Michael Sternbach

That, in somebody's view, there is something equally bad or worse happening somewhere else in the world is no argument against people trying to stop an ongoing cruelty that they particularly care about. Sure enough, there are many things that should be stopped. We all have personal reasons to care about some of them more than others - and that is a good thing.

If the spirit is immortal, why shouldn't it be possible or desirable to transfer this quality to the flesh? Think of how much you could learn if your life could be extended at least far beyond what is considered normal today. Projects could be pursued that just take more than a lifetime to complete. Soul lectures could be learned far more effectively than by starting from scratch again and again in the course of so many reincarnations. Human beings actually used to live many hundred years in lost civilizations like Lemuria and Atlantis (of course, we won't even agree on their existence, Nungali...). This is being reflected in the bible telling us about the early patriarchs reaching an age of nearly 1,000 years. And similar claims of long life spans are found in the secular literature of several ancient cultures (including the Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Indians, and Chinese). Only when humans gradually fell from their original state of cosmic harmony did their lives get shorter and shorter.

While I strongly agree with this - in fact it is reminiscent of one of the principles my granddad was teaching as an ETH professor and philosopher of science - I would emphasize that science by design is required to find proof for its assumptions and remain open to falsifying and revising the latter in light of new insights. Of course, what happens in practice is sometimes a different story - but there is at least that basic adaptability built into science, something unseen within religious systems.

Interestingly, Filipino arts (which tend to use the same movements for both armed and unarmed applications) often teach weapons first. You're right on. Developing that kind of armour penetrating 'shock wave' strike is indeed a goal in certain styles.

Hi Al, It may cheer you up that there is actually a superhero on TV called Barry Allen, better known as the Flash! - Alright, he does get his share of crap, but he's definitely no loser. But I'll be happy to call you Al if you prefer. Welcome to TDB!

Whether factually correct or not, I do find this story of one of few Alchemists who are said to have achieved physical immortality fascinating. - This being perhaps the highest achievement in the Royal Art, signifying that spirit has been translated into flesh to the highest extent. It is noteworthy that around 1970, a French who said he was St Germain and who looked quite like the count as pictured on an ancient portrait showed up in the audience of a TV talk show and demonstrated what seems to have been a transmutation of lead to gold in front of the camera. http://coolinterestingstuff.com/the-strange-mystery-of-saint-germain-the-immortal-count

No worries, that happens all the time. This is a fairly relaxed forum. Right on! There are hundreds of methods that can be summarized as qigong, and I'd regard yi jin jing as one of them anytime. Yes, there is a chance of doing exercises that aren't compatible with each other, and also of simply doing too much overall (leading to some kind of chi overtraining). But for attempting to tell if this is the case here, more would need to be known about the kind of qigong you (intend to) pursue, how much you would train in both systems, and perhaps other factors would have to be taken into account as well. Feel free to let us know more about aforesaid aspects.

I do believe that what you shared about Obama's actions is correct, and actually, I'm not very surprised. I would certainly appreciate your book recommendations. Although this topic is not one I can currently spend much time for personal research on, I do think it's important to take a look at what's happening in humanity's contemporary history. BTW, do you know this book? https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0465027261/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1490533926&sr=8-1π=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=brezinski I haven't read it, but found it quoted on Youtube: https://youtu.be/lbz9sVw4QsM Brzezinski seems to have had a strong impact on US foreign policy. Interestingly, Obama was full of praise for this man, calling him "one of our most outstanding thinkers": https://youtu.be/ASlETEx0T-I I have also read somewhere that Brzezinski was actually a mentor to Obama, but if this is true I can't say. But anyway, none of Obama's involvements makes the current government any less of a potential threat to democracy and global peace, and to assume this suggests either naivety or agreement with its imperialistic agenda to me.

