When I wrote the entry below in “My travels with Lieh Tzu”, I had only been getting acquainted with my new job in Boynton Beach and here I was writing about something called “Sagely understanding”. It was mid-April 1995, and we had only been in Boynton Beach for a couple of weeks. I was still trying to figure out my bearings and settle into my nine-to-five job. Marie had transferred from a Rite Aid Pharmacy in Massachusetts to one in Boynton Beach. Meanwhile, I kept hearing voices in my head—not threatening, but persistent—urging me to continue to tell the story, a story that would ultimately become my own. They simply insisted I keep writing, and eventually, one day everything would become clear. I have since written over a half dozen books detailing my journey both published and unpublished that I hope to update here over the coming months and years. Yes, there is a story to tell…
What I am writing now in early September 2025 thirty years later, is as a commentary bringing my thoughts forward to today. Much of what I had written below felt like a reminder of who I have always been but forgotten. It felt as though these ancient Chinese figures, the founders of Taoism, had sought me out, arriving as messengers from a higher source. They seemed to know me intimately, like old friends. I came to recognize them as dragons—Lao, Lieh, and Chuang Tzu—the great sages revealing my past through this profound connection.
In just over two years, I find myself on a journey guided by my own writing, with my actions shaping the path that has now led me to Boynton Beach, Florida. It would be as Chuang Tzu would say that the way to continue on the path to wisdom was central to understanding the Tao. To unveil in effect our own essential nature in a quest for freedom and meaning. That seeking the correct path is remembering who you are and have always been. That when the teacher comes, he stays only until he thinks you know the proper answer… unless he enjoys conversing with you and decides to stay.
When you’re ready, they say true living happens when you let others live in your mind. This can include people from both the present and the past. By embracing the idea that your spirit is eternal, like what we call as “spirit guides”, everyone you’ve ever known can be with you now, if you choose to allow them. It’s like opening a door in your mind that others can walk through. This isn’t always a good thing if you aren’t stable or mature enough to keep control of your thoughts. True dying happens when you return to visit old friends in spirit, not just as you did or would when you were alive.
My travels with Lieh Tzu / Interpolations along the Way
Chapter Five – The Questions of T’ang
78. Sagely Understanding
What can remain within the knowledge of the sage?
The Great Yu Says:
“Within the six directions, inside the four seas, everything is lit by the sun and moon, traversed by the stars, ordered by the four seasons, preside over by the 
year star. The things which divine intelligence begets differ in shape and in length of life; only the sage can understand their way.”
However, Chi of Hsia says:
“But there are also those which do not need the divine intelligence to beget them, nor the yin and yang to shape them, nor sun and moon to light them; which die young without needing an executioner to kill them, live long without needing anyone to welcome them or see them off; which do not need the five grains for food, nor floss silk for clothing, nor boat and car for travel. Their way is to be as they are of themselves, it is beyond the sage’s understanding.”
Which can be correct? One says only the sage can understand the ways of the universe. The other says that there are those who do not need direction, as their way is to be as they are without any intervention. Beyond the reach of understanding.
Could it be that both are correct? That the ways of the world are not to consume the 
time of the great sages of the day. That the sage is to remain in quiet contemplation and refrain from earthly endeavors so that he may keep to a clear path to true understanding. Is not the way of the Tao to let everything find its own place without contention? To let everything continue as it should knowing that both good and bad will occur in the world and that all will find their true way.
If something is to remain above the understanding of the sage, then should the sage simply not understand this, remain within himself, and continue his way. 4/20/95
Number seventy-eight of one hundred fifty-eight entries.
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