Birch

Excellent post! I think I've been through enough meditation/cultivation-related drawbacks to start enjoying some fruits. The ability to turn off the monkey is a great one. As is an "understanding" (however simple) of the rivers of consciousness through oneself and others and the world. The capacity to know when one has a choice vs not; yet another advantage, and to feel that choice completely. The other drawbacks elsewhere mentioned are real IMO and small experience and are part of practice. They could also be part of a practice that one is not suited for or vice-versa. I don't agree with Eckhart Tolle. I think other people just want/need your respect, attention, care and love. They're pained because they don't/can't see it when you give it to them (of course if you're not giving it to them then they're right to be consternated (sp?) IMO.)

One of the best websites I've seen about K for a while!

"From predictions (accurate ones) flow actions, which is their only value" THIS!

"What would you suggest to get the ball rolling in a way that is more appealing or understanding?" Ball seems to be rolling as I write ;-) "Appealing"? Not sure "Understanding?" Not sure But I know I hate it when I criticize something and the immediate response is "So, how would YOU make it better" ;-) So corporate!

"rhythmical contraction of a large number of the myofibrils of the skeletal muscles and smooth muscles of the blood vessel walls." It's the same as qi-gong? It does sound famliar to a thought I'd been having, but qi-gong is: - slower - builds upon the existing structure Sort of like the difference between attempting to run 3 miles in one go vs building up slowly?

Voted "lust" because too easily confused with some of the other ones. Anyway, are the emotions really that one-dimensional?

Especially offices

Cool thread! Manitou, interesting ceremonial and about the writing part. i think another thing is that most people just aren't properly taught about how money "works" - i.e. they're taught something along the lines of "work hard and..." And that just doesn't work for everything. What does it work for?? "Causality" in the financial world is something extremely difficult to fathom - which is why there's an entire "science" dedicated to it called economics. I think taking yourself off the wrong "causal" train regarding anything is a good idea. We could go into money vs prosperity - which is something along the lines of what Manitou and others have said.

Woah Xeno, that's some majorly incredible evil madness! My take is that forgiveness is best used in favour of oneself first. No, no point in continuing to ruin one's own life (or sometimes those of others in the process) due to someone else's actions. My other idea is that a close examination of why you would or would not tell this person (I can't even say "mother") you have forgiven them is in order. If it's to satisfy some ideal of yourself as an ever forgiving or "good" person then I'd swing with a no. If it's what you feel deep in your heart, I'd swing with a yes. Personal opinion.

If you're sure then PM me your address and I will send :-)

No, but I have a book on it that I have to give to someone Caveat being that the someone in question MUST be of the Wood element bazi-constitution or lacking water in same (it's a 5E experiment )

Magic? Yes, I think I do believe in it

PANIC ATTACKS! Sounds like them to me. Were you drinking a lot of caffeine/sugar-filled stuff? Still, bad form on my part to attempt to diagnose anything online. Go see the doc and get a general workup. As RV said, quit eating cr*p:-)

Great! Thanks TaoMeow. I tried some Panax, turned out not to be a good idea. Some days I think it's just better sticking to real food. The supplements industry is starting to annoy me (almost) as much as "big pharm" - of which I wonder how many "natural health" firms are subsidiaries - making wads of dough off of "health and improvement" junkies such as myself.

Heh, RV so much for the intelligence of the universe if it kicked me into this stuff Kidding I don't know (yet) what kind of "energy" Reiki is and I don't know how it "works" and I would from now on be on the lookout for people "transmitting" things that I'm not sure about. I guess when I went in for "Shaktipat" I had already read people's experiences with Santi and Susan, Glenn's books, I "knew" about detox and qi-gong syndrome by that point and I had learned a few "dealing with extra energy in the wrong places" techniques by then too. I'm not sure that all Reiki practitioners inform their patients of the "healing crisis" part of treatment. I'm not sure that all Reiki patients are even going through such things. Where was that comment on how much "in the dark" I must have been? Yeah, but if you're "in the dark" and you've never seen any light, how does that work?? Besides, I could be in the dark right now about so many things and not know it... frog in the well. Thankfully one has to be willing to accept such things, so it's not like someone can come and "Reiki" you without your consent Ah, would that many other things in life were as honest! I read about the practices laid out by Usui that he recommends to masters and they seemed pretty "regular" compassion/awareness/emotional training exercises. There were some moves in there that looked like qi-gong moves too (although it now seems to me that everything is "qi-gong" these days )

"Ok good! But you seem to have been carrying these views around for a while, for as long as I've known you. It's just, you don't seem to me to be coming across as a person who is asking with an open mind, bur rather a defensive state of mind, which is messing with my ability to speak openly with you. If I am completely wrong, than I apologize." Hello Vaj, Thought I'd take this one up before I continue my contemplation about buddhism. I think it would be helpful to your case/cause to stop the statements that start with "you" for a while. I can't figure out if it's some kind of buddhist teaching technique to get people to see where their ego-boundaries are - or something else. In other words, are you doing it towards some helpful purpose? I read something interesting the other day. It concerned people who insult other people. The gist was that if someone is insulting you then they're actually saying more about themselves. I'm sure there's nothing I'm doing that is messing with your ability to do anything. As I've said before I think the techniques used in buddhism are great and I'm thankful I came across them. In fact, I've noticed when we discuss practices here, everything seems to go quite well, it's when we discuss religions that things start getting icky.

