silent thunder

I've infiltrated dozens. Here's my ingenious-foolproof method. 1) Lull the cult into a false sense of security by completely ignoring it in all aspects for a decade at least. (some for much longer) 2) Spend time and energy daily in the presence of people, places, animals and insects that I love and want to see thrive. 2a) Cease spending energy on things I despise. 3) Have a beer and laugh with a friend once in a while, while ignoring the cult in question. 4) Spend entire days taking no action whatsoever, aside from the nominal functions of biology and the unconscious. 5) Remember that every cult and cult member is as close to the Dao as I am. 6) Mind my own buggering business. 7) Make and share food with folks I dearly love. 8) Walk in nature. 9) Remember that the earth delights in the feel of my bare feet and the winds long to play with my hair 10) Remember that we unwittingly plough the dust of stars, blown about us by the wind and drink the universe in a glass of rain. Cheers!

Upon walking in to find his students waiting for him, he proclaimed. "you are all perfect, exactly as you are... and you could all use, a little improvement." Shunryu Suzuki

where!? where!??? oh fer fucks sake!!! did I miss him again!??

echo post

effort, ease strain, relaxation always up goes with down bottom with top there is no selling, unless simultaneously there is buying there are no waves with only crests no sticks comprised of only tops the action of dao is as a bellows the drawn bow settles in balance... or snaps.

what bouyant freedom i uncovered such open clarity and bliss when i realized that what i'd been seeking is what had been seeking unfolding in presence requires nothing

I know that you believe you understood what you think I said; but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. Robert McCloskey

Howling in the mist. Twin wolves, one of heart, one mind. Who is it they call?

Much empathy in reading this thread. I had a rather intense awakening some years back, shockwaves through all aspects of life. Body nearly shut down a couple times. Marriage was sent into spiraling seeming unrecoverable chaos. Life upheaval in full cyclone mode, basically. In the midst of this chaos... I woke from the fever dream that had become my foggy routine of robotic life. First thing, I revamped my physical health that started with an overhaul of foods and soaps/toothpastes/clothing detergents and a regular fasting regimen. Anything that went in, or on my body was scrutinized and chosen with care and a rather fierce love. This was very effective and while my general practitioner was staggered by the shift in my blood chemistry after only 90 days, looking back, I perceive the physical was preperatory work that only scratched the surface. Turned out the vast majority of my suffering was in another sphere. Lately, (last few years) I have realized that far more impacting to my overall health than what I put in my body as food, or on my body as soap, is my mental environment... what i choose to put in my mind and what i allow myself to ruminate upon have a far deeper reach and greater impact on my health than any fast food pellet ever did. When I got rid of broadcast television/cable/satellite, there was a powerful shift. And I'm fortunate my job requires no computer time, so I was also able to take half year media fasts free from all manner of digital/social media as well. The effects of these were staggeringly beneficial. I now regularly unplug from all media for weeks/months at a time. The resulting inner calm and peace is beyond words. Not diminishing the importance of healthy food and non-toxic topical soaps and clothing detergents/toothpastes, but sharing the pivotal beneficial work in my case, which seemed to stem from within, not without and was intangible.

oh my...

is the conversation decaying? is the death of one concept, the nurturing of another? as the decay of life in my belly nurtures the life of my body? never considered conversations to have life... yet they are part of life. hmm...

Thanks mate. That happened once or twice in the beginning. Lately, I start at the advanced options tab my parameters, enter the exact phrase in quotes and then make offerings to the digital search gods as well. From now on, if it's in the public section of the board, I'll just use duckduckgo and see how that plays out, skirting the gods all-together. They are a fickle lot, but once in a while, they do respond.

They do not exist. Phantoms comprised of mind fog. Vapor Emperors.

On Children Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. Kahlil Gibran

A retired CIA/career military man, at his retirement party was approached by a youngin who, staring up asked him with the purity and gravity possessed of the very young. "what was your job?" His authentic response shifted the energy of the entire group into silence for a time. It was stated with such authentic simplicity. youngin: what was your job? retired man: I traveled the world, learning secrets and killing strangers, or providing material support to those who did. youngin: were they bad strangers? retired man: (silence)

may know the whole world. i sought to change the whole world. now content, right here.

