Taomeow

I like to use Occam's Razor too but I just don't know which probability is higher in this particular case and which one is to be discarded. Is it obvious to you? Totally not obvious to me. And I've been gathering and integrating information from all manner of sources for years. The only conclusion so far -- "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -- Arthur C. Clarke

But the real question is, how do we tell the real thing (well, by "real" I mean existing whether WE exist or not) from Project Blue Beam, MK-ultra, and the like?.. If you don't believe in secret technologies and especially weaponized secret technologies, think back to what you already know... By the time they dropped the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, over 100,000 people were employed working for the Manhattan Project -- yet it was kept absolutely secret, no leaks to the media, no slips of the tongue by politicians, zero public information about a major super duper secret military program. Fast forward to the present... do they have more secrets or fewer? Larger budgets or smaller? More accountability as to what they're doing with this money and power or less? What d'you reckon?..

And here's a fine example of how orthodox "scientists" defend their fundamentalist beliefs in the face of material evidence that challenges them: Note that there is no evidence of such skulls being created by manipulation (and incidentally, it's not just the shape of the skull but the volume -- indicative of the size of the brain inside such a skull -- which is impossible to increase twofold by any manipulations of infants' heads!) -- yet immediately this assumption which relieves them of the duty to change their beliefs is offered as "scientific fact" -- with NO facts backing it up whatsoever, scientific or otherwise. This is how our "objective scientific method" operates when faced with objects it has trouble with... they just make things up and those made-up things are accepted into circulation as science, while the elongated skulls and millions of other inconvenient bits of evidence get safely locked away -- out of sight, out of mind...

As opposed to what? Cognitive neuroscience in its modern form, after a good deal of investigation, found only one way to differentiate projections of the mind from, well, other projections of the mind: they are either shared or not. I.e. if many people seem to perceive the same thing it is labeled "real" just for convenience's sake, and if only one person or a few (the minority) perceive something the majority doesn't, it is labeled a "hallucination." However, nothing has been found in the brain-mind machinery to tell the difference. Not the pathways whereby the information comes in, not the processing, not the firing of the neurons, not the neurochemistry... nothing. So UFOs are "projections of the mind" in all cases -- just like tables and chairs. However, there's cultures where the majority perceives them and only the minority doesn't. In these cultures (e.g., native tribes of the Amazon) the person who fails to perceive them is thought of as mentally deficient, lacking certain brain capacities... just like in ours, where the majority was taught how not to perceive, perceiving is considered a sign of a troubled mind. Isn't it ironic?..

A metaphor. If you look under my avatar, it says "The Sword of Tao." Stig has "janitor" under his, so he would use a broom or a mop.

OK, a quick response for now and we can open a new thread on the subject of moderation if it proves not enough: 1. A moderator's note is different from suspension and a suspension is different from a ban. It has been agreed between moderators that any moderator will post a warning, openly or in a PM, at his or her personal discretion, ditto with short term suspensions (hours, days). This, to expedite our work -- the forum is huge and complaints, reports, or other issues brought to mods' attention are often a daily offering. It is my personal preference to post my warnings openly. The goal is to inform not only the member who is getting a mod's note but everybody else that we do not have any use for a rule of secrecy. 2. If a long term suspension is considered, the mods will discuss it prior to the action and act upon reaching consensus. As for bans, they are exceedingly rare and, with perhaps two exceptions in the whole history of the forum, are reserved for spammers and impersonators of other people under real names not belonging to the poster. 3. The same day I posted a warning to Ralis, I sent two PMs in response to complaints and requests for moderation from members, telling them that we can't moderate dissent, disagreement, intent, thoughts and feelings. 4. Sean's position in the past year has been, consistently, to make a forum a much friendlier place for people who have valuable discussion to contribute yet don't care to be targets of incessant bickering, harshness, hostility, rudeness and disrespect. In the discussion at hand, after Sunya complained of precisely such behavior on the part of Ralis, he told her "stop the drama" and "don't participate if you're too thin-skinned and sensitive." My intervention at this point confirmed Sunya's and everyone else's RIGHT to be "thin-skinned and sensitive" and the absence of Ralis's or any non-moderator's and non-owner's right to decide who will and who won't participate in a discussion. 5. The suggestion of "ignore" list was the outcome of multiple prior exchanges between Ralis and Vaj that inundated the mod squad with reports, complaints, and finger-pointing involving both parties. Since the vendetta was unfolding on a number of occasions derailing a number of threads, the mods suggested this choice to both participants as a very benevolent solution to the problem. Vaj agreed (though by now he seems to have changed his mind), Ralis argued, the mods insisted, the current exchange in this thread between the two was a bad case of deja vu -- so I reminded Ralis that we've already "been there done that" and it may have resulted in a suspension (don't remember, I wasn't the one handling the prior vendetta), giving him a chance to avoid a repeat performance. 6. No more time for this right now, if I haven't been clear or reasonable with my explanation, let's resume in a separate thread. Thanks everyone for the input, I watch myself as carefully as I watch others, at the very least, and don't claim infallibility.

