Nungali

I do this a few times when I am mindful ... I was , the other day, with new friend (who is just getting used to me ) : " Wait ! Stop ! ...... Do you feel that ? " " What ? " " This moment ... this moment of stillness ; here we are in this amazing place amidst the beauty of nature , in a peaceful country , beautiful day , nice weather, no natural disasters assailing us , no one arguing or yelling , we are not sick or in any bad pain , we are not hungry .... etc etc . if we just sit here , together in this stillness and peace and joy , and concentrate on that , it makes it 'last' a lot longer . " All it takes is a bit of rain to fall on the cabin roof at night ; thank goodness I have a roof over my head . I suppose experiencing the opposite helps ; once I was out in the bush camping , cut off and alone due to floods , had food poisoning ( because I ran out of food and got very hungry and ate something I should not have ) , virtually delirious , had to leave all my camping gear including tent and sleeping bag behind as I was too weak to get it across the flooded creek and up out the valley I was in . Took another three days to get home . Home is good . Also working in a hospital , with refugee relocation , amnesty international and with ex torture victims ..... MY GOD there is a LOT of shit going on 'out there' for people . Bugglebear ... thankyou , for looking after me and thank you to what ever , however maybe even who ever , that I somehow ended up the way I have . I ran into an old acquaintance yesterday , he is looking at homelessness , as more and more people are around here ; ( wealthy moving into country towns , buying up and making Airb&b or using them for holidays and leaving them empty for the rest of the year , meanwhile local workers and service people and nurses and many other important people cant afford the 'new ' rents . Combine that with an influx of people from flood and fire displacements ... ) and he was " I cant believe I have been so stupid so as to let my life turn out such a mess ." He , like so many others , had the possible chance , like I did , to secure land and habitat , and he 'blew it ; yes, by being stupid . Even my Indian dentist was saying to me the other week : " I have contacted my family in India ; ' Whatever you do DO NOT sell any of our land , none of it ! In fact, try to see if you can buy some more . " When I did a crash course in law, for our supreme court 'take you house and land ' case , I had to keep going back in history to grasp the roots of it . Way back, based on English law ... it all started with issues ( and associated 'power' ) related to land ownership .

... and you might notice ; " Through these non-Jewish associations with magic, alchemy and divination, Kabbalah acquired some popular occult connotations forbidden within Judaism, where Jewish theurgic Practical Kabbalah was a minor, permitted tradition restricted for a few elite. " So you should not have any traditional Jews approving of it with such a distinction , let alone post on an internet forum about it . That would be like me posting confidential 'initiation information' from my indigenous teacher ... yikes ! And just the other day a friend ( a woman , who has a women's tradition indigenous teacher - here those traditions are separate ; ' Women's business' / Men's business ) told me that their ( the group's ) teacher scolded them ; " I see ANY of this on facebook or social media ...... I'll come after ya ! " I could do without that . So really it be mostly hermetic ... unless you made a sub forum split between traditional Jewish ( probably no valid posts ) and Hermetic , probably lots of posts . Anyway , under this clarity I think you can see the esoteric and occult forum already has a space for it : " Esoteric and Occult Traditions: Western Mysticism and Magic, such as Hermeticism, Qabalah, Rosicrucianism, Ceremonial Magic, Occultism and more ."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah#Jewish_and_non-Jewish_Kabbalah

So, you include GD type kabbalah as within Abrahamic tradition ? At least one person here does not ... well, they seemed to agree at first, then got confused then accused it of some type of 'cultural theft ' , not original etc etc . Which of course, I communicated at the beginning, which they seemed to understand, but then didnt later . I dont see why things like kabbalah , 'magic stuff' from any tradition ... or esoteric stuff from any tradition cannot go in esoteric forum - all that would have to be done would to be to remove the 'western' part of the description ... then again , is 'Abrahamic' western ? ( Just in case any newcomers do not realise , Donald and I often DO NOT and have NOT in the past seen 'eye to eye ' on many subjects . However, that has nothing to do with his valid and relevant observations and 'direction pointing ' he often makes . For example , I will paraphrase someone he is not that fond of , but I think it might be relevant to what he proposes his contribution in this area might be ; 'The only real sin is to deliberately ignore information presented to you , that you know is or feel might be true but you ignore it because it does not pander to your own prejudices . '

Spam eh ? Propaganda ? In case anyone has never noticed ..... some people 'spam' , I mean question ... dissect, point out discrepancies about Daoism itself on this daoist forum ! Also in defence of Donald, his angle is historically factual .... if one cares to follow up what he writes, study the references and drop one's 'self loaded prejudices' . And I dont think anyone has sufficient value here to call him out like that , unless you have actually done the research he points towards . But hey, whatever ... as long as we all maintain smiley faces and accept everyone and everything .... la la la well, except me and Donald of course

Traditional or hermetic ?

