kyoji

I don't know the extent of your unhealthy lifestyle, but as someone who ate a lot of junk foods, sugars, smoked.. it can take a good while for your body to clean itself out. I have had rash outbreaks and cyst like lumps from lymph stagnation, I have had bowel problems etc... What helped me was eating mainly plant based whole foods, making sure i'm fasting at least 14 hours a day, and a lot of patience. the fasting period is actually rather important for your body to start healing itself, which it can't do efficiently if it is always working on digesting food. I usually try and keep my eating within a 6-8 hour window, but i know people that do much less. I did once a day for quite some time, and although there were benefits to it, it is hard to pull off when you're back in the hustle and bustle of Babylon. Other than that, make sure you're drinking plenty of fresh water in a day and let your body do the rest. Your gut is very important, and almost functions as a second brain to put it simply. Keeping it clean and functioning well is key to overall health. If most people knew what was sitting in the pits of their stomachs they would be disgusted.... Just stay persistent with your practice, eat healthy foods and get a good sweat on daily.. you'll be amazed at how efficiently your body heals and organizes itself. It definitely isn't the easiest task at times, and not always the most convenient in modern societies, but we owe our bodies a bit of kindness after abusing them for years : - ) If you have any specific questions about side effects/ detox symptoms etc.. please feel free to message me. I'm an open book. Your Brother in Dao, Kyoji

by the looks of it you're the only one who seems to have any news about John Chang.. why are we so obsessed with this guy? i can't speak to whether or not the guy truly has abilities, but what do we even gain from speculating about it on this forum? or trying to find out where he is or what he is up to? we are treating the man like some type of celebre-qi celebrity. let the man live out his days without fussing about his parlor tricks. it always seems like all his name brings to the conversation is useless conjecture.

some interesting choice of symbols used in video 3 on the playlist right at the beginning of the song. the people in black and the white horse lurking in the back.. interesting : - ) as for the rest of this post.. i am beyond intrigued, but also very out of my league intellectually. maybe one day i will understand what you are talking about \_(ツ)_/¯

an understatement of epic proportions

I think this is a very common phenomenon amongst meditators/cultivators. It isn't that you suddenly pulled a 180 and started disliking all the things you once loved, it's just that your hobbies/interests start to lose the hold they once had on you, because you have moved away from identifying with them. Sure you will still listen to music and read from time to time, but it all loses a certain potency.... which is a bit disorienting at first , but it's something you get used to just like everything else.

What a great film too. I never realized this was a retelling of Homers Odyssey until recently. It seems the Coen brothers have a knack for this sorta thing.

Love Bill Evans, but Liz Story is new to me. Thanks for sharing. One more from me before i move onto other threads : - ) this one has been haunting me since i first heard it covered by a friend very recently... "

do you actually mean to say that he is possessed/taken by something, and it is in the blood? not even trying to poke fun at the topic if you're willing to elaborate a bit.. i'm open minded to what you have to say but i honestly can't even tell if you are being serious or not.

you lost me completely

"Do you like what you're doing,Would you do it some moreOr will you stop once and wonderWhat you're doing it for.Hey slow Jane, make senseSlow, slow, Jane, cross the fence."

Satie is hard to dislike, even for those that don't generally listen to a ton of classical like myself : - )

um....uh.. what?

: - )

