liminal_luke

reformed?

Analytical knowledge of music can contribute to enjoyment, it´s true. But it can also be taken too far. The college I went to also had a music conservatory. Some of the conservatory students complained that their knowledge of music actually got in the way of pleasurable listening; they were so used to analyzing sounds in their heads that they couldn´t turn it off. Arts education can enrich us up to a point, but there´s still a time when you just want to kick back with a beer and a favorite CD, a time to open up to a kind of beauty beyond rational understanding.

If you don´t read the newspaper you´re uninformed. If you read the newspaper you´re misinformed. If you read the internet you´re deformed.

The energy of every throw will come back to you X three.

In a world drowning in moral relativism and airy-fairy go-with-the-flow philosophical mush, Karl remained to his values to the very end.

I was a nerdy, worrywort of a little boy, so I don´t have a big desire to re-experience childhood either. But I get what people mean when they talk glowingly about childlikeness. I think it means the relief you feel in your body when everything just lets go.

Yeah, it kind of figures. Even notice how hard it is to get a handle on who someone really is from their handle? A lot of people take a kind of wizard-of-oz approach to name-picking, choosing a moniker that sounds like it came straight out of the Tao de Ching -- you know, something super esoteric and advanced. Take, for instance, Liminal- Luke. You gotta watch out for that one Who does he think he is, a Skywalker or something? Fortunately, it also works the other way. Some of the kindest bums call themselves snakes; some of the smartest, marbleheads. I´ll never understand it.

Thanks for this, Taomeow I love the metaphor of the leopard changing it´s spots from within because it provides a model for self-transformation that isn´t rooted, however subtly, in self-hate.

Googling quantum lead me to websites for the following companies/products: Quantum Data Storage, Quantum Instruments, Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies, Quantum Sails, Quantum Espresso, Quantum Design ... it goes on and on. So I think quantum theory must have to do with marketing and making things sound new-fangled and cool and impossibly hip. Which is just about as far from the point of existence as a person could get, if you ask me. I think the point of existence is to make peace with how uncool we are, how small and prosaic and Newtonian. To get to the point where we don´t need to puff ourselves up with quantum this or that. Where we can just be ourselves, nothing special. And, paradoxically, at the same time, fabulous.

Interesting. It sounds like your brain is doing whatever it needs to without any help, but you might be interested in Kuan Yin Magnetic Qigong. http://www.thedaobums.com/topic/21297-kuan-yin-magnetic-qigong/?hl=%2Bkuan+%2Byin+%2Bmagnetic The source material is a DVD rather than a book. I did it for a day or two, and it majorly activated my niwan. Actually, in a way that, for me, felt out of balance with the rest of my body -- so I stopped. Very powerful stuff. At some point I´ll try again.

Do you do the Buddha Palm meditation, Cheya? It´s something I learned a long time ago, but haven´t practiced in years. Thinking of getting back to it. I have a DVD of the form from Gilles Marin, a chi nei tsang teacher. I thought maybe you might have done it as I think it´s in the cosmic healing book. If you have, I´d be interested in your opinion. Good practicing, Liminal

Discovering resources and practices -- Zapchen, Kunlun, trauma release exercises, Tibetan Bon teachings, etc. Helping some people. Annoying others. Debating. Learning. Occasionally I try to be funny. Feeling connected to a whole big world of people out there who care about the subjects we chat about here.

Thank you so much for this Silent Thunder. Your words came to me when I needed to hear them. I´m dealing with a challenging interpersonal situation right now, and your post has helped me return to a place of greater openness and acceptance. The way I figure, I might as well give love a try. It´s not like insisting things happen the way I want has been working anyways. Liminal

I´m not sure if "celebrated" is the correct word (there might be traditional holiday merrymaking I´m not aware of), but the autumnal equinox is a special time energetically. Much like the spring equinox, it´s a time when yin and yang come into greater balance on a cosmic scale. This outward balance reverberates on a more personal level if a practitioner is able to tap into it, and it´s thus a good day for practice. The solstices are similarly powerful. On the scale of the day we have sunset, sunrise, noon, and midnight -- also good times for practice for similar reasons. Or so they tell me. Liminal

Liminal Luke -- Speed editor from Hell.

