thelerner

You're looking for new. So I'd throw out the One stuff. Besides, people might secretly be most happy in poly-theism. The Catholics have there saints, rest of Christianity has god, son of god, mother of god, disciples, martyrs.. On the Judeo part of the equations is a very multi-personality God depending on the bible section. Many names, as well as feminine aspects as in the Shekinah. So I say, loud and proud Multi-theism. How about this. Give God half of all deitiness and give the other half to all mankind. We just have to get together to use our powers

Hmnn, the focus of prayer should be something that's very common. Maybe a trinity- grass, sky and sun.. maybe have a breakaway sect that includes mud too. That way you can always look outside and see something sacred.

short answer.. and that's why I'll never be a Christian.

Wondering what we could do, if anything to make the PPD area more pronounced. We used to have it ordered by last post, instead of alphabetical. That could add more pop; at the price of making it harder to find individual blogs. Harder to program, perhaps a 'Top 10 or Top 20' of the most widely used on the top?? A compromise so the well used ones get more eyeballs and the rest are alphabetized for easy finding. Any other ideas? Is it even worthwhile to experiment?

Thanks Dawei also I'm a frequent user of 'New Content' button

Buddha dog. The deep and unlikely friendship you sometimes see in animals of vastly different species can also point too.. idk, friendships from past lives? Some people seem to be old souls.

Make that a week or two, trouble free as far as I know. . Good job. All praise to the High internet beings and there mysterious ways.

I think Carlos Castaneda was an anthropology major who wrote fictional stories based on his studies. I don't believe there was a Don Juan Matus. In my opinion the stories were made up, but they served to open people up to the wider range of phenomena in the world. Just as a good science fiction writer with an engineering or physics background will introduce readers to concepts that are solid, there machines should not be considered real. To sell books a writer needs to dwell in the fantastic. I think there are siddhi's and 'powers' but in real life they are hard won, not so glamorous and largely supplanted by the ease of technology. His dedication to keeping his story lines straight may have led to his early death as well as some ardent followers. I've enjoyed his writings, hopefully they inspire people, but in the end his story is a cautionary one. There are great teachers out there, also charlatans and worse those inbetween, who suck people in, and devastate them. addon> To keep the post a little more aligned with the OP's intention, I'd point to a book like Glenn Morris's 'Pathnotes of a Ninja Grandmaster'. Bad title but fascinating practices and stories on eclectic energy arts. He's an author (passed away) that I corresponded with (slightly) and trust. His group Hoshinjitsu released some of his Meditation Mastery series on youtube somewhere. Good stuff.

Mars.. Retrograde, Deja View.

Following the breath isn't easy, strangely neither is 'natural' breathing. In the modern age, there is an app for that . Apps like Insight Timer where you set the in/hold/out/hold beat as well as length. Best to take it slow and comfortable and build up from there. Sometimes I'll count my breaths to 100. Even that low number takes practice cause its so easy to lose concentration. To combat anxiety I like the guided meditation by The Meditation Station called Evening Inventory. After relaxation you bring to mind whats troubling you and drop it. Nice, relaxing and short. Here is one source for it- http://podbay.fm/show/123885923/e/1258408615?autostart=1 Some of the other meditations might work well with you too.

While oft disregarded, there is the option of being a nice guy. Getting to know the girl, being yourself, even when its awkward and insecure. Yes at times you'll be friend zoned, but as long as you draw some lines, being friends is good. Sometimes you fail, sometimes you win; get the girl and they'll think highly of you for being a good guy. There's a power in being an excellent player, but there's also power in just being yourself. In both cases there is a batting average, the more you put yourself out, the more you'll succeed. Not playing a game, the nice guy isn't keeping score or collecting trophies and doesn't need to win all that often. Plus, being yourself is much less tiring.

There are other greens in the sea time to check'em out. You don't even need to be exotic, making smoothies with green leaves and veggies are extremely nutritious. We had some posts on them a while back. Secret is to start small then build up with more veggies. My Green smoothie- 1/2 banana (can be frozen), 1/2 avocado, 2 handfuls green material(lettuce, young spinach etc.) milk of choice, vanilla, little sweetener, ice cubes. Blend til smooth. Tastes like a vanilla milk shake

my healing techniques. Physical: Drink tea with heating properties, like lemongrass, make a pot, drink a glass. Then take a shower at hot as you can stand. Drink another cup, wrap yourself in a towel. Go to bed, wrap yourself in the blanket and sweat it out. Mind/Body: Meditate or listen to a hypnotic script that puts me under deeply, then while in trance put attention to what's ailing. Sometimes telling myself Heal, Rejuvenate, Normalize. Long term healing: Going through the Wim Hof 10 Week course built up my immunity. Never got sick despite training in the cold. I think it boosted my resilience quite a bit .

