liminal_luke

Your language gives you away, ST. My schoolmates in remedial English class never wielded such vivid and colorful vocabulary. Nor did we plop powerful words down at the end of our sentences for maximum impact -- and then walk away all innocent like. Dumb-fuckery? I don`t think so.

If I had my druthers, I`d much rather be in the misty mountains than under a cloudless California sky. That said, I find the sky gazing practice (and associated metaphor) pretty groovy. I`ve been reading Awakening the Luminous Mind, by Bon teacher Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, and he asks a question that really put it in perspective for me... Does the sky have a problem with the clouds? For those that aren`t familiar, the sky here symbolizes open awareness. The clouds, well, that`s everything else -- thoughts, feelings, sensations, and so on. When I read the question above, I immediately thought of my sometimes rocky relationship. Unlike the sky -- which doesn`t have a problem with the clouds -- I`m often annoyed by my partner. Several weeks ago, I was working with the Bon practices outlined in the above book and applying them to my particular relationship situation, when, lo and behold, I found myself feeling less irritated. For me, this was a big success. There weren`t any energetic or alchemical fireworks to speak of, no awakenings of the kind that are regularly talked about here, but I did find myself dealing with this aspect of my life in a way I liked better. Sky gazing can be a support for these practices, a way to remind myself of the open awareness that helped me be gentler with my partner, and, for this reason, I like it. Doesn`t mean I wouldn`t rather have a rainy day, though.

Yes, but don`t you just love where we`ve meandered to? I`m thinking of focusing on umami in my cooking, and wondering if any of the seasoned chefs here have any synergistic suggestions. From my reading, it seems like umami really takes off when high glutamate ingredients are paired with high nucleotide ingredients. I thought maybe I`d just try to have one or two items from each category at my high umami meal of the day. Or am I overthinking things? Another question: is there such a thing as too much umami flavor?

A commonly available commercial fish sauce without any fishy additives: Red Boat.

A great website information with scientific information answering the question "what is umami?" and a useful rundown of umami ingredients: http://www.umamiinfo.com/

Is anybody else getting tired of wanting to be right? I`m in the process of reevaluating my participation in Daobums, and one of the things I`m looking at is this desire to be right. Both my own desire and that of other people. It comes up everywhere but especially in Political threads. Who is right? There are people for Trump or those against him. Those who want the Boy Scouts to have nothing to do with girls, and those who welcome girls programs within the umbrella of the organization. Those who want to limit the sale of guns and those who feel proud of their personal armory. It`s all a bit much. A bum recently used a word I`d never heard before: pussification. He meant it, as you might imagine, in a negative way. It seems liberals are trying to pussify Western culture, a trend he found objectionable. Although he wasn`t talking to me, I can`t help but feel like one of the most flagrant pussifiers on the board. It`s not a good feeling. People will tell me that if I`m too sensitive I should stay out of political threads, and of course they have a point. But this wanting-to-be-right disease has infected more than just Off-Grid. It`s everywhere. At it`s best, I believe the Daobums is about helping each other. There`s a spirit of cooperation and sharing. Not so much virtual head shaking about how terrible other people are. Don`t get me wrong -- I like a good battle as much as anybody else. Still, I`m coming to the conclusion that internet squabbling isn`t good for me. I come to the Daobums for spiritual inspiration, to find resources and information that will help me come into alignment with my best self. Often enough, that`s just what I find. All to often though, I`ll sink into the quicksand of wanting-to-be-right.

Star of David...Two triangles intersect, and, in the space where they merge, magic happens. Christian Cross...Two lines intersect, and, in the space where they merge, magic happens. Daoist alchemy...Yang rises as yin descends, and, in the space where they merge, magic happens.

Hi Yueya, Your posts made me think of something Konchug Uma said several years back about a form called Quan Yin Magnetic Qigong... The purpose of red phoenix is to generate a cool downward flow of energy like water, and the purpose of KYMQ is to synchronize the hemispheres of the brain in order to fuse them into a "whole brain" (my choice of words not LaoXie's) by increasing activity across the corpus callosum and, what i experience as phaselocking the wavelengths of the hemispheres into one wavelength of brain activity. It also aims to awaken the "one sense" (LaoXie's choice of words) as opposed to the five (or six) senses that we commonly think of. This got me thinking that if there are these two ways of thinking/being in the world and there`s this possibility of strengthening the connection between them so they somehow integrate...well...what would that integration look like? Is there a third brain that`s neither right nor left but emerges from the integration of the two? Just thought I`d mention it as a possibility in case it might mean something to you. LL

The science of genetics is besides the point -- at least to me. My point above was not that parents actually live on genetically through children, but rather that there`s a felt sense of immortality (usually on a less-than-conscious level) that some people get through the project of raising kids and -- hopefully -- having them live on after they`ve died. .

