Taomeow

Yes -- I didn't know there's visions, I do know there's stories and some circumstantial evidence. I've read a couple of books on Lemuria, including the original 1926 one, by James Churchward -- "The Lost Continent of Mu."

Have you ever come across my thread titled "Sumer: the "black-headed" vs. the "red-faced?" Don't want to repeat myself, both me and the (mostly wonderful) contributors (if you jump over a few attempts at derailing by now-defunct trolls -- though a bit of the legacy seems to have been left behind, the picture that comes up when I post the link below was supplied by one of them) -- as I was saying, we were going in some (occasionally considerable) depth over the civilized vs. indigenous/tribal/original human differences in modus operandi and social dynamics in early history that resulted in the former completely destroying the latter and creating the world as we know it. Something that didn't happen in at least 1.5 million prior years of our co-existence with each other (or 2.5 million if you prefer the latest assessments).

In the Soviet times, there was a joke everybody knew. A journalist interviews a Chukchi (a native of both Chukotka, which Russia retained, and Alaska which it sold). "How did your people live before the revolution, under capitalism?" "We lived very badly. We only knew two feelings -- cold and hunger." "And how do your people live after the revolution, under socialism?" "We live very well. We now know three feelings! Cold, hunger, and deep moral satisfaction." The joke was based on the cliche often used by the party leaders who always reported this and that "with a feeling of deep moral satisfaction."

I am not familiar with ancient Hawaiian history, but elsewhere, kings, with the help of their historians, liked to retell and rewrite history and make up stories about how bad it was before they came, how base and murderous and miserable everyone was before they made everyone peaceful and happy and civilized, their only purpose in life of course. So I would take those narratives with a grain of salt the size of Mount Everest. I am familiar with the state of affairs in Alaska though. At the time of the first European contact, when Russian explorers arrived in 1741, native peoples had been living there in peace for 14,000 years. In the harshest of environments where everything was scarce -- without dying out, killing each other, or invading their neighbors' lands. It's the same story everywhere... you could insert "Australia" or "the Americas" or any place on the globe, it's always the same story. It started with traders, who at first just peacefully cheated the natives out of their livelihood -- the people they encountered, from the accounts I read, "were so primitive that they didn't know how to lie," and consequently didn't suspect the newcomers of lying because it wasn't part of their cognitive frame of reference. The newcomers rejoiced -- it was easier to manipulate those innocents than anyone could imagine, because they fucking believed everything they were told! They were used to hearing the truth from each other, they had no immunity to deception. Then the newcomers proceeded to extract their goods without bothering with excuses anymore. Hostages and slaves were taken, families split and forced out of their villages. Some populations were promptly destroyed by Old World diseases against which they had no immunity -- e.g. 80% of Aleuts within two generations. And then organized religion took care of demolishing the ancient cultural traditions of the "heathens." And then dietary laws arrived -- they were forced to learn to eat bread or else starve or get executed (they never ate grains before), and were introduced to alcohol for which they also had no immunity (or rather, lacked certain enzymes that allow the long-drinking populations to process their alcohol without necessarily becoming alcoholics) so alcoholism became rampant among survivors. Such great blessings. Of course the perpetrators tell the story differently...

I'm happy for you it did. In most cases it doesn't though, because getting stuck at an extreme may be even less of a pathfinder than not knowing the extremes. I think, ideally, they are to be explored and left, with intimate knowledge and experience gained. But we seldom get to choose our traps. I always marvel at those morbidly wealthy individuals who are stuck at that extreme and never leave it. What it does to them. To say nothing of what it does to everyone else. What kind of emotional perversion can cause one to want to be a multi-billionaire and keep making more? What has to happen to a human being to cause such void of insatiability? Mind boggling. I got extremely drunk 3 times in my life. The last time when I was 19. My two best friends became alcoholics, but even though we were exploring together, it proved to not have been one of my traps. (Doesn't mean I avoided others though. But we seldom get to choose...)

Happy We Just Took Alaska Day On October 18, 1867, the U.S. formally takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre. The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about twice the size of Texas, and was championed by William Henry Seward, the enthusiastically expansionist secretary of state under President Andrew Johnson.

