silent thunder

my head empties and fills as well the action of tao is like a bellows... in... out... aaaaaah

The power of symbols transcends mere word-thought=forms to encompass a living image whose relevance can shift with the shared observer. So often I find words are unable to aptly communicate an experience. I find myself in long pauses during speaking while attempting to find, or even create a word/concept that would transmit the experience I am attempting to share with another... I love and have always been drawn to symbols as one image may reveal a myriad of definitions and many tiers of meaning when encountered. Whole stories, lifetimes in a glyph... Explained or not, share some of the symbols that are relevant to you on your Path.

That was profoundly well timed for me... *deep bow*

I prefer pithy T-shirts myself...

Have you tried the Horse Stance?

Agreed!

For several years while living in Brooklyn and studying Shao Lin and JKD, I would head out at night, hop the nine foot fence and break into the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I would then practice all my forms under the light of the moon, among the cherry trees, or the lavender field, or at the Inari Shrine in the Japanese Garden; dodging the security guards as needed. One night, near the cherry tree lane, I discovered a eucalyptus tree that had formed a perfect bowl about 15 feet off the ground and would sleep there until the sun woke me up. I'd then hop the fence, grab my rollerblades and ski back down the hill of Park Slope with my bokkens on my back. Supreme Garden Ninja am I...

while sleeping tonight, I will be reliant upon the work of all those great plants, creating the oxygen I'll be sucking in,,,

This image for me, the monk in the mouth of the tiger, is particularly relevant. For the last few years particularly, I have been made aware of the power of lasting good and vile effects of my speech. What I say, is perhaps the most direct and abundant expression of my consciousness into the world.

This is exactly my sentiment. No need to worship, no need to denigrate. Simple awareness. edit: It's fully possible to honor the nature of something and to experience awe, without it becoming worship.

I'm ready to rely on someone other than the victim and the judge. I rely on breath.

I could see the potential for hair to act as branches and leaves do for trees in gathering and interacting with Qi. However, the branches and leaves are living and the hair is perhaps, not so much. Interesting.

I feel inherently, that one moment I will awaken within the 'real world' in the same way lucid I have become during the dream state lucid a multitude of times.

I had hair down to my mid back throughout my 20's. For the last 17 years, I keep it shaved close. Never noticed it affecting any of my experiences, except when people admire the shape of my skull. That and it takes me 13 seconds to wash and dry my hair now...

I couldn't get into Korra. The change in atmosphere and the intense nature of the conflict with the 'resistance' just put me off. I'm sure I'll give it a shot someday.

yup

Like Alan Watts says... it's like trying to bite your own teeth.

I recall vaguely, the story of some intensely psychic Russian twin sisters from the late 19th, early 20th centuries, whose abilities, or the intensity of them were linked to their incredibly long hair... I can't find the article now that featured them, perhaps it was a book. I'll quote it, if I find it, it addressed this very thing as at one point they were threatened with having their hair cut in an interrogation setting.

Yup, I'd call it philosophical as the process of philosophizing is reflective and thought-form based interaction. I'd call it Taoist as there is nothing which can exist beyond or separate from Tao. edit: and it's relating to a process of attempting to reconcile mentally, the natural/conditional processes of the Cosmos. It's philosophical taoism as it relates directly to the process of relating thought forms in the form of words, either as a dialogue in my own mind, or in written text shared with others, or spoken to a friend, in a process of fostering a mental framework of understanding, of the processes of nature/Tao, which are experiential.

Philosophical Taoism for me is the process of rational reconciliation of my mind state with the experiences within the conditions of nature that are beyond words and thought forms. It will utterly fail to fully explain the experiential processes, yet it has great value on the level of thought-form/rational mind to balance my thinking mind with my emotional/energy body and my experiential awareness.

I like to stand the wrong way in elevators. And I like to stand backwards in the grocery store lines. This works for me sometimes...

To thine own self, remain true. Dinner's on! Let's all eat! Turkey bacon and toast and tea for me it's an alliterative breakfast.

dinosaurs used to eat mammals karma is real I guess....

good one... going to chew on that bone for a while...

Some of the recent adjustments have made a marked improvement in my experience here. Seems there was almost a concerted effort or a planned assault and the response to it by the mod team was spot on in my opinion. Feels like the flow is effortless, as if a stream were cleared of fallen leaves.