Michael Sternbach

Racism - by any common definition - is far from being neutral. It is clearly ideologically tainted. A few quotes from the respective Wikipedia article may serve to illustrate. Here you have it. So while attempts to use racial or ethnic stereotypes in a "neutral" manner may not be considered racism by every definition of the term, the reverse doesn't hold true - "racism" does invariably refer to "consciously malignant forms of discrimination." It is such an insane way of thinking and behaviour. So much for the word that you are using and defending. I don't neglect that there are general physical differences between different ethnic groups, some of which you mention in your previous post (even though we'd have to talk about "beauty" - it's true that it lies in the eye of the beholder). Yes, there are some psychological traits as well that can be seen as fairly characteristic of a certain population - even though geographical and socio-cultural influences may play a much bigger part here than genetics. Is it by chance that the bus driver who took me to the city earlier today while keeping all the passengers entertained with his jokes and conveniently dropping them off at unofficial stops is Italian? Probably not! Do all Italians share his sunny nature? It's safe to say, no. What I would like to highlight from the Wikipedia quote above is that "stereotyping necessarily subordinates individual identity to group identity." While Tao and Zen teach us to let go of bias and see individuals and things in their unique suchness.

I feel the same way. The part that bothers me most is the "-ism".

It's true, however, that the constellations pre-date the signs, for all we know. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_star_catalogues#Zodiacal_constellations But the question remains: Which part is to be seen as the colours, which one as the labels? Also, there could be two different spectra at once (on two different frequency bands), coinciding only every 26'000 years; which one you would astrologically perceive nowadays depends on what you are "tuned into." I'm not suggesting that all the Indian astrologers got it wrong - their system seems to work for them. All I can say with certainty is that the tropical zodiac surely works well for me - as well as for most other Western astrologers. I have never heard of such an ephemeris before. Already the "father" of Western astrology, Ptolemy, was clearly opting for the Tropical zodiac, and so were all his successors. If you introduce a correction to account for precession (ayanamsa in Vedic astrology), you are no longer using Tropical. (Possibly what you saw was an addition for the sake of Vedic-style practitioner?) Not so. A few months ago, I was participating in a long thread about this topic on the astrology forum Skyscript. It became clear that South-American and Australian astrologers are generally quite satisfied with the Tropical zodiac the way we know it. It seems to be valid for the whole globe. My personal thought is that the equinoxes and solstices are really the pivots the zodiac hinges on, no matter which seasons they are marking. Compare this with the wheel of the houses. Most modern astrologers see the latter as reflecting the zodiac on yet another level. The ASC or 1st house cusp along with the DESC (7th house cusp) mark the line between what is above the horizon and therefore visible, and what is below and invisible, right? The upper and the lower hemisphere are also called diurnal and nocturnal, respectively (depending on where the Sun is, a chart will be considered either diurnal or nocturnal). To me, this is analogous (in principle) to the Sun being either in the zodiacal half in which day prevails (on the Northern hemisphere,that's Aries to Virgo, including) or night prevails (Libra to Pisces, including). But notice that, e.g., the houses 1-6 are constituting the nocturnal hemisphere, whereas their corresponding signs - Aries to Virgo - belong to the zodiacal half in which day is prevalent! (That is, only on the Northern hemisphere!) The way I read all this: The equinoxes/solstices and the analogous angles (ASC-DESC/IC-MC axis), respectively, are the basic markers for the two wheels - notwithstanding in which direction things are moving. In any case, the relationship between the Earth and the Sun as expressed in his annual and diurnal motions is what astrology is based on, in most fundamental terms. Do you happen to have a reference for Regulus as the beginning of the zodiac? I remember once suggesting something similar or identical to Sidereal astrologers (just as a Gedankenexperiment) - and they were not happy with it at all! - By the way, there is also a Sidereal zodiac setting 0° Sagittarius at the Galactic Centre, besides other ideas, In still older Babylonian astrology, Libra was known as both "the scales" and "the claws of Scorpio" as far as I was able to ascertain from Internet sources. Astrology's framework is an expression of sacred geometry, in my understanding. Astrologers (Western or else) using the irregular constellations as background to the planets etc are rare and far between. I'm not saying that it cannot possibly give meaningful results, but it presupposes an context quite different from what is generally known as astrology. Not sure what you are talking about here...

