liminal_luke

It`s reassuring to look back over the years and realize we`re still basically the same ole guy we've always been.

Maybe I don`t understand multiculturalism. Odd, I know, given that I grew up in California. I thought it meant always saying yes when friends suggest going out for pizza. By that standard, I`m a big-time multiculturalist. I used to have an adopted friend whose birth parents were Mexican. He looked Mexican as could be and didn`t speak a lick of Spanish. Everywhere he went, Spanish-speaking people who tried to talk to him figured he was stupid or self-hating. Poor guy. I love how specific cultures can be and appreciate it when people hold on to regional foodways and folkways. It`s also true that we`re all individuals, and that none of us fit perfectly into somebody else`s view of what`s appropriate for our supposed culture. I sure didn`t fit into mine. The first thing you notice when traveling internationally is how different we are from each other; the last thing you notice when traveling internationally is how much we are the same.

Meh...it`s only a paradox if "support" means tit-for-tat. I`ll scratch your back if you scratch mine. That`s a pretty narrow definition of support. I lived for awhile in Oaxaca, Mexico, a region not known for it`s hearty embrace of "outsiders," although the capital city relies heavily on tourism. The people who live there for the most part don`t "support" me; they certainly don`t think very much about multiculturalism. But that doesn`t mean that I can`t find a lot to appreciate about the region and it`s inhabitants.

Is it too much to ask that Trump and Putin immediately and unilaterally dismantle the entire military in favor of government sponsored pancake houses to feed the poor, the hungry, the paleo-diet challenged? Probably. But even a few steps in that direction can make a difference. Let`s rise up as a nation and demand pure maple syrup. Let`s support organic blueberry farms. Let`s refuse to attend military parades. May the change you want to see in the world begin with breakfast.

I found this link on the benefits (and best practices for) cold exposure interesting and informative. Enjoy! https://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-to-cold-therapy/

Quote that came to mind...

Eh...I`m not so sure. In most long-term monogamous relationships there`s one partner who wants sex more than the other. Just for fun, let`s suppose you`re a woman with a high sex drive paired with a low sex drive male. (Not the way society usually imagines things but it happens often enough.) Would such a woman consider it an act of abandonment, disloyalty and greed if her man did the inner work it takes to consciously develop desire and, excuse my french, fuck? I don`t think so. Everyone always wants to give lust the short end of the stick. It`s always love, love, love. I do this myself and I want to stop, to resist that tired anti-lust refrain. To be against lust is to be against life. If we have to be against something (and do we?), there are so many other better candidates -- unconsciousness, compulsion, stinginess of spirit.

Hi Slow Riot, Some thoughts... For now, I`d disentangle your enthusiasm for Taoism from how your sexuality is or is not working in your life. Tackle these two aspects of life separately rather than seeing one as an obstacle to the other. Ultimately, of course, everything is connected -- I get that. But making changes to the way you do sex in your life is challenging enough without telling yourself you`re not doing well with your spiritual aspirations if you continue to experience erotic challenges. So if you`re enjoying reading the Taoist classics then really give yourself over to the joy of that learning and contemplation. There are lots of threads on the subject here and very knowledgable Bums to conversate with. Don`t allow any sense of not doing well sexually to poison all your good feeling about what your exploring in other areas of your life. As far as the sexual stuff goes...whew...maybe I`m projecting but I`ll bet there`s a lot to that story. Much of it you probably have chosen not to share online -- rightly and wisely in my opinion. Probably my favorite sexuality book is The Erotic Mind by Jack Morin. His book talks very intelligently about how a person can best go about changing sexual behavior. LL

Yes, exactly. The po soul(s) are related to the Lungs, metal energy. Hun with the liver, wood energy. And so forth. That`s my understanding, anyway.

No? My Zapchen teacher once told me that after considerable practice (like say, 15 years) I might be able to ask my liver a question and get an intelligible answer. Could a person just as easily talk to their navel? I think so. If I`m still chatting away here in 15 years (God help me), I`ll let you know how my organ communication efforts are going. I think being in this kind of communication with the body is a fundamental skill.

First off, I agree with those that have said 4 hours a day sounds like a lot. I mean, more power to you if you can pull it off. Lots of people meditate four hours a day and find it time very well spent. The thing is not to get into a fight with yourself about it. Many of us have a part of our personalities that is in charge of beating ourselves up when we don`t do what some part of us thinks we should be doing. Beating ourselves up can be almost a full time job! Anyway, a teacher of mine once said not to put that chastising part of the personality in charge of the meditation schedule. Good advice, I think. That said, I think routine can be very helpful. When you do something at the same time every day your body will come to expect it and prepare yourself for it. Even before you sit down on your cushion your body will be primed for whatever kind of practice you do.

I`m reminded of Tyra Bank`s advice to contestants on America`s Next Top Model who often worry about perceived flaws in the structure of their faces: Perfect is boring, human is beautiful. Put another way, it`s our imperfections that perfect us. Pushed to it`s limit, yin gives rise to yang and vice versa. One hundred percent yin isn`t yin any more at all -- it`s the beginning of yang. This is a truth that can be divined gazing at the Tai Chi symbol, though I prefer to watch reality TV. Everything is fluid and constantly turning into something else, often it`s very opposite. This is especially true at the extremes, whenever something is the perfected or "greatest" version of itself. These extreme points are topsy-turvy transition areas where rational definitions cease to hold. Ugliness flips over into beauty; Squares lose their corners; Nothing is as it seems.

