Birch

I can't remember, is this thread only about tooth-regeneration or anything to do with not having issues that harm teeth in the first place? Have gums been mentioned much? Because yes the teeth can regenerate (and move and all kinds of stuff) but if the environment they're in isn't up to scratch then that might be a problem IMO/IME.

What I find awesome/excruciating is that the "uniform narrative" even has a way in. Why? What is it? Is it a hook into something we used before out of necessity? A development? A mutation? An implant? I have no idea. I know I have this capacity/burden (for want of a better term) but I don't know why or where it came from. Anyone read/see/know/hear?

Excellent post and cogent with what I know about myself and my own attempts to rectify the "past". I've suggested this book before but will do so again: http://www.amazon.com/Chemical-Carousel-Science-Beating-Addiction/dp/1439212996/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291775537&sr=1-1 Of course "the past" cannot be rectified, but its incursion in the present very much so. I.e Taoist (or even Buddhist or Jainist, or Christian, or Sufi or whatever) practices ALL attempt to mitigate such (IMO/IME) However, one also may want to know what exactly such practices are "doing" for a given person. I'm tempted to single out Buddhist-specific practices due to the explicit emotional/neural consequences of the latter but I realise this may be a can of worms...

And I feel I should add also: "because we didn't have much of a choice"

Yes I know that. But maybe you need to trick and trip it (mind) out to get there? Hence practice is a vehicle. I'll leave "to where?" well alone at this point lest our friends with an idea of "where" that ought to be jump in... Of course it's easy (for me?) to argue this after all that - because it'spretty much where I was to start with but with kind of a difference... The difference is that I know for sure what it is and where it came from and which of it is me (heart/spirit) and which is not. I also believe ALL people know this. Always have and always will. Which is why it hurts so often IMO. We know but we persist in things that are against us because we don't have faith in what we know for sure. Why don't we have faith? Because we gave it away. Still, I'm sure this might look like a circular argument or a begging of questions from elsewhere. Go figure

"Any tricked-out and tripped-out harpings made about any form of spiritual vehicle being the ultimate is BS." I agree but first time round I read: "Any tricked-out and tripped-out form of spiritual vehicle" and it lead me to consider briefly that maybe yes, ANY spiritual vehicle needs to be somewhat tricked-out and tripped-out or you won't recognize it as one and it won't take you sufficiently off the beaten path for you to start going "wait a minute, you mean...?"

This has to go here http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/05/taleb_on_black_1.html It's a long interview but man, I reckon this dude's a Taoist

Aaron got it once and again Which of course is only my opinion and my experience so discard that. I'd like to ask why some of the posters are referring to religions as devices to anchor "virtue" - when as far as I can tell so far, Taoist practices teach spiritual freedom and the recognition of the inherent virtue of each of the 10,000 things. I read a neat thing the other day "a free spirit does not preach" which I guess I'm doing a bit of re the religions thing but hopefully I will be forgiven in my father's house (that last part required irony punctuation, can you see where I might go with this? I didn't touch the Confucianism thread for the same reason - made my skin crawl)

"Most people think that "scientific studies" are hard, concrete, truth." Where's your data? Kidding I'm trying to find that other post on why people cave in for cults. I think it was one of TaoMoew's Still, I used to smoke cigarettes (regular, additive-filled) and I quit for the following reasons: - I could feel what it was doing to my physical capacity - eg. climbing stairs etc - The heavy disapproval of people around me - The smell So perhaps those were not "real tobacco" cigarettes I was smoking? I think the heavy disapproval got me. I'd be very interested in the TCM perspective. And I wonder, how many "TCM" utterings are based on the utterer's own biased disapproval?

Heh, Vaj, for once you're saying some things I agree with. Woo Hoo! However, at this here reality level, our friend Jetsun seems to be having some trouble with grounding his (or her) energy. And for that, I think there's a lot to be said for healthy exercise, good food (including "enough" protein), sleep, staying off the benders and self-educating about mental health. This also includes IMO looking into the history of the "discipline," it's professionals and results BTW, but I digress I reckon that once K has been given a (paradoxically) rational context and a playing field in which one can accept it, even make "friends" with it then fear can drop away and proper investigation can begin. BUT if you jump right into things with an offering of an explanation, however good and truthful and helpful it seems to you, but is somewhat distant from the person experiencing it, I wonder if you don't deny that person the fruits of their own insights. You know, the raft and all that? Still, if it helps, it helps.

