silent thunder

Bollocks

Yes please!

Inversely proportionate

Perhaps a feature that would substitute the name of the mod with 'moderator' in posts related to mod actions/decisions. This would not require a second acct to manage and may curtail the personalization of the messge...

Conical displacement

When a lit candle is used to light another candle, is a thing gained? If a lit candle is snuffed out, is a thing lost?

I have many times felt similarly. Here is what comes from me now when I consider this... At no point, in no manner are you, I, nor anything, ever separated from source. The one impossibility, is to be even a fraction of a millimeter away from it. Fear, not fear. Exercises, not exercises. You are never separate from source. Everything is the process and there is nothing wasted, lost, nor broken. These feelings are feelings. Like clouds they come and go. Let them. Allow yourself to just be.

I absolutely love this film! Jerzy Kosinski wrote the book in 1970 as political satire, but he had a strong handle on Taoist principles, as did whoever adapted it to the screen. It's one of the best depictions of a Grand Taoist Idiot you will likely ever see. I remember being taken with how simple, gentle and odd Chance the Gardener was when I saw it in the theaters with my Father (I was only 10). I remember my Dad being disappointed, as many were, that it was not like the usual Peter Sellers films of the time, but even though it was very simple and rather slow, I remember it left a strong impression even at that age. I saw it again in College when I chose it as the subject of a paper and recall being blown away by its understated potency again. Subtle, poignant and very powerful in its depictions of how many of us, will project what we would like to see onto a person or event, when little or no information is offered. Interesting synchronicity for me that you post it now Gerard. I just shared it with my wife out of the blue a couple days ago and the next day, as I am having tea at the new tea house in town here, I see a flyer and they are showing it this Monday as the first in their "Tea and a Movie Night" series. I had no real formal training in Eastern or Taoist philosophy when seeing it the first two times... so this recent viewing left me utterly stunned and highly impressed with the writing team. I'm going to order the book now and devour it soon. Obviously, I can't recommend this film highly enough. It is an incredible modern Taoist tale and I think it's Mr Sellers finest, most impressive work by far. Ok, rant over...

edited out in lieu of the truth that it's often better to remain

I stopped trying. I have to keep things very, very simple, or my unbelievable active monkey mind just kicks right in again and I'm right back in the mix of shit and tension. I don't try and relax. I don't set out to relax anymore. I can get myself to let go though. Trying anything, for me is an oxymoron, it's impossible. For me, TRY is an acronym that stands for To Resist Yourself, 'trying' just gets in the way of any process, it adds an unnecessary level of mind. But I can let go... Like dropping a heavy bag at the top of the stairs. I can drop stuff, mental stuff usually, then relaxing is natural. The result of no longer using effort. Couple things that help me let go: 1: i no longer ever, ever, ever try. fuck trying anything, that's effort, the opposite of relaxing 2: i put my entire awareness on the sensations in the soles of my feet as i inhale, really feel them, then exhale and feel myself dissolve, for me, the feet work really well, not sure why... but settling awareness into body sensations, helps me to interrupt the carrier signal of my monkey mind. 3: i lie down and tighten up my entire body, every muscle as tight as i can, for as long as i can, i squeeze the fuck out of my old nordic self until i can't possibly hold it and then... 4: i will sometimes (late at night usually) get these seemingly random anxiety rushes. Where i am awakened by a hot energy spike of anxiety/panic energy that race up my spine, that bring a deluge of fear based thoughts. In these cases, i use my monkey mind and have a mantra that i scream in my mind so loudly that nothing else can endure in its presence. The mantra is one that came to me instinctively as this was occurring one night and is not special or particular, it's just another form of noise to drown out the ridiculous, useless fear based stupidity.

Seems to me, everything flows. I can't recall ever encountering any thing that was static, solid, or unchanging. But if really trying to answer the question, then I would say, neither. Dao is not a verb, nor a noun. Those are words, symbols for mental constructs... dao is...

That is freaking awesome! Good on ya mate!

