Pietro

The Eranos is really good. It's true that you should not focus on a single word, but no one over here is suggesting to start with the Eranos and use only that. Somehow most of us use it as a side tool. You have your favorite translation, and then expand it understanding the alternative translations of the words. And then there are some of us who have read so many different translations that the text has started speaking to them directly. For them the Eranos is really good. But they are on a different relation with the text all together.

thank you for this

maybe the cat killed them... It's not that he stretches near patients about to die, is that whoever he stretches near dies.

Hello Dao Zhen, nice to have you on the board. I was reading some of your posts, and looking at the wonderful pictures you posted in the gallery. I was thinking that there is probably a number of people in this board would would be VERY eager to go to China, for a period to study Daoism. We have had many people advertising courses, and workshop. But if a person was interested to go to China and study with Daoist priests for a prolonged period, this was hardly a possibility. Also here and there there are a number of teachers who go to China, and then make some places available for whoever is interested to go with them. Those are generally very interesting, but my sensation is that they lack the flexibility, and freedom that come from travelling alone. If you meet a very good teacher, and you just fall in love with a place and wish to stay there for more time, it is just not that easy. But you can go, stay with them a couple of month weeks (LATE EDIT), learn a tai ji form here, some qi gung there, and generally go back home with some great memories. This is not what I am looking for or asking about. I am speaking about the possibility for a person to go to China, maybe be officially initiated into Daoism, live over there for a period, and integrate this part of their life more fully in their livestyle. Do you think this would be possible? How? I know in the past, for example, it was not possible for a foreigner to go and join a Daoist monastery. Things have probably moved quite a bit from then. And if someone was interested, and the daoists where from their side interested or willing to have foreigner coming over, there would still be a number of small practical details that would need to be sorted. So I would like to know, can you give us some sort of description of what the current situation in China is. Presumebly one cannot just come and join a Daoist monastery for as long as they like? So what would the requirements be? Do foreigners (from USA and Europe, for example, but also from other countries) have to have a Visa to enter China? How long are those Visa issued for? Are chinese people happy to have foreigners studying with them? I suppose a person would have to know how to speak Chinese before going there, right? Would it be possible for someone who plans to stay for "just" a few months to have his personal interpreter or would this be considered offensive? Looking forward to hear your answer, Pietro P.S. and yes, I am also asking for myself, as my latest emplyment is ending pretty soon, and after that I am looking for some time off to take some decisions.

Is this the translation of a taoist book? Can you tell me which one in case? Thanks

thank you :-/

congratulations for your results. I don't see myself doing this. first I am not sure it will work, second I am also not sure if it works, if this is going the direction I want to go. Meditations need to be around for a few hundred years, before I really consider them. Sorry.

I this girl being suggested at their website? because I am not getting anything. (I am actually getting too bored to do it until something happens) But the practice of letting the yin of women affect you is an authentic taoist practice. It was suggested to me by my teacher in the periods I was single, not to get totally yin dry. After all you need to remember that for taoists already speaking is a form of sex.

yeah, it's unbelievable if they sell even 1! They can as well sell vowels by the kilo!

Thank You. Although we are probably going to know for sure what Taomeow means. What I see is not what you refer. So let me add a few things. Sarcasm, and humor can be harmful, not just because they put down people, but because they prevent people from going deeply in their emotions. And it is from this place that you make deep and meaningful connections between human beings. Connections that are being made while looking at the eyes. I think the recent movie Avatar < SPOILER ALERT > shows it very well in the figure of the chief of operation. The guy who is in touch with the corporate world. When they try to report what they have been experiencing his reaction is "what have you guys been smoking". And you can see that he is troubled by the way things are developing. He is not a bad man, but a man in a bad position. Humor helps him, in some occasions, from seeing the depth of the damage they are doing. <END OF SPOILER ALERT > And in Taoism we say: when the inferior man hears about the tao he laughs too much. Humor is ok, and sarcasm is ok. It depends on the level, it depends on the context. It is surely has a deep gift in letting us see different sides of the same equation. At the same time. <sarcasm> And discover that neither of them made any sense </sarcasm>

your deeply sarcastic entry got me. Luckily there is a number of factual errors, (pointed out correctly by Iyoiyo ) that helped ground me. But I think our local feline community (Taomeow and Cat) are onto something here. It would help if in this thread we try to keep sarcasm at the bare minimum not to induce confusion between in the facts of the world.

I use to believe so. Now I am not so sure. I do think that old women and ugly women have a hard time in getting the sex they need.

