liminal_luke

Someone makes a snarky comment in Off Grid and now I´m angry. "The hell if I´m going to let him out-snark me," I think as I compose what I hope will be a withering comeback. My fingers hover over the Submit Reply button and I´m ready to fire when suddenly it hits me: this beautifully caustic comment of mine isn´t likely to convince anybody of anything. It´s an important choice, give in to a hostile impulse or fight to be a Warrior of Peace.

It´s too long I know, but I suggest... Outward Bound on the WuWei Express: Last Stop Before Trumpville

Three quotes from Ivory Compton Burnett... A leopard does not change his spots, or change his feeling that spots are rather a credit. There isn´t much to say. I haven´t been at all deedy. People don´t resent having nothing nearly as much as too little.

Very cool understanding. Warriors of peace have the courage to face their own shadows. They face their shadows, allow inner conflict to fall away, and share the resulting peace with the world.

That rider seemed fearless. Then again, that´s probably what it takes to enter wu wei.

The past is never dead. It´s not even past. William Faulkner

Well said. I think it also depends on the phase of the process. Let´s say I´m doing something creative like crafting a Daobums post. In the beginning it´s more of a BLUE thing; I put aside my critical "right brain" for the time being and allow in a dreamy creative quality. Too much emphasis on getting things right (ie winning) in the beginning can stifle the imagination. Towards the end of a project my ORANGE side kicks in. If it´s a TaoBums post, I´ll read it aloud. Do the words make sense? Does it flow OK? Is that really how you spell analytical? Because in the end I don´t just want to have fun here, I want to actually communicate. If I write something that makes someone else think, to me that´s winning. (And yes, I realize I spend way too much time thinking about this.)

Some bums probably remember the experience of being picked last as the member of a team in physical education class. I know I do. Two students would randomly be assigned as team captains; that meant they got to choose their teams. First one would choose and then the other until the teams were decided. Naturally, the captains picked the best players first. The point is to win, right? Well, let´s just say I was never the best player. I remember one afternoon in eighth grade when I was captain of that day´s softball team. I don´t know what got into me but I decided to turn everything on it´s head: I picked the very worst players first and put them in the most important positions. Our one good player was way out on the field, while the class nerd was playing first base. Now that was an interesting game. So yeah, in the scenario Silent Thunder proposes my heart has always gone with Team BLUE: I don´t generally put much stock in winning. That´s too bad for me, maybe, because we live in a pretty ORANGE world. People tell me a "results matter" attitude is part of being an adult. Politicians can´t tell their constituents that they didn´t get the bill passed but had a lot of fun trying. You don´t tell your boss that you lost the contract but really enjoyed smoozing with the client over that fancy expense account dinner. If you want to keep your job you gotta win: It´s all about the money, honey. I think I´ll always lean BLUE, but perhaps there´s room for a little ORANGE sometimes too. Perhaps it´s like Yin and Yang. Which one´s better? All good Daoists know you can´t have one without the other -- that´s kind of the point. A hardcore rigid position in either camp can mess a person up. Better to recognize that different situations call for different attitudes and go with the flow.

Oh boy...so there´s something called following now? I hadn´t the slightest. Seems like it would be enough to thank -- or curse-- someone from afar.

I¨m grateful that I can see who thanked other people´s posts now. At first I got notified about who thanked me, and saw the number of thanks others got, but not from whom. One of the things I like most about Daobums is the feeling of community. Noticing which posts other´s are grateful for helps me get to know them and I like that.

Add in just a few more mini-practices -- stretching, quiet sitting, napping -- and you´ve got enough for a lifetime.

Once, during a chi gung workshop, an unfortunate gastrointestinal incident led one of the participants to nickname me with the dubious Daoist moniker "Green Cloud." I imagine I would be known for that had anyone lived. Sadly, they did not.

