It's a trap

What Chinese stories have helped you understand and follow the path to the Tao? Which ones have taught you the most? Have any of them changed your life in a small or large way? Have any of them pointed out something obvious that you never noticed? The link below is from a site that has some good ones; look under "Tao living" http://www.taoism.net/enter.htm

I have searched for what it means to be enlightened around tons of other forums, and have tried to find if anyone else has had an experience similar to mine, but so far I haven't found anyone yet. I have only recently started studying Taoism, but based on an experience I recently had, I have to ask whether or not I have attained enlightenment. I don't know whether or not other members are against the use of marijuana, but my experience has something to do with it, so don't read on if it will somehow offend you: The last city I lived in was not a place I really liked, and I didn't meet many people, but the couple of friends I did have were very fun to be around. We liked to sit around on the weekends and casually smoke weed, but while they seemed to just laugh a lot and watch movies, I was having a completely different effect. I was experiencing these sudden realizations about my existence and life and nature and they were coming so fast that I couldn't explain them in any way. I would try to tell my friends but they all just kind of laughed at me and told me I was high. Obviously I was, and obviously the drug was contributing to the way I was thinking, but it's not like I was having these mindless, irrational thoughts. They were about how connected every single thing is, and about how everyone is everyone, yet no one is no one; how a serious situations aren't serious until they actually happen to you; about how insignificant, meaningless, and small we are, even though most of us never look beyond us, the human race, or question what goes on. How I am a tiny space on a never ending timeline, and how there is no true good or evil, because who's to say what's what? And that was the best way I could explain it, so when my friends didn't understand or take me seriously, I was sad; not because they weren't taking me seriously, but because they were being guided like sheep without even knowing. These thoughts ate at me until one day while sitting in class, I had what I would describe as an epiphany. It was like everything in the world became so obvious and clear out of nowhere. It was like someone had taken off some sort of goggles I had been wearing and I could see everything for how it really was. I began to see how sad it was that people were so obsessed with their clothing brands, how they looked, how others looked, how popular or successful they were, and it was at that moment that all the people in my life that had previously upset me by putting me down and making fun of me, no longer affected me. It was like, no matter what, I couldn't be saddened or angered. At that moment, I felt a wave of happiness go through me, and I was almost brought to tears by how clear everything had become. After that day, I quit trying to answer all the questions in class, stopped engaging in meaningless arguments, and began to accept all points of view from all people. (I still didn't even explain all of the revelations I experienced here, but I can't find a way to describe them) Now, fast forward three or four months, and I've started to study Taoism and read the Tao Te Ching, and everything that I felt and was realizing earlier was put into words in this book. But here is the true point of this whole post: How could I, without any idea of the Tao, have reached enlightenment? Especially while people go there whole lives trying to attain it. It just doesn't seem to make sense. Thank you, if you were able to read through the lengthy post. I also apologize for my typing, I've been up for a while now and am a bit tired.

Off topic, but I love your Getafix avatar! Or as you would say in Denmark, Miraculix.

The ones that make fun are the ones that don't know what it means to truly understand. But yeah, it was pretty funny I'm almost inclined to think he's on drugs, probably X, but it's obvious that he could be completely sober. And I mean, honestly.. That rainbow is pretty intense. I've never seen one that's that vivid. It's like something from a coloring book! That along with the awesome landscape could bring anyone to tears.

But you're talking about something that kills you. I'm talking about a pretty harmless plant. The same goes with anything in nature. Lemmings throw themselves off cliffs; obviously, no one should do this, but at the same time Taoism teaches us to be in tune with nature. So how could anyone know what part of nature is right and what part is wrong?

Do you actually suggest that I take up alcoholism?

The military is going to make you do a lot of pushups, and if you can't do a full, proper pushup, then you just need to do knee/girl pushups for now and work your way up. It should be pretty easy to find an upper body workout plan for women on the internet. You should also work on sit ups, which shouldn't be as hard. Most important though, is running. Just go jog for 10-20 minutes a day, but remember to take at least 2 rest days so you don't hurt yourself (shin splints suck). The air force is known to have the easiest PT and basic training out of all the military, so as long as you're more in shape than the average person, you should be fine. Just make sure you choose what's in your own best interest.

I don't smoke anymore, but animals take part in drug use in the wild as well. Reindeer in Lapland are know to eat a native psychedelic mushroom and afterwards, prance around seeing who knows what. But since using drugs is technically natural, doesn't it go with the flow?

Oh no, I'm not taking my experience as something I'm proud of or that I'd even defend. I think a lot of you are misunderstanding what I'm saying. What I am trying to say, minus the experience and details, and what I should have posted in the first place, is that I understand/fully grasp most, (if not all) concepts I've been told I have to understand in order to know the Tao. The concepts I am reading are not new to me, they're things I have often thought about before. Basically, I feel like I can see myself like someone would a complete stranger. If someone insults that stranger, you don't care, it wasn't you, and you probably doubt the stranger should care either. You also don't care about the stranger. He is a tiny insignificant part of your life, a flash that you most likely will never see again. I am by no means claiming to be enlightened, which is why the title of this post is "Surely I'm not enlightened.." I was probably just overwhelmed with all these newfound ideas when they began to come to me, so it felt like something big in comparison. Sorry! Okay, basically this is more of a "Where do I stand right now and am I on the right path" question, not an "Am I enlightened" question. I'm looking at the original post and wondering why I wrote this the way I did. Like I said, I'd been up for a long time when I wrote this, and I tend to ramble and have trouble expressing myself when I'm really tired, like I assume most others do.

I've just begun to really study Taoism and stumbled on this forum through a Google search. I should have known there was a forum for everything!