silent thunder

one place at a time resoundingly reflected one of all, in All

The Vegas Lounge singer who lives next door is rehearsing... again. So as an audio defense, this is playing.

I love Becket! I used to be an actor. Becket is gold. Oddly, with all this time off, I'm not reading any books, but I write poetry every day and still peruse some philosophy online daily. Today will be Wittgenstein. In General there's an ongoing thread for reading lists you should check out... Which Books sit on your nightstand? Good resource thread for authors and books of a very wide variety of interests and sources. Instead of reading, lately I find myself painting, drumming and playing learning guitar. Cheers mate.

Well, isn't it fabulous that at least one Bum has truly realized the Dao and knows certainly what is the undistorted reality? In your partial quote, you either misrepresent what I was saying 180 degrees, or didn't understand this statement I made exemplifying the perspective of one imbedded in Naive Realism... not my perspective. To atribute it to me, is to misread, or misrepresent what i wrote. what was said was. Well, isn't it fabulous that at least one Bum has truly realized the Dao and knows certainly what is the undistorted reality? explained his take on Naive Realism. fixed it for clarity.

pfft. pictures of skin are not poison. mind is the poison (and its main antidote?). there is no porn... only mind.

Love and Gratitude @sean Heal up and thrive mate. @Trunk is a great choice in my opinion. Good news all around, thanks for checking in.

Dao Bums are Bums after all. We wander but are not lost. We get sick, we recover, we eat what we can, when we can, from what's available, when that's unpalatable we fast and we thrive the entire time. The current spread of vitriol has its benefit. For every person who spends their bile here, hopefully has a little less to inflict on those they are living with... and it serves as a reminder how readily we can fall into the inertia of feeding emotions with thoughts that create further similar feelings and thus create a mood. Moods that are sustained long enough become personality traits. (sheesh is that guy ever a grumpy sob) or (that guy is so full of love he veritably shines) As to the provocational childish words... They stem from unqualified observers, are not taken personally and so carry no impact, but are more akin to traffic noise than true communion, or even communication (apart from venting emotions). They are harmless and will soon tire themselves out and move on. It's happened many times before here and will again. As for the hate speech and the outright attacking. That is a reflection of the bile within and should be treated with distant compassion. Engage as one wishes... but remember, when following someone into a bog, you're going to get stinky and soaked... engage at your own level of willfulness and at your own peril.

Read again mate. Not my Dad. My wife's. And he was no Dad. Her was simply her Father. Nearly any man can father a child; but not every man can be a Dad. And yes, he is as he is, in this world. His obsessively destructive naive nature caused us to cut ties with him formally and completely. Not out of spite, or cruelty, but out of health and necessity. There are some folks, we have come to realize, that come into our lives to teach us that there are some people we cannot allow to remain in our lives, if we wish to thrive and be whole. Some folks are so destructive that to remain in their presence is to become complicit in one's own demise.

Murdering people and torturing children is not evil, it's destructive. My mind interpreting it as repulsive is what then tends to assign it the human moniker of Evil, or Bad. Feeding people and educating children is not good, it's nurturing. Destruction and Nurturing are non personal forces. Decay is not bad. Death is not bad. It is the engine of life. Without decay there is no life. The Decay in your gut right now, the war of the intestines, fuels the vitality of your overall health. Many of our assumptions of life rest wholly on the level of myopia at which our perception rests. The warfare of my digestive system... markedly destructive on one level, is nurturing on the level of the entire organism.

