silent thunder

I would question that you are a qualified observer in Steve's knowledge and application of such. You are projecting a story onto your experience of it.

Applying the concept of levels seems another layering of story onto true nature. Mind is stacking mental objects in an effort to arrive or achieve or create some mental notion of higher or lesser achievement or accomplishment. True nature is what is. Layering, stacking up mental objects is a process of obscuration of true nature in my experience. Release into presence your true essence is never seperate... only obscured by conditioned mind.

I favor revolvers... so reliable. eta: Actually i favor bows and staves... but when in Rome...

Oh my goodness

Ling Bao Tong Zhi was written by Wang Li Ping not Osho

18 years ago @ 6:54 my son drew his first breath, and looked in my eyes forever shifting my experience of reality. Such treasure that out of this spinning universe i should have the unimaginable fortune to be his Dad.

Human minds do love their stories...

but conditioned minds complicate and bring obscuration to what naturally abides regardless of perceptual interpretation, projection and assumption.

Wang Li Ping recommends the WilhelmJung translation at retreats.

The Sage lets go of something each day whereas people of knowledge look to learn and gain something... stacking up high the accomplishments. The Sage rather seeks simplicity and reduction. My primary process in recent years has become radical wholesale release into raw being. When all is allowed to fall away that which remains is true essence. My former praxis of attempting to achieve finally revealed itself as the obstacle obscuring perception from what already abides... that which never arises or diminishes. Rigpa is. i am this

you are missed dear Desi but your resonant sharings still shine...

Makes sense... I grew up around firearms, hunting and each spring, a raging river and the cracking thunderstorms. These always energized and delighted me, never concerned or worried... For the last twenty odd years I've worked in extremely chaotic and what most would characterize as 'stressful' environments. But at an early age I discovered the calm silent center that abides within all intense sound, or motion, or abrupt shifts around my local awareness... so when presented with such my awareness tends shifts into an oddly calm place I guess. So thunderstorms and the like are comforting to me at a fundamental level in ways they probably aren't for others.

This perhaps more than any other bit of poetry I have encountered describes my relationship with my wife.

I was an actor throughout my teens 20's and early 30's. My wife and I participated in myriad stage productions, but toward the end for both of us it tended toward film and tv. When it got to the point where we were getting big and the agents were pushing in (she was simultaneously up for two principle roles with Woody Allen and FF Coppola which she declined), we both had a potent realization and walked away from performing at that point without a backward glance and pursued another passion that wouldn't involve giving up anonimity in public or force either of us to be known to a wide group of strangers. Far more impacting than any of the reactions to images, videos or photos shared of me were the interactions and the loss of privacy I began having on the street with perfect strangers who approached me with intensity and passion regarding a performance they had seen and wanting to express and explore the connection we shared through their experience. Due to the impact of some performances, people felt they knew me on a level and had a personal connection to me so they would freely reach out, touch, hug and expect a level of intimacy that with some of them (and given my intense empathic nature) was horrifying and incredibly invasive for me. While many of the interactions were pleasant and joyful... I soon realized that given my nature, I would be ostricized from my own life by a certain level of not being able to remain unnoticed. anonimity is blissful freedom. and the authentic connections here act as fuel for the furnace of cultivation, not a detraction. I adore seeing all your faces and the images you choose to share to represent your mood or some facet of your character!

For nominal pics I opt to swap the files to jpg and reduce size to 20%, this exponentially reduces the file size and allows free sharing. My usual reduction is from 4mb down to under 200kb. If I really want to maintain the image integrity of the huge image and file size taken by the latest phones and cameras... i upload to a third party hosting site and link to the images from there through copy link location feature.

It's really amazingly magickal this place to me. Rather than meet in person and share tea and conversation the old fashioned way... We meet here and coalesce at the Dao Bums Lounge. We just each provide our own teaand sundry but our presence is shared and the connections are authentic. We share here, in a slightly more virtual but no less effective manner of a digital gathering place. Though when occasion presents, I do love to meet Bums in the flesh to share a hug and analog conversation when possible. I've been marked, triggered, awakened, softened, inspired, awed and blessedly engaged in authentic connection here more times than in most other settings I frequent. A true blessing and a treasured shared home space this seems to me.

Not rude or too direct... but a signifier that the line of questioning is incongrouous to the meaningful aspect of what's being discussed. And so it was a signal that I'm leaving the conversation...

What are you wearing?

Both

Only heard this on the web. None of my teachers have mentioned anything like it.

This!

I'm workin on it... trimmed two fists off before starting my most recent gig.