I miss Alexandria

I clearly prefer the Atlantic, but then that is only because I know it better than the Mediterranean. Although I must confess that I fell in love with the latter somewhere around Alexandria in Egypt.

I am not very wise, even a tad unwise, but I do like koans. I have a healthy disregard for religion that does not prevent me from practicing Zazen (Zen Buddhism Rinzai or Soto). To me it is a question of spiritual well-being, not one of religion. If I have a problem with religion, then I am even more critical of anything esoteric. You may call it some deformation due to having a keen interest in philosophy, in particular, eastern philosophies, and a tremendous amount of ignorance to go with it.
Let me add a bit to your understanding of koans. At first when you hear one, it seems contradictory or paradoxical, it is in bringing harmony to the apparent contradiction that one discovers the essence of the lesson. One could also say that in reflecting on a koan, one balances a paradox.

While our society, and most self-help books, will try to convince you that you have to be perfect, well-adjusted, and a dream of a person before you can find some warmth and intimacy in friendship, my own experience tells me that we are somehow all a bit needy, hurt, and just looking for a bit of peace in this world at war. We all have an history, we have lived, we have loved, we have been hurt, we have hurt, and hopefully we have learned something on the way.

All humans are complex by nature, and the last thing I would try would be to enact complexity. I would simply be overwhelmed by the task.

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