Actually no, you didn't go off the deep end. It's an interesting concept. I've studied eastern philosophy a bit and Taoism seems to be the major force at work in my life (time was I would've said I was an artist by education, a chef by occupation, and a Taoist by inclination). I think alot of eastern thought is closer to the universal truth than western, but it's all part of the same big puzzle. On the vacation I just got back from I ran into three personal works by authors and researchers philosophies that set some of my cosmology on end. Two said the same thing though for different reasons (which was basically that each day is a fresh start and hence life is the future and not the past) and the third was the most scientific and in-depth research I've seen concerning the possiblity of re-incarnation (which was a mind-blowing article). It seems to further my idea that there is something greater than what we know of as the physical world, and possibly that there is some purpose to it all. I think anything that people might purport to be god or religion is a clue. Just as is everything you experience in life. The term guru is often mistaken to mean a wise old man, but it's not. The term has a much braoder meaning which is summed up by the word teacher. Anything that teaches you; a novel, a glance from a stranger, a religious text or experience, absolutely anything is a Guru. I think that opens up a huge range of potential for human growth to those who are observant. I'm actually rather curious about your studies into martial philosophy, for when I studied Shotokan Karate for a short while earlier this year I found that it taught me alot more than fighting techinques, and I look forward to being in a position to study the martials arts and sciences further one day.