Among my friends, I´m known for buying expensive cheese for our happyhour get-togethers and sitting on the floor right next to the platter eating more than my fair share. Also, for making up silly diet goals for myself like "I will never eat sugary desserts alone, only in a social context" -- and then begging my friends to eat a spoonful of Grater´s icecream with me so I can have some without breaking my rules. And for my unwillingness to share shrimp fried rice. My fame goes beyond gluttony; I´m also known for my sloth. This is especially the case when it comes to yardwork. Some people say I have "touch issues" but that´s a vicious rumor and you shouldn´t put any stock in it. I hope to be known for my kindness.

,,,

And that belief, my friend, has put you in a Great Pumpkin prison.

I´ve long been interested in Kunlun practice (in an on-and-off way). It´s other name is Yi Gung, which I take to mean development of the Yi function. What it means to work with or develop the yi is a topic that interests me -- so thank you! Any further comments much appreciated.

Whether or not it´s advantageous I don´t know, but it´s for sure interesting. I´m wondering if her feeling sense is especially acute, in the same way that some blind people are extraordinarily sensitive to sound?

One of my favorites, Spring and Fall...by Gerard Manley Hopkins

But some of us come mighty close...

I agree. Thoughts are not necessarily a hindrance, and a silent mind is not a necessity. That´s an advanced position --very Dzogchen -- but nevertheless true. No getting anything past you, is there? I initially struggled with Spotless´s post because he seemed to be making all sorts of assertions and, at the same time, maintaining that they weren´t beliefs. They sure sounded like beliefs to me. Here´s what I think now. For a beginner, it´s more difficult to maintain awareness of presence while thinking. Perhaps that´s why many spiritual traditions focus on quieting the mind. It´s not that thoughts are bad, just that it is harder to be in a state of non-grasping while thinking. Most people who experience the thought "this Bhakti practice is really beneficial" will grab onto that thought in a way that separates them from the practice itself. But perhaps someone whose really stabilized in the experience of Bhakti can experience a thought as just another happening. The thought just bubbles up, maybe it even gets written down in a Daobums post, but nobody attaches to it. There´s nobody separate from the thought whose there to believe in it, Thought happens; thoughts without a thinker. Experienced in the radiant NOW with the same awed awareness normally reserved for a sunset or a kiss.

I believed exactly the same thing Jonesboy, but I think I understand a little more now. Let me try to put my understanding into words, and Spotless can correct me if I´ve got it wrong. Suppose you´ve decided to do a Bhakti devotion practice. You go to a Bhakti retreat, do intensive practice, and experience a moment of intense devotion. In that moment of pure practice you aren´t thinking "Bhakti is a great practice, this is really good for me." Your sense of devotion is so all-encompassing there´s no room left over for that thought. You are completely swept away by the sense of Bhakti. You are in it. Sometime later you might stop and think about the practice. You might say...Gee, this practice is really working, I am really getting benefit. But in the moment that you´ve stopped and made this evaluation, are you still feeling the devotion in the same way? Probably not. You´ve stepped outside of the practice in order to come up with a belief about it. That belief, while it might motivate you to continue the practice at some later time, is actually separating you, however subtly, from the practice itself.

Thanks Spotless! The image of watching the sunset and feeling momentarily swept away (or rather, momentarily stepping outside of belief) and resting in presence, made it clear for me. Well, at least it feels clear. I´m reminded of the Zapchen practice of wow -- consciously entering into a state of awe.

I feel intuitively that you´re really on to something, and want to get it -- but I don´t. How is the statement that "belief is the prison" not itself a belief? Or is it? If you don´t have beliefs, well, how do you believe anything? Maybe faith is like a belief but held really lightly? If your sense of me is that I´d do better just wrestling with this on my own, feel free not to respond. I don´t mean to bog down in hopeless and unuseful philosophizing. I just don´t really get it.

I certainly don´t claim to be more aware than you Brian, but I will say this: Where else but on the Daobums is healing sought and so freely given? SeekerOfHealing must be following some sort of wise internal guidance or he would not have found his way here -- and yes, that is cause for hope.

seizing, releasing the rhythm of the ocean in your body, too