The sharp stick

I was at least 50 when I finally decided religion wasn't for me.

I'd been sitting zazen at The Zen Center in Los Angeles for at least 45 minutes, every part of my body ached, when the roshi hit me with a sharp stick.

Wow and jeez, this is worse than being Baptist, worse than bring Catholic, worse even than being Christian Scientist, the religion I was most familiar with, especially since I'd thought of Zen as more tolerant of aberration.

Quitting religion was easy, I don't know what took me so long, it felt like something god told me I should do.

Now there's this nice big void in my life. I'm going to poke into it and around it with the sharpest stick I can find, forever.