silent thunder

It's been a year since I attended my first seminar. What a blessing Master Wang and Sifu Richard are...! We are truly living in an age of revelation of ancient teachings that have been guarded for centuries. My advice, is save up and go! Then, practice daily what you learn there. Deep gratitude for the opportunity to learn from this source and to have its impact on my process.

As I plumb the depths of my own source through awareness, stillness and emptiness, my shadow appears as an ominous gatekeeper and often I have preferred to flee rather than face, accept and synthesize the reality of my own darkness. Stripping away untruths is far from a pleasant process. Wasn't it Nietzsche who said: "when you stare into the abyss... the abyss stares back." or some such. It certainly seems to me like he had his finger on the pulse with that realization.

Here is a quick non dairy list that is packed full of calcium that is easy for the body to assimilate: kale almonds broccoli oranges edamame sesame seeds seaweed collared greens white beans bok choy figs

First, it was recommended by a teacher and I resisted, basically dismissed it due to my love of it, its persistence in my environment and my habits. Then what my teacher said was reiterated by others around me who cultivate and whom I respected and saw them thriving. Finally it was also in the news and so I cut my intake down drastically. Then I recommended it to my wife, who looked at me like I was from another planet. A couple years later, my wife needed to stop all dairy due to a health issue and suddenly, it wasn't in the house at all. We have not looked back again... though we do still look sideways at say lasagna and cheese cake with longing and love. Not long after not having it for a while, I realized that when I ate dairy, there were clear inflammation issues for me and that brought me back to my teacher. As he explained it, cow milk is for baby cows. Adult cows don't drink it... why would adult humans? For me, I'm better off without it. My sense about it now is that milk is a reproductive enzyme, to turn baby cows into adult cows; so it's filled with hormones and antibodies help a baby cow fight infections and establish a healthy bacterial colony for its newly forming digestion system. None of that has anything natural to do with me, so I leave it be. Though I'm not a tea totaller about it. I do still enjoy some from time to time, but it's a once in a while treat kind of thing, not a normal part of my diet. edit to add: I find goat's cheese to be milder on my body than cow, for what that's worth. My wife won't touch it any longer and she's so much better off. For her, it was causing severe cramping, bloating and even ulceritis. Not good.

Dairy, Sugar and Wheat. I'd love to go back and get my younger self to let those go long before I did... It's amazing, their impact. No doubt my cultivation benefited deeply when I became more aware of what I put in my body. It brought enormous benefit and led me to then bring more awareness to what I was putting on my body, my skin and teeth. But far beyond the benefit of either of those... in my experience is awarness of what happens in my mind, what I foster there and what I allow to grow in that place. This far outweighs the impact and benefit of either of the others by many factors. Silence, emptiness and compassion.

It's interesting, using marathons as an analogy, considering the first guy to run one, died at the end.

Were it me, I would appreciate the image and bathe it in gratitude, but not try to come to some left brain reason for it. Interactions of this nature in my experience are far beyond language and it is a drastic reduction to try and put the light in a box, or a name. Instead of trying to think about it... I would welcome the image to return and simply sit with it and become very present and aware of my breath while sitting in its presence.

My hips and ankles have always stored tension and were always the least flexible parts of my body. These series of stretches have brought me great benefit, including full lotus. http://zenmontpellier.net/eng/lotus/lotuseng.html