If they know nothing of the outside world , THEY ARE vegetables in a non natural situation, metaphorically speaking. As someone living in North America, i can attest to this quite a bit. And I’m sure people from all around the world can too... The way I interpret the allegory of the cave is that these people are born into bondage, with a world that is pulled over their eyes. The architects of control are stationed behind them, playing with puppets and casting shadows to keep the people in the lurks. These people think that what they see is what they get, when there is a lot more to the equation in reality. Their ignorance is their bliss though, albeit false. Now , if everybody can only see these shadows being casted by the puppet masters, and then one single person makes it out of this cave to realize there is much more to the world around them than they had ever believed, and they see the real LIGHT, who do you think is going to believe him if he tries to communicate it all? Do you think that these people will believe one man? Do you think that these people will give up their lifelong emprisonment known as comfort, just to know the truth ? That the shadows casted isn’t all that there is ? Most people would not. This man would be ostracized , called a liar and not believed for a second. Men like this have been, and will be killed in the future for trying to express what you can only experience. And if they aren’t killed, they’ll at least get slapped with the label of loon or heretic. But, realizing it is not the fault of those being manipulated, and feeling empathetic towards their situation, this man will most likely risk backlash to show them the truth. He might be able to show a few the way, and get people to consider it, but most people will not follow this man out of their comfort zone, even if they begin to suspect that this comfort zone is built on lies. This story has almost the same dynamic as the bodhisattva who reaches enlightenement, yet takes rebirth to help their brothers and sisters on their journey, even if it is not always well received. Or that of Jesus Christ himself, who was put to death for his teachings and influence. The dynamic also underlies most most peoples relationship to our governments and media outlets. We see the shadows these people cast, but we don’t really who is behind any of it or why they do it in the first place. We take what is in front of us at face value without much thought put into it , and the minute somebody tries to elevate our understanding to a point beyond what is the general uninformed consensus, this somebody will be treated by the confused / manipulated as if they are in the wrong for even THINKING such a thing.. even if what they have to say makes more logical sense than a government/media narrative that is easily falsifiable. Belief has nothing to do with truth, and since next to nobody wants to admit that nearly everything they once held as true is complete bullshit, they stick to their beliefs while disregarding truth. The people that are certain about their false beliefs are often the people who put no time or thought into their belief system, but just verbally regurgitate whatever the status quo is for that specific matrix/role/ideology they are caught in, and call it debate or conversation even though there is no reasoning with this type. these people i have a lot of empathy for, because I was one of those people for so damn long. but it isn’t our job to force people into seeing something they don’t want to. Force has never been a sustainable way of getting anything done, and I think inclusion is the true way to show people whatever your truth may be. Including them in your discussions, and life, and practices... and if they choose to join you for the ride then that is their prerogative. One thing I see often when people have made headway on their path and have some understandings of some deeper truths, the ego hijacks the truths and it becomes all about what I know, and what YOU don’t... I see it in “woke” crowds all the time. There is no arguing with fools, and everyone should follow the buddhas advice not to. Anyways, kinda drifting off topic a bit, but I don’t see what is nonsensical about the allegory of the cave.... i have to agree with @Zork that you kind of misinterpreted the allegory. But I could be overthinking it and misinterpreting your thoughts about it also. Maybe we are both just singing for the sake of the song.. my friend. this is a very good story to contemplate I think, and the dynamic seems to speak to a lot of humanitys struggles as narrow sighted and extremely opinionated beings. Although it does seem to be the polar opposite of what laotzu says, I think both statements are relatively true. You don’t need to go outside your home to know the whole universe, but I’m sure its helpful to have BEEN outside I think we are born with a relatively clear perception, but as time goes on it gets very clouded by external influences, and if we couldn’t move our head to understand these influences and how they affect us, then soon enough we will forget all about clear perception and be happy with a watered down version of what could be... I also think that if there wasn’t a problem of limited perception in our world ( which I think there is ) , then most of us wouldn’t be on this page coming togethere to cultivate and refine our perceptions... AND I doubt that anyone would have been inspired to write the allegory of the cave ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I really like this part of the conversation, and although it doesn’t apply so much to DDJ 47, if you’d like to continue this Dialogue we should start a different thread. Your brother in dao, Kyoji

Keep going I will... I don’t have any desire to try and recreate the experience anymore, but I did want more than anything to go back at first. I actually see a fair share of similarities to daoism in some shamanic cultures, so it is interesting you say that. Would like to delve into Wu-shamanism a bit. Know if any good reads on the matter ? you’re absolutely right about naming and describing. This experience made the most sense to me when i stopped trying to put it in a box with a label on it... the futility, or limits of words became so apparent to me during this experience. We fight and bicker over HOW we say things as opposed to fighting over what we are trying to express. These things are tools and approximations and are not totally real. The way i was given an almost wordless transmission is the only way to do justice to the ineffable... however some people do a pretty good job of it when they come down. They write down all of their experiences and realizations, die, and their work becomes bastardized, turned into a religion and you know the rest. But most people don’t understand these sages and holy people because they have no real frame of reference, and the ideas become very abstract when they shouldn’t be. “The fish trap exists because of the fish. Once you've gotten the fish you can forget the trap. The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit. Once you've gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words exist because of meaning. Once you've gotten the meaning, you can forget the words. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can talk with him?” Also, What did you mean by letting the event turn into a blockage ? How would this work ? I don’t fully understand the nature of blockages and hope you share some more of your thoughts on the matter with me : - ) thanks for for your contribution to the thread, my friend. I’m enjoying this one as well!