My boyfriend and I have a code word for love. Inspired by the language of the Na`vi in the movie Avatar, it`s just a few nonsense syllables that for us mean "I love you." This way we can bid each other goodbye in public settings in a sweet, secret way without the hassle of being in an obvious gay relationship. Not that I think we`re fooling anybody. In general, I don`t think straight people have much of an idea what it`s like to be gay. They don`t know what it`s like to come to a spiritual forum like Taobums and read debates about the validity of their existence. I remember looking for information about homosexuality in the local library as a teenager. There wasn`t much. A copy of Don Clark`s very useful book, Loving Someone Gay, and a not so useful psychoanalytic treatise detailing the supposedly aberrant family dynamics that Freudians of that time thought led to people like me. These days people put little stock in psychoanalysis, going in instead for more materialistic, biological explanations. So we`ve got lots of talk of genetics and debate about chimpanzees. Lots of people seem to think that if there are gay chimps in the wild then being a gay human is OK. If there aren`t gay chimps then I suppose homosexulity is more suspect. Well, I`m here to tell you that I don`t care about the gay chimpanzees. I`m just trying to love myself and my partner as best I can, regardless of whether or not we have sexual counterparts in the wild kingdom. What else can I do? It occured to me today that gay people have something in common with straights who, for whatever reason, chose not to have children. There`s just something shameful, or so we`re told, about not procreating. I believe the root of the taboo is the fear of death. Having kids can be a way of girding oneself against the horror of non-existence: parents will die, but they can take comfort in the idea that their genes will live on through their progeny. Gay people and non-procreating straights live closer to death; they are the unprotected. Their very existence is a challenge to those who haven`t come to terms with mortality.

Human beings are always mucking about, for sure, with even gurus -- those most explicitly claiming divine status -- routinely toppling from their heavenly perches in various sex scandals as you rightly point out. Yet I continue to believe we have seeds of divinity within us. Buddhism teaches that everybody has "Buddha nature." Christianity is named after a man who became (was?) also God. Well, God`s son -- close enough by my reckoning. My take on it is that we all have the potential of reaching "Christ consciousness," bringing us to a similar level. In Taoism, I`ve heard that man is "between heaven and earth." We`re not entirely consumed with the heavenly pole of existence but we`ve got a connection to it. One thing seems certain: human beings possess great spiritual potential. Reaching full maturity means going on a spiritual journey in which we grapple with our baser instincts and integrate our sometimes disparate mini-personalities into a congruent psycho/spiritual structure. (OK, now I`m really talking like a crazy man, but bear with me.) We may, like Dorothy, end up clicking our heels and discovering that we were always whole (read: divine) and don`t need anything from the Wizard. We`ve always had courage, always had a brain, always had a heart -- we just didn`t know it. Once we know it, we click our heels three times and return home. It`s the same home as it`s always been, and yet different because we`re different. Now we know ourselves in a deeper way. Well, Dorothy clicks her heels. Most men don`t wear heels, so that`s the women`s journey toward spiritual wholeness. How do men reach similar heights of authenticity and integration? Beats me. If I knew, I`d likely be off in a cave practicing rather than blathering about the process on Daobums. I just know there`s a way. We can become so much more than we seem. To go on that journey, as men, is to become in touch with the divine masculine.

I love it! If there`s a group in my city, I`ll check it out. It`s good, I think, for men to get in touch with the "sacred masculine." This doesn`t necessarily have anything to do with the G-word (God), or with wanting to be more than human. Instead, it can mean connecting with our positive masculinity and embodying our deepest essence. Bringing that out into the world. What does it mean to be a man? This is a question many grapple with. As I write, there`s an active thread here where people are discussing whether, and to what extent, men are more likely to commit murder than women. While this may be a necessary conversation, it sure doesn`t show us men in a very flattering light. There aren`t many models out there in society for how to be both manly and, well, a good person. Being a man doesn`t mean killing other men and mistreating women, though a person could easily come to that conclusion watching too much Netflix. Getting in touch with the "sacred masculine" sounds like something we need. Perhaps there`s a new masculine awareness dawning. It can`t come too quickly.

