Birch

Did I already mention that traps for cats are pointless... Inordinate animals! ---- Anyway, ocurred to me that the "hidden agenda" suggested by the OP might be in reference to one or more aspects of a person which are playing themselves out in full unconsciousness of the protagonist. Or, at least until a person gets wind of such a thing and (in my case) goes "WTF" and then, well, if it's properly "hidden", who knows? How could it be that I'm doing stuff without actual intention or intent for that matter? I don't know what's stranger.

I set (friendly) traps for cats so they will post stuff I'm (narrowly) interested in. I should add, it doesn't work.

I didn't read anything in that thread that was any better (or worse) than some of the threads I read on TTB'S. IMO/IME I don't know how to say that a 'spiritual path' can be very troublesome and painful AND that there are things (people and practices) that help and that there are things (people and practices) that don't help. I will say that I prefer 'Taoist' practices and approaches and terminologies, even when dealing with 'kundalini'. --- opinion etc----

Hmm, now I dunno. Maybe Tulku posting on and on and on about the sexual stuff is a way of resolving the (whatever it is). I'd love to be able to do a proper 5E thing with this and suggest stuff for this person above and beyond the self-directed 'Shut the f*ck up' (albeit couched in other terms). So far, the Tulku avatar (kind of ironic IMO because a proper 'tulku' is also NOT a person, it's a restricted expression, approximated to one or a couple of dimensions attributed to someone's persistent focus (think 'Ghostbusters' and the big Marshmallow apparition) ---opinion---alert---

Oh yeah, it's like the army always builds sh*t and makes up strategies to win the previous war. ----no offense to army peoples--- opinion alert---

Ah t'is a thing!

I liked this idea H_E that compassion and virtue etc are a natural consequence of being with Tao and not some intentional doing of some kind that one has determined 'good' - or, maybe more often, that one has had determined as 'good' by others who insist upon instilling it into one - or bashing one's head over with it despite oneself. It also brought to my mind an idea of a naturally created shell-self that protects the growth of the true-self inside until the former becomes so uncomfortable and the latter achieves sufficient 'something' to break through the shell. I wonder if that's natural too

http://postmasculine.com/evolution Tulku, if you mean 'not letting your energy get dissipated' and re-channeling it into 'other areas', well, as far as I know, that would be the fast-track 'Kundalini' way but it's not about suppression nor acting on every sexual impulse IME. It's pretty hard to explain what happens once you 'let' your own sex energy go without clamping down or resisting every sensation. It doesn't mean you're off having lots of sex all the time, although there is a period where that happens (not that I'd know anything about that ) While I was pondering this stuff, I also came up with the link to "Daemon" ( sounds awfully close to 'demon' doesn't it?) which is supposedly the connection to one's creativity and inspiration/muse.

That's the argument for getting off the cushion and into the world. But you have to IMO have enough memory of the stillness reached in one place to be able to bring it to another.

How about you give up food and sex Mr Tulku and then report back on your own evolution? ---fed up with people advocating that other people do or do not do whatever if they haven't tried it themselves first alert--- Wait, didn't I just advocate? Anyway, last time I read anything about evolution, seems both food and sex were pretty key to the whole shebang.

Wilderness Survival Guide (includes mushroom and berry-spotting) Something by Mark Twain (it never gets old) TTC since I don't understand it, it won't get old either (and it apparently applies to lots of things at many levels)

Some things are ways into other things. Sex is one of those IMO/IME. As far as I can tell, sex (or as it is often suggested 'sexual energy') is involved in many 'spiritual' practices. Why 'religion as social life' wouldn't want just everyone getting into that is an interesting question. Similarly, as a child, one's sexual energy is often curtailed or controlled by authorities (if only one's parents). IMO/IME if one doesn't get past this then the risks of remaining immature for longer than is warranted are great. Of course a society of immature children is probably easier to deal with than a society of fully mature adults. I don't know the answer.

I picked a bunch of them (dandelions) off the backyard today. It's pretty hard to get at the roots. I left them to dry out in a sunny place. Next up. Nettles for diabetes.

