Birch

It's still running ;-)

"When I play....is deeply satisfying." My omission;-) Practice IS play

I guess I ought to add that the "singularity" I am referring to is the hypothetical bone-crushing, "annihilating-human" whatjamecallit found (potentially) in the (hypothetical) centre of black holes. I only read about it and I haven't been there...

"Singularity is a very different concept than is the Taoist concept of 'wu'." Exactamente Monseigneur Marblehead. Thanks Drew for all those levels of stuff. I will check it out.

If what I've been reading recently about "singularity" is real, then I wouldn't want to go there

Hi TaoMeow, Great to read you! Very nicely written

Hey Trunk, Thanks! Just making sure I know who's on my team Besides, I figure I can count on a few folks to give penalties to bad players World Cup day obliged

"I don`t really see the point in being able to light things on fire with my chi as long as I have a steady supply of matches and lighters." Although at some point you might find the ability to remain in good health and heal other people quite a reasonable proposal. By all means go learn to make shit catch fire, but when you're done with that, come back and do something useful

I feel like drawing up a big calligraphied script that repeats what Vaj said and asking him to sign it in blood - oh wait, I'm not the Spanish Inquisition...

"So, Tao merely as a process of all things is eternal? Ok. I can agree with that." - I say ;-) THIS 'cept those damn Taoists don't know anything beyond that

My favourite form of revenge is living well.

"although in different realms such reasoning also applies to not sending out unqualified "spiritual" workers." I believe this to be conjecture yet I feel like agreeing with you because you used an argument I already agree with. And that's somewhat unfair of you to do that when I asked a real question from a position of real concern. I agree with the position that RV took with respect to practice subtleties but let's not mix up things just because it suits another agenda. There's enough of that elsewhere...

Thanks! I'm suddenly confused. In a "wood" phase, like we are apparently in according to Joel Seigneur, what's the suggestion in terms of giving energy to things? If we give lots to wood then won't it just tip over into fire? And are all the liver chi-problems just being revealed because we're in a wood phase - hence highlighting our need to heal them or...??

"How is one spirit stronger than another's" - I see it as whichever has the more "influence" over the feeling of the other. The example of getting up in the morning and feeling happy - then suddenly walking into a place and feeling "off" or worse. and how does a persons spirit become stronger? - I'm interested in any answer to this but I think that understanding when your own feeling has shifted in response to something and then taking steps (prevention or resolution) to bring it back to balance - dropping off "ego" is a really fast way of doing it but I think an issue with that is that it might lead you to neglect actual physical effects of any encounter. So if for example you go to the desert and get dehydrated by it and then just drop your ego off as a response, well your body could die...but I could be wrong as usual. I think the "ego" or mind control aspect of practice is interesting but it's not all. What is implied by "spirit", is it a frame of mind, determination or the actual "spirit" of a person? - This one is kind of tricky;-) A frame of mind can be very misaligned with determination. The term I tend to think of is Yi, but before Yi, there is, um, now I'm stuck

"oh and fyi i TOTALLY DON'T do drugs anymore... i only take my methadone... (although it can be abused, hypothetically speaking) well if you count caffeine and nicotine from cigars then those too!" I wasn't concerned, pretty much EVERYONE does drugs ---sips coffee---- The point is more to understand what specific substances do to the mind/body system (a layer of legality might help one destress from ideas of "morality" despite the actual effects of any substances or food. OT ever wonder why some things are "legal" and some other things aren't ?)

"Buddhist Tantric masters generally keep their stuff quite secret for posterity." - or, how about they keep it secret for other reasons? Of course... I know of plenty of secret Taoist stuff too that you can't get into unless you get direct initiation into a particular lineage. - whats the point of having a bunch of different lineages in the same religion? Or is it strategy? Most of the stuff you get in mass is not the nitty gritty Taoism. It's the same with Hinduism. - again, why bother to hide things?

What about those of us who like the light show - given that everyone is taking part - and become worried when anyone in particular suggests they are Prometheus? Or at least have the fire of such (all boils down to the same thing) I'll cast myself in the population who doesn't want an all-encompassing fire doodle dandy (despite us being wood age and all and me being a water type ) So we're all back in agreement then ?

Lookee here, if your master is afraid of what you will become if he gives you his teachings then he's not that much of a "master" IMO. Besides, most of the stuff it takes to do anything in spiritual terms requires enough of your own effort that by the time you've done it you might just have your own perspective on what would be the right thing to do with it. Of course, if your master has his own darkness to deal with then I'm not sure how that would work exactly. Maybe a few bodies littered along the path? Not that I'd know anything, of course.

Are you saying it feels blocked just where the little dent is where your bottom ribs meet? Or is it higher than that? My take = mind/body/spirit deal is all one deal (or at the very least in constant interaction). I'd take a mad guess and suggest that you're dealing with "liver chi" issues like half the population No, seriously, I only said that because of the anger thing and because I'm working on it too. What part of your system does methadone hurt the most, also hurt first? Like the examples of certain food types being good to strengthen certain organs but in excess overloading to others. Be sure that certain other substances hit them up too in varying ways. If I knew anything about meth I'd say also go get your heart checked out, it feels like it might "overclock" you on heartbeat and that could cause long term stress (tend to want to avoid that )

mucho gusto amigos y amigas You know who you are

I suggest to find "good" I have to resolve my own duality. All the time. Of course I have been told what "being good" means by other people. Sometimes it means just doing/saying/believing what they want. Sometimes they will remind me what they want in other ways. I really think that "good" is one of those horrible terms we could all do without. Like "love". But let's be honest, we know it when we do it

Where do I buy those red shoes ?

Yeah it's sensitivity. I forget this all the time, but our friend Glenn Morris said "the stronger spirit wins" Hardlight dude said something like "if you're going to be in someone's movie, be something nice." Neuroscientists (may) say it's about mirror neurons, you encounter someone who feels like shit and your biology mirrors theirs (a good excuse to shine da love pretty much all the time IMO). Given that we live in a world where lots of people feel like crap for a large proportion of their time (and that's because our societies often suck.) it's hardly surprising. Mal had some neat white light stuff. Dissolving is pretty cool for that too. Of course, as Scott says, not the people's fault you feel they way you do, imagine how THEY feel??? Practice sucks for that, but you'll end up with both the sensitivity AND the strength. Which I guess is the point...

Actually, I like the way the neuroscience folks are catching up with this stuff. But ultimately, right view or not, if you're here then what are you doing? Saving people against their will tends to be contra-indicated. Do it "with" their will and you might get somewhere. For sure there are lots of Buddhist energy work practices but they seem to ask you to sign up to the whole shebang first before they let those out. I'm not signing up for anything, thank you. I think Taoism is just more open with many of its practices (they're also simpler for me). Where's the Buddhist energy practice forum that gets into such detail? Besides, in all of human history, who exactly has been "saved" with any of this stuff? If you're liberated enough, you might just see that other people have also chosen their paths. That means that Buddha has chosen it too. Who's not to say I'm in fact a once-returner that's simply working on a few things down here for a while until I can be arsed to move on. Besides, I LOVE it here, the weather's wonderful.