Sloppy Zhang

Thanks for the responses, Gold

Just wanna say first off gold, I really like your posts in general Okay, so with your post.... um, would you say, then, that there's no "objective reality"? I mean, if you really believe that there's no gravity, and you'll just float around, and then you jump off a building, believe as hard as you might...... splat. So in that case, would you just say that they just didn't really believe enough? I remember you saying in an earlier thread that if you really believed you could fly you wouldn't need to jump off a building, you'd just up and fly, which I liked but I was still wondering.

Err, yeah, guess I was kinda vague on that I realized that's what I was doing, and I had to get back to the whole unity idea so pretty much what you just said, but you said it better than I did (well I didn't really say it, and that's why it was vague I suppose). I really like the rose/thorn image you used Anyway, thank you for getting me to clarify.

I feel kind of awkward resurrecting my own thread, but I was thinking about the subject again today I'd appreciate any insights that any others might have But I was re-reading through the replies, and there's a lot of good stuff, so thanks again to everyone who responded Creation, thanks for this post, a lot to think about, and a lot of I'm still thinking about. I was thinking about this today, about tension, what stuff makes tension. I thought, you know, I should just focus on stillness, on emptiness. But then I looked around, the wind was blowing, the trees were swaying, animals and stuff were running around, and I realized stuff was moving then I thought, I'd have to just sit here forever if I really wanted to be still and relaxed and not have tension.... but I gotta walk around Then I thought, like you mentioned Creation, about moving and thinking and doing stuff in a way that doesn't produce tension..... But then I was like, stillness vs. movement, relaxation vs. tension, ah, more dualities and stuff Anyway, I guess that's an "update" of my thoughts. Feel free anybody else who wants to chime in

I usually go through cycles in my motivation in lucid dreaming. When I first found out about it, I was into it, then I slacked off, then I got into it again, then I slacked off again. Right now I'm just coming down from a super motivated time period. Like for the past two months I'd have a lucid dream about 2-4 times a week. The trick I found is just awareness. Awareness in waking life, and awareness in "sleep" life. Unfortunately, being aware like that the whole time is incredibly tiring I could never really find a time to just "shut down", and I'm far too lazy to eat healthfully or do any steady qigong routine among all the other stuff I have going on in my life right now So the past couple of days I've not been paying too much attention to my dreams. Awareness has gone down a lot (in dreams), my dream recall has been horrible.... but I have more energy when I'm awake so.... eh.

Yes, I've thought about this before. I'm a young guy now, and I spend most of my time devoted to cultivation, or things related to doing cultivation. Yeah, I could go out to lots of parties and have drunken sex a lot. I could study something "useful", like some sort of science, or some skill that I could use to get money and all that. I could just be fooling myself. But you can turn the argument around. Plenty of people go out and have drunken sex, they devote years of their time doing stuff because they think that's what they need to do to have a "successful" and "happy" life. How do they know? It's what their parents, teachers, bosses etc have told them throughout their whole lives. Maybe the cultivators are the ones who have it real? Maybe we're the ones that question and think in a way that much more radical and much more "real" than anyone else. Or maybe we're all delusional. Maybe we should all just give up. Or maybe we should all just do something entirely different? Is there even a way to know for sure? I'd like to find that way, so I cultivate. Plenty of other people want to find that way, so they study science. If you do it with the right intention and dedication, it all goes to the same place I think.

I find that sleep, and abstaining from whatever draining (mentally or physically) thing I am doing. Also eat food that you enjoy (doesn't necessarily have to be healthy). I love Chinese takeout, and whenever I'm feeling down, I go to my favorite Chinese restaurant and get a bunch of stuff, I feel great after, very energized Sometimes we just need a vacation, and trying to force ourselves into some "breathing/relaxation" routine is just adding more clutter than it takes away. Not to say that you shouldn't do it if it works for you, but if you're still having trouble, maybe you should drop everything and just veg out for a bit

There's a website called ld4all and on their forum a topic of "police in lucid dreams" came up. A large number of dreamers on that board had encountered "police" in their lucid dreams. Like they would become lucid, and say, go around and have sex with people they met in their dreams. Sometimes these people would resist and the dreamer would say, "well you're part of my dream I can do what I want with you." And when they did that police came and "arrested" them. They were told they can't just go around doing stuff like that. When they tried to lucidly get away (by flying, teleportation, etc) they couldn't. Others could get away, others were told by other figures in their dreams. But generally speaking, almost everyone in the thread had run into some type of conflict with the rules because of what they were doing. Maybe it's just their own mind saying you shouldn't do it. Maybe it's spirits trying to tell you something. Maybe it's your own admission of karma. I dunno. The point I guess is that, on some level, even if it's just us doing it, we are all held responsible for stuff eventually.

Pretty much.

