ilumairen

Hello River Dolphins, Welcome to the bums; your membership is approved. Please make sure you have familiarized yourself with the three topics pinned at the top of this sub forum regarding rules and expectations. Warm regards, ilu

Hi carcinise, Welcome to the bums; your membership is approved. There are three topics pinned at the top of this sub forum regarding rules and expectations, please familiarize yourself with them. warm regards, ilu

Hi NicholasHolland, Welcome to the bums; your account is approved. Please familiarize yourself with the three topics pinned at the top of this sub forum regarding rules and expectations. warm regards, ilu

Hi Lindsey, Your account is approved. Welcome to the bums, and happy exploring. warm regards, ilu PS There are three topics pinned at the top of this sub forum regarding rules and expectations, please familiarize yourself with them.

Hi Pops, Not much of an intro, but you’re account is still approved. Perhaps we’ll learn more about you as you settle in and get comfortable. There are three topics regarding rules and expectations at the top of this sub forum, please make sure you are familiar with them. Welcome to the bums, ilu

Too late for “calming them down” at that point. Perhaps in the future simply not using the word “sir” could avoid such situations? BTW My dad was about as manly as men get, and he never took to being called “sir” either - often responding with “I work for a living,” coupled with a good deal of disdain for the term.

Hi EAO, Welcome to the bums; your account is approved. I don’t know what parameters you’re using for your considerations, but Jesus did curse a fig tree for having the audacity to not be in season and offer him the fruit he was seeking - which always seemed rather curious and dark to me. In any case, there are three topics pinned at the top of this sub forum regarding the rules and guidelines here, please familiarize yourself with them. warm regards, ilu

Hello Chris aka AngolMoa, Your membership is approved, welcome to the bums. As you seem well aware, the subject you did not mention by name can get pretty contentious here. As such, I may be keeping a closer eye on your interactions than I would with most new comers, but am opening the gate for you nevertheless. Please familiarize yourself with the three topics regarding rules, expectations, and use pinned at the top of this sub-forum. Warm regards, ilu aka the present gatekeeper

Hello Taoist Priest, Welcome to the bums; your membership is approved. This is a rather eclectic philosophical/spiritual type forum, and you will find fellow travelers who are other than “genuine Taoist.” There are three topics pinned at the top of this welcome sub forum regarding rules and expectations, please ensure you are familiar with them.

Oh my stars, yes, to the bolded bit! I broke a foot, and was told I couldn’t return to sparring until I could stand on the ball of my foot and hop without pain - which didn’t happen for years owing to a bone chip floating about in there. In all honesty however, I have a twenty one year old coworker I call “bro” lined up to get back into things with when this coronavirus thing passes.. just miss it too much.. oh, and I am presently 48

Whatever you wish to call it, it isn’t welcome here.

Daemon, if the above is indeed a character analysis of another member of this forum (as it is presently reading to me), it is unwelcome here. Please refrain from posting such character assessments and dismissals in the future.

The above comments were made after a weeklong suspension. I have separated them out and quoted them for clarity, and I am considering them an escalation. The “Wild West” days of this forum ended some time ago, and while there was a period of time where there was no moderation and such personal insults and attempted takedowns went unchecked, that time has passed. You are now in direct violation of the rules and guidelines of this forum, and will be receiving another suspension. Upon your return, the choice is yours - either comply with the rules, or face being banned.

Hi con. Welcome to the bums; your membership is approved. warm regards, ilu (who happens to like a “witchy kind of taste”) P.S. You will find three topics pinned at the top in this sub forum regarding expectations and rules here, please make sure you are familiar with them.

Hi Oneirnaut, Your opinions and views are not being “censored,” and are actually welcome (as far as I am concerned). The issue arises with the argument style and use of personal put downs (of which I just read a few in the posts made since your return). Please try to discuss the subject matter, and not the individual’s posting things you disagree with. If it helps, you could consider it competition “fighting” where breaking this simple rule will get you disqualified from the present fight and possibly barred from future matches.

Hi RTW, Welcome to the bums; your account is approved. You may be able to find some useful and/or pertinent info by using the search feature here, and you are welcome to start new threads as well. I am sorry to read you are going through a rough time; perhaps a bit more specific information will enable members of this community to better respond to your specific situation, and needs. warm regards and best wishes, ilu P.S. You will find three topics pinned at the top in this sub forum regarding expectations and rules here, please make sure you are familiar with them.

Hello Sarasin, Your account is approved; welcome to the bums. You can use the search feature here to find old threads which interest you, and you’re welcome to start new threads if this is your preference. It sounds as if you have enjoyed a meandering path, and found it both interesting and fruitful. May your time here be similar. warm regards, ilu P.S. You will find three topics pinned at the top in this sub forum regarding expectations and rules here, please make sure you are familiar with them.

