Geof Nanto

Damo Michell on Humility.......... Humility is an extremely Yin state of being. To be able to place yourself behind others is a difficult thing but important in Daoism. Energetically, this serves to create a powerful vacuum within your Xing, which draws spiritual learning towards you. When humbling yourself before a trusted teacher (or a deity in religious Daoism), you are manifesting the potential to draw teachings into the centre of your being. This is why so many practitioners in the past have had deep spiritual experiences when prostrating themselves before statues of Daoist immortals. In Daoist teachings, it should be one of your aims to be humble beneath the entire universe and understand humility before all beings. In this way the power of Dao, which flows through the cosmos, can enter you and make every aspect of life your teacher. There are various difficulties here, though. First, humility cannot be forced upon yourself. If you try to be humble, you just create false humility, which is a very common facet of human nature. False humility is often a mask for arrogance, hidden by a verbal expression of humility. To become humble, you must understand that being humble is a very scary thing. Humility opens up the core of your being to the outside world, which leaves the acquired mind feeling extremely vulnerable. This feeling of insecurity then causes the acquired mind to try to strengthen itself through building more layers, more pieces of projected, emotionally based untruth, behind which the true self hides. Each and every time you have been hurt, made to feel small or stepped on by another, you have probably moved yourself further from a state of humility. It is for this reason that the early stages of any internal practice should really be to free yourself from as many tethers to the acquired mind as you can. By purging these emotional imbalances, your mind begins to feel more secure and therefore humility does not seem so scary a state of being. The vacuum opens and then the 'cup has been emptied'. Only at this stage can true teachings really be absorbed. Humility cannot be forced; it is a state of being that will grow naturally once the right level has been reached. This is a highly relieving state to reach — akin to a breath of fresh air for the mind. It is said that 'when the student is ready, the teacher will appear', and I believe this time is when humility is beginning to blossom within the student's Heart. (from Damo Mitchell, White Moon on the Mountain Peak)

I can certainly understand why the term “humility” has such bad press. It’s a much maligned attribute because of its historical abuse by those in power as a means to maintain social hierarchies, and also because of the hypocrisy of false humility, especially notable in religious circles. Hence it has contradictorily connotations….. "One may be humble out of pride" [Montaigne, Essays] "He that humbleth himself wishes to be exalted" [Friedrich Nietzsche: Human, All Too Human] "The first test of a truly great man is his humility" [John Ruskin, Modern Painters] "For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted" [Bible: St. Luke] For me, it’s a strong attribute in that humility allows harmony with the Dao, and that gives true strength. There’s nothing meek about it, rather it’s a reflection of the natural order of things.

"Too humble is half proud."

Some thoughts on the above discussion…… Contemporary usage of the word ‘ego’ is broad and fluid and in popular usage it’s strongly tinged by the hero archetype. It’s this hero aspect of the psyche – so vital when young – that must die along the Way, not the ego in its entirety. Ego as the centre of consciousness as per Carl Jung’s conceptualization corresponds to the conditioned mind, acquired mind, or human mind in Daoist conceptualization. His use of the term ‘unconscious’ corresponds to the congenial mind, or mind of Dao. As humans we need both. Whilst such theory is necessary for sense making, in itself it can be as much a distraction as helpful. Knowledge is not realization. Knowledge can be quickly acquired by the intellect but is not stable unless accomplished by personal realization. Such realization is slow – a lifetime’s work – and usually involves much inner struggle, much trial and error. The psyche as a natural living system is something that will grow in its own way by itself (ziran (自然, self-so). What hinders it are the many aspects of acquired mind that get in the way. It’s all about energies (氣 qi); what we focus on is where our energies flow. Hence most all spiritual traditions recommend withdrawing from the outer world at appropriate times to free energy for inner growth. This withdrawal is itself a healthy natural desire that manifests most strongly in the second half of life if our pervasive cultural conditioning that glorifies the energy dispositions of youth does not interfere. In Daoism, and for Jung, the process by which the ego transmutes into what Jung calls the self is an alchemical process. The self is born as the spiritual embryo. “Spiritual embryo is a term for the initial condensing of the unified being in which consciousness and reality, feeling and essence, vitality and spirit, are joined in one energy. It is also defined as the quality of correct balance of flexible receptivity, the beginning of consciousness development. This is the embryonic form of the ‘new human’ to be produced by Taoist practice.” (from Thomas Cleary, The Taoist I Ching.) The conception of the ‘new human’ marks the beginning of the ‘self’, the zhenren, the authentic person. The individual nature of authenticity is made clear by Scott Bradley’s article I’ve quoted in the OP, and by Jung in his naming of the process as ‘individuation’, meaning individual and whole yet intimately connected with the whole of existence. In contradiction, the ‘villain’ is someone who has attained a powerful yet static egocentric pseudo wholeness, an isolated ‘wholeness’ – a person without humility. Ego inflation is a HUGE trap that most everyone must continually deal with. True humility arises from within once ego inflation is felt for what it is. Otherwise humility can only be false, an act of the egocentric persona.

