WANRNING LONG! The Monk Joke. There once was a very successful lawyer in NYC. He had a wife and a kid but his life felt meaningless. After months of making more money than most of us will make in a life time he decides it truly just is not fulfilling. He loads up his Beamer and starts to drive. After some time he finds himself in up state New York surrounded by nature. He continues his drive until he happens upon a monastery. Hoping maybe he could find some peace there he stops and gets out of his car. A nearby monk sees him and offers a tour of the monastery. They see monks praying and meditating, monks doing chores, there were even monks brewing beer. They walk through gardens and by the dormitory and finally through the temple itself, which is sprawling and filled with little rooms designed for different aspects of contemplation and the search for enlightenment. As they walk they pass one corridor in particular and the lawyer hears a sound. It's a strange sound, it becons him, he had never heard a sound like this. So, he asks the monk ""What is that noise?"" But the monk only replies ""I can not tell you, you are not a monk"" and they finish the tour. The lawyer decides to head back home and the entire ride he keeps thinking about that sound. Back in NYC he walks into his giant apartment with his lavish things and feels as empty as ever. So he calls his firm and quits, liquidates some assets and gives his wife enough money to live rent free for several years and a kiss and tells her he will return when he gets over this soul crushing problem. So back up to the monastery he drives. They shave his head and begin to incorporate him into the life of monk hood. He awakes every morning before dawn and starts his prayers, eats a small bland breakfast, helps silently with all of the chores and rites that monks have to do. Several weeks pass and one day he finds himself in the temple and he just so happened to pass that very same corridor again. The noise! The sound! How could he have forgotten? So, a little beside himself with joy, he walks down the corridor. At the end is an old wooden door with a nice brass handle. He turns the handle but it catches, locked. So he quickly walks back down the corridor and to the monk that originally showed him around. ""Brother, I want to know what that noise is coming from the corridor but the door is locked!"" He explains anxious to find the noises source. ""Ah, yes, I was wondering when you would remember about that; here is a key."" So the man who used to be a lawyer rushes back to the temple and down the corridor and puts that key in the lock, twists and opens the door. In front of him is another hallway! But the sound is that much louder and even more intriguing! So he walks down the hallway, and it turns and winds several times before he reaches a big metal door. He turns its handle but it won't budge. He tries they key to no avail. So he runs back down the winding hallway and through the corridor and back to the monk. ""There is another door!"" he cries. ""And another key."" responds the monk as he hands him a big silver key. So the new monk with new purpose runs back to the temple and up the corridor and through the turning hallway and slams the big silver key into the big metal door and what lies beyond the door confuses him. A room filled with the noise and pool. Four walls and a pool. As the sound emminates around him he notices that the far wall, the one opposite of the door, doesn't actually continue all the way down the depth of the pool. So, without hesitation he dives and and arcs under the wall. He comes up and climbs onto a ledge and sees a giant golden door. He giggles the handle to make sure it's locked before he dives back in and swims under the wall and climbs back up and runs through the metal door and through the twisting hallway and out of the corridor and back to the monk. Without a word the monk hands him a small golden key. So he turns and runs through the corridor, through the hallway, into the water, under the wall, up to the ledge. And the sound is immense now, it's practically shaking his eardrums. What could it be!? He puts the small key into the hole and gently turns the knob. The door opens effortlessly. A light bathes the mans face and he sees it! He sees what's making that sound, the glorious sound that will surely allieveate his pains.