liminal_luke

“Am I perfect? No. But am I striving to be a better person every day? Also no.” Anonymous

I´ve read about some widely respected teachers who recommend "meditation without slight movement" and have always been intrigued by this idea. Does movement dissipate energy that would otherwise build in stillness? I´d be interested if people have experience/knowledge to share about the benefits of meditating without even slight movement.

Four hours of focused full lotus meditation for just $20 is a great deal but not everybody has $20. I offer a more economical alternative -- one hour of nonstop meditation for $5! The meditation will occur on a chair and my mind may wander a bit, but hey, ya get what ya pay for. (no disrespect meant, voidisyinyang. If you can heal people by meditating with their image in your mind and people want to pay you for it, more power to all concerned. I´m just having a bit of fun on a hard day.)

Not to worry -- he´s coming back.

I usually have a hard time taking in and understanding your posts, Everything. But that was beautiful...

I´d like to post this poem by Lord Byron in honor of all the bums who have left (or are on sabbatical). It´s called So we´ll go no more a roving. So, we'll go no more a roving So late into the night, Though the heart be still as loving, And the moon be still as bright. For the sword outwears its sheath, And the soul wears out the breast, And the heart must pause to breathe, And love itself have rest. Though the night was made for loving, And the day returns too soon, Yet we'll go no more a roving By the light of the moon. Lord Byron (George Gordon)

While it`s true that the elements of our body are on one level indistinguishable from the stuff of the broader universe, it`s hard to imagine the OP being written by a snail or a deer. Perhaps the redwood trees think such thoughts though I don`t speak redwood (I do hope to learn!). Thinking about this question of humanity, my mind skips to the question of God: immanent or transcendent? Is divinity suffused throughout the universe or apart from it? I`ve always come down on the side of those who believe it`s both. God is somehow both as close as my breath and infinitely distant, personally connected to me and utterly indifferent. Perhaps the mystery of what it means to be human is not so different -- we´re inseparable from stardust and yet remain uniquely ourselves. This makes no sense, I know, but don´t blame me -- it´s a nonsensical universe.

I´ve no idea about the Tin Yat Dao Sect but I know Yoda from his postings way back when and was very fond of him. He came off as a genuine good guy. Yoda was (is?) that rare spiritual seeker type with a bold -- dare I say fun -- experimental streak. I enjoyed following his spiritual adventures.

My view isn`t particularly daoist, just my own experience. Whether or not it`s good to engage in political discussion depends entirely on what part of the self is doing the engaging. Are you debating from your small egoic self or your big sky self? It makes all the difference. In itself, politial discussion is neither good nor bad. Pay attention to how a given political discussion feels in your body. That`s a big clue. Do you feel shut down or opened up? Do you feel heavy or light? The answers to these questions will tell you whether you`re debating from your best and brightest self or a sniveling imposter. Politics can and should be joyful. (And that`s my political opinion on the matter.)

Aetherous...Aetherous...Aetherous...I get that they don´t seem funny to you, but the videos posted above are meant to be humorous. The Michelle Wolf piece is obviously meant to get laughs. She´s being a comedian. Not, perhaps, a comedian to your taste but a comedian nevertheless. The video of the abortion doctor is just a guy goofing off, blowing off steam. He´s probably sick and tired of those self-righteous types picketing his workplace and is deliberately provoking them to have a little fun. Ya gotta take these things in context. Or not I guess. But if you don´t take them in context you´re more likely to misinterpret the message.

@Aetherous When it comes to abortion, everybody thinks the earlier the better. Don´t you think? There´s not an abortion doctor in the country who thinks there should be more late-term abortions and less early-term ones. Do you imagine that liberal pro-choice folks are rubbing their hands with sadistic glee at the thought of near-birth abortions? I can assure you they are not. It´s just that for one reason or another sometimes those lesser-of-two-evil early abortions don´t happen and the only choice is a late-term abortion or none at all. In this circumstance, I´m not willing to tell a woman that she can´t have an abortion she wants to have. Does this mean I think waiting was a good thing? No, it does not.

When does life begin? In posing this question you seem to assume that I know the answer -- or think I do -- and am just holding out to be difficult. That´s not the case. Obviously heterosexual sex kicks off the whole shebang and there are a number of signposts along the way that we might point to as start-of-life moments. You picked an obvious albeit early one, the moment of conception. Somebody else might say the moment when there´s a beating heart, or when the fetus can feel pain. Birth, the moment when the fetus physically separates from the mother, seems a pretty clear demarcation point. An argument could be made that newborns don´t experience themselves as separate from the mother even after birth, and perhaps haven´t really come into their own as separate beings until this awareness kicks in. There´s also the spiritual argument that the baby is alive as a separate being after it´s ensouled, whenever that is. At some point between the moment when Harry screws up the gumption to ask Sally out to the movies and the point where a newborn´s psychological self-awareness finally dawns, we can say that a baby is an honest-to-goodness living human being. For the most part, it´s a gradual process. I agree with you that if there´s gonna be a medical intervention (morning after pill, abortion) then the earlier the better. But where should we draw the line? I don´t pretend to know. To me, there´s a certain openness to this not-knowing that feels right. Because I don´t know when life begins, I can have empathy for all and not try to control the decisions others make about their lives.

