Cameron

5. Nature Nature is not kind; It treats all things impartially. The Sage is not kind, And treats all people impartially. Nature is like a bellows, Empty, yet never ceasing its supply. The more it moves, the more it yields; So the sage draws upon experience And cannot be exhausted.

Bill Clinton Calls Iraq 'Big Mistake' By LARA SUKHTIAN, Associated Press Writer Wed Nov 16, 7:20 PM ET DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Former President Clinton told Arab students Wednesday the United States made a "big mistake" when it invaded Iraq, stoking the partisan debate back home over the war. Clinton cited the lack of planning for what would happen after Saddam Hussein was overthrown. "Saddam is gone. It's a good thing, but I don't agree with what was done," Clinton told students at a forum at the American University of Dubai. "It was a big mistake. The American government made several errors ... one of which is how easy it would be to get rid of Saddam and how hard it would be to unite the country." Clinton's remarks came when he was taking questions about the U.S. invasion, which began in 2003. His response drew cheers and a standing ovation at the end of the hour-long session. Clinton said the United States had done some good things in Iraq: the removal of Saddam, the ratification of a new constitution and the holding of parliamentary elections. "The mistake that they made is that when they kicked out Saddam, they decided to dismantle the whole authority structure of Iraq. ... We never sent enough troops and didn't have enough troops to control or seal the borders," Clinton said. As the borders were unsealed, "the terrorists came in," he said. Clinton said it would have been better if the United States had left Iraq's "fundamental military and social and police structure intact." Democrats are accusing President Bush of having misled the American public about the urgency of the Iraqi threat before his order to invade, and Bush on Monday threw back at Democratic critics the worries they once expressed about Saddam. "They spoke the truth then and they're speaking politics now," Bush charged. On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld continued Bush's attack, citing the words of Clinton and others from his administration as saying Saddam was a security threat to the United States and its allies. At a Pentagon news conference, Rumsfeld noted the Iraq Liberation Act that Congress passed in 1998 had said it should be U.S. government policy to support Saddam's removal from power. He noted that Clinton signed the act and ordered four days of bombing in December 1998. Recent opinion polls show Bush as having the lowest approval rating of his presidency. In AP-Ipsos polling, a majority of Americans say Bush is not honest and they disapprove of his handling of foreign policy and the war on terrorism.

ahem...

3. Without Action Not praising the worthy prevents contention, Not esteeming the valuable prevents theft, Not displaying the beautiful prevents desire. In this manner the sage governs people: Emptying their minds, Filling their bellies, Weakening their ambitions, And strengthening their bones. If people lack knowledge and desire Then they can not act; If no action is taken Harmony remains.

4. Limitless The Way is a limitless vessel; Used by the self, it is not filled by the world; It cannot be cut, knotted, dimmed or stilled; Its depths are hidden, ubiquitous and eternal; I don't know where it comes from; It comes before nature.

Wow, this is really deep. I don't think I actually understand this but if I had to guess it is talking about shedding the ego or limited "I" in order to grasp the tao. I-think-it is going back to the point that the Tao cannot be comprehended by the intellect, words or concepts. The limitless aspect of the self is realized when we let go our attachments and ' knowing'. Even then, the way is limitless and boundless and even a sage like Lao Tzu says I don't know much about it. But I could be a thousand miles off on this one.

This one is tricky for me . I think it is talking about the virtue of humility which seems to be a central teaching in TTC. This one is not saying beauty or things of great value or worth don't exist, but by having a sense of oneness everyone can appreciate things without becoming greedy or covetous towards them. The person who realizes the Tao can appreciate beauty and the finer things without having desire or need for them. I could easily be wrong on this though. The empty the mind and fill the belly has been disputed by different teachers. In qigong, Ken Cohen says this means empty the mind(of thoughts and concepts) and fill the belly with food(pointing to the tremendous contribution Taoists made to the art of cuisine in China). Michael Winn says that is incorrect and it is reffering to filling the belly with energy(Qi). I prefer the empty the mind and fill the belly with qi translation though can see it may be food.

After this I'll put up the next chapter every day or so and we can meditate on it or let it sink in before giving an opinion of it's meaning. 2. Abstraction When beauty is abstracted Then ugliness has been implied; When good is abstracted Then evil has been implied. So alive and dead are abstracted from nature, Difficult and easy abstracted from progress, Long and short abstracted from contrast, High and low abstracted from depth, Song and speech abstracted from melody, After and before abstracted from sequence. The sage experiences without abstraction, And accomplishes without action; He accepts the ebb and flow of things, Nurtures them, but does not own them, And lives, but does not dwell.

I think this is talking about the oneness of things and how a developed person(sage) sees beyond the seemingly different aspects of life, high and low, beautiful and ugly, sharp and dull. he(or she) has reached the point of seeing the tao which implies a deeper knowing and wisdom about things which goes beyond temporal or karmic identitiies .A kind of profound spiritual attitude that reaches beyond all speculation of truth to truth itself. Accomplishing without doing..I think..means how the develped person completes his or her own tasks without any sense of a personal ego or "I". he or she has risen above the egoic trance most of us are trapped in and accomplishes tasks and drops any attachments easily.

Ok, I'll take a shot. I think Lao Tzu(whether he was a single man or group of writers) is saying that the Way, the Tao, is beyond all limiting thoughts and frameworks here. It is beyond our experience . That no matter how much personal experiences we may accumulate, this iss till not the Way. The way is something greater than the sum of all of our experiences. Perhaps even greater than the experience of this single lifetime.

