A Conscious Life

When I think of people who forge their own path, I often think of my late friend Tom Siporin. In the middle of his life, he began to follow a particular spiritual tradition with a highest goal of realization. He developed his own way of traveling with this highest goal, living every moment with compassion’s slogan, “I am.” It was his way of keeping the highest goal in mind no matter what.

Tom’s path seemed to be littered with obstacles. He contracted polio as a child and was left with one normal and one tiny, withered arm. But he became a star one-armed pitcher in high school and lettered in baseball and soccer at Harvard. He graduated cum laude and went on to become a lawyer, championing the disabled and underprivileged, always loving to play and win at baseball, tennis, Ping-Pong, and basketball.

Then bone cancer attacked his body, and after he had a leg amputated, he decided to spend the end of his life pursuing his creative abilities. He produced enough art for over forty exhibitions, wrote books of ecstatic poetry, and lyrics and books for a half dozen musical comedies. At the same time, he enriched his community and used his legal skills to help those less fortunate.

After his death at age fifty-nine, friends and relatives attending his memorial were lavish in expressing the love they felt for him. Everyone found it hard to represent the joy of being with him, and the integrity and absolute trust he exuded. But they noted, also with love, that he could be stubborn when it came to artistic questions. Jessica Bryan, founder and director of the New Theater Company that produced a number of Tom’s plays, said that she never had public shouting matches with anyone other than Tom. But that conflict produced wonderful creative work, she said.

Tom exemplified the power of the highest goal that you also have within yourself, in your own way. He overcame incredible obstacles to manifest his potential for the good of all. He exuded dignity and yet absolutely bubbled with childlike abandon and fun. I never saw him shirk from telling the truth, as he knew it, even if it was difficult to tell. He saw the highest in others and so brought out the best in everyone around him.

Tom still gives me a new perspective when I need one. If he were still alive, I suspect he would respond to the current state of the world by writing musical comedies that would skewer the demagogues and pundits, point out the real issues underlying the confusion and bias in the media, and, in general, make light of our anxiety by putting everything in a larger context. Just thinking about him, I hear his booming voice, and he helps me link to the highest goal, no matter what situation I’m in. And I know I’m not the only friend of Tom’s who still finds inspiration in him and his quest.