Uncle Screwtape

The House of Lords briefing was a bit of a washout, apparently. Still time to complete the questionnaire before the November 16th deadline. The government have to take into account every one submitted. http://www.info.doh.gov.uk/questionnaire/a...nnaire?openform Here is a guide to how to respond to the questions: http://newsletter.rchm.co.uk/How_to_respond_to_DH.pdf Try to put it in your own words, though. I should add that it isn't just TCM at threat, but all herbal medicine. Thanks, Richard

Great! Who is your MP? I just want to keep track of who's been contacted and so on. Might be interesting to see which, if any, MPs attend. Richard

The final date for the consultation is the 16th of November so there is still time to fill the questionnaire in. That would be really helpful, actually. There is a guide to help you fill it in. http://newsletter.rchm.co.uk/How_to_respond_to_DH.pdf The questionnaire can be found here. http://www.info.doh.gov.uk/questionnaire/a...nnaire?openform

Here is a template for your MP you may copy and paste if it saves you time. Dear, After ten years of moving toward statutory regulation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the government now seems as if it might do a u-turn and abandon regulation all together. I am concerned as this will put a lot of legitimate practitioners out of business and will open the market still further to inexperienced and unqualified high street 'doctors' who make up prescriptions, that are untested for safety, in a back room. In 2011, when European legislation comes in, unregulated medical practitioners will not be allow to practice, putting thousands out of work and driving the industry dangerously underground. Complementary medicine and the NHS have worked well together for many years. All the industry wants is to be regulated like anyone else so that the public can be kept safe. Surely that is not a bad thing? There is a briefing at the House of Lords, Room 3, Thursday 12th between 6PM and 8PM and I would be very happy if you could attend, even if only briefly. I am sorry for the short notice, but after ten years the government suddenly threw this into the works at the eleventh hour, which caught the industry off guard. Yours sincerely,

Thank you!

If you believe that the I Ching works then the various odds involving a particular method are, I believe, irrelevant. The I Ching works on the principle that the falling of coins or the dividing of stalks, or anything else, represent the state of the inter-connected universe in that instant. Therefore, the coins or the stalks could not possibly have produced any other results, regardless of the odds, any more than a snowflake could have landed in a different place or the crumbs from a dropped cookie could have. Richard

What a great thread! I found with the I Ching that it was necessary for me to build a relationship with her (see how I call it a her). To me it is like forming a connection with a human teacher. I had to establish trust and respect. Only then did she reveal her secrets to me. I think the coin method is fine; but when I use it, instead of the yarrow method, it is only because I am impatient (the coin method is quicker) and that is the wrong attitude to have. Imagine bursting into the room of a human teacher, bypassing all polite formalities and saying, 'Yeah, yeah, come on: answer my question.' (I am not saying the coin method is wrong; only that I use that method for the wrong reasons.) It's personal between the I Ching and me. I am getting to know her personality. I can often tell which line I will divine next. Richard

This brain scientist had a stroke and she experienced something most of us here would give anything for. It gave me goose bumps to watch. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jill_bol...of_insight.html Richard

The Tao of Daily Living by Derek Lin is a wonderful beginners' book. I would also recommend his Tao Te Ching to anyone. It is very highly regarded. There is also Stephen Karcher's Ta Chuan, which is beautiful and a great introduction to some pretty deep stuff. If you can get it, John Blofeld's Taoist Mysteries and Magic is an absolute gem. Some might think it isn't right for a beginner but I think it would do a wonderful job of inspiring anyone to find out more. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintanance is a novel but it rather violently broadened my mind so that a lot of what was to come could fit. Someone has already mentioned Eva Wong's books. Let me just say they are fantastic. Richard

I agree actually. I was too lazy to make the point and I wondered if anyone else would pick up on it. Richard

Determinism belongs to the lower three realms of people, events and things: the physical world where something happening causes something else to happen. But in the upper three realms of time, space and the universe (more accurately no-time and no-space) there is no this and that; no before and after; no indefatigable march of events. The Ta Chuan refers to this as the realm in which the spirit resides where it is bound to no one place [in time and space]. The latter is the Creative realm and the former is the Receptive realm: the receptive completes the Creative. But we do not live only in one or the other: our feet are rooted to the ground in the lower three realms but our spirit exists in the upper three of ultimate creative freedom; and it is through our spirit that we can exercise our free will. The I Ching unites us with that creative spirit but that is just one way of doing so. I think a lot of things in Taoism only really make sense when viewed from the perspective of the realm it belongs to. The Tao Te Ching, especially, makes so much more sense in this way. Richard