Agreed with all that has been said. A few things I would like to add: 1) We have said how the Vatican was against the movie, right? Well here we have a declaration from tribal leader of the Borneo tribes declaring how Avatar is real. I think Avatar is onto something. It has touched a nerve in the church. The same nerve that made the Church torture and kill pagans everywhere. The nerve that is linked to western civilization, and missionaries going out in the woods to convert the natives. (Something which is going on still now). Essentially from the point of view of the church the movie is a threat. It risks to destroy what the Vatican has been working for in the last thousands of years. It is hard to find a workable compromise between a male God and a female Goddess that practically identifies with nature. This is also why you see so many dialogues between religions that basically all believe a similar God (Christian-Jew-Muslim), and so little between those religions and nature based religions. I remember speaking with a neo-pagan, long time ago. He was a very knowledgeable man who spent most of his life investigating the ancient ways in Britain. He told me how what really pissed off the missionaries in their contact with the ancient pagan religious people was the realization that the spiritual experience of those people who (also?) authentic. Thats why they had to kill them. Now getting on the movie. I have seen the movie not once but two times. And I don't remember having done that (paying, that is)in a loong time. Why have I done it? Because the second time I wanted to concentrate on the 3D effect. The Nature, the scene, the technology. The first time I saw the movie in 3D my body opened up. Like when I am in nature. In front of a beautiful panorama. I think this movie will now set the new standard. If this is possible, why are we not getting this all the time? Think what happened when we moved from black and white to color. Think what happened when the internet spread. There are those key moments when a new technology is released, and the whole world changes. I would even say that most of the people who went to see Avatar for the second time did it not so much to see the movie again (the story is a bit dumb, we have said that), but to see how will movies look like in the future. More than that... I imagine a world where the technology to view Avatar will be in every house. Imagine the 3d projector. Maybe a chair with a round projector around it. It can project in 3D. It has fuull immersion 3D sound. Add phisical stimulus and you have a full blown orgasmatron. But also the best relaxing and auto massage technology. I see the economic explosion of the creation of relaxing (or stimulating) backgrounds. People choosing to pass half an hour near a waterfall. Or deep in nature. Or flying above the mountains. I am not saying this is good or bad, I am saying this will happen. And in a world where nature is really threatened this might be the biggest escape venue for everybody. Integrate this with computer, add some body to computer device (now would be keyboard and mouse, but that can change), and you have a full 3d immersion working environment. Your desktop becomes a sphere around you. A sphere that probably you can rotate at will. (I will cross post this to my blog)

It's easy to stop ejaculating! I must have done it thousands of times.

As you command, so it has been done!

Since celibacy retention are so important for the male people in this group, and since women should have equal opportunities... I suggest... [make some noise] We should have a calendar connected with each account. Male sign there every time they ejaculate. Women every time they bleed. And then every post should record the number of days from the last time. At least people can make an objective evaluation of where does a person stand when s/he wrote that post

We should have a calendar connected with each account. Male sign there every time they explode. Women every time they bleed. And then every post should record the number of days from the last time. At least people can make an objective evaluation of where does a person stand when he wrote that post I think I will repost this in the other thread...

It's like being if you try to be , you are not , but if you do not try to be you are not necessarily

Hey Little1, the reason why no one is answering you, is because innocence... does not exist. Now before you start all crucifying me, let me explain. You can be more or less innocent about something, but innocence, in itself, does not exist. It is a privative, something that does not exist, even though we act as if it existed. There are many privatives in life, and it's good to recognise them. I started a thread on this some time ago. You might want to reread that. Other privatives are freedom, cold, darkness. Things that are generally defined as the absence of something. So you can say that something is less innocent than something else, but nothing will be totally innocent. As such the question "what is innocence?" does not make sense. What does make sense is to ask: "how can I me more innocent?", or how can I be "as innocent as...?", or "how can I recover the level of innocence I had when ...?". As of "how can I be more innocent?", I will stick to my suggestion of dissolving what is not innocent. You will not reach being "totally" innocent. But you will reach a level that you will consider satisfactory. And then you can move on. Oh, yes, other privatives are perfection, and enlightenment. And now, I'll start running :-)

I totally agree with you. EDIT: Late Addition: There is one thing that I would like to add to all this. Women are much smarter than men in social situation. The amount of brain that is used for understanding social relations in women is nearly 10 times more in women than in men. We are essentially all dumb, blind and deaf to what they feel and perceive in a social interaction. So, for example, this sense of timing Cat speaks about does not come to men naturally. We need to develop it. And here is where the PUA teaching about "not being just your self, but being your best self" comes in. We need to make a conscious effort to be at our best, and then we can start to look a bit less dumb... a bit less and a bit more

No, no, no, Non You are so messed up, we are ok

Thanks for clarifying this up, Kate.

Cat said: There are a few things here. 1) attraction comes first. 2) even when there is attraction my experience is that you just cannot jump in and be totally blunt about your feelings, and who you are. As a man you will make women run away so fast you can't say "but Cat...". :-). Women, unless you are a lesbian, you would not know how to seduce a woman. You might think you know it, but you don't. And this is why men who follow suggestions from women are unsuccessful. Don't get suggestions from women, get suggestions from successful men.

I know exactly what's happening on fb. I use it daily. (I don't use myspam). But the point with FB is that it is NOT a dating site, and it does not work with people writing a list of charatteristics they want to have in a possible partner. The reason why facebook works is because it is so similar to real life. A person will show you something, but not all. You need to guess. There is a dance. You meet his or her friends. In short there is the whole flirting. That'svery different from the kind of naked advertisment that Kate was suggesting aand that you was supporting. Do you remember the scene in tootsie when Dustin Hoffman, (dressed as a woman), picks up the confession of his collegue. When she tells him (thinking he is a woman), -"wouldn't it be nice if a man could just come and tell me, 'I can tell you great compliments, but in truth I just want to make love with you'". So once he is back in his male clothes he does exactly that, with her. Do you remember what happens? She throws him the drink on his face. Women will say they want that level of direct honesty. They might even believe it themselves. But you, as a man, should know that it is not true. What women say they want, and what women respond too are very different things. if not every nerd would be a don Giovanni. And there are good reasons why women act in this way, very good reasons.