Birch

Well, you! That's exactly what I mean.

Right, so do you mean 'someone' as in 'me'?

"But things do hurt, misfortune happens, spiritual cravings can be as empty as material ones." All of it!

"barefoot boogies" How do I find those???

Point taken. So what are you up to with this 'energy' stuff? I'm only asking because if you're attempting to teach other people it does make sense to have sort of 'experience' in it. No offense

Too much light, eh?

Do you want just anyone's ideas? It could be interesting. I guess it might go some way to figuring out some collective symbolic stuff. I guess answer that question about 'collective unconscious' if it's still there. However, I'm not even sure what with the fragmentation of culture if many symbols even have the same impact as before. I'd use a 5E filter to be really sure. Only because that one is more 'general' whereas the symbols... What do you reckon it means?

Good choice :-) Yeah, weird that you're being asked and have to come up with the goods quick. How did that happen?

"your natural essence is never destroyed rather it is a matter of letting go of whatever covers it up. "

I dunno if a section is needed. Maybe the buddhists could just get more into the Taoist stuff and learn from some of it rather than trying to equate it (or supercede it) with continuous buddhist philosophical debate in a number of threads. I did suggest once to VJ that he share some of the practices he knew because he seemed pretty expert at a bunch of them. I guess I miss the stuff about food, TCM, 5E, FS etc and end up having to go elsewhere for 'practical' things.

Rocking post Steve! I'd add, our suffering is an unnatural product of generations of conditioning and must be abandoned

"The Kundalini is a foul/sin system." My take: I agree that raising it will show you just how much you have 'sinned' (man, I hate that term) as in 'separated yourself from yourself' and as such it may probably hurt some ( ) but from what I've experienced, it is yourself - only free from 'sin' (or 'maya' or whatever the term is.) Tacking more religious terms and scary imagery on top of the experience IMO only suggests to me that you might want to look at your religious education indoctrination to see what BS you have associated with being a human person and what the 'inner teachings' of most of the world's religions are on about (hint, some very similar things, if you play 'spot the caduceus' this can go on for ages :-)). Now why the 'inner teachings' would be reserved for some folks and be used to lead the others down the garden path all at the same time is a mystery to me. Why get dragons to keep pearls :-)?

- Breathe deeply from the stomach? Check - Do we try to be in a super aware state of conciousness, doing our best to notice absolutely everything; every sight, sound, smell and otherwise? When I remember, check - Reserve part of our awareness to watch/monitor ourselves? Check, but no so sure this is a good idea anymore - Do math problems? No ;-) - Restrain ourselves from thought altogether? No - Focus on our breath? No - Our dan-tien? No - Silently recite mantras? No, although it seems 'Om Mani Padme Hum' has exactly the right number of syllables and timing to get really fast heart/mind/body/breath coherence (sort of like the Stress Eraser) So I guess I'd use it sometimes. This is what I do (for now)

Well, IMO/IME a 'sense' of identity is a very felt thing. It's the 'here I am here' feeling. Not to be confuddled with the 'described identity' (which most of meditation is designed to drop anyway...) So if you've been meditating to the point where none of your 'self-descriptions' sit well with your felt experience of yourself then I think it does get weird (if not terrifying) for a while and the traps you mention at this point are gaping wide (a guru, a teacher, a practice, a job, a gang, anything I guess). I think some practices suggest intentionally taking on attributes of specific deities so you don't have to deal with this stuff. But really, is Diana the Huntress an effective figure in today's context? (I'm saying that for me;-) and while I have a bit of her attributes 'in me' I always have:-)) What I'm trying to get at is that I guess it might be more comfortable to figure yourself as Shiva or Hermes (or a rock-start banker or eco-warrier) but the down-side IMO is that you'd be missing out on the expression of your true-self. The one that came into the world and before it got told who it was by everyone else :-) Only you know who you are :-) Still, there are people that can help you with signposts if you want. Check out TaoMeow's compass :-)

There's always something cosmic driving the bus :-) It's when the passengers start telling each other how to drive from the back seat that it gets dangerous (IMO). So then the roads get worse until you wake up and listen. Or something to that effect.

"As the qi rises it will attempt to work through the stagnant areas. This is also the time where bodywork therapies can go a long way in helping." Bingo :-) Speaking as someone with an injured base/pelvis from a fall... I'm still working on it 3yrs later because it has so many effects on, well, many, per Joe Blast's more recent illustrations.

What do you think is going to happen? I'm not being silly with you. In fact sometimes I wonder if you haven't already kicked it on by accident and that's where all your "sex issues" stuff is coming from? I'd recommend KAP as an experience. Mucho weirdness attached however and if you have any skeletons in the closet or just an already unhealthy system from living (like most of us) then it can be rough IME. So, BEFORE you pick something like that, I'd look at your 5E to see if doing it is a good or a bad call.

Well as long as you're alright Machin. Although it's nice IMO when people on these boards ask other people on these boards if they're alright. Given what some practices lead to in mind/body/spirit. I was just reading that other thread on the ability to pull your balls into your body and I was thinking 'why would anyone want to be able to do that?' I guess if someone is aiming something at them?? But then I have to ask myself, why would I want to be able to turn the monkey off/down on a regular basis? Because it's a bit of an idiot sometimes. It hears songs on the radio and gets them stuck. It reads something in trash science and seriously entertains it as 'true'. It's inexplicably in love with Sam Harris. It likes to go for long walks into illusions and dreams about 'what if'. It likes to listen to other people and take their word for it, especially about itself, if the latter is pleasant and sometimes, even when it's not. It loves to trash talk itself and jumps to conclusions all over the place. But by the same token, it's inspired. It can move my body to tears and my spirit to heights, it can imagine lines of existence 'what if' from my earliest memory to the multiple futures. It can do all kinds of weird sh*t :-)

