Trunk

I'd like to see your legal reference on that. That would open the door to all war crimes, rape, torture, killing of civilians en mass, anything - allowing the soldier only to report the situation when he got a bit of free time, and then stopping the crimes only when he was ordered to by his superior/s (if they ever even told him to stop). That just doesn't sound sensible, even in the extreme context of war. Seems like there would be limits to that assertion, and that gets into detail of military procedure and law. Again, I'd like to see your legal reference.

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"Not participating in war crimes" is a good decision. American hero. That you can ever give up your ability to make your own choice (as long as you're conscious and reasonably healthy) seems far fetched to me. Just cause he signed a piece of paper saying he'd go kill people when someone else says, "go!" .. I don't know, call me wild, but I think that going to kill people is weighty - and that coming to your senses, taking your self-determination and moral compass back (which you can never really give away, imo, though you can give them up) is legitimate. I think that when you're on your death bed, at the Pearly Gates, however/whenever you face your own Reconciliation, that "duh.. I was just doing what I was told" doesn't wash blood stains off. Isn't an excuse for anything. You did what you did. You have to live with yourself and die with yourself. He's a man.

Well, there is your picture (obviously). I used to post with my real name, and most people around here know my name and that's cool, but I'm glad I switched to psuedonym & avatar: I have discussions here that I don't & shouldn't with many of my local friends. Once the cat's out of the bag, it's out. You took the path of devotion, bhakti yoga. Classic, classic path for opening. After an opening like that, all it takes is a little flexing and a little focus, maybe a little touch, and whoosh!-poof!. Almost no technique is needed to set things off. Finesse of where to focus, what to do, but close to zero labor involved at this point. Seems to me that you answered the basic ?'s of "What happened?" and "How'd you get it to happen?", very openly. (Some may want more details..) Curious to hear about your diet, when the time is right (book published).

There are more efficient ways to do that. See the sacrum section (and referenced links) in spine essay.

If anyone can answer that one, they get an instant Nobel Peace Prize. (It's in the rules.)

"The Tao Bums". Understood. You just said, so much more clearly, what I was trying to say with my attempt at humor.

Have you considered the forum that SeanDenty has mentioned here lately? Apparently it is aligned with Wang Li Ping. (Not in any way meant as a brush-off.) I appreciate TTBs in that, while the quality of communication is relatively good, as far as students-to-students goes, most of us have at least a strong suspecion that we're full of ####, and shouldn't be talking at all - but do anyway.

Of course! Congratulations on your imminent book - let us know when it hits the stands!

Not sure if we are actually in disagreement, here, or just talking about different parts of the path (or other ).In any case, welcome!

AlchemicalTaoism.com is a mix of my own essays, plus archived sort of "greatest hits" from this community compiled over the last 6 yrs +. Though it's way too extensive for a single read, it's a good intro to a lot of what's been going on around here.

Latest essay, Brain Massage Meditation: re-claiming visual chi. Not linked up with my site yet. Wanted to fly it by you guys, give it a whirl if you like. -- later edit -- It's a short essay, straight to the method. But think "brain massage", and consider that our (certainly my) Taoist background has largely neglected the brain in favor of the five elements, LTT, and energetics. (Contrast that with the western medical view of the brain.) I suggest that you try the method, even if you don't have eye issues, and you might be happily surprised by your brain. There's lots lots more that can be said (and www-researched) about all this. I'm in post-essay-frazzled-mode, so I leave it to you guys.

Yes. Here's the rather skimpy brain-links page that I have (not including the new essay that is still in testing-phase). Includes reference to Neil's system. imo, Neil's presentation is rather fixated on one gland and misses over-all brain balance (plus there are other glands in the brain that are related to the endocrine system, pleasure, etc.). AlchemicalTaoism.com is a mix of my own essays, plus archived sort of "greatest hits" from this community compiled over the last 6 yrs +. Though it's way too extensive for a single read, it's a good intro to a lot of what's been going on around here.

Still fine, imho, as long as you have some sort of sense & ethic about not taking it so far that you're doing your partner harm. I haven't read the aforementioned book, but - obviously - men enjoy ejaculating into women, so why shouldn't a woman recieve into her system in a way that benefits her? I mean, as long as she's not taking to the extent of injury to the man .. I mean, you shouldn't be taking a kidney home to saute (or the energetic equivalent). There are limits. I'd assume so. There's light there, and switches, and we men have a propensity for that area. Seems that also you should be on the lookout for ways to balance your own energies (gradually) to a greater extent, and resolve into stillness, light. Cultivators of both sexes can get caught in the cycle of constant stimulation towards externals (sensation), and that - at least classically - needs to be balanced by increased skill in the reverse path of concentrating energy inwardly until it culminates in stillness, light. Of course, it's a very personal path, and each needs to find their own balance, way that works for them, right mix of internal - external - lifestyle, at each step along the way. Celebrations starting! Outta-here, HNY!

