Daily Times

Suffering from the Siddharta syndrome

modern urban man confronts his prospects:

secure with wife, child, house and car.

Serenity is what we strive for;

survival

what we settle on

suspended somewhere

between the two

with a confusing backdrop

of various cultural influences

we

invariably, ultimately

settle for

survival:

perhaps

because it is physically comfortable

perhaps

because serenity

doesn’t come so easily nowadays

perhaps

serenity as a panacea

(as the Gautama would be the first to admit)

is rejected doctrine today:

however, the eye is not blinded

when the eyelid falls;

in any case,

when crawling through the

great doughnut of existence,

those who do find it

do not suffer the Siddharta syndrome.

The writer is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, School of International Service, American University, Washington, DC