I was going to escape from the universal human condition, suffering. Meanwhile next door, creative folks were going to foist on an unsuspecting humanity the five Muppet movies From the Manichean heresy, St. Augustine converted to the Catholic faith, having discovered that his heart would be restless forever until it rested in God. From Buddhism, I converted to the Catholic faith, having discovered that my hamstrings were too tight. The tendons in the back of my knees were terribly taut from years of jogging in my early teens. In my later teen years, I desperately wanted to be a Buddhist.
Teenagers can relate to that.
A kid from the suburbs, I had little trouble finding a Zen Buddhist temple in New York City. If you can find an all-night delicatessen, you can find enlightenment. Jim Henson, now deceased, was the creator of the Muppets. I was going to escape from the universal human condition, suffering. The lotus is a water lily, honored by the East as much as the West adores the rose.