Aetherous

It's just like being a little kid on a playground at recess... You can be enjoying your swing..."ahhh so peaceful swinging on my swing! It's so much fun to feel that weightlessness when I reach the top! Woo hoo..." Then the class bully comes along and pushes you off. You go flying, and your face hits the woodchips with a crack! OUCH. You start to bleed and cry, while he laughs at you. You curl up into the fetal position and pray to whatever higher power will listen that the world would be fair. ...Then your hero comes along. Your best friend, Billy! He takes a swing at the bully - knocking him to the ground. The bully starts crying and runs away with a red face. Billy yells out, "Don't mess with my friend, baloneyx, again!" He comes and helps you up and suggests that you swing together. So much fun again! Brotherly love fills your heart and you're so grateful to have a good friend who will stick up for you. From that point on, the bully avoids you because he knows what will happen...he sees that dangerous look in Billy's eye anytime he looks in your direction. If Billy wasn't there, the bully could mess with you at anytime. You could be eating lunch and all of a sudden a basketball could fly into your head, and your meal would fall all over your clothes and on the floor. You could be sleeping at night and the bully would throw a rock into your window, breaking your favorite transformers toy! You would have to live your whole life in fear...but since your friend Billy is there, you can enjoy your meal. Yum. You can sleep peacefully and dream of the hottest girl in your grade inviting you over for baloney and ketchup sandwiches. And then when you wake up, you can play imaginary war with your transformers. ... So despite the world being a messed up place where evil people run the show and lie to the public about why wars are fought...I think it's good to honor the "Billys" who decided to be vigilant and give up their freedom and peace so that you can have yours. Because it's very true that they are the reason why you're sitting on the internet talking about how much they suck. The way I see it, until people learn some respect we can't call ourselves a civilized society. Have fun, kids.

With power comes responsibility, and with human nature comes irresponsibility.

Losing bodily fluid that's supposed to be lost is not an energy drain, and doesn't affect alchemy. Nursing your kids is great.

Very interesting take on it, and I agree (if I'm understanding you correctly). But my point was that even doing that is manipulating the natural flow of things. Why do anything? It could be seen that everything we do is against nature, unless we just totally accept everything that happens to us.

If you look at the beginnings of Taoism in history, you see people attempting to manipulate things in order to prolong and improve their lives. Nowadays, some people look at the history of Taoism and see that someone along the line said "be natural" and they assume that means you shouldn't get an organ donation because it wouldn't be natural...but in my view that's totally the opposite of what someone should do. It's natural to want to survive, and it's natural for people to come up with ways to transplant organs because of that desire. It was natural for Taoists to come up with the ways of manipulating energy and consciousness to improve their health and increase their lifespan, for this very same reason. Everything humans do is natural, just like everything that deer do is natural. Or like everything that storms do is natural.

It's a good element when you keep it to one or two.

My favorite is five element eating! Have a meal with soft, liquid, crunchy, etc....sweet, salty, bitter, pungent, cooling, etc...all different sorts of colors of foods. Some hot, some warm, some cool, some cold. I love to eat.

I think he said he was a Navy corpsman (medic)...sometimes they get attached to Marine units...sometimes SEAL units...maybe. He also said he got kicked out for not saying "sir". I don't see the worry over him having served in the US military. Does that make someone a part of the illuminati or something?

Truly brilliant.

I think it's a good thing. Keep doubting everything that doesn't seem right to you. Follow your inner guidance.

You can be arrested for someone mailing something to you?

I'm not sure...10 minutes? Maybe time doesn't matter. The key (I think) is relaxing your body and drifting off to sleep in the posture. I use tons of different pillows to make it as easy as possible. Under the knees to keep the kua from shortening and pulling on the low back. Under the low back to slightly lengthen it. Under the shoulders and neck to open the chest, and allow the head to drop back a little bit so that the spine is all in line. Then under my elbows to make sure the hands are in the right place...then I also kind of rest my fingers on my torso so that they stay in the mudra without me trying to keep them in it. After all of that preparatory work, then relaxing and passing out. Then effortlessly in the hypnagogic state, it happens. For me, I "saw" an astral hand and forearm come into my crown and press on something in my chest. But if you're looking for something to happen, you're not going to enter that state of mind. Fun stuff.

Great movie and soundtrack. Inspiring story, since I can somewhat relate to that desperate search for truth as well. Perhaps we all can?

The thing is: you shouldn't guess what your condition is. There are all sorts of interrelationships between the 5 organ networks, and if you treat yourself for what seems most likely to be your problem (deficient kidney), it may have the opposite effect and actually do more harm than good. Or have very little effect. I don't think it's so easy to mix Eastern and Western medicine. If you have hypothyroidism, it could probably be a few things in TCM...especially since your symptoms are only like half of what's on the list. Also, when you get a diagnosis they should check your pulse and tongue at least. That will help back up what they think it could be based on your symptoms. If it doesn't back it up, then it's something else entirely! So yeah, it's risky business. Go to a professional. Or at least, if you try something and you're getting bad results, stop doing it!

