JimBob

... heck was he to do now, he wondered. I am up a creek and there are the paddles but I hve no money for the vending machine, walking slowly toward the machine he ...

May he be remembered for all the good things he did in life. Peace & Love!

BTW To be at peace with one's Self is a beautiful experience. Peace & Love!

Living in the past again, are you? Peace & Love!

... use his lucky dollar for the chance of speaking with the wise ones of old and thinking perhaps they would be able to give him guidance for getting back to his search for the Golden Pencil Box so ...

... one day he and his alpaca were touring the Swiss Alps and they suddenly came upon a(n) ...

I think you already know me well enough to understand where I was coming from. Hehehe. Peace & Love!

Okay. I will mention Bluegrass. (But there are many others as well.) Peace & Love!

Ah! Acceptance. What a beautiful concept. Peace & Love!

No, no, no, no, no. Not the same. Think singularity! (I know, it's difficult.) I don't need pain in order to experience plaesure. That is dualistic thinking. Just like I don't need war in order to experience peace. I don't need something ugly in order to contrast it against something beautiful in order to see something beautiful. It is my belief that we should allow our mind (not just our brain) to go beyond dualistic thinking so that we can fully experience the beauty of life. Then we can concentrate on the positive and leave the negative behind. (Actually, the negative does not exist. We only pretend it does.) Peace & Love!

Good point. Searching for the 'Great Awakening'. Peace & Love!

I Love it!!! Peace & Love!

... drag queen in skivvies and that was very imbarassing as Fawzo had always prided himself on his manlihood but ...

Hey Grasshopper! (Hehehe), You're doing fine. You see, when we stop all this silly contemplation about progress and goals and enlightenment, etc. we have time to live our life. If lived appropriate, our actions in life will bring about all these things "Naturally". The problem is that when we sit around and meditate, asking questions that have no answers, dreaming up lofty goals for our life, our life is slipping away and we are not living it. We need to get up off our behind and LIVE! Progress will come, as if it was meant to be - naturally. I suggest to you that the best things we will ever do with our life is to live it and share it with others. You see, progress is not the goal - living a fruitful life is the goal. When we are fruitful there will be progress. Just like the seeds that fall after the blooming of the flower. True, some seeds will fall and be eaten by ants and never progress to new plants but even those have served a purpose because they have fed the ants. And those seed that do germinate will become new plants and new flowers. That's progress! Peace & Love!

... fingernails and toenails with pretty pastel colors and ...

I support you in your above statement. It is very difficult to discuss the concept of "non-doing" as used in Tao and Zen philosophy. I will comment on the following: "This story demonstrates the Zen teaching of everything being perfect as it is." I suggest that it is not necessarily that "everything is perfect" but rather that everything is exactly as it should be at this very moment in time but that doesn't mean that we should not try to make things better. It is just that there is a 'right' time for everything, and when one selects the 'right' time for action then the action will require the least amount of effort. Almost like the event happened on its own, naturally. Peace & Love!

... nothing but his superman underpants and a flower the Scouts had put in his hair but ...

Hey Phillipe, You're a rat. You had my heart weeping for you. Now I owe you one. Peace & Love!

Nice story. Actually, that is an adaptation of a story by Chuang Tzu (Taoism). But it is true - there really isn't much more a person can do but live their life. Peace & Love!

... and was nearly run over by a skateboarder so he decided to walk into the park and find a secluded place to sit and meditate but ...

... "The Crossroads" and Fawzo thought, "Time for some soul searching", so he sat down in the middle of the crossroads, and, of course, crossed his legs and ...

... in his jock shorts so he could impress the women but ...

Well, I don't lie to my kitty cats. Does that count? Peace & Love!

... but Ronald McDonald in all his splender and glory holding a ...

A quote from Chuang Tzu. "The purpose of a fish trap is to catch fish, and when the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten. The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits. When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten. The purpose of words is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk with." Peace & Love!