Allow me to take you on a little trip.

It's Mid-January 2008, and I am standing on the hills overlooking

Jerusalem. My mind races, as just 5 days before I was lying on a Hospital bed undergoing Heart Surgery in Portland , Oregon, and my mind was busy dreaming of what I was now experiencing !

I honestly believe that "we are spiritual beings enjoying a physical respite, here."   I also believe that ultimately, life is a spiritual quest ...for wholeness, completeness and reconnection to our ultimate source!   I believe the words of Jesus and Buddha and Ghandi regarding Meditation and "Thinking on these things!"  Why ? Because I have proven them true in my own life! I find I resonate deeply with the poets like Blake and Rumi, Kabir etc; because they resonate with the Divine/ The Universal Consciousness, the Source of all.   Again yesterday I was drawn into a substantive discussion about life. I was sharing, (after being asked) and I shared  Prayer, Meditation and the Dissolving Practices of the Water School of Taoism as put forth by Lao Tse. Well, someone interrupted, and for the sole purpose of saying "I don't believe that". I said, "so what!, That doesn't change anything does it?" He paused a bit bewildered, nodded in agreement. Truth is truth, it's universal, and no religion or tradition has a corner on it !

I asked the Old Sage about Joy. "Tell me what brings happiness, what makes life worth living? How does one find happiness? What does one strive for ?" ...

 Well, the Old Sage had a slight smile on his face as he responded. "Those are the 'timeless questions', ones asked by each generation. I think I even asked them once. My Teacher responded with the same words I shall respond to you with, the words of Chuang Tzu. Chuang Tzu is the Old One, from which we get most of our details about Lao Tzu.  What is interesting about Chuang Tzu is that he is a "Where the rubber meets the road" kind of guy. He is not concerned with words and formulas 'about' reality, but with the direct existential grasp of reality itself ! (of course, in the words of that Taoist Scholar Alan Watts : "Reality is only a Rorschach inkblot, you know !") Chuang Tzu's teaching of the "Way" is simplicity, he goes for humility, self-effacement, silence, and in general he has a refusal to take seriously the aggressiveness, the ambition, the push and the self-importance which seemingly must be displayed in order to get along in society, then or even today. With Chuang Tzu it is so simple..."allow me to extemporize what Chuang Tzu calls Perfect Joy : 

 The Old Sage said, "Remember, we do not practice Chi Gung to become good at doing Chi Gung, but to excavate our true selves and become more fully who we are!"

"HHHMMMMMM..." I thought, and said to myself, "SELF, (because we really are rather close...) Do I practice to become good at practicing?  Do I practice to become a MASTER, or what?"

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip.

In the early days of Kamp Kumar at Anvil Ranch, we would gather at the Santa Rosa airport and await the bus (or whatever transportation) to bring us safely to Safeway to stock up on stuff for "roughing it" at Kamp, and then take us to Anvil Ranch.  Santa Rosa is the home of Charles Schultz, and sometimes our wait at the airport for said transportation could be three or four hours, depending on our travel schedule.  Thus, on my first visit to Kamp Kumar, I got "antsy", waiting, and took a cab into Santa Rosa to find something to eat and visit Charles Schultz's home and artist studio.  That seems like such a long time ago! 

You don't have to actually answer the questions.  Just read them and you should get the point.