silent thunder

Those were brought to Kuwait by Norway after the withdrawing Iraqis set fire to the wells there on their defeat. Some Viking was watching his kid blow out candles on the cake and thought..."I know how to put out those well fires in Kuwait!"

"if everything that ever lived is dead and everything that is alive is going to die... where does the sacred part come in?" George Carlin I wrestle with the concept of the sanctity of life daily. Mostly, including my own, I occupy a space where I don't inherently see any life as all that important. It's just life. There's nothing personal about it, but what I create for myself... and yet, I'm alive and capable of making these distinctions which is a natural part of the process of life... so as of now, value does exist at least for me. So in reply to Mr. Carlin I answer... 'from personal perspective'. Without relative perspective, all life is a straw dog and has no value aside from function and raw organic compounds that will be decomposed and reconstituted without emotion or hesitation. There is nothing personal, nor tragic in this, until I form connections and emotional attachments. No one drives around with bumper stickers that say "I brake for advanced Melanoma" or "save the tumors". (again credit to Mr. Carlin) The value of life is completely relative and dependent on the observer and their perspective. That said... some life to me is as sacred as sacred can possibly be, to me. This in no way, will change it's eventual demise and decomposition, but it will, in the interim, add untold value, depth and beauty to my life experience while I share the connection with it.

or there is a tendency for a rock to seem to be in your hand that responds to probabilities within given conditions

It just keeps surfacing on my pond... we are all just walking each other home.

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Score!

I'm very much with you in spirit, if not every particular. While many things in Taoist writings and concepts have proven valid to me time and again... I can't call myself a Taoist. I can't call myself an anything-ist. Labels are words, people are fluid. We are verbs. The moment any label comes up, I flinch away from it, because my deepest abiding sense of self is that I'm a verb, not a noun. There is no label that suffices, except perhaps once I'm dead. Then you could pretty accurately say some things about me, but until then, there is nothing static about any part of me and so no one label is sufficient to encompass it. I don't think you're making any mistake, I think you're looking at yourself with a pretty admirable sense of perspective and some fairly rare self introspection as far as most folks go. I also don't think there are any agreed generalities that apply to any ists out there. Put 25 buddhists or daoists, or any 'ists' in a room and ask them what to explain it to you and you'll get 25 reflections of the writings, the philosophy and any associated rituals. Heck, this is replayed every day on this and any other forum out there. The sense of what I'm driving at is kind of summed up in this quote... "we are all just walking each other home" I wish you an awesome journey and should we find ourselves on the path together, let's share some tea and a chat...

opposite of tao... words concepts forms any thing thoughts emotions none of these are tao yet none are anti-source or anti-tao can't think of anything that is anti-tao at the moment. all things stem from and return to source

and yet... in the presence of extreme negativity the inner nature to reach out and heal is triggered thus exemplifying the transition from yin to yang the wave that crests too high, settles in balance the drawn bow settles in balance the action of tao is like a bellows the pain, suffering, war, murder and ignorance all the natural disasters in nature still result in seven billion of us being here now because at the core, people tend to reach out and help in times of greatest need bad news has good legs because it's so rare compared to one ordinary day

my wife and I will do music nights from time to time random dancing throughout the house, or sitting and staring at the screen we just share things that have affected us, as they come up tonight was this followed by this: lucky... lucky freaking man... how have I found this valley? no matter. here I am.

This has nagged at my heels and at times dominated my mind from the age of four. I've realized the sensation of waking up so many times in my life in the middle of my day... walking down the street... reaching for a doorknob... hearing a gull cry... seems to be harder and harder to distinguish sleep from wake and by that I mean It gets harder to actually distinguish sleep and wake and it gets harder to even care, about trying to distinguish... open, authentic

would there be a difference between simulated thought and 'real' thought I wonder...? what is a real thought...? such fun stuff to consider, especially because I literally just got done watching the Matrix series and this was the first thing I clicked on upon firing up the pc... edit to banish mis-spelling gnomes

So this realization has been revisited on me again and again in my life. Mainly because I am nearly, inconceivably wealthy in the vast amount of incredible people, animals and plants that have continually surrounded me throughout my life in every phase. It's become more intense and frequent of late, last night being a whopper. So I share it. Last night it was driven home, poignantly, almost overwhelmingly in one of those simple, shining, 'ordinary' moments just 'hanging out at home'. A moment so relaxed and simple, so authentic, it roils with potential and resonates in my inner life like some massive gong being struck and my awareness takes on a pounding presence of clarity and acute, almost overwhelming gratitude... I'm sitting in my usual spot, cat splayed out on my lap, as my wife and son engage in deep conversation... and then awareness settles, everything becomes almost still, even with the motion of the fish swimming and the gestures going and the music playing, everything seems to get very still as I expand outward... and this concept settles on my pond like a leaf striking a gong that shakes the world. "the most valuable thing that anyone has ever shared with me, or that I could ever offer... is complete, authentic presence." It's profoundly humbling and empowering simultaneously. A silent, immense, gratitude repeatedly pounding out in waves of love that in turn crash back into my core, as if the very air were a drum being hammered by the presence of authenticity.

Yes! love those poignant, well timed reminders. *deep bow* Thanks mate.

I'm not a huge jazz fan, but his skill is mind numbing. I like the bits between the songs even more I think, listening to him explain his cord progressions and watching the fingering... stunning.

Joe Pass, holding a clinic in my living room right now...

Nice. I'm still more into breaking the thought barrier. or maybe dissolving...

Thank you. That was very interesting.

The lowest price I found for Internal Alchemy was $160 and I pounced.

As I sense it now... there is nothing I, nor anyone 'needs' to do... ever.

yikes gendao. you have no idea what another's experience really is... that's some heavy surety on the part of someone, who's read but a few lines of words in another's life.

woke up the other day with this thought sitting on my thought pond breathing is the ultimate expression of recycling.

this landed on my hook today after listening to some of the words of Nassim Haramein followed closely by the piercingly potent Amiri Baraka here. where I am. now. only one nation remains it's resonation.

truly at this point in my path I see nearly everything around me and within me possesses entheogenic potential. The most potent entheogen I've encountered, is the air I breath, coupled with the rate i am breathed at...

Not at all... While mind altering plants/entheogens are commonly used, they are rarely the trigger that opens the initial door to the path. Most common among shamans is a very intense, often debilitating sickness at some point that awakens certain perceptive abilities and begins them on the path. The entheogen experience often comes later as their insight and potential teaching from another shaman will direct them on their use. Welcome to the Bums mate.