"Out of curiosity, I have to ask you if you have read any books of Eastern mysticism, such as the Upanishads, Tao Te Ching, or the Bhagavad Gita.  If so, I would sincerely like to hear your opinion of them.  Thanks again and happy holidays."

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  I regret that I have not had the opportunity to read as much of the Eastern writings as I would have liked.  I had a copy of the Bhagavad Gita (I believe the Upanishads were included), and read a portion of it many years ago, but fear I lost it before I had gotten too far, and cannot recall much of what I read over this space of years.  I have an opinion generally that they contain much wisdom and much to provoke thought, and would be worth reading (along with a hundred other books I've always wished I had time to complete), but I lack sufficient experience to have a specific opinion.  More generally, I believe one can always benefit from reading the thoughts of others, whether those thoughts are correct or not, and can learn much that challenges one's own thoughts and requires one to expand his thinking; but there aren't really two ways to understand everything.  There are, as someone has said, hundreds of ways to understand anything until you know the truth, and then there's never any more than one.  I don't know the whole truth, and I suspect there are some things I "know" which are not truth, subject to revision as I learn more; but I've discovered the truth, at least the core of it, and barring some truly earth-shattering evidence, I'm not likely to abandon it.  Consider that Newton's Mechanics were proved to be true a couple hundred years ago, and held as inviolable for two centuries; then a few things were noticed which were not explained, and Einstein developed Relativity.  In one sense, Newton was mistaken; yet in another sense, that which he understood was only a part of the whole truth.  I understand part of the whole truth, and will not abandon Newton even as I come to understand and accept Einstein.  I'm sure I can learn much from the Eastern writings, as I have learned much from liberal authors who took the inaccuracy of the Bible as a proven assumption; but I will also measure what I hear by what I know already, expanding the truth, not abandoning it.

  Thanks again, and for the holiday greetings.  I hope this sheds some light on things.  (I would wish you a happy holiday, but regret that I am not well enough versed in your faith to know whether there is a holiday near the solstice, nor which it would be.  Apologies for my ignorance in this matter; I am not so ignorant as it would seem--I am familiar with holidays of several other current and past religions, but some better than others, and some not well at all.)

  I look forward to your next letter.

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