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I hadn't considered that the 3 things might be actual things... just figured that they represent the vast multitude of stages that end up with us and all the other complex creatures... as I can see it's certainly not as simple as "1, 2, 3" If the author was referring to specific ideas such as yinyang etc, why not just refer to them directly?

Yeah..I've recently been of the mind that, if the world is going to end at some point, I'd quite like to be here when it does, just to see how it all goes down. I know that's not exactly what you're talking about, but along those lines. If something big and bad happens...I'd be curious.. However, I don't know about this.. If it happens to the planet, it happens to me. Not because I reside here, as a guest, but because I'm a part of the planet.. just as much as the iron core, the ocean, or the ozone layer...

Today, Cunninlynguists: A Piece of Strange, Dirty Acres, Oneirology, Sloppy Seconds vol.2 And Wang Feng 汪峰: various random songs

I just wonder...why would anyone want to not eat food? Food is beautiful.. I'm enjoying meat less than I used to, these days. More fruit, veg, peanut butter, brown bread. But having done a no-carb diet for 3 months last year, though it was good for me at the time, I don't see any real benefit to strict dietary regulation long-term (cutting out carbs, or fats, or whatever). Like thelerner said, listening to your body is the way. Recently, I've been eating a pack of chocolate biscuits every night before bed...feel great..

According to the SA article "scientists predict could begin in less than 2,000 years" "The flipping takes an average of 5,000 years; it can happen as quickly as 1,000 years" "The field would need to weaken at its current rate for around 2,000 years before the reversal process actually begins." "but it is unlikely to spell disaster" A bit confusing.. "could begin in less than 2,000" but "would need to weaken...for around 2,000 years before" it actually begins. It's entirely possible I've completely missed the point too, but it seems to me that they don't really know what they're taking about, and that there's nothing to worry about either way.

Wow. All sounds quite incredible! I've never seen them, except for in photos...and Disney movies... enjoy it!

Are we sure that the speed of light is the fastest speed? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster-than-light "special relativity does not forbid the existence of particles that travel faster than light at all times" My brain hurts. Is it expanding at an increasing rate? We've got different theories on this...? This is all getting a little off-topic isn't it? My fault...suffice to say, I see no difference between the "state of being unborn" and the "state of being dead"

Bah, laws of physics shmysics. They'll eventually discover that they're wrong about it all all over again! I can't get my head around the idea that existence has a boundary. But I don't suppose that's something a human will ever be able to understand.. Also wondering why 7? I might need a week or so to digest this! Very interesting, there is a lot I don't really comprehend but: does sound like there is some kind of 'desire' or 'effort' to keep it all going.. Ah. So if space is infinite, and time is a byproduct of space, time is also infinite? But if space is finite, so is time -- but going back to ( c ), if time and space were to collapse back in the Big Crunch, they would surely start all over again?

Yes...perhaps a leap of faith. There's a part of me that will always want to believe that I have lived, and will again live, an infinite number of times. And yes, my use of "must" was not just too strong, it was wrong. But...infinity. My maths is notoriously patchy, but humour me for a second. If we flip 10 coins at the same time, the probability of them all landing 'heads' is..whatever it is... (0.0009765625 as I calculate..?). But if we decide to keep throwing them, 10 at a time, indefinitely, the probability that they will all land heads at some point surely rises closer and closer to 1? We can't know that the event will happen, but we will be fairly sure that it will, sooner or later. Now, if the universe's matter is finite, but time is infinite, the probability of all things happening rises similarly, doesn't it? I can't know that I'll live again, like this or otherwise, but it seems likely. And if matter and time are both infinite -- not limited to this universe -- it seems quite likely that everything that could happen is happening right now, somewhere..?

Well, I'm not sure I agree with it either, but I don't know why. Could you tell me why you don't agree with it, and perhaps that'll clarify why I don't feel 100% about it..?

I'm of a similar persuasion. However, I've been able to identify 3 versions of time (it's morningtime so if I'm forgetting things forgive me) a ) time is an illusion, and therefore meaningless, and therefore infinite (there being none of it, it can never be other than it is) or b ) time is real, but cyclical or c ) time is as described by current physics i.e. laws of physics such as space, time, etc being created and destroyed with the current universe, but with the potential to be re-created in a following universe Either way, the result is the same. Stuff keeps going, forever. If so, universes or worlds or situations just like the one we're experiencing right now must arise each an infinite number of times. We must therefore live an infinite number of lives. ? Like I said, it's morning...I probably shouldn't be talking like this before afternoon at the earliest..

EVERYTHING IS AMAZING And what you just described should be turned into a painting

It's not locked, you just needed to post here once first. Check it again now.... And welcome

Fourthed... sentiment echoed I'd just come across it (no jizz pun intended) searching for info on TTC translation, and have ended up learning at least a little about qigong, meditation, Zen, Daoism, and a bunch of other stuff.. not to mention the different versions of the TTC.

Chan/Zen tea ceremonies have been around for centuries, based on tea's use as an aid to keeping awake and aware during meditation. Why not break from tradition a little and energy drinks a go? I don't like the taste of them, but if you do... go for it... Right on

http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html Not sure if relevant to this crowd, but I've been doing a half-assed version of I.F. for the last few months (basically, not eating in the mornings), and I've experienced more energy in the mornings to walk/workout/qigong, more even and controlled energy levels during the day, slow weight loss (to a point), more regularity (once every morning), and the fun of being able to eat whatever & however much I want during "feeding" periods. I would naturally skip breakfast as a child/teen, but years of people going on about how "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" made me get into the habit of eating it. Silly. Listen to your body, man! I now also realize that before fasting, I'd never really been hungry. I still haven't been truly hungry, but I realize that going for a day or so without food is not a big deal. A rumbling stomach just makes one appreciate food all the more.

