rookie

I see what you mean now. I have never been in a position to do that, and really don't know if I could. I raised a family, worked full time, yadda yadda, and put in what time I could. I have more time now that my kids are grown. What does ascension mean to you specifically? Did you believe in the bodily resurection when you were a christian? Not Christ's resurection, but of those who are "saved"? I could never really buy into that.

And how can you call my dreams small? Do you have any idea what my dreams are? Your right, I dont know what your dreams are. I apologize. So.... what are your dreams. I am wired a bit differently than you. For me it is more of a path of discovery. I am drawn towards something immense. No matter what distractions I engage in, it keeps coming back. I touch it, enter into it, but any thought of the personal self, and pop, it is gone. When I let my ego get too involved in anything I suffer. I can see it start to happen so I try to to relax it. For me, the ego is a problem. It keeps me off the trail. There was a time when I was a bit confused when I would read about people saying "seek the truth" "love the truth" and all that. But now I understand experientially. What I am after is the truth, the truth of being. Not philosophical truth, or anything theorized at all. Only experiential truth will do. So I don't have big personal dreams. Personally, I try to do the right thing and live a contemplative lifestyle in the midst of a normal western daily life. The things I aspire to are, to see clearly, to let go and relax more, to be bright. I know there are a lot of taoist concepts and writings to support what I am describing, but I not a scholar of this type either. I do not lack power. Last week I signed off on an IC design that will cost more than $180,000 to get manufactured. As the lead designer and technical lead I am responsible for the part working as planned. My employer and our customer infuse me with a lot of power. I exercise it to the best of my ability. That's about all for now. In another post you said you were glad to have waited until the age of 40 to have money or power. How did your relationship to these things change after 40?

So you are down to name calling now are you? I doubt you would say that to my face. I would say you are not a great representative of the results of the teaching. Six and counting? Go back to post 24 in this thread. Then you jump in with your reasons why she should be feeling different, or taking more Kunlun workshops. I will say this one last thing. I was looking forward to Jenny's workshop but it landed on a weekend that I had other plans standing for some time, so I look forward to the next one, whenever that is. Gloria was helpful and gracious communicating with me about the workshop before it was scheduled, so I have kindly feelings for her even though I have never met her in person. Now you come on a little mouthy harrasing her. If I saw you do that in person it wouldn't turn out so well for you.

That's the point, yes. nice

You have countered everything that Gloria said with your own interpretation, trying to make your opinion right and her wrong, almost like a trial lawyer trying to preserve the image of his client. Then you say some superficially gracious things and call her friend. And all this publicly. Would this not seem defensive to you?

What ascends? Is it your ego, personality, and physical body? Are there a bunch of ascended personalities "out there"? What does ascencion really mean to you?

I don't think much about it. But I would ask you if you think your teacher, sifu, master, whatever you want to call him, would approve of your actions here. You sound very definsive.

Well let me ask you plainly, this "you" that is called Darin Hammel. Are you hoping to take it into eternity? And how can you call my dreams small? Do you have any idea what my dreams are? Is this a light hearted subject? hmmmm

Cameron, I do not know you or anyone doing kunlun personally, but I can tell you this. You are doing nothing to help your cause by coming on like a crusader.

Wow What a huge huge ego one must have to hope for this, believe in this, make it a goal. I would suggest examining your motives. And who or what are you anyway?

That is an interesting world view Spectrum. I personally sense a lot of fear in the us right now. Fear of unemployment mostly. I am quite interested in what our rock star president will do with the patriot act and homeland security etc. The two most precious gifts are personal freedom and the natural world. This is my bias, yes More wilderness! Stop leasing of federal lands! too bad ranchers! logging companies! oil and gas drilling! Curtail snowmobilers! atv'ers! dirt bikes! in public lands or i'll pull out my samurai sword and off your head poluting intentionally should be a crime on par with personal injury crimes! arrrgh! if i were king that's what i would do

In reality I would act spontaneously in an emergency. Can't really say what I would do until I am there. With cold hearted calculation I diverted the train to zap the one guy. Maybe I can warn him and one guy gets off the tracks faster than five would. In the needing an organ situation there is no interference. There are too many other variables and this would really be playing god. This reminds me of another situation that happened here. A dump truck exited the freeway and the brakes failed. As it came speeding down the off ramp the driver tried to veer away from traffic, but couldn't really miss everyone. A driver across the stoplight saw the truck coming right at him and drove throught the red light to get out of the way. The car next to him had no line of sight to the approaching truck which crushed and killed that person. No real lesson here, or time to make any choices. Only reactions. Do you believe in chance? Does it matter?

