zanshin

Oh, I meant the feeders for the outside birds, they aren't in cages, I'm sure they would be fine without me, the cat wouldn't, she is very old and domesticated. I actually wasn't trying so much to pick at your philosophy, it have an odd sense of humor and got on an odd train of thought. I agree with you in a way although I probably would shoot the bad guy rather than let him have my house and take the family on the run. I probably could even end up happy in prison, first I'd be really pissed off then sad, then I'd probably realize the guards uniforms were really dorky and mentally re-design them and end up laying back to look at that enduring patch of sky and smile. Of course, I am spoiled, silly, ignorant, crazy and never did know when to let things drop, fortunately for me I never let any of that stop me from doing anything I wanted to do for long.

Sorry, I know it's all really serious, but I was chuckling all day with mental image of what it would be like to get ready to leave it behind and let bad guys take over the house. It's like a military operation just to get everyone ready to go to the park. Someone wouldn't be able to find a shoe, someone would have to go to the bathroom. The kids would desperately need to bring the things kids feel like they can't live with out. I couldn't leave the grumpy cat and the hyper dog behind. But, once they were organized I'd probably have to putter around some more. Hopefully, the bad guys would feed the birds and take care of the plants right. I'd have to leave everything out for that and write out some instructions. I'd probably have to go the market to make sure there was plenty of food in the house for bad guys too, after all I feed everyone else...

Death smells like methane grim reaper in the cheese aisle tummy aches gone now.

Ouch, Ouch!! I think it's an exercise to strengthen the arch of the foot, core too of course. I just tried to do it, surprisingly arch of the foot cramped and gave out before anything else.

Saw a comment about using only 10% of your brain somewhere and didn't want to sidetrack that thread, but it's a myth. The brain does not have vast untapped resources awaiting to be activated. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=people-only-use-10-percent-of-brain

Yeah, Manitou, it was you. Sorry I can get terribly snotty and fussy about these details. Did you see in the article where they said scientists really don't know where conciousness is based in the brain? I think it might be somewhere besides the brain and agree with that our collective consciousness is interconnected...somehow. However, even I cannot come up with plausible idea of how this could be beyond intuition.

Yeah, Manitou, it was you. Sorry I can get terribly snotty and fussy about these details. Did you see in the article where they said scientists really don't know where conciousness is based in the brain? I think it might be somewhere besides the brain and agree with that our collective consciousness is interconnected...somehow. However, even I cannot come up with plausible idea of how this could be beyond intuition.

...

Interesting and kind of scary. It almost doubled since I was born. So if am one in a million, then there are 7000 just like me- way scary

Oh, you are being a good mammal, if you were a reptile you could be having a nice long sleep with no late night feedings. Birds must have a limbic system they take care of their young for a long time too. Now the list of subcortical behavior does sound like politics Congratulations on your baby!

If you do have a right to defend yourself and at sometimes there is a possibility that you may find yourself in a situation to do so in spite of doing your best to avoid trouble, then it would seem a logical deduction that advice from someone who knew how to fight back well should be worth a little more than sewage. Where are you going to go to run away from aggression and violence? Hard to do unless you leave civilization and other human beings completely behind. I'm not talking about war or theory or ancient China. I'm sure in your town there is some domestic violence or crime going right now, mine too. I have a buddy who is a police officer, last week we took our kids to the park (off duty for him), day time, nice neighborhood. Couple guys have a fender bender in the parking lot, screaming and swearing about ready to fist fight. Kevin went over and very kindly helped them calm down. This is the kind of guy I like to have around to show my children what is right and good. So should we have gone away and let them have the park? I have respect for those who are peaceful and don't cause trouble in the first place and I also have a lot of respect for warriors who are protectors in this world too, because without them most of us could do a lot of running for a long time.

It sounds like the old advice law enforcement used to give women in case they were raped- if it seems inevitable, relax and don't fight back, hopefully he won't hurt you too much. That's changed, we know that women who fight back psychologically do better than those who don't, even if they lose. The mental posture of showing strength and resisting to best of your ability carries over to more follow up in court, being open about the experience to help other victims etc. EmPOWERment. So what if it was your sister, your mother or you? Would you be content and feel compassion after going through this experience? Fight or flight is deeply hard wired into our brains, might as well be good at it, people aren't going to be too peaceful any time soon.

I was going to give you a quote from the Hua Hu Ching, but then thought the whole thing might seem helpful to you (it's online and not that long). http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/H%20-%20World%20Religions%20and%20Poetry/World%20Religions/Taoism/Articles%20and%20Texts/The%20Hua%20Hu%20Ching/Hua%20Hu%20Ching.htm I know the link says Buddhist library, but it's Taoist, actually I think it was possibly a response to Buddhism.

For heaven's sake don't do that! Unless you want to.

As soon as you think you found the truth, you will be wrong. But if you think it all is a lie you will be wrong too. How do you escape dualistic thinking? If you really not sure then you are already doing it.

That's the one I thought you meant. A groundbreaking paper for chaos theory was Can the Flap of A Butterfly's Wing in Brazil Touch Off A Tornado In Texas by Edward Lorenz. (might not be quite right, but it definitely was a Brazilian butterfly). I don't understand much at all, but I did catch the butterfly references!

Actually, scientists can't even account for over 90% of the universe and that is why they have theories about dark matter and energy, although no one really knows what that is, but if it's there the equations work better.

oh my, poisoned wells and falling skies.

Si vis pacum, para bellum. "If their forces are substantial, prepare for them; if their forces are strong, avoid them." "Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win." "The best victory is when the opponent surrenders of its own accord before there are any actual hostilities...It is best to win without fighting." "In peace prepare for war, in war prepare for peace. The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence under no circumstances can it be neglected." -Sun Tzu (all of them except the Latin- If you want peace prepare for war). Aaron, perhaps a sage can be content even when oppressed, but what of children who are abused and hungry? I too see nothing wrong with trying to get power to protect. This too is paraphrased in almost every language and culture throughout the world. Your idea is the epitome if everyone would be peaceful, but in this world we have a long way to go. Wisdom without power is impotent, power without wisdom easily becomes oppression.

I concur, so labelling truth and lies seems like trying to track raindrops in the ocean. Which one was it again?

Power is ability, knowledge is application, wisdom is implication.

Oh, I wasn't even thinking about suicide, more about people who are elderly and terminally ill and feel acceptance having come through pain and fear. Living but ready to die when it comes, in a liminal state. What is liminal state of lies and truth?

oops I double posted

Other people's truth is not the same as yours. I try to understand why rather than being angry or upset about that, then maybe I might try to convince them otherwise or more often realize their truth is right for them. Why do you seem to think a dichotomy between lie or fake and truth or real, but in the applications we talked about on this thread it is more of continuum. Sometimes people get tired of fear and pain and see death as friend coming, they give it up to a higher power- by which I mean death and going peacefully into the unknown, not necessarily anything supernatural.

Poison Mushroom, blooms. foraging in the woods soon eat the red berries.