I'm gonna say it again, especially since my last post I've made contact with a few more science-y people: SCIENCE ROCKS. It's on a near daily basis when one of my science major friends explain something to me, and I just think..... "wow, it's just like what I discovered through meditation/contemplation....." I really don't like this "science vs. mysticism" thing that everyone tries to make. Both of them are about discovering "truth", whatever you think it is, in the universe. They both follow the processes of experimentation, they require a great deal of devotion, hard work, etc etc. My calculus teacher once told me that math could explain the secrets of the universe, I was like, no way, I'm going to study philosophy, literature, and do some meditation..... and now and again I look back and facepalm myself You don't have to attend lectures at a local university. You don't have to get the hardest to understand textbook there is. But I highly encourage everyone to get at least an introductory book on science, ANY science, biology and anatomy, sure, but even chemistry, physics. Psychology is great stuff too. It's all about becoming more aware, and the more you go after it and the more venues you pursue it, the faster you will learn things, and it's fun

For beginners I recommend B.K. Frantzis' "Relaxing Into Your Being" and "Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body". Great introductions, easy exercises to do, gets you the basics, and is pretty much going to be useful regardless of who you go on to study with, or what other system you decide to follow. I practice on my own without a teacher, and use these materials, and it works out great for me. There's no real time specific area to them either, in fact, the point is to be able to apply some principles to your life 24/7.

The way I understand it is that meditation per se is not necessary. Instead, it's a certain state of mind/consciousness that leads to self realization. This state is usually referred to as "meditative" state, and is usually reached by meditation, but I think it can be reached by doing any number of things. In B.K. Frantzis' book "Relaxing Into Your Being" there's a section in which he tells the story of Hui Neng, who basically cultivated by doing chores. It's just a tool, a medium for self reflection, to see the parts of yourself that you normally aren't aware of. If the tool doesn't work for you, don't use it.

I want cool powers. As for age of the practitioners: meh.

So I've heard the saying that to breathe well, breathe through the heels. I'm interested in what these means. I do the longevity breathing that B.K. Frantzis talks about in "Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body", so it's like you breathe in through the nose, focus on the dantien, but when you breathe you expand the front and sides of your belly and the upper back (pretty standard deep breathing/taoist breathing, from what I understand). But I also do some of what Franz Bardon teaches in his book, Initiation Into Hermetics, and one of the things he taught was pore breathing. In that you visualize breathing from every pore in your body, which would also include the heels. Me being the person that I am, I like to combine the two, so the deep breathing from Taoism and the pore breathing from Hermetics, and it works really great for me. I was just wondering what "breathing from the heels" is supposed to mean, and if it could have any connection to pore breathing.

Interesting. Do you still have some of the stuff you've found since then? I tried just googling "whole-body breathing" and found some moderately interesting links, but nothing too specific, or too new sounding. This is one of the things I found by searching for "whole-body breathing". Definitely an interesting sounding technique.

Thanks for the heads up, Scotty. I don't find links like that fun either

Awesome story

So........ off to make some money! But, more seriously: This almost sounds a bit deceitful, doesn't it? I mean, let's look at this from a cultivation perspective...... you could be a really nice, smiling, happy and carefree guy, have lots of friends and stuff. But behind closed doors you could be, you know, a serial killer. I mean, if a man has all the properties of being a nice guy, who is to dispute that he is a nice guy? But below the surface, he's a heartless killer. Any thoughts?

However many need to.

Well, the only thing that I can really say is: The only real reasons to worry are if you think she's going to hurt you or someone else because of you, and if she somehow breaks the law (or has a cop break the law), to get to you or to get you. Spreading rumors and stuff that you are gay? I dunno, seems a bit immature, not so much as masterful lying sorry.... Yeah, footprints in the sand are I guess stuff you can do, let other people know that there's some woman that you might have concerns about..... but really, other than that, like wudang said, don't worry about it People have called me gay, accused me of stalking them or someone else, and have spread all kinds of rumors about me, but it hasn't affected me in the least. Seriously, people who believe rumors like that aren't worth your time anyway, and people who ARE worth your time are going to get to know you and find out themselves, regardless of what the rumors say, so you don't have to worry about this woman hurting your chances of scoring a hot chick while at the gym and showing off your perfect physique!

Is this woman hot? Because, having the devoted attention of a beautiful and obviously intelligent and resourceful woman isn't a bad thing, and after this affair you might even come to miss her......... Anyway, assuming you are in no way attracted to her.... What do you mean by "dangerous crush"? Like aside from keeping other women away from you, would she like.... kill someone for you? Or kill YOU so you don't "escape"? Do you have doubts about her sanity and your safety? Or is it just a figure of speech? Furthermore, what is her relation to this cop? Cops don't just go around handing personal information to people just 'cause they ask (well they shouldn't). I'm not familiar with cop protocol or what information they are and are not allowed to release, and I don't know what he told her, but it seems to me she might have a relationship with this cop, friend, brother, ex, etc etc for her to be able to get that going. If the cop broke a rule by doing this, you have a right to report it. If she has a crush on you, I highly doubt she'll forge your signature to buy stuff..... the most you'd have to worry about his her forging your signature on a marriage license Okay but seriously..... I doubt she'd steal money from you. At least I've never thought of stealing money from people I've had crushes on, in fact, quite the opposite, I've been willing to spend everything I had on them.... hm.... ANYWAY... Most importantly (that's why it's last?) have you talked to her about it? Maybe find another guy for her to turn her attention to? I'm telling you, it'd be great to find a woman that is totally into you. Just sayin'