A lot of Eastern art is about emotions, but a different kind. E.g. traditional Japanese depictions of animals are imbued with subtle humor or outright comedy -- they are fun and funny, emotions they arouse are akin to the pure childish joy of watching something ridiculously adorable, like a kitten playing with a ball of yarn. Traditional Chinese poetry often revolves around the emotional ups and downs, joys and sorrows of friendship to the same extent Western poetry revolves around love. A lot of Eastern art places emphasis on emotions that are peripheral in Western art -- and vice versa. Of course they partially intersect on common ground, we're all human. But a famous taoist artist whose method consisted in getting drunk, dipping his long hair into a bucket of wine, swishing it around a sheet of rice paper or a silk screen and then adding a few quick brush strokes to the resulting chaos to transform it into order and produce a masterpiece was perhaps on a different level of knowing the Way than anyone who couldn't trust his uncultivated qi to replicate this method without making an ugly mess. Attitudes toward ordinary consciousness vs. different, extraordinary states of consciousness is what we need to explore. In this respect the East has been somewhat more accepting of the extraordinary states of consciousness and the resulting range of emotions. Ours has been, generally, drastically narrowed. We are supposed to only stay in the "normal" everyday state and not overstep its bounds -- all means and methods that can push one outside that tiny convention-compliant range, in our case, tend to be frowned upon as indulgences, discouraged, disallowed, or punished. That's one reason we are unable, in the average case, to find balance. We don't know the range. How can a point of equilibrium be found by anyone who doesn't know the extremes? Where is it? How do they know? They don't. That's why all those states so much talked about -- bliss, ananda, nirvana, wuwei, whatever anyone likes to call them -- are not states of being for the majority of people talking about them. At best they are just brief visits to a place where one can't abide. Too much is ignored that surrounds that point, too much is unknown, un-experienced, un-explored, un-lived. To paraphrase Ralph Waldo Emerson, "stand up and live before you sit down and meditate."

A better-known name under which it is sold is cinchona bark. Back in winter or early spring, I bought it as bulk herb, from Amazon and ebay. Some was grown in Peru, some in Mexico. Massively more cost efficient than buying ready-made tinctures, besides I am confident about the quality of mine, and my volume of Buhner's "Herbal Antivirals" explains the many ways store bought ones might go wrong (chiefly in terms of reduced potency).

None of you should feel grief about having no dream. For when a person becomes deep-rooted in knowledge, dream will be taken away from him. — Prophet Muhammad

Depends on how far you want to go with it. If you want to study the arts, there's teachers, courses, and books. If you want to get a quick idea of what the day is going to be like and what it's good/not good for, you can get the Chinese Farmer's Almanac or Tung Shing. A new one is published every year and has been for almost 4000 years. There's usually a couple of decent English version you can find, the very basic ones are inexpensive, the more in-depth ones can get pricey.

In 1959, Richard Nixon, then vice-president, visited the USSR, attending the opening of the exhibition "Industrial Products of the USA" in Moscow. A debate between him and Nikita Khrushchev then took place in the general area of the exhibited kitchen, each arguing for the advantages of their respective systems. Khrushchev's closing statement was, "Your grandchildren will live under communism." To which Nixon replied, "Your grandchildren will live in freedom." Unlike the silent Brezhnev (to the right of Nixon in the photo, looking as though he's already plotting his move against Khrushchev) who was unable to join in the debate due to zero English proficiency and no interpreter assigned, the dishwashing machine on display, a commodity absent from the USSR, de facto participated on Nixon's side as a harbinger of that future freedom -- at least from washing dishes by hand. 60 years later, 11% of the population of Russia do own that machine. So it looks like Nixon's prophecy was somewhat more accurate.

Emotions are the path -- nourishment is the destination. Somebody please feed the white cat.

Taoist arts are based on the taoist sciences of space-time. Unlike Western sciences that have been concerned almost exclusively with manipulating and "conquering" all aspects of Space ("Space... the last frontier..."), taoist sciences have always been revolving around mastering Time. That's the main and most unfortunate reason western-style-educated folks, regardless of ethnicity, are used to ignoring the timing aspects -- while traditional taoist practitioners will invariably start there. Invariably. My taiji teacher knows little about these things too, but never belittles traditional taoist arts on the basis of not practicing all of them. He's more of a specialist -- and will accept advice from a specialist in those arts on occasion. My taoist teacher, on the other hand, is meticulous about auspicious timing for particular practices without being fundamentalist about it, of course -- just prudently aware. E.g. long distance group practice of shuigong takes place on the 14th, 15th, and 16th days of each lunar month, synchronizing and amplifying access to the qi of the whole lineage for practitioners even though they are located on different continents. Of course those who are "already closely resonating with nature" would just know. Since no one in modern times lives like that, and hasn't for thousands of years, our sixth-sense-stunted contemporaries get instructions as to how to increase that resonance. E.g. men, who he asserts are somewhat less attuned than women (even modern women), are generally not able to perceive their own "periods" which are much subtler and a bit different timing-wise but not nonexistent none the less -- so they are advised to follow their woman's "lunar calendar" and to pay attention to what their female partners choose to do on each day, mimicking it instead of ignoring it, much less opposing it. The second day of the period, for instance, many women undertake all sorts of cleaning endeavors in their outer environment, quite unconsciously but like clockwork. Men are advised to emulate that and participate. Older women who no longer have their periods still have a hormonal/qi counterpart working, only on a much subtler level, and to listen to that clock is also a good idea. To check it against the universal clock (which is what taoist arts of space-time are based on) is the next step. And so on. "A sage grabs Time by the coattails and values an inch of Time over a foot of jade." -- Zhuangzi

Why don't we rename The Daobums while we're at it. How about Sanctimonious Platitudes Bums?

The episode with the fly on Pence's head gives new meaning to the Latin proverb, Aquila non captat muscas. Then again, who's to say it wasn't a micro-drone demonstration by an intel company showing off its capabilities to those who would know what they're looking at? After all they're the real "aquilas" in this whole equation with way too many unknowns.

