Pietro

The last RPG I played was Mage The Ascension, which I loved for how the magic was structured. You had no 'spells' but your understanding of the world changed. So there were 9 spheres (space, time, force, ....) and as you progressed through your life your learned more on each sphere which gave you more powers. So if you has space it's not that you would teleport, is that for you space made no sense. There was no here and there. You were there. The concept was revolutionary. So revolutionary that I have been told thatthey took it off from the latest edition . Another interesting was called I think Nobility. I only had it described. In this each player was a character, but was also an enbodiment of a virtue or of a concept. Some virtues were very strong. like demigods, other were smaller. It is amazing how similar it was with my understanding of the taoist concept of the body of individuality. Essentially I always had the sensation that from Gary Gygax most of the mythologies in the RPG were taken from real ancient mythologies, (think of the 4 elements and how does it play a role in D&D) and it seem that as more and more info about hidden layers of mythologies come out in the open, so the Player designers use them for their new games.

I have stopped playing video games some fifteen years ago. Pretty much about the time in which I started programming artificial life models. Somehow my work became my game. The rules are the rules of C++, and the aim is to get something that is alive. Or more alive than any other researcher. I know it sounds horrible, but once you realise how hard it is to make some real emergence in models, you end up finding all the other games quite predictable and flat. But I am waiting for Spores to come out. (look at the movie it's extra cool). And I am considering joining some Multi ROle Playing Game. Maybe one where the interaction among the players make up effects that could not have been predicted.

I can't resist but add a little contribution to the discussion. Saying it is 7 inches is not enough. Maybe it is 7 inches but thiiiiiiin, like an i. So, finally the perfect method to make sure you are achieving your true virility has been patented. It is not a joke. Some people had spent real money on this. We are not after pics, but a different measures, in centiliters (or maybe milliliters ) would be appreciated. Good luck again.

LOL! Agreed that people are allowed to do with their free time whatever they want. In any case, good all HL techniques has been told to make the Penis bigger. Or at least so I was told. I never noticed any difference myself. But then I never also measured. In the Jade Dragon book on male sexuality they refer to a practice to make it bigger. Yeah, authentic taoist practice. Something about hitting the legs with hit. Maybe you should get the book. Good luck.

It seems that regrowing teeth from stem cells is actually easier than regrowing internal organs: http://whyfiles.org/shorties/147tooth/ If you triangulate with todays news that stem cells can be found in the amniotic fluid, it seems quite interesting. I wonder if I should try to keep some parts of every teeth, or they can br grown from 0. I wouldn;t like to have them grow me the wrong tooth. Although it would make a really cool Troll in D&D look.

Dear Two Trees, thank you very much for submitting the article. This man has more than courage, he has discernment. Which is the ability to distinguish good from bad. In Christianity is considered so important that is considered that you can only have it as a gift from the Holy Ghost. As Taoists we work hard to develop it, since generally taoists don't subscribe to an external set of rules. But even those who do subscribe to an external set of rules need to be able to have discernment to know when and how to emply them. For example Saint Augustin would consider a lie less bad if it has been done in an attempt to reach another objective. While lieing for the sake of it was considered worse. How good is the actual objective then would become part of the equation. Soldiers seem to fit the general class of people who has external rules. When I was in the military I studied the little rule book that was given to us. It was specifically spelled out that: "A wrong order should not be followed". This is the constitution of soldiers. And our liutenant knows it (that is, the USA version, not the Italian one, of course). Notice how he sais: I suppose your military book of rules does not speak of 'wrong' orders, but 'illegal' orders. As such he IS doing his duty as a military official. The fact that many people (and soldiers) interpret being a military as being a mindless slave does not make this correct. It is clearly stated in the rules. Which is what you are signing. And even if it was not what you were signing we have clear example in history that shows that just following the order is not an acceptable behaviour. This became absolutely obvious from the Nurenberg tribunal. When Italy was torn apart in WWII, and some soldiers remained soldiers under Mussolini, and others went on the mountains, the one who left for the mountains were later recognised as having "followed a deeper sense of honor, and commitment to Italy". You could say that some followed the letter of the constitution, and other the spirit of it. Nothing in his words suggests that he is doing what he is doing out of fear. The fact that he is not against war, but against 'illegal war' does not make him a conscientious objector, just a soldier who is doing his duty.

