senseless virtue

Exactly. The problem is when the physical force is applied unskillfully and without mental equanimity. It can lead to much distress when law enforcement decides that you have made the greater error than the person who initiated the quarrel. It's usually much more safer and easier to talk and try to connect, and if not successful, then run away rather than confronting directly and trying to subdue the hostile person. Whatever the circumstances, it's always good to be have calmness and enough preparation to handle tense situations. Then you have options and are likelier to avoid trouble.

Solving the homelessness issue requires time, money, and social responsibility from everyone. Even the local tax-payers should be active somehow because at the root homelessness is a social problem. Also, there is the constant threat if you get involved in an official capacity and you bungle up the situation by not being sensitive enough, which can be very difficult in the increasingly PC culture and with baiting happening in the social media, then you become a public scapegoat for abusing authority and being an overall horrible person. I am not surprised that the police would be uninterested in taking on the responsibility. It's a systemic problem that should be tackled from both top down and bottom up instead of leaving middlemen like law enforcement to sort out the differences.

This is a good topic to discuss and share. It's a worthwhile skill to gently defuse threatening situations. It usually takes a lot of calmness and clarity to figure out what's the most appropriate course of action for everyone concerned. Realistically speaking, it's useless to expect the law enforcement to show up in a timely manner unless you declare that there have been threats of violence or you have seen weapons in the public. My first though after considering your given account of the situation was that you basically seemed to freeze up and passively let the upset guy's inquisitive anger to corner you. As a consequence, you couldn't connect with him as a person and make basic friendly gestures like: "Slow down! Please sit down and tell us what happened to you and your wallet." The fight-freeze-or-flight mechanism is very strong in people who deal with chronic stress and it many times prevents the access to more polite and diplomatic actions. This is one of the main reasons why people should continuously seek their spiritual center and stability: It gives reassurance and confidence to handle even sudden events that would otherwise leave them baffled as for what would had been the gentle way out without harming or further aggravating anyone. I would recommend to get familiar with the concept "non-violent communication" and how it is used to defuse difficult situations.

Is there anyone who doesn't enjoy Leslie Nielsen's brilliant charisma?

A counterpoint from a famous American social commentary.

Was it completely lost to you that I was making the same commentary that you spelled out straight?

"SEEMS TO BE"

Was that meant for me and my piece of shitatire? Seriously, it was only meant to make fun of the people's want of new features. I actually think that TDB is very good for the broad ranged discussion forum it is. If there are hard feelings about something I have said unfavorably about TDB quality in the past, then I must confess that I have moved on and forgotten about those issues entirely. Maybe there is something worth visiting or picking on about the past, but I'm not able to know what's the issue unless it's brought to my attention.

How about making a novel derivative of Chatbox? I propose a Scatbox where people could press a button, and — Ah! Voilà! — a fresh unicode turd appears on the top of the chat list. There would be no way to enter any other symbols and only one to three randomly designated turds per day are allowed per the common wisdom about healthy bowel movement. 💩 On particularly grisly days when all TDB seems to be brimming with speech lower than the toilet standard, the Scatbox would bring delight, improve morale, and elevate the overall level of user contribution.

There is prohibition for practice after sunset if you are alone and in outdoors. If you have practice company or stay indoors late at night, then it's alright. I have many times practiced in my home late at night and it was completely fine.

Practicing around trees is good usually. The age or species of the tree(s) doesn't matter as much that you feel connected and comfortable around it.

It's simple to strengthen the energy fields: Practice with more people together.