The best way to get good karma is to do conscious acts of love support and assistance ... with absolutely no conception on any level of getting anything good , rewards or appreciation back for it . Good luck with that one !

nah ... dont think a beehive is the meaning of life , unless you a ' be a bee ' . Some might think 'behave' is the meaning ... but not me

yes. before I answer you question I need to know what you mean by ' meaning ' ? It just ..... IS . Enjoy Why are you here ? Well, where else you going to be ? if you mean 'purpose' what is our purpose in being here , my answer is to be the ears eyes and body of ' the Gods', to experience , for them, the material world and all its lessons and potential for development and advancement . And primarily , the purpose of it all , in Zoroastrianism , even all the religious prescriptions and desired actions and realisations , is to .... have a good life Think about that for a moment .... not to 'fear God' not to 'alleviate suffering by never being born again , not to serve , not to proselytize but .... to have a good life . But I get your point ... I remeber as a kid sitting through all that school and " What the hell am I doing here ? "

" by a bird " ??? Ohhhh kakapo , I see . You should come down here ... I mean its all part of life's experience :

I got an 'offering' while writing the above ; a picture via text from my 'paramour' , a rare and never before seen ( by me ) 'fringed orchid ' . Marvellous ! Booglebear , thank you .

Look into 'Yasna' or Yajna or any religion that does similar . Of course the main thing is your attitude and any ritual is designed to focus that . Think of it like having a good Mum ; she is gonna love a real gift of love and appreciation, serious and heart felt , kid gives her a simple hand drawn picture , that might be better a huge expensive present given as some type of 'bye off' with no sentiment attached . I do anything from making some flower arrangement , food , fruit , anything, it might be on what I use for an inside altar or on a plate or flat stone in the garden . . Its a 'microcosm' of the big offering ; ie yourself .After our our ' Lovefest ' festival , I noticed one afterwards , it was at the base of a big tree , a circle of flowers and fruit, flowers and various objects inside that . Its a 'microcosm' of the big offering ; ie yourself . In my system it goes like this ; one of the primal reasons for being , in this material world , is 'we are the sight and senses' of the Gods , we are here to experience what they can not experience , even it can be the 'simple joys of life' ; they act through you and we 'send' our experience up to them . This can be one reason why , offering things to the gods , we then consume them . Any experience can be offered , like a drink of water . I have started even doing this , I really like my morning coffee , the 2nd one I have , sitting out in the garden , appreciating the beautiful nature and my part in it all . I have it sweet , and that last gulp is often the best . So I dont finish it , I give that part to 'Mother Earth ' . here I like to get a little technical ; I make a 'libation ' that is, you dont just 'chuck it ' on the ground or hoik it up to the air ( unless you a priest * ) , I pour it carefully in a slow stream to the earth . Libation In Voodoun ritual I did , the Loas each have a special thing they like and prefer to be offered . In that particular ritual , it was all about offerings and the related associated things ; eggs , maybe cigar smoke , mouth sprays of rum , even 'string of pearls' or new white lady's gloves (one of the Loas was a a white woman that helped the black people so much that 'deified her' after she died , she is now a valid Loa and 'appears in he long white dress, hat gloves and handbag , and the string of pearls she liked to wear around her neck ) . One of the biggest offerings one can make here , is to make a safe space / garden , or by the river or wherever , where children can play in joy safety and wonder ...... under the gaze of Nungli and 'Big Mom " ( Nungli was an old man set to watch and guard the women and children of the local tribe while the men went off hunting meat . He fell asleep on watch , and nasties from the west had been tracking the tribe and spying on them . When the men got back they found the women and children stolen and old Nungli asleep . He was put in the mountain to ensure he stayed there on watch. Nungli is also a huge startling rock feature that looks like an aboriginal man's face looking up the valley . So there is a LOT going on here associated with that story ) 'Feast of the Dead ' you would be familiar with , in Mexico , also All Hallows , Samhain , All Saints Day, etc . Food is offered to the departed . My lovely friend on the otherside gets occasional perfume oil or a flower in front of her picture , the other end of the shelf is Grandfather's photo - he liked to smoke, so sometimes I burn some pipe tobacco . A while back, for fun. I put some lovely good quality hash in it . I got a voice in my head saying " Oh, that's familiar ! I remember that from when I travelled through Turkey ! " Grandpa ! .... you ' old devil ' ! Then there is prasadum , you can partake of others offerings ; Hare Krishna, or Sikh temple . However you like - here is an example how they do it officially in aikido ; to the east of dojo you have 'Shomen' ( sorta means 'head ) a picture of 'ancestor' ( Ueshiba ... maybe his son , lower ), there are certain elements that should appear on the altar or near it ; the three weapons ; jo, tanto and boken , a space for some flowers , something alive , something that was alive , maybe an interesting piece of driftwood , a stone etc. and some other things , you bow to it and acknowledge before and after training . One thing I would do is cite the following, when teaching , " I see so far as I stand on the shoulders of those that came before me and taught me . " Or when initiating, at the crucial moment , imagine all your teachers piled up on top of you within your ' stream of connection to the above ' , or as some put it ..... sitting on your head . And their teacher on their head ... and so on . Certainly incense is acceptable . The same applies here ; certain 'Gods' like specific incenses and those are used to 'attract them' bring their properties into yourself . Eg 'perfume' of Mars is Tobacco , Venus is Jasmine .... and that comes from 'tables of Correspondences ' (see Agrippa ) . I would say it could be , when advanced , a crucial preliminary step in your routine . Much like any ritual should start with a banishing / balancing . If you connect with those practitioners and teachers enough ... they might even 'appear ' and teach and help train you . I remember doing a little seminar on what I thought the 'real' meaing of the moves where in one of obscure forms , I was scoffed at .... at first . Even the then instructor (who didnt know the applications himself ) was impressed . They tried and tested me but had to admit it seemed pretty valid and actually worked in a 'situation' . Instructor actually accused me of training elsewhere to get all that . Nah, not at all . I was asked how I knew then . " Well , dont you guys ever train in your imagination ( astral ) , get a partner or ancient teacher up , try stuff out with them and see if it works , or adopt what they show you ? Thats how " It went very quiet ... I got strange looks . One guy got out " No . " - Geeze ! I'll never say THAT again at training !