Well yeah but going to a doctor also brings you back to that place of center and discernment from whioch you can decide what is best for you. Doing this while ill is much harder. So, for example, if a person is eating with his family, and someone arrives and shoots his family in front of him, so that their brain ends up on the men's face, this does not only account for clearing of karma, this also sets off a whole karmic spiral, where the person might become a murderer himself. And the violence spiral would turn on and on. Maybe the event might have been caused by karmic retribution.. or whatever. But this does not take away that if you CAN help that person in that moment to clear his mind, dissolve those experiences. By God do it! Please understand that when I used the word 'abhor' I made a real effort to be politically correct. I have a hard time in expressing the intimate reaction that this word view brings up in me without becoming too descriptive for a this kind of discussion group. yes, and there are also monks who needed to have an enema to clear out a serious constipation, but this was against the rules so they let the monk die. Unless you start taking some serious statistics on how effective is reciting your prayers respect to a more traditional (or less traditional, and more modern) approach you cannot really say what is better. And your belief system about what will eventually happen seem to transform any result in your favour. For example a person might have two strokes of unluck one after the other. You will say that this is the same karma biting his ass. I would say that there is not necessary a relationbetween the two. If the guy dies, I would consider my observation about him ended. You would say, of course he would be reborn in a body where he will pay for this karma which he failed to pay over here. Your claim is a metafisical claim that cannot be disproved, but only disbelieved. When this kind of claims make people suffer I get angry because the probablility for those claims to be wrong is exponentially high (just think about what we believed about the world 3000 years ago), but the pain and suffering are real. There is an interesting interview on Robert Pirsing. In this he claims that when he got his big depression, that sent him to the hospital he was actually going through an enlightenment experience. Which he kept for himself to avoid remaining in the hospital forever. When he got again depressed as he was much older, he went to a doctor, this gave him some pills to balance the hormonal system and he was ok again. I don't know what to take of this story, but it seems related. Here is someone who first used meditation to resolve a medical condition. Then took a pill. With what authority do we claim that one course of action is necessarily right and the other is wrong.

Brrrr. Reminds me of some people who would refuse to call a doctor for a sick person because what was happening to him was just his karmic retribution. It is a view of human life I personally abhor. I must have obviously misunderstood it.

How interesting. I never noticed in Taoism a preference for males. Infact I mostly notice the opposite, but this I think is due to the fact that Taoism is not a pure mind practice, but aims at integrating the body as well. And the body/the earth/the emotions is where women tend to be more at home.

Interesting. I wonder if Bruce meant the whole Nyingma lineage, or he was thinking more of a particular teacher. Surely no teacher exist by itself. So probably he was speaking about the whole lineage... I suppose with time we will know better as more and more comes in the west

Thank you. I can see me trying the Pavel method. Not much of the rest, for now. Maybe if Trip is doing it, I'll ask him to show me something next time I pass through Switzerland. Is your favorite book: "6 yogas of Naropa" part of the Dzog Chen tradition? Bruce was saying at the last workshop how the Dzog Chen tradition is probably coming from the same source as the water method he is teaching. Pietro

I might actually re-edit my post. Dividing my requests in those that could have happened (Go, Scout) and the ones that just could not happen because the information was not present in Rome when I was 10-20. Great idea! I just did one pull up. I am sure I can do some while I want to take a break, and here in the office the doors are really strong, metal, and with just the right space above to put your fingers. I don't know what doing pistols mean. DOn't tell me, leave me in blissful ignorance for now . So, they are common, eh. In my high school we had a group of 14y.o. girls who decided to give a party to stop being virgin. They invited all and only the really cool guys of the school. A friend of mine was invited too, but he was the bf of one of those girls, so he just made love with his girl. I discovered the whole thing 3 years later , when I casually was in the car with this guy, and two of those girls, after a party. He brought them to some friends house, and say: "here you go, you have orgies and don't invite me". And they went:"oh, you are invited, but bring on your gf"(a different girl from before). "Oh, no, she wouldn't appreciate. Good night girls.". It took me some time to realise what was going on in that school behind the scene. I wasn't just virgin at the time. I hadn't even kissed a girl! I actually subscribe to the believe that the people who had sex when they was extreemly young, with other kids, when they grow up they become 'naturals'. That is, people who have sex all the time, and have no approach anxiety, and so on. -so you want to come to an orgy? -sure, how many people are we? -If you bring your wife we are in three. What is Intuflow? Have you got a link? One of the things I am learning from the PU guys is to not just pick up girls, but pick up everybody. Generally connect with everybody. Look in the eyes everybody. Speak with everybody. Connect with everybody. As soon as I started I ended up connecting with all the people I daily relate to, but I never consider. People who sell me stuff, people I meet often, and so om. And then, a) you expand your social circle, rising the probability of meeting girls you like, and you are genuinely more open, and this comes out when you hook up with a girl. She knows (don't ask me how, chicks radar), that you ae not just looking her in the eyes, but look ar everybody in the eyes.