Yes I had the feeling that it was just myself, but the ineffable nature of these experiences make it hard to speak about clearly. It was like an ancient me... almost like an avatar. Very strange but powerful stuff, especially the way it mocked me lovingly : - ) one who has gone before is not easy to find in Ontario I hate to say, which is why I ask people about their teachers and methods in hopes of travelling to find a master in the future. I couldn’t agree more about the importance of a guide / friend in these practices... almost more so in shamanism. This last experience was a very close call and I experienced temporary insanity while dealing with some uncovered repressions. Would never consider doing this again without a guide/shaman, and even then I think I will benefit much more from sitting meditation. thank you for your contributions to this thread : - ) kyoji

I know this, and am working to ameliorate my current sitting practice. I live a very meditative life, but have a feeling my sitting practice needs to really be developed. Not in disagreeance about this whatsoever. On my way out of the void I was told that I mustn’t come back unless it happened without drugs. It gave me a good scare, and “it” knew it, but was entirely in my best interest and was benevolent towards me. If you have tips, or advice on where to look for meditation training, feel free to let me know what has worked for you on the way.

It did eat me alive for a few months while really trying to integrate the experience into my daily life.. I experienced brief psychosis and some other strange side effects briefly, but most of the effects were desirable. The points you’ve presented i’m actually in accordance with. Unfortunately i didn’t have a near death experience to catapult me towards the great mysteries like c.g. Jung did, but the dmt was close enough for me , and I think had a very similar purpose on my way. I don’t plan on using these modalities as I think they will be a hinderance for me at this stage.

: - )

I agree with you completely, but I think when you abandon the higher self for long enough you really need something to shock you back into remembrance. in the family i live in, along with the culture, I never would have started seeking for these systems of thought/practice without the need to have some kind of understanding/orientation towards my experiences in the mystic..

It was one of the most liberating experiences I’ve had in my life and I wouldn’t so simply boil it down to me fooling myself, but I do plan to leave them alone as I don’t think they have any purpose for me at this point in my life. These sacramental plants have been used by sages and seers across the world for time memorium and I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if there is a history of an almost shamanistic and responsible useage of entheogens in some daoist circles. If something has the potential to make you remember who you are after forgetting for so long, I think it needs to be respected. However , there is a whole lot of risk involved also. especially if you are not at all prepared and I do understand that, which is why I consider myself lucky. I am not dogmatic and I don’t think there is ever a one size fits all approach to anything exactly. These experiences, especially when substance induced makes some people uneasy and weary of them having any purpose or efficacy whatsoever. I do think however that with proper precaution and orientation towards these experiences, they can be very useful. i’m glad you’re about sobriety and true practice. I grew up around users and their negativity, and always told myself that i’d never be that way.I was a very aware child, but I became like all the people around me even though it never felt very good. Prices are paid to simply fit in. I didn’t know what to do about what was happening to me, It’s all I knew of this world. I watched myself turn into something that i hated. I’ve done a lot of dumb things in my life and made a lot of mistakes, but I don’t feel that these entheogens were one of them. They helped me drop away so many years of trauma, addiction, neuroticism and abuse, that I would have spent thousands that I don’t have trying to fix, to talk to someone who would probably resort to prescribing me Prozac... Instead of the happy pills I decided to radically face my fears and let all the of the delusion fall to the wayside. I respect your path, and think that drugs aren’t the answer in and of themselves. But these ones were a catalyzing variable in my path, and now I need to cultivate with simple foods, a physical practice paired with sitting and detachment. That’s where you, my brothers and sisters come in.

I can only speak to what you say here anecdotally, but there was a process when I came back to my body in which I could feel blockages in my heart being cleared drastically and rapidly, and there were also physical pains / aches that subsided and have not returned since. The ringing was also a very deep aum sound, that was echoing and reverberating through me.... although not the me that I had previously known... thank you for this information. would you recommend some of the books above for someone just starting on the way?

This is something very similar to what I experienced.. making sense of it and reorienting myself afterwards was quite difficult, but the ripples from that big splash have yet to cease. Was this state you attained reached through deep meditation? thank you kindly for sharing with me, dear friend.