In written communication like this, these things can help convey the tone, but it is still written communication and vocal and visual cues are missing. When I read my own posts they sometimes seem a lot more serious than I was when I wrote them. I think the alternative views are valuable. Many people express openly at their level of experience and understanding. It is quite good I think. Not many real experts here either. Mostly folks just making their way Also, if you are looking for perfection of any kind, stay in the realm of ideas, becasue we humans will surely get it nice and dirty welcome

nothing wrong with hope at all the proper completion of prayer (for example) is to arrive at the state where you no longer want anything other than what is, which would be the "presence", "oneness", or whatever words suit your taste hope can start you down the road to oneness hard to see how dispair can get you there, but maybe someone has that one, like AA bottoming out, surrender? when you are in the state of oneness, there is no need for hope so ultimately it is a distraction when you are in that state already but it is quite useful while in the world

Pranaman, you mentioned some streching/flexibility exercises that I am not familiar with. Watch what you are doing there and don't over do it. These can also put "bad" forces on your joint. You did not mention if you have any overuse problems, like running a lot, or an imbalance in your body, like one leg much longer than another.

The current economic conditions are a really good example and lab for observing the effects of belief on reality. Economics is about interaction among people. If enough people think a disaster is coming, they will help set up the conditions to react in a way to help it happen, because they believe/expect it to happen. They are in fact waiting for it. Right now the expectations that conditions will worsen before they get better are pushing us deeper into a recession. Your normal Joe is waiting for things to get better before trading in the economy. Time for a segway into John Lennon's "Imagine" What would happen if the vast majority of people beileved that the only way to proceed is through a more compassionate approach and sharing material goods? The differences in people would then be more about their internal/spiritual state, which cannot be traded in the same way (trade in the economic sense). what a radical idea

Hi cat At a very minimum, does not hope for something evoke an image or feeling of the thing or experience desired? Just holding an image will move you in that direction. The stronger the image or feeling, the stronger the movement. Taking the example of the weather, it is less probable that you could effect a change, but I will not say impossible. Falling deeply in love would require your being in a state where that is possible, yes? so you may not make the person appear but you can create the conditions to make it more probable. You can at the very least help synchronicity (or whatever word pleases you, manifestation...) happen. so in my experience hope-->image, thoughts, desires in a direction--> building energy in a direction-->readiness for action in a direction, internal or external-->release of energy emotional, mental, physical-->this is power=d(energy)/d(time) -->results Now I will not claim that this works every time for the desired outcome, but I find these relationships to be true. Prayer entails hope, but not necessarily faith or expectation, and prayer has scientifically proven to be a factor in physical healing. Other thoughts are secondary and may or may not exist. I hope the best for you (sincerely, not a joke)

Luckily the knee is a simple joint so relatively easy to stabilize compared to other joints of the body. I am speaking from experience here. I had acl reconstruction about 5 years ago and rotator cuff repair 2.5 years ago and rehab for the knee is so simple compared to the shoulder. The knee basically moves one way, as a single degree of freedom hinge joint. Strong ligaments and muscles around your knee will keep it healthy. The one best exercise and the place to start is sitting leg extensions, but never use much if any weight. Squeeze it when fully extended and do a bunch of reps, like 3X20 every day. Bicycle riding or stationary bike is really good to loosen and strengthen your knee. Once you have the basis you can progress to body weight squats, lunges, and then balancing exercises, and then some jumping but make sure your landings are sound and stable. Other than that, stop doing whatever you are doing that is causing pain. Pay attention to what you are doing. Pain or swelling of any kind is a warning sign that you should stop or change that activity. Martial arts are very easy to do in a way that will kill your knees. If you are not looking in a mirror or looking down, just pay attention to the feeling in your knee a few hours to a day after some activity. Really pay attention to what your body is telling you. I am assuming you are not having arthritus pain which can happen to young people too. Good luck.

Hope can be very powerful, e.g., as an aligning force. By keeping your attention or "eye" on your hoped for goal your actions will follow.

I would say there is a draw back to our natural state which is being present. Unfortunately this is not the normal state for most folks, myself included. So we go looking for a practice or teacher to support the change we want. But ultimately it is dropped if it is successfull, yes?

Endless varieties of hope.....as many as the thoughts to describe one's relationship to it. As we start to se happening here. But the one common thread is not being ok with what is. This is different than action without thought, such as helping someone without hesitation, or just doing something as an act or expression of goodness, but without thought or judgement. Hope is a powerful agent for change. But it is personal. Caring for one's child does not require hope. Compassion, kindness, defense of the innocent, these can be spontaneous and do not require desire nor hope. But I'm not against hope, or a little distraction now and then

Ultimately, yes it is a distraction. If your goal is to lead a good life in this world, then it can be a good thing.

This is a contradiction. All MA practices are not the same either.

I was initially drawn to tai-chi as a movement meditative form. It is still my favorite practice. I do a few different qigong forms regularly and choose the one I feel like doing that day. It just feels good to move.