That's a completely wrong interpretation, Marblehead!

Thanks. A good observation about separation from the collective consciousness of humanity. I'm a great fan of Jung's from way back, but I didn't make the connection until much later. In one thing to read a theory - it's an intellectual experience. It's something else entirely to live it - to feel it at the core of one's being. And I totally agree with you about the of necessity of "doing something to improve my own personal energy body, which to me is vital to my continued progression." That's also what drew me to Daoist praxis and has so much helped me. BTW Whilst you were writing your reply I edited my above post to give it context by adding a link to my PPD: Daoist ‘Silence’: Journeying away from intensity

About 20 years ago I had a profound experience of primal reality. It was scary. I was on an extended solo retreat in the remote ancient and arid hills of Central Australia. One sunny day, whilst sitting in meditation in a small cave, my regular reality totally fell away and in its place was something utterly other; a primeval world without a trace of humanity. Words fail me in conveying how terrifying it felt. It was like I was the only human alive, bereft of everything, even my internal sense of self was gone. There was nothing familiar; nothing had names anymore. Although I still sat in the same place, it wasn’t a cave anymore. I was in an utterly alien place. All the narratives that make sense of the world were gone along with the whole web of psychic interconnections that continually and subconsciously embrace all us humans in a familiar inner landscape of belonging. I quickly packed up, hiked back to my vehicle and drove away. It was such a relief to regain human made sights. I still remember how I marvelled at the first barbed wire rural fence I saw by the roadside; a sight that I’d previously found a blight on the landscape. I who had always found so much to criticise with our human domination of the natural environment suddenly saw it all in a different light. Instead of alienation and repugnance, I marvelled at our achievements. We speak calmly of human conditioning as if it’s something to be done away with to reach the ‘true reality’ of Dao but I can tell you most all of our conditioning is essential. It is a great human achievement, built over countless centuries, with layer upon layer of culturally constructed meaning. Our culture is like houses, like cities, we’ve built to live in because we need their shelter; and so too are our great spiritual traditions. We’ve made a human friendly world out of the vast primordial otherness. “Embrace the Dao” they glibly say from the sanctuary of their spiritual lineage. Ha! Edit: To give this account context see my PPD, Daoist ‘Silence’: Journeying away from intensity

After reading the above comprehensive discussion all I’d like to add is that in my experience the shen ming 神明 are real and openness to them is vital! For me, thinking of them as energies is far too clinical to reflect their awesomely ineffable totality; a totality that embraces a level of compassion and wisdom way outside and beyond anything that exists in human form.

Try googling “Cult of Happiness” for some interesting articles. Here’s a few that I browsed….. From Charlie Ambler: The Cult of Happiness From Psychology Today: The Happiness Cult From Australia: Is a cult of happiness leading us to lose sight of life? This desire for happiness suggests to me that there's a great underlying sadness in our contemporary society that people are trying to mask.