Okay people, we're through the looking glass. Richard

Creation, How's that for a piece of synchronicity? I'll look forward to your thoughts when you finish the whole thing again. I really ought to read it again, too: it will be interesting to see how it reads to me fifteen years after the first time. Richard

A pill? The study didn't mention anything about pills. I suppose a lot of things would be made redundant if you could just pop a pill. I wonder if that would matter or if all that counts is the end result? I think the process is too important in this case to be done away with. Richard

Yeah, I don't agree with much of what Lewis says in the book, but I did find him very thought provoking. I was nineteen at the time, and it opened up a whole new world for me to explore. Fifteen years later, here I am. The last paragraph of the above letter I found the most interesting from a Taoist point of view. Richard

I genuinely believe that if you cultivate a close relationship with the I Ching to the point of absorbing her hexagrams into yourself, you cannot have a greater teacher. Richard

A very good Taoist method is to follow anything you don't understand back to its beginning: to its seed. you can do that with your emotions. You might find a particular one has its root in something that happened to you when you were six. Resolving that can cut the emotion off at its source and save you the trouble of trying to control it.

Well, Lao Tzu had a very good go at descrbing the Tao; and those who went before him laid it out in great detail. They looked at how the universe was structured and how it moved, and they had few concerns about explaining it (Wuji, taiji, yin-yang, five phases, bagua, 64 hexagrams); so I wouldn't worry too much: you're in good company! Think of it like riding a bicycle: you can read all about which bicycle is best for you and which accessories you can buy; you can talk about good cycle paths in your area and listen to other people's experience on riding weekends, all of which is valuable information and very inspiring. But in the end, you have to get on a bicycle and ride it. It's the same with Tao. You can talk about how it works, how to recognise its patterns, and how to assist its processes even though, eventually, you have to just live it. Don't forget, the father of Taosim, Fuxi, was a farmer and fisherman, and another significant figure, Yu, was an engineer who built canals and irrigation systems, all rooted in knowledge of Tao; so it isn't awaysl enigmatic and mysterious: it is often clear and practical. A good place to start, in my opinion, is The Tao of Daily Living by Derek Lin, recommended also by DaoChild, that takes traditional Chinese stories and applies them to modern life; Stephen Karcher's Ta Chuan, which is a very old text about how change works; the Chuang Tzu with its inspiring and rich story-telling; and the books of Eva Wong, which has inestimable value for anyone who wants to know about Tao. Richard No. I like the Derek Lin version. It is recognised as being a very accurate translation; but the layout is interesting as it has the text on one page and the author's annotations on a facing page, thus separating the words of Lao Tzu and the opinion of the translator as much as possible and leaving interpretation up to you. It's very clearly written. The chapters, minus the annotations, are available for free here: http://taoism.net/ttc/home.htm . Richard

Someone at least remove the picture of other people's children. Richard

I don't know about the cult of celebrity, though I am sure there is more to it here than people mouring someone they didn't know. Very good music (and let's face it, Jackson's music was very, very good) touches people very deeply in extremely personal ways. Songs and albums can help us through hard times, or provide the soundtrack through the good times; and they will always mean something to us that they cannot possibly mean to anyone else. When the person who makes that music dies, it can bring back all those old memories and feelings and that part inside you that was touched can feel the loss personally. You may not know the musician directly, but you feel as if you know them and, in a way, through their music, they know you. It may not be very rational, but not everything is. Music is very powerful and I believe that is what we are seeing now. I certainly wouldn't look down my nose at someone who is having a very hard time over this. Richard

I don't see any irony. The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao, true, but within it, as Lao Tzu also said, there is image and essence. There are countless processes and interactions which can be understood, and myriad arts and practices based on that understanding that can be talked about, passed on, refined and so on. It's like how it is better to ride a bicycle than to talk about riding one, but how you can talk about which bicycle to buy, which accessories to add, which cycle paths are the most scenic, shared experiences . . . Richard

Well, Tao is the Way of the universe: a complex dynamic of processes and interactions and Taoists have always sort to understand these and harness them in one wayor another. The wuji-taiji-yinyang-bagua sequence is one example of this. The Five Phases, another attempt at understanding and harnessing, has many applications. As Lao Tzu said: within it there is image and essence. And even he claimed to know the nature of the Source. So it is not so much mastering Tao as mastering change and fate and chi and one's self. And to use your example of gravity: scientists may well find it mysterious in many ways, but they have still managed to understand its laws and properties; so much so they can make complex predictions that turn out to be correct. It's a little like Tao in that respect. Richard

Goldisheavy, I was only answering a question about where talk of Liping's immortality might have sprung from. I was making no claims for the man himself. I would never even presume to, one way or another, not having met him. Richard