Thoughts: There is a common use of 亓 or 其 in many chapters -- a pronoun referring back to the subject, e.g. 聖人 The wise man 之才民前也 以身後之 Stands ahead of the people by putting himself behind them, 亓才民上也 以言下之 Above them by speaking as from below; 亓才民上也 民弗厚也 Above them, yet the people feel not his presence, 亓才民前也 民弗害也 Ahead of them, yet the people come not to harm where 亓 refers back to the wise man. Chapter 15 also comes to mind, where 亓 refers back to the ancient nobles, and this chapter (chapter 2), also, at the beginning. So, if the last few lines of chapter 2 are referring specifically to the wise man/sage, why is 亓 not used? As an example I'd think there would need to be some 亓s and other bits, added roughly as follows, for me to see it as Henricks has it: 是以圣人居亡为之事， Therefore the Sage abides in affairs that entail no action, 行不言之教。 And spreads the wordless teaching. 万勿作而亓弗始也， The ten thousand things arise, but he does not begin them. 亓为而弗志也， He does things for them, but he does not make them dependent. 亓成而弗居。 He brings things to completion, but he does not dwell on his achievements. 夫唯亓弗居也， But it is precisely because he does not dwell on them 是以万勿弗去也 That they therefore do not leave him But 亓 is nowhere to be seen in these lines. The writer didn't write any 亓s because he was not referring back to the sage. A revised translation of mine from a few days ago: 是以聖人居亡為之事 As the wise man lives without acting, 行不言之教 And teaches without talking, 萬勿作而弗怠也 Life flourishes without resting, 為而弗志也 Acts without ambition, 成而弗居 Succeeds and does not dwell; 夫唯弗居也 是以弗去也 Not dwelling and not leaving are the same Just some thoughts......

Ah. Sorry, yes..OK.. As it relates to the 10,000 things (or, as I see it, the living world), there are no accomplishments, and there is no virtue: the wise man is thus virtuous when he doesn't talk about or set store by accomplishment or virtue. But I don't see the chapter as being specifically about virtue, no..

An article written by a friend of mine: http://teamugli.com/names-you-should-know-in-music-sylvia-robinson/ "There are a lot of people that have influenced music, but few of them have had as impressive a career as Sylvia Robinson. Known as the Mother of Hip-Hop (alternately, Queen of Hip-Hop), she was witness to the birth of three musical genres, and worked on seminal tracks in all of them. The hits she produced or helped produce changed the landscape of culture both directly and indirectly, and the fact that we don’t have a biopic of her life to watch is criminal. ... "Her career was long and marred with controversy. The history of American music is also long and marred with controversy. One needn’t be a metaphor for the other, however. Sylvia Robinson’s story doesn’t reflect the history of music, it is the history of music. Not the whole history, but a piece. An important piece."

You mean using the specific word "accomplishment"? I tend to use 3 translators for reference when I feel like clarification/support.. Work is done, then forgotten. Therefore it lasts forever. -- Feng (this is my favourite of the 3, and though he doesn't use "accomplishment", it has the same effect) Accomplishes without taking credit. When no credit is taken, Accomplishment endures. -- Addiss He brings things to completion, but he does not dwell on his achievements. But it is precisely because he does not dwell on them That they therefore do not leave him. -- Henricks (Guodian) So.. I mean that, among popular/well-known translators such as Feng and Henricks, and Wu, the standard seems to be accomplishment/success/achievement. Though perhaps it is entirely a coincidence, as looking at a couple of others randomly, they don't translate like this... Still, I don't know that it should be "common sense" to link the last line to the "accomplishment" of the previous line.. the main problem I have with almost all translations is that they stick words in where the Chinese text lacks them, and infer meanings where they are not necessarily implied. The reader of the Chinese text is left to infer their own meanings, so the reader of the English translation should be left to it too.

Yeah, I've been reading a bit about long-distance running, and it's suggested that for a long time we were the ultimate pack hunters -- entire families of humans would go running together, over hundreds of miles, exhausting their prey to death...

If I imagine a man like Mowgli -- someone who's been born in the jungle and raised by wild animals without human language or culture -- what I picture isn't much more than a tall, hairless chimp. When we see chimps that are raised in captivity, taught whatever amount of human language they can be, and exposed to human culture, we see behaviours that most of us would never expect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_%28chimpanzee%29 "Lucy would greet him with a hug, take the kettle, fill it with water, find two cups and tea bags, and serve the tea" "...never reproduced, displaying sexual attraction only to humans" "Lucy showed many signs of depression, including refusal to eat" "Lucy was observed [lying] – something that was once considered uniquely human" What I mean to say is, I don't think we're nearly as different as many humans would like to believe.

Probably not what you're looking for, but worth noting as a practice: I've recently started focusing on deeper, slower breathing using a mala to count breaths. If you don't want to ask a friend to smack you with a stick every 30 mins, perhaps a simple tactile sensation like this would be helpful? Certainly I've not felt at risk of dozing off while using it “你们都是我的父母” Wonderful

You wound me

Today is LA & Oakland hip-hop day. Albums played so far: Blu & Mainframe - Johnson & Jonson Blu & Exile - Give Me My Flowers While I Can Smell Them Aceyalone & Rjd2 - Magnificent City Del - No Need for Alarm and later, probably: Deltron - Deltron 3030 Souls of Mischief - '93 'Til Infinity I love hip-hop. It's... instupicuous!