silent thunder

These are pure Awesome!

These long, deep nights around Solstice are my favorite of year. Deep, hours long conversations about the nature of reality, or completely fabricated stories of unimaginable bullshit are among my favorite pass times ever and this time of year is so conducive to it. I lost my Father this year, very suddenly. So many conversations, so many moments. Life changes so fast, it's me who's slow to respond it seems. In the midst of the pain of his absence, shines something far more powerful though. It's gratitude, for being fortunate enough to have known him at all. The memories come so suddenly, reaching to pick up a sweater and then, this overwhelming waves of gratitude for all those I've lost and all that's passed and joy in having shared life with them for a time. Such gifts as these... my wealth is truly immeasurable. May all beings be released from suffering. Love and Light.

Hey there! Welcome to the Bums.

I love those reminders of just how malleable our senses are... so much interpretation.

*deep breath* thanks Joe...

While some individual western physicians may be opening up a bit to the naturopathic methods... the establishment that churns them out most definitely is not. The western medical machine is all about control, materialist perspective and the bottom up paradigm. It fits well with those of extremely high mental IQ and below average emotional IQ.

Wow mate. Thank you! The timing of me checking this and reading your response is stunningly synchronous and perfectly timed. I just dropped a whole shit ton of negative, silly thoughts, I've been obsessing with for some time. This is why I inherently love society and people and will never isolate myself for too long in hermitage. I reap massive benefits from the beautiful people around me. This forum never ceases to amaze me. *deep bow*

Yea, this one surprised me. At this rate, it would be better for the Pope's health to take up smoking, than to continue to smack the hornet's nest. That said... no amount of reform could salvage that intrinsically sick and broken institution in my opinion.

I love that book. Thanks for the reminder, I'm adding that to the night stand right now...

My friend and I were playing a game where we challenge each other to find the good in a situation. We'd been going back and forth for a while, when he poignantly proposed... "what's the good side in the Chinese invasion of Tibet?" It took me a few days, but while perusing some articles online, I came across yet another Rinpoche, opening a school and teaching in Canada I believe and it struck me. When I next spoke to my friend, I said to him... "When China invaded Tibet, they had the intention of utterly destroying the culture and the teachings of Tibet. However, what they've done is created a mass exodus of the highest level teachers of that tradition and dispersed their influence all over the world. They've spread the influence of the core of these teachings in a way that perhaps it never would have otherwise." I doubt these teachers would ever have spread out this way, without this catastrophe. It's the old dandelion analogy. I see a dandelion and have aversion to it and I smash it in the Fall. Next Spring, I have 100 dandelions. That said, whenever this topic, or one similar comes to my awareness, I get physically and emotionally nauseous. It's unconscionable and systematically evil, in my eyes... what the Chinese Gov't is engaged in... the depth of sickness.

I love people who make me think... 'you can do that with a guitar?' or 'that sound is coming from one dude?' *deep bow* for this master...

hmm... I dunno, how's Gene Simmon's Qi these days?

The movie I was thinking about is called Source Code. Came out in 2011. Ugh, it was rather nasty.

Nope, it's nothing so heart warming I'm afraid. The last shot is of the Stalker's daughter sitting alone at their very humble kitchen table...

tasty stuff... I'm intrigued. thanks for sharing

hmm, perhaps a bit of group meditation and plant the idea...

Thankfully yes, traditions get outdated. All aspects of culture change, some just quicker than others. Language, fashion, food, social mores are all shifting constantly. I mean, it used to be a tradition in America to own people... fortunately, we realized that was a shitty tradition and it's now outdated.

It hit me the other day, reading a post by CT... If trying to affect change, it makes little sense to fight against... anything really. Rather, focus all energy on what your intended path is... To spend energy fighting against things, creates more energy of friction and increases the extremities of duality and takes energy away from moving toward your intended progress.

Yea, I find the scent to be a not too invasive aid in releasing everything but the intention of the practice. I sometimes will useTibetan singing bowl music this way as well. It provides a rather neutral focus to return to when thoughts arise.

It would seem, the more oppressive and authoritarian the regime in control, the more power and attraction is drawn to secret societies as a way of anonymously resisting that oppression. The Tao is surely correct in its assessment of long term effective leadership. To effectively lead, be invisible. The more you press, the more resistance you encounter, indeed the more you create.

No, Stalker is a Russian film made by Tarkovsky back in the 70's. But I saw the one I think you're referencing and that was an interesting take on near death experiences... (shudder). Stalker is nothing like today's standard sci fi. It's a slow, deeply contemplative film about what is at the core of human desires. The Two main characters have approached a Stalker, who can sneak them into 'The Zone' where it is reputed that a room exists, that will grant people their greatest wish. Problem is, do you even know what it is you want more than anything else? And once you have it... The way Tarkovsky presents it, it carries a similar vibe to some of Chekhov's plays. Deeply brooding, with characters rendered mostly broken by experience and lost in cynicism. The film has only one special effect, in the last shot of the film. It's one of my all time favorites.

Well, I'm not all that trusting of snopes... but in this case, they're probably right. Too bad, thought there might be real progress there...

I'm very partial to rain, diffuse light and cloud cover, so your English weather sounds rather divine to me. My two most common times for formal practice are before dawn or right around sunset. The light in the room I use for practice faces East and the bluish tint to the light at those times is very conducive for me in letting go of all but my intended practice. I stare at a blank wall. Sometimes after practice, I'll light a candle and then sit and observe the shadow play on the wall. This I've found can be very helpful for uncovering things that are lurking below the surface of conscious awareness. I sometimes use an oil burner with temple oil, but incense is out these days as the smoke is a bother.

This is rather stunning to me... Francis speaks more like a monk and gnostic than one indoctrinated into and currently leading the army of Christ known as Catholicism. I hope he's got a trustworthy group around him as this sort of behavior is usually, historically very bad for ones' longevity.

Currently Opening the Dragon Gate Roadside PIcnic by the Strugatsky Brothers. (my favorite sci fi movie Stalker by Tarkovsky was based on this book) The Hobbit (quick revisit before seeing the final film) The Root of Chinese Qi Gong