For me, a big part of the beauty of Dao Bums is that I`m exposed to perspectives like the above, and recognizing that I too could come to see the world like this. LL

Many of the most powerful teachers I`ve met have also had glaring personality flaws of various sorts. It`s easy to point out the flaws and say ....this person is so low, how can you possibly learn from this person? And yet, they have a lot to teach. People are free to feel contemptuous of Mantak Chia for his slickly produced books, his money and popularity seeking motivation, his dubious sexual practices ... and so on. If those things are deal breakers for you, then don`t study with him. Doesn`t mean the guy doesn`t have powerful chi.

Claro que no! (I think...)

If I had my druthers, we`d go back to a simple "like" and that`s it. Better yet, people would write out what they like (or find true, funny, or confusing) and just make their appreciation part of the conversation. The whole business of rewarding people with likes that can be counted and categorized and awarded gold stars is a little suspect. Our worth as Bums -- not to mention people -- should not be condensed down to a statistic based upon the clicking behavior of our fellows. Each of us bring our own unique beauty (and sometimes ugliness) to this board, and none of it can be summed up neatly with any kind of symbol. I feel good when I write something that a lot of people click "like" to. Sometimes I feel bad if I write something I like and it doesn`t get clicked. I`ll even make note of the clicking behavior of other bums and allow my observations to effect how much emotional weight I give a given click; if I notice that a bum has "liked" the majority of posts in a given thread then it doesn`t mean much to me if they also like mine. How messed up is all this? Well, I`ll tell ya: it`s very messed up. We are so much more than our history of being liked or not being liked suggests. Some Bums are deeply soulful and philosophic. Some hilarious. Some astound with specialized knowledge on particular topics. There`s no button in the world that can express what this site, and the people in it, have meant to me.

succinctly and beautifully said

I don`t think there`s any use denying the advantages of money and free time (although too much of either can mess a person up if not managed wisely). Still, we can do what we can within the limitations of our circumstances. I`m kinda sorta trying to eat a paleo diet and would love to eat grass fed beef regularly as part of my diet plan. I`ve asked many butchers here in Mexico about the eating habits of the cows whose meat they are selling. They look at me like the bizarre foreigner I am, and invariably answer -- grain. That`s too bad but it doesn`t mean I need to throw in the nutritional towel and go out for donuts and a caramel latte. I used to see a therapist who encouraged me to imagine that the entire universe was conspiring to encourage my spiritual growth. (My knack for picking kooky therapists is unparalleled.) Could it be true though? I`m convinced that there`s meaning in life`s difficulties. It`s through engaging with these difficulties, including the economic ones, that we grow. Money issues, in particular, are a gold mine for those who seek spiritual maturity.

This isn`t my thread, but I`d like to throw out an alternative and more personal question for contemplation. Rather than asking "is being a Daoist for the well-off," how about asking - is being a Daoist for me? Is it for someone in my economic situation? If you want to be a Daoist, I`ll bet the answer is Yes. There`s plenty of Taoist stuff I`d do more of if money was a non-issue --- or at least that`s the story I`m telling myself. I`d like to travel to China every year to do retreats with Wang LiPing. I`d like to go to spendy healer training workshops with Sifu Jenny Lamb. And while I`m at it, why not fly to the east coast and spend a long weekend or two learning Stillness-Movement? These would all be very valuable experiences I`m sure and they all cost money. And yet I don`t feel like finances are the limiting factor in my spiritual development. Not at all. The limiting factor in my spiritual development is me. I am as spiritually developed at the moment as I`m willing to be, no more and no less.

To live anywhere in the world today and be against equality because of race or color is like living in Alaska and being against snow. William Faulkner

He hasn`t been spotted in a long time.

The Daoist rule of thumb is quite explicit on this point: all moonlight dancing shall be done in the buff.

Wandelaar, You started another thread with the astute observation that early Daoist writings abound with paradoxes. Could this be because they held the view that reality itself is paradoxical? I think so. Anyway, I think your threads play beautifully against each other. The resistance you`re noticing towards rule making has everything to do with a worldview that refuses to pin things down as being this way or that way, a worldview that instead embraces the idea that to grok the universe one has to go beyond rational thought altogether.

Marblehead, I was about to write up a satirical post pretending to put out an arrest warrant accusing you of the crime of polical correctness Upon further consideration, I think I`ll let it slide.

I prefer to see the bums in this thread who have spoken up in opposition to rules (including myself) as merely sharing our thoughts. But perhaps I`ve unknowingly stepped into an orgy of mindless ritualized rule-bashing? Many of us, I dare say, are old hands at the Rebel Rodeo. Even Marblehead, a man not known for an absence of opinion. What could be more nonconformist than an anarchist in favor of "rules of thumb"?