In this discussion, we should consider what we mean by 'responsibility'. The way this concept is usually understood, no, the 2 years old girl clearly had no responsibility for what happened to her. Does this mean she was just victim to circumstances that she otherwise played no part in? I don't look at it that way. This is a difficult topic though. I will use another example to try to elaborate on my perspective, one that I have personally learned of. It involved a girl at elementary school age who was raped by a friend of her parents who was supposed to look after her for an night. Now her family was from a rigid orthodox Christian background, and talking about sexual things was pretty much taboo. This contributed to the girl's feelings of shame, and she never told her parents about what had happened. When she reached adulthood, she had tried to commit suicide three times. She developed the normal sexual yearnings of an adolescent, but felt very inhibited in their expression, which affected her relationships in most unfortunate ways. This obviously had much to do with the incident in her childhood, but it was my conclusion as a counsellor that she had also absorbed negative beliefs about sexuality from her parents (beliefs that had been reinforced by what happened to her). With all compassion for her conflicted psyche, I did not regard her being born into such an environment in the first place as coincidental. The repressive beliefs that came with it had become her own, and in all likelihood already had been hers in past incarnations, and I felt it was for a reason that she had to work with them in this painful manner in her present life. So did the man that her parents had entrusted her to, who was part of the enactment of this drama. And it is hardly coincidental that he later died of cancer slowly and painfully. I do believe that we accept/create all our experiences on some level in order to work out certain issues, even over many lifetimes, as they are necessary contributions to the evolution of our souls and all of creation.

If all people were satisfied simply focussing on such things, there would be little need for political systems.

Alright then - perhaps as one of few intelligent and scientifically minded researchers into the topic you should publish what you have found, also providing your exact sources. Saving me from sorting out possibly valid tidbits of info from issues of The Nationalist or Sieg und Heil, which I am absolutely not ready to do. Please apply the same kind of thoroughness then to an analysis of what may be happening under the current administration. For on some hidden level, the left wingers and the right wingers may be pursuing rather similar agendas after all.

I recommend the following technique for resolving traumas: Think of your past, present, and future as lying on a time line. Float high above the present moment, then travel back to a moment just a bit before the trauma occurred. Look at it from your elevated position as not to get too emotionally involved. Understand what lesson there was for you in the experience - for physical reality is an educational system for your evolving soul. Perhaps send healing energy into the situation. As you come back to the present moment and land in it, you will usually find that the trauma and its negative effects (fears, anger etc) have been greatly relieved.

This brings to mind a story from the great physicist Theodor Kaluza who, as a schoolboy, was supposed to join a swimming event. As he had never been taught how to swim, he got himself a book that described the technique. He studied it attentively, then on the following day he went into the water and - swam!

At last my Chinese animal! Yay!!!

Dogon

And where have you got all this information from?

Coyote

If that is your most sophisticated reply to what I've said... I'm so not impressed. But it's typical of a certain kind of conspiration theorist. Not that I'm categorically anti conspiration theories. Some of them makes sense... Among loads of pure speculation (read: unevidenced crap). It's too bad that all these theories are mostly supported by right extremists. Which, in the public's eye, takes so much credibility away even from the actually founded stuff. <shrug>

Yes, exactly. The sage becomes a channel for the force that they have been united with (wu wei). Enlightenment is nothing if it isn't being expressed in one's life.

Trump shows a lack of respect for the Congress and the federal courts. He also constantly disparages the press. American citizens should be - and, fortunately, are indeed - aware of attempts at undermining democracy and replacing it by dictatorship.

Then how come so many 'enlightened' or self-realized individuals are or become prolific writers and speakers? In some cases using other art forms too - like painting or music. Spiritual realization by itself isn't the highest achievement. Manifesting it in the world is. Thus transcending the dualism of 'above' and 'below'. As the Emerald Tablet says: "Its power is entire if it be converted into earth."

Truth is one, yet it has many aspects. No particular statement is absolutely true, only in a certain context. Seeming contradictions are in fact often complementing each other. To see them as such is a matter of holistic perception.

The Tài Xuán Jīng - although little known - is as interesting as the Yijing. Its tetragrams are based on three raised to the fourth power, whereas the hexagrams of the Yijing are based on four raised to the third power (at least that's one way to look at it). The underlying divinatory mechanism however seems to be the same.

Trump is a greather threat to democracy than Obama was.

That's why we like to hide. BTW, Lois... Your English has improved.