At what point in development does a potential human cross over and become an actual human being? People can give various answers to this question based on belief or religious conviction but very few of us, if any, know. Aetherous has said that he believes life begins at conception. Nevertheless, he´s willing to consider the morning after pill in cases where a pregnancy has resulted from rape. Some Christians go further and prohibit birth control, prohibit masturbation on the grounds that it represents the spilling of sacred seed. Others allow abortion up to a certain point in the pregnancy process. Still others allow abortion right up until almost the moment of birth itself. Who is right? Perhaps there´s an enlightened sage somewhere who could give an enlightened answer but such sages are scarce in the halls of congress. Since our lawmakers are unqualified to answer this question with any great confidence, they have no business making laws about it. This matter is thus best left to the person most directly effected, the pregnant woman.

That people can be rude? I see the whole process of baby-making as a kind of external alchemy. Pregnant women, the as yet unborn, newborns -- all these beings potentially inhabit and draw energy from deeper dimensions of reality than are otherwise commonly accessed. This is inherently fascinating and draws people´s attention. That is what I think.

This is a beautiful story and what makes it beautiful, in my opinion, is the woman´s life-affirming choice. But what if instead of choosing to have her son the woman was forced to give birth? That would be a very different story. For me, being pro-choice is not about being pro-abortion. It´s about respecting other people. It´s about not assuming that everybody else ought to live by my values. It´s about giving people the freedom to make their own decisions about their own lives.

On second thought...

I suppose I could speculate. I´ve never gotten a woman pregnant nor been pregnant myself so I´m not sure how much my speculation would be worth. Several men here have related their personal stories of grief around abortion and I in no way want to discount those experiences. Nor do I want to discount the fact that for many women (perhaps most?) abortion is likewise a wrenching decision. Still, I continue to think that women who want to have abortions should have the legal right to do so. The OP wondered what opinions people on the board had and I presented mine. Perhaps I should of instead linked to the recent conversation we´ve had about that topic? I´ve said my piece and I think I´ll stop here. Those who wish more details on my view are welcome to plug the word abortion into the search button and my posts on the topic are sure to pop right up. This is such an emotional topic for many. I´m not sure I´d be doing anyone, least of all myself, any favors if I was to continue to participate in an argumentative back-and-forth.

When faced with a choice of horrors, it´s usually best to choose the least horrific -- and sometimes that´s abortion. Or at least there are people who have thought so in the past and will think so in the future, and far be it from me to judge them.

Perhaps you need a 2nd chance? (Or a third, fourth, or fifth...etc) If so, you´re certainly in good company. Lots of people like to make it appear that they´re more successful than they really are so I hope you won´t get fooled into feeling bad about yourself because of social comparisons. It´s also possible that First-Place Winner status wouldn´t make you as happy as you might think, even if you were suddenly to magically achieve it. People say to take things a day at a time, but that´s often too ambitious. Can you enoy the present moment? Better yet, can you be present for this present moment -- no matter how it feels? Be a winner at that. That might be the only winning that really counts anyway. LL

Agreed. I´ve learned a lot from legitimate criticism here over the years. As you note, however, the critical impulse can go dreadfully wrong. There´s a world of difference between I disagree and here´s why and I disagree you stupid idiot. Unfortunately, the latter is very common, though usually not as explicitly worded as I´ve put it. Many people here are very skilled denigrators, very subtle They come on like judgy ninjas, always careful to stay just out of the reach of moderation, vague enough to claim that their attacks have been "misunderstood." Theoretically, it´s possible to learn from these people, too. Some very evolved folks (you may be one of them) can listen to the arguments of curmudgeons and trolls and find the gold. Generally speaking, I can´t. Once I get that someone is criticizing my character -- not just challenging my thoughts but actually criticizing my character -- it´s game over as far as learning from the conversation goes.

Whew...I´d hoped that I could simply make the point that I didn´t actually say something you said I said and leave it at that. Since I´d rather this thread not turn into an in-depth examination of my writing style or character (fascinating though that conversation might be) I´ll bow out so that anybody so inclined can continue to talk about cannibalization.

You originally said that I said I was a moral scourge. That´s quoting. My only objection here is that I didn´t actually say that. Now if you interpret my words to mean that I think that about myself (and am hoping someone will "deny the allegation") then that´s a different matter. That wouldn´t be my take on it, but interpretation is a subjective thing and we all interpret each other according to our worldview and perceptions. I´ve no argument with any interpretation you´d care to make. (I´ll leave the question of whether I believe the words I write for another day. Suffice it to say that I often say things in an ironic way, or in a way that I hope will be perceived as humorous, and don´t always expect to be taken literally.)

Twitter seems like a fitting place for short caustic comments. It seems to work for a certain president anyway...

LIT, Moral scourge is a great phrase, isn´t it? It has more of a deliciously nasty bite to it than the more tepid term, moral scold. I love that you´re embracing moral scourginess so wholeheartedly. Perhaps you could start the opinion column you suggest in your PPD?

Stosh... Please don´t misquote me. I raised the question of whether I was a moral scold. I did not say that I was one. There´s a big difference. I often talk about myself in a self-deprecating way. It´s part of my personality and an aspect of my writing style, how I express myself. If it´s your opinion that I´m a moral scold, that´s fine. You´re welcome to say so. But please don´t say that I said that about myself. I raised the topic as a question. In the OP, Lost in Translation (an inveterate moral scourge) says: None of us came here to tear each other apart. I encourage everyone who reads this to spend some time in reflection on this matter. -- Looks like we´re back on topic. LL