Don't worry about what other people think. Get out there and just do it. Sound hard? How will you get over it? Practice. You just have to do it. Seriously, if people start judging you and think you are weird or stupid, they're not worth your time. All the quality people I have met in my life couldn't care less about such stupid tiny things that people think are oh so important when meeting people. Stuff like "oh I said something so stupid!" and "oh that was so embarrassing!" and "oh my clothes didn't match!" Honestly, I couldn't care less about any of that stuff. Someone comes up to me and says something stupid when I first meet them? Big deal. So if I say something stupid when I first meet someone? Big deal. If they make a big deal about it, well that's their own problem. Life is too short.

Hmm, started out as a Catholic, so here we go.... That's one important thing. It's hard to find people who are on a similar path to you, especially if you're one of those self-cultivation, "it's a way of life", want-to-find-the-truth types...... I know plenty of Christians, they go to youth groups, events, meet lots of people, rub elbows with some adults who own businesses, volunteer places, get jobs, you know, all part of the Christian "community". So the social aspect is a strong pull, and honestly.... it's hard to get past that sometimes. Don't be angry with yourself. Realize that it is a natural process, that everyone goes through periods like this, and everyone wants to find a label for things. Take psychology 101, that's just how your brain works, it categorizes and labels, it facilitates learning and memory, nothing to get angry about Well here are my beliefs now..... God is super all powerful and ever present and everything, right? So you can't really limit him to some "heavenly body", because.... he'd have to exist here too, and, if he's EVERYWHERE, he'd have to be able to see, well, hell too, right? And be able to be there as well. And, he'd be able to read your mind and know what you are thinking, even if you don't believe in him. So, when you start thinking about it, it REALLY starts to... mess with the Christian conception of God.... I mean, the whole idea that God is some being to pray to, or whatever..... I mean it's kinda silly, he's everywhere so....... (and yeah I shoulda capitalized all the H's in that paragraph.... sorry God..... but God would already know? Hmm....) As for Jesus. I don't really know what to make of him. As a Catholic, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are part of the Holy Trinity. They are all individuals, but they are all one in God (part of the Divine mystery, you know) So I still feel kind of uncomfortable saying, "Well Jesus was just a really enlightened human." So for me, the jury is still out on Mr. Christ. Regardless of how I feel about his position in the spiritual hierarchy, there are a lot of good messages that Jesus teaches in the Bible, and if more Christians were a bit more serious in following some of those teachings, we'd have a better world I think. And, to that extent, there are a lot of very similar teachings to Jesus' teachings all over the world, in all types of cultures. I found that when I "left" Christianity, the further I "went away" from it, the more I dedicated myself to cultivation and trying to become a better person, the more I realized I was acting in a Christ-like manner, which is what the Christians were always on about not to inflate my ego, or bear the sin of pride..... When it comes to the concept of Hell and things like that.... hm... I still don't really know honestly I'm thinking about other aspects of spiritualism/religion/etc that deal with how to live life, as opposed to what happens after I die.... maybe I'll worry about it when I get close to dying but I have heard an interesting concept in a few places, and that is when you die, spirits/souls that share similar beliefs/attitudes tend to congregate. So a person with a kind, gentle spirit will find other kind/gentle spirits to hang out with, and they affect the area they are around, so that creates a more "heavenly" type area. People with "evil" or dangerous, malicious spirits will attract and be attracted to spirits of like ill-intent, influencing the area they are inhabiting and therefore creating a "hell". Which means that, when it comes down to "heaven" and "hell", it's really not an external judgment, and it's really not one or the other. If you fall into a shade of gray category, you'll find other shades of gray types. If you are an innocent person that is wrongly accused, your innocence will be revealed in the way your spirit behaves, and if you did something "bad" but for the best of purposes, you'll find your place too I think. But I'm not quite sure how strongly I feel about this at the moment so.... keep reading For religions in general, I refer to the story of the blind men who went to see the elephant So when it comes to "what path(s) do you take? How does path A compare to path B?" well.... I don't really think of it that way. It's all part of the bigger truth. You don't have to follow one path.... everything that you read and come across in your life, even if you say "that's bullshit", that IS YOUR PATH. You are always on your path and you will never deviate from your path, because every single thing that happens to you gets you one step further along down the road. At least that's what I believe right now, and that's where I am on my path

Do whatever you want, if you enjoy it and get good energy from it.... then, well, more "power" to you

I left the movie rather depressed. The last scene really got to me....... and I'm only 19 The whole thing with him and his wife....... aaah, it made me so sad And the action wasn't as great as, say, G.I. Joe, and the plot was, you know, "racism is bad", wow, how long have we known that now? So overall.... it was sad.... and I don't really like to pay money to be sad