silent thunder

my experience of gratitude expanded radically when i swapped ambition for authenticity

drinking clean water healing loving touch qi gong creating/drawing/sculpting/painting swimming

in my experience. we are not buckets to store things in... we are systems of energetic exchange, simultaneous expansion and contraction. constant flow the work I do with cultivation is designed to open up the fire hose to allow a blast rather than the trickle of my old lifestyle it's not about hoarding, or storing it's about opening to the flow, both in and out.

I'm stuck on something... if the reason we don't pass through pavement is because we absolutely have no doubt it's solid, why don't babies drop straight through the floor when we set them down?

Not sure about the taoist aspects of the OP. I'm getting a strong dose of solipsism meets the hindu concept of maya. Interesting, but not my thing.

stuck in mechanical time...

Straight or not, I wouldn't bother with the guilt over feelings. You don't need to defend your feelings or justify them, because the people who understand you won't need you to. And the people like vortex here, will not listen to what you say anyway. Live your life. Feel your feelings and be who you are. How awesome you are writing and have one of your idols for a freaking mentor! keep at it. vortex, grow up.

Most definitely. My sleep patterns have fluctuated wildly throughout my life. Though my sleep is stable these days, it shifts a bit depending if I'm working on a project or not. Used to be I would go to bed around 4am and wake up mid day. This went on for years. I was writing and performing for a few theater companies back then and the hours between 10pm and 4am were my most productive. It was natural. This was my mid to late twenties. More recently I'm waking up around 3-5 am. Which is beautiful. The quiet early hours of predawn are absolutely incredible. I love moving slowly, hearing the early morning birds and simply being in the hours when most everyone in my side of the planet is still sleeping. Over the last month, I've adjusted again. I've taken the summer off to be with my son and we fell into a natural pattern of going to bed around midnight. I spent a couple years in a self induced poly-phasic sleep pattern during college. The phrase didn't exist for me when I was practicing it, I just called them cat naps. The idea came upon me out of necessity and from having grown up living with cats. I started catching multiple short naps through the day and night and it worked great. Was married, working and living off campus, performing in 4-10 productions a year and graduated summa cum laude with two degrees. Of course, I was 22-23 so... could have done it on almost no sleep... Though it was during this phase of my life that my dream life became the most intense and vivid on a consistent basis. This led experimenting with various changes in sleep to help induce more lucid dreams and to enhance OBE exits. I really detest Descartes and the whole mechanistic Cartesian paradigm. Mechanical time to me, is a square corner, human illusion and an out of balance left brain disease.

http://www.scholarsage.com/

"if everything that ever lived is dead and everything alive is going to die where does the sacred part come in?" george carlin

I'd visit a Dr of traditional chinese medicine. Then I'd go visit a western physician for some blood work and urine to check the mechanics too. I'd cut out all energy work except some grounding work, barefoot walks in the park. Share some of your favorite food with people you love. Much love man, it's so relentless being in that grinder. Slow down and don't give up hope, the only constant is change, so things can't stay the same.

Sounds similar to the concept of wu wei. Actionless action. Being, not doing.

love might be the best shortcut to enlightenment...

Psilocybens assisted me in releasing some very deep and useless energy systems/emotional inertia patterns on several occasions. Entheogens for the win.

Stanhope's reaction to how an atheist responded to Wolf Blitzer in an interview about her destroyed home is awesome, as is his take on why responded the way he did.... funny how hate can make you do some really nice things... lmao

Mayflies doing it again... the mass of them showed up similar to rain on the weather radar. This time in Wisconsin... all the bug eaters are loving the all you can gorge buffet. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/22/mayfly-hatch-in-wisconsin-so-massive-it-showed-up-on-weather-radar-caused-a-car-accident/

http://americanhumanist.org/HNN/details/2012-05-unelectable-atheists-us-states-that-prohibit-godless http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/atheists-in-congress_n_3944108.html That there are still on the books, laws prohibiting the non-religious from holding public office, again mostly in the SE.... The American SouthEast is anathema to me, in its culture, its education levels, its treatment of women's health and its treatment toward anyone not anglican and straight, it consistently exemplifies itself as something I want nothing to do with... What's really telling in a sick sad way, is that all of these supposedly moral and upright christians who absolutely dominate our political landscape, have created the current political atmosphere which we see so aptly embodies the core teachings of christ... In the end, religious thinking is an attempt to explain why what is right is right, it's a descriptor, not its source. What is right is right because it's right, not because it was written in a book in the desert thousands of years ago. fuck, i'm just disgusted by this... this is going to take a while to settle, my waters are sullied...

Asked my son where his mind was... No where... everywhere... depends.

Yea, maybe I didn't explain it clearly, it took a while for her to get around to the denigrating part in the conversation. It's always a drag to encounter that, but like I said, I prefer they be open in their opinions, rather than hide.

You can have pride in your culture and race, without hating or denigrating anyone else.

Intellect unbalanced by heart is a vicious thing... no empathy, no compassion, just robotic left brained assault on anything viewed as 'unlike me'.

that sounds absolutely insanely awesome! I still can't post pics, but here's a link to a festival I will be taking my family to when my son is a bit older... it's on my bucket list. https://www.google.com/search?q=festival+of+lights+thailand&client=firefox-a&hs=eNK&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=W5bOU-WIB4v5oASCu4HQBg&ved=0CB4QsAQ&biw=981&bih=663&dpr=1.3

Mrs GMP sounds much like my Stepmom when she retired. I never saw her sitting down unless it was time to eat or for her evening book time. She was clearing trees, making gardens, designed and helped build her last four homes. Good stuff mate. I'm so happy you guys sold your place and are upping sticks to the next chapter in your life. Congratulations!

I build scenery for films and tv for a living and this is something I'm often mulling around as I build these fantastic and odd structures for the art department. It always strikes me, just how much of building something, is talking, thinking and discussing it, rather than actually cutting and attaching/fastening. Especially with the things that humans make, the idea behind the form is constantly being reinforced in my daily life. Especially when the art department comes in and says 'no no no... not like that, more like this... (explanation, description, further idea expansion ad nauseum)... But I like your comment and the way you put it, has me looking at all the non man made things in this way this morning. My walk should be fun! Thanks!