I thought you were just trying to be celibate for 100 days and couldn't do it? But you have no libido? I'd go to an acupuncturist or two. It's hard to say what's actually wrong with you based on self diagnosis, and it's even harder to say what medicine could work for you. Chinese medicine is complicated! By the way...it seems obvious to me that doing more sexual practices isn't a good idea...like hanging weights, retention, etc.

I agree. No offense meant to the generous bums who have donated. I love you all.

Thanks for the book recommendation, innerspace cadet. Silent illumination (shikantaza) is the highest method of meditation.

Wilco was the best sounding show I've ever been to. Xiu Xiu was nice and intimate, but I'm not a big fan of them anymore. Tool is always visually amazing, especially when they have the naked contortionists hanging upside down. Radiohead, during the Hail to the Theif tour was awesome, at Alpine Valley (tailgating before in the grass parking lot, then standing on the big hill). The Melvins are cool...they have two drummers that play at exactly at the same time. Can't remember who else I saw right now... Against Me - Baby I'm an Anarchist 8ScFU0UxKWA

Vacuity is awesome! I heard Gojira a while ago, but not this new stuff...amazing.

Very nice write up...although I'm a meat eater. Great stuff to support your side of the argument. The main reason why I eat meat is: I feel normal in doing so. If I go primarily vegetarian, I don't seem as grounded and balanced. But this thread has got me thinking about it.

In meditation terms, the ego is an assumption. An imagined coordinator and controller of the mind. It doesn't exist as anything real...this is what Buddhists mean when they say there's no self. In an enlightened state, your perception shifts so that you're not assuming you're a self, and there's pure experience of the present moment. People also use ego to mean someone is being very full of themselves. Like if you think you're awesome, you have a huge ego. If you act like you're the least important person in the world, you're humble and have very little ego. But someone who is humble isn't necessarily enlightened, and someone who is enlightened may not act so humble...the two meanings are very different.

Trixster, I'll give my opinions here. I'm not a teacher or anything, just a fellow practitioner: Relaxation in the postures is the key. Using the minimum amount of effort and tension. If you're feeling pain or stress, and you're using too much of your muscles, you need to relax and release more. Maybe your alignment is off, too, if you're feeling pain and tension. Change your posture so that it's easier if necessary. Also, make sure your spine is straight and open and that your body is stacked from the feet up (the bottom being the foundation, and the upper parts of the body simply sit on the lower parts, like a mountain). Get "The Way of Qigong" by Kenneth Cohen and apply all of the aspect of standing meditation to it...it's the best resource I've ever found on the principles of standing. The martial benefits come entirely from being able to use the whole body as one unit with the least amount of effort or strain. This is made possible by having the correct alignment, and releasing of unnecessary tension. It stores excess energy in the lower dan tien area, by putting the palms on the navel. The effect of skipping it could be that you get too much energy than your body can handle, and you can become ungrounded by that energy being too stuck in the head. It helps to drain the energy down from the head. An effect I had of doing it for too long was feeling run down and tired. So there's a healthy medium to closing down. Do it so that you feel normal. If you find that you need more grounding and have too much energy outside of practice, you can simply put your hands on the belly and do more closing down...there's no rule that says you have to do it all at the end of your session. Experiment! Go with what feels right. I don't think it's necessary to do the full hour. That can bring up too much stuff than your body can handle. If that's the case, drink more water...to help the body deal with the imbalance better. You should feel good and normal in your life outside of practice. If not, then something might need to be changed. And most likely you'll get the guidance from within on what to do...just go with what you think is right. Trust your intuition. And never be afraid to ask your fellow practitioners for help. Whatever the body does is good. The point is not to hold the posture. If you move out of it, then go with that. The posture is only to jump start the inner energy (which you might not be able to feel right away, but after a few months you will be able to kind of understand), which makes the body move to adjust itself towards balance. The adjustment is the key, not the building of the energy...so let it happen. Don't try to feel anything, or make anything happen. Just keep it to the very basics: go into the posture and let whatever happens happen. Distinguish your control of the body, and let it go. Relax all day...and realize that trying to relax isn't relaxing. Stop trying to do things...any effort we put forth towards achieving things keeps us from achieving them. On this path, the less we try - the quicker we advance. All that's required is practice and the knowledge that we can't force anything...this is a water path, so the more we're adaptable and fluid like water, the more the power will flow downward into us. The more we're firey and tense, trying to force things, the less room and openness there is for the downward flow. Surrender to love and peace, which will naturally rise in you more and more. Follow your heart/your feelings, and don't give up your ability to make rational decisions and think clearly. It's good to trust your inner guidance above what anyone says...even Max.

Freeform, Very nice.