silent thunder

Well, with what @thelerner has revealed; the return is already underway and nigh on a moot point as folks are returning with new masks and moderation it seems is taking a light or hands off approach. We'll see how it pans out. Folks can't hide their nature for long. So we'll know soon enough.

Nope it's not. I don't make any decisions here regarding what's enforced or not or who stays or goes, except for me... and I'm good with that. If it turns ugly again, I'll slip off and leave it to its own process for a while, then check back to see how things have proceeded. I took several long breaks during the ugly years for heart and mind health. Referencing @ralis and doxing. I was doxed by a member here and only found out through another member who let me know. I reported it, but never heard anything regarding it again. C'est la vie.

I still vividly recall the several years of untethered abuse fostered and supported by the group that sean eventually saw and summarily swept away without any hesitation. For folks to suggest they all be welcomed back kumbaya with open arms is, concerning. They had their time. Years of it. They were banned for the health of this community. They formed another place and now that is depleted. This is not surprising. After a certain point of maintaining a relationship with an abusive person or group, they are no longer abusing you, but you are fostering the abuse yourself, by allowing them to remain in your life. There's a need for healthy surgery from time to time.

chains of iron chains of gold all chain hold

That's ok mate.

Ah yes, the old Boomer notion that one has to be a wage slave to the man, to earn your right to live indoors and eat food.

I tend to lean toward wilfull ignorance, since it is often maintained in the face of evidence that supports a shift in view which is rarely accepted. We love our stories and we tend to stick to em.

Imagine the audacity to assume no one can connect to the source of their own being, except through an arcane ancient language barrier.

Wonderful news. Thanks for sharing.

This was the verse of the DDJ that first grabbed my awareness and catalyzed my will to explore daoism intently. When I began to notice the strong similarities with Druidic Lore and Hermetic principles I had been studying, I was hooked. You should not receive any flack for posting your version here, several of us have shared our own verses or entire versions in various conversations. Welcome to the Bums.

Indra's Net and the nature of 'consensus'.

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I shaved my head for some twenty years. Now it's long again. Hair grows even after death. I wonder at the potential relevance of hair length to content of message connection...

For me it goes a level further. Doubt is foundational in all. Our own perceptual modeling is untrustworthy for accuracy and detail. It is not the world, it is a recreation. A story. We do not experience the world, nature, universe as it is. We interpret the signals we receive that are transduced into thoughts that are taken as reality, but this process is always a model, a map, never the territory itself. Perceptual modeling is entirely subjective and personal (though subject to familial and social programming from ages 0-7ish). So even our presence and direct watching is no guaranty of accuracy and reliability. This is not a truth I claim, i share how it stands in my awareness in recent years and indicentally is quite a departure from my earlier notions.

Well said. This has been a barometer of sorts for any information I've encountered, whether from a live teacher, or the teachings found in writing. Practicality, functionality and Personal connectedness.

Also, I'd add any books or lectures on the topic by Alan Watts. He was a gifted speaker and a master at explaining Eastern Esoteric teachings in ways that were approachable to Western minds. There are a plethora of his old recorded lectures available on youtube, just pop in 'Alan Watts' and 'Taoism' and enjoy.

I'd recommend you get a few different translations of the Tao Te Ching and start there. Usually some inexpensive ones available at used book stores. You can also find many versions online for free/open domain. Having multiple versions aided me with some of the trickier verse's meanings. I prefer Tseng Lo Feng's version but have at least 15 versions bookmarked for quick referral. Secondly I'd highly recommend the works of Chuang Tzu. They've been invaluable to me. I reread them often. He was a truly insightful Sage who taught through stories using analogy and metaphor brilliantly. His works are true treasures to me. For more practical matters, I deeply appreciate any works by Wang Liping and Jerry Alan Johnson. Also the recountings of John Blofeld's books about his encounters with Taoist Sages while traveling China in the early 1900's are real gems. But most practically? Observe Nature. Nature follows Tao. Quiet your mind and open your awareness to your environment. No matter where you are, there is tao. It is never separate from any of us, by even a hair's width or a millisecond, ever. It lies within your very body and awareness. You can access it from your own person and your environment at any time. Begin to engage actively with the world around you and you will experience it for yourself. Enjoy the journey and welcome to the Bums mate.

Thanks for sharing. I recently came upon this woman's youtube channel and appreciate it. Others may find some useful things here. I sure did. https://www.youtube.com/c/SukieBaxter

Not butting in but participating in a public forum. While calling out your petulance and bullying. Keep slinging mud old boy, yer winnin'.

@GrandmasterP...

When "i" released everything... in despair and exhaustion from endless seeking only then... only then was it possible 'for me', for 'local awareness' to experience 'what is'. what had been underlying all previously propped up and 'sought after' processes. in losing all prior sense of self... authenticity was encountered experienced. awareness encountered awareness and awakening was spontaneous. but absolute surrender was a catalyst... for this local awareness (me) and surrender was not an active 'giving up'... it was letting go, allowing, opening, unfolding...

Congratulations on your impending retirement! I hope to get there some day as well. I used to be motivated to try and sketch certain trees and also bridges and buildings. It was more compulsion than choice. Certain things would 'grab' and I would comply. Hours of getting lost in simple joy. I've got a few hobbies planned for retirement. One to keep me healthy and the others, just for joy.

As i experience it in the last decade or so; Free Will seems a profound illusion. Conditioning prompts the precursors to thought and emotion that motivate what we call choice. Which is described by local consciousness after the fact. The impulses that drive 'choice' occur prior to conscious processing. Conscious processing is the unfolding of interpretation... of rationalization that we use to describe conditioned, nigh on automated responses after they occur. These rationalizations to conditioned behavior become as comfortable and beneath notice as water to a fish it seems to me. And for the unquestioning, rationalizing, sleeping awareness... It's so comforting to think we're driving all of this around, all in control...