Justified is the most terrifying concept in humanity to me. And it is born of Naive Realism and a 'Good strong Ethical Code'. It's behind genocidal wars, racism, superstitious xenophobia... count the list. Thinking you have, through your small human perception and thinking process, found The One Truth is a foundation for dangerous projectionism in my experience. Look at our President again. Facts are of no use. His tunnel of reality is unassailable. My Father in Law was an Army Captn and a prime example of this superficial atrocity waiting to happen due to thinking Ethics are objective. He was a career Tank Commander (multi Vietnam tours, taught tank strategy to NATO allies for years) in short, he is a retired professional murderer. He spent 20 years orbiting the globe murdering people he'd never met, and teaching others how to do the same in order to 'do good'. Which functionally amounted to filling the coffers and the protection of Murican interests in foreign resources mostly. He systematically tortured his children, (for their own good). Because he was absolutely sure he knew what was good and bad in all situations. He's an echo of the subjective nature of Ethics/Morality and a living example of Naive Realism run amok, giving birth to the subjective nature of morality and ethics and why I consider justified to be one of the most terrifying concepts in human interaction. Justified leads to obligated. The three layers of truth of one such as he, who considers himself the Arbiter of The Truth. Founding Premise: Naive Realism. He believes he sees the world and reality as it is, 100% accurately with no distortions. What is good to him and bad to him is The Truth and should be the same for everyone... after all, Ethics are Objective and he sees the world accurately and thus by right of perception, is the Arbiter. 1. He sees The Truth and shares it with you. If you don't agree with his notions of what is right and wrong, good and bad, it is because you do not understand. You do not see the world accurately (the way he does). At first he very patiently attempts to teach and correct you so you see the world correctly. Very good intentions. 2. If you don't understand The Truth of what is right and wrong after painstaking instruction, then you are either incapable, or non-compliant. This is when bullying and threats of punishment are generated, for your own good, to coerce your non-compliance, or to simply enforce you to act correctly when you are incapable of seeing The Truth for yourself. 3. Finally there is Justified Action. If after the first two, you still don't/can't fall in line with The Truth, then you are either hopelessly broken (an innate threat to the rest of 'civilized' society because you are incapable of understaing), or even worse, you are actively seeking to make the world worse through your acting contra-puntal to what is right. At this point he is not only justified to subdue you and correct you , but is morally obligated to take action against you. Not just for your good, but for the good of reality. Who is the Arbiter of The One Truth?

Morality is the topic and morality is a distillate of ethics. Ethics are subjective, not objective. They are a human creation of mind, based on our subjective interpreted experience of life. Nothing in human mind is objective aside from its unadulterated nature, which is, much like dao, usually beyond the ken of mind to experience itself... ineffible, untouchable, gossamer and beyond concretization. (though saturated in rationalization which is again purely subjective.) What is beneficial to us is considered merit filled. But this is not applicable cross species. Our President (and our Imperialist 250 year Empire) is a prime example of the subjectivity of ethics. Given the opportunity, should one crawl into 45's mind, would find he is in his own mind a beacon of ethical behavior. And he is aghast at how he is villified and attacked by the ignorant who 'should appreciate him and all his efforts'. Ethics are subjective. This is exemplified in how readily we rationalize that we should go to war for the good of correcting the bad in others. Who is this Arbiter who is fully aware and who measures good and bad objectivity? This is a self/societal generated mental notion, created in mind. This Arbiter does not exist, (or exists in each of us) from in our own personal projections. Self interest is what derives notions of merit and occur on the surface of our minds. And these notions are built upon the foundation of what is good to us and what is bad to us based on what is pleasant and unpleasant. Who is the Arbiter who can see all ends and know that any given seeming act of kindness will not result in catastrophe and far greater suffering than non-interference? It's a mind game of cat and mouse. What you find good is good to you... but not to all. Why do we have constant wars? Because those folks over there, don't share our notions of good and bad and they need (for their own good and ours) to be forced to comply with our notions of ethical, moral behavior, to make the world better. Better for whom? Assuming one has their finger on the pulse of Objective Morality and Ethics and thus knows what is best for another is a recipe for becoming justified in imposing one's own notions of morality on another 'for their own good'. This is a recipe for deep catastrophe and was behind many of the genocidal actions of humanity's past and present. It's usually a derivative as well, of Naive Realism. Assuming one has the perspective to see reality in total and without any distortions, makes one the innate Arbiter. What I see is reality as it is... If you don't agree, then you are not seeing undistorted reality and it is then my obligation to correct this in you. To let it go would be lacking in merit. That is subjective assumption, projective and naive realism in action, in my experience. Good and Bad are human creations and change through life as our interpretations of reality shift. De is another deeply mis-interpreted concept in my experience of Dao. It's not linked to superficial notions of good and bad. Johnny took out his neighbor's garbage, or helped their child in a street fight is not an example of De. To me De is a concept derived from the characteristics of a being. Johnny's De is one of protectiveness and helpfulness. Not that Johnny has De because he engages in those activities... the activities Johnny engages in reveal his De, his virtues, his characteristics. It is the De of Grass to be green and fragrant and to grow readily with water and sunlight.

