Sketch
-
Content count
657 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Everything posted by Sketch
-
I watched the spaghetti westerns with my dad growing up; I was so pleased in college to discover Kurasawa's "Seven Samurai " and the rest of Samurai Cinema and share much of it with him. Which gives me a special poignant link to the father-son interaction in "Lone Wolf and Cub". Never watched those with dad.
- 205 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- fear
- fearlessness
- (and 4 more)
-
A side point about Thai cultural awareness of amulets and perception of what "is" and "isn't". While I was in Thailand, I wore a small black ceramic ocarina on a leather lace around my neck. Several times, Thais noticed it, asked about it...and lost all interest in it as an amulet when I tooted a note on it.
-
Tease.
-
I'd read about the red bibs in relation to different village festivals, specifically related to cults associated with Nezha. I'd thought they were part of that deities livery as opposed to a more general symbol of transformation.
-
A book I recommend constantly is Andrus Kivirahk's "The Man Who Spoke Snakish". Set at the border between an Estonian folkloric "once upon a time" and the incoming tide of Christian civilization, it's a story with empathy and strangeness in great measure. I'm currently reading Emilie Conrad's "Life On Land", an important book I think. A pioneer in bodywork and somatic healing, she writes very well, passionate and poetic with moments of precision. Certainly a book of interest to anyone learning about cultivating themselves. There are techniques layered into the text but don't rush through looking for them. The real teaching here is about how things unfold. On order is a copy of "Infinite Mind: Science Of The Human Vibrations of Conciousness ", Valerie Hunt, Emilie Conrad's long time scientist collaborator.
-
In the face of fear, even presented as a concept, gallows humor is to be expected.
-
I was thinking more of shooting at Clay pigeons. The other might create more of a post traumatic stress situation.
-
There's a few ways to get deflinchified. Shotguns and shooting in general go a long way.
- 205 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- fear
- fearlessness
- (and 4 more)
-
From my point of view, fear has to be talked about in context, people telling their stories. Stories about what make us feel the symptoms of fear.
- 205 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- fear
- fearlessness
- (and 4 more)
-
Fear has different flavors; times I though there was a strong chance of immanent violence were very specific, tunnel vision and pulsing in my guts followed by the same horrible adrenaline nausea each time.
-
I was alone in the Lake District. Hiking in northern England. The day had been fine and clear , my spirits were high. I was walking a knife edge ridge, and the sky to the west began to darken. Rapidly. I decided to head over the ridge and down, push the half hour or so on to the valley bottom on the other side. Curls of fog filtered over the rocks. A dark stripe crossed the sky. As I reached the pass, two hikers came out of the growing fog and informed me that visibility was poor on the other side, a wind rising and weather coming in fast over steep rocks and slippery footing. My legs turned wishy washy. If the couple hadn't appeared at just that moment I'd have committed myself to a dangerous descent in the tired part of the day. Meekly I followed them down the mountain to a campsite. When the wind came over the hill it knocked my tent flat to the ground repeatedly. Just me and my shaking fear in the tent. I had never had so little trust in my own judgment.
- 205 replies
-
- 3
-
-
- fear
- fearlessness
- (and 4 more)
-
These kinds of figures are relative and open to interpretation. Is Monkey King a god or a demon? Even the Judeo Christian Jehovah has been characterized as the demonic demiurge Yaldabaoth within Gnostic texts. (I have edited between "Gnostic sects" and "Gnostic texts" a few times. Take your pick.) (Back to Gnostic Texts for sure - checked my copy of Nag Hammadi and examples abound, prominently the identification of "The Great Demon" Yaldabaoth creating his own copy of the real "Aeons", or heavenly realms, in "Three Forms of First Thought", p. 726
-
This is a not bad introduction to some ideas from Carl Jung that influence my point. https://scottjeffrey.com/individuation-process/ I will say that Spirituality can be seen as a process of integration; various religions and the building of philosophical categories , legions of angels instead of household deities and so forth, leads to more ways to describe the same thing; ways to disagree about human experiences, rather than share them. By even introducing the idea of false beliefs, the whole set of experiences becomes dubious.
-
It's an example of the fragmentation of spirit into mere intellect, the trend that leads to (and includes) atheism. It makes it difficult to conceptualize things; people have to keep recreating the language and models for things from the point of view of spiritual experiences. A gift of civilization.
-
The punchline is... it's still not the worst set of notions to have when you pick up a bow.
-
"No bird soars too high If he soars on his own wings" William Blake
-
"First published Fri Aug 19, 2016; substantive revision Mon Aug 31, 2020 This quote and the article after it...right at the top of this list...would answer a lot of questions I've seen on here recently (and I couldn't explain it nearly as well)
-
I started singing in my late teens, but I didn't start breathing until a few years later. Standing next to a piano in a school auditorium for ten minutes during an audition for an amateur musical theater production. The musical director had to show me how my diaphragm worked. I'd been stuck in a shrill, nasal Bob Dylan imitation I swore was "my voice" . She told me to exhale, let my lungs fill up on their own. Push from here. She told me I could even go back to my nasal little head voice any time I wanted. This was crucial; folky punky little me was worried about my authenticity being polluted by actually learning how to sing. It took me a while to learn more than four chords, too. I passed the audition and never missed a rehearsal. Everything from my perspective changed. The muscles I breathe with were mine, and I could use them any way I wanted. This morning, I'm tipping my ribcage back with the tiniest engagement of the lower serratus muscle while I anchor my weight through my heels, assisted by a very relaxed circulating proprioceptive pulse. On the release, the ribs move up in the back and space through the back tissue opens up. I feel this opening as movement up my back. The dropping of my weight into my heels I feel as movement down my front. I am very grateful to the musician who taught me how to breathe. Been practicing ever since. Can you share a moment with a teacher that started you off on your way with a lifetime practice?
-
That pretty well fits where I'm at in my life.
-
Truth to tell, the books I've gotten the most practical understanding of the world from are technical little books on how to do things. Years ago, I worked in a Cutlery shop. I wanted to start sharpening, both as a personal skill and to increase my worth to the shop. They sold a book - "The Razor Edge Book Of Sharpening". John Juranitch. It's on the same shelf as my books on Taoism. I destroyed a copy of Ralph Denyer's "The Guitar Handbook" - scales, repairs - I even faked my way through the early stages of a job running live sound at events on the back of that book. The replacement copy is getting pretty beat up too. Not saying those particular books or skills - something relevant to your own situation. Of course, always having a sharp knife handy certainly proves useful over the years. A book that will help you take care of yourself - a wealth of information on health and wellness practices including basic exercise sets - is Tom Bisio's "A Tooth From The Tiger's Mouth".
-
You ain't just a whistling Dixie.
-
- 64 replies
-
- 2
-
-
-
- chi
- john chang
- (and 3 more)
-
Now that's entertainment!
-
Thank you! I enjoy your site a great deal. You sent me a copy of the pdf a few years ago; I purchased a copy of the ebook eventually. Great stuff!
