Birch

Aside from Mike's suggestion (a good one). I can only tell you what I do and what works for me is to take the time to wake up. Just like there's a transition from waking to sleeping as you fall asleep (hypnogogia) there's another one from sleeping to being fully awake. Some people with disturbed sleep also have difficulties with the transitions (so if you have apnoea, that would disturb things quite some) and IME sometimes a 'bad' dream is all it takes to make me wake up anxious with no real awareness of the content of the dream but awareness of the state of my nervous system. So basically I've learned (still learning!) to wait it out. Usual caveats of awareness etc. I know it's tempting to kick myself into 'get over it' mode and force a shift but I'm trying this way. I don't know which is 'best'.

http://saltydroid.info/the-syndicate-meets-the-secret/

http://mindhacks.com/2010/09/18/the-strange-face-in-the-mirror-illusion/ For the disappearing thing, I couldn't find the thing I'd read before (it was a feedback/habituation thing)

Great Naga link Cat. Thanks for posting that. I was under the impression that the lesser banishing ritual was supposed to banish one's 'own' evil entities - well, I mean, I think the idea is to 'externalize' them in the first place (summon them) in order to gain consciousness of them and then banish them. And if you don't succeed in summoning up your own, you use 'stand-ins' that have been conviently 'demonized' for the occasion. Where the church messes up (could be argued that this is intentional) is in their demonising where no demonising is necessary and indeed runs counter to the original entity's characteristics. A church wouldn't want people to use the lesser banishing ritual and have all that consciousness arise or realise that a demon is in fact a source of love and strength ---opinion--anti--clerical--etc

Ha, yes:-) 1st evening after starting qigong I woke up in the middle of the night to a noise outside and decided I would go find out what it was and chase them away if required. Before that I would've pulled the covers higher over my head.

Donald Trump used Feng Shui on his Trump Tower apparently, as do many banking institutions. Why bother building a very big elaborate building when most of your transactions are immaterial?

Haha, you're going to have to not post for it to last:-)

I'd be interested in knowing that activation posture. Not for fighting. Just to know how:-) Is the reptile concerned with status and a sense of 'power over'? I'm a bit of a lazy animal too and can't figure out why.

I agree with you Apech. Taking your quote out of context (which I apologize for:-)) "Where it goes wrong is when commercial interests distort the message" is pretty much how I feel about any situation in which 'commercial interests distort' anything (and the reverse is true for 'spirituality' being brought into realms IMO it 'shouldn't be' but who am I stop a government for example proclaiming Christian allegiance as some kind national moral integrity)? I heard it said that 'any' kind of promotion of spiritual messages is fine because that's how people get into contact with that realm. It's the excuse for monotheism, the book-religions, 'The Secret' and so many other things that make me want to scream.

I didn't say that getting paid to teach was the problem. Your example illustrates the kind of thing I do think is a problem though. You could probably teach yourself and I wouldn't mind learning from you if you didn't do the 450$ pamphlet thing (I'd feel icky charging people that for stuff they can learn for free).

I agree that Michael Lomax is consistent in his contributions to the TTB's and I appreciate the 'no hard sell' approach. I dunno though that one should be comparing the number of hours and $ amount spent on one's own cultivation with any price one is inclined to set for one's own students as justification of that price. There's definitely a 'spiritual marketplace' on in full force at the moment (and apparently this has also been the case in the past what with selling bone relics and whatnot and I won't get into church financing ) What part of the teaching does a practitioner ask people to pay for? I understand covering costs for places to meet and eat and stay and for teachers to travel and meet their students. I understand translation and distribution costs (although with the web those costs can reach almost zero.) There does seem to be some kind of expectation of 'voluntary poverty' for teachers and I think it would be better if that changed, so all of this 'price justification' stuff doesn't hold any more. In fact I'd rather get taught by a teacher who is capable of living in the world with financial independence as it's something I'd like to emulate. I don't want to learn how to beg for alms or have to recruit people to an organization to keep my expenses covered. ----opinion etc----

Ok, 3-brain structure diagram got here thanks to Viator:-) Also check out 'heart-brain' and 'gut-brain' (latter being AFAIK where most of the body's serotonin is produced) Heart-brain apparently also autonomous and produces electromagnetic field detectable outside body. I realise I'm only using most recent words to describe things so I'm probably missing a lot (I think the parts I'm missing are in the realm of meaning or 'information', it's like saying 'love' is just oxytocin. It gets the biochemistry right but doesn't go near meaning. It's quite hard to imagine different people might have different genetic source material as we haven't even gotten past 'race' as an issue and I don't think we've scratched the surface of epigenetics.

"Have you found that it is easy for you to glean the "truth" behind the words (as a result of the "feeling" thereof)?" Hum, tends to have less to do with the words themselves and much more about what's 'behind' them. I'd love to say I'm spot on with the 'truth' every time, but I'm not. The other thing being if I ask someone 'hey was XYZ the truth, in fact?' and they don't want to say (for whatever reason, not always 'negative') then they'll say no. Should I insist further, the 'truth' will almost certainly get buried. Plus besides, by that point, it has moved already.

Check out some 'ancestor' legends. I go find a picture of the '3 brain' structure.

Word association can get more abstract, especially if it runs off the top of sounds or shapes or habitual associations not based on experience, but on media, for example. Yes I'd say I weigh heavily on the feel of things. If I let it rip, I'm there in the forest, by the sea or on the mountain in technicolor. I'm probably very easy to hypnotize :-(

I will be very interested to read it Apech.

Sure:-) Everything except Electron and Nucleus has a feeling attached to it. Charge is 'positive charge'. Cave is damp, Forest is cool, Rain is refreshing, Sea is happiness, Lake is cool, Mountain is airy.

Ok, no, I don't get it then if 'individuality' doesn't cease. And do you mean generic horse or cow or that cow over there? Cow

No worries, you didn't :-) She did, however, and curiously never wanted to let me call her by her name... It's interesting you put the psychoanalytical stuff after the cognitive aspect and then made them sort of separate. Personally I see them mixed in together with the psychological stuff 'poking through'. Something like 'door' doesn't do anything to me (maybe no experience per se with doors? Or insufficient to poke through into the cognitive layer?)

Oh, that would take a while:-) However, this is to do with what Dwai was referring to above and is a direct product of my experience with said 'parent'. If you add to that the social taboo on ever saying anything against 'mothers' then you'll be getting somewhere. I have a link that I figured gets into it quite well that I'll post in PPF.

I've been heavily studying path 'literature' for want of a better word and I've gotten it into mind that the goal of enlightenment leads a person in a very distinctive direction. As far as I can tell (although not being enlightened myself, this is the view from here) full enlightenment leads to extinction of the whole person and their removal from existence. Buddhists and Taoists know this, but they diverge in their goals. A Bodhisattva makes a vow to return to lead others to extinction (er, I mean 'enlightenment') whereas a Taoist does not and then can decide to do any number of things, like the reversal of jing-qi-shen, in order to enjoy longer incarnation, better fortune, help people (why not?).

I don't know what's going on but it feels like the point at which Taoists and Bhuddists diverge.

Metaphor for 'lizard brain'? Actual shapeshifting reptiles is further back.

Ah the 'mother' trigger. Recoil and disgust for me. Sense of being controlled and disregarded.

I'd say mine is pretty darn autonomous. That's why this cultivation gig is so difficult. Joking aside. Gerard was talking about physical gunk somewhere.