I have heard that long practice of Taiji leads to a permanent state similar to the one induced by LSD, but of course without undesired effects. I agree that cultivation may take the place of drug consumption (including alcohol and tobacco, they are drugs, too) as I have heard of and observed cases where folks switched from one to the other. It may be the only feasible alternative for an addictive personality type.

What is eastern and western culture? There are many different cultures in both of these generalized parts of the world. And there are even many more individual outlooks. It occasionally happens that I resonate more strongly with something or someone from the other vertical hemisphere than with something from my own cultural background. There is but one metaphysical reality that we all are trying to approach in our unique ways. Either something holds true or it doesn't. I like to compare and interweave all kinds of different views, as to get clearer about my own. I do feel that my soul is intimately connected with so many places and times in human history. One indication might be that I am a Swiss who married a Japanese at age 20; and I was interested in Asian philosophy and martial arts long before that. When I was very little, I asked my mum to make a samurai costume I had seen in a book for a big teddy I owned - as close as it got (it got quite close - the bear looked really cool with his multiple-layered uniform and the two swords). Bear in mind that cultures have always been strongly exchanging and intermingling their contents. The Chinese zodiac shares a common origin with the western zodiac according to scholarly research. Likewise for Alchemy. There are many more examples, to be sure. It should be evident that once again we are at a stage when knowledge and wisdom from all times, places and fields blends and gives birth to more complete perspectives (Yin and Yang getting together, resulting in new synthesis). Hope I didn't take any money out of the pot by my comments.

Marblehead, Maybe our views are complementary? (You know, Yin and Yang...) Your question I can't answer in a straightforward manner; there is more than one Freiburg relatively nearby. Well, that's how an American would look at it, anyways! I'll PM you on this shortly as I don't want to derail this thread.

Trying to touch base.

On you.

Yep. That's why there are those neat metaphysical systems helping us to touch base.

The division into Yin and Yang is breaking the world of change down to its most basic principles, not unlike like the binary code computers are using. Then there is a greater Yin (the black "fish") and a lesser Yin (the black "fish eye"); vice versa for the Yang. Then there are all kinds of combinations of these forces as can be seen in the I-ching. Then there are "the ten-thousand things" - the manifest Universe.

You might as well be dead.

It's not quite correct to say that the stars have nothing to do with astrology. This is a somewhat complex topic, though. In brief: The zodiac basically coincides with the ecliptic (the annual course of the Sun). The 12-fold division was likely inspired by the Moon forming twelve conjunctions (new moons) in most years - hence the time periods we call months. The year started with the vernal equinox which was set at 0° Aries in Hellenistic astrology. The constellations that were roughly congruent with the signs were used for marking and naming them. At that time there wasn't really any difference between the tropical zodiac based on the seasons and the sidereal zodiac based on the constellations. Due to precession, the constellations were increasingly offset over time. This is when two schools of thinking developed: One of them saw the seasonal division as authoritative; this is what most (but not all) western astrologers use as their foundation up to the present day, and insofar the quote above got it right. The other school was clinging to the sidereal zodiac; in line with this, e.g. what once was an Aries Sun would most often be a Pisces Sun today. This is what Indian astrology is based on - even though not all Indian/Vedic astrologers agree on how big exactly this offset should be. To make things more complicated, the constellations (unlike the signs, tropical or sidereal) are not dividing the ecliptic into neat 30° segments. Some of them are considerably longer or shorter; there are overlaps as well as gaps; the constellation Ophiuchus has one of his feet on the zodiac; etc. So only very few astrologers have ever been using the constellational zodiac as such. However, individual fixed stars were indeed an important consideration in classical astrology, and some modern astrologers are using them as well. I, for one, do consider them in any in-depth delineation; they are very significant especially when they are forming conjunctions with planets and Angles. This makes sense because astrology has the Hermetic axiom "as above, so below" at its core, so everything "up there" in the sky potentially has meaning "down here" on Earth.

A "must read" for hermeticists: Frances A. Yates: Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition Yates was not (officially) an occultist but a historian. Nevertheless, this is an excellent introduction to the Hermetic Universe, imo. Besides Bruno, Yates also talks about Hermes, Dionysius the Aeropagite, Ficino, Mirandola, Agrippa, Campanella and others. All of her other books are very informative and intriguing to read, too, i.e. The Rosicrucian Enlightenment.

This is a really good explanation of Wu Wei, I'd say...

