silent thunder

“I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” – Robert McCloskey

humor and play... not serious, but quite sincere. high skill!

I miss being able to bike everywhere with relative safety. For the seven years we lived in Brooklyn, we owned no vehicles and for the three prior to that, I rode year round in Minnesota and left the car to my gal. I find I'm losing inertia for hatred and sustained anger. Most I can manage these days is a brief flare, which, if I keep my mouth shut for 20 seconds, passes as if it wasn't there. Unsurprisingly, I'm also losing inertia for manic joy and hyper happiness, which is turning out to be fertile soil for contentment and occupation of the center, which really is wherever awareness abides, it seems.

Never known hate to limit itself to any one ideology, path or group... it's quite all inclusive... egalitarian even

authenticity is too often underappreciated in my experience. her words consistently rang the bell and at times, dissolved it utterly. gifted, unapologetically authentic... miss her indeed.

Sounds like we could have hung out... I'll have to look him up.

Thanks for the descriptions. Ordering both

If i could manifest my druthers... I'd spend my time in silent contemplation, counterplayed by bouts of getting lost in musich while painting and sculpting in a studio open to the elements. This would be offset by preparing regular feasts for loved ones and neighbors...

Glad you've returned. Been reading and re-reading some older conversations and really appreciate some of your insights and perspective.

I'm rather fascinated to discover that lately, it seems most all of what I used to consider 'healthy reverence' for notions, concepts, teachings and at times teachers and practices/forms, has revealed to be idolization by 'the storyteller'. The aspect of mind who tags along with all sensory and noumenal input and generates the story of life through them. Particularly long held and for the most part, unquestioned certainties have revealed (sometimes very unpleasantly) as utterly vapourous mind stuff, inherently devoid of absolute meaning or truth, aside from that which is assigned them by local mind after 'registering in localized awareness'.

Well said. You share much with few words. The bolded really rang my bell. For years I've been experiencing what you describe piercingly, unignorably and in the midst of an unsought but equally unignorable compulsion in cultivating release and doubt systemically. the repeated realization is that the one thing that remains when all else is allowed to fall away. i am when absolutely everything is released that which remains for me is... awareness.

omg I'm dyin' over here! In Nordic parlance... guidable hips is on par with being put in the 'paint shaker'. When making love to a Nordic Woman, if you're incapable of 'doing it sufficiently'... they have a tendency to smile while grabbing you by the hips and saying "no my love... do it like this" Where then then begin vigorously guiding your hips to the correct form.

Hey Panda. Strong question and observation. Few traditions exemplify idolotry to me more than the Abrahamic. Catholocism, Judaism and Islam really seem to have mastered it to the point they've lost awareness of it, in a similar manner I expect that fish are not aware of the water they swim in until pulled out of it... if ever. I was raised Charismatic Lutheran, so we didn't idolize physical objects, but traits and ideas for the most part. Anything it seems can be idolized, reified and worshipped... any phenomenological, physical thing as well as any noumenological mental thought, concept, or idea... can all be objectified, reified and worshipped or assaulted through the will of the one creating the worship. At least this is the case with my own process. One of my central processes has been the identification of this process and the cessation of it. it seems the one the media most loves in America, is what I call the hero worship / villain evisceration game. Where we choose a person, build them up into a monumental hero object worship them to ridiculous levels of adoration, then when inevitably they do something we dislike, we reveal the real focus of the game... and relish the utter viscious dismemberment of them as villains. In short, anything we obsess over, build up as sacred, defend through assumptions, feel we can't ask questions about and can't critique, any notions or objects that are 'beyond reproach'... all are examples of idolization. It seems to be a favored passtime of humans... with me at the forefront often enough.

I'm considering purchasing these... but am curious. Are these books devoted to supra-natural phenomenon? Or are they focused on insight and character? The only thing drawing me to the Magic and Mysteries book is how it reveals the character of Ms. David-Neel in how she deals with the people and nature she's engaged with. The supra-natural elements in any conversations have lost all gravity for me any longer it seems...

Really enjoying the conversation, thanks to all involved. I have a side question that may be a derail, if so, please ignore. I'm just sideline curious of an experience that manifested in the last three years or so. Do the classics mention anything about 'internal scents'? Smells generated and experienced only internally? For a few years I've experienced intense scents that are repeatedly confirmed that no one apart from me is sensing. They seem to arise from within. One is unique and highly pleasant and nothing I can put an identifying label on... the other is decidedly unpleasant and smells of cigarette smoke. They are both exceedingly strong to the point that everyone in the room should also be smelling them, but nada, zilch, zippo. This stands out particularly for those who know me well as, living where I do in the desert, my sense of smell is notoriously dead for long periods of the year. Where only the most intense scents can pierce through to awareness. Again just curious, ignore if it's off topic.

Have either of you read the book she co-wrote with her son Lama Yongden? The Secret Oral Teachings In Tibetan Buddhism? Her presence and message delivered in that book rolled through me like thunder to deep effect... indeed the right words at an auspicious moment. Ripe soil. The ramifications and reverberations continue to dissolve old paradigm structures. Quite a gift. Not a little unpleasant either (where resistance to shedding skin is present). I'm reading the magic book, just for more of her words and her presence. I've no longer any gravity or interest in descriptions of sorcerer's abilities, nor the supra-natural skills of high level practitioners... it's Alexandra's demeanor, that is cutting through the words like light through fog for me. Her presence is palpable in her words as few other authors I've ever read. Strong resonance. Her one word message in Secret Oral Teachings coalesced years of emerging insights for me. Like i said... quite the respect crushy on Ms David-Neel.

so... i was wondering... can anyone scan my chakras?

for me, there's a low sustained, rhythmic, rolling thunder

Magic and Mystery in Tibet: Alexandra David-Neel wow. What a presence she must have been! She's becoming something of an archetypal hero for me. Her presence, through the paper is vibrant and palpable. I'm welcoming her as an honored guest in my home She's been good for me, though her first words came like thunder and radical shift... it's the welcome thunder of nourishing rain. This is my second foray into her process and experiences... and so far it's more glancing and topical. Though I'm but knee deep in... yup... got a sincere respect crushy on Ms David-Neel

wait... did I misread this entire thread? i thought we were talking about causal sex... d'oh!

Welcome back mate!

“You ask why I make my home in the mountain forest, and I smile, and am silent, and even my soul remains quiet: it lives in the other world which no one owns. The peach trees blossom, The water flows.” ― Li Po

"I thought I was pretty cool until I realized plants eat sunlight and poop out air." Jim Bugg

Ok... I'll ask. Who's going to start the next 'how to achieve Rainbow Body?' Thread?

reading that was like watching a leaf dance in the breeze... lovely, really lovely!