@Nungali Thanks for the story. And for standing up for the goat.

Almost made me cry.

Of course -- if you intend to take your practice seriously. Traditionally (and to this day for those who are traditional practitioners) the best days for launching important endeavors have always been carefully calculated by bazi readers, feng shui masters and diviners, the worst days avoided. The Tung Shing, the taoist almanac and divination tool, provides a lot of such information to those who can read and interpret it. E.g. today and tomorrow are not auspicious days to start anything new or important, with the exception of any defense preparations that one may want/need to undertake. And I wouldn't even be at liberty to say that if it was also a San Niang ("master-killing") day -- for several reasons -- but today is not one of those. The day after tomorrow should be fine (unless there's an individual, personal conflict with the qi of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches of the day, or even of a particular hour of the day... but I won't take the analysis that far, not knowing your bazi, and just hope there isn't.)

https://news.yahoo.com/earlier-universe-existed-big-bang-174323840.html

A statue of Mikhail Gorbachev erected in Germany, of all places. That thing he holds in his hand which puzzled me at first (I remember Gorbachev very well but this brought back absolutely no associations) merited some research. Turns out it's a symbolic sign, specifically, a Mason's gavel. "Hand on heart" is another symbolic gesture of the same affiliaton. Well... butter me both sides and call me a conspi biscuit.

For me it was the opposite -- enforced optimism was practiced in my upbringing, I wasn't supposed to be unhappy or have problems (both were punishable no matter what the cause). So to reclaim my true feelings, I had to start out by getting rid of that superimposition of mandatory positivity and contentedness. To make room for my sadness, for heartbreak, for regret, disappointment, pain. I remember how everyone reacted when I just stopped smiling, in all the situations where I was expected to. As though the sky was falling. Just watching how those who were used to pulling my strings and pushing my buttons were completely at a loss when the buttons and strings stopped working was empowering. It felt awesome not to smile. Not to minimize my own feelings by adjusting them to anyone's expectations. Interestingly, it ultimately gave me much greater control of what I will and will not express, and feelings themselves became a lot more of a conscious choice once the unconscious ones were given citizenship rights in my consciousness. I learned to trust them. I don't feel any pressure that's not commensurate with the immediate situation to either "let it all out" or "keep it all in" -- I can choose, without hurting myself in the process, or others.

Air advisory in our parts -- close windows, avoid outdoor activities, run an air purifier (everyone is expected to own one for every room I guess), wear a mask, or better yet, try not to overdo it with breathing, it's not that good for you these days. Air quality index is dancing around 200, main pollutant being PM2.5 -- "particulate matter" -- the bashful way to say incinerated matter -- and our glorious governor is busy saving us all by manifesting laws that will ban cars by the year 2035. Obviously banning tinderboxes of dead trees right about now is not a priority -- after all, it has zero chance of generating any good housekeeping credits. That plastic doll elected official always has his priorities straight. His latest pull on the strings of his constituent puppets who adore being micromanaged: when dining out with your family, wear a mask in between bites. He literally said that in his tweet. And suggested to minimize the times you take it off. I guess I could meet that goal by swallowing the steak whole, that would minimize the mask-off time in between bites, but I think I better practice at home first, seems like a rather arcane skill to acquire, and I'm no stranger to arcane skills acquisition. And to think I was the first person in California to put the mask on, way back in early February. Against the prevalent message of the time from our health czars repeated many times by all the talking heads -- "masks are useless and increase your risk of getting infected, but it's just a flu anyway, stop spreading panic." There's two Chinese proverbs we live by. "Locking the stable after the horse has escaped." "Closing all doors against thieves when the thieves are already inside the house."

"First memory," by Alex Grey, 1998

Don't know about Michael, but for me, straddling two worlds is habitual, and tolerating ambiguity is an aspect of practice. Deities can be, indeed, just ideas, metaphors, mindsets... but simultaneously straight up deities. They can manifest in our reality as mindsets or qualities only -- or as actual beings, depending on circumstances. Our habitual dimension, reality, well worn-in and comfortably fitting (like a pair of slippers you put your feet into first thing in the morning) is not be-all end-all though. In most circumstances and while we are in "ordinary consciousness," "ordinary reality," it seems this way, but it's an illusion. I have no trouble psychologizing gods, demons, spirits, all sorts of beings our science dismisses as "supernatural" and therefore made- up, obsolete superstitions. (Not that it can answer the question what "natural" is though without changing that answer every 10-15 years.) Simultaneously I remain aware at all times that by doing so I'm merely catering to the prevalent mythology of our time which takes a condescending view of them (born of self-importance and self-aggrandizing hubris a whole lot of the time) -- as though our own narratives and fables of the human psyche are superior to the ones that went before, since the beginning of time and up to the educational reforms of some 120--150 years ago (and of questionable merit if you look into who installed them and what for.) Surely I can live in that world, in that modern mythology, on its terms. I too own that pair of slippers. But it's not my only place of residence, and not even the main one.