Makura-no-soshi: Finding myself therapist-less of late I too have considered the meditation instead of therapy route.

Once I was with a friend of mine at a zendo in Long Island. I did not actually go in to sit, but rather just to see the place since at the time I was very interested in the idea of sitting. When we went in, I noticed that there was a rabbit sitting in front of the Buddha statute in the "yard" or whatever you call it.

"Are there a lot of rabbits around here?" I asked her.

"I've never seen a rabbit here in my life."

We went in to the zendo for awhile, and when we came out the rabbit was still there. I took it as a sign of some sort, but have always shyed away from actually embarking on formal practice. It seems difficult not having any kind of cultural basis in it. Particularly as the son of a Lutheran and an Atheist: doubt and guilt are in my blood...

But I at least take solace in the notion that life is suffering, and the more one suffers, the more one is alive...