Hello Diamond-K, Welcome to the bums. There are a plethora of cautions regarding Mantak Chia on this site - predominantly owing to people developing issues related to the sexual stuff and semen retention. So much so that there seems to be a collective cringe here when the subject comes up. You will be able to find the many threads related to this by using the search function, if you wish. And you are also welcome to start new threads related to your inquiries. Being female, I avoid the semen retention threads like the plague, but perhaps @Wu Ming Jen, @Cleansox, or @freeform (as well established, knowledgeable, and personable Daoist practitioners) may be able to assist you in your search and queries. warm regards, ilu P.S. You will find three topics pinned at the top in this sub forum regarding expectations and rules here, please make sure you are familiar with them.

Hi mlinssen, Your membership is approved. You can use the search function of the site to find old threads, or start new ones. You have some interesting theories, and I have some curiosity regarding how you relate what is the “unknowable father” in the more standard historical gnostic view with the Self. Here is an old Gospel of Thomas thread (although it should be noted some of the participants have moved on, and won’t be available for discussion or to answer any queries you may have of them): And another thread which includes some discussion of the Gospel of Thomas: warm regards and happy seeking, ilu P.S. You will find three topics pinned at the top in this sub forum regarding expectations and rules here, please make sure you are familiar with them.

Experientially I agree with this. And I also agree with this. At 5’6” there have been occasions where I’ve been able to quickly stop the violence of well muscled men who were much larger than myself, but when it came to (larger) wrestlers or grapplers (especially the quick ones) unless I was willing to resort to a bone breaking violence myself I typically lost. And yes, I actually have experience with both “street fighting” and “sparring,” but my only martial arts training was in Hap Moo Do (a combination of Taekwondo, Hapkido, and Judo) - where I was a favored sparring partner when people realized they certainly didn’t have to go easy on me, or try not to hurt me. (The last being shared as a response to something written here about sparring being two people “trying not to hurt each other” - which in my personal experience is bullshit. If you’re learning to pull your punches, you aren’t learning to fight imo.) I often find these conversations quite interesting - with a tendency towards the bluster of those lacking actual “why yes I’ve been bruised and bloodied” experience.. and I sometimes find it rather hard to resist the urge to say, unless you have been bruised and bloodied, and found that inner reserve to persevere, it’s all just theoretical bs.

I like this answer.

@Eggsistentialist, it may be worth noting at this point, that dwai, who is very good at asking questions, is also quite receptive and open to being asked questions as well. @dwai, what if it isn’t a desire to fulfill “something missing,” but curiosity about how this whole balancing process plays out? Back to eggsistentialist, may I call you “eggsy”?

Recently on the show American Gods, the character of Laura Moon found herself in purgatory. She was to watch a movie type clip of an event from her childhood, and impatiently put it on “pause” and offered her jaded and self-blaming synopsis of the event. Eventually she follows the instruction to “just watch,” and we see things weren’t quite what she made them to be.. the “false self” she created was seen for the not quite accurate story it was. Elsewhere on this forum, I have referred to this process as the unraveling of a sweater... the stitches (knit together over a lifetime) start to become apparent, and as they become apparent they “drop”.. and you find yourself becoming both marvelously and terrifyingly naked. I tried to stop the process and hold onto things whose time had passed, but it doesn’t seem to work that way. Edit to add: I don’t think it works the reverse way either - as in things won’t/can’t be let go or dropped until the circumstances and timing has come for it to happen. In my experience these things really can’t be forced. And it is wrong, imo, for another to suggest they can do “the forcing” (of what should not/can not be forced) for you. I would suggest, if indeed there is some sort of “blockage” (or place where the stitches of your own sweater are still tightly knit), and you have personally not yet become aware of it, it is not yet time for those stitches to unravel.. at which point it becomes something someone else threw at you (which may become it’s own series of stitches), and not something you need to overly concern yourself with (without giving another undue power over you - which I would strongly recommend against).

My apologies helpfuldemon, but I disagree with this statement owing to personal experience with feeling the energy of others approaching me from outside my visual range with no words being spoken. The affect can be feelings of warmth and openness or a tightening and heightened sense of awareness if somehow “threat” is conveyed or sensed. Owing to circumstances from childhood and early adulthood (when I learned words may be deceptive, but the energy (and movements and shifts there in) is not) I have tended to be much more sensitive than most. Here, I feel you are on what I would call “the right track.” We are sovereign beings, and others honestly (energetically) only have the power over us which we grant them.

It is not the offering of services which is in question, but the manner of the “offering,” and the newly emerging pattern of this “offering” being made to the newest members of the forum - “trolling” to see who bites, as one member put it. Perhaps you could consent to allowing them to get acclimated to this place before the hook is tossed. At which point it may look a little less predatory to me, and you may not find yourself feeling “lambasted” or “threatened.” This matter is currently under review by the mod team.