I had an interesting conversation today. It was probably the first time I vocalised some of my thoughts on my current level of maturity and how spoilt I am. I am currently in the enviable position of having sufficient funds and freedom to do largely as I want to. There are demands on my time, things I must do but I do get evenings to my self, time in the mornings and odd days at the weekend with which to please myself.

I recently damaged my back and took some time off work to let it heal. I found that I could sit in front of the computer quite comfortably with the aid of a large scooby-snack shaped cushion and promptly spent my time playing and finishing the campaign in Warcraft III.

I could have spent more of my time reading, as I had intended to but I wanted to play this game and that is what I did. Was this immature? One can take the view that all things are ok in moderation - but then we have to define moderation for that to be effective. However the intuitive mind knows the difference between right and wrong, enough and too much. I know that I did this too much and abused my freedom.

I forget where this statement comes from but it is rather telling I feel -
"The path is clear to all of us, it is simply easy not to follow it."

I know at some level what I am and what I want to become and how to do it, its just easier sometimes to sit down and play games.

As the title of this blog might suggest my principal interest at the minute is the philosophy and practices of the taoist tradition. There are two principal books in taoism - the tao te ching and the I Ching. Sadly the translation of the tao te ching that I have is currently out of date - if you're interested the ISBN is 0850305330.

My interest in taoism stems from my study of t'ai chi on and off for the past decade or so. I would say I am still a beginner in the art and there are whole swathes of stuff I don't understand yet, but as it says in the tao te ching, if one doesn't practice diligently over time, one cannot suddenly understand.