Michael Sternbach

I am doing weight training mostly as a supplement to my martial arts training. I used to do two regular session and one session of Tabata exercises for the core weekly, but I had to ease off a little. Especially on squats. They are a great exercise but can be tough on the knee joints. Besides that, I'm a strong believer in variability. It's the best way in order to keep making progress.

While not a form of Qigong per se, Zazen employs several principles of qigong and is said to naturally open up the MCO.

Dumping a nuclear reactor in Europas ice covered ocean... Great idea! Then, when they will find "Blinky" there one day, how will they know if this is a naturally occurring species or not?!

Yeah, that's exactly why it's good for picking up bits of information while floating around it, as David says he wants to do. Welcome!

Wisdom

We should also consider the origins of our allegedly so clear-cut modern terminology. Quoted from: http://kheph777.tripod.com/art_alephbeth.html

Yes, what RT is telling is here rather sounds like a re-edition of Vedic/Hindu cosmology. There is a lot of advanced science in the vedas, in my opinion.

Now look and see Those stars for you and me Waiting like silent killers in the night Atomic legions that can never fight I've never felt I ever prayed Don't have to join in with the other slaves I'm not the only one who feels betrayed

It was a non-verbal communication. I sensed that he recognized and greeted me. As I said, I was in a crisis, but he told me that things are going to work out fine, and that I should hold on to what I came to this planet to do. I kept standing on the side-walk for quite awhile, gazing at the Sun in awe and joy. I hadn't experienced something like that before, as far as I remembered, even though it did bring back an ancient memory of sorts... Michael is the angel that belongs to the Sun in the Kabbalah. Maybe it has something to do with that.

This is a non-sequitur. It's very common that some people or other beings perceive things that others don't. That doesn't make them any less real.

You should think especially about the highlighted part of ChiForce's post though, darling.

You didn't get what I was trying to tell you then. Well, sorry, I can't help it. See the more I think about it I'm born against the grain I won't be born again I'm a square pig in a, In a round hole Maybe there's no place left for my wounded soul Maybe the king of king's finally lost control of it

The communication between two people becomes difficult when they don't have the same internal frame of reference. For instance, in a recent discussion with me on another thread, you kept insisting that stars cannot possibly process data because they don't have perception. But for you, "perception" is limited to seeing, hearing etc, while in my understanding, it includes a whole lot more, which you call delusional, while for me it's an experienced reality to the degree that I sometimes forget that it isn't so for everybody.

I'm a man on the moon I hope I don't come back too soon Am I the only one to see the light? No use in getting down on your knees tonight So I don't feel love Because I got no faith I've seen those twisted lies thrown back into my face I've heard the crazy doctrines of the human race I must be alone How could it be Your gift to me A salvo of heavy artillery It's nothing but your war You can call it what you like

Generally true for concrete things, such as coffee tables. Generally not true for subtle or abstract things, such as philosophical concepts.

I know where I'm from and it's cold and dark for all the sinners are just saints without the sparks I'm having trouble telling them apart

That's exactly because:

Because of the limitations and dilemmas that come with a rigid view of good and bad. These are only valid relatively speaking.

The belief in the existence of the soul is not lunatic or illogical as such, despite the possibility of drawing wrong conclusions from it. Further, the philosophy that the OP refers to isn't bound to the concept of the soul at all, essentially. The aim is transcending the dualism of good and evil, right and wrong, positive and negative - which is also the very heart of Daoism.

Everything is "okay" insofar everything serves a higher purpose, which might be understood as the evolution of the individual soul/humanity/Gaia/the Universe toward their Telos or omega point. A child learns how to walk not least by understanding how NOT to do it, that is by falling down again and again. The only difference is that when the "cosmic child" falls down, this can mean the death of millions of people. Nevertheless, it's okay insofar this is one of its inevitable learning experiences. Did the victims of the Holocaust "agree" to their fate? If so, then only in the sense that there was a decision made (again, inevitably in a sense, as the underlying issues needed to be worked out) on the level of their transpersonal soul, collective consciousness etc. These levels do belong to them (or they belong to these levels), as there are no real divisions in the field of consciousness, as would be recognizable from the higher POV that the sources of this philosophy stand for, but not from the POV of the personality that is nevertheless going through these horrible experiences. So even though I agree with the sources of that philosophy (ACIM, Seth, Kryon etc) in essence, I would emphasize that we must be careful not to confuse levels and misuse this knowledge as a poor excuse for destructive behaviour (either by commission or omission), based on low motives, as is sometimes seen in "New Age" circles. That said, it is indeed possible under certain circumstances to act in a manner that would seem inappropriate by ordinary standards, but which is appropriate from a holistic perspective. Only higher wisdom and intuition can differentiate between the two. We are treading a thin line here. Generally, the ones who don't need the rules are the ones who are not prone to act against them anyway.

Okay, here some funky thoughts on this. For I feel that they are still embryonic and somewhat vague. Anyways, what your question brings to mind is once again my perception of what is called Conformal Cyclic Cosmology (CCC), which I have mentioned previously on this forum, because I find its consonance with both Hinduist/Buddhist cosmology as well as Kabbalah very intriguing, even though it is formulated in the language of modern physics and mathematics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conformal_cyclic_cosmology This is a model created by the theoretical physicist Roger Penrose, one of the founders of the Big Bang theory, of which CCC is an extension. It agrees with the four stages of a kalpa in Buddhist theory: First quarter - time taken for this world to form. Second quarter - stable duration of this world where all living beings can thrive. Third quarter - time taken for this world to be destroyed. Fourth quarter - empty time period. During the third stage (which takes up an unimaginable number of years) all the matter in the Universe is broken down to pure light. In a Universe that contains nothing but light, spacetime as we know it ceases to exist and turns into a "spacelike and timelike infinity". This is strongly reminiscent of Kabbalah's En-Soph-Aur, God's Infinite and Eternal Light. Paradoxically, this state coincides with the timeless and spaceless Singularity of another Big Bang. In this way, in Penrose's theory, one Universe is succeeded by another, exactly like in the Hinduist/Buddhist understanding, with the peculiarity that the fourth stage of a kalpa or (in the vocabulary of CCC) Aeon is both infinitely long and short. A paradox worthy of a Zen master, to be sure. My personal view is that the new Universe is somehow born from the interplay of infinite extension and infinite contraction, but I couldn't formulate this idea more precisely so far. What makes your mention of the Kabbalistic three mother letters so interesting is that they represent the cosmic functions of expansive fire (shin), contractive water (mem), and the air (aleph) that mediates between, or is the result of these polar forces. Whereby I happily pass the ball back to you.

I'm not quite sure if the apple originated in Switzerland, but it definitely plays a significant role in Swiss folklore. Wilhelm Tell and his brave son: The apple Bill was forced to shoot from junior's head: The story is said to have been a milestone in the formation of the Swiss confederation.

Is that what your psychiatrist convinced you of?

I believe I already said that stars do have perception, just not in a way you that makes sense to you. No, there was no voice, it was a non-verbal communication. But trying to explain this to somebody who hasn't experienced it themselves would be like explaining to somebody born blind what colour is. You are not being cruel, you just make me yawn.