Yes, plenty to digest there. After all, he’s gifting us with a concise overview of key aspects of the insights he’s refined over his entire life. To my understanding, he’s describing in his psychological language the process by which certain people, given the right circumstances, flower as a Zhenren (or a similar state by different names in other traditions). I like his description of it as becoming whole. As a supplement to translating Zhenren as ‘authentic person’ or ‘genuine person’ I’d add ‘whole person.’ There’s a number of points – notably the warnings – that stand out for me, but I’ll wait and see if you or anyone else would like to comment. I’m happy with slow; I relate very much horse & cart reality rather than the typical highway speeds of Dao Bums’ discussions. (And the horse regularly prefers to roam the landscape free and easy rather than be hitched to the wagon of conceptual reality and confined to the path of words. )

Out of respect for Carl Jung, here’s a more comprehensive overview of Jung’s psychology….. ON THE NATURE OF THE PSYCHE “The psyche is the greatest of all cosmic wonders and the “sin qua non” [indispensable ingredient] of the world as an object. It is in the highest degree odd that Western man, with but very few - and ever fewer - exceptions, apparently pays so little regard to this fact. Swamped by the knowledge of external objects, the subject of all knowledge [the psyche] has been temporarily eclipsed to the point of seeming nonexistence.” (Jung understands psyche as the totality of all psychic processes, conscious as well as unconscious. He uses the term ‘psyche’ rather than ‘mind’, since mind is used in common parlance to refer to the aspects of mental functioning which are conscious. Jung maintained that the psyche is a self-regulating system (like the body). For Jung, the psyche strives to maintain a balance between opposing qualities while at the same time actively seeking its own development or as he called it, individuation.) The following is an extract from C G Jung, On the Nature of the Psyche. It was originally written in 1947 when Jung was 72 years old and revised by him in 1954...... As I have said [in the preceding parts of this essay], the psychology of complex phenomena finds itself in an uncomfortable situation compared with the other natural sciences because it lacks a base outside its object. It can only translate itself back into its own language, or fashion itself in its own image. The more it extends its field of research and the more complicated its objects become, the more it feels the lack of a point which is distinct from those objects. And once the complexity has reached that of the empirical man, his psychology inevitably merges with the psychic process itself. It can no longer be distinguished from the latter, and so turns into it. But the effect of this is that the process attains to consciousness. In this way, psychology actualizes the unconscious urge to consciousness. It is, in fact, the coming to consciousness of the psychic process, but it is not, in the deeper sense, an explanation of this process, for no explanation of the psychic can be anything other than the living process of the psyche itself. Psychology is doomed to cancel itself out as a science and therein precisely it reaches its scientific goal. Every other science has so to speak an outside; not so psychology, whose object is the inside subject of all science. Psychology therefore culminates of necessity in a developmental process which is peculiar to the psyche and consists in integrating the unconscious contents into consciousness. This means that the psychic human being becomes a whole, and becoming whole has remarkable effects on ego-consciousness which are extremely difficult to describe. I doubt my ability to give a proper account of the change that comes over the subject under the influence of the individuation process; it is a relatively rare occurrence, which is experienced only by those who have gone through the wearisome but, if the unconscious is to be integrated, indispensable business of coming to terms with the unconscious components of the personality. Once these unconscious components are made conscious, it results not only in their assimilation to the already existing ego-personality, but in a transformation of the latter. The main difficulty is to describe the manner of this transformation. Generally speaking the ego is a hard-and-fast complex which, because tied to consciousness and its continuity, cannot easily be altered, and should not be altered unless one wants to bring on pathological disturbances. The closest analogies to an alteration of the ego are to be found in the field of psychopathology, where we meet not only with neurotic dissociations but also with the schizophrenic fragmentation, or even dissolution, of the ego. In this field, too, we can observe pathological attempts at integration if such an expression be permitted. These consist in more or less violent irruptions of unconscious contents into consciousness, the ego proving itself incapable of assimilating the intruders. But if the structure of the