Aetherous

I think a western Taoist city would look a lot more natural than most cities. There'd be a bunch of people in parks doing weird body movement exercises, myself included. You'd hear a lot more discussion on "dantiens" at the local tea shop. By the way...more tea shops. Like one on every block. The cops in the city would be really bored. That's about it.

It's actually based on two posts...and it is enough to judge your attitude and beliefs, because you state them clearly. But I have not judged YOU.

Man, you have such a negative view of humanity and the earth! I think we're doing relatively fine, and only improving as time goes by.

Hello happyheart, welcome. I'm wondering if Master Yang's practices can be learned online?

I like to do a specific meditation at the beach... Step 1: Take some goggles and go underwater, with your back at the bottom so that you're facing the surface of the water. Step 2: Blow bubbles and catch them in your hands. That's it. It's a really different view of things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe Gobekli Tepe is a much older sign of civilization in Turkey (they think sometime from 9,000-12,000 BC), yet it only includes images of various animals...no alien or angel type beings. Could be that the Sumerian tablets are really just mythology.

From what I understand, the stillness-movement practice is not complex...?

I truly think that any "method" will be a deviation from what is "natural". So if you try to do nothing, you're already kinda failing due to the trying. It comes when you finally just give up and experience life. These practices are a manipulation of the mind, and they do require effort...but I think if they are good, then they lead one towards what is natural. For instance, they will awaken your internal energy and clear pathways in the body, which will make you more prone towards living in the moment and having less habitual emotion/thought. I also like to practice a few really intentional methods, since they're very useful and interesting...but that constant effort and assumption that something is missing is not my natural state.

To experience energy flow quickly and safely, this: But once you can experience your internal energy, it's a matter of what you want to do with it. Some use it to heal others, some use it for internal alchemy, some just to feel buzzy all the time, some for manifesting, etc. If you are teaching people, you should already have practices that you do which are effective...so I don't know what else to say!

Welcome Master Sio. Aloha!

Inspiring stuff!

Thanks Stig, those musing in your topic were very interesting!

I like the idea that the rapper Jay-Z doesn't write his lyrics down. He formulates an entire song in his head, then can go into a vocal booth and spit it out. So if I were doing memory stuff, I'd do the same thing with my own words. Seems more engaging than just memorizing without any creative process involved.

At some point you are able to let go of the constant effort...then everything opens up, and everything is spontaneously attained. Trying causes the mind and energy to kind of coil up and tighten...the attention moves forward and 'engages'... ...whereas letting go causes all energy to unfurl and exist in its natural state. Attention is loose and expanded, coming from the center.

Also throwing this question out there: what came first, the lo shu square or the 8 trigrams?

Thanks Stig, I'm interested in this recognition of patterns. How does this recognition happen for you? For example, lets say you recognize what kind of situation you're in (perhaps by intuitively recalling hexagram 15, or having been in a similar situation previously). What is the most likely next phase of the pattern? Hexagram 16? Is it more about the wisdom contained in the writings about each hexagram, rather than the powers of the hexagrams themselves? By the way...how would one recognize what situation they're in aside from a random divination with coins? I am really interested in this aspect...do the 64 have distinct manifestations in the natural world, so that you can say "oh yes (hexagram 44) change is in the air"? Or just the experience paired with an intuitive feeling that leads you to know you're having a hexagram 24 moment? Distinct manifestations...for instance, a storm rolls in and birds are still in the sky chirping...versus it's a sunny day with white puffy clouds and a gentle breeze? To me, these things represent the REAL changes of energy, within and without. For instance, a person feels a kind of exhiliration during a storm. On the other hand, a person will feel relaxation and positivity on a white puffy cloud gentle breeze day. Real changes and powers. ...maybe I'm trying to look at it from too much of a natural point of view...when really it has more to do with human complexities and philosophies? Can you give an example of this? I do quite a bit of internal energy work, and don't see how the book could apply...but this is the main way I would want to use the book!

I shall take this approach!

Thank you for that additional information.

Also, Taomeow, Can you explain more about this point? This is what I'm most interested in. Can the I Ching be used for weather magick, or interpreting interesting changes in nature?

zerostao, I am hoping to find a use for it besides it being an oracle. In what way does it reveal Tao, and what exactly do you mean by Tao in this case? Apech, I think there is some truth to a basic polarity existing, or a seeming one (in the case of day/night for example...they aren't polar opposites, it's just the movement of the earth and the apparent motion and absence of the sun. Actual day and night are illusory and just concepts). Most of the world appears as dual, but in fact it is not...so we already begin with a false conceptual map of nature by using yin and yang. I begin to get really hung up on the 8 trigrams. They are supposed to be 8 powers in nature...but they don't seem equal to me, and definitely not a basis for the rest of creation. Sky, lake, fire, thunder, wind, water, mountain, earth. Sky and earth seem equal and worthy. But a lake? Thunder? Why not a river? Why not lightning, or a storm in general? What about volcanoes? The way I see it, these 8 trigrams don't make sense as the 8 primary forces of nature. Then these powers are each equated to other things...in the case of "sky" there is: expansiveness, a father, summertime, creativity...so we begin to lump a lot of other aspects of our reality into categories which may be inaccurate, and not useful. Then we combine two of these 8 powers and come up with a hexagram? Why? And more importantly, how does one know that by combining those two forces, whether the resulting explanation is accurate for those things? I understand there is a lot of explanation for each line and position within the hexagrams...so perhaps there is something to defining everything in terms of 64. But what use does it have in terms of numerology (for instance does hexagram 45's explanation actually relate to the energy of the number 45 itself? Will that explanation correlate to other times when the number 45 appears?). And why is everything based off of 8 powers anyway? From what I understand, most systems use 9 as the complete or final number. So anyway, the way I see it, the entire book seems to be based on a shaky foundation. Taomeow, Will you give an example of how it does that? Thanks to you all.

Red dragon palm. Letting go...the opposite of any technique.

They abolished hamburgers due to the breatharians who insisted to the sex deprived angels that every 5th dimensioner must live on light, for the sake of evolution. Pizzas were abolished when the chinese medicine people came and said that cheese is really bad for us. Pie was abolished when More Pie Guy ascended and ate it all. At the 6.66th dimension, heaven turns into hell, and all the good stuff comes back. But all the girls end up looking like this. So basically...enjoy your earth girls and foods while you can.

Who cares? More information is always better.

Don't worry...just take things step by step, live in the moment, and achieve the things you want (like getting a girlfriend)! Talking about ascending to a heavenly realm or a different world...that is very rare, if it's even truly possible. If you're transitioning between worlds, be sure to come back and tell people your secret!

I sense that rain will be good for the area!