How does it "devalue" the teachings? I'm not saying it does or doesn't, I'm curious.

Nothing crazy in there Aaron. In fact I reckon you've nailed it

It's possibly fair to say that TTB's saved my life. Good enough fer ya?

I don't know what it's for, but here's what I think. It's the biggest "quantum processor" in the world because it is the world, all seen and unseen of it. It's systems theory in action. It's the "book" of how "things" (any "thing") change for people who keep forgetting that things change at all and sincerely expect things to keep on the way they think they are. It's what I read when I get stuck in a stupid feedback loop that has nothing to do with reality. It's what I read when I wonder if I am "on tao" or off course entirely.

Manitou, I'm not sure what this says about religions. I don't believe it puts them in a particularly positive light. I could get a picture of Santa Claus and do a ceremony then? This is not to diss the great work you seem to be doing for people but to question why a picture of Jesus should have any ability to tug at heart strings at all. My consideration of religions is that they are created to tie people together in an easily manipulated belief system. Which is also why IMO the spread of them is something to watch with interest.

Manitou and EV, So would money as "energy" (IMO it is "potential" energy) imply that bankers and the govt and certain corporations are "energy vampires"? And once "they" have got a hold of all of this "energy" we give them, what's the goal? Just to have a big pile of potential? To relieve others of their potential? I beg the question "potential to do what"? I agree that we "vote with our wallets" to some extent but IMO those amounts are so "small" in comparison to the stuff that actually drives major economic and political currents that I sometimes think it wouldn't feel to the "vampires" like much more than a mosquito landing on the hide of an elephant. I'm kind of rambling free form here. I also believe it's disingenuous to attribute "karma" to a situation where much of the time IMO, the person under "karmic" money issues doesn't have full knowledge of "how it works" and so may shift the blame onto themselves or question their "worth." The example of the temp agency doing a credit check (sounds like what it was) and then not hiring the person is IMO beyond the pale.

Troublesome indeed, since this attempts to polarize people on paths into yet another "I've got it/had it and you don't/didn't" session. Sessions which I respectfully suggest are just about as BS as it comes, and ironic (I'd laugh if it weren't quite so serious at this level here) when you contemplate the "point" of "awakening consciousness" at all. No I won't get into what the point is. It's your consciouness and your point. And all while providing no or little practical help to people who may very well be undergoing transformations in consciouness and don't understand WTF is going on because once and again some "expert" has decided to take over the conceptual reigns to tell us what's "really" going on. Gah.

If that's your pic then I wouldn't be so modest Oh ya, plus all the other stuff that was mentioned about worth and presence

Ya Mu, I read the book and it's great. I just can't fathom the why of the first part about the other dimension. I know it's written something along the lines of the dilemma of putting that stuff in there but given I have the opportunity to do so on here, can I ask "Why did you put the first part in there?" Thanks! Kate

http://www.tbsn.org/english2/article.php?id=215 Also mentions deity possession. Weird...

Or theatrical admission that the story is never nearly as important as we think ? I wonder if Max and crew aren't just playing with this stuff. I mean it wouldn't be the first time that someone claimed some kind of mythological rights to something to support their own narrative. Do people worry that certain books don't elaborate on the "facts" further than stating them as if they were the case, or corroborate different people's perspectives? Not thinking of the bible at all, yet so many swear on it. Now THAT IMO is some cause for concern...how can you swear on a text you haven't read??? But I digress... Hey, wouldn't it have been very cool if the TTB's was up and running at the time of Jesus or Mohammed or whoever "Nah, man, that dude's a fake. He says he levitates and all that sh8it" Don't believe the hype"

A thought just sprang to mind. Maybe you're not developing qi at all, just your capacity to be filled by it, to respond to it and to know it? It's always there, all over the place.

I thought this was fun too http://mvtao.blogspot.com/

Is wisdom just knowing when to shut up and admit you don't know anything?