silent thunder

and you may get a great nap!

It just makes me so sad, to see folks reading analogy and metaphor as literal truth. so so sad...

Dogma is a harsh mistress. She promotes intolerance, separation, judgment and aggression. Anyone who claims membership to organized dogma raises my suspicion. All it takes is a short conversation to reveal the intolerance and aggression inherent in this paradigm which is basically: there is a war between good and evil. You are either with us or against us. Which I've never really understood. In the end... if you're comfortable with your beliefs, why in any possible way, could my disagreement in a conversation threaten it? Unless of course you're still trying to convince yourself by convincing others, which was what I experienced in the christian church. The talk is good, but the actions never lie. There are thankfully some exceptions to this walking around. But compassion and tolerance do not grow easily in dogmatic soil in my experience. Keep your old translated tomes, I'm taking my son to the beach.

I use raw ginger for body pain, but that is blessedly rare these days. I don't get headaches, but my wife uses peppermint oil on the temples and this works for her. Qi Gong healed my most intense injuries which are fading from memory. Qi Gong is the preventative pain killer I use most.

This is my experience. There was no choice for me regarding who I love. The action of it is more akin to gravity, once in proximity, the inertia of it begins the process and I'm along for the ride. I guess that's why they call it falling in love. There is a definite sense that one is not in control.

When profit is the bottom line, the end result is rather predictable. Big Pharma will sit down and look at the data on a new drug; seeing that a certain percentage of users are likely to develop a serious illness, there are projections which predict the smaller percentage of these cases that will make the link between the illness and their product and bring suit which they will eventually lose or settle. They then run more projections about how much the estimated settlements will be for the law suits against the profit potential and if the numbers are right, they green light yet another drug they know has serious health issues. The best source of my family's medicine is our food. Not that I'm bitter or anything ....

bah... who needs facts when you can just tell she's a witch...

*deep bow* I admire your dedication to do what's right for you.

With you on this... I'm wary of anything coming out of Big Pharma.

I run MCO, seated, standing and lying down. My strongest responses come while standing, but that doesn't tell me that it's the most effective. MCO will kick in spontaneously as well while sitting here typing for instance, where I'll become aware of it already in motion without my intent to start anything and these responses can be stronger than any during an intended meditation. It's like breath. Sometimes I'm choosing and initiating my breath in a certain intent. Other times, I'm being breathed.

I use a mixture of tactile visualization and inner eye visualization to great effect. For things like LDT work, MCO, or breath awareness, it's almost all tactile with no images. Sometimes the images come, like clouds they pass, no harm, no foul.

For many people the Dark Ages have never ended.

This reminds me of accounts of people opening to 360 degree spherical awareness/vision.

I'm working on releasing my illusion of separation and duality by delving into awareness of breath. It's remarkably effective at reducing the impact of emotional storms at the very least.

I sense the process of awakening from the illusion of 'reality' is similar to becoming lucid in the dream state.

I've camped in winter conditions many times and it's all about a barrier between you and the ground, either an insulating pad purchasable at any camping supply store, or a swath of pine branches stacked up to create a couple inches of padding to put under your good mummy bag. Blankets down near zero don't cut it. Unless you have a stack of em...

I'm getting great value from the extended explanations... thank you! Great thread!

Guess we differ on shame, it's entirely possible to be humble, to be humbled and to be humiliated, without shame: Humble is knowing your limitations. It can also mean low self esteem, but for me in this context it seems to be about modest acceptance of limitation. Humiliation or being humbled is the process of having your limitations expressed to you, most often by others, but not exclusively. Shame is the feeling generated by the awareness that you have done something reprehensible or socially condemned.

Awesome. I hope you get great results.

I discovered a new tea love at an esoteric bookstore of all places... The owner came across the tea and has sold it at his store ever since. Spring Dragon by Ron Teaguarden: 5 tonic herbs are extracted into a syrup which is then infused into Gynostemma leaves and dried, making a very potent herbal infusion. I'm deeply in love. This has replaced my morning lemon water for the time being. This stuff is smooth energy in liquid bliss.

I think there's a big difference between being humbled, being humiliated and being ashamed. Not sure everyone is talking about the same thing here, which is fine.

Easy chief... public forum, I'll speak when I choose. Translations of translations, all done by humans. Including the 'originals'.

1 becoming a father, hands down... I was pretty free of attachment and didn't realize what the Tibetans were talking about until he looked into my eyes. 2 realizing that most of the adults around me were lying about all sorts of stuff, everyday.

There are no original verses. Everything is a translation. And it's humans doing the writing...

Just looked up the grey jay, not familiar with that one. Nice looking jacket.