Over the last three years, I have witnessed the process of seemingly spontaneously re-emerging, repressed memories in two people who are very close to me. For one of them, the memories were terrifying, debilitating and paradigm shifting. In the other, they were not. Both had specific triggers. Having spent hundreds of hours talking to them both, it occurred to me that many things happen to us in childhood that we simply cannot process. Even if adults take the time to try and explain, some things are simply beyond our ken. I suspect, after these experiences that many events of this nature are repressed and emerge later in life, when we have arrived at a place where we have the wisdom and tools to process them, painful though it may be... For one person, the memories were opened up, upon listening to a rather hateful voicemail, in the other, it was while seeing a film that dealt with the subject. In both cases, resolution and calm have been restored, through some very open, honest and at times, painful talk. In neither case, did they seek out professional help. They merely sat with things as they came up, refusing to hide from them and spoke with people they loved and trusted when they felt the urge. As for specific ways to resurface memories that you suspect are hidden, I witnessed on several occasions, while in advanced acting classes people release emotions that were deeply embedded in muscle and organ tension. We were doing sincerely, intense extended periods of Grotowski inspired yoga and exercise along with intense, deep tissue massage to induce exhaustion that would render our normal behavioral patterns inert. In most cases, it was simply an emotional burst with no accompanying memories, or specific thoughts. In one case, the young woman had a similar release of many, traumatic and specific memories. In each case, my response has been the same. When asked, I advised them not to run, or hide from it. To share what they wanted, with someone they trusted and loved, and most of all, to remind them consistently, that this is not happening any more, take stock of your life now and allow these waves to wash over you, but not consume you. The greater the storm, the quicker it will dissipate. Constantly re-anchor yourself in the present and while accepting and processing what you remember, don't feed it, or fuel it into something more than a memory. The past is gone and other than bringing clarity, or release of energies better spent other places, memories have little use.

To me, religion is the expression of conditioned contradiction through the medium of cognitive dissonance via the process of dogmatic inheritance. Except that is of course for the lovely bits, particularly the candles and the incense. I rather fancy those. The End. p.s. true story

I love things like this, as it reminds me just how fragile and inaccurate our senses are... As for the 3d pics, they are rather easy to detect, but there is a sweet zone and you must not focus on the actual paper or surface the image is printed on, but allow your eyes to focus a few centimeters behind the paper. This soft focus will bring the latent image out in 3d and it's always a blast to see what's hiding...

Nice one Chang! *bow of respect*

I have the abiding sense that nothing is inherently gained, nor lost. It is a portion of the paradigm of 'spotlessness' that hovers somewhere in my psyche, no matter what occurs in my life. Seems to me, there is nothing possible that can stain, ruin, improve, nor even alter in the slightest, the source. Nor is there any possibility of even for a fraction of a moment, to be in any way, at any level, separate. This sense I have, supports my feeling/thought form that there are inherently, no things, or places, or actions/words, that are more spiritual, than any others. Spirit is in this sense, to me, inseparable from anything I could experience, or conceive, much like source. There are simply no things that are not spiritual, nor are any more or less spiritual. To me, Janitors are not less spiritual than Mountain Sages. Stones are no less spiritual than streams, or birds. And none of them, in any way ever, as I experience it, can ever be lost, improved, nor stained. The process at its core is spotless.

Floating

Bonus points for the Sword of Doom pic as reference to psycho grin. Last time I watched that I counted 78 kills for that guy in the final fight.

Avalon

No church, or religious ideology can claim authorship to the concepts of virtue, sin, good, or evil. Religion in any form, is merely an attempt to explain such concepts within the parameters of their given social perspective; they are not the source. When we focus on the finger, we miss the Moon.

I love that book! It triggered much healing in my wife.

water

I'm reminded of two things in regard to this. The first is a meditation called the pillar of light. Which begins with placing awareness in a large white sphere, about a foot above the head, then drawing that energy through the crown and down into each successive lower chakra, followed by a series of other visualizations throughout the micro/macro worlds. The second is something I read in reference to the shape of the ankh and how it related to the process of opening the chakras. As one opened the heart chakra, represented on the ankh by the point where the two arms cross and the lower point of the loop starts/ends, this creates a field that encompassed the upper three chakras, simultaneously clearing the way for access to them as well as harnessing and returning the energy to the heart which, in the context of the article/theory that was being shared, became the working fulcrum for all energy work. While thinking replying to this thread, I came across this synchronistic pic on the interwebs... fun.

My wife's lymph nodes have swelled up on several occasions and she has experienced similar sensations, it was not cancer. Our GP was next to useless in any reasons after tests showed it was not cancer and we spent 10 agonizing days awaiting results. I'd suggest a Dr of TCM if you have one nearby.