Thank you, interesting concept. I wish I had some climbing place in the office, so I could go up and down while I think, instead of walking in circle

Since I was a social retard, I would put social skills at the beginning of my list. Which also include being able to look into the eyes, and relate with people. Especially how to relate to women. Let's say I wish I have read the books from Deida by age 16. All the things I am learning right now from the PU community should have been mastered by age 16. I remember being in this school where there where some 14y.o kids having orgies among them, and me discovering it years after. I just can't comunicate how much would have been my life different if I were among those who were doing, and not among those who were envying. To know what I now know about eating would have been great. In a sense I am eating in a way that is similar to when I was a kid, but with some subtle modifications. If I had always eaten like that my health and well being now would be amazing. And I would have loved it as a kid. I mean, meat, honey and butter as the core of my diet. What kid would not subscribe to it! I passed a lot of time doing Karate. It didn't do me any good. I never learned to fight. Nor did it give me any great jump on my physical appearence or health. I wonder if I should instead have been doing a different sport. Something like climbing, for example. As a kid I wanted to go join the scouts. That would have been one thing that was easily do-able if my parents were a bit more elastic on the evening time. And it would have given me so much in so many ways. So I think if I could switch all my karate years with scout years I would have been very happy to do it. And to know German, instead of French could have been a deal. But then with French I can go Africa, so who knows. in the long run. I learned to play Go as a kid very young. But I knew no one who could play Go with me. I soon was able to win my father (who learned the rules from a book, like me), so I never became really good. I wish I had the contacts at the time to play it more often, and learn it properly. A musical instrument would have been great. So my list is: 1) social life & pick up, 2) diet, 3) scout, 4) go, german, musical instrument. But only the first four are really important.

I do. But it might be an older version, because I have no next page command. Is the <!--more--> command working? You might also want to ask at the wp discussion forum.

Living in Germany from Italy I realised how the only beer that is worth dringking is the unpastorised one. You really can't beat the one that you take in the place where they brew it. Do you think that since lately all the beer that you can find is pastorised, for the law of symmetry, the taxes are going to get more and more raw? P.

Wow, I wasn't aware it was so bad. Can you send me the links when new articles appear. Thanks. You have to understand her. Her father was THE person who brought Keynes in Italy. Although if this is Keynes theory, than I surely haven't understood much about it. For example my understanding was that K. advocated state jobs, even useless jobs, to push the economy. This does not seem to be part of that 'dream'. And I am quite sure Keynes would advocate that the 'high tide raises all boats'. Which is a capitalist concept, but does not, again, seem part of that 'dream'. But you surely have a better understanding of me, since I only know about economy from some part time interests, and discussions with my parents.

Yes, I think Normay is really using well its oil reserves. I sometimes wonder why the best governments seem all to be in places insanely cold or damp. Why can't we have a Norway style of government in a more temperate region.

I remember a friend of mine. And old women into neo paganism. She told me a rithm that was used to keep the mind from wandering. I found it to work at the beginning, then eventually even that becomes automatic. In any case the rythm was: left, right, left, left, right, left, right, right, left, right, left, left, right, left, right, right, left, right, left, left, right, left, right, right, left, right, left, left, right, left, right, right, left, right, left, left, right, left, right, right, ... All following a simple basic rythm. Oh, btw, one pointed concentration, keeping the mind from wandering, continuous concentration (which is what you might develop with those exercises) is not meditation. Just a prerequisite. Like, you need to take off your clothes to take a bath. But taking of your clothes is not taking a bath. You still need to do something else.

