TheSongsofDistantEarth

:lol: :lol:

Unbelievable. Do I sense a realized Buddha here? I'm thinking "yes". A very special being. Very special. And so misunderstood.

So the Buddha's have an 'exclusive club' in relative reality, so to speak. And your Buddha brothers are at the 'top' of that club, sorta like stadium boxes, looking down on all other lesser Buddhas, followed then by Christ, Brahman, etc. Man, I need to join that club. It's like "Turbo Buddhism", you know what I mean? Like it's the varsity, and every non-Buddha is definitely junior varsity. I want in that club!!!

So the Buddha's ultimate reality is different then from everything else? All the Buddhists end up at the end of time in a different space/time? Man, you did drink the Kool Aid...

Just your way of reinforcing the ego and feeling "special".

Well, this event really shines a light on the hard fact that corporations exist to make profits. Period. Social responsibility and moral behavior is only for show in order to keep business going to increase profits. So many of the so called tea party people are mad at the government entities, but they seem to not get that big business is the evil cancer that is raping our civilization. Interesting that the GOP still defends big business. Perhaps some Americans are slightly waking up to the realization that corporate culture has no regard for them, only themselves and their shareholders. This is actually built in to the actual structure and definition of a corporation, they disregard all Life in their quest for increased quarterly profits. And yet, they are awarded the legal definition of personhood. They are anti-Life. And that's why the Gulf Oil Spill Spew is unfolding as it is.

Joeblast, I wish I were as absolutely airtight, cocksure and confident in my worldview as you seem to be. Amazing! It's probably good that you apparently don't see the point of discussion in this thread any more, I'm sure you have much bigger fish to fry in much more important ponds! You seem like an important guy on your way to big things!! We shouldn't stand in your way!!

Well, I have three more weeks of the IV antibiotics, then two years of 'suppressive' antibiotic therapy. I may opt out of the antibiotics sometime during that two year period. The problem is, if I am not successful, the consequences are devastating and a good outcome is in doubt. They remove the artificial knee joint for several months while an antibiotic 'spacer' is put in place for 2 to 3 months and I am bombarded with antibiotics. Then, if it looks clear, they try replacing the joint again and I get immense amounts of antibiotics for months. Even if that is successful, the result is likely less than optimal, with often permanent pain and restriction of range of motion that also doesn't go away. If the replacement is not successful, then the whole spacer thing is started again, I stay off it for months, and start again. The nurse who comes once a week to check my IV site had a patient who went through this cycle 4 times over two and a half years, and ended up with an amputation. And another who was in a wheelchair for two years waiting for the infection to clear. Serious shit. The orthopedic surgeons don't even want to discuss these scenarios, mine just says to me now,"we're not even going to think about that right now. Let's just focus on getting it out of you this first time". Good advice. So, yeah, it's a very big deal, and I'm doing everything possible to become healthy. No sugar, acupuncture soon, glutathione injections, no sugar, alkalinize my body, lymphatic massage, exercise, qi gong, supplements, and so on... so it would be a huge gamble to quit the antibiotics prematurely, and it seems like I should just work around it.

Hey you! Stumbler! Try pickin' up yer feet a little!

Are you having chest pain or angina? If so, get it checked out now, you can't afford be in denial about this one. There may be a more holistically oriented cardiologist in your city, ask around (there are several in mine). Are you talking palpitations or arrhythmia? It sounds like you are having symptoms of some sort that are worrying you. What are you concerned about? You can PM me, or better yet, try Ya Mu with your condition by PM. Again, don't be superstitious about this. Do what needs doing, find out what the situation is, then make treatment decisions. I can't emphasize this enough!!! You can figure out heart qi gong later on, after they have figured out and stabilized what's going on. IF YOU'RE HAVING CHEST PAIN OR PRESSURE, GO TO THE E.R.!

Right now I am on daily I.V. antibiotics for 6 weeks. I am taking pro-biotics, but have to deal with the unavoidable fact that I will be on suppressive antibiotics for the next two years (!). Unavoidable, unless I decide to bail 'against-medical-advice' at some point, but the consequences of doing that and being wrong are unthinkable. Interestingly, the infectious disease specialist that I am seeing discounted the idea of sugar intake having to do with anything in clearing an infection, indeed, even said that nothing nutritional would affect the outcome, it's only the antibiotic. And also pooh-poohed pro-biotics. The blinders some of these smart people have on! They have no concept of health, only the presence or absence of disease. A truly healthy person is able to eradicate the infections before they become a problem. (I'm pretty sure my knee infection came from a temporary crown that I had procrastinated on going to the periodontist for). I have decided to avoid all sweets, but if there are small amounts of sugar in something, I'll consider it on an individual basis. Small amounts of fruit juices I think I will occasionally consume too.

