharma of another, to be what you think you should be instead of who you truly are, is to live a life of misery and unfulfillment. So the question really becomes; “Who The Hell Are You and Why Are You Here?”.
       Follow me as I delve deeper into my own very personal and intimate experience with these sacred questions.


©2013 Clint Piatelli, MuscleHeart, and Red F Publishing. All rights reserved.