silent thunder

Suffering in my experience of it, is a crisis of perception. Of mis-identification. An attempt to reject or try and avoid what is. I spent many years in crippling pain and for many terror filled days I was consumed in suffering over being crippled, or just from the agony of physical pain. For several years there was nothing visibly wrong, then when diagnosis was possible, the treatment left many years more of pain from the corrective procedure. I lived in a constant state of suffering from the issue and the treatment. (i despise pain killer's affects on my psyche) so even the temporary relief from the physical torment was a trade for a mental despising of the fog induced by frequent use of heavy meds. Then one moment, in the midst of suffering... a lightning strike of vajra shattered awareness into sudden, irrefutable, irreversable realization. There will be discomfort, there may be pain. This does not mean I must suffer. bam... just that... out of the unsought aether, that thought rose to my awareness and shifted my paradigm. It bears out as i write this. In mind-body, there will occasionally be discomfort. There may also be outright pain. This does not mean i must suffer. Pain and discomfort may be unavoidable, yet Suffering is optional.to me My relationship to suffering and pain in particular shifted that day and now that the toothpaste is out of that tube, it's not gone back in. As an expression of this in addition to my rather tepid expression above. A friend of mine is dying. It's been going on for about a year now, progressively becoming more acute. He's got a malfunctioning thyroid somewhat in control and his digestive system is seemingly eating itself from withinsimilar to what my wife is experiencing which is exacerbated by the medicine treating the thyroid condition. The digestive issue has resisted all treatments for correction, shows no signs of slowing and he's run the course of modern and sidereal knowledge and options. No dietary changes have brought improvement. Nothing in the realm of medicine is an aid. In bluntest terms, he is literally vomitting and shitting himself to death. And yet, he's entirely ok. And he is blissful, and gentle and loving. A cuddly, warm, joyful being. And occasionally, a grumpy being. He is however, not suffering. Not even in the midst of the rhythmic arrivals of piercing pain throughout his abdomen. He longs seemingly only to be together and simply share space and time with those he loves. And love he does. He is revealing himself as an icon of inspiration to me as this process unfolds. Particularly given my little glimpse into the voluntary or self inflicted nature of suffering i realized in my process. Life is life. Death is life. Dying is living... and suffering... is entirely optional.

If a direct translation of the source materials were feasible; would the cornerstone works of any of the great houses of modern 'spirituality' even be recognizable, I wonder? As to fruits; I'm going to try an apricot for the first time today...

If humor's on the outs in daoist process... perhaps someone should pop a time note back and warn Chuantze.

Much resonance from here on this... for me acceptance is one of three core mental processes at the heart of my cultivation. Acknowledgement, Acceptance and Radical Release. Acknowledge what is, accept that it is, accept that i will act, or not act regarding it and release of what is as what is, (the i am included). Humor (a form of acceptance and release) it seems can be particularly effective in undercutting hate. Truly. Well said.

Sounds like the title track from the self-titled album... conversations with a mirror.

@liminal_luke No sense that she's trying to communicate anything here my friend, aside from spilling her inner state onto anyone who'll pay attention. I think Dionne Warwick nailed it in cases like this. 'Walk on by'.

When your friend is pointing to the Moon. Don't look at their finger.

Hey @liminal_luke I know you didn't ask me but check out Almazan Kitchen and Chef John from Food Wishes on youtube. Almazan for inspiration and Chef John for nuts n bolts. Food Wishes has an incredible catalogue of recipes and his descriptions of the process are so clear and easy to follow. Almazan Kitchen is part ASMR and part the most amazing food porn I've ever watched. More useful for inspiration as they don't really speak, they just let you watch them cook out in nature somewhere in Serbia, over open flames utilizing utensils they often carve on site. Bonus... you sometimes get to see their pet owl that follows them about on the trails. Natural cooking of the highest order. They were the inspiration for the following thread in the rabbit hole some years back.

Still looking for the nuggets on the chickens over here...

Most every day is mother's day, if you're wired that way. i am. Though as the years pass, I relish the excuse to hype it up and take it to the level on a day dedicated to it. Through dear friends though I know not everyone had a great experience with mum, and for some it was downright traumatic, so I don't belittle folks who pay it no mind. To each, their own and c'est la vie.

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour.” ― William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

Be whole, not perfect. Kazuaki Tanahashi Momiji Yamanishi: He was a teacher of mine at a Buddhist Monastery. I asked him should I go back and try to correct that what I was working on. He replied, be whole not perfect.

Welcome to the Bums Iri.

this statement: a mirror of your own projection

Change is one of the constants of life. It is possible to shift, alter, change and transmute one's processes.

An all time favorite, from my Liquid Spine collection.

This nears the heart of my sense that we (humans) do not exhibit free will through choice. That what we refer to as choice as we experience it, is not the exhibition of conscious free will but the label we ascribe to the process of conditioned sub conscious responses to stimuli. This arises of itself once programmed into behavior patterning. We experience the illusion of choosing in awareness , but the precursors to conscious 'choice' are determined prior to us being aware of 'the choice'. The conditioned responses prompt action which arises tzujan. After the conditioned impulse to a response has already occured, we experience the conscious thought... and call that choice. This is behind why it's nigh on impossible to change certain behavioral patterns as their promptors and the process involved in them lies beneat the surface of conscious awareness in the subconscious. This is being studied by neurobiologists such as Donald Hoffman. Fascinating area. I hadn't thought to look into responsiveness in AI. Thanks for sharing mate.

-.-

It's in the drop menu when you click on your profile name, under Account Settings.

@WannabeDaoistAll_Infinity I don't think you'll find anything being offered by MIthras. He's making stuff up and posting non-sensically of late.

Drew seems highly imbalanced. His predatory nature is revealed time and again in his sharings here over the years. His view of women reads as highly objectifying and to me is a rather dangerous mixture of judgement/blame and fear/anxiety. He hyper sexualizes women and underage girls in addition to blaming them for his own thoughts, tendencies and obsessive notions regarding jing leakage, sex and communication. He bragged repeatedly about sexually assaulting teen girls in public spaces with his immense subtle energy field perturbations due to sitting in full lotus. I would recommend you cease feeding anxietous thinking about this topic all together. These thoughts arise within and not from the jing thievery of others who likely are not even aware of your presence. If you do only one thing, stop blaming such anxiety on women in your life. These fears and this thinking arises within, not from without. Sit down, calm your breathing and grow quiet. As mind begins to quiet, rest in this place and begin to explore within your own awarness. The answers you seek are there.

I would not take Mithras literally in these responses, as he appears to be posting in a random stream of consciousness/word salad pattern lately. It's been going on for some time now. If it were me in your position, I'd revisit Ilumaren and Trunk's advisements; and I'd cease all mentation and formal movement based meditations for a while and focus purely on grounding mind and body. Long walks, mellow diet and seek out a qualified dr of chinese medicine if one is in your area.

Wecome Fabio.