Birch

Read it. Bit too New Agey for me. Also can't stand his voice. But good if he's getting people to zap themselves. I guess I'm not sure about the terminology he uses. Sounds like he had some kind of awakening but I wonder when that awakening leads to book-writing and appearing on Oprah:-) I guess he's there with Chopra and co. IMO they're the saccharine of spiritual thought and practice:-)

I'd like to make a point that the systems and subsequent rules and institutions were designed (in other words "made up")in the first place. They're not in effect due to some cosmic diety-given right (although trying to get people to swallow that one has worked for a while) The effects we're seeing today are a result of those designs and people doing what people do in relationship to them. We acknowledge that people can be both greedy and altruistic. Suggesting a redo is actually quite a logical suggestion. Of course the people that would lose out the most don't want it. They tend to prefer civil war or bloody revolutions, apparently.

Keeps happening to me too. I got fed up bothering about it. Although, it did cause me to reconsider where I stand in relation to past and future and how time might "work". Causality, stuff like that. I don't feel I have an asymmetrical relationship to time any more. Used to be I "went through time". Now time is going through me. Or rather we're both in this together. But then I wonder, am I thinking too much again? People keep telling me to stop that;-) BTW if you can stomach it enough to get into, statistics rule the world.

Hehehehe:-) Check out what it says about head practices! Now it kind of makes sense why people were saying "don't do it!"

Me neither! It's got some pretty interesting stuff in it too:-)

I'd cut the kid some slack if they just went through Thanksgiving I'm watching and learning :-)

That's expensive! Not to hark back to the 'spiritual materialism' topic but I'm harking back. Experts here. Anything really 'worth' that price in the meditations for purchase?

I'm pretty interested in all of it. However, what I've found 'easier' to work with so far is 'internal' alchemy. Which I might add, often tells you what to eat, or ingest or not. I'd love to better understand the herbals etc but it seems to me to be severely controlled. As in, I could pick and eat vegetables, use magnetic minerals myself if I knew what I was doing but I wouldn't dare use them on anyone else. Verboten mate.

i reckon they were just as ridiculous as the TTB's :-) No offence to anyone (to myself included). I think one of the things that happened with GD that probably doesn't happen as much with TTB's given its online avatar basis is actual 'on the ground' networking and influence. I read it happens with FreeMasons, I have some evidence it happens with other groups. In fact, generally-speaking, it happens wherever people get into 'interest groups.' Maybe there should be a TTB's handshake

"Most everyone is imbalanced in some way or another" badaabing badaaboom! Right, this acknowledged, the 'good news' is that given the discomfort, you're in an awesome position to change stuff. And I don't mean re-arranging the furniture on the titanic like many 'religions' suggest. Welcome to TTB's! Many good, helpful people here :-) Also some weirdos (I had to mention it:-))

Yo, that's pretty cool! I'm a yang water bull (hahahaha) Anyway, nice to see you back on the boards

Alrighty, I'll share what little I have understood of awareness, chi, light, blockages and whatnot. "Light" is a code-term for 'consciousness'. In circumstances that require it (even misunderstandingly) consciousness can withdraw itself from the affected 'area' as a survival reflex. Because the bodymind is somewhat holographic and self-referentiel, this can play out in lots of ways, symbolic or not, physical or not. Anyway, the point I want to make is it does this for a reason/due to circumstance. We can argue what basis in reality some other time. Post-initial circumstances (i.e.once the threat, injury is over), consciousness 'wants' to 'return'. But because this is like thawing the numb place, well, it hurts quite some, so we avoid a second time, or we can displace symbolically.

That's pretty awesome!

I don't know what 'sharp' feelings are a sign of. Pain itself draws attention. My interpretation is that it does this so you will pay attention and do something (which might include not doing, or stopping). Any visuals/emotions/ideas come with it?

That's interesting Aaron. I also knew a version that involved drawing additions to basic shapes. What I'm interested in in this case is the interpretation. Especially if it's being done by a fully-fledged Siberian shamana with Taoist 5E and I-ching skills ;-) Y'know, recipes-cooks? Of course, if TaoMeow comes up with the 'stock' answers that anyone could get using this very same 'test' then that's interesting too. If I don't like what she comes up with, what do I do?

Ooh! it's like "Kill the Buddha"? Right, so once you've acknowledged your continuity and non-separation with Dao and you've gone 'wow this is awesome' (if prior to that you had not thought it was awesome already) then you, you, er, go about your ways as a 10,000 thing again while knowing you and the Dao and the other 10,000 things are continuous with each other. Something like that?