ego-complex is strong enough to withstand their assault without having its framework fatally dislocated, then assimilation can take place. In that event there is an alteration of the ego as well as of the unconscious contents. Although it is able to preserve its structure, the ego is ousted from its central and dominating position and thus finds itself in the role of a passive observer who lacks the power to assert his will under all circumstances, not so much because it has been weakened in any way, as because certain considerations give it pause. That is, the ego cannot help discovering that the afflux of unconscious contents has vitalized the personality, enriched it and created a figure that somehow dwarfs the ego in scope and intensity. This experience paralyses an over-egocentric will and convinces the ego that in spite of all difficulties it is better to be taken down a peg than to get involved in a hopeless struggle in which one is invariably handed the dirty end of the stick. In this way the will, as disposable energy, gradually sub-ordinates itself to the stronger factor, namely to the new totality-figure I call the self. Naturally, in these circumstances there is the greatest temptation simply to follow the power-instinct and to identify the ego with the self outright, in order to keep up the illusion of the ego's mastery. In other cases the ego proves too weak to offer the necessary resistance to the influx of unconscious contents and is thereupon assimilated by the unconscious, which produces a blurring or darkening of ego-consciousness and its identification with a preconscious wholeness 1. Both these developments make the realization of the self impossible, and at the same time are fatal to the maintenance of ego-consciousness. They amount, therefore, to pathological effects. The psychic phenomena recently observable in Germany 2 fall into this category. It is abundantly clear that such an abaissement du niveau mental, i.e., the overpowering of the ego by unconscious contents and the consequent identification with a preconscious wholeness, possesses a prodigious psychic virulence, or power of contagion, and is capable of the most disastrous results. Developments of this kind should, therefore, be watched very carefully; they require the closest control. I would recommend anyone who feels himself threatened by such tendencies to hang a picture of St. Christopher on the wall and to meditate upon it. For the self has a functional meaning only when it can act compensatorily to ego-consciousness. If the ego is dissolved in identification with the self, it gives rise to a sort of nebulous superman with a puffed-up ego and a deflated self. Such a personage, how-ever saviour like or baleful his demeanour, lacks the scintilla, the soul-spark, the little wisp of divine light that never burns more brightly than when it has to struggle against the invading darkness. What would the rainbow be were it not limned against the lowering cloud? This simile is intended to remind the reader that pathological analogies of the individuation process are not the only ones. There are spiritual monuments of quite another kind, and they are positive illustrations of our process. Above all I would mention the koans of Zen Buddhism, those sublime paradoxes that light up, as with a flash of lightning, the inscrutable interrelations between ego and self. In very different language, St. John of the Cross has made the same problem more readily accessible to the Westerner in his account of the "dark night of the soul". That we find it needful to draw analogies from psychopathology and from both Eastern and Western mysticism is only to be expected: the individuation process is, psychically, a border-line phenomenon which needs special conditions in order to become conscious. Perhaps it is the first step along a path of development to be trodden by the men of the future—a path which, for the time being, has taken a pathological turn and landed Europe in catastrophe. To one familiar with our psychology, it may seem a waste of time to keep harping on the long-established difference between becoming conscious and the coming-to-be of the self (individuation). But again and again I note that the individuation process is confused with the coming of the ego into consciousness and that the ego is in consequence identified with the self, which naturally produces a hopeless conceptual muddle. Individuation is then nothing but ego-centeredness and autoeroticism. But the self comprises infinitely more than a mere ego, as the symbolism has shown from of old. It is as much one's self, and all other selves, as the ego. Individuation does not shut one out from the world, but gathers the world to oneself. Notes 1. Conscious wholeness consists in a successful union of ego and self, so that both preserve their intrinsic qualities. If, instead of this union, the ego is over-powered by the self, then the self too does not attain the form it ought to have, but remains fixed on a primitive level and can express itself only through archaic symbols. 2. Jung is referring to Nazism and the devastation of WW2.

