Michael Sternbach

Why do you think Zen is not non-dualist?

Agreed. While the IMA are potentially extremely effective for self-defence (proper instruction in this respect provided), they are also fantastic qigong practices in their own right.

No, Bagua Zhang is a martial art, whereas Feng Shui has to do with architecture and interior design. What they have in common is that the famous arrangement of eight trigrams (also called Bagua) from the Yijing is central to both of them. I think that this is why you mixed them up.

Yes, it's entirely possible, if those ideas you read or hear are the information you need at your current stage and therefore fall on fertile ground. You also mention self-enquiry. This is key to spiritual awakening (sadly neglected by many).

Please note that I said a Buddhist might deny the existence of the river, not stating this as a general truth. The river being a metaphor for the self, obviously. I said what I said based on discussions I had with various Buddhists (especially during my years of Zen practice). Some of which were indeed of the opinion that the self is a mere illusion (mostly because it may not be permanent). If there is a misunderstanding, it's not so much about Buddhism, but in Buddhism.

Talking about Gurjieff... It's conceivable that what one thinks of as "blindly following advice", another one would look at as "trying and critically evaluating various things" (and I am paraphrasing here). I am not familiar with all of Gurjieff's work, but I know that he inspired a lot of esoteric thinkers, some of whom I hold in high regard. There will always be those taking pleasure in debunking any great teacher, essentially based on the fact that they were human too and accordingly had some weaknesses. As if that would automatically invalidate all the good stuff they were practicing and teaching! BTW, for that matter, I think Ouspensky had his moments too. What it boils down to for me is that it's important to let neither yay sayers nor nay sayers gull you, but to indeed always try and evaluate for yourself.

I was expecting this kind of answer. But frankly, I consider this splitting hairs. Err, splitting rivers... Seriously, I think it's obvious that the river is the result of the interplay of various factors, some more fundamental and permanent, others more accidental and changeable. But that's not the same as denying that the river exists in the first place (as a Buddhist might). I would even go as far as saying that there is a transcendent idea underlying the river. As there is also a transcendent idea underlying Marblebed. Err, Marblehead.

The following is a Kirlian photo of an American chakra.

What about the riverbed? Isn't it part of the river too? Arguably, it is even its fundamental part. The water that is variably flowing through it being secondary to it as its content.

Evolving from a plant to a Neanderthal actually sounds like progress to me. Even more so since the Neanderthal had a bigger brain than the homo sapiens. What's arguably in need of improvement is your understanding of evolutionary biology, however.

Funny. The only thing I saw change about you since I joined TDB was your avatar (which turned from a flower into an ape).

I have some knowledge regarding the teachings of Crowley and Blavatsky (but mostly of Alice A. Bailey, as far as Theosophy goes). And yes, I am quite willing to share my knowledge, when somebody has a specific question.

Nungali and me (with friends) having a discussion about Aleister Crowley.

Having studied both hard styles (Kyokushinkai, Shotokan) and soft styles (Aikido, Taiji), I am of the opinion that the Chinese internal martial arts are structurally sound in regards to human anatomy and physiology. In fact, they are more sophisticated and potentially more effective than the hard styles. However, the thing is that their practitioners are generally more interested in meditative and health aspects, and the training revolves around that. Sure enough, there are exceptions... In the following video, you can watch a group of Chen style Taiji practitioners doing rather well against a team of Kyokushinkai dudes. A lot of people in the martial arts don't appreciate the kind of sophistication offered by the IMMA, which takes so much patience and attention to detail to master. Especially the 'brawlers' prefer Full-contact Karate, Muay Thai, boxing etc. - styles that emphasize fighting over 'cultivation' and lead to relatively quick results in regards to the former, especially if you are the naturally athletic type. (For the record, I am now a practitioner of Kenpo Karate, which you might call a hard-soft style and actually is more of a concept than a rigorously defined system, so it leaves me plenty of room to incorporate pretty much all of my earlier martial arts background, including both 'hard' and 'soft' training methods and techniques.) I beg your pardon? Who suggested you were supposed to turn yourself into a trigram? Bear in mind that there is some kind of conceptual framework at the base of every martial art, and in the case of Bagua, it is provided by an adaptation of the eight trigrams of the Yijing and a reception of its philosophy in general. Personally, I find this idea quite fascinating. If it is not your thing: Nobody forces you to practice Bagua. To each their own! Some degree of suffering is inevitable sometimes when pushing your previous limits. However, a whirlwind doesn't last very long, and what really matters in the long run is steady, persistent practice. I recommend doing it daily, even if - on some occasions - you may only have 20 minutes or so to spare. Traditionally, a form used to be pretty much a style of its own. Or you could say that a style may have revolved around a single form (or a few forms at the most). Today, martial artists (especially newbies) are often surprised to hear that in the old days, years were spent to study just a single form, and e.g. a Karate master would usually only know a few of them. But the reason was not that those guys were much more fussy regarding the perfect execution of a form at the time; rather, they kept relentlessly practicing a multitude of applications which any good form offers and that modern practitioners in many cases still don't even have an inkling of. In many styles, the modern tendency is still to learn as many forms as possible, with little in-depth understanding of any. Although, fortunately, awareness of the real significance of forms has dramatically increased since my early Karate days. I am not sure what you mean by 'wafty'? Most practitioners are quite satisfied having a kind of practice conducive to their well-being. If your goals happen to be different, there will still be plenty of avenues open to you to pursue them. In fact, those avenues will be easier to locate nowadays due to the wide dissemination and accessability of information. A question that only you can answer... For yourself! Well, to excel in any martial art (including hard styles, for that matter) requires you to give a lot of effort. That has never changed. What you give is what you get. And yes, that holds true for life in general.

Greek magic tradition must have been rather influential. As far as the book's general philosophical framework goes, this is informed by Hermetism and neo-Platonism. The decan system it employs is of Egyptian origin. It's a magical potpourri, really...

I would invite them to work with me! Based on mutual resonance, you should have no shortage of reliable spiritual helpers.

"Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."

I don't see how this could have been "your heart chakra opening". However, I don't consider it coincidental that you have witnessed the phenomenon. Possibly it was there to induce some kind of change in your subtle body? Yes, it may have been simply a ball lightning. But I think that the joy you felt when you were looking at it suggests otherwise.

That may be an adequate comparison if all you take into consideration is God as Creator. However, bear in mind that in Christian metaphysics (and indeed in some other systems as well), God is seen as a Trinity. Thus, "he" includes mediating and receptive aspects as well.

It may have been a non-physical UFO.

The phenomenon may may have been due to an interdimensional opening.

I am glad that you like the Tarot subforum so much. For it was created on my request. It's true that I haven't contributed to it for quite awhile. The reason being - in part - that I co-founded a forum specialized on Tarot and Oracles about a year ago. https://eclectic.jomay.com/ You and any other Bums that may be interested are very welcome to join. In that case, feel free to drop me a message, so Admin can welcome you adequately. That said, the "Tarot Bums" subforum is unique due to the context provided by a number of TDB veterans with their respective areas of expertise. Seeing some activity here occasionally would indeed be very desirable. Anybody reading this... Please take this as an invitation to start or contribute to a topic here.

Dao can be called God in my book, but by the same token, God can be called Dao.

Not in its entirety. Not exactly. But I am very comfortable with the Hermetic philosophy it breathes. Another very important book along those lines (strongly inspired by the Picatrix) is Agrippa's Occult Philosophy. It has a subforum of its own here in the esoteric section. A study group was started once. Alas, the endeavour didn't continue very long.