Interesting stuff Craig and Michael. I read Winn's approach and heard it from him live and can easily make the distinction of what you are saying to two teachers..Winn and Ken Cohen. Cohen clearly is from the "you need to gather qi and store it" philosophy. At one point yesterday he said this very animately. He got pretty excited and goes "everyone just wants to go, go, go and not store energy. You need to gather and store your energy(while saying this he made motions of drawing qi to youself). Then he did something which really made an impression for me. He said doing qigong and living your life are just like a baseball player swinging the bat. When the ball player swings the bat backwards to gain momentum and power that is like qigong practice and when he releases and finally swings that is your life(activity). most people are always in a "bunt" position and just going forward all the time instead of turning back to gain energy. His perspective is qigong is basically an advanced form of excercise and some degree of sexual retention is necissary for optimul qi development. I wrote about the difference between Winn and Cohen's view in my journal a few months ago. Like I said, Winn's view is appealing to any Taoist guy but I have gotten much better results from Cohen. But maybe Winn is just really advanced stuff I am just not ready for yet. Obviously if you can really merge your qi with the sun and moon and open this door to pre heaven that atleast theory sounds like it would make semen retention reduntant. But I remain in the gather qi and watch the jing camp at the moment.

Ok so I get home from work and Matrix Revolutions is on. After watching it for a few minutes I have to admit it is seriously reaching to say the Matrix is supposed to be Jews. Not to mention besides the special effects this movie sucks. The first one was pretty good. Also, I think the director of the movie is jewish. Joel Silver I think? So..needless drama I suppose. I have enough Drama in my life right now without creating new interesting forms of drama on the internet LOL.

Lozen, Ok, let's drop all the political stuff which I am admittedly pretty clueless about anyway. What are the real issues? In my own family we have no anger at all towards Jews in fact I was sent to a school that was mostly Jewish until I was a teenager and many business friends are Jewish. I can't figure it out. Does it really go back to that story in the Bible?

Well, from my understanding it is the many middle eastern people that hate us for supporting Israel(ok?) that is the problem. I am not saying in the big picture this may not be the right thing to do but the US being friends with Israel makes us the enemy. We would not be percieved as the enemy otherwise in my opnion. It's all bullshit and I wish these people could just realize we are all human beings and have the right to the same freedoms and rights but that's not how it works. These people have been doing things this way for thousands of years. Like I said it is a very difficult issue.

A few Jews who have had a positive impact on my life. 1.Steven Seagal 2.Ken Cohen 3. Mel Brooks 4. Larry David 5. Dustin Hoffman 6. Billy Crystal 7. Kyle from South Park 8. Steven Spielberg 9. Harrison Ford(Half jew) 10. Geoffrey Shugen Arnold Sensei( Dharma Heir of John Daido Loori)

I talked to Lozen and explained how this came about and apologized about my poor humor in the context. I don't think the issue will come up again unless she wants it to. On a serious note, however, I have talked to Jews and Arabs both on the issue of Isreal and there seems to be no solution to this matter. I think Bush is really doing a disservice to America by invading Iraq and having our troops there. The reason I say this it is frankly impossible for an American to even remotely relate to the hatred between Arabs and Jews. The funny thing my family being from Iran and I know many Iranian Jews so can't figure out what the problem is exactly. It is so deeply ingrained it's difficult to even isolate it down to..ok this is the problem and this would be a solution..type of thinking. We should be out of there IMO. Lozen may disagree and say the US should be there to back up Isreal and democracy but that is when you are aligning the US as an enemy of the Arab world in genereal and frankly probably was the cause of 9/11 and other terrorrist attacks from extremist groups. I really don't know what the solution is it is such deep hatred without any desire for real peace or understanding.

Well, technically he says he is a reincarnated Tibetan Lama but his father is Jewish. I googled it Steven Seagal was born in Lansing, Michigan to a Jewish father and an Irish Catholic mother. In his youth, he relocated to Fullerton, California and began studying the martial arts under the direction of renowned shito-ryu karate master Fumio Demura and aikido under Rod Kobayashi the President of the Western States Aikido Federation. Seagal is a practicing Buddhist. In 1997, one of his teachers, Penor Rinpoche, proclaimed him a tulku, a reincarnation of a Tibetan lama.

I agree 100% with what Sean has written here. And I don't support Nazi's . I can read or talk about whatever I want without it being my belief, you know?

My benefit? Wow..you are really pushing it. Let's skip the Tea

Drop it. Seriously. I already have.(Or Don't )

Good luck!! Also, Ken is even more into Native Indian spirituality then he is Taoism so you may consider touching on that. Perhaps Native Indian stuff picks up in places Taoism leaves off. Also, I know you are personally into the Native Indian stuff so you and Ken would have that in common already. I don't know much of anything about traditional American Indian stuff but Ken takes gifts of tobacco and herbs and all that pretty seriously I think. If you want to get him some nice tobacco or herbs or something and I will reimberce you for it or pitch in or whatever. Something good that you would offer a Native Indian Medicine Man. Something else that just came up .Since he is Jewish You may want to touch on how he has reconciled being a Jew by birth, a Taoist priest and scholar, and a Traditional Native Indian healer. And do these traditions all complement each other and ultimately lead to the same truth? Cameron

They do! But minus the "us" part. I think if you are still seeing your practice in terms of your personal ego in realation to the rest of the universe you may be missing something. I like Ken Cohens view from The Way of Qigong " On a physical level, the goal of qigong is mastery of principle and technique. On the spiritual side, the goal is cultivating a profound sense of belonging in the universe, of oneness with the Life-Breath("The Original Qi of Heaven and Earth"). Qigong is nothing special, yet very special. I stand, I breath. What could be more natural or more profound? Qigong is a Way, a Dao, to realize mystery and beauty in the ordinary and everyday." Pretty much sums it up for me.

I think Keeanu has grown as an actor. There I said it.

I wonder if they will get deeper into who the architect character is?