So... are you looking for some egalitarian aliens? Well, we get who we get...

---MODERATOR"S NOTE Um... Ralis... no, it's the other way around: if you cause enough complaints from and aggravation for other members, as you already have, it's you who will have to take a break from participating. Your tone is too harsh, and the thin-skinned and sensitive are our most valued members, so don't even think of alienating them with impunity. Besides, didn't we ask you to put Vaj on your 'ignore' list so we don't have to deal with the vendetta anymore? Didn't you get warned that dropping this vendetta (and not starting any new ones, incidentally) is the only way you will avoid being suspended? Do lend me your ear now and please post with respect for other members regardless of whether you agree with them or not. You are intelligent enough to find a way provided there's a will. --Sword of Tao half sheathed

The Bible: Nephilim Quran: Afreet Buddhism: Nagas Taoist canon: Sons of Reflected Light or Sons of the Star to name a few. There is not a single religion, mythology, or shamanic tradition that doesn't mention them in the context of either creating or modifying, teaching or enforcing laws, mating with humans or establishing the ruling bloodlines, or otherwise meddling in human affairs. Siberia to Africa, they are consistently there. The Zulu "pope," Credo Mutwa, the official guardian of the shamanic knowledge of all tribes of the area, has much to say about aliens -- he asserts his people have had knowledge of these visitors for thousands of years and are still visited today. Taoists attribute all they know and do to the teachings of the Sons of Reflected Light who visited their country some 10 to 15 thousand years ago.

Not just more than one person... more than one species! http://www.youtube.c...h?v=DY1pcEtHI_w

This guy and a couple more -- I will post links to the other gurus if I find them:

OK, Russian tea didn't travel the Great Silk Road, it penetrated via Siberia instead, and so retains the spirit of a "warming" brew, not so much physically (and not drastically like vodka) as in the sense "heart-warming," and it is great to serve to guests because it carries a spirit of intimacy, friendship, togetherness, camraderie -- it's not a lone meditator's drink, its spirit is of family or friends or colleagues getting together to share a relaxed mood. Here's what you need: good loose leaf black tea (I routinely go with either Ceylon or Darjeeling, which is Indian); a porcelain tea pot that holds a minimum of two cups of water (you can also use a clay pot, or an enameled metal pot, but not glass and not stainless steel or some such); a teaspoon; a kettle; spring water. Put your kettle on and time your operations so you don't let your water overboil -- the crucial part of tea success is water that hasn't lost oxygen in boiling -- the moment it bubbles up, turn it off; but don't let the water cool off either -- from the moment you turn the kettle off, work very fast doing this: pour a little hot water in the empty tea pot, cover, splash about to warm the pot, discard; measure as many heaping teaspoons of tea leaves into the tea pot as the number of cups of tea you intend to serve, plus one; briefly turn the kettle back on so it comes to a boil once again (it takes seconds, don't wait longer), pour boiling water into the pot, filling it only to 2/3 which leaves room for the tea to steam and breathe, cover with a lid; let stand for 5 minutes; what you have in the tea pot is "zavarka," concentrated tea which is then poured into cups and individually mixed with water (which you bring just to the boiling point once again -- but not beyond). Thus you regulate the strength of tea to taste -- some people will use just a little "zavarka" and some will go half and half (this will be very strong, but not bitter -- good black teas aren't bitter, they are astringent instead, "too strong" will be indicated by overtones of unripe persimmon); the usual/common proportions are determined by color -- a splash of "zavarka" on the bottom followed by diluting it with water should yield a beautiful darkish amber color, not watery and not black as coffee; it is served very, very hot and care is taken with timing every step of the way (with practice it becomes second nature and the whole operation, simple enough as it is, gets streamlined to a no-brainer); voila -- you have your Russian tea. Here's some additional notes: it is served in porcelain cups, NOT mugs whose thick sides will cool it off too much and whose overall crudeness of shape and purpose tends to cheapen the mood; and not in tiny thimbles like Chinese or Japanese tea, whose extra refinement and the need for many refills should the guests be genuinely thirsty takes too much attention off the conversation and onto the tea itself -- which is the opposite of what a Russian tea gathering is trying to accomplish; to make it uniquely Russian, serve it with lemon and sugar, a thin round slice of lemon, skin on, goes into each cup (the whole lemon is splashed with boiling water before you cut it to release the aroma), you use your teaspoon to squeeze it out in your own cup, add sugar to taste; or else, berry preserves are the most common thing served on the side, used to be homemade de riguer...; and in general, all kinds of nice sweets are offered, though not necessarily consumed, depending on the guest. The "zavarka," concentrate, can be used the second day, with freshly boiled water, if any remains. If you're going to eventually entertain a large tea party outdoors, I'll tell you everything about a samovar... the imperial way to do Russian tea.

