Because I have always been interested in (or driven to ) philosophy and the meaning of life, I have always sought what could best be described as "Truth." I do not have a particular religion I can name, or an agenda other than enlightenment or a personal spiritual experience of Truth, through study, meditation, and discipline.
The following is a story of my journey, my commitment, the driving force of my heart's desire. By the way, there is a series of books based on Heart's Desire, by author and close friend for over fifty years, Suzanne Butler.
To truly reach the real Zen and how to find the Tao (Way or Do), I had to go to the real Roshis (Zen masters) themselves. I had to know them, study, and meditate for years (now for about fifty years). If my commitment was to know the Truth and gain intimate knowledge of Chan and Tao (Zen and Do), I must give my life to my study of martial arts and the Shaolin Temple connection. The full study will be in my new book, this being a brief explanantion.
Childhood:
I can't remember a time when I did not have questions about the cosmos. Where do we come from? How do we get here? Where do we go, who or what makes it all happen? And then what? Is this all there is? We all go through some of this questioning at some time, but at eight years old!?
My treehouse became my hiding place, my sanctuary, my cave, if you will, for early meditation. I guess you have to understand Karma to understand why or how I was placed in circumstances to force me to break out, and break through, the constraints of fundamental Christianity, in order to find my Path, literally, my Way (Do). I asked many questions, went to church, and Sunday school, and read the Bible from cover to cover by the time I was twelve. I couldn't find the answer to how God could kill thousands of his chosen people when they displeased him, or could promise you or me Hellfire, forever (You never get to learn your lesson and be o.k?). I had to find an answer based on love, peace, justice in the universe, and the possibility that you could work hard and be a good person, that would count for something. I pondered these questions for hundreds of hours in my beloved treehouse, or while working long, hot hours in the fields of our farm in rural Northern Michigan. I recommend the scholarly book, God, A Biography, by Jack Miles. Warning: This is a very serious study that challenges what you were taught in Sunday school. Anoher good book (500 pages but easier ) is Don't Know Much About the Bible, by Kenneth C. Davis.
