Dr. Earl R. Smith II

Each short chapter ends with a question. Although most of the questions appear rather simple, I assure you that they are not. They are the dreaming pieces of the dreaming pieces. The more time you spend with them, the richer your dreams will become.

As it happened Raccoon was foraging along the eastern bank of Brook That Wanders Through the Western Woods. The air was crisp this late fall day and the trees along both banks had already dropped their leaves – some of them onto the surface of Brook – only to be dutifully carried away. He sat and thought on this for some time.

As it happened Raven was visiting Pond on a warm summer’s afternoon. Soft Breeze was gently wandering among the green leaves and pine needles along Pond’s edges. There was the murmur of things past and to come in the sound of her passing.

“Why do I sense that we are done for now?” said Wolverine. “You are about to go off and leave me aren’t you?”

“I take it that that one is Humans. How and why are they different,” asked Wolverine.

Wolverine looked at Raven and Raven’s deep, dark eyes stared back. “I realized that I could not help Thrush. The question was beyond me. In fact, it had never occurred to me. I am not sure that it is really a question. But I knew that, if anybody could unravel this, it would be you. And so I put the question to you, who is the ‘I’ in I am?

A monk set off on a long pilgrimage to find the Buddha. He devoted many years to his search until he finally reached the land where the Buddha was said to live. While crossing the river to this country, the monk looked around as the boatman rowed. He noticed something floating towards them.

Balanced, life is a journey both in service to self and to others. What we experience from our life comes both from how much we allow life to bring to us and how much we bring to other lives.

One of the central ideas of Buddhism centers on the first steps on the path to self knowledge. Here are some thoughts that might help you start on that journey. We’ll go together

I lived in New York City for a decade and a half. We had a saying … NYC is a prison where the inmates are the guards. It was some time after leaving the City that I came to understand how powerful that insight was.