Aetherous

I don't mean any offense in saying this, but I don't think your view is advanced or the product of attainment in any way, as you seem to have attempted to portray it to be. I view you as a normal person having normal ideas, and you've simply chosen a somewhat moral relativist position for the time being. As you advance in wisdom, you'll come back to a more refined position of objective right vs wrong. The fact that people disagree doesn't mean that objective right and wrong are unknowable, or non-existent.

It's a good question, because we often think we're right in our thinking when we're in fact not completely right. But on the other hand, I'm not a moral relativist at all. Right and wrong definitely exist in an objective way, and while questioning our perception is good to a certain degree, there's a point at which it becomes a bad thing. If we truly know what's right, not coming from a place of ignorance, then we should act. Here's an example: If we are walking downtown, and see a rich man beating up a homeless person who is on the ground, our initial instinct might tell us that the rich man is wrong and to help the homeless man. We could second guess ourselves and think, "Perhaps the homeless man was trying to mug the rich man, and the latter is simply defending himself". We could third guess ourselves and think, "Perhaps if I get involved, I might get injured or killed, so I should mind my own business"...and fourth guess ourselves, thinking about how beating others up isn't a bad thing in certain cultures and contexts...ad infinitum. Or we could see that one man who is probably already in poor health is on the ground being beaten by someone else, and could act. Even if it was a case of the homeless person trying to mug the rich man, and the rich man being correct in defending himself, it's still a good action. And we didn't overthink it, or pseudo-philosophize about whether we are capable of determining right or wrong, or if right and wrong even exist. So yeah - basically, self doubt is good up to a certain point, but it's bad after a certain point. It's good to take action in doing the right thing in this world.

It sounds like you want some structure and guidance. For those things, it helps to find a tradition/teacher to practice from, where their end goals are aligned with yours. How can we attain enlightenment by practicing random things that don't necessarily lead to that goal? Being unenlightened, we don't know how the goal is attained, or the way toward that goal...so we need a reliable guide's help if we truly want to be doing anything other than wasting our time. This forum is a good jumping-off point. It helps (as I'm sure you're already aware) to do forum searches and see everything people have discussed about various path, to do Google searches, read books, attend local events, ask people you know who are part of different groups...basically be a seeker, leaving no stone unturned, and try to find the true path to enlightenment. Then once you've found the way, do what it takes. Even once you've found a tradition to be part of, you can still do whatever techniques help you on the side. But I would discourage the attitude of thinking we can achieve anything worthwhile without learning from others. If you don't find a tradition or teacher...if you're genuinely seeking the truth, I think you will learn it in various mysterious ways.

I found that getting craniosacral therapy (Upledger type) helped the shaking be much less. If you have the means, try it out and practice a couple of hours afterward. At least for me, there was a world of difference, and standing was a piece of cake. Also, if I practice standing, I've noticed that if I just relax more...as well as have alignment where my weight is traveling through my knees, rather than bending my knees (and having my bodyweight get stuck in the quads)...those two aspects help to decrease the shaking. The relaxation has to be complete: mental as well as physical. It helps to some extent; I think this is why craniosacral therapy was so effective IME. I do think shaking is related to spontaneous movement, and even if it's just happening in the legs as a result of isometrics (or the simple act of standing), it's causing subtle movements to happen throughout the entire body. I don't think spontaneous movements are something to be encouraged or sought after, because they can easily cause aberrations in qi flow. It's better if qi flowing is smooth and normal. Oh and...I think many people have pelvis and sacrum misalignments, due to how their muscles have positioned themselves from lifestyle and various injuries, which cause one side of the body to be shortened or lengthened compared to the other, which can cause issues when doing a practice that utilizes both sides of the body equally. It's my personal view that zhan zhuang (standing) doesn't improve this postural abnormality, but further entrains it into our nervous system...so I think it's good to get this corrected, if we're serious practitioners. Muscle Energy Technique by PT Tom Ockler (someone who is able to practice that style of MET) is the way to go to fix this issue. Chiropractic is not the way to go for this.

...exactly.

Where did you learn neidan? With the tiny bit I know, it strikes me as non-traditional and non-textual to say that it requires "having the orbit".

Are you my college Algebra professor, come back to haunt me?

That's our instinctual reaction - the main character (ourselves) is always the one to root for. There's something about human psychology, for instance, if we watch a movie or read a book where the bad guy/antihero is the main character, the one we tend to project ourselves onto, we can find ourselves hoping that they don't get caught. Considering this aspect of our nature, perhaps it's helpful to view ourselves not from the first person perspective, but as best we can from the third person perspective, in an equal way to any other "character". Then we might have greater insight into ourselves. This is going beyond neidan discussion - but I think that in order to actually become good, before anything else we have to be super clear about the ways in which we're not good. The bad person believes they're good, the good person knows the ways in which they're bad. ... Also - does neidan really have anything to do with "power"?

