silent thunder

The Guqin has always epitomized daoist music for me.

Well said. Your words resonate with my experience that politics describe and demonstrate our society's communal spiritual perceptual climate. As such, politics display as spiritualism in practical action to me. It is often untenable for me to participate in certain aspects of political discussion, in a similar manner that it is untenable for me to go for a walk in certain climates outdoors. When walking in certain climates, I take precautions to ensure not only survival but when possible, vitality. When the communal political climate in which I find myself is non-conducive to my own personal health and longevity, I take precautions when engaging, or when I can't maintain sincerity and grow too judgemental, rigid and triggered, I withdraw engagement entirely. It's simply not always healthy to go for a walk outside after all. However, how spirit could ever be disconnected from any process, noumenal or phenomenal lies beyond the ken of my mind to imagine and my body to experience. Spirit, Matter, Mind...are no longer perceived as separate at all, but in my mind they coalesce like facets of a fluid gem... distinctly apparent aspects of one fluid process. They can be taken of themselves (looking at only one facet of a gem at a time) but the other facets are not irrelevant, negated, disconnected or non present and impacting when one reduces focus onto only one aspect at a time, for whatever purpose. All aspects are as interconnected for me as a wave is expressed in crest and trough. There are no waves with only crests. Break a stick in half and one does not have two tops of sticks. There is a transactional interconnectedness to the fluid process of awareness in presence. Like buying and selling, that always manifests simultaneously and each aspect depends on and codefine each other aspect. While these words oversimplify to try and explain a complex experience of presence, they seem to be beneficial to me at times in the say a menu is useful at modeling in conceptual notions, the experience of a meal to come. Spirit, Matter, Mind (and those that lie beyond words to even communicate) all interrelate and express fluidly in presence and coarise and seemingly codefine, bringing each other into being as any one arises. For many years the more politically bent verses of the DDJ seldom resonated with my own experience, I could not perceive the connection and relevance to my experience, they seemed disconnected, or non-relevant. Recently, this has shifted and I see that political expressions are but another aspect of expression of spiritual perception, another intrinsic layer so to speak of one multi-faceted interconnected fluid process. I'm so grateful for this place and all its dialogues, including those that are not beneficial for me to participate in. Sometimes I more fully come to realize my own true nature, by encountering that which seems utterly counter to it... neti neti. (not this, not this). I deeply appreciate finding the dialogues that cause me to want to lash out, the places where I sense I am not allowed to laugh. For long ago the realization settled on my awareness that "wherever i feel not allowed to laugh... there is where my work lies". The topics and opinions that deeply trigger me are invaluable gifts of presence and clarity that cut through the fog of assumptions and illusions like a clarion bell. Unfortunately that bell is often too intense for me to be willing to sit in its presence for long, or at all. So I am judicious what I wear and where I choose to walk, when I enter the communal climate. I don't blame the climate for seeming too cold and the wind too biting and bitter when it's winter, I stay indoors where it's warm, or bundle up... in a similar manner I no longer blame the climate of politics when they seem to be out of step with my own projections and appear to me discompassionate, brutal and overly judgemental and selfish. While it no longer seems necessary or beneficial to be serious in any given matter. Sincerity seems of unmost significance. Play has become a most powerful tactic. The most significant daily, moment to moment practical application of spiritual process for me. Engaging in life playfully, sincerely, bouyantly and childlike, not seriously, rigidly which leads to the childish.

Things appear as they are perceived. Perception is partial and interpreted.

ufettered... unencumbered... liberated... they all resonate... I can veritably feel it in the soles of my feet with every breath. for me the word that describes it is unfolding the experience of life... of awareness, is one of continual unfolding in simple presence just me as i am, within the all that also is... all one interflowing process with many aspects the simple sensation of my feet touching the earth and releasing into bathing in the sounds of my family and neighborhood unfolding in what is, as it is... and that is it simple one flowing unfoldingness many rivers, one ocean all flowing

Thanks for sharing your teacher's question. i appreciate living, fluid questions. The type that seem to arise with no implicit unshakable answer of certainty other than those we manufacture and then either cling to... or not. This exercise he proposes resonates with a notion that arises in awareness regularly of late. Particularly when i start taking conditions of life personally. are there any separate events in nature? truly separate from each other? are there any truly separate events that are in no way interconnected? where do "I" end and the rest of the universe begin? I have no answers for these questions, though some strong persistent suspicions arise.

