soaring crane

From the link: In-Yo SymbolIn Japan, the dual qualities of ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ are known as ‘in’ and ‘yo’ respectively. ‘Inyodo’, meaning ‘The Way of Yin and Yang’ is Japanese feng shui. The in-yo symbol has a large circle that represents the universe. Within this and connecting with it at just one point, there is a smaller circle. The larger area is usually white or sliver, the smaller circle is red or occasionally black. When red, it reflects the image of the sun disc on the Japanese flag and the silver / white crescent is seen as representative of the moon. This symbol is used by some Japanese karate organisations. A variation of this symbol is where the white circle contains a black circle that contains a white circle that contains a black circle, implying that this goes on and on to infinity. Good stuff, and I was in the celestial ballpark with my sun/moon image. I like the "connecting with it at just one point," part. That's space touching time, or the stems and branches merging. That tiny spot where they two come together is the here and now. It's an intrinsic part of the complete yin/yang model.

There are a million ways to disect this stuff. This is my basic philosophy: Thoughts aren't the problem. Thoughts (shen) are a zero-sum, objective, neutral reality. The problem is the emotional reaction (qi) to the thoughts. It's perfectly reasonable to scratch an itch without allowing it to break your calmness. But it's even more reasonable to observe the itch without immediately attaching emotions to it. Cheerful indifference in action :-) Snot running out of your nose into your mouth, or a sneeze welling up, are a different scenario and one where you really benefit more from taking action to get them behind you. But do it without feeling guilty about it. A super simple (and the simpler the better) technique to calm the qi monkey is to think "yes" every time a thought arises. That's it. The thoughts begin to arise in increasingly long intervals, right up to the point where you find yourself waiting for a thought to show itself, but none do. The bottom book on this list reminded me of this old tactic: http://www.sergeaugier.com/les-livres-en/ I think you might get a lot out of that book, Rara, especially the sections on shen-gong. (But know in advance that a good amount of the book is describing the techniques of the school, without detailed instruction in the techniques). Serge Augier does attach a positive spin to the "yes", which I disagree with. I feel it's better to view and apply the yes as an objective aknowledgement of the situation, with no color. Blocking thoughts is a dead-end, or maybe a trapdoor you really don't want to fall into.

The homosexualty angle has crossed my mind in the past, but I think it's as Apech says. Awareness and acceptance have increased dramatically over a few short years (I would say the internet has increased awareness of many things, including this), giving us the impression of an increase in the raw numbers. There's no way to conclusively determine this. But the Gaia thought is accurate, imo, while it simply comes down to a decrease in birthrate in affluent areas. It's a completely normal survival tactic of our species. One westerner trashes more of the planet than probably a hundred African Masai, and the planet is well aware of this. Also, yes, I agree that this environmental destruction has more to do with stupidity/greed/consumption mentality/selfishness than raw over-population. I read somewhere that if every human on Earth were to stand shoulder-on-shoulder, we would all fit on an area the size of greater Berlin. And if we wanted to live with the same population density as NYC, we could all move to Texas, leaving the rest of the Earth free from our blight (except the areas we would continue to raze to feed our greed).

What is the eucalyptus used for?

Devastating :-( Perhaps it's time for institutions like the Guardian to reconsider their relationships with their advertisers.

yes

Hello tribalhak, and welcome to the forums! Glad you found your way to us :-) Please take the time to read the two posts pinned at the top of this Welcome page and take a look at the forum terms and rules. This covers all you need to know when getting started. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you, SC and the TDB team

looks more like the moon passing in front of the sun to me. Why do you say it'd the Japanese yin/yang? I've never heard that before, thanks.

I think that depends in large part on the mind that you have at your disposal, no?

cheerful indifference :-)

sneeze

Hello Pottsy, and welcome to the forums! Glad you found your way to us :-) Please take the time to read the two posts pinned at the top of this Welcome page and take a look at the forum terms and rules. This covers all you need to know when getting started. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you, SC and the TDB team

That's not so simple. There's a reason you stand weighted to the left side and that reason is still there and it'll simply find itself another outlet.

Gods were so normal in those times that nobody even considered debating their existence/influence. Definitely not agnostic as per the OP.

that's the way aha KC and the Sunshine Band showing us the way

about:blank Let your spirit soar

Hello psyk0tic, and welcome to the forums! Glad you found your way to us :-) Please take the time to read the two posts pinned at the top of this Welcome page and take a look at the forum terms and rules. This covers all you need to know when getting started. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you, SC and the TDB team

Held my first full-blown meditation/gong/singing bowl event with the new gong yesterday. It was a great experience for all of us. One of the people (a friend of mine, a 65-year old physicist) said he could feel the calcium deposits in his brain loosening, lol)

rock and roll through space with joy written on your face a cosmic sack race

Anyone interested in this topic will enjoy Bernd Heinrich's books. This one is a classic: Mind of a Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds (amazon link purely for the sake of convenience. Please don't shop there) edit: Whoops, this is the classic book, Ravens in Winter. The other one is newer

Hello Dfarro, and welcome to the forums! Glad you found your way to us :-) Please take the time to read the two posts pinned at the top of this Welcome page and take a look at the forum terms and rules. This covers all you need to know when getting started. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you, SC and the TDB team

You're bloody brilliant :-)

Are you the finance minister of Greece? :-)

I think it sounds deeper in Yoda: Frequent exhaustion much learning means So good as on to the mean holding, that is not Exhausted is wit by many words To the core hold, rather, therefore

around the €1000 - €1200 range, without stand. I got the whole package, Gong, beautiful beechwood stand and a few very high quality strikers for €750 + 50 for shipping. It was from someone who is dissolving his entire collection, moving on to other musical areas ... I feel bad for him as I was the only one at ebay who bid on it! But it landed in loving hands and has been making people happy since it arrived :-)