Winding Roads --Reflective Dao--

I understand life so much more now then when I was a kid. I understand the horrors of life, the possibilities and capabilities of people in life. I understand that to the best way to deal with a situation of life and death is to never get into those situations at all.

A long time ago I believed blood was thick and would not break, age has provided me with other aspects of blood. Blood is a liquid nothing more and nothing less. You are the type of person of the company you keep, is another aspect I learned. What company does a person like me keep.

Oh I have battled all my friends and had words with them, except one. I have cut bridges time and time again, but each time I grab the rope and tie it off. I know people strive to become better, and sometimes a cut bridge will either motivate them to become better or will at least prove the lack of conviction. Conviction is a word I learned through my travels. A word I still use every day. I have conviction and at any cost will become the serpent sage. I will obtain my sage hood, and as I write this, I am calm and collected. Which is a great feat after the week I have had.

I have a friend that means the world to me, he is jolly, kind hearted and will always have a special place in my heart. I have one, it is just small if you ask some people, but ask those around me, I have a huge heart for those that follow the rules. Josh entered the Dao many years ago more than six. And only last year did he start calling himself a Daoist. My student is so like me in that aspect. It took me forever to call myself a Daoist.

Another person of company I took, or she took me I guess you can say, is Rose. My best friend and a person that I find myself drawn to make better, and who has a unique knack of making me a better person, but along with everyone else, she realizes there are boundaries that can never be crossed. Well I doubt she would really cross them anyways, she like me has the same goals right now. Improve our lives and make live a place where peace and sanctuary can thrive.

I know to younger people too. They are awesome friends. They belong to Rose. They strive to improve their lives, to walk a line to a goal without giving up, without beating themselves up. These two friends have grown up before my eyes, has taken what I naturally give to people and applied it to life. I am very sure they will succeed in life. To think that they both were experiencing a dark time in life when I met them. You would not really guess that a conviction to a task could drastically change them. I give them through action that conviction can make a difference, and they bounce it back to me, showing me that conviction can make a difference.

Out of the world these four I know the most about. These people allow me into their inner thoughts and I allow them too.

But I do not depend on them in life to take me anywhere, I do that myself. They do not rely on me in that same aspect. They strive for their own cultivation as much as I do. Rose and Josh, two of my most prized pupils. Though the two brothers have yet to call themselves Daoists they walk the path of Dao everyday.

I have other friends too, each giving me something in life to strive for, and each taking what is needed from me. I am very lucky to have friends like these, and though I don't depend on them, they do bring a little more value and drive to life.

So monk has anything happened this week to change your values? Has anything made your path shimmer?

No. I have conviction to my rules, and to my goals. I still hold truth above all else, but a lie is not burned away by truth afterwords. I still hold action is more powerful than words. Words are questionable without actions to build the very content of the words. I still know I have a long ways to go, but the weight put on by my own actions see light compared to those I have of other peoples living inside.

I would rather be hated for an action that directs a person to face life, than to never have tried to teach a lesson. I am really on high on conviction to fight for truth and stray away from lies. I still have a big conviction against thieves. I still hold many principles that are unwavering and unbreakable. I still believe that one bad apple spoils the bunch. No I would not change my convictions, if anything what has occurred has only strengthen them.

My support network is built out of intellectuals, and Daoists, and humorous people. I am the company I keep after all. Through all this I am privileged to know these people, and like them I know I will achieve my immortality through them, should anything ever happen to me. Lessons learned from me will be passed on, ideas and thoughts, stories and laughter all will be carried on. My goal of being a sage has not changed, but already i have achieved immortality in life.

I no longer close myself off to the world like I once did, but I am no longer a easy play like I once was. The eyesight seeing through lies are getting clearer the more I stay on the side of truth.

With the winding roads lately, not a single step has been missed on my path. Not a single rest has been taken from the road that is being walked. Winding roads at times are needed to force one to look at the road instead of the surrounding beauty, to make sure the step is good so one does not fall off a cliff. Winding roads are the reasons Daoists an not just go on auto-pilot and call it a day. Plus winding roads test your convictions to the road.