Uncle Daoren

Hi, some years ago I registered with websites of different creeds and philosophies to keep open as many options as possible. Itried to suffer buddhistically but even after defining 'suffering' in secular batcheloresque terms I never felt that I was really good at it (Zen/Chan seemed like an option for a while, but quoting Discordianism's Ho Chi Zen was mostly disapproved). Mystical monotheist approaches? Forget it! Did you ever try to tell the joke about Gepetto, Jesus and Pinocchio to someone explaining the subleties of the 'Cloud of Unknowing' or that Emina's Sufi dance would look better if the skirt was shorter? Okay. Daoism seems to be the last resort (the more so after my orthopaedist advised me to take up QI Gong....).

Hi folks, I'm fifty years old, married and live in the south of Germany (Bavaria). My main interest at the moment is what I would call 'Western Daoism'. What I mean is: what is the 'essence' of Daoism, stripped from the culturally determined 'wrapping'? I like cooking and reading. I'm also interested in psychology, above all psychology of consciousness. Hope to learn a lot from you! Uncle Daoren