I do not know any self-actualized or enlightened people. I don’t even know any who know any. I’m not even sure what being enlightened means. I do know a lot of people who, like Merlin Bob and Hotrod, have seen and experienced too much to ever go back to the way things were. Most of us are still wandering and wondering. We spend more time on the road than on the mountaintop. So many books seem to offer definitive answers (32 Steps to Satori, Nine Golden Keys that Unlock the Gates of Wahoo, The Idiot’s Guide to the Essence of Utmost, etc.) while the actual journey is more subjective, more like an Easter egg hunt than a fifty-yard dash. Seeing as how we spend most of our time traveling, stories about how to enjoy the journey seem more useful. The definitive books can evoke a feeling of failure. “Dang, I read the End All Be All Book and I still don’t get it!” Stories about how to enjoy a savvy sojourn can evoke a feeling of success. “I might have a bad thirty minutes but I’ll never again have a bad day—not a whole day. I know better now, and that’s handy information for any trip, no matter where we’re going.” Over several decades, I have done my research and my seeking, both in the mainstream and in the feeder creeks. My guess is that no one has all the answers, but there is a common denominator: Water. The water is sometimes found in a placid lake, sometimes in a babbling brook, often in a dense fog, and sometimes in a thunderstorm. It’s all water and it’s all headed for the same place. The flushing urinal, the mountain waterfall, and the morning dew are all on their way to the ocean…and back again. I have made the journey from “My theologians can beat up your theologians” to “Wait, maybe everyone has a piece of the puzzle.” I do not have the final answer, but I have some great questions.