Next time they begin this tantrum process, if it's not possible to leave, try this... go the other way with it, as up and crazy and screechy as they get, you go the opposite, become a stone and let all their ranting bounce off your calm, poised center, even if you don't feel it, let your muscles relax... your bones hold you up anyway and relax your face to neutral. I find focusing on the sensations on the bottoms of my feet while I breath to be a good method for me to disengage from external energies. Pythagorus supposedly said. "Remain silent, or say something better than silence." There is so much power in this simple sentence for me. I used to really engage and try to steer people to solutions in arguments, but after decades of that, I realized, they are not interested in that when in the midst of a rage. They want reaction and more targets to rage against. I listen and remain silent, allowing people run themselves out when they get into tantrum land, I don't engage or try to dominate with greater force. I go soft and silent, or respond with the simplest, calm truth as I see it in that moment. When you respond in words, don't challenge, or engage, just state your truth and let that be a stone as well. Let their energy of excess, reinforce the core of your calm. The weight of your truth will hold itself, so state it plainly and let it be, you don't have to sell things of value, you only have to sell bullshit. That's what they're doing... they're attempting to get you to buy into their energy by trying to provoke. In the height of the bullshit, just picture a stone in your mind, imagine you are this massive stone in the flow of their river current of yelling and bullying and let their ranting bounce off you the way water bounces off stones, it will roll around you and even over you, but not into, or through you. Their ranting and bullying is theirs, it's not yours and it's not you. You are in their world for now, and for now you may even be stranded there, but you are not made of their world. It works, they will sense it and feel it and it will undercut their blowing, emotional words. In this case, you will become their liver herbs in a living manner. You are you, even in the midst of their storms, you don't have to agree to their storms and their energy will never be yours, unless you accept it and agree to it and adopt it yourself. Which you never have to do. When they experience that you will not agree, nor engage in their story, it will dwindle under its own weight. Then usually you will have to deal with their attempts to assign the blame for the shame they feel. Again, just let this second wave of bs bounce off and around... I work in the film industry, and folks in that environment love to whirl into storms of uber drama. When folks freak out, I remain very still and silent until they run out of steam... which they always do... then I ask very dead pan "feel better? now in order to solve this I thought we could.....", or if I'm being a shit, I will raise one eyebrow, give them my best Spock impression "fascinating." In the end, if you refuse to rise to the bait and engage in their storm, they will eventually be left standing there alone, in all their exasperation and as the energy dwindles, they will realize this and the balance will shift and the moment will pass. Be the rock and allow all attempts to draw you into the debate to flow around you. Give them nothing to grapple against and they will tire themselves out and move on. We never have to embrace another's energy, or join in on it. best of luck mate... as shit as this situation is, you are gaining some potent insights into the immature nature of many 'adults' in our culture. You are ahead of the game.

not a bit of it, how was that inferred from what I shared?

More important for me to release duality and embody the manifestation of unity awareness.

I like to make an intense herbal soup when I'm coming down with something. Either a veggie base or a chicken base if that's your thing. If chicken, I boil the bones and simmer for a good 5 hours with some kale, leeks, onions for the simmering, but I strain it down to just broth. I then add massive amounts of ginger, tumeric, cayenne, rosemary, sage, cilantro and mint and simmer a while longer. Right toward the end I add even more massive amounts of garlic, though after straining, so that it's basically in there raw. I also crush a garlic clove first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and eat that with a teaspoon of honey and cinammon, followed by hot lemon tea.

Keep your breathing steadty and take your time.

hmm I don't see this conversation to be denigrating toward Leedskalnin at all. You're entitled to your opinion about it, but I hope that doesn't mean the rest of us must agree and stop talking and sharing our opinions because you don't agree...

pure and neutral... essential core relationships of frequencies, vibration and resonance. constant flow unification through related frequencies distillation of essential nature a shifting

Complete presence and radical acceptance of what is now...

Seems like social media is just another medium for the usual human town gossip, prone to all the usual jabbering and tedium. Occasionally there are gems that flow along, but as was said, it's all riddled with the advertising. And advertising tends to be just like all advertising... pushy, intrusive and sharp. Unwanted, but there anyway. Eleanor Roosevelt summed it up succinctly: Great minds discuss concepts. Average minds discuss events. Simple minds talk about people. This sums up my lack of interest in most social interactions. If it's 1, I'm in for the long haul, I can talk and listen for hours. If it's 2 I will sometimes pretend to be interested, depending on the events... If it's 3, I'm out... I don't even pretend to play along or participate any longer.

I've always been intrigued by Leedskalnin and Coral Castle... Reminds me of the story of Dr Jarl, who befriended a Tibetan Monk while attending classes at Oxford in the 1930's. Years later, Dr Jarl was summoned by his friend to Tibet where he treated the high lama. While there, he witnessed the Monks using drums, trumpets and their voices, to levitate large stones hundreds of feet up a cliff side, where a shrine was being constructed. His account was published in a German article. This site is a summary of it. http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/antigravityworldgrid/ciencia_antigravityworldgrid08.htm

Ah thanks...

11:11

Bummer. That sounds interesting. Fix link?

Lately, I focus on not working. Not trying... not on anything other than being present. Just be. Complete and radical acceptance of self and conditions of life and others. At this point, other than to be present and attentive, what is there to seek? For me, nothing. Mirrors facing mirages. Who am I to know what is the next step for others?

We didn't go in for any of that tooth fairy 'tradition' at our house. Both my wife and I found it insipid and mean spirited.

Mushi-Shi: This is a gem of a two season animated series. Spirits, known as Mushi, surround our life and on occasion, interact with humans in strange and sometimes harsh manners... Mushi Master Gingko travels Japan on foot, deciphering the nature of the mushi and coaxing the spirits out of harms way when possible, as they collide with the lives of humans.

perspective dependent projections and judgements are the realm of suffering in the extreme...