Tao Parrot

Someone told me today that even with long practice in meditation, you don't really stop the constant mind chatter, you merely step back and observe it happening. I had always thought the object was to shut it down. Anyone want to give me their experiences in the matter?

Could you explain the "live out the story" and "experience unity" parts a bit more?

What do I do next? Isn't that why we ask the other questions? Perhaps not very useful, though.

Okay, so what is free will, exactly? Does it mean there is a magical soul somewhere that is completely non-deterministic? Something that acts chaotically, randomly? Would that even be a good thing? Putting that aside, you have a brain. If bits of your brain are damaged, you stop being able to do things. It's not just about losing motor control, in some cases you stop being able to even think about certain things. So, just where does this free will live? The being that is you that is (hopefully) still reading this post is a collection of cells, which are a collection of molecules, which if you dice it down far enough are tiny little packets of the universe. You are a lump of universe. Does the universe have a free will? Hey, here's the good part: when you die, all that happens is the little packets get separated. We'll all be around for the life of the universe, we'll just...not be looking for food anymore.

Depends on what definition of "shadow" we're using here. Assuming the first definition you find at dictionary.com (which lists over twenty): "a dark figure or image cast on the ground or some surface by a body intercepting light." In this case a shadow is an image, and therefore an artifact of human perception, and you can decide how real you think that is. For example, a scientist might say there is no such thing as cold, just heat. Cold is a human perception of a difference in temperatures. Likewise shadows are a perception of a difference in light levels. Is a difference something? It's a measurement, of course, but because we often perceive a shape in the measurement we are tempted to assign greater meaning to it.

Allergic reactions are caused by an over-enthusiastic response from the immune system, so I don't think strengthening it would be a good idea. One of the current theories about allergies is that the inappropriate immune response was previously countered by parasitic worms in the GI tract, which we no longer have because we are so hygienic. Not that I'm recommending you go out and infect yourself with parasites, but I thought it was sort of interesting.

That's a funny paradox, really. If you call yourself a taoist, you're not.

Something I want to be clear about in my earlier posts is that they were not intending to say anything about "energy" except in scientific terms--Calories (kilo calories) in the case of nutrition. I just wanted to point out that two substances are equivalent by the time they are actually absorbed by the body, and how this would affect one's chi is left for the reader to interpret. Karen, feedback on your article: It feels to me that you are trying to bridge multiple models of how the body functions--western physiology and various Eastern models (chi, etc). I'm not certain these models can and should be bridged. It's a bit like the wave/particle duality. You can look at something as a wave, or as a particle, but trying to mix the two isn't going to necessarily produce a model that is as accurate as the separated versions.

Not sure about raw milk, but as far as honey goes it's actually far more likely to contain some weird unknown substance, a pollen spore or something, which you might be allergic to. It's best to avoid giving it to babies, as a matter of fact.

Not sure if this would help. Honey is mostly glucose and fructose, while table sugar (sucrose) is glucose + fructose, which gets quickly split apart in your small intestine into glucose and fructose. So by the time you've absorbed it, it's pretty much the equivalent.

Nothing, actually. Well, when I drive I sometimes try to not think. Stop the word flow and so on. Of course, it just gets me thinking about stopping thinking. Every once in a while I manage to maintain no-chatter for a couple of seconds. Seems like something I should put more time into, though.

I would say that health journalism is far more confused (or disinterested) on the difference between correlation and causation. Practitioners of alternative medicine seem to be just as guilty...heck, just about everyone is. Not sure why it's such a common error. We have a symbiotic relationship with many bacteria. Viruses, though?

Trust me, doctors understand that proteins get denatured by heat. You can't even get through the most basic physiology course without that being pounded into you. What specifically are you referring to, though? It sounds more like some sort of FDA thing?

Wow, this is really terrific! Thanks!

Health-care workers do make mistakes. Old joke: You know what you call a doctor who got Cs in medical school? A doctor. On the other hand, modern Western medicine has done a lot to improve quality of life. Yes, there are counterexamples, but come on, it's a net positive. Get the vaccines and go to the emergency department when necessary. Disclaimer: I have aspirations to be in health care myself.

I was looking for a new apartment recently and I saw another person with an appointment to see the same place. I realized I was engaged in a competition for this apartment, and I wondered how this fits in with the concept of selflessness. Is the proper thing to do to take a horrible apartment that no one else wants? Obviously this can apply to all sorts of other things one applies for: jobs, education, and so forth. I'm interested in any thoughts anyone may have on this.

Whew! I'm glad to leave the debating to those who enjoy it. I just want to give and get feedback on taoism.

Karen, Although individual studies are sometimes manipulated, I don't think science itself is under anyone's control. It's very lack of central authority makes that difficult. I have a feeling we're going to debate the validity of various studies on other posts too, but I suspect it's not of general interest to the readers of this forum. Any suggestions on how to proceed?

Agreed, the validity of the scientific process is a very large topic that would deserve its own seperate thread and certainly I am not an expert on it. I would like to say in response to your article (which was a good read) that peer review is not considered to be perfect by any means, but it is not the only mechanism for self-correction that science employs. Science emphasizes the ability to reproduce its results independently and consistently. A single study on a topic would not constitute consensus, although journalists seem to make this mistake all the time. It can sometimes take a while for consensus to be achieved, and after that it can take even longer for our governing bodies to recognize it and take action. Global warming is a good example, and certainly politicians who didn't want to face the truth attempted to hand-select studies which backed their views, but eventually consensus prevailed. Now even the current administration admits there is a problem even if they don't seem to want to take any significant action on it. Don't give up on the scientific process. It is flawed, like any human endeavour, but its capacity for self-correction makes it one of the more reliable institutions we've ever invented.

As far as I can tell, PubMed is just a front end for Medline, which is a compilation of peer-reviewed science journals. Why do you think politics enters into it?

Excellent advice! I will attempt to apply it.

When I read this I thought "Oh no! Another vice (diet cola) down the drain!" But I did a search of PubMed and found numerous studies showing the opposite. Do you recall where you heard that aspartame increases appetite? (Sorry all, we really should move this thread out of the Taoist Discussion forum if that's possible.)

Like many of these things its a matter of degree. I'll inject a brief bit of taoism here since we are technically in the Taoist Discussion forum. Go the middle way; don't consume it in excess. You also don't have to avoid it completely either. Sugar is a carbohydrate, and a fairly simple one compared to say, the long starches you get in pasta. Despite what you might think from the strange Atkins diet craze going around, your body needs carbohydrates. Glucose is a very important form of energy storage for your cells. As for MSG, it's glutamate with a sodium stuck on it. The sodium will fall off anyway as soon as it hits water, so you're left with glutamate which is found in all sorts of foods like, for example tomatoes. This isn't to say an excess of it won't cause problems--this depends on your particular body. See the notes cited above--even the FDA, on your side or not, admits it can cause problems in some people. I don't know anything about aspartame except that I drink waaaay too much of it.

Karen, you are indeed correct. I found multiple sources on PubMed classifying MSG as a neurotoxin.

The umami sensors detect glutamate, one of the standard amino acids your body uses. Nothing unnatural about it. The sensor works the same way as the sweet sensors do. It's a savory, meaty flavor.