Yey! Thanks TaoMoew. Here goes ------ Visualize a forest. - Pine forest Visualize a path you're walking that leads you into the forest. You are walking on a path in the forest... Keep walking... You keep walking and you come across a cup in your path. - in clearing and crossroads What kind of a cup is it? Describe the cup, describe your feelings, describe your actions. Silver cup, two handles, reminds me of happiness, pick it up, look at it, put it down. Keep walking... You keep walking and you come across a key in your path. What kind of a key is it? Describe the key, describe your feelings, describe your actions. Golden key, elaborate finely worked decorative handle, coloured ribbons attached, pick it up, want to keep it, then decide someone must have lost it, put it back in an obvious place so the owner can find it Keep walking... You keep walking and you come across a lake in your path. What kind of a lake is it? Describe the lake, describe your feelings, describe your actions. vast calm lake, misted over, sense of peace, put hands in water to feel temperature, cool Keep walking... You keep walking and you come across a house in your path. What kind of a house is it? Describe the house describe your feelings, describe your actions. Wooden house, feel friendly, announce my arrival and wait for owner to come out Keep walking... You keep walking and you come across a wall in your path. The wall is completely impenetrable, there's no openings. There's no way to walk around it because it is too long, there's no way to climb over it because it is too high. What kind of a wall is it? Describe the wall, describe your feelings, describe your actions. Brick wall, despair and sadness, turn away and go back where I came from The test ends here. Please write down everything you have experienced. Thanks! Hopefully at least some of the interpretation will be flattering ;-)

"Crushing emptiness"??? What does that refer to? If I had to guess, I'd say it refers to a re-do of yourself, aka a re-condensation to form (which BTW fits nicely with your teacher's analogy of water being the same 'stuff' in all states and my condensed milk analogy that I have trotted out for the occasion). A 'return' to jing? Tao doesn't bother incarnating (or giving birth to 10, 000 things) just to annoy herself, does she?? I thought it was 'shattering the void'.

Scott... "I don't know what I'm talking about". Hahaha. Anyway, that was very good! Any ideas on what to do after that point?

"..... there is absolutely NO reason that there should be poverty or starvation, there is an abundance of resources, what is lacking is the willingness to redistribute these resources fairly..." I think this is pretty close to my take on it. You know my first reaction when JB suggested taking my earned profits off me was "aaaargh, I worked really hard for that!" It wasn't dissimilar to a few tantrums I've had as a kid. Anyway, i just wanted to mention some of the articles in this month's Harvard Business Review. Articles on "for benefit" as a new legal structure for businesses who want to add social improvement goals to their bottom line (the current "for profit" or "not for profit" legal architectures apparently don't allow for it) Well, as well as how to use social manipulation and tricks from organized crime. So it's still same old same old but I read the "for benefit" ideas as an interesting development.

Controversial? I don't know if Jesus existed or not. I know there are some stories about a man with that name. The way I've been reading some of the stories - including the Egyptian stuff is as an alchemical allegory. Check out dung beetle references in the TSOTGF and the Egyptian frescoes in one of those pyramid documentaries you posted.

I should add that my reference to "lizard people" means anyone who engages in tactics that invoke lizard-brain responses in anyone else with a view to controlling the outcome in one's own favour. Also known as "fear-mongering". Edit: When I referred to the lizard people's "job" I meant that it's as much their "job" as it is a gazelle's "job" to run away from a lioness and a lioness' "job" to catch the gazelle.

Hey! I started this thread and went away to not fight anyone this TKSGK and when I came back it had gotten too funny to ignore. Folks, nirvana is the transmutation of the yang spirit away from the yin. Otherwise known as death, I think. Could be wrong as usual but IMO the point of Taoist immortality is to avoid death AND to embrace life. You can't IMO embrace life if you're spending too much time in survival mode, which is what the lizard brain's job is and the lizard people's job to insist upon. No tin-foil hats required, a BS meter will do for starters. If you check, over the last however many centuries, there has been a culturally consistent telling of human history that includes: - duality - ascension - future promises for present sacrifice - the inherent worthlessness/weakness of humans (can't save themselves out of a paper bag) Which of course is BS.

Hmm, I'd even question the idea that we see things exactly the same. There were some neat experiments done out there about field vs object focus in Westerners vs Asians. If I can find, will post. There's no question in my mind that the attributed meaning to any given thing will differ between people (although it will differ less if they've all been through the same acculturating (sp?) process). But there's another aspect to seeing which is related to not seeing. It's related to cognitive dissonance which is IMO the flip switch for not-seeing. So what I'm saying, is something can be there, right in front of you but you don't see it. To all intents and purposes you can't:-) I'm not going anywhere with this. Just wanted to open it up.

This is the kind of "proof" I was meaning. Thanks Leon! Aaron. I think your ideas are interesting. I think things exist, including ourselves, and then we "decide" whether we want them to or that way or not. But this decision is fiction, or rather it's made up. So in theory and in practice you could decide to want everything or not want everything. We get taught (a lot) what things to want and not want. But those are just what other people want and don't want, which when faced with our reality doesn't make any sense. Sorry, that sounded a bit weird.