Teddy

Wow. So many responses. I should probably give my view after all that! It seems to me that abortion is a sign that there is something very wrong with society. Clearly no one wants to have an abortion. No little girl thinks 'I really want an abortion when I'm older'. What baffles me is how advocating abortion is seen as feminist. I think in a world where femininity is important and respected, motherhood would be sacred and society would be such that people didn't feel the need for abortions. I just want everyone to be happy and to get along, and I am honestly baffled and scared by the act of extreme violence that is so often abortion. I have a friend who's baby would not have survived outside the womb. She had an abortion ...that seems like an understandable decision to me. I have another friend who had an abortion because pregnancy would have interfered with her college studies. That seems like disconnected thinking to me. My general philosophy is to follow what comes naturally. Love nature. Love. I fully understand that these views may come across as naive, judgemental, idealistic, sexist etc. Well... I might be naive. I am just saying how things genuinely appear to me right now. To do otherwise would be disingenuous. I probably am idealistic. I love and respect women and have lots of strong women in my life. I don't know why this subject is playing on my mind so much recently. If anyone could help soothe my troubled mind. Or just give me some insight into why I'm suddenly so bothered by a topic I didn't really think about before ...I'd be grateful. I really can't stop thinking about this, and that very rarely happens to me. Unfortunately, it upsets me. And I have a feeling that my preoccupation is about something more than just the issue of abortion, but I can't put my finger on it. Ps. Please: love each other. Love yourselves. Love nature. Love children. Love women. Love men. Love animals. Love the internet. Love the gift of your life. Do what makes you happy. Be awesome to one another.

What are the views of people here on abortion? I've recently been reading about babies that have survived abortion attempts and go on to live lives. I found it upsetting to read about this.

Look after your body. Listen to your body. Be kind to your body. Be kind to yourself. Be kind; it's not hard. Let it go. Love stuff. Go with the flow. Forgive. Work hard when you need to.

It's hard to know exactly what you're talking about if you refuse to give at least a few examples. Although, i understand if you don't want to offend specific people. Maybe you could give an example of how people advertise themselves...

Hmm... This post really made me think actually. I used to make my living as a musician. I had to stop because of physical problems, and now i make my living with social work. I like to think that both careers involve a high degree of creativity (in different ways), but I've also always felt like a very mundane, worldly person, and i like being worldly. The world is fab. I think it's good to 'have your feet firmly on the floor, and your head in the clouds' ... That sounds like a nice way to be

Taoteching99 just curious, what do you mean by the word 'spiritual'?

Please could you give some specific examples of the 'spiritual teachers' you are talking about?

If someone or something attacked me or endangered me, I would defend myself, and that might involve hurting the attacker. This applies to rats, termites, people, viruses etc. In your example about the dog, shooting the dog would be the kind thing to do wouldn't it? ... Not the cruel thing. There's no such thing as 'cruel to be kind'. There's kindness and there's cruelty. I try to be kind. If I'm attacked, I am kind to myself and I defend myself.

You say that love is a dopamine rush, then you say it is an illusion. If it's a dopamine rush, then it's not any more illusory than anything else, as dopamine rushes are just as real as anything else. So, you ask what is love in an egoless sense; Well, according to your definition of love, it would be having a dopamine rush and not being too attached to it. You go on to say all emotions are illusory. Why do you say that? You haven't really explaned why you think they are illusions. Also, no one can force you not to love. Loving is something that you do. Not them.

Learn a good yoga routine. Focus on poses like pigeon and frog.

I practice yoga, qigong, fitness and kung fu. One and a half hours per day. Fifteen minutes of a rather athletic form of qigong followed by either yoga, fitness or kung fu.

Feel free to ignore this question if you think it's too facetious; I think it's fun to ask things like... If I try really hard to not do my best, then will I still be doing my best?

I lie on my back with my hands folded over lower Dan tien until urge to fidget goes away, then i put my hands palm down by my sides until I start to dream, then turn on to my side and drift off.

Please explain: when (other than in this thread) does one ever have to choose between truth and love?

Please do not try to live 'without the ego'. We have ego for very good reasons. Trying to live without it will just make you go crazy. If you succeed, you could end up catatonic, but you probably won't succeed, and it will just frustrate you. Neither of these options are good. Ego is what gives people personality, and what makes life fun. However, do see the ego for what it is. Recognise that it's all a game, and you'll enjoy it all a lot more.