I'm so woke... my lightbulbs have two settings... nirvana and samsara. ~unknown

such resonance in these words... wow my friend. thank you for sharing.

What a fascinating topic! My preconceptions of how minds operate were utterly blown open when I discovered my wife is Aphantasiac. I didn't know Aphantasia existed and we only came to investigate it when I was very curious about the structure of a particular house she was describing in one of her dreams. I have a secret desire to build out retirement home out of components of her literal dream houses, so I keep a log book of sorts. One time, when really trying to pin her down on the details of a dream home I wanted to sketch we hit a crossroads. Me: (after a few go rounds of trying to get details) But what were the exact details of the rooms? Plants? windows? furniture? High ceilings? She: Normal ceilings... and that stuff was all there, but... well, I can't tell you how it was exactly, I don't see things in my dreams... I just feel them... I just know what's occuring." Me: what do you mean you don't see anything in your dreams? She: I don't picture things... iit's not like I actually see stuff... I just experience them... there is a knowingness. I just know what's occuring. Me: so you see nothing?! She: no. Why do you think I'm always so amazed at the details you describe in your dreams. It boggles my mind that you actually see everything so clearly. Me: (mind numbed and blown open... goes to internet searches 'people who can't form visual images ) Wow, hon... you are not alone and I had no idea this even existed. You are Aphantasiac and do not form mental images. She: um... yes... yes. Some studies estimate up to 12% of the population does not form mental images when thinking. Yet one still dreams without imagery. It takes place as a 'knowingness' instead of simply seeing virtual visual images. My wife has a full dream life, yet she feels what occurs, instead of seeing it. It's never seemed to impact her as she was thriving in her career when she stepped away and meditates regularly, readily falling into what we have come to call 'the grey zone' with relative ease. I now sometimes recognize it in folks at work. Particularly in our Art Department. The design team comes to us with ideas about a set for a show and I'll notice when I'm describing to them the manner in which we'll go about trying to build what they are describing, their eyes gloss over and they can't follow what I'm describing. This is due to them not forming mental images of it. So, when words fail, we draw pictures, or even do small or large scale simple mock-ups of what we propose. Then the light bulb goes off and we can proceed on common ground... or not. As for working on visualizing. There's a book and process for physical visualizing techniques that may be useful to you, not sure if it will lead to images, but I really appreciate it. I can't recall the title and author and have to leave for the studio in a few minutes, but I'll have the title for you this evening when I get home. eta: the book is Energy Work by Robert Bruce.

We don't build fences at my place, so come on over; we build long tables and have deep bowls. Some of them are even for soup...

that's their fix!?!? small wonder I let go of that in my early teens then.

in my case, presence and awareness... but then... those are constants... so... hmm.

I'll be spending much more time outside. We experience two seasons here, Summer and Summer Is Coming. Summer Is Coming is a veritable paradise for me and lasts from late Sept to late June. The highs are in the 50's, 60's, the lows in the 40's come January/Feb. It's often cloudy, particularly in the mornings and on occasion we're blessed with a bit of rain. The beaches are mostly empty aside from other pluviophiles. If it's raining, I'm outside. I'll walk out of work to stand in the rain for a few minutes, I adore it. I think of all the things in the Midwest and the East Coast, I miss Thunderstorms and regular rain the most. My mornings usually start with a long walk in the hour before dawn, either in the neighborhood if I'm working, or the beach when not. There is nothing quite like the calm, simple serenity of predawn this time of year when most everyone/thing else is still sleeping. We make regular batches (once a week or so) of immune boosting bone broth herbal tonics all through this season. I heat them in the mornings load a thermos to the brim and bring to work to share. I spend more time on sketching/painting and mask/model craft as well. Particularly when between shows and out of work.

