silent thunder

there is no way to independently verify that any of this actually happened As I read your response this bolded part highlighted for me and it occurred to me that what you say here, can be said about the story you use as your basis for questioning rudi... is itself another collection of words claiming authority of a sort, on no basis but your own words and claims. It's an amorphous, ephemeral process, attempting to share an intimate subjective life experience with another... using only words. We all experience life from the center of our own awareness. And when we attempt to share a personal experience, we share it in the form of words that make up a story. We all have to gauge on our own the stories we encounter, what conveys sincerity and what is diaphenous. I find a few contributors here to ring sincere. rudi and you among them.

Wang Liping recommended Secret of the Golden Flower. The Wilhelm translation

School must have let out for the holidaze early this year it seems...

For the same reason you write all your responses through chatgpt?

Hey James. Welcome to the Bums.

@oak Nice one!

Cats choose. You do not.

Welcome to the Bums mate. For what it's worth, one of my teachers is very strong on avoiding ice cold anything. (18th generation lineage holder) Hope you enjoy your time here.

Compelled to seek this one out after a few minutes listening to an audio version. Stopped listening and heading to the second hand book store to find a hard copy. Victorian mythos/horror circa 1895

Seems about time for partez to exit the party. @steve @Trunk anyone have eyes on this thread?

I appreciate that shite company giving me one more reason to not ever interact with them...

@Sanity Check

It's intriguing to me how adherents to this ideology and similar topics display a mindset of unquestioning obedience to the concept. It's remarkably similar to fundamentalist religious thinking in its seeming requirements of unthinking devotion and obedience. Conversation is no longer attempted when I encounter folks entrenched in such ways. I remain quiet until the topic changes, or make an exit.

then there's my version.

Either or thinking has seldom been helpful in my life. So I agree with your take on it being overly simplistic. Assuming we can assess the world in such a way that allows us to make decisions that will result in life being better for everyone around us has also revealed itself to be unrealistic in my own life. The projections and assumptions I make based on my personal interpretation of life is based entirely on my conditioning and shadowed biases and may have disastrous unforseeable consequences in the lives of others. As such, I strive to be kind, which doesn't always mean being 'nice'... but more than that, I no longer assume I know, or can know what's best for another and tend to not interfere unless specifically asked to, and even then, minimal response. Change the universe by working on one's own awareness and actions.

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring Again comes to mind as a possible film that may tangentially address this. Not in the way that it revolves around lying/deception or truth telling, but the relationship between the young monk and the elder pings me on this topic. It's been years since I viewed it, but it resonated while mulling this topic over. Even if I'm way off base, I recall the relationships were striking in it and may be worth a re-view, or a first glance.

Singing Stone...

This response is a lamp on a dark road at night. Thank you for sharing mate.

+1 from me. The conversations that have cropped up on occasion, repeat the same few points for a few comments, then lose inertia.

Well... you know what they say... write about what you know...