morning dew

Fascinating. I was wondering what the difference between the two would be.

Fascinating to read all your posts on this subject. I just have to say if I were ever to teach, this kind of thing would just drive me up the wall.

Thanks, very interesting. Do we know of any contemporary people who claim to have achieved this? I'm guessing they probably wouldn't advertise this on the Internet lol.

Yeah, I agree with all of this. And not just unnatural. It seems completely pointless (to me) to carry on living if all you're going to do is hide away from the world indefinitely. Each to their own, I guess. Also, I guess, if you're planning on creating an immortal fetus, you'll probably want to hide away for a while in some kind of monastery free from distraction. I'm not sure what people do once they attain this, though. Do they reintegrate into society?

A couple of quotes from an interesting article I was skimming earlier. There seem to be lots of different interpretation of Nietzsche's work; however, I tend to favour Jung's interpretation, which seems to be reasonably in line with Daoism (unsurprisingly, I guess) – I'm still thinking on this point. And yes, Hendrix probably wouldn't fit the Superman going by this article from what I can remember of his life and the way he died. https://philosophynow.org/issues/93/Nietzsches_Ubermensch_A_Hero_of_Our_Time

Yeah, that's my understanding of the will to power as well. It's a process of self-individuation and becoming the best 'you' you can become. Power over others sounds more how his sister might have twisted his words when she passed them on to the Nazis (I think, I can't remember ). I guess there could be overlap between Nietzsche's Superman and ZZ's superior man (or whatever he called him/her) in some instances. I can't remember exactly how he defined the Superman. Could Jimi Hendrix have been a Superman? He certainly self-actualised as a guitarist. On the other hand, he would have gone against ZZ's ideas of being in line with the Dao and conserving energy and longevity, for example: Hendrix lived fast and died young. I'm not sure. Some more ramblings from me.

Not as such. Turmeric with black pepper, hemp oil and salmon have all really helped me. Thanks for sharing your info. I shall have a look at those supplements in more detail.

Yeah, I shall have to have a ponder about this when I get a chance on the weekend. There's must be a contrast between Nietzsche's Superman and ZZ's superior man, because there is no benevolent Dao for Nietzsche.

Yeah, I vaguely remember his Dionysian stuff. It's been so long since I looked at him properly. With my comment I was kind of thinking of the way reality functions/Dao when I said 'reality' rather than the present moment. I don't seem to remember Nietzsche thinking there was a benevolent Dao? Ah, yes, good point. Another thing I like about both of them.

Yeah, I'm quite rusty on both. I guess there's overlap with them both being relativists. On the other hand, I get the impression ZZ would see reality as a bit more benevolent, whereas Nietzsche would see it as more neutral/uncaring?

This random quote reminds me of something old ZZ might have said, perhaps? “In some remote corner of the universe, poured out and glittering in innumerable solar systems, there once was a star on which clever animals invented knowledge. That was the haughtiest and most mendacious minute of ‘world history’―yet only a minute. After nature had drawn a few breaths the star grew cold, and the clever animals had to die. One might invent such a fable and still not have illustrated sufficiently how wretched, how shadowy and flighty, how aimless and arbitrary, the human intellect appears in nature. There have been eternities when it did not exist; and when it is done for again, nothing will have happened. For this intellect has no further mission that would lead beyond human life. It is human, rather, and only its owner and producer gives it such importance, as if the world pivoted around it. But if we could communicate with the mosquito, then we would learn that it floats through the air with the same self-importance, feeling within itself the flying center of the world.” ― Nietzsche, On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense

Interesting. I would've probably put someone such as Zhuang Zhou/Zhuangzi as number one. Also, I have no idea who Sextus Empiricus is lol. See other people's top results. Sextus Empiricus (100%) Protagoras (83%) Augustine (59%) Nietzsche (57%) Kant (56%) Hume (25%) Aristotle (23%) Aquinas (14%) Plato (0%)

Ah, very interesting. That must be quite difficult training with somebody who doesn't speak much English. What kind of stuff do you do with wudang? I'm not familiar with this (or not under this name); I can't remember what practices you do.

Thanks for the input and welcome to the forum.

Great story This looks like the diagram that Damo Mitchell goes over in his alchemy videos. Does this story have anything to do with internal alchemy at all on a deeper level?

Just bumping this as I was curious to see if anybody had anything to say on the matter. I don't know anything about this system at all, or much about astrology in general.

'The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.'

Welcome to the group. Love your username.

This is an interesting article. Yeah, I was a bit surprised as well. Also, I thought all the Kirkmans and Kohns had dismissed this idea in academia? I was surprised to read this below as well. I didn't realise this was still the attitude in China. I thought they had reintroduced things such as qigong back into mainstream society and hospitals, etc., in the 70s? Or do they view qigong in a scientific framework rather than a religious one?

Sounds interesting. I'll keep an eye out for that one as well.

Yeah, sounds like good advice to me. I found some of his brocade videos on yt and I'll see if I can get hold of those two books on the cheap.

Thanks for taking the time to write this. Very interesting (as usual). Yeah, I should have been a little bit clearer as to what I was looking for. Right now it was just to get an overview of Qigong and see what was on offer. I wasn't looking to specifically learn any practices from his books. I was just wondering if he knew what he was talking about. I'll probably be looking at Medical Qigong to start with – I've been doing eight pieces of brocade for ages now, but might consider looking at other stuff now I'm beginning to understand the 'lay of the land'.

Thanks. Very interesting to read your comments and those threads. Yeah, 'boring and interesting' is a good way of putting it, IMO. I know what you mean about the repetition. A couple of times I thought I'd lost my place and gone backwards in the book when I started reading familiar material again. To be honest, I actually quite like his style. I've not come across any miraculous BS stories or fluff; it's all quite analytic and academic. I actually find it quite helpful that he repeats, because I'm still quite a bumbling newbie when it comes to books like this. Also, I quite like his honesty as well, especially when he's speculating and admits it, and doesn't pretend to hold the mysteries to the universe. I think I'll keep reading as well.

I think the mods/admin deserve a medal for having to read all the way through some of the recent BS threads we've been having including this one. If anything, their only 'problem' is being too lenient/nice, IMO.