I'm not sure what you are referring to, as there are a number of Stones. Do you mean the Vegetable Stone? The White Stone? Or are you thinking of The Three Medicines according to Geber?

I always carry my lightsaber with me.

I recall that Joseph Needham mentions remarkable parallels between alchemy in Hellenistic Egypt and China somewhere in his "Science and Civilisation in Ancient China" series. Alas, I can't look it up at present. Rare indeed. But surely, the most perfect teacher abides inside you. Rare that you see steps beyond finding the Philosopher's Stone mentioned at all. With very few exceptions, it's considered to be the highest attainment already.

First off, The Secret of the Golden Flower is a well reputed classical text of Neigong studied by C. G. Jung and other great researchers of consciousness. It is a method for performing the Great Circulation and resembles in some ways Japanese zazen (sitting meditation) which could indeed be seen as a simplified version of the latter. Well, that surely doesn't sound like a bad going to me, especially for the first try! Don't force anything. The sphere vision sounds really interesting, though. If you just let your awareness gently hover in the vicinity of the center, you will get there over time, I think, and without potentially damaging yourself. Impatience is among the greatest obstacles in internal and external alchemy. It spoils the work. May joy be yours, too! Michael

Hi 4bsolute, Like every so often, there are indeed no absolutes in this question. But personally, I find it worth-wile to consider various outlooks. With this in mind, I can recommend this article which is treating the western tradition of cheiromancy from the astrological/elemental perspective in some depth. http://www.skyscript.co.uk/cheiromancy.html You may also want to take a look at a conversation I had with a Chinese lady not long ago about how the elements in the western tradition relate to the Chinese model especially regarding astrology. . http://skyscript.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=90736#90736 Best, Michael

Interesting... I never before heard of Yang stylists doing weight training unless they were practising some external style as well. I'm not sure about Xingyi.

Hi Vitalii, this looks interesting. Are you holding those kettlebells in statical positions and postures or are you moving with them? No vids?

Dwai, thanks for your elaborate reply. Very interesting what you are saying here. I think the question of physical strength is a pretty complex one. To many people in the internal martial arts, it seems to imply stiffness and inflexibility. Yes, there are bulked up folks like that. As much as there are many artistic gymnastics etc. well trained strenght-wise but as flexible as a rubber. The question generally lies more in the functionality of your muscle mass relative to the desired physical activity and how you are able to apply this functional strength - if you can do so relaxedly and with the proper body coordination. For that matter, I think internal martial arts strongly rely on body mechanics, and this is physical/physics. Some internal practitioners say that the strength they're using comes not from the muscles but from the sinews. I do think this has a meaning even though it's somewhat unintelligible to me right now, anatomically speaking. I see, learning by doing. I agree that ultimately it's the only way to go. It's a typically Asian approach to teaching, btw; "simply try to follow what I show you", not too many words made. I guess I simply like to know where I'm going so that I can choose my way more consciously. Still wondering though if somebody other than the Montaigue school explains these things in technical detail - while there is no doubt that the ability to perform them properly is a result of years of training. Cheers, Michael

Marblehead, I agree that you don't have to do physical strength training necessarily if all you want to get out of your Taiji training is flexibility and body/mind coordination. Many practitioners are not even aware of the "martial" in this martial art, or don't care about it. Personally, I would feel that I'm missing out something essential. But all of that is another story, really. I was doing Aikido for a number of years. As most of you may know, this is a Japanese internal art. It actually has some similarities with Bagua. A lot of the art is based on proper application of physics and yes, Ki but some degree of muscular strength is of advantage, nonetheless.

Hi Dwai, In that book there are some interesting explanations of basic principles of the various kinds of power explained as well as some probably useful preparatory exercises. I didn't find anything detailed as for practical techniques, however. Does anybody reading this know a practically useful explanation of the vibrating palm, for instance? U c, what I like about Erle Montaigue is that he was actually precisely demonstrating a lot of techniques. None of this "we will only teach you our real secrets once you have been washing the toilet and standing in the horse stance three hours a day for ten years and thus shown your loyalty to us" kind of stuff.

The main problem with Aikido in this regard being the typical posture with the front foot turned out, especially when practising irmi-tenkan, imo. If you have to go really easy on some of your joints, you may want to use isometrics (no, no, DON'T confuse with plyometrics - jumping squats and stuff like that! Would probably mostly benefit your surgeon).