With you. The older I get the less appealing the notion of daoist immortality, or immortality of any kind becomes.

In many ways... the flow of life seems like the ultimate game of hide and seek. Am I It? is It me? exactly where does It end and I begin?

When I pronounce the word Silence, I destroy it. Wislawa Szymborska

one monk leans over and whispers to another... "are you not thinking what I'm not thinking?"

well said my friend! An example of discretion being the better part of valor.

yup... or mind is matter. Wherever I touch my body, or a bodily sensation arises, my mind is aware. This gives rise to the question, is there a functional difference between the matter of my body and my mind. Seems it could be an example of Dao in motion. Two seemingly disparate processes that are in actuality, facets of one gem, aspects of one unified flowing process.

I wonder sometimes when I spill a bit of water while drinking. I picture one drop of the water in slow motion, and imagine the myriad of life within the tiny globe and what their experience is when the drop hits the ground... or when it flows over a waterfall down the river to the ocean... or down the driveway along the gutter and into the sewer... or down my esophagus to my belly. worlds within worlds... perhaps on some scale, our entire universe is but a drip... a tiny life infused plop, rushing along the stream of... As above, so below. As within, without. Those words when I first heard them as a young man were like a clarion bell ringing in my mind. The ramifications of it have resonated with me my entire adult life and flavored much of my perception. The implications of it are staggering to me. Fibonacci smiles... fractally.

Hmm, interesting thought in line with the placebo effect, perhaps it's not what the medicines are made of that convey efficacy, but the true alchemical medicine exists in the mind and the medicine is an allegory for the mind, a symbol for the process of change. If the individual is utterly saturated in this notion of the efficacy of the medicine, whatever form it takes is then effective and if one is not, no medicine would bring about alchemical change. Might not be the physical medicine at all, but the mind. Many lineages perceive that the universe and reality is all mind. The thoughts, the medicine, the body the medicine effects... Hence why the same alchemical processes worked on some individuals within lineages and not others...

Seems to me wei wu wei can only ever be experienced by the experiencer and seldom accurately deduced by a perceiver... but that's just my take on things at this time. There are times when I must exert some force in my task, yet in the midst of my pursuit, there is no burden in the work, the exertion is the natural progression of the task; though requiring muscle, it veritably flies to completion and when done I am left energized not weakened and spent. From the outside it may seem I strain, yet my experiene is one of pure flow. Other times I may seem to be utterly peaceful while sitting still, yet in my experience I am willfully straining mightily to maintain some semblance of calm as the storm rages and I resist utterly. <shrug> just my take.

Heh... normal. that's an elusive one for me these days. I'd sidle up next to Robert Anton Wilson as he says: “The normal is that which nobody quite is. If you listen to seemingly dull people very closely, you'll see that they're all mad in different and interesting ways, and are merely struggling to hide it.” My version is "Normal is that which seems to exist, until you spend enough time nearby and get to know it a bit." And that's perfectly lovely to me. IF I were to encounter normal as implausible as it seems these days, I'd be as surprised as I would be disillusioned.

Such treasure as this! Yes please, thank you!!

I experienced what you are describing once while on vacation with my gal and thank you for reminding me! It is one of the most haunting, lovely memories I have. It was Christmas Eve and we had rented a small cabin just off Hwy1 near Kirk Creek in California. We'd been hiking up along the jade cliffs since late morning and stopped for dinner and a couple of pints at a local pub before heading back to our cabin. There were about a dozen locals hanging out that night. One toddler boy I recall still stands out... who I overheard absolutely hated to wear shoes was running back and forth barefoot between the various groups of people dancing and taunting us with his overwhelming joy. Someone added some money to the juke box and played the following song Down to the River to Pray by Alison Kraus. As the song started, the entire bar went silent and then slowly each one there added their voice and began to sing along with it. I was dumbstruck. I sang in professional choirs as a young man and this group in that moment could have held their own with any of them. I added my voice, tears streaming down my face. I hope to never forget this memory. thanks for the jog mate.