When I decided to major in religion at Princeton, I had no intention of becoming a minister, priest or such and no thought of becoming an academic. I was fairly sure I wanted to be a physician, took the required premed courses and by the time I graduated I was set for medical school and a career in clinical medicine, a career that I have been quite happy with. What drew me to religion was the hope that my studies would help me to answer some basic questions that had all ready rooted in my mind. One of these was who or what am I in essence and what is my relation to the world as a whole. Another big question was how to live as a good person, to live a good life (whatever that might be). 

Although my understanding of the questions has morphed over the years, I still think that they are essential. I found in my years at Princeton a way to think more discerningly about this was well as an introduction to people and material (ie books, essays etc.) that has helped my continue this exploration. I have an interest in the brain and the mind and a desire to do something that will benefit not only myself but the other creatures on this planet. So the practice of clinical neurology with the day to day direct interaction with other human beings who had some need or suffering has been a good profession for me. 

Twenty years after graduation I joined a Zen Buddhist group to study and to practice what had been up to that point primarily a conceptual understanding. Although this practice has also morphed with time it is still a major part of my life focus and indirectly (and at times even directly) enhanced my practice of medicine. 

All along I have had an interest in writing poetry on the side. When I retired, I collected a few decades of poems and published them as a small collection called "Topping Trees, Reflections in Poetry on Zen Master Dogen's Genjo Koan". In some ways in was almost like circling back and writing the senior thesis that I would have liked to have been able to write my senior year.