Here’s a song from Leonard Cohen that’s an excellent example of what in Jungian terms is the self in dialogue with the ego. And here's something similar from author Rumer Godden, expressed with Christian conceptualisation…… Discussing writing, she once stated firmly that she never believed in self-expression. "All these young people, particularly women, say, `We want to express ourselves', but writing is not self-expression. The writer is simply an instrument through which the wind blows and I believe it is the Holy Spirit that makes the artist creative. My writing is something outside me that I've been chosen to do and I think that is what has enabled me to go on."

Adding to your comment...... Meditation certainly, but in Daoism working with the whole of life is emphasised. For me, and I think for most people, the first half of life especially is when we explore and expand into the outer world – relationships, sexuality, career etc. And it’s here that we find our limits as ego driven individuals. This is essential – a healthy function of the ego. I know I’ve had to find and exceed both my lower and my upper limits in order to begin to really know myself – or more correctly, to find how little I really knew about myself. Here’s how Jung expresses it…… “If no outer adventure happens to you, then no inner adventure happens to you either. The part that you take over from the devil — joy, that is — leads you into adventure. In this way you will find your lower as well as your upper limits. It is necessary for you to know your limits. If you do not know them, you run into the artificial barriers of your imagination and the expectations of your fellow men. But your life will not take kindly to being hemmed in by artificial barriers. Life wants to jump over such barriers and you will fall out with yourself. These barriers are not your real limits, but arbitrary limitations that do unnecessary violence to you. Therefore try to find your real limits. One never knows them in advance, but one sees and understands them only when one reaches them. And this happens to you only if you have balance. Without balance you transgress your limits without noticing what has happened to you. You achieve balance, however, only if you nurture your opposite. But that is hateful to you in your innermost core, because it is not heroic.”

An addition to my previous post.... I personally relate to Jungian usage of the term ‘ego’ as meaning the centre of one’s consciousness. In juxtaposition to ‘ego’ he uses the term ‘Self’ to describe the totality of one’s being, embracing both conscious and unconscious content. Jung emphasises how important a strong ego is to be able to integrate previously unconscious content without going crazy. As more and more unconscious content is made conscious one slowly realises the comparative smallness of the individual ego; that is, one begins to see oneself his or her real size in comparison to the totality of existence. It takes a strong ego to fully accept this. He describes his usage of "self' as a borderline concept because it cannot be clearly delineated. In theory it extends indefinitely. Like all of this stuff, it only begins to make sense when one finds parallels in one's own experience. And even then different people find resonance with many different forms of conceptualisation as is obvious from discussions on this forum. In my interpretation, Scott Bradley is saying we become more authentic as our reality shifts towards what Jung describes as the self. Jung calls this process individuation and it's central to his work. He sees it as our chief goal as humans, especially in the second half of life.

The term 'ego' is used in distinctly different senses. Here are a couple of dictionary definitions..... Ego 1. the self of an individual person; the conscious subject 2. (Psychoanalysis) conscious mind, based on perception of the environment from birth onwards. 3. one's image of oneself; morale: to boost one's ego. 4. egotism; conceit [C19: from Latin: I] Ego 1. An individual's awareness of what constitutes his or her essential nature and distinguishes him or her from all others: self. 2. A regarding of oneself with undue favor: conceit, egoism, egotism, narcissism, pride, vainglory, vainness, vanity. Slang: ego trip. 3. A sense of one's own dignity or worth: pride, self-esteem, self-regard, self-respect. Obviously from these various definitions, 'ego' in some usages is something we all have and need and is vital for our well-being. These are not the sense in which Scott Bradley was using the term and that's why I didn't really want to pursue discussion suggesting he was. His reference was to ego in the popular sense where ego means the extent to which one thinks overly highly of oneself; egotism; conceit, regarding oneself with undue favour etc. However I appreciate the effort people here have made to make clear the importance on ego in senses other than popular usage and hope that's resolved any confusion.

