Staying true to what we know and what defines our character often shapes the outcomes of our endeavors. What is it that our memories tell us that can guide us forward? How do we let go of pursuits that don’t align with our spiritual journey, while holding onto the essentials—like having a knapsack filled with the tools we’ll need for the long run?
If we are truly listening, we become like a portal of light that shines, or illuminates, our path that will show the way forward for us and others. Recognizing that the light we seek shines from within us. To what you have been both asking and conveying for more than thirty years now through your writing and knowing that we are never alone. 
The ultimate paradox of the sage lies in knowing the way while living, showing, and teaching it, as we become like a portal to the stars.
After completing the book we’ve been adding commentary to over the past several months, I wrote another book, published in China in 2006, titled “Thoughts on Becoming a Sage – The Guidebook for Living a Virtuous Life” that was my own version of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching. Updating thoughts on this book will follow when we have completed the one below.
Many of life’s challenges stem from the gap between knowing how we should live verses how we actually do. Knowing the right thing and struggling to do it often leads to anger and frustration, highlighting the personal limitations we have yet to overcome. As though clouds overhead can hide our true intent and destination. Undeterred, it is when we truly know ourselves that we discover the purpose of the journey and why we are here.
Life becoming like a portage over the river of no return only taking with us what we need for the journey ahead. As we leave behind the vestiges of the past that no longer define us or the journey we have yet to make. While we cherish and build on memories that can only be deemed as eternal.
In times now considered ancient, the thoughts and writings of Lao, Chuang, Lieh Tzu, Confucius, and many others have pondered what it meant to become a sage.
The dragon would emerge as a symbol of virtue, representing one who could rise above earthly concerns and ride the clouds into immortality. Returning one day to the stars from whence he came.
The Book of Lieh Tzu, along with my own version titled “My Travels with Lieh Tzu,” explores the thoughts and writings of those who imagine themselves riding on clouds with dragons, as they too embark on their eternal journey.
The story below emphasizes the value of self-awareness before giving advice or assistance to others, as well as the natural or innate judgment required for the success of our efforts. We aim to perfect the life of a sage, fully aware that the greatest assumption is seeing ourselves as one. As we either believe we’ve discovered the gateway to our own portal or continue searching for the path to reach it, we must strive to stay focused and avoid getting too distracted.
My travels with Lieh Tzu / Interpolations along the Way
Chapter Eight – Explaining Conjunctions
132. Distracting mulberries
Before setting out to help others, we should not ensure that our own house is in proper order. Assisting those we consider our allies for worthy causes is fine. However, your enemies may be simply waiting until your weakness is exposed.
As with the story told by Lieh Tzu:
“Duke Wen of Chin set out to meet his allies intending to attack Wei. His friend, Kung‑tzu Ch’u looked up at the sky and smiled as he rode on his horse next to him.
The duke asked why he smiled and Kung‑tzu Ch’u responded that he was smiling at a neighbor of his who was escorting his wife on a visit to her family. He saw a woman at the roadside working on the mulberries, found her attractive and spoke to her. But when he looked around at his wife, there was another man beckoning to her. I take the liberty of smiling at this.”
The duke saw the connection between the story and his own current endeavors and turned back. But before his return home his northern border had been attacked by his foes who had been waiting secretly for his departure so they could take advantage of his absence. He returned just in time to repel the invaders who were surprised at the duke’s tenacity and that he may have become forewarned of their plans. 
After the Duke had driven off the intruders, he asked Kung‑tzu Ch’u how he could have foreseen such events and had warned him in time to protect his own land and property.
Kung‑tzu Ch’u responded:
“How can we be that much different than the man who was distracted by the beauty of the woman picking mulberries along the roadside. If we insist on pursuing the desires of others, or in this case your allies, without shoring up our defenses here at home, how can what we already possess not become attractive to someone else?
The story I told was just a premonition of what was to come. It was you who knew what to do.” 8/12/95
Number one hundred thirty-two of one hundred fifty-nine entries.
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