(Sorry for the off-topic, OP, I'll be brief and then we'll get back to tea ) Cool! I believe it. I'm all over Mongolian and Siberian overtone singing which I was first introduced to by Max (he can do it!) It is the second most powerful sound effect I've ever experienced (second only to live icaros of Peruvian shamans). I found a tutorial online and started practicing a bit. So far the results have been... I suck... but it still feels great!.. -- not the sucking part, the reverberation of some strings inside I never knew existed, which happens if I manage, just briefly, to get it right... Back to tea. DC, you're asking a tea newbie which country's tea she prefers? How would she know? Tell her what YOU prefer and why, get that learning curve going! So, to practice what I've just preached... I prefer, like I said, black Ceylon tea. That's a Russian thing. The great taoist alchemical vehicle, fire within water, got picked up by Russians early on and ingenuously turned into a samovar. The Chinese tradition of drinking green tea, however, didn't take root -- the climate didn't agree with it, or the spirit, or both -- so, after a historic period of experimenting with this and that, by the 19th century the choice was made decisively in favor of black tea. Because I grew up with it, made exactly right (most families made it exactly right, you lost face if you didn't know how), I always feel that my green tea experiments lack the kind of spontaneous competence I have with black teas, and usually leave me frustrated. The worst mess I made of my green tea was, sadly, in China, when offering it to someone very much in the know, who took one sip and didn't touch it anymore... This would never have happened to me with black tea.

Well, if we're at the basics, I'd start with Sri Lanka, aka Ceylon... the birthplace of my favorite Ceylon black tea. And when we move on to advanced tea science... how about Tibetan tea with yak butter? Or Altai tea with salt and fish oil? Great for the throat, and check out what it can do for your voice:

Stick around and, as the band of avatars you've referenced put it in one of their classics, All Will Be Reve-e-e-e-ealed. I like your style.

OK, I found it at the local Asian market, and mysteriously too. There were all kinds of spices there in the allocated spot, but "mala," "Sichuan pepper," or anything else that looks anything like the above picture wasn't there. Frustrated, I was about to leave the aisle, and suddenly someone called my name! A Chinese woman I used to meet at my taijiquan class some three years ago... she now takes it on different days, and I'd never bumped into her by chance in all of this time... but some higher power or other obviously meant for me to have this spice and so sent us both shopping to the same place at the same time to accomplish the mission. I explained what I was looking for, and she led me to a different aisle, where inconspicuously tucked in a corner of the lowermost shelf were some plastic bags labeled "Dried Pepper Corn" (sic!) filled with the most beautiful... see picture above. Yippee! So, I tried cooking with it, twice by now. Oh My God. I think I found a new addiction. Thanks everyone for making it happen!

And even this less-than-10% is way more than Longmen school ever taught to the general public in the past 800 years. Alchemical taoism has never been a mass consumption product. Anyone who "wants it all and wants it now" better go to the local all-you-can-eat buffet instead of WLP's seminar.

Thanks for the elucidation. I like to laugh too, it might just be that different people find different things funny. I don't even mind it when someone gets a laugh at my expense... but when it's, e.g., at the expense of poisoned, abused, murdered children, animals, plants, and planets, my sense of humor quits on me. I don't mean that was the gist of your joke. I mean it's a popular way to joke in general -- by defensively fragmenting one's consciousness to pieces so as not to see the whole picture. How else can anyone find humor, peace, contentment in genocide?.. And I don't despise anything more than a "sage" who works on not caring and thinks it's "detachment" as prescribed by party line. I don't despise anything more than someone "detached" from caring. Doesn't mean I let my heart bleed over everybody and everything, some of the most tragic things are indeed funny or at least farcical... but callousness as the goal of cultivation?.. Whoever sold this idea to the "spiritual" crowd better watch out when we meet spirit to spirit in the battle of evermore. Just kidding... not.

That's how I get into it -- by grabbing my big toes. I never thought of the points activated in the process (thanks!), I just learned it from a picture that showed someone holding the big toes, and discovered it's the easiest way.