Yes, this is correct – but about this state no more can be said. What concerns me personally is the process of change; of inner transformation. That’s what I liked about Scott Bradley’s description. In a somewhat similar vein, here's a description of Akira Kurosawa’s film Sanshiro Sugata; aka Judo Saga. (Akira Kurosawa is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Judo Saga was his first film and it culminates in a judo battle between Suagata and Higaki.) “The hero is a person actively engaged in becoming themselves - not a very reassuring sight. The villain, on the other hand, has already become something. Everything about Higaki suggests that he has arrived. There is not a wasted gesture, not an uncalculated movement. He has found what is to his advantage and acts accordingly. Sugata, by comparison, is all thumbs. “Kurosawa’s preference is the preference we all have for the fully formed person. In an ordinary film this person would be the hero. But it is not and, despite his admiration, Kurosawa has told us why. One of the attributes of all his heroes, beginning with Sugataka, is that they are all informed in just this way. For this reason, all of his pictures are about education - the education of the hero. “After their superb judo battle (between Sugata and Higki) one might expect the film to end with some kind of statement that Sugata has at last grown up, that he has arrived, that he has become something - the great judo champion. This would be the logical Western conclusion to a film about the education of a hero. “Kurosawa, however, has seen this cannot be true. A hero who actually becomes is tantamount to a villain - for this was the only tangible aspect of the villain’s villainy. To suggest that peace, happiness, contentment, follows a single battle, no matter how important, is literally untrue - and would limit Sugata precisely because of the limitations suggested in the words ’happiness’ or ’judo champion’.” In these terms a visible Zhenren would not be a true Zhenren but be like the 'villain' in the above account. I personally relate to the lines, “The hero is a person actively engaged in becoming themselves - not a very reassuring sight" and "all of his pictures are about education - the education of the hero." However I'll add that along the way the hero must die; the real 'hero' emerges as the Dao - the hero that does nothing yet nothing remains undone.

Oh Stosh, I have no desire to respond to any of that but I have read it.

Stosh, do you have a personal practice? I ask this because you regularly come across as if your participation here is just a way to pass the time; a game; a place to sound off lazy, half-baked opinions. Your above comments show you have no idea what this topic is about and no interest in trying to understand it. And you like to provoke disputes. Your motto could well be, “I dispute, therefore I am.” I don’t think you realise how much damage you do as the spiritual toxicity of your modus operandi of stirring up jejune contention ripples out through the web of psychic energy that connects us all. I certainly feel it. It’s a very negative way to connect with people. The Daodejing repeatedly advises against it for good reason. I know you’re capable of better than this. You reveal glimpses of it at times. But why do you so seldom display this side of yourself? Why do you shy away from engagement that’s constructive? I write not with animosity but with hope of some meaningful resolution. And if it doesn’t result in any resolution, my wry sense of humour tells me that my stirring up of contention should please you greatly. However, if you want to continue along the path of what I find as meaningless contention, then it's unlikely I'll reply to you.

As the above replies show, nothing is straightforward. Stosh, perhaps Scott’s words are only meaningful for someone on a path of seeking harmony with the flow of Dao? A path that with initial effort results in transformation happening of itself, ‘self-so’. And as Scott mention, “there are common, normative precipitants that manifest from this authenticity. Chief among these is freedom from the egoic identity, a presumption of a static, insular, and fixed self which must be protected from the transforming world at large. And this manifests as freedom from the fear of loss, there being nothing to lose, and freedom from the acquisitive desire for merit and name (thinking oneself and being thought to be someone special), there being no aspect of self requiring support. These are the signs of authenticity because they are also what make it possible.” Humility! In Daoism, becoming a Zhenren is seen as a life long journey. Daoists traditionally don’t use the term ‘enlightenment’ or ‘awakened’, but in Daoist conceptualisation a Zhenren can be likened to an enlightened person. However, Scott Bradley waters down this meaning and describes key aspects of the journey. And I like that, in the sense that the journey is the goal.

An interesting experiment is to try and image the Earth as it 'really' is, namely a sphere without top or bottom. No matter where we are on this planet of ours, we are always on the top. I don't know about anyone else, but there's no way I can imagine such a thing. My visualisation, like our pictures and maps, always has a top and bottom. For me this is an indication of my limitations as a human in conceptualising even this basic material 'reality'. What chance do I therefore have of conceptualising subtle, non-material reality?

