Do you agree with Albert?INTRODUCTIONI can't find the right words to start a new chapter in my life. This is no longer just a research paper for a class in school. It symbolizes the beginning of what I have wanted to do since I arrived in Santa Clara a few years ago. I have been longing for a philosophy that makes sense to me personally; one that doesn't have to conform to anything I've studied so far. This is my chance. While the format I chose isn't the most elegant, it organizes my thoughts in the clearest way. My thoughts are summarized as a journal that begins with my initial impressions and quickly jumps from idea to idea in an attempt to understand The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra.DAY 1—PRELUDE TO LITERATUREGrowing up as a boy in Majorca, Spain , I attended Sunday Mass with my mother and brother every week, never thinking about it again, it was just something we did out of habit. I was content to be Roman Catholic for as long as I can remember until a very momentous episode in the fall of 1996. I was enrolling in my new high school (a Catholic one for the first time) when I noticed there was one special discount for practicing Catholics. Of course, to prove your religious affiliation, a letter from the pastor of your church had to be presented. It was then that my faith in institutionalized religion took a serious dive. In order for my family to be recognized as practitioners in our church, a minimum amount of $250 per year had to be donated. My mother usually dropped off a few dollars when the collection bin was passed around, but the parish had no way of determining how much had actually been donated. If there were no record of family contributions, the letter could not be written. To clarify this discrepancy, they offered a personalized envelope to place in the collection bin to adjust the amount of money actually donated. In one fell swoop, a check for $250 was donated and a letter of recommendation containing a $1,000 waiver was sent. Since that day I have no longer been able to face the institutionalized Church and since then I have looked for other sources of inspiration in different religions, in particular in Eastern philosophy..