My experiences are not anecdotal, I have extensive experience in the medical field. I think that if I were in a serious emergency situation, I would want to have an excellent tertiary care hospital e.r. to go to, sure. And not some rinky dink suburban or rural e.r. But I can also tell you stories of wasteful and expensive over treatment in academic hospitals, and really shitty, uncaring medicine at places like Mayo. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about on this.

No answer, Joeblast? OK, I win this argument, then. USA does not have the best healthcare, not by a loong shot. There is also the very real and large problem of over-treatment, and iatrogenic disease. I have seen many an emergency medicine doc order CT scans like it's a magic window to make a diagnosis in every case, because they want to 'CYA", are lazy, are not really trained in good medical diagnostics or are overwhelmed. It's easier just to get a CT scan on most everyone. They are not benign. In adition to creating logjams, clogging the system and adding immense cost, they also cause cancer...even more so than previously thought. So just because we have fancy machines and tests, does not equal better healthcare!!!

Weak, Joeblast, very weak. I expected some argument with some substance from you. And which "W.H.O. factors" are you referring to? You usually pile on loads of stats and data in your posts, can you provide some? Here's some stats for you. Hey, I know it's not fair because we're out of your zone of comfort of the climate change debate. Or you could start here.

Blasto, I be a fan of you!

Really? Explain your position on this, please.

Hey, I re-read this book about every 5 years. It's been longer than that this time, though. This book never fails to bring me so fully into his world that I begin to experience my mind become colored by the book, and my thoughts and perceptions are informed by the writing... it feels as though my life is somehow framed inside the mind and writing of Phaedrus/Pirsig. A really delicious feeling! I also particularly enjoy the part where Phaedrus argues for what would happen if a school had no grades. By the way, for more insight, there is a Guidebook to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance that is quite good and further fleshes out the reading experience.

Wow. Well, I am hoping to to still be able to eat fruit, but will cut it out if I must. I need to eradicate a bacterial infection from a joint completely, and it must stay away once I stop the antibiotics. Very high stakes if it remains or comes back. I'll do what it takes.

I agree Durkhrod, my good man. I just love John Blofeld. He experienced Mystical Taoist and Buddhist China as it was vanishing. I find his earlier autobiography, 'The Wheel of Life' an excellent read, and I reread it every so often to re-visit that amazing world he lived in.

Oh, man.

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This thing is a Biblical event that looks like it has killed the Gulf of Mexico, and we won't see it return to normal during our lifetimes. An emblematic catastrophe that further exposes the Corporate Culture that is shamelessly raping our resources and people all the while telling us how 'Green and Environmentally Conscious' they are. When will the people wake up and regulate our out of control business mentality that supposedly trickles the wealth downhill to all?

Dude!! You sound exactly like the Buddha before his awakening!!! Ever thought of sitting under a bodhi tree and not getting up until you achieve your goals? Check you out some Dzogchen man, and forget the energetic development--that's a false path!!

More Pie, I hate to break this to you, but you are not capable of a mature, healthy adult relationship if you are consciously concealing information from your mate. Withholding information that you know she would actually be interested in actually binds your own energy flow much in the same way that lying does. When she finds out some day down the line that you had a vasectomy, she will feel betrayed. In my relationships I don't keep secrets like this, it is liberating and empowering to have a mate with whom you share everything and don't intentionally hide something. Yes, and it is dishonest. If you don't think so, it's no wonder you're a loner. You apparently don't have any idea how to relate in a healthy way. You seem like someone who has been burned and damaged by some relationship, and now you've hardened into this selfish view of relationships. Also sorry to inform you that a transcendent or realized being does have to do with morality and not harming others. It's just "truly a measure of energetic development"?? Man, where do you get these screwy ideas? Perhaps the Magus of Java can indeed send energy and set paper aflame by just pointing his finger, but these are just parlor tricks. Does he get angry or revengeful? Does he lose his equanimity if someone laughs at him and then punishes them with his 'magic'? Is he desirous of money and power, or beds his female disciples? But I can see you're set in stone about all this, so I'm done trying to convince you. Good luck with your desires for energetic powers.