Birch

Ok, gonna leave you wit Cause the software only lets me have 2

Seems the software won't accept more than 2 media posts at a time

And just to add, more "windows down" music. and Love. Music is awesome http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd10AEo4CSc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izVDYGHCSyg

In fact. Windows-down thru-town driving may mean

Neat! Thanks Mr TWR. One of my very favourite things to do is to drive through town wit the windows down. Need tunes for it. This is a good one IMO (and small experience)

"see through the appearance of things," THIS! (I thought I'd take it back from Hundun who had borrowed it from ME ) soo desu ne

"we can help America, or the world for that matter," I'd call for "helping America at home" first. The world (for all that it matters) can certainly wait (IMO). In fact,from a pseudo-Taoist POV, lest "America" (whoever she is now) attempts to change the world (it cannot be done per TTC!) I wonder if she weren't be best off just leaving it all alone. What's the "fish-frying" verse of TTC? Anyway, I don't see many other countries attempting such feats - oh wait, yeh, Italy sort of tried it a while back (no offense to any Italians present) - oh wait, also "The Greeks" (no offense to Greeks present) - oh wait, also "The British" - some nasty messes there! (No offense to the British present) In fact, as someone pointed out to me the other day "The world" is actually right in my face. It is my family and friends, my coworkers and my lovers. My enemies (and my ex-lovers, this is not hard to see ;-)) My children. My food. My ideas. Myself Oh...bugger.

"Well veggies are not really a food that humans would or did (according to most arhceolgical recor) consume. Why consume them?" When there's nothing else to eat? To fill oneself? Other scabrous reasons? Veggies could be the Twinkies of the Paleolithic

The grain-related to "enslavement" idea is pretty interesting. I figure I'll "find out" in further reading/research that the grain contained the spores of the (possibly off-earth) organism that enabled the co-evolution of semiotics due to it's intensification of the visual hallucinatory faculty (neocortex?) in humans who prior to that event (uncontaminated) were (linguistically) "ego-less" and directly connected to Tao- or something to that effect... Right, where's my toast. Kidding, I don't eat toast.

Good thread! What of the "grain" issues mentioned on the other thread? To what extent (and which types)are grains "healthy" or not for people? I keep seeing recommendations to abstain from grain. The book "Immortal Sisters" mentions it too.

...but Scott All those kittens

"Well stop being so technical and just be happy. Okay?" Oh, not another one with the "happiness" hammer. It's very oppressive ya know But you did make me laugh

"Technically" I am never happy for very long

And if you spend time with pigs without the "pigness" idea in mind then it starts getting really interesting. Pigs are violent and they eat their children sometimes... In fact, the more you take the labels off things and just look at them, well, the more interesting it gets. Take insects for example. Super weird. I don't know whether this is an example of complexity or simplicity. Both of those have their uses if you are trying to reverse engineer. Or, if you are trying to pull the wool over on someone. Or if you are trying to sell someone something. Or... How many more applications for each? Ten-thousand !

Heh. Reminds me of that recent thread where Shaktimama recounted asking the patient "What year is it, who's the president...etc" as part of hospital protocol to bring them back to shared reality. What wasn't mentioned in that account and what seemed to be mentioned here, is the love/welcome/desire of the family expressed to have the person come back. I keep seeing this part come up again and again as (ritually) missing in "conventional" therapies and very present elsewhere. I can't help but wonder, why the difference? Would "conventional" therapies work better if the people just gave a damn? And even if they don't really. Would it hurt to "go through the motions" on behalf of a spaced-out patient.? Why the ear-pulling?

"a scholar, keeping the spirituality at a studious distance;" I reckon that getting one's feet wet with whatever one is studying is a faster trip into insight. Of course it might be "harder" to begin with and you might end up not wanting to write anything on the subject at all I guess if I wanted to write a book on such things I would just refer to other books. Or do a lot of research and then write the book. Maybe your book is a Talisman

"what makes a pig a pig" The "ancient Greeks" might say the "pigness" of it. What would a Taoist say? I'd wager and suggest that nothing makes a pig a pig. Edited: for random online search to translate "pigness". It started getting very interesting. Have a looksee http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&safe=off&q=translate+%22pigness%22+from+latin+to+english&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=80ad42c60efdc633

"You women can just do it naturally." Seems we can

Thank you TaoMeow for another spot on post. I was busying myself this evening with the drawing of a post-heaven Bagua (for various reasons - the first one I drew, I got seriously wrong, but in ways I will have to look at later for other reasons ) and as I looked at the broken and the full lines it occurred to me that what maybe happened in the culture I grew up with was this very thing, the dropping (cutting?) out of parts of the lines where they should have been full and vice-versa. BTW, I highly recommend drawing some IChing symbols by hand for pure "energetic" sensation. I wasn't expecting it (of course I wasn't )

Oh, yes, that IS a good one I guess it comes under the "technical" issue. As far as I can tell, us women don't have that problem. We have a bunch of other ones

"Intent is real, magic is not? Intent works, ritual is just for show? Intent is omnipotent, know-how passed down through generations empty banter? Intent is so obedient that one can make it "stronger" at will, keep cranking it up till it works -- but harmonizing the vibrations of the artist's blood with those of her ink is superfluous? Intent is enough, anyone can do it" Good post. For all kinds of reasons I can't begin to specify. I appreciate the idea of "cultural imperialism" and I am guilty of using such "translations" of the ingredients by folks like Jerry Alan Johnson. The reason I do so is because I am truly terrified of things I do not master.

"We all need people to survive." What do you mean, exactly?

"I have something in my ears that I can click and hum without moving my jaw" I can do this weirdo "mini-mco" inside my skull and I can "flutter" something between the two hemispheres at the front. So far, absolutely no benefits to doing either of these things (which sound pretty stupid, eh?) have been found. Apart from telling people about it, obviously

Oh no. Not the old stuff to stop boys (and girls) touching themselves. More recently it was a kitten that died... Then we wonder why people associate sex with such terrible things. We can do better that that, surely.

Wasn't there already another thread about this with that pic in it and an explanation of the night-"mare" ? (That's the horsey standing in the corner). Physical explanations of sleep paralysis aside, the actual content of imagery during such events is a really interesting topic. If cultures share content - seems easy enough If genes allow cultural transmission of content - wow. Problem being is I reckon it's hard to isolate anyone of specific genetic descent from any cultural contact. Just knowing you have that origin in you could make you seek out your own cultural imagery x 5 as much and so you'd upload those archetypes much more willingly. Still, it does seem that several of the archetypes share common characteristics across human experience of them. But it might be a "false" agreement. In other words, we'd more readily jump to a shared explanation of something fearful rather than be the only person in the world to have had the experience. That would be alienating (no pun intended).