Marblehead really tends to visit my mind on Sunday mornings. Our Sundays have developed a calm, sameness to them in our home that remind me of Marble. In his demeanor, he really seemed to embody and emanate to me, the simple relaxing tone of a simple Sunday morning nearly all the time; when nothing is required, no pressing needs press, just whatever comes is what comes and it's welcome. He was a good friend and unwittingly, a teacher for me of great simple truths. Missing you Marble... going to be diving into some bluegrass and channeling you in the house.

welcome home rene i ranged all round the world and found home within

right there against it the mind that rises to fight fighting only self

sigh. Zen Pig. How I miss your candor, authenticity and willingness to share with such clarity from your experience. You will be sorely missed, but what you were willing to share is deeply appreciated. Hope you return, but fully understand your exit. Might be time for another break.

As light shines through glass. Occlusions in the glass may reflect, absorb, refract and react to the light in a myriad of manners. The light is still the light. If awareness is the light and the glass, our sense of self. Occlusions such as mental projections, beliefs/emotional constructs, desires, attractions and aversions and resistance to what is, are like occlusions in the glass of ourselves which may reflect, distort and occlude the flow of awareness through us, taking us out of presence. I find my main action, is no longer one of dogged imperial willful dominance of occlusions/resistance, but one of effortlessly unfolding in presence and fully accepting my experience of presence among the all in all. This does not imply that I am a limp rag doll, tossed about willy nilly by the conditions of life and decay. Rather that i, through non occluded, non grasping presence, can fully realease into my experience, accepting and releasing into any action, reaction or non action that arises authentically from presence. In this way, the center is maintained as all swirls about, around and through my perceived self. The Sage is in the world, but not of it. Light flows unresisted, through clear glass.

Nicely put. self awareness seems one of the key non-material virtues/aspects that factor in to what is human. That and our notion of time, seems particularly human, or perhaps just mechanical time is purely human. While seasonal cycles may reconcile into a sense of time among the animal/plant and insect kingdoms, certainly mechanical time, which does not exist aside from collective human thought, seems unique to the human process. Can't imagine a scenario where 9am on a Monday has any special relevance to a hawk, aside from, "it's early and the air currents may be warming up enough to glide out and look for a meal."

Wow, it's bizarre how surreal politics and news and public life seems these last twenty years. Struggle seems to be the overriding tone. Struggle against the apparent opposition, with little or no compromise and a lot of vehement rhetoric and inflammatory spin dialogue. It used to be, both sides would disagree, come to the table and hammer out a compromise whereby both sides gained something, while giving something. Lately, there seems no ground for compromise at all. Pure unadulterated rage, hate and accusation. Any offered facts are spun so relentlessly that objectivity dissolves in the bog of rigid opposition to anything proffered that is not only and fully one's own ideas. Even when one has no ideas of one's own yet. I'm reminded of something Bucky Fuller said, which has always resonated and seems very wise. (paraphrase) "To change things, you never fight the existing system. To change the system, create a new model that renders the old model obsolete and the old system will fall away without a struggle." The recurring process I see in American politics, is that our politicos seem immured in a process of not even being able to consider ideas put forth by the opposition. Out of fear, I suspect, that a functional idea would potentially reflect well on their opponents and give them a leg up, so to prevent their opponents from gaining any momentum or credit, they stifle anything proposed, even when they have no alternative model to offer as a solution themselves. Two examples over here. Health care and Education. Affordable Health Care (which republicants despise) and Common Core (which democraps hate) are two processes that are clunky and don't work. Rather than spend effort creating ideas and offering suggestions of new models that would solve the issues with the old, there is simply struggle, and foaming at the mouth rejection of the current model with no solutions offered at all. There are no options offered aside from 'tear this shit down!' How best is life preserved and nurtured? fighting against? or working toward?

Sounds good, I'm in. I love me some Ecuadoran Starjumper and Company. *(particularly the horse and cats, but then I'm an admitted animalphile from waaaay back).

Well said Brother. Descriptions of experience, are seem always but close aproximations. Words. Thoughts. Concepts. Ideas. Paradox. pictures on a menu, versus eating descriptions of water, versus drinking and swimming words describing experiential phenomena a finger pointing to the moon For me, any attempt to convey my experiential awareness of the moon in words always seems steeped, saturated and utterly imbued with paradox. Though in spite of their inherent innacuracy, I still continually reach out with them in an effort to share, and read and listen to them when offered by others, for sometimes, the finger does point to a moon. And such a Moon! Paradox seems one of the unavoidable, indeed perhaps the main product of philosophy. Any longer, I take paradox as a sign that I'm perhaps at least near the ballpark of pointing to a moon that lies beyond words' ability to point to.