hans-wolfgang

Every man is like a ship in a river; he runs against obstuctions on every side but one; on that side all obstructions is taken away, and he sweeps serenely over a deepening channel into an infinite sea. http://www.diarius.de/tao/12917/

You have inspired this: http://www.thetaobums.com/blog/hans-wolfga...p?showentry=265

You have inspired this: http://www.diarius.de/tao/12124/

I am Hans-Wolfgang, I am taoist and on the way of Tao. The taoism, especially of chuang tzu, is my approach to living. I like taoism, because it is not against the world, as unfortunately the Buddhists who became life-negative. They became more interested in dying than in living. They became more interested in suicide -- slow suicide, gradual suicide. Suicide became their goal. This is a perversion -- a perversion of a great master and his great words. Because laughter is for me religion, I will tell you one very beautiful story, a sad story. The situation was not unusual. The boss of a large and successful firm employed a beautiful secretary. The boss, in his early forties, was a bachelor. He had a large car, a luxury flat, and was never short of feminine company. But he met his match in his beautiful secretary. She politely refused his invitations to lunch or dinner, and his offers of expensive presents and salary increases were refused with equal grace and charm. In the early weeks of her employment, he was of the opinion that she was just playing hard-to-get. During the months that followed, he changed his toothpaste, his soap, his after-shave, but all to no avail. Finally, he resigned himself to accept the fact that she was beautiful and highly competent, but that his chances of developing any kind of personal relationship with her were nil. It therefore came as something of a shock when he walked into his office one morning and found his secretary arranging flowers on his desk, and even more of a shock when she looked at him demurely and said, "A happy birthday, sir." He mumbled his thanks and went through the rest of the day in a complete daze. As the time approached five o'clock, the secretary came into the office and confessed that she had ascertained his birthday from the staff files. "I hope you don't mind," she added. He answered that he didn't mind it at all, and she looked relieved. "In that case, sir," she went on, "I wonder if you would care to come round to my flat this evening, at about nine o'clock. I have got a little surprise for you that I think you will find very pleasant." He mentally congratulated himself on the fact that the girl had finally had to admit that she was attracted to him, and tried to appear casual as the arrangements were finalized. Promptly at nine o'clock, a bottle of champagne in his hand, he presented himself at the flat. She was a vision of loveliness, and he hoped that she could not hear his heart pounding as she poured him a large scotch and urged him to make himself comfortable. "Loosen some of your clothes if you are too warm," she said. "I'm just going into the bedroom to get ready. Please come too when I call you." This was too good to be true. "I must be as desirable to her as she is to me," he thought smugly. "You can come in now," she called eventually, "but be careful you don't fall. All the lights are off in here." Our hero could take a hint. Quickly slipping out of his clothes, he entered the darkened room and closed the door behind him. As he did so the room became flooded with light and he saw that the whole of the office staff stood in the center of the room singing, "Happy birthday to you...."