Birch

Are they doing this work on 'Reality' or are they 'just' working with their subjective interpretations of it? Seems we've come to accept the idea of 'consensual reality' already (although I often prefer to opt-out in many cases because I think a lot of it is very silly dangerous) So are the very enthusiastic Math dudes (mostly men in Math BTW, not sure why, guy at Harvard said something about that) working on the 'consensual' version of it? I can't talk about it because I only recently realized the words 'time' and 'space' ought not to be two words at all and using the term 'time-space' is sort of a cop out.

Well that was sort of what I was rambling on about. I guess I could write a book about it, but that's already been done;-)

Interesting post Mr Pie. I found it 'funny' (not 'haha') that my question implied a hierarchy of emergence of consciousness when I'm actually more convinced of consciousness as the 'thing' (well, not a 'thing' but you hopefully catch my drift) that we are in and of. So why on earth (or anywhere else) would I rot on about hierarchy? Second, "But, you can still choose to do any possible thing within your power moment to moment." I don't understand Mr Pie. I don't have any 'power', as far as I can tell. All I have is consciousness, more or less of it. More or less local. Nice post anyway:-)

Trick buddhist question;-)? I do have to rule out 'the person' as I have never personally met Richard Gere. So it may be any number of things (including his image, things he has said, his acting technique, his hair, his face, that he reminds me of someone else I have met and didn't like). Anyway, seems I'm not inclined to like everyone, nor do I have to, do I?

I think it's fine to disagree. Is the new attribution 'internally consistent'? Suddenly the 5E creation and control cycles don't fit each other anymore and people start putting needles in the wrong places:-)

Earth as a 'process', 'phase', or (even) 'action' - rotates Metal - contracts Water - descends Wood - expands Fire- ascends So metal as a material is an expression of the metal phase Liver as an organ is an expression of the wood phase Summer as a season is an expression of the fire phase There's a definite expertise to pinning the correct phase definition(s) on anything:-) After which, things become less random, somewhat predictable - all the stuff people like to define things for, except it seems to be based on observation of things rather than desired properties.

That was interesting. I could've sworn 'materialist' = 'male'. Why that is, not very sure. Anyway, I understand that the point is not to personify the principles as 'men' and 'women'. I love Taoist Yin/Yang for this as both contain each other and dynamically transform. I don't think it gets proper treatment in Shiva/Shakti - but that could be because I'm not well-versed on the dynamics of it. Where it doesn't get proper treatment is with an all powerful 'father god'. --- opinion--

Well, I was treated like shit, but by women. In fact I would say my father was the incarnation of compassion, kindness and all that but lacked something to stand up for himself. I did practice secret smile but it brought a lot of 'stuff' up. I didn't find it to be the 'cure-all'. What I'm finding more useful at present is looking at my ideas about all kinds of things and digging around to find out where they came from and then getting rid of them. Not surprisingly, many came from 'mommy dearest's' treatment and/or example and I have been working quite hard to get rid of them but I'm often surprised at how tenacious these things can be. I'm finding it interesting to try to figure out why (and at what point) I took on someone else's idea of me as if it were my own. So far it's looking like it might be one of those 'developmentally hardwired' things - because of course, had I had the choice, I would have refused these terrible ideas, right?

I just dislike Richard Gere.

I liked this post. IMO as long as people are concerned about individual enlightenment then they haven't quite understood it.

Consciousness as emergent or whatever the opposite of that would be? Free-will in absolute and/or relative terms? Those are really bugging me:-)

That's not what I'd call a rash ;-) I wouldn't claim anything for most of anyone. However, between a contextualisation that puts an experience into positive mythological language and another one that puts one in the 'deranged' category, I sure as hell know which I'd rather pick:-) Sorry for your $$ loss. If it helps any, studies show that after 75K$ there's not much net happiness. Edit: Yoga is not about sitting on your butt. The few guys in my class sweat it. Very much. Edit: Suddenly thought 'shit' what if I don't point out the vascular and BP thing. Probably should check those out. I'm not an MD.

Yes if you use the shorthand static term 'elements'. No if you use the dynamic 'process-descriptions' or 'phases'.

Yeah. Sort of. This 'Kundalini' business is quite a. I'm figuring I'm alright fer now now without a bunch of 'spontaneous' happenings. So you would have seen me dancing around my living room for hours on end, filled with joy of the realization that there is no God out there.

I agree with Simple Jack. Mr CT, I find some irony in posting celebrity meditators. Actually, it's really really annoying (to me) but who cares:-)

The only story I read about the Lord of Death was about a son of a father who went looking for him (Death) and when he arrived at Death's house, death was out on a trip (one assumes it was a working trip). But the son hung out at Death's estate until Death got back. If I recall properly (which I'd have to check) the son wants to become Death's disciple. Death offers him a bunch of other very excellent-sounding stuff to get him to go away (the son, not Death) but the kid sticks with it and finally Death takes him on as student and the kid learns everything Death teaches him. If I find the actual story I will post.

Link please?

I ought to. Except I dunno if I want all those spontaneous yoga postures. Ok, I don't want them. Maybe I could sneak around myself and do it. If/when I do I will report back:-)

Haha, haven't heard that one for a long time:-) Very well might be selling stuff. But there's IMO/IME out and out selling stuff and the stuff of signups which is a whole n'other thing. Thing is, I'm pretty interested in their pdf so I could go dig up an old hotmail addy for it. Not very community-minded of me.

You mean Castro's bro? They look pretty similar. The open discussion sessions he (bro Castro) has with people (televised) are pretty interesting. The prosecution for cow-killing also. Also the poor kids who will wait along the tourist roads for people to throw them stuff. I wondered why our poor kids are not out there waiting for people to throw them things. Think they can't be that poor huh? I'm figuring it could be something else.

Well, as long as it's not shades from the ashram;-) I'd put a deadline on it. I wouldn't sell everything off and if I could, from work, I would take a sabbatical. Whoever you end up being after your retreat would likely appreciate having a few options when they return. ---householder, of this world opinion 2 cts----

Well I did have El Che in mind too while making this post. I was in Cuba not so long ago and it was a strange mixture.

Help from Bottom. I'm sure you know what you want to do:-) Xxx K

I very much enjoyed your post Apech. I have been recently reading something else about the Jesus 'thing' which also frames it as 'anti-establishment'. The governing powers of the times claim their authority from God in Heaven. So basically, a guy turns up claiming actual filiation to said God, with some amount of ability to 'show to tell'. Smacks the local 'godmen' upside and gets martyred in the process. Cut to further down the line. Said martyr gets co-opted for hundreds of years of whatever people want to do 'in his name'. Not all of which BTW has anything much to do with the ideas had in the first place. Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is that there seems to be a relatively consistent element that comes into play (and power) every time the human rulers (obviously claiming their divine origin and 'justification' for being in place) go too far. Needn't be a single element neither.

As may be my cynical Brit Taoist Grandmaster:-) However, just occurred to me that the OP was posting about THEIR experience and so I'm kind of feeling bad about dissing the video IF the OP feels that's where the experience came from. JB made a very nice post up in the other section of the website which was about consciousness ---and here we have a living JB to say what he actually said. Edit: 'bout halfway down http://thetaobums.com/topic/25126-direct-transmission-thru-a-bookwebcast/page__st__16