It is an interesting thread, indeed. Let me add a few things. Speaking about the european infantization. My mother rarely spoke to me of politics. That is, we often spoke together, but hardly she would tell me things as if they were coming from her own, much longer experience. She did it two times. One time she told me: "Pietro, things are now going to change politically [it was around half the 90's, during a time italian main party DC have been discovered to be very corrupted], but do always remember one thing, because people will tell you all sort of things. The left has NEVER governed this country[italy]. I know it, because I was here. It was Christian Democrats [DC], from after the war. Always the center". The second time she told me: "there is this dream. And this dream is not to have a nanny socialist or communist state that stops you from growing. But it is to have a state which takes care of the weak, and those who are not able to take care of themselves (as it is not in pure capitalists countries), while, at the same time, giving the possibility to the few who have a stronger will to succeed, to do so. Something which is not so in communists countries. It is following this dream that I have voted left all my life. Against, as you know, my more direct interests" Peregrino, are you sure you are not projecting? I was living in Amsterdam in 2002. In a muslim part of the city. And I felt much more safer than in some outskirts of Rome. I understand and agree on the analysis that we might be at the verge of an historical moment because of the population implosion. But I did not have this sense of imminenet danger over there.

Hi Peregrino, wherever we go we bring our little chat, eh. Have you seen how laws are changing in Europe. People are slowly understanding. One law that I see everywhere is that the veil is forbidden if it covers the face. In many countries it is not even needed as a new law. In Italy it is illegal to go with the face covered from the 70's. The time of the terrorists Brigate Rosse. If I read correctly the England, France and now Holand are on the same line. BTW, did you know that many of the women who are now putting the veil are the daughters of women who in 1968 burned it. I wasn't aware that 1968 hit Islam too, but it seem that at the time a certain number of women refused to remain covered. And now their daughters are putting it as a revolution respect to the generation of their parents. (I am of course not refering to Afghanistan, but to Algeria, Tunisia...). Oh, yes, keep me a place in New Zealand if we lose the constitution. Pietro

Depends on how much you earn. I am in Germany right now and I pay around 40% with a half position. With a full position at the Uni I would pay around 50%. In Sweden and countries over there they pay more. But in Europe the health system is way much better. For us the idea that a person gets sick and an hospital would not cure them is just barbarian. I suppose I react to that as you do to the idea that something might damp the capitalist edge. There are many ways to govern a country, and you cannot put them all in a one dimensional line (capitalist-socialist). You can pretty much screw up the economy on both side. You say that the economy collapsed in your friend nation, but this is because you count how well an economy does by the GDP, and similar indicators. But the GDP only shows exchanges of money. When your friend was going fishind, and eating healthy food, and staying in neature, this is not counted on the GDP. So the GDP might go really low, and yet the people might be having a great time. While you can have a nation have an ever increasing GDP. the economy in full boom, and people super stressed and not enjoying life. All in all I am pretty happy to be in Europe, and if the US did not had the neo-cons I would still prefer to live here.

