silent thunder

Sure. I'll be happy to listen and help if I'm able... if not, we'll enjoy a conversation at the least.

When one is ready to learn, all of life is revealed as teacher.

Hey there Heartbreak. Through my experience i don't share your notion that the higher dimensions are 'keeping us down', or 'maintain those veil of samsaric illusions' over the masses. Our vibration is the result of our response to the co-arising conditions of life. Look within for the keys to the locks on your power. They are not in my experience held by external forces, bent on controlling or denying you. They are self generated and self released in resonant realization of truth. Quiet the self. Become clear, silent and bouyant and the truth reveals fully and whole, right in the spot where you abide this moment... indeed where else could truth be found?

This thread reminds me of an old saying in our neighborhood. There are two types of folks: Those who make you smile with joy when they enter a room... and those who make you smile in relief when they leave. So grateful for the pearls shared, even when wading through a bog to enjoy them.

I see it's time for another round of body and sex shame. *sigh* While the whole 'bodies are evil', 'sex ruins spirit', 'body processes are bad', 'boo bodies', 'down with the physical, up with the spiritual' is not surprising any longer at this point in life, but it's sure saddening to see otherwise young, healthy folks intentionally causing their minds and processes such discord with these petty, immature notions. I contend you do more harm to your process with the mental dissonance you cause in trying to force unnatural responses to natural function than to just engage in a mature relationship with your own physical form... but that's just me. Sure there are times when benefit comes from fasting. This incidentally includes mental fasting from overindulging the controlling holdover voice of Puritanical body hate as well, I have found. When fasting of any kind arises naturally, it is not a forced process. It is almost celebratory and arises effortlessly, naturally, wei wu wei, in answer to a call from within. When the mind is quiet and in harmony, these calls are evident, clear and hard to miss. And when engaging in a fast (of any kind, sex, food, media, obsessive thinking) in answer to this call, the fast is not something that is a struggle. If you find you are struggling intensely, consider you may be fighting the natural flow of life and perhaps change tack... try silent observation and see if you can tune in to the inner voice with more clarity. I assure you, there is wisdom in the body waiting patiently for you to respond. It is a poor human indeed, who, not listening, stomps about in certainty claiming Nature to be Mute. But this is not something, I suspect folks can come to understand by reading words, they'll have to suss it out via their own process. So my words here are not to convince anyone of anything, but to push back against these old worn out holdover puritanical notions of body hate and shame. They are a response to the old voice within me, which upon reading the words of the OP clearly communicated the need to not keep them inside where they may fester mind and pollute process. Stale out, bouyant in. My voice may be drowned out in stormy weather of public opinion and the shrill shreaking of the fundamentalist certainties, but voices carry and truth rings resonant in those ready to hear. Many strain to hear a whisper, who ignor a shout. Voices carry, even in storms and in the still of my heart after my song is sung... i too am sung.

little bit o funky dub goodness from Greece...

The Dao of Humor. The Way of Laughter. Play. More and more, play and humor distinguish themselves as highest skill, incredibly potent. The mat is the mat. and while meditation embodies mind, on and off cushion, the real work, for me in the moment is not in blank mind, nor attentive focus. Not in visualizing paths of energy in or outside the body... The real work for me is in transmuting hatred and vehement anger for laughter. Germans are good at exemplifying this, in their response when the uber hateful fascists hold their annual 'hate parade'. The rest line the streets with humorous signs and throw a party, loving and laughing their asses off. Nothing shoots hate in the foot for me more effectively than authentic laughter. Like bells ringing in fog. I came to discover Chuang Tze rather late in life. My first philosopher idol was George Carlin. Never considered him a comedian, even when I first laughed myself sore memorizing his first album when I was 10. George was a social commentarian an observer and a philosopher to me, who adroitly used keen wit and his scathingly fast intellect to illustrate the absurdities of social life through his hysterical observations and stories. Carlin for me, echoes like a modern Chuang Tze. Illustrating the absurd extremities of our dark and ignorant bits, with humor and keen insight born of a desire to laugh instead of rage. Playfulness and laughter in the face of rage. This is my medicine of late... my recipe for praxis in the day to day. So on that note... Here's George Carlin on 'stuff'. "ever notice how other people's stuff is shit... and your shit... is stuff?"

