Ian

What I been told is: Cancer is a last ditch attempt by the body to protect itself from local or general toxicity. Builds a lump around it, basically. Which is why people find correlations with fungus, virus, parasites etc, because they also thrive in general toxicity. That's all. Obviously I personally know nothing about it. P.S. 220 volts? Talk me through that, would ya!

Sorry, actually nothing to say. Please carry on with what you were doing.

(forces own hands away from keyboard, breathes sigh of relief)

Went to see him on Friday. Not too much to say, as Santi's said it already. But I put a brief description in my practice section. Thanks for hooking me up.

Well me and Yoda were both lamenting our failure to keep up with squats, so we've teamed up to try and make it happen. Nothing heavy, but just making it more likely to happen because we're both trying and might make more effort for each other than we would just for ourselves. So I thought it would be good to have a thread for this idea. If you have a practice you'd like to do and you're maybe just not quite motivated enough to make it happen on your own, then post here and see if anyone would like to join you. Then you can encourage each other and keep it going, and share notes. That's all.

Thanks, chap. I'm pretty motivated at the moment, by my standards. Haven't missed a day yet, after a month or so. But a full hour is a diffferent kettle of fish....

His website seems down at the moment (9th dec). I've been trying to look-see if he comes to Europe. Must say I rather fancy the idea of him putting one hand each side of my heart and letting rip. Are you aware of several comments by people who preferred the short book cd to the longer set? If you're gonna go ahead anyway, then naturally I'd love to check it out.

Just read the shaking medicine book. Thanks for the recommendation, Freeform. Life-changing. Dunno exactly how yet, except that stuff was coming up my legs as I read, and my head was trying to twist itself off even more than usual. But yes. Profound, important. To me, at least.

Thank you for that. And for that.

Exactly my impression too. Hope I'm wrong.

Sage tea is the best. I've got a big sage plant in the polytunnel on my allotment, and just picked a whole bunch of fresh leaves today. I believe there is a chinese saying, something like "Why be sick, when there is sage?"

It's a curious thing, when a forum like this gets so big and successful that it has a significant number of people on it who make their living (or derive a major part of their identity) from being an authority on spiritual subjects. Some seem to be very graceful about it, others, well, a little too determined not to be challenged. And of course some people are like that anyway, without necessarily being teachers. I don't have a conclusion here, (except that sneering arrogance is usually a pretty bad way to get one's message across ! ) I was just wondering if people have any thoughts. Would it be good if people who are in a sense representing their own business interests declared as much?

Sure: I wasn't thinking about enforced rules. And I'm absolutely all in favour of people getting paid for teaching. What I find regrettable is when, as it seems to me, people insist on being right, not just because they passionately believe in their own truth, as we all sometimes do, but also because if they were wrong, or if alternative views were possible, then it would kind of undermine their worldy survival platform or make them seem less saleable to this huge group of potential customers. It's just this kind of over-determined edge that creeps in sometimes. Not talking about anything happening right now, particularly. Just something I've been wondering about...

Maybe also because depressed people don't go out much!

My colleague just made me a lovely cup of tea. And the working week is nearly over. Nice.

October 2005. Dirk doing that healing on Karen. Do you remember, he said, casual as anything "there is a very strong angelic presence here" And, well, I wouldn't know an angel if it was on a bed of lettuce strumming a harp. But there was something extraordinary there. It may just come down to vocabulary. But who do you trust?

So was he just in the UK to meet you, or do some teachng, or is he based here?

This is great, but, alas, I've learned it from you instead of figuring it out for myself. Whatever shall I do now? Seriously though, I do wonder where "the getgo" can be located. Is it not feasible that those who appear completely independent, or achieve independence, previously spent long lives attached to lineages, feeling their way? Anyway, thank you. You've articulated some stuff I've had brewing, and brought it forwards. And .... just curious .... can you put the sun in your pocket?

I went on a Goenka retreat about six/seven years ago. I found excruciatingly difficult, very effective, and without a trace of worship. The Goenka video excerpts each evening were charming, apposite and just enough, each time, to make me decide to stick it out for another day. It has been persuasively suggested to me, since then, that this style of vipassana, going through the body, asks a lot of people, as it was designed to be done after achieving stable concentration. While still potentially very useful for beginners, I'm told that a lot of people have to white-knuckle it with aditan (strong determnation). But if in doubt, try it and see. Certainly not a cult, as I experienced it.

Not arguing with any of this. But would like to add that on a local scale, some situations can be so disharmonious that they get splatted, as part of the maintenance of overall harmony. And if you are part of what gets splatted, then you will need to have really internalised the above perspective or you will get upset. So...even while you can't act against the overall flow, there's no harm at all in being locally harmonious. It's just very hard to get there by trying...

How could merit work? How could existence keep a record of your accumulations? Seriously, how but through yourself? Meritorius deeds are those which make you less separate. Then you are less separate. No other scoresheet that I can imagine. (Disclaimer - I don't know shit about anything.)

Questions: Kip, if you pass by again: is it meant to be used with headphones or is it just as good filling the room? Cat: have you done a control experiment using other nice twinkly music? The way you are these days, I reckon most anything with a bit of keyboard would have you writhing in peaceful ecstacy. Or was this different? Thirdly, to anyone, what, ultimately, are the value of "intense meditation experiences", "heightened ecstatic conductivity", (all right, ok!) and shaktipat? Do they help you do it on your own, whatever it be? Or is it a drug for the ears, at the end of the day? Not trying to be a miserable bastard, well, no more than usual, just trying to save money

So is it ok, in your opinion, to use homeopathic remedies like Calc Fluor as a once-off kind of thing, rather than as part of a reverse timeline process? If so, and apologies if I've asked you this before, can one take other remedies on a similar principle, to counteract the residues of, say, recreational drugs like cannabis and lsd? And are such remedies available? (Just curious, Mum !)

For the adderall, I have no specific knowledge, but I don't imagine it does any long-term good, and I would suggest, as mentioned, a trial-and-error attempt to reduce dosage gradually to zero by meditation or whatever means. For meditation, be advised that there are many, probably hundreds, of different practices out there, all called meditation, and some are very different from others. It would be well worth, in my opinion, working out exactly what you want to achieve, and then asking for specific recommendations. Jeez, I sound pompous. Anyway, best of luck.

My two cents: You can't doubt without thinking. Uninvited thinking at that, I bet, 98% of the time. Don't fight it, because what you fight it with is from the same union, however much nicer it seems. Just play the game of refusing to let it get a reaction out of you. Make refusing to participate in doubt a part of your practice, then it can't sabotage you. Mind you, it may depend what your practice is, and how much group and teacher support you have, whether that's easy or not. Good luck. Don't be discouraged if it's a gradual process.