Bye Cam

There's this idea that there is a 'spiritual practice' for each person depending on who they are, their 'make-up', the time they live in, the people they meet/have access to and have affinity with. I suspect any practice if dogmatized away from the former may have issues for the people practicing it. I reckon a difference between AYP forum and elsewhere (like TTB's for example) is that on AYP you're on a forum specifically dedicated to that practice/range of practices. And so the issues of control are likely in that context IMO. I did check out AYP for some K-related issues but it was mostly to reassure myself that everything was 'cool' and 'normal' with my own 'K-process'. I don't know how stupid that sounds now. Hopefully stupid enough to shove a few people into reflection. Basically, if I'm spending my time having my 'K-process' 'fixed' to varying degrees (I'm talking acupuncture, 5E, psychotherapy, astrology of various kinds, fun internet forums and lots and lots of reading across cultures, religions, practices, whatever) then what is it? Edited for: déjà-vu alert

MCO works! It's tough to comment on the merits of firing up the kundalini. I do feel that people would be well served by a good range of balancing techniques. ----opinion from experience alert--- Edit: I just read that again and it sounded non-comittal or overly diplomatic. I'm actually pretty serious about it. I reckon with all the DIY out there it's important. One could argue that K will lead you to them willingly or unwillingly. But perhaps better to have both context and help, proper.

http://jacobinmag.com/spring-2012/against-chairs/ Hum.

"Sometimes being spiritual gives us too lofty a perspective...too high of a seat of judgment...and we end up being more harmful than normal people who are just trying to get by and enjoy their life" +10 Aside from the additional damage this perspective may also do to oneself. I have personal experience of having to work around people who consider themselves 'spiritual' or 'advanced' in various ways. 1) They make sure you know it 2) You can't talk to them normally without some philosophical play or reference to their level 3) they have a skewed attribution of causality and responsability of some kind that ultimately remains self-serving 4) They're a pain in the butt I reckon it's one thing to delve into one's practices and stuff on a forum like this (that's what it's for IMO) and quite another to be in other people's faces with it in 'everyday' life. I'm quite a regular asshole offline.

Hey Aaron, No worries:-) I had set myself a little word-trap to see if I could spot which I were respectively honest and dishonest about:-)

Mr Pie. "science" is catching up to practices IMO (of course I guess it depends on which sciences you pick when, as the prevailing will often prohibit or restrict specifics for reasons that we keep discussing on this forum - like the $Million point which apparently hurt a lot of people when DIYing it. Or others. I was flipping this idea of teachers around the other day. I'm getting to understand why they might pick you rather than the reverse. Although that might not always be a good sign either. Depends who, I suppose. If I have "pigeon" written on my third eye... The stories all make it sound so easy (huge trials and terrible tribulations aside.)

Ok Twinner, you managed to piss me off with your words (kind of). I don't recall a "4th point" but I suppose you saw one. Your attempt to show off my post in the first point as simply an expansion of yours, well what a nerve! When was the last time you spent any time amongst sheep? You must be imagining! Me, around 25 years ago, and I had a dog and some sheperds (actual farmers) with me. ---opinion etc--- (Hey Aaron, I'm just pi$$ing around with this stuff' - don't get mad;-))

I had a discussion with someone the other day about a very popular book/movie and the short of it was he was reading this book and coudn't understand what it was about it that made all those people get into it and go wild over it. If you're into that "dependent origination" idea, the phenomenon is pretty wild. I read an interesting thing about shaktipat the other day (not the same day as the other thing). The suggestion was that people were going for it because they want to "be saved". And today I read an article about the way a person uses certain words like "I" and "you" and how that sets up "dominant status" in a conversation. But the best thing I came across all weekend was an experiment by Daniel Gilbert that apparently intended to prove whom between Spinoza and Descartes was right in their respective postulates of "understanding is believing" vs - well, the Descartes thing. ---opinion----alert But what does it have to do with the OP? - enough for me to post ----opinion etc---- IMO it was co

It's a neat post Twinner! To be able to reach the messages within the concepts through the words. However, since I still consider myself bound by words (try something to piss me off, I guarantee you it will work even if I just try my best to watch for it not to work, still means it works, bummer ) I do feel there might be some amendments made to certain variants because they still manage to tie people down and (ironically, in spite of the messages offered) provide rationale for tying other people down. That's the part I hate. Really, what would happen if people were not tied down by these things? I suppose though that the hard religious precepts might be hard enough for some people to start questioning them very fast. 'You're a sheep' for example. In other words if you're having a very pleasant cushy time without any particular consciousness of anything except eating grass and being protected from wolves by the guy who tells you when and where to go, you could be running the pasture to ruin in a handbasket. But apparently, and more often (seems to me), an inquisition of some kind turns up with the mandate to have you unquestion pretty fast. Now, off to cook up some cinnabar. ---- opinion etc---- Edit: link added RT http://t.co/KjR6bOn6

I keep running into the Magic Square in various different (ostensibly) traditions. Would like some input into this topic. Thank you!

Alchemichal traditions. And those are to be found in all kinds of places! I keep running into this square at the moment because I'm cross-reading. I can't discriminate between traditions at this point as I don't know enough. Hence the unruly questions. So the paths you're referring to are overlays?