that is, if you call groveling in the dust progress. because that's where i am at this moment in my life. any you know what, i don't mind it. i realize it is just a resting place along the way, and that i can't live here for the rest of my daze. the process keeps unfolding.
I would call it progress. I might be turning into Taoism's version of a bible thumper sort of, but I just have to quote this:
He who stands on tiptoe is not steady.
He who strides cannot maintain the pace.
(from the Tao Te Ching)
Sometimes having to take things easy or even indulge in a little vice now and then (I smoke herb too) is giving ourselves the slack we need to keep going where if we were to expect perfection of ourselves we might end up coming apart from our own expectations of ourselves.