<p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 4.3pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 4.3pt; margin-left: 0in; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; ">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">Greetings:</font></span><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></span></b></p>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></span></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 4.3pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 4.3pt; margin-left: 0in; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; ">
<font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia, serif" size="4">This is my commentary/column for this week. The full version is attached.</font></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 4.3pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 4.3pt; margin-left: 0in; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; ">
<font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia, serif" size="4"><br></font></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 4.3pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 4.3pt; margin-left: 0in; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; ">
<font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia, serif" size="4">Although I'm a PC man and own nothing but HP products (including a new HP Slate), I believe that Jobs was a genius. Who knows, I still might buy an I-phone.</font></p>
<p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 4.3pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 4.3pt; margin-left: 0in; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; ">
<font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia, serif" size="4"><br></font></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 4.3pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 4.3pt; margin-left: 0in; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; ">
<font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia, serif" size="4">Nick</font></p><p align="center" style="margin-top:4.3pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.3pt;
margin-left:0in;text-align:center;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">DEATH AS A FRIEND: </font></span></b></p>
<p align="center" style="margin-top:4.3pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.3pt;
margin-left:0in;text-align:center;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">STEVE JOBS MEETS MOSES IN HEAVEN</font></span></b></p>
<p align="center" style="margin-top:4.3pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.3pt;
margin-left:0in;text-align:center;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"> </font></span></b></p>
<p align="center" style="margin-top:4.3pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.3pt;
margin-left:0in;text-align:center;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">By
Nick Gier</font></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin-top:4.3pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.3pt;
margin-left:0in;text-align:center;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(33, 33, 33); "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">As death, strictly speaking, is the goal of our lives,<br clear="all">
I have for some years been making myself familiar<br clear="all">
with this truest and best friend of man. </font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(33, 33, 33); "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(33, 33, 33); "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">~Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart</font></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin-top:4.3pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.3pt;
margin-left:0in;text-align:center;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"> </font></span></i></p>
<p style="margin-top:4.3pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.3pt;margin-left:
0in;text-indent:.5in;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">With
the passing of Steve Jobs one cartoon got my eye. It pictured St. Peter introducing Jobs to Moses: “Moses, meet
Steve. He’s gonna upgrade your tablets.”
Interestingly enough, Jobs’ wings are almost as big as Moses’.</font></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:4.3pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.3pt;margin-left:
0in;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"> Does
“upgrade” simply mean a change of hardware (from stone to silicon chips) or a
new version? Many Christians would be offended by the thought of a revised Ten
Commandments, and they would also be shocked to see that the Buddhist Jobs has made
it to the Pearly Gates. </font></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:4.3pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.3pt;margin-left:
0in;text-indent:.5in;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">Instead
of Ten Commandments, the Buddhists have five precepts: do no violence, do not
steal, do not be sexually promiscuous, do not lie, and do not take intoxicants.
</font></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:4.3pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.3pt;margin-left:
0in;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"> In
addition to telling his disciples not to deify him or write down his words, the
Buddha also wanted no statues made in his likeness—no graven images. Four hundred years would pass before the
Buddha was worshipped as God, scriptures compiled, and images in stone, wood,
and pigment appeared. </font></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:4.3pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.3pt;margin-left:
0in;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"> Most
Buddhists would embrace all the other Ten Commandments. Parents and holy days must be honored, and
becoming attached to material things (even our own) is one of the greatest sins.</font></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:4.3pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.3pt;margin-left:
0in;text-indent:.5in;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">For
the Buddha the most dangerous form of attachment is “craving for views,” and believing
that you have the complete truth about any matter. The Buddha would have been very sad to learn
that sectarian divisions arose in which one faction claimed to know the real
truth of what he preached.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">
<font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">As
the Buddha said: “</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">Do not accept it because it is in the Hindu scriptures; and do not
accept it because it was said by a holy monk such as I; but if you find that it
appeals to your conscience as being conducive to your happiness, then accept it
and live up to it.” </span></font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: large; ">The Buddha’s last words
were: “I have given you the Dharma (moral law), so now work out your own
salvation.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">Steve Jobs was a Zen
Buddhist and this tradition does not deify the Buddha and does not make idols
of his words. Zen is distinctive in holding
a direct transmission from the Buddha “outside scriptures, not founded on words
or letters.”</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">The fear of idolatry was so
great among Zen Buddhists that a provocative metaphor was suggested: “If you
see the Buddha on the road, you must kill him.”
In order words, the temptation to worship him would be so great that
people would forget to “work out their own salvation.” </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">Japanese
Zen Buddhists are famous for their “death” poems, which are essentially sermons
on the elimination of our deepest attachment.
Most people cling to life so fervently that they constantly deceived
themselves about their own mortality. </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">Citing
the passage above from Mozart’s 1787 letter to his father as evidence, one
could suggest that his magnificent Requiem Mass in D Minor was his own “death”
poem.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">Most
Asian philosophy acknowledges the natural truth that life leads to death and
then to new life. Christianity views
death as the enemy of life rather than the inevitable result of life itself. </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">In
his famous 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, Jobs said: “Remembering
that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking
you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to
follow your heart.”</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">
<font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">If
there is a heaven, then Steve Jobs has not only met St. Peter and Moses, but he
is also been pitching his great ideas among all the saints of human
history. They will learn a lot from him,
and perhaps they will teach him a little humility.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">Nick
Gier taught Buddhism for at the University of Idaho for 30 years. </font></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; "></span></p>