Please say more if you want.

Because external alchemy is too much work!

Hey, nice name. Welcome to the forum. Here are a couple of tunes about nowhere:

With the magic square of Saturn, all numbers add up to 15 in any direction (even diagonally, which the picture doesn't show). Not that I have any idea what this means, but it has to do with 15. Also, this magic square is the same exact thing as the luo shu square. I have even less of an idea what that means.

I think bone broth will help especially, and beef will help some. A lot of the foods you listed might be more for other types of yin. For instance, pears are for lung yin, so they wouldn't help so much in your case. But in general it'd be good for you to eat a balanced diet, aside from blood and yin nourishing things. Stopping meals for the day at 3pm might not be a good idea if you're already blood and yin deficient, where you need more substance. That would be better advice for someone who had a problem with food stagnation, dampness, and phlegm. It'd be best to consult with your Chinese Medicine practitioner about this. They can keep track of how things are going for you. And importantly - they can give you herbs that will help the process along greatly.

It'd be nice if we could right the wrongs of the world.

You're joking with the quatrain, right?

I used the word "opponents" because it fit the vibe of what you said:

That opinion sounds greatly limiting. I wonder why you're holding onto it, if you truly believe it. According to whom? This doesn't seem accurate, considering the actions enlightened beings throughout history took. Considering what they taught. That opinion sounds rather firm! What about the possibility of there being nothing wrong with having opinions? It's good to not be blind to that one. It's not wise to think so highly of yourself, and underestimate your "opponents". Because what appears lofty to you: Might appear far below the perspective of others:

I'm not trying to dissuade you from your goals, but think for a second about what physical immortality would be like. Everyone you know would die. You'd meet new people, and they'd die as well. You'd be stuck here without them, constantly meeting people who are destined to grow old and die super fast, as you stay the same. You'd have to constantly move, so that no one found out you were this undying freak...or you'd have to stay away from society entirely, hiding in some remote area. It's hard to be hidden in our modern world, where our every move is tracked, such as when we spend money. You'd need to be off the grid. Imagine that after many years pass, humans evolve into looking different than they currently do, while you still look the same...or imagine that something like a meteorite hits the earth and kills all human life...then you're stuck here in a wasteland with no one else around...doing what? Basically - what's the point in being immortal? Why would you want to be? It might seem like a cool trick for the first 100 years, but shortly after that it becomes horrible. There are stories of people who are immortal, in the definition that they live much longer than normal humans. Maybe it's true, or maybe it's just a myth. But either way, if you're thinking of trying to become it, you might as well ponder what it'd actually be like.

Exactly!

This sounds nice, and is accepted without question by those of us indoctrinated by postmodernism...but it isn't accurate. In reality, some ideas are more true than others, while others are simply false. It's not a truism that every viewpoint has some truth to it. There is such a thing as being too open minded, where under the guise of fairness we constantly doubt the obvious truth, but are overly accepting of lies. Not a good way to be. Folks, there is nothing wrong with knowing what you know, and standing your ground regarding it. But they're saying "polarization", which means taking a stand one way or another/having an opinion, is the great threat. Just not when it's their opinions; those are fine. Yes, this definitely seems to be part of the issue of incivility.

I appreciate you sharing the article, so don't get me wrong. I'm just discussing it, rather than disagreeing with you. But I'd rather just focus on being civil, rather than dishonestly self-lobotomize. There are certain types of people in this world, who will always try to make you give up your independence of thought. They create a fictional problem (the world is in chaos), and present a solution (stop thinking and chaos goes away), all of which has an ulterior motive - they're just trying desperately to quell the ideas they dislike, in order to promote their own. They do it under the guise of promoting better communication and civility between people, but it's actually just them attempting to be the most right. For instance, the authors interject the fraudulent political notion that this is a time of rising authoritarianism; they've betrayed their stance. If you know the truth about something, there's nothing wrong with having that as your ideology. Don't let people tell you to stop thinking, and stop having a stance - they're just trying to weaken you in order to bring you down to their level. They can feel free to take their own advice, and not polarize by having any opinions. Having opinions, or holding them strongly, isn't the cause of incivility. Everyone has the freedom to choose whether to treat others well, or not...that's independent of what they believe or the fact that they have/don't have beliefs.

If the article is suggesting that having a stance, or having opinions, is the problem then I can't agree at all. The authors of the article are free to non-polarize their minds by letting go of the opinion that the polarized mind is a threat.

Spirituality is just one part of life. In order to make progress in spirituality, after a certain point we need to have balance with the other parts of our life, and just be normal human beings.

If you're saying things that are plainly not true, others are free to point it out. Welcome to the concept of a discussion forum. If you want a place where you can tell others false things and have it be unquestioned, feel free to make your own forum and delude the people who would go there.

You could avoid all of those food items for your entire life, and still get those diseases. And probably live a shorter and less healthy life due to avoiding them. Hell yeah.