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Step one: we're on a message board that at times discusses healing oneself using only the mind.

I got Dan Brown, some guy named Cory Doctorow, and then JK Rowling. ....when do I get my money?

It's something that I know, and then forget, know, and then forget.... And that's that, no matter the path you follow, you have to be a human being first. And understand what I mean: I'm not saying "have to" in the sense of me giving out my own advice on right living; I'm saying "have to" as in we have no other choice, much as we spiritual people may sometimes fight it. We are here in the world. One can read the bible, or the Tao Te Ching, until they're blue in the face, and they will still want to have sex with those they find to be attractive, and still do damn near anything to eat when they get hungry. This community is filled with people who have made great strides in their personal and spiritual developments, but it is no refuge from people definitively shaped by their environments, the opinions of their parents, the biases they've come to own (and I shouldn't have expected it to be....nor should I be disappointed that it is). I include myself in all of this, by the way. The only counterargument that I see is to talk of some type of transcendence. But I'm starting to believe that transcending is even more fleeting than I ever believed it to be before. That's not to say it's not worth striving for, but instead to say that the vast, vast majority of people who taste it....just end up back here....back here in the world.

This guy in this discussion group I used to attend would always use the simile "like an ant trying to understand a computer." And that kind of sums up how I feel about me trying to protect nature.

"Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery -- subordination to the superior race -- is his natural and normal condition. [Applause.] This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth." -Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America Furthermore, who is paying who's bills now? http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/top-10-states-rely-most-federal-aid

If I could get some kind of divine assurance, like God with his long white beard to come out of the sky, have lunch, and level with me, that Trump was saying the shit he was saying, and acting the way he's been acting, for the sake of getting votes and then was going to really turn on the practicality and hire a staff full of experts that know what they are doing once he got in office, I would vote for Trump, absolutely. Unfortunately, I only feel comfortable taking the guy at face value. And the guy at face value is dangerous. The way people justify the Muslim ban comments really trips me out. I equate it in many ways with the way people justify the flying of the Confederate flag. Both - his comments and the act of flying the flag - are literally, by any rational definition, top five most unAmerican things you could ever do. Furthermore, and this part I truly don't mean at all facetiously or in a confrontational way, I want to throw out something to any of those who are vehement in their dislike for or fear of Bernie (and note that I'm not a rabid supporter of his - I would have liked to see him do better, but I will take my medicine and vote for Clinton). Explain to me why or what about the attached video is misleading or wrong. And for the sake of a good debate, try to steer away from personal feelings for Maher or paranoia over the historical meaning you assign to the word "socialist" - in other words take Bernie as an entity for what all real signs point to him doing are and not the imaginary monster you foresee him turning into down the line for whatever reason.

Everything's a racket.

65% chance we have people following us tomorrow.

Check out this course. Does anyone know anything further about the speaker and/or school? I've been kind of on the lookout for a barebones, historical i-Ching "class" so to speak. I think, being used to the format, it'd be a good way for me personally to delve a little deeper. Actually, their entire programs look really interesting (screw it, I need a Masters Degree, right?).

L. Ron did.

Cartoons usually don't do anything for me but this looks very interesting, very different...

I'm currently entering a time of great change....new job, possibly a new location, a risky health decision (not life threatening)....These were all things that I chose and I am excited for them. That being said, I'm cognizant that my critics (including myself) might say the time is not right for these things. My thought process - gained via experience - is that there is no such thing as the perfect time. That's why I pulled the trigger on them. When inquiring about these areas with the I-Ching, I've been often getting the reading 28. Great Exceeding. Either as my main hexagram or where my changing line is headed. I'm having trouble interpreting this. The line from my copy that throws me off is the very first: "This indicates a situation that is out of balance." All I seem to be able to take away is a negative connotation - that perhaps my doubts were right, that the time is not favorable for change. It's also maybe a case of my stubbornness vs. the I-Ching. Because, deep down, I know I'm making these changes, I-Ching be damned. But before I twist myself into knots over it, I wanted to see if anybody had any alternate interpretations of Hexagram #28? If you'd be so kind, help me see the good in it....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5vnpOp0U_g

Dauluin, I especially love your interpretations of my yield here. You're obviously quite skilled at this. What a fascinating, powerful book that the four of us can take away such a range of things from the chapter and I can find real value in each.... A few thoughts for each of you: First, just to clarify one broad point that maybe wasn't clear: the idea of "failing" in these creative pursuits of mine wasn't so much causing me angst as was me being a little baffled why things never seem "right." Why do things feel like a fit for me only fleetingly? In other words, I sincerely wasn't pulling to be an entrepreneur or not an entrepreneur - or looking at one or the other as "better" or more indicative of success - but rather just to be helped steered to a place of contentment with my creativity. Taomeow: For my morning reading this morning, I tried rephrasing my inquiry as you suggested, albeit, taking into consideration the above, prefaced by "If I was to commit to entrepreneurship" (which I hope doesn't dilute the magic!). I drew 27. Nourishing with Second Six alternating to 41. Decreasing. Believe it or not, I took some similar notions to my previous draw & also to Michael & Daeluin's interpretations which I expand on below. Michael: Interestingly - and perhaps indicative of what's in my heart - different things from your chosen selections jumped out at me than jumped out at you. First, could I not read the fire (my creativity) as being "pure" in a sense and the mountain, what that fire illuminates (and the thresholds I continuously imagine my creativity taking me), as being something of an illusion? In other words, I need to commit to the fire, because the fire is what is real. Does that follow at all? Another really interesting excerpt for me was the line from your third quote, " ....it is an advantage not to eat at home but rather to earn one's bread by entering upon public office." I find that I succeed out in the "real world," with people, in public view, but I'm most naturally inclined to isolated pursuits/solo business ventures/et cetera (which do not usually succeed). I've wondered about this often....if the answer for me is somewhat counter-intuitive as are so many things in life.... Along those same lines, Daeluin: You wrote, "...while you do other things in the outside world like your day job." Another huge theme for me and this really hit home. I've often wondered about this, thinking of it as a kind of a distraction necessary to success. Like that it is far from advantageous to obsess over one thing, put all your eggs in one basket, etc. I found the last part of your response very Tao. Thanks again for playing along guys....many pieces staring to come together....