Hmmm ... just so that ^ doesnt get misinterpreted ... my gif isnt moving ! ... its a spanking not ....... ' anything else ' .

.. and ... accept the standard DBs punishment as well ? ;

Indeed , as you quoted : " All decisions regarding what constitutes said discussion are at moderator discretion. "

I can dig it . I'd make a terrible woman ! ... I have lack of patience , tolerance, consideration , listening .... dont want to have kids, 'acting' like colds and flu are not that bad and you can carry on regardless , etc. etc . maybe others should pray for that ? : " Dear God , thank you for not making Nungali a woman . "

Lovely title ! I affirm it is also 'psychologically potent ' . In my studies tracking religious influences , one aspect is to eliminate as much superfluous stuff as I can and distil it all down to a few simple practices anyone can undertake . There are a few main ones but 'expressing and feeling gratitude is right up there near the top . I started to come to this years back, as during one of my practices ( 'adoration' of the Sun at its four 'stations' ) the sunset aspect was 'Joy' . That mystified me for a bit , but eventually after persevering I realised what better way to end each day with realising it IS all joy .... express the joy and gratitude of having yet another day alive . Even if it was the worst day of your life , you can even have joy ... that that day is over . he lesson was re-affirmed in every way : my indigenous teacher ; " Constantly show appreciation and thanks for what you have and are being given , acknowledge ... 'Booglebear ' ; thank you / yes it is good / I am learning from the experience . And further ( more potent ) is to make offerings of appreciation and I would say , the number of times you do that is more important than making a huge big show about it , it can be very simple . Eventually , even in times trouble or despair one can be grateful the situation could not be worse , or grateful the situation is good , grateful for being alive ... or even just 'existing ' . You can be even grateful for what you DON"T have . ( like an apartment in the city and a 'good' job in an accounting firm )

.. when discussing people's concept of God .... one can end up anywhere . I think God is like sports people on trains

see 'sanity check's ' post above .

Fuuny that ... that seems exactly what the first part of CH 42 is telling us

I always use a laptop .... some days images just go sproing ! and appear , other days " and the wheel on the computer goes round and round ... round and round - which is a bummer as I am a visual communication type

Oh ... another trinity Momma Dadda Bubba

OR Your Sahu is the result of the angle of difference between Ka and Ba https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnrich.maths.org%2Fcontent%2Fid%2F6843%2FEgyptian%20DEcan.gif&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=b4eaf29285bfb607973da2dd500e598249d0282e0a0b9955ec54eeee8e07cfbc&ipo=images

I think we can start to see beyond similarities now ... all different systems have a way of seeing and working with the 'law of three'