My friend, you run circles around me, and then you ask me what is my take . Regarding the Euston Manifesto, it seem a prograssive and enlightened POV. Yet it does not seem to really uphold what I was speaking about. When it requires Human rights for all, is actually requiring that our values become their values. I cannot support this. Or I would have to accept that their values have a free entrance ticket in our community. Most of the US lives in Denial of the fact that there are billion of people who don't want a democracy. Who, when given the possibility to vote, vote to end the democracy, and start a theocracy. On what base do we impose a democracy to them. And how can we enforce it? By saying you can vote but can only vote this this and this. It is a dangerous form of democracy. It reminds me of the italian democracy during the cold war. A time when if the communist party where to win the election the plans (google GLADIO) where ready to make a GOLPE. The communist party never won the elections and the golpe did not happen. But we were having only the image of a choise. No, I don't think I want to support any society that preaches that everybody values should be so, so and so. Somehow I find more nice the idea of a world fractionated into different nations, each very different with different values, than in a single big puddle. I like diversity, you see. You asked me about Prodi... Prodi is ok. Not more than ok, but ok. It has passed some very unpopular laws, that have permitted the people of the Berlusconi Government to not risk jail for having breached the law while they were in power. Around 90% of the people where against them. Me too. But the jail were overfull, and to empty them he had to pass a law with 2/3rd of the parliament. And the Berlusconi people required that to vote for them. He could instead have asked the help of the ex-fascist. who were requiring that no one oculd have been released if he has not done at least 1/3 of the jail time. That seemed a balanced request. And I think it would have been better. I generally find his actions to be stable and quite good. Never really revolutionary. Never really good. Just ok. Considering that right now the other possibility is Berlusconi, Prodi is like an angel. But then, for example, the Dalai Lama went to Rome to take a Laurea honoris Cause, for his work, and no one of the government went to meet him. He saw the pope, gave a lesson at the Uni. and was off. This was few days after Prodi went to China. ... You see why I say Prodi is ok, but not great? The law that could stop people who have too much media power to be elected has not been done yet, too. Until this is done we are in danger of being seduced by that bleahusconi. Last time that Prodi was on power before Berlusconi he promise to do it, and he had not done it. This time he has not done it yet, too. I don't like this. We have proves that someone during the Berlusconi government had used his power on the secret services to spy on his competitor,... and Berlusconi is not in jail. We have now proves that either Berlusconi or his second (Letta) gave the order that made an imam being abducted by the US for the extraordinary renditions, and went to Egypt to be tortured. And all Prodi did was to put the Secret of State on the whole thing. What's the point of saying that we are against torture if the Prime Minister can order or permit Torture by Proxy. This is disgusting. During the Berlusconi Government there was the unfortunate event of the G8 in Genova, with people being beaten up and tortured by the police. This has all been recorded. Berusconi changed the law to make those policeman free by making the time after which the state could not take them (the time between the crime and the end of the trial, for the trial to be effective) really short. I don't think Prodi have changed that law, and surely no commission has started to investigate what has been going on at that time. The television is still in the hands of the governement. And the same people, who under the orders of Berlusconi eliminated some of the best journalists, are still in control. The only difference is that before the news where given as a sandwich pro berlusconi order: Berlusconi government said, opposition said, B. government replied. Now they are given as a sandwich pro Prodi: Prodi government said, opposition said, P government replied. In short, it seem like a man who is doing his best to guide the country, while also avoiding any action that would make the opposition angry or frightened. And any action that would really and strongly help us out. Even when a sense of degency, of human charity, of justice, of dignity and integrity would scream to make those actions done. This is what disgusts me, this passivity!

Peregrino, the fact is that we need to learn how to say no. At the moment we are able to say FUCK YOU NO!, or no, but.... Saing simply no, in a relaxed yet firm way is something we are unable to do. It is like the difference between the different reactions to being pushed. You can push back, you can give in... But you can also be in structure. Right! We need to learn to be in structure. So the US are pushing back, Europe is giving in. We need to learn to say those are our values, and are non debatable. Freedom of speech is one. Freedom of religion is another (but only up to the point where you don't go over the other values). Doing this is hard because it means to ground on different values that our historical ones. Our historical ones are the judeo-christian values. But those values have been discreditated during the 60's when it became clear how fake most of them where. But we never learned to fully trust the new ones. Now se need to do it. And of course also the Church will be against us. If someone publishes cartoon with images that are offensive for muslim the 3 reaction would be: pushing back: you protest, and then we bomb your country and impose our freedom of speech also in your country. giving in: yes there is freedom of speech, but you should not offend other people, so we shall apologise, and change the editor who permit those cartoons to be pubblished just saying no: clarify that we are sorry that people might be offended, but we are not going to act in ANY way against people who show the cartoons. If our embassy gets threatened, we either get defended by the local authority, or if they are unwilling to do it we close the embassy. If our missionary get threatened we invite them to come back, but we do NOT give in. We don't let threats, or even violence move us to either violence or giving in. Those are our values, we live by them, we die by them if necessary, and we are willing to live in a very polarized world, where any western turist is in danger in the middle east, but we are not willing to make the values of the middle east root in here. And if the immigrants protest than it is clear they are unfit to leave by our values and should leave for any muslim country of their choice. As such I am fully in support with permitting more immigration, but ONLY the immigration who is fully willing to live by our values. And who is not willing can go back. This is the position I feel we need to take. And is also the position I have seen so few people suggesting. If you know of anyone who is sugggesting it, please let me know. Pietro

Peregrino, can we keep this as a slow moving thread. I don't think much people are interested on this at the time, and although I am very interested I just have no time right now. So I shall post here when I have news and thngs to say. yes, I do think that 9/11 can't possibly phisically has gone as they claim, but I am not going to make any claim of my own. Just point at the inconsistencies. And I never met someone who would buy both the fact that islam moderates are also in a jihad by their silent acceptance, AND that 9/11 was wanted by the USA to respond to a situation they could forsee, but could not act directly if not.