Yup, like Songs said, go see the doc. Sometimes the best cure for hypochondria is getting it checked out OT possibly, it seems some docs sometimes have a hard time diagnosing Lyme's appropriately, so you may want to read up on that.

"Kate, consider this an education, so that you can expand past your limited concepts concerning Buddhism. If you are interested in doing so that is." Always willing to get free education. Thank you! "Monotheism means one God that created everything. So, Buddhism is not that." I didn't say I was looking at what it's called. I said I was looking at how it behaves and then calling it something. By looking at its behaviour and then attributing to it the same term that is used for other religions that behave the same. It's a contemplation in progress, so please forgive. ""Shakyamuni also said that he was not a god, but merely awake." So why idealize/deify the guy? Quote - one human (male) incarnation of ultimate ideal - check "Actually, there are many Buddha ideals in Buddhism, including many, many female Buddhas." Great! Where are they? Where are the statues and the stories and the teaching from them? "Shakyamuni was just the fire starter, during a time when a women wouldn't even have been heard," So, do you mean that Buddhism was started of the top of existing male-dominated culture? "so it's only practical that it be a man." Because? "Shakyamuni did create an order of Nuns" Is that positive or negative? "And did ignore the caste system and said that anyone could attain Buddhahood." Well, I guess if he says so then... "There are some questionable occurrences in history concerning sexism in Buddhism, but most of that has been ironed out as women gain more power." Ack "The Buddhas were never sexist, only some popular interpreters who gained prominence in certain regions at a certain time, or when politics mixed with Buddhism, etc." Which is it? They were or were not sexist? Quote - assertion that said religion holds one sole truth (and knows what that is) - check "There is no ultimate truth in Buddhism, which is what makes it different from other traditions that state that there is an ultimate truth, or ultimate existence to everything." Really? i thought you said it was a fundamentalist religion? Quote - practices to alter/control natural human characteristics - check "The term natural is an excuse to stay bound by habit patterns developed by ignorant humans over thousands and thousands of years?" I'm not sure (and I doubt that I ever will be) but through contemplation I'm leaning towards a pre-existing corruption prior to buddhist culture(through education/domestication of some kind)and in fact the split between nature, body and mentality. "It's all very natural that we are destroying ourselves, isn't it? It's all so very natural that we all make war with each other out of fear of loss, now isn't it? " I didn't say that, I don't thnk. "So, the Buddha introduced a different level of nature that one could embrace for the sake of positive transformation." A different "level" of nature? "If you use the term "natural" as an excuse for a static concept about something, then you're lost." I wasn't using it in those terms, I don't think. Quote - concept of sin/evil - check "There is no static concept of sin and evil in Buddhism. There is only karma. Action and reaction, which goes with intention and the reaction of intention on the one who holds it." So, no "bad" karma and "unskillful means" or "wrong livelihood"? "So really, all your static ideas" I said I was contemplating and it was a work in progress. Sound static to you? "concerning Buddhism really hold no truth outside of your own personal interpretation of things and they spring from a lack of being educated in the teachings of Buddhism." I'm very willing to learn more about it but I think I refuse to be "educated" at this point. "Basically, you are only seeing what you want to see, instead of how things actually are." Actually, to the contrary friend.

I'm down with processes. Kindly explain "Completion stage"? My dumb question of the day is why should (is?) the use of "spiritual" tools be restricted to specific religions? Is it historical? A kind of "it's always been like that since we can remember?" Is it linked to past migrations and cultural influence? Is it linked to present and future desires for such (migrations and cultural influence?)? Something else? (Given I may be reproached for remaining within too strict conceptual boundaries...I'll leave it open.)

"I've heard from some people that Reiki was a very powerful "release" for them. I imagine the more "in the dark" or less aware you are the heavier the hammer you get hit with." I'm not sure. In the "dark" concerning what/how exactly? I can't speak to my previous level of awareness, it seems I've always been this way But that's how it goes, huh?

Are you practicing qi-gong? I've seen stuff like this mentioned in that big pink "Qi-gong empowerment" book. Hopefully your practice includes sending the chi back to dantian or some kind of closing. The deafness and blindness sounds scary. How did things revert? I've found that practice makes me ultra-sensitive. For a while I thought that everything was going wrong, turns out it's just that I can feel things a lot more. So yeah, I got very picky about food and temperature and all kinds of stuff for a while. Now, not so much. I guess I got used to it. But I'm still not putting a toe in McD's

Wow, excellent post FiveElement! I liked the "cord cutting" visualisation in KAP and in Ya Mu's book. There's a bunch of stuff in both KAP and Ya Mu's book that I found very similar. There's another book title that I've been wanting to read: "There's Nothing Wrong with You"

Thank you!