liminal_luke

Some ginger know-how I didn't learn till late in life. ginger can be easily peeled with the back of a spoon you can freeze ginger and then grate it easily with a microplane grater goes great with carrot, say in a soup or a salad dressing

I thought this shacha sauce, which contains ginger, was delicious. Shacha Sauce (Bullhead Sha Cha Copycat) | I Heart Umami®

@Daniel OK, hope I didn't overstep sharing my thoughts. We all have our styles.

@Daniel To my mind, there are at least two levels of every post worth considering. The first is the level of explicit content. Does my post speak to the topic at hand and is it true? This is obviously important and something I trust you've give a lot of thought to in your writing. The second level is interpersonal: how are people likely to react emotionally to what I'm saying? Many of us come to the forum to make friends and be part of a community. We're interested in the topics discussed, yes, but we're also interested in the forum as a kind of spiritual hangout place. I can't say whether the person you're referencing in your mansplaining comment feels inferior to you or not. Maybe they do. But what I do think is that the post will make people see you in a particular light that you might not want, particularly if you care about the social / friendship / community aspect of the forum. Just my two cents.

It's easy to feel inferior here because the forum attracts wildly accomplished people. I'm not the smartest or the funniest and certainly not the most spiritually advanced. But I never hate those who are better than me in various ways because I figure there's nobody else like me and I'm able to make my own unique contribution. As do we all. What I especially admire about you, Daniel, is your depth of Jewish learning. Just as we all have our "good points," we also have the places where we're a little rough around the edges, where we're still growing. People are intuitive and practiced interpreters of behavior, so it's often obvious to many when someone is struggling a little. Although I don't always live up to my ideals, I try to be easy and accepting of other's foibles and hope they'll be easy and accepting of mine in turn.

good point

The laughing emoji is the most problematic, imo. Sometimes people use it to express contempt. I agree that such people are not worthy of concern.

If you agree with me on nine out of 12 issues, vote for me. If you agree with me on 12 out of 12 issues, see a psychiatrist. - Ed Koch

Ok, ok...I'll do my pissing elsewhere. But I think it's unrealistic to expect all the other pissers to do likewise.

Francis Bebey at Real World Studios - YouTube

I don't have any personal testimony on the energetic front to share -- the kind of discussion the OP seems to have been hoping for -- but since when do I hold myself to a high standard? I would question the idea that meat eating is somehow less ethical than vegetarianism. While there's much to criticize about conventionally raised chickens, etc, I think it's possible to raise and slaughter animals in a way that is good for the environment, or at least no worse than agriculture.

According to this writer, The Young Polytheistic: Eight Immortals: Lan Caihe, one of the Eight Immortals of Taoism is ambiguously gendered and might be trans. In any case, spiritually advanced wandering hermits aren't known for their conventionality, so I imagine there's plenty of room for trans adepts. There will always be people who want to tell others what to do -- and people who do their own thing regardless. I think the people who do their own thing are more interesting.

Personally, I love polarity. I love gender-iness. It's cool when men want to do masculine things and women want to do feminine things, whatever those may be. Which is why I'm so bothered by the current trend to do away with all expression of male and female polarity in favor of gender neutral language. At the same time, if someone wants to "queer up" gender stereotypes by acting counter to established gender norms, well, you go girl! (Or boy, as the case may be.) Others find that their path leads away from putting emphasis on gender altogether. People can, mostly, do what they want. One of the things some people want is to lean in to the conventions of their biologically given gender. Lets not take away that option by mandating white bread vanilla words like (ugh!) chest-feeding.

When I meditate, one of the first things I become aware of is my own suffering. Sometimes my suffering is physical; often, psychological. Meditation builds up the capacity to sit with suffering without trying to fix or change it. Perhaps even more to the point, it builds up our capacity to sit with other people's suffering without trying to fix or change it. This may not sound like a big deal, oh but it is! This is the magic that allows us to comfort the sick and the dying. This is the magic of true compassion and unconditioned love.

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I've been wanting to explore the healing possibilities of humming. THE HUM BOOK – Zapchen Somatics

I wanna live in your world.

Do you really think that healthiness is binary -- yes or no? Seems to me that there are all sorts of intermediary stages between glowing health and infirmity, and all of us are continually sliding up and down between many nuanced scales of physiological well being. Take diabetes and pre-diabetes, for example. Even short walks, when taken after a meal, can help reduce blood sugar spikes. Will a daily after dinner walk for ten minutes cure diabetes? Probably not. But it might well be a significant part of a program that prevents future diabetic complications. No small beans that.

I've learned a lot from deeply imperfect teachers and no longer require anything like flawlessness. Staying out of jail is nice. The trick to my style of learning is to be open to what resonates without becoming anybodies disciple, without giving away my power.

Not free, unfortunately. I don't remember the deal now but I think it was quite reasonable.

As far as residence goes, I think some Buddhist retreat centers are open to solitary do-it-yourself retreatents. I once went to a Catholic retreat center that welcomed solitary retreatents as well, with no requirement to be Catholic or participate in monkly prayers, etc. In general, I would look for religious monasteries and places like that and see if there are any that would be willing to take you in for a spell. It strikes me that a solitary retreat is a very difficult thing to pull off, potentially very powerful but difficult. Before jumping into something semi-longterm I would arrange for a mini home retreat first and see how that goes. What if you were just to take a weekend and devote it to, well, whatever you have planned, see how that goes? If it's easy and feels good then you can start to think more seriously about a more extended venture. If a weekend proves challenging, there's nothing wrong with doing a retreat / workshop with others. Some of the best experiences of my life have occured during such retreats/workshops. Another possibility is pilgrimage. Have you considered walking the "camino" to Santiago de Compostela in Spain? I walked the camino years ago and loved it Closer to home (assuming, as I am, that you're in the US) many people have had transformative experiences through walking the Pacific Crest Trail. While a person can get enlightened in their urban bedroom, there's something to be said for journeying to the world's power spots. Two words: Mount Kailash. Just sayin'....

Here's a values question. Say you run a restaurant -- do you let customers make culinary choices you deem untasty? I was on the other side of this issue at a local cafe a few years ago when I asked for a coffee with milk. Seemed like a fairly pedestrian request but I was turned down. Turns out that milk obliterates a person's ability to taste the special "notes" in coffee, a foodie crime the proprietors refused to let their ill-informed patrons commit. There's a pizza place in Portland that's very specific about allowed toppings. You can have the combinations they've specified or get your pizza somewhere else. In general, I'm opposed to this kind of gustatory tough love. Seems to me that an eater's sense of agency is at least as important as the food. That said, I get the impulse. When I wear a chef's hat for friends, I want them to have a good experience and not mess things up with the wrong salad dressing, no salt, or what have you. Good thing I don't own a cafe or nobody would be getting their soy milk.

I suppose I could put this through Google translate but I'm lazy -- translation please?

I'm reminded of the saying I learned in high school Spanish: en boca cerrada no entran moscas.

Tough love? That's a difficult one to decipher. For me, if an action is truly loving than I'm all for it; the toughness or softness aspect is secondary. Yesterday my partner asked me if he could have his therapy session online rather than go in person. He likes to avoid social interaction and didn't want to deal with the anxiety of being outside, taking the bus, etc. I thought it would ultimately be better for him to face his fears and get out of the apartment -- even though that would be hard -- so I said no to the online option. Tough love. And yet I'd hesitate to check the box saying tough love is one of my values. Why? Because I associate the phrase "tough love" with hardasses who use the concept as a bully club. Sometimes people use the word "love" as a permission slip for bad behavior. Then again, maybe I'm just missing personal experience with truly loving toughies.