'A path with heart' or 'the good, red way'. There is something terribly poignant about the loss of the Native American spiritual traditions.

Don Juan, if he ever existed outside of Carlos Castenada's imagination, revealed a particular way of living and understanding the natural world. But for a more spiritual view, I suggest folks add to their reading list:

Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions

and

Black Elk Speaks

I think three of the best books I've ever read on Zen Buddhism all concern a single man. Shunryu Suzuki (Not D.T. Suzuki, but he does pay homage to D.T.) created the first Zen Temple in America in CA, Tassajara in the bay area...

Zen Mind, Beginners Mind
Streams Branching in the Darkness
Not always So

They are the most influental books I've read. He never wrote these books, but they are his talks transcribed into books. He died many years ago unfortunately, but I think his books approach Zen in a way that is often neglected. We seen the Metaphoric Teacher, who gives us these similies to stretch our thought. We have the Koan Teacher, who teaches by the obscure example of those who came before... I think Shunryu Suzuki was a teacher who taught through pushing his students to question. Often Questions are rewarded, often they show where the student is. Some teachers are hard with their answers to force their students to look inside, or be vulnerable. There is something to be said for Shunryu Suzuki's straight forward language of "As it is" mindset. Please enjoy these books with an open heart... You don't need to know the depths of Zen or Buddhist history/Mythos to understand these books, and I think that is the truest heart of Zen... When one relies to much on the stories of the past, we often lose the moment we are in and see things no longer as what they are, but what they were...

An old man carrying, for no obvious reason, a sheaf of sticks, met another donkey whose cargo consisted merely of a bundle of stones.

"Suppose we swop," said the donkey.

"Very good, sir," assented the old man; "lay your load upon my shoulders, and take off my parcel, putting it upon your own back."

The donkey complied, so far as concerned his own encumbrance, but neglected to remove that of the other.

"How clever!" said the merry old gentleman, "I knew you would do that. If you had done any differently there would have been no point to the fable."

And laying down both burdens by the roadside, he trudged away as merry as anything.

COBWEBS FROM AN EMPTY SKULL.

BY DOD GRILE

what we carry is what we choose to carry, there's nothing outside (of ourself) to stop us from letting go (but sometimes an old man can be of help)

Dont trust strange donkeys. Or overly cheerfull old men.

lesson: Some false fables are created just for the sake of balancing the true fables.

You are never too old to be what you might have been.

- George Eliot

Case in point, I'm 25 years old. According to the Department of the Navy, I'm too old to join. However, that still doesn't stop me from being a soldier. What I might have been had I joined at 18, I can still be.

"Even false words are true if they lead to liberation; even true words are false if they become the object of attachment."

-Zen saying

"It is the greatest sin to do the right thing for the wrong reason."