Alaska the home of HAARP?.. Again, it's just one theory out of many, way too many that are way, way more than mere "theories," alas. Meds in the water supply (that's mainstream news, not some "conspiracy theorist's" paranoya) and they officially want to add more (e.g. lithium, which is an open invitation to irreversible liver damage on top of being a heavier CNS tweaker than the currently popular fluoride, but supposedly people with bipolar disorder and suicide tendencies are expected to benefit, and everybody else... well... they forget to mention everybody else. And usually by the time they start mentioning an intent to do something on the mainstream news, it's already a done deal.) There's way more... but I get disheartened, to tell you the truth, when I see, right here on this forum, evidence that it's all working just the way it's supposed to work. Entries that ridicule anybody who makes a peep about ulterior motives behind our overlords' activities... yeah, we are governed by knights in shining armor, everybody who takes any contrarian information to heart merely lacks the power of observation, besides being an undermedicated paranoid conspiracy buff. Ever so pissed. Must be something in the air...

It's literally in the air -- very low oxygen, even here in CA I can feel it, while people in the states adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico are getting cyanosis -- a symptom of low oxygen in the blood (cyanide, one of the many poisons that interfere with uptake of oxygen by red blood cells, is named after the effect, literally "death by color blue." The residents of the Gulf are talking about the "blue flu." With promises of a "blue plague.") Another weird thing... no chemtrails here in CA in the past two month, I've never seen them absent from the sky for more than a day or two ever before. Maybe a downer therein is not sprayed anymore and that's why people are having a harder time repressing their feelings? The air is heavily medicated, and the prescription may have changed? -- just a hypothesis...

Indigenous traditions had vastly different ideals of female beauty and paid attention to quite different features than those their neighbors might find attractive, but there's one feature they noticed that they all had in common as the make-or-break-beauty criterion -- the hips to waist ratio. It didn't matter if you were supposed to be fat or thin -- the ratio all cultures found attractive was a constant, and that's a function of a properly formed skeleton (for which adequate bone density, coupled however with elasticity, is a prerequisite. Weightlifting, by the way, helps gain density at the expense of elasticity, and those dense but not pliable enough bones might not break as easily from a blow but are a nemesis for the joints -- weightlifters debilitated by arthritis later in life are more the rule than the exception.) Anyway... indigenous men ISO their women (and vice versa) used to notice what we stopped noticing very recently... and I'm sure it's a very unhealthy trend for the species, to be conditioned to notice and favor the more superficial traits over the more fundamental ones.

Oh, there's a lot of recorded information, the field of TCM's expertise in this regard is huge but "pharmacology" can't address it at all because it all starts with the cycles of growth, maturation, timing of gathering, cycles of preparation, etc., of the herbs themselves. This is an alchemical field, really. (I said it before and I will say it again -- I do not make any distinctions between "internal" and "external" alchemy, and believe those who do have been misinformed. The two kinds of alchemy are not "internal" vs. "external" but rather "successful" vs. "nice try.") Also, it is helpful (and f... realistic, unlike what biomechanical fundamentalist were indoctrinated to believe) to think of herbs as sentient beings, and quite erroneous to ignore this aspect of their overall makeup -- innate and acquired intelligence. E.g., just like humans in charge of fairly simple tasks, herbs that are very simple and straightforward in their action don't need a long time to learn, mature and get competent -- you can make Chinese chrysanthemum tea out of this year's flowers, and it will do some simple things it knows how to do, for instance smooth out Liver Qi, dispel some heat, heal some irritations, strengthen some capillaries, stuff like that. Not so with ginseng, one of the true sages... It matures and learns at about the pace of a human being, but then if it isn't discovered and dug up it keeps living way past the human age -- hundreds of years... gaining wisdom all the while. So if you're going to use ginseng that's under 6 years old, you're basically dealing with a child... a whiz, but still a child. A 20+ year old ginseng has a Ph.D.. in several life sciences. And a 60-year-old one (for which people in the know and in the money will pay way more than its weight in gold) has a cosmic consciousness comparable to that of a whole planet. It knows what to do not just for your body, mind and spirit, but for your afterlife too. A 20-year-old ginseng will lower your blood pressure if it's too high and raise it if it's too low -- same root, same preparation, two different people will take the same dose and it will do for one the exact opposite of what it will do for the other, except in both cases it will happen to be exactly what they respectively need. I'd like to see a pharma employee put this in his pipe and smoke... er... blow it. And then a 60-year-old ginseng will in all likelihood direct you toward the spiritual practice, lifestyle changes, or other destiny-affecting decisions whose implications reach far beyond this lifetime of yours. I'd like to see a double-blind placebo-controlled pharma-financed study investigating this effect...

No, she was not. She was an encyclopedically educated and spectacularly talented researcher of the occult who wrote copiously on the subject and acquired "disciples" as an outcome. "Fraud" presupposes falsehood, doesn't it? Madame Blavatsky had a worldview one may disagree with (I for one do) but she never falsified her sources, evidence, or credentials. So maybe you want to call her something else -- how about "someone I haven't read but heard bad things about?"