LDMB, You seem to insist that I am judging people who have lots of casual sex, and I keep telling you I´m not. I do have the opinion that, most of the time, sex with strangers isn´t a good idea. I think it can be exactly like drugs or gambling: a way to numb pain that would be better dealt with head-on. That´s my opinion. But if you jump from that to my saying people who are "sluts" are bad people, well, you´ve made a jump that I haven´t made. You say that you´ve had a lot of positive experience with "slutty" people and that they aren´t necessarily messed up at all, that some "slutty" people even have advanced degrees and successful careers. On that point there can be no argument; even some past presidents have been "slutty." But I´m not entirely convinced that they aren´t messed up just because you say so, though I´m willing to keep an open mind. I don´t think I need to "consider withdrawing from the internet until I have a better sense of self," though it might not hurt to take a break, or at least be more selective about the threads I get involved with. (Just FYI: People you´re fighting with online are unlikely to be receptive to mental health tips.) Like most people, I prefer threads with a congenial vibe. This conversation doesn´t feel congenial -- it feels hostile. You seem angry at me for having the opinion that people have casual sex as a way of dealing with trauma. Are you? You seem to think that just because I have that opinion I¨m a hurtful, judgmental thinks-he-s-better-than-everyone-else preacher. But it´s just my opinion, and one I hold lightly at that. You have a different opinion and you´ve stated it clearly. I´m going to leave it at that.

Taomeow, Apech, Cloudhands, Thelerner, Dawai, Cheya, Cold, Kar3n -- thank you so much!!! I was in a cyber-slump this morning, but am feeling much better now. Liminal

Daobums is really getting me down. Yesterday, in the thread about being right or free, I wrote a post about my struggle to feel free and easy and good in the face of personal attacks -- and then I erased it. But since the above post illustrates exactly what I was talking about, I´ll touch on it again. I´m mostly OK with being wrong, but am still pretty sensitive when the debate changes from I disagree with you to you are a bad person. The biggest source of negative criticism in my life right now, by far, is Daobums. Maybe that means I´m doing pretty good. Ideally, I´d use all this blather to fertilize my spiritual garden. I know that and am working on it. I hope to be mature and evolved like that in the near future -- stay tuned. Right now though, I have to admit, it gets to me. Lesstaomorebum...you call me a preacher and a moralizer, and I doubt there´s anything I can say to change your mind. There´s a lot I don´t know about sexuality, so I´m open to the possibility of being wrong. But when I tell you that casual sex can be a harmful thing, that it can be a misguided attempt to deal with trauma, I´m not just talking theoretically or because I´ve absorbed sex-negative values from the culture: I´m talking out of personal experience. This is something I know because I´ve lived it. Now, your experience might be different. Maybe my experience doesn´t generalize to everybody. But please stop calling me a preacher. I´ve had a lot of sex in my life and I don´t think I´m a bad person. Far from it. I think I´m wonderfully imperfect work-in-progress. I´m just another Bum learning and loving as best I can. Please be gentle.

...

It´s OK, lessdaomorebum. I´m not trying to trick you or say you´re shallow. We just disagree about what sex is, that is all. You look at it in a more material way, as a physical act. I agree that it´s a physical act, it´s just that I think that it´s a physical act with energetic consequences. Probably I see it that way because of my "pseudo-spiritual belief system." Can we stop here? I think our viewpoints are pretty far apart and neither of us is likely to much influence the other.

That´s not a very nuanced reply. Oh well...

Here´s the question I ask myself and would ask you: what is sex? Is there a difference -- interpersonally, energetically, spiritually -- between a hand shake and a hand job? I think there is. I´m willing to shake hands with almost anybody who cares to, and am much more selective about who touches my genitals. There are people who don´t make this distinction, people who allow anybody to touch them any ole way. To me, that´s sad. Not because I think such indiscriminate people are hell-bent sinners -- I don´t think that -- but because I think something awful must of happened to them in the past, and that one of the symptoms of that something awful is promiscuity.

Oh, it´s so easy to fall into the trap of the moral scold. And I can see how you´d interpret my post that way, Lessdaomorebum, but that´s not what I meant. My post talked about fragmentation and integration, not good and bad. And, for the record, I´m not anywhere near total confidence in my position. This is an area where I´m very much still learning. Perhaps there are circumstances where sex between strangers is a healthy (integrative) thing for all concerned. Some of my friends claim that that´s their experience, but I dunno -- I retain a bit of agnostic doubt. What I know for certain is that sometimes when strangers have sex, it doesn´t turn out so great. Sometimes it´s really not like being seated with someone you don´t know at a restaurant. Not even close.

Hi Taoway, You might find this book helpful: The Qigong Workbook for Anxiety, by Kam Chuen Lam. https://www.amazon.com/Qigong-Workbook-Anxiety-Practices-Rebalance/dp/1608829499/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473961698&sr=8-1&keywords=anxiety+and+qi+

In a sense, it doesn´t really matter what the rules are for chat. It could be a cyber-brothel adjunct (phrasing courtesy of A&P), a hotbed of kundalini awakening, or a place for casual conversation about pizza and politics (phrasing courtesy of Jeff). It all works as long as the Bums who like said activity use it, and the Bums who don´t choose to stay out. Not so long ago we didn´t have a chat room. Now we do. I´ve never wanted to chat so I don´t. But for those with a more chatty disposition, the addition is all for the good. .