Some folks feel the rain. Others just get wet. ~Bob Marley Some folks laugh. Some folks cry. Some folks busy themselves askin' why!? why!? why?! ~anon

Good and Bad are utterly subjective mental notions. They are concretized in our minds between the ages of 0-7 resulting in our notions of what is moral, normal, good, bad, beautiful, noble... etc. This is why 'normal' actions and foods in Papua New Guinea, often seem totaly crazy and backwards/insane to those who grew up in Manhattan, or Alabama and vice versa. Good and Bad are not determined by some Arbiter of Tao, or Gods. They derive from one driving principle in each of our lives. What I enjoy is Good. What I do not enjoy is Bad. These things will be determined by our Society and our Family. By age 7, changing these notions requires immense effort, or catastrophic/intense change of conditions.

So nice to see your presence here. May vitality and resilience fill your family and friends.

Haven't had a cold or flu since my son was in preschool, but when those around me at work begin getting sick we make a variety of Bone Broths or Healing Tonics. Mixed bones are always on hand stored in freezer until needed, then boiled/simmered for 12-36 hours. Add a variety of vegetables, Leeks, Onions, Carrots, Kale, Jalapenos for the last hours. Toward the end, mix with generous infusions of Tumeric, Cayenne, Smoked Paprika, and epic amounts of Garlic and Ginger... epic amounts. Strain this and store in fridge, then daily heat a thermos full and bring it to work to sip throughout the day and offer to those suffering most. When flu and cold are making the rounds in my home, I'll also pulverize a bulb of garlic in the mornings/evenings and take it, mixed with a spoonful of honey. Smash a bulb thoroughly to release oils and consume within 10 minutes. And snack on pickled ginger throughout the day. We make our own. Good sleep is probably the most vital. When working on a project my bedtime the last decade is 7:30-8:00, wake around 4, at work by 5:30. The last few years I was getting colds and the flu, I noticed a pattern in myself in the couple days before the symptoms arose. A tendency for unregistered flashes of anger that would cascade heat through the body. Always wondered if feeding that anger weakened the Wei Qi Field and contributed to sickness taking root. No way to know, it was an intuitive ping. Shaking and stillness. Shaking in the morning and evening for 5 minutes. Generally I eat my daily meal on a work day at 9am coffee, then sleep or enter stillness, or read during lunch.

One may present the same lesson to Graduate students, Middle schoolers and Toddlers. Though lesson may remain the same; the manner of presenting it often reflects those it is aimed toward.

without and within the sigh of source reflected as above, below

...

well... that escalated quickly. Must be some poignant truths involved to get folks riled up. I've always appreciated Sadhguru's sense of playfulness, with words and concepts.

this... Taoism is a word. Words are mind stuff. Tao is not a word, and never a thing... but it is what it is to each of us in our minds, while that has no bearing on actual Tao. Can't be spoken of, yet invests all words and word making processes. Gossamer, effervescent, inexhaustible, indefinable. The moment we turn it into a word, or a mental notion... pfft... not tao.