silent thunder

I saw you on a horse, with big cowboy hat when I read that

This touches on one of my favorite TTC verses. I haven't shared this before, but this is my take on verse 31. 31 Weapons: tools of pain, used for violence and fear. Decent folk abhor. Yet in direst need and if compelled will use them, with utmost restraint. Peace, highest value. When the peace has been shattered who can be content? Glory in fighting? Those who delight in killing do not know true self. Your foes not demons. Simple beings like yourself. Sage desires no harm. No victory dance. Victory by force, no joy. How rejoice in this? Sage battles gravely with sorrow and compassion like tending a grave. I'm at a point in my life where I've spent considerable effort on the justified punishment of the wrongdoings against me. Quieting myself in recent years, I have discovered a sincerely sorrowful return on that investment. Each act of 'justified retribution' has been at its core, another dark act in a string of dark acts. Don't get me wrong, I am no doormat. But I no longer relish in the conflict against wrongdoing. In direst need I will protect the innocent/weak but I cannot take no joy in it. And my desire to seek out and punish after the fact is all but gone. My near complete focus is to heal.

All war is a crime. There are no degrees for me.

refining the self synthesize the breath and mind self dissolves in Tao

My work drew me out to the desert. I fantasize about heading up to Seattle or Vancouver often. I'd be broke, soggy and happy...

Oh man... I miss rain. It hasn't rained here in over four months... and I'm a pluviophile. I know it's my fault for choosing to move to the desert, but sheesh, it gets ridiculous sometimes how long we go without any rain. Even more stunning is that after months of no rain, the Cali-tards will actually whine when there is even one day of rain. As if Life falling free from Heaven were something to be upset about... Not sure if they're the same Huntington's but I suspect so. It's definitely one of the highlights of living out here.

Sorry, the Huntington Library is a truly huge 120 acre botanic garden, housed on the old family property of the Huntingtons. It's called the Library as it still has a building housing a Guttenberg and the rest of the families personal library. Several other buildings have been added with galleries of various periods of art. Highlights are the Japanese Garden and the Chinese Tea Garden. The dragonfly would hang out in the bamboo/lily pond area.

I couldn't tell you. I never tried to id it. Just oggled it everytime it came around. That color in the sun, makes them look metallic and the structure of the leading edge of the wings, nearly orgasmic design.

It took me half a dozen trips to the Huntington Library to finally get this guy. The structure of the wings dazzle me. Fascinating buggers.

Love this. Don't look at the finger. Don't mis-take the forest for the trees. I used to pester my teacher for tales of the fruit of my pursuit, while unknowingly standing in the midst of a pile of them at my feet.

Me too. The two I've encountered more than once: Common terms yielding no hits, or triggering the 'keyword' error. Or searching for the exact title of a thread and getting no results.

I don't think the importance of Goddess can be underplayed. We all grow in Mother and when mindfully honored, refined and liberated within myself, she releases a powerful influence. Healing, intuition, compassion, empathy.... Resolution of the opposites.

I like what you allude to with the innate wisdom of the body to heal itself and when open to move instinctively in the most regenerative manner. At various times in my form practice, I experience an inner 'ping', or a flinch, which would send a cascade of energy through the body usually from the middle dan tien, outward. This ping, while a very strong sensation, had no muscular movement associated with it. I neither fostered nor neglected it, it's just another sensation in the process. Let things flow. Recently, in the last year or so, while in form practice, I've noticed a spontaneous muscular 'shudder'. This shuddering effect has the affect of twisting my body slightly, or twitching of the limbs, fingers, or head. These motions are still quite small but as they've surfaced I was reminded of description of spontaneous movements by Damo Mitchell in his recent book: Daoist Nei Gong: Singing Dragon Publisher. It seems a very natural process that coincides and aids in the removal of blockages and reinforces what you were saying Skydog about the innate wisdom of spontaneous movements in moving specifically with increased efficiency to aid in healing.

You definitely get a good work out here

Science is amazing and it's helped us out incredibly, but it does not provide a full model or complete understanding. Science has not purged hunger, disease, death, murder, rape, suicide, emotional abuse from our experience. It's definitely allowed us to perform some of the processes on that list faster... but science is not our savior. Science answers some questions and raises many more and I love it. But it is one facet of my experience. My point here is not to fill your cup too full. Living in the answer is to miss the bliss of the question. Life is larger than science and kung fu and qigong and real spirituality and fake spirituality (whatever that might be) and etc. Let's look at Mo Pai. I'd never heard of it before arriving here. I find it very interesting and so have read many of the threads on it and my take is that it is a very deep and intense system comprised of 73 levels, (level 2 being split into a/b ). It seems from the descriptions I've encountered here; like a highly secretive, closed system, with a reputation of being extremely exclusionary and somewhat xenophobic to outsiders. Even if the exclusionary and xenophobic traits are overblown and false in the descriptions on this board and it is wide open, this simple fact hangs in my craw when you attack spontaneous movement as useless entertainment; and that is this: No one aside from the two reported masters who have achieved the 73rd level know what the entire system comprises, so... Can you with any certainty state that between your current level of understanding of Mo Pai and it's highest level there does not exist any spontaneous movement or wuji aspects? I was exposed to wuji and shaking by a qigong master with decades of experience. Living in the answer is a defensive posture and closes me up to life. Living the question refines and tunes me in to the present moment. Assumption is a harsh mistress.

I used to have an incredible memory for certain things. When I was in the acting phase of my life, I would memorize the entire script. It came without effort. By the time the other actors were off book with their parts, I'd have the whole show in my head. This was partly a survival instinct on my part, in case anyone else went up on lines, I wanted to be able to get us back on track and not lose information central to the plot in the process. When working at the bank, I would memorize the account numbers for corporate transfers... (this gave my boss nightmares, but I never slipped up). These days, I can recall some quotes and still memorize my bank account and serious numbers. But my recall for long text is all but gone. Use it or lose it I guess. Perhaps it's time to start working this area out again as part of my cultivation and memorizing some monologues. Or perhaps this is natures' natural path of decreasing what isn't necessary.

I'm at an age now, when I get to play the game... Why did I walk into this room?>

Science is one spoke on the wheel. Qigong is another. Religious thinking another... All spokes meet at the emptiness in the center. Emptiness trumps all. Don't be afraid to settle enough to let the waters of the mind clear.

Thanks for sharing your experience, knowing it would be unpopular. All paths stem from and return to Source.

I built sets and props for seasons 2 and 3. Never watched the show, but loved the crew and my time there.

My wife once followed my doppelganger for a couple of blocks before confronting him, wanting to know why he/I was not at work, but was walking around downtown. As soon as he turned around, she realized he was not me. She was shaken that someone could randomly so look like another. While filming on Community I had several grips call me 'Crash!'. When they got closer and see that I have no tattoos, they realize I am not Crash and then they have this astonished moment of... 'holy hells, you are like his identical twin, you even sound the same.' For me it's representative of dominant patterned genetic variation within large sample groups. With 7+ billion alive now, + all those who've come before, it's not surprising to me that there exists similar repetitive genetic expression.

My practice of wuji happens spontaneously and frequently begins in response to music. Presence in the moment seems different when a natural movement slides unhindered into the next without some knowledge of what move should/must come next and this yields clarity in my case. Clarity and dynamic relaxation pair well. Empty mind, big soft heart.

Real pity the way things turned against the Gnostics and experiential Christianity. I find good resonance in the words of Brother Thomas...

*raises hand* I'll be enjoying it with you... welcome!