What worked for me (note, for me, might not be for everyone, but I'm sharing in the hope something resonates and helps because it's a horrible thing to go through IME). - Get a good acupuncturist - Get a half-decent therapist who won't freak out about the content of such things (if you're unsure that they will, practice telling them what you're going through in ways they understand, I know it defeats the purpose somewhat but Mal mentioned a lot of them have done their own dabbling- funny they don't tell anyone much about it :-)) - I'd look at the biology of kundalini website. I found it very helpful. And even helpful in general. But it probably requires more discernment if you're not scientifically minded, I wouldn't try everything on there, especially all the herbals. A lot of that gets discussed here anyway, in fact most of what we seem to discuss here is related to problems with practice :-) - Eat very good food - Temporarily rid yourself of emo vampires and the company of a44holes (you can always start hanging out with them again once you're feeling ok :-)) - Stay away from gurus and extreme physical/visualization practices - Know it's potentially part of the journey that you chose to embark about by taking up 'practice' (I know this doesn't help much when you're in the middle, but I think that's where the 'once started, better to finish saying comes in) - Know thyself. As Steve says, it doesn't matter what Buddha said, and it doesn't matter what Steve says either :-) Well, it does, but all of that is 'technique' and people sharing what works for them. At this point mr VJ, please do not jump in and say it works for everyone. Because if it does, then something's 'up' IMO. Weedkiller works too :-) - Salt baths - Lots of water (to drink) - Belly breathing - Physical exercise - Don't get caught in the scenery. I know that seeing big red goddess things is supposed to be some kind of marker, but it just freaked me out. I still dream of snakes on my path. You're also not obliged to deal with any of those. - Full compassion for yourself. The last thing other unfortunate people need IMO is someone in the throws of a dark night 'taking care of them' - each person's path is their own and interfering unless you're asked to is IME a bad idea (did I mention I'm no good at it either, but this time you did ask, so take what works and leave the rest :-)) It does get better :-)

Otis, can I ask you NOT to worship me :-) No seriously. "Don't, don't" IMO both Buddha and Mohammed should have a) known better not let their self-importance get the better of them Another reason to kill them

I think that you are fully justified in feeling anger and pain at whatever was done by whoever it was done by. Simply because you're feeling it! I don't believe that absolution as a 'balm' leads anywhere 'useful' (well, it does, but not for the individual...) However, neither (unfortunately), does 'blame' IME/IMO because it has a tendency to absolve you of your own responsibility to heal yourself (IMO/IME). I've tried that one already. So the way I figure it is that putting the onus on the other person/people to "do something" so you can heal (whether it be waiting for an apology or even a recognition of the facts) is taking the risk that they will never do it and that you will never do it for yourself and so never feel peace and happiness. And finding additional people/'subconscious' setups to (re) play it all out with to 'win' this time or not have it happen 'again' won't do it effectively either (another one I tried). Aside from being unfair to people who had nothing to do with your initial injury in the first place. You know this because this is (likely?) what happened to you (there's the 'karma' - no need for actual 'rebirth' IMO) I'm not saying all that to be harsh, I really feel for your pain because I have felt pain from childhood neglect and mistreatment. Sometimes I still do (working on that) Of course I would rather that children NOT get mistreated and I've posted about searching for ways to mitigate as children grow. But if they are mistreated (and they are) then I'd like to find ways to make sure the ignorant actions of others do not ruin the rest of their lives (and one could argue 'other innocents'' lives' as well, if you carry the whole thing 'forward'). Your understanding of the origins/motives of whoever carried out the acts you're referring to may help to 'not take it personally' and as a result NOT see yourself as at fault for whatever was done but IME it won't help you side-step feeling the pain of the injury or allow you to gain the confidence in your own responsibility to direct your life and not continue to be at the heels of other people's 'issues' or 'karma'. So to end, I'd also add that the exhortion to 'honour thy mother and father' is a lock and key for anyone attempting to do this work of self-healing. Once you're healed, then you can decide how you want to interact with them (or not).

Article "A key enzyme in the process is stimulated by two molecules, not one, as previously thought." Not as previously thought by ? Sometimes I wonder how much of a 'storehouse' certain 'traditions' are providing to others and also what "things" got worked out by independent (ok, maybe I'm being silly) work. I guess if I were a slacker scientist, I would: - read the TTC - read the Upanishads - read the Koran - read the Bible - read Plato - red the Yellow Emperor's treatise Figure out a bunch of doable research projects based on any (all) of the above. Do the experiments. Write the papers. Claim authorship. Patent application. C5sh in :-)

It's meant a bunch of things to me so far: - oooh, every time I see someone else it's really me (hint, it's not) - condensed-milk analogy (everything is 'consciousness' but in various forms that get to do stuff and know it (which is weird IMO) - some strange manifesto that denies individuality and is using us all (as itself) in some weird way - we're all bits of life looking at each other with varying degrees of knowing of that fact (this one may make you looks at animals differently) - I'm all there is but I've splintered myself into myriad. Why? Only I know but I'm not telling myself because... - invented human thing, no other life-form thinks this way

"Thus it is that for every action there is a resulting reaction" I'm reading through the article you posted Gerard. Thanks for it, but it seems 'reductionist' and 'dualistic' to me as an idea (which I suppose is meant that way???) So I guess I 'get' that stuff from a personal POV /IME but I wouldn't extrapolate it. Which I think is what practice teaches, maybe??? I was wondering about this the other day. More and more I keep 'bumping' into 'non-dualists'. All kinds of people, all kinds of disciplines. So when I read stuff like this, I'm no less in awe, just a sort of a 'yeah, ok'. Is that terrible?