Seems to me that those "energy parasite" conversations get rather sensationalized, and people get the heebie-jeebies about simply receiving energy. Sex is clearly about sharing, giving and receiving, as well as maintaining your own root. Men want to give, to some extent, and so do women. Taking more than is ethical out of mal-intent has a distinctly different & recognizable feel to it, as does simply an overly voracious appetite. Not commenting towards you in particular, just the topic in general. Welcome!

Welcome. "The Tao" is the infinite, the Big Divine, and being a Taoist is about cultivating individual conscious, healthly integration with That. But then again, I think that that's the basic condition of being human, and purpose of every religion.. Many people here (most?) have a pretty wide path, including methods from Taoism, as well as from other traditions (and simply whatever we find usefull).

Thanks for the feeback, everybody. As always, everyone is in a different place, and it takes a dozen people to get a good view of anything. lol After a week or more I'll probably come back and review & revise, based on general feedback + my own biases. Personally, I'm groovin' on the brain massage part of it + the western-informed brain anatomy that I've (surprisingly) not studied much, all this time. Western anatomy says that those various structures of the brain command the whole body, and it seems (and feels) to me that unharmonized pressures in the brain would throw things off, (especially occasionally by the inevitable pressures of jing gong), and that just being aware of those pressures and of the basic terrain of the brain - and allowing circulation (through whatever method/s, non-method/s) feels like a very good thing. The retrieval of visual chi gave me the boost so that the "brain massage" occured effectively, so - just me - I'm experiencing the eye stuff more as a means to get to the brain work. For those of you with your heads already on straight, this will be a non-issue.

Interesting perspective; I've never heard anyone say that straight out before. TTBs is such a good place, where varying opinions stand.

An old friend had a good little phrase, "a full cup", to refer to people who got plenty of love and stability (from family, mostly) as a kid. The idea was that if you got a full cup growing up, it really really helped sustain you (on all levels) in adulthood. And that, once you're an adult, it's much much harder to fill whatever hadn't been filled as a kid.

!!!This one is still there (at least as I'm posting this). I've got a Rudy Ray Moore cd that's pretty hilarious; the youtube vids don't do him justice. Chaplin was beautiful to watch; the physical genius of Buster Keaton & Ch. Chaplin.. -- later edit -- Simon V. from HT mentioned Peter Sellers. I listened to the clips of his records, and he was out there. I heard a radio interview with Tommy Chong, and he said that he & Peter used to hang out sometimes when Peter was in town. Tommy said that Peter was a very unusual guy, and they had some crazy all nighters.

Me, too. Holiday wishes, from Steve Martin. -- edited to vid that is still there --

I found a discussion section about audiobooks at "iPod Forums at iLounge". The stickies are really helpful in learning how to deal with audiobooks. Basically, a file has to be of a certain type (m4b) in order for the ipod to recognize it as an audiobook (audiobooks are bookmarkable and don't play in main menu shuffles), and there is a 3rd party program, "markable", that does the conversion for you. It's important for me, cause a lot of what I want the ipod for is lectures & learning, but I still want to play music. -- later edit -- I've been f'ing around with "markable" etc, too complicated and messy - just decided to skip that and use the regular iTunes import for lectures etc and then mark the files as "skip during shuffle" and "mark the last place".

Just a fun, somewhat related link, "sniffing and lumping", from the Dilbert Blog. I got so sick of reading politics that I've settled on Dilbert and the Onion.

From the dvd documentary (I think this is the one) that I saw, it looked unlikely that all of them are produced by guys with sticks and ropes. The documentary was fairly neutral and very non-conclusional about how they're made (which I appreciated), but provided lots of interesting footage on them. Like I said before, the video is way worth watching just for the beauty of these things, however they're made (common or misc. uncommon means). Whether it's a gang of mathemeticians with ropes, or adolescents from Degoba with nothing to do on Saturday nights, they're definately inspirational art. DVD recommended.

I rented a documentary dvd on crop circles from my local Videoteque; it was fabulous! I don't know how they're done, but they are beautiful, beautiful! The documentary is worth watching for the art. For me, the mystery of how it's done is clearly so far out of my reach that I don't have any energy deployed in trying to figure, but the beauty and art of it is magnificent.. and some of the close-ups, how cleanly it's done, makes it even more so.