I have been investigating your argument, and I am starting to think there is substance to it. Not entirely as you have put the matter, but still. Qigong styles have different means of energetic operation. We have authentic Neidan styles that cultivate the Dantian, ordinary TCM compatible medical styles that stimulate meridians, spontaneous practices, and very rare methods like Flying Phoenix that tune into Samadhi states similar to Dhyana and activate powerful spinal energies akin to the Tibetan Buddhist Tummo. Maybe there is a list somewhere about how many different unique mechanisms there are among known Qigong styles? You brought up "universal energy". Some styles of Qigong work by connecting with particularly strong energy fields which will interact with the environment. Fragrant Qigong is one of the most powerful ones in this type. Reiki is another type of practice that works through energy fields, even though it's often and incorrectly conceptualized as emitting energy. We can certainly see that there is no Faqi involved, therefore the authentic Reiki healing uses some other mechanism. I suspect because of the lineage presence and connection in both Fragrant and Reiki that there is some type of harmonizing Shen aspect that clears causes of illness and promotes vitality. With steady practice from the beginning, this connection would grow to become stable and intertwined with the practitioner's own energetic matrix. What happens when the advanced practitioner with ample Qi tunes into the Fragrant Qigong practice for the first time? The energy field of the Fragrant Qigong starts to tune his energetic matrix to match Fragrant's unique specification and Shen resonance. Turns out that his Qi isn't already imprinted with the same quality as Fragrant's resonance would ask for, so the energetic matrix begins "pouring out" the energy which it recognizes as "unhealthy" or not having been generated or imprinted by the Fragrant practice. Therefore, the advanced practitioner unwittingly loses his correctly gained Qi. This is my speculative take on the matter, but I find it a reasonable theory based on how the different Fa Shen (I can't remember if this was the term I had seen used elsewhere) mechanisms work in various Qigong styles (like Falun Gong and the vastly superior Wu Wei Qigong by George Xu). Thank you 小梦想 for bringing up the matter. It's always great to learn something new about the technicalities of internal arts and thus avoiding possible pitfalls. Update: I discussed with Sifu Dolic and have concluded that this theory can't be true. This often is the fruit of speculation: uselessness and vain grasping.

@TranquilTurmoil I can "like" the conversation flowing and insights developing without any attachment to particular arguments.

Looking towards your "best of" list then. You can even do a troll and entertainment commentary as much as you do for Neidan.

Would you like to open a bit about your training background? How long have you trained exactly, who have been your masters and lineages (unless they wish to remain anonymous), and how long have you had your teachers' encouragement to begin teaching others? Some might have heard about your time with Dr. Jiang Feng, but I only read about his passing on TDB. I know next to nothing about him.

By the way, what are you referring by this? The reason you gave wouldn't affect CCP policy making for sure.

Thank you. It's good enough for understanding your point. My quick comment: You may not wish to continue the discussion, but I assure you that I will have Sifu John Dolic look at your claim and share his perspective in return. He has continually practiced this and many other Qigong styles and internal martial arts for three decades, and outside of the usual caveats (no unnatural breathing and elaborate mental focus allowed) he has mentioned no drawbacks or adverse effects whatsoever.

The discussion could really have had merit also here, but per your request:

TDB member "小梦想" has issued a warning against Fragrant Qigong practice: I asked him in return: 小梦想 has agreed to discuss the matter in detail in a more appropriate place, so here is a long-running Fragrant Qigong discussion thread for that. Hopefully we will get in-depth explanations now.

You wish to teach people. Then you have publicly issued a warning against another well-known teaching with good reputation, but the actual reasons are completely vague so far. You should consider my question as a serious interview and opportunity to show your in-depth understanding and prove that you have no undue bias despite the apparent controversial stance.

This is the first time that I hear someone saying anything negative about the Fragrant Qigong practice. Can you please share what are your experiences with it and why you think that "it causes problems later"?

When I look hard enough for something really special, I usually find that it doesn't exist and needs personal involvement to make the vision into a materialized product. A perfectly profitable book idea that will appeal to all audiences world wide. Wouldn't you feel qualified for or interested in such a project? Or am I simply threading by the tiger's tail in vain? Hexagram 10: Cautious Advance. "He treads on the tail of the tiger. The tiger bites the man. Misfortune."

Where can I buy the I Ching of Cats?

Yeah. Some might confuse your coughing of hairballs for Covid19 symptoms and deny your boarding.