Hi WuDao. Yes, that makes sense to me. And I particularly like the second paragraph you quoted.... I've just been outside clearing some of the saplings encroaching on my cabin. I very much don't like cutting them down but forest fire is an ever present danger here and I have forest virtually right up to my house. No rain for well over a month and the land is fast drying out. Although it's still winter, compared to where you live I suspect it's as warm as your summer. (Today and yesterday high 20's deg C; that's low 80's F.) Best regards .

On a slightly tangential theme, here’s a song of the po soul - the dark feminine soul - that our culture represses. It’s feared. We’re taught that such natural longings are pathological, rather than an innate aspect of our inner yin-yang psyche. Goodbye California I'm pre-meditating crime of a personal kind I'm about to go out of my mind I'm just about sick to death of taking breath And walking this line of mine Now, folks that know what's good for them Are good at ignoring them But I just can't put these thoughts down I'm harrowed and abused and broken and pursued By this notion that follows me around My heart is hurting, my spirit’s burdened I feel like a liar and a thief For taking air, for being here Unwanted, I look for my final release Goodbye, goodbye, California Goodbye and I’ll be moving on I sang you my songs, I know I'm wrong Fare thee well and I’ll be moving on When I'm dead and gone My immortal home will hold me in its bosom Safe and cold, no more desires Will light their fires or disturb my immaculate calm And the birds of the air and the beasts of the soil And the fishes of the desperate seas Will know who I am and our substance will expand As part of everything As part of everything, my God As part of everything and the clouds will roll And the wind will blow and the beautiful birds will sing Goodbye, goodbye, California Goodbye to your waving trees To you succulent wind and all my friends Fare thee well, goodbye, so be it Amen Amen (Lyrics written by Jolie Holland.)

It's been many years since I indulged at the level you're implying. Further to my previous post..... It’s not so much the web as such, rather it’s the overstimulation of ‘left-brain’ function that I want to reduce, yet at the same time I’m drawn back to it. It’s familiar; a long term imbalance that I’ve been working on indirectly through qi based praxis for many, many years. When I disconnect from the web and connect more with the ‘silence’ of my immediate environment using ‘right-brain’ function I feel much better. And I regularly do just that. I've naturally let go of so much. My lifestyle is very simple; I literally chop wood and carry water. But past experience tells me to allow my psyche to adjust slowly; 'self-so,' in its own time. Will power and forcing has proved counterproductive for me. I suspect there’s insights I’ve yet to gain form my Dao Bums connection. I’ve gained much both directly and indirectly from my couple of years of membership.

For me this one is primarily about avoiding intense experience. I’ve learnt that all intensity is potentially addictive. It’s easy to move into intensity – indeed it’s most compelling – yet it tends to become a trap that’s difficult to escape from. After any intense experience it takes time to readjust and regain the sensitivity necessary to feel into the subtle fullness of Daoist ‘emptiness’. Transitioning away from intense experience always feels uncomfortable, sometimes unbearable so – life feels hollow, disconnected; empty in the sense of barren nothingness. And I seek to hone my sensitivity and grow my roots into that ancient, eternal ‘silence’. That’s where I find my inner peace, my innate belonging. It would be interesting to compile a list of common contemporary intense experiences. Over the decades I've slowly moved away from many. The web in general and Dao Bums in particular would probably currently top mine!

Hey you guys that's all in the Wikipedia article in much detail. Here are a few of the headings...... The Zhuangzi (ca. 3rd-2nd centuries BCE) has 66 occurrences of zhen, 19 of them in the compound zhenren. The Huainanzi (2nd century BCE) mentions zhenren "true person" 11 times. The southern Chuci (2nd century CE), which has Daoist elements although not strictly a "Daoist text", uses zhenren in two poems. The Daoist Liezi (ca. 4th century CE) uses zhenren in two chapters. The little-known Daoist text Wenzi has 17 occurrences of zhenren.