RE: A chronicle of the struggling ego
Wow, I can relate so much to what you wrote. Not only when I'm stoned, though, but pretty much all the time. There is a clear difference between what I am, what others perceive in me, and what I think I want others to perceive. But taking the outside viewpoint, it's all really just different sides of the same thing, right?
The same thing goes for the uninterested question about Taoism: why was your answer unsatisfying, because of the answer(er) or because of the question(er)?
Ultimately I'd say it's not the fault of either participant if some people don't connect. In the same it would not be the fault of anyone if say you and the girl connected... or you and the guy for that matter. Clearly, you and the dog connected, and that was also neither because of you, or the dog, the the guy for not controlling her. Things just happen, or don't happen, and we can't make them happen just by wanting / not wanting it. But then again, you seem to be well aware of this. Don't worry if others are not.
It's curious how we think we control interactions, when they are as you say, just happening. Regarding the answer to Taoism, it was unsatisfactory to me because it didn't really say anything meaningful, just a rational approach that assumed he wouldn't understand anything deeper. I don't know, it just felt incomplete, but then again the Tao is never finished...
Ah, and I thought you meant YOUR answer to HIM was not satisfactory (which I guess was not), because of the lack of connection between you. In that case you it wouldn't have mattered if you had gone on for hours, or just said "never mind". It takes two to tango, can be applied to almost everything...
Actually it just has to do with me answering an "appropriate" answer instead of an actually honest one. Like to me the Tao is just everything that's going on and I scrambled in my mind for something that could explain to his supposedly unknowing mind what it was. And then it became obvious to me that he knew, for he himself is the Tao.