Animals have been living with me, in my home my entire life, with the exception of the three months upon first getting out of my own. Bodha, my first familiar found me then and we spent the next 21 years bonding in ways I did not know were possible, even with all my previous experience with animals, both domestic and not. I've had animals to interact with on a familially intimate basis, my entire life and have learned so many valuable lessons and garnered invaluable insights through these relationships... so here's a thread to share our appreciation for our companions non human. Cats and Dogs: I've lived with 11 cats. An Abyssinian, a Tortoise Shell, three American Short Hair, a Spotted Tabby, three Jet Black Cats, a Maine Coone and a Norwegian Forest. I grew up with 6 dogs. An Irish Setter, American Water Spaniel, Black Lab, Irish Wolf Hound, German Pointer and a 50/50 German Shepard/Samoya. I speak fluent canine and feline, including wild varieties. Birds: I've spent a fair amount of time living in the home of two birds. A Trace Maria, and an African Grey. I've always had an innate affinity and understanding of bird language and mentality. They are kindred. One of my totem spirits is the Red Tailed Hawk. Birds and I converse daily, freely and innately are drawn to one another. Ferrets: Two females... one albino and one sable. Talk about teamwork and problem solving... They taught me the unbreakable power of true persistence and the indelibly high skill of play. When they've set their mind to something, nothing dissuades that until completion. And whatever they go about, they do it innately playfully. They taught me the incredible power of turning a mundane process, into a playful endeavor. What might have been draining and drudgery, can become absolute bouyant joyful process. Amazing beings. And curiosity... I recall them working together one night, figuring out how to open the larder where we stored our dry goods. Upon opening the latch and getting in, they decided to pull the small flour bag under our sofa. Well, it wouldn't fit, but we could see the trail of flour around the entire circumference of the sofa where they'd tried. Upon failing to get the bag under, they then tore it open fully and shoveled all the flour under the sofa, for their nap. It was not possible to anger at such blissful pure playful joy. I've not yet, but always long to have a deep relationship with a Bearded Dragon. We've always had at least one Betta fish... they are mesmerizing... i can achieve deep trance sending attention into and sharing their space. That's about it for the animal's I've lived with intimately. Then there are all of the non domestic animals I had lasting, intimate relationships with. The rancher, who about went into cardiac with worry when he saw me walking among his herd of utterly wild horses... (i was about 7 or 8 at the time, didn't have any concept of potential danger, just approached and was accepted instantly). He kept a large swath of land for them and left them feral, warned me off said he could never get close. I spent many afternoons wandering among them daily, hanging out, lounging and occasionally mock chasing them. They occupied the land East of my Dad's place, which was the last house on a bay that feeds into the Mississippi river. Countless squirrels, raccoons, ravens, crows, pigeons, gulls, possams. Generations of them, getting feedings morning and evening most days from what is overfull in our pantry. And myriad encounters in the wild. Bear, Moose, Mountain Lion, Wolf, Coyote, Badger, Otter, Eagles, Osprey, Hawks, Owls. Not even touching yet the insects. What I appreciate perhaps most about animal relationships... is the utter authenticity of their presence and essence. Never a lie among them, in all my countless interactions. That's the first rant. Some pics to follow for sure... and please share your appreciation of our non human companions on this miracle dot we live on!

The Gulls and Crow were really singing to me in spirit this morning! Their knifing through the heavy winds, spoke volumes, wordlessly. All of nature has a voice... and is always communicating. "It is a poor man, who not listening, clomps about proclaiming nature to be mute."

A candle, a mirror and eye lock, are all that are required for me to explore seemingly endlessly. But only my own explorations, nothing lineage induced, nor formally sought. Pure exploration. Many faces i have seen revealed... in the mirror of one face.

She who recognizes the miracle of the ordinary... connects with dao. "Can you realize the miracle playing out in a pile of dog shit, slowly melting in a pool of fetid water warmed by the sun?" There are more miracles playing out in a square yard of 'ordinary earth' than in all tomes, ebooks and manuscripts of history, in all the libraries of man. To argue over the finger is to miss what the finger points to... and yet. What glory in the act of a finger, being capable of pointing...

i see mirrors... everywhere

turning water wheel. without skill, training, or thought, utilizes force.

While watching the Gulls cut through the heavy winds at the beach, i wonder... Do crabs envy fish their flight through water, similarly to how i envy birds their flight through air?

How perfectly ordinary! Nice share Brother! Thank you.

I get my dao the old fashioned way I guess... sitting quietly, or moving vigorously in nature. Dao and Nature... as I have experienced in my travels, through seeking and releasing... dao and nature are equally infused in the midst of the Great Cities of Human, or in the forests of the Great North of my birth. Dao gives rist to all and yet has no form. right here in this chair, at the top of a mountain, in the valley streams... in the loving arms of my partner in the quiet fasting of my mind movement stillness... it is here, now indeed... where else

Absolutely. As with any tool, it could certainly be used poorly, ineffectively, or crudely. High skill, to be used, must be cultivated it seems. Not anyone can pick up the carver's tools and craft smooth scultpures of flowing gowns on realistic figures from stone and wood. We don't rush in to use the master's tools without cutting ourselves. But moving through life, utilizing humor and transforming mundane tasks into playful endeavors... is for me, revealing to be among the highest skills developing in my process. Humor can break the cycle of trance that daily life tends to fall into for me... it pierces through hypnosis and naturally brings presence. I'm beginning to lean into and identify with zen methods as i unfold in this... The process of shocking the student, or self, into presence through humor, or random acts is something I've embodied throughout my life from childhood as a natural compulsion and when brought to bear with adroit timing by those around me, has resulted in piercing realizations and breakthroughs.

@Zen Pig

I am experiencing what I refer to as 'the grey zone' in morning sleep. I come fully awake as usual, but remain still. awareness and body bouyant in a zone of extreme relaxation and still calm presence... Full lucid mind awareness but body soon returns to sleep. Mind enters and exits dreaming without losing consciousness. Fluid intermingling of dream and waking local awareness. Float in this zone for extended periods notion of self, localized unique personhood diffuses out into bouyant calm presence and witnessing

I haven't had much exposure to Wings or his two albums prior to Wings and after The Beatles... aside from the few that the radio pumped continually. Looks like I have some delicious research coming up...

omg... the cape! that guitar! the... the... the boots! oh 70's... how potent you were... i'm cryin over here...

@shanlung

@Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan

@Seth Ananda