This thread started out about the Boy Scouts, and now somehow I`m talking about me. Funny how that happens. Perhaps it`s time to leave the world of trans issues, gay issues, and Luke issues and get back to scouting? I do like what you say though, White Rabbit, about how we are not our positions. Very true. At the same time, it does seem to me that people sometimes attack other people (sometimes in ways that attract moderator attention, at other times in more subtle -- but no less nefarious -- ways).

Actually, no. I`m not so confused. I just have a bad habit of thinking of other Bums as my friends and talking to them as my friends. Some people are friendly, of course, but others approach conversation like a boxing match and are quick to exploit any perceived weakness. If I don`t want to be treated like a punching bag, I shouldn`t even hint at the possibility of finding anything confusing. Lesson learned, I guess.

This feels snarky and contemptuous to me. Did you mean it that way? Your suggestion, though, is actually a good one. (Where`s Hancock when you need him?) My sense is that there is no single sense for what identifying as black means, that different people experience their blackness differently. Often, as with my partially black friends, there`s some ambivilence about being black or white (or rather, too black or too white). Consider that there`s a show called "Blackish." Also, the whole "oreo" phenomenon of some blacks thinking other blacks "act white." If there are black people on the board who feel like speaking to the question of black identity, I think that would be an interesting conversation.

More effective for what? For achievement in a specialized field, a narrow focus may be more effective. For crafting an interesting and fulfilling life, diversification is equally important.

Is so! Whew, that felt good. If you chose to reply to this post, I`ll let you have the last word. These kind of things can go on forever without reaching any kind of a resolution, and who needs the hassle.

That didn`t take long. Stosh, I`m not -ist against white man so you`ve got me all wrong. There`s actually a big difference between an all white group and an all black group, for instance, and that difference is power. Historically disempowered groups have a legitimate interest in coming together to support each other and fight for their rights. Country clubs limited to white men..well that`s an entirely different thing. That said, I`ve nothing against groups limited to men in general. Nothing against groups limited to German men or Irish men or other groups of men with a particular shared interest or background. It`s only groups limited to white men that seem suspicious to me. I`m a white man myself and don`t feel a bit bad about it, so no, I`m not prejudiced.

I wonder if you`d be open to consider my point of view? Behavior, I agree, is a choice. Assuming willing sex partners are available, you could chose to have sex with a man or a woman or both. So could I. Doesn`t mean we`d necessarily like it in all cases, but it could be done. If you`re talking only about sexual behaior, we totally agree. Attraction itself is another thing. You`ve made it very clear over the years that you are strongly and exclusively attracted to women. This attraction seems to be deep and natural for you: you see an attractive woman in a skimpy bikini walking along the beach, you feel attracted. Now, here`s my question: if you really wanted to (and I know you don`t) do you think you could chose to stop being attracted to that beautiful woman? Could you turn off your heterosexual libido just by willing it away? Let`s take it a step further...could you decide instead to become attracted to an attractive man in a speedo? I`m guessing you could do none of these things. What I`m hoping you`ll consider is this: gay people can no more change who they are attracted to than you can. They could chose not to have gay sex, but they can`t chose not to be attracted to the same gender. You could chose not to have heterosexual sex, but you can`t chose not to be attracted to women. I speak to you from my own experience.

You raise some great points Rene, and I don`t think there are any easy answers. I`m fine with groups limiting membership to women, to blacks, or to gays. But if a countryclub wanted to limit membership to white men I`d raise my eyebrows. Some people here will no doubt consider me the worst kind of liberal hypocrite for saying so so openly, but I`m getting used to that. (I don`t know anything about the Dolezal case, and haven`t watched any of the videos posted in this thread. But yeah, deception is bad.)

I dunno, Windwalker. What does identifying as black even mean? It`s all so confusing. A good friend got genetic testing done a few years back and found he was 57% black. Another relative of his did the test and came out 25%, a number she found distressingly low. How do you think they should identify? My default position is to allow people to do what they want to do. I guess if an organization wanted to limit membership to black people then there would have to be some sort of objective criteria, and I`m fine with people coming up with whatever criteria they like. Everybody is free to have black friends. Everybody is free to dress in historically black styles, to listen to historically black music, to talk using historically black idioms, to eat historically black food. Nobody is forced to consider anybody else black if they don`t want to. In short, we`re all free.

Guess you changed your mind?

Juchitan, in southern Mexico, is said to be a matriarchal society. The link is an article about it. The video shows the marketplace. (Juchitan was recently effected by the big earthquake.) http://articles.latimes.com/1995-03-31/news/mn-49349_1_economic-life

A lot of women can`t conceive children, but ya know...I`ve think we`re long past the point where we should of "agreed to disagree."