We'll definitely see your threads. Matter of fact this way they'll be easier to find and won't get flushed 'downstream' as more are added. I for one look forward to seeing your thoughts in one place.

No experience with New Hermetics, but since you mention Bardon, I'd recommend the site abardoncompanion.com . Good stuff there, like modernized cliff notes for Bardons books and a couple of free systems loosely based on Bardon's Hermetics.

might be comparing potatoes and inert gases there. Kinda different things.

I don't think Hillary put much political capital into the whole Brexit thing. Obama did a little, but even then it was never a big deal in the U.S. Americans are by and large pretty ignorant and uncaring about foreign politics and by and large didn't have in a horse in the race.

Two other reasons to die. One to make room for change, very important, without change there is stagnation, entropy sets in and we move backwards. Two, to make room for our grandchildren. Without death, things get overcrowded to the point of collapse. Every cell in our body has a thread that contains how many times it can safely replicate. Dying of old age is a race to see which organ gives out first, but after 70, 80, 90 years we're dying on a cellular level; our building blocks replicate poorly, causing catastrophe and we die.

nope, been working fine for me lately. I wonder if Ralis and the Snake are using the same browser?

TI, the post you're linking to is over 4 years old in internet time, which is like 20 for normal people. You are the elephant of Dzogchen .

Jax, could give me a brief outline of what your practice is like and how it feels? I don't have a good notion of what Dzogchen practice entails, other then sitting with concentration. Or if you have a link that explains that talks about it. Also the Amazon link in the OP isn't working for me.

I was listening to a podcast (Alan Watkins 'How to Hack your Biology) on why change is hard. How there are a whole lot of layers between want and enacting change. Layers of being we have to control before we get to the level of thought. At the basic level was physiology, controlling our breath and heart rates. They influence for better, often for worse our feelings and thought patterns. Ultimately we want to control our thoughts and emotions, not to turn emotionless, rather to seize control of the quality of our life. Everyday unnoticed our heart rate and breathing patterns are all over the place, creating feedback loops that triggering various levels of fight or flight mechanisms and we don't notice, even when the mechanism is short circuiting our thinking. Some of the first part of the podcast was fluff, but to me the meat was in the exercises- step one, controlling breath, to control the heart. Particular attention to steady rhythm. Not necessarily slow, though often thats preferable, but a steadiness to it, so it keeps steady whether beating fast or slow. Paradoxically he states for clear thinking it can be better to put attention to the heart. He wants steady breath with the attention there. Because the heart is the electrical hotbed of the body. Physiologically there is a much greater (5x?) more electrical charge going on there then the brain. Control the power circuit, regulate and smooth out surges, and you get better results from the computer. Maybe I'll try it. 20 or 30 minutes minutes of steady breathing twice a day with focus on the middle of the chest. Not the long breath cycles I usually do, but shorter 4 in x 4, 4 x 6 or 6 x 6. Not long because the point is to keep it going outside meditation. Long breath cycles will stop or falter during movement and emotions, so keep it to something that can be comfortably done throughout the day. Thus the breathing and heart focus become mantras. Probably automatically quieting the mind. Problematic is most energy arts worn against focus on the heart for long periods. So I suppose at times refocus or close at my hara. Still, might be worth experimenting with. Step one, control the breath. Step two, monitor and control emotional/physical state Step three, monitor/control/guide feelings. Which he considers different, precursors of thought, then emotions. Step four, monitor and control thoughts. This isn't a world away from the practices outlined in Franz Bardon's levels on mental control in the Initiation Into Hermetics.

I was talking about advice from the wise on how to live better, the long tradition of dharma talks. Disregard wisdom and odds are the trajectory of your life will go in the wrong direction. You study from the wise inorder to become a little wiser. You study from Jax to get what Jax has. And I believe he doesn't have a rainbow body or complete enlightenment. I suspect unless he's an ascetic holy man like those very few who've achieved it in the past, he and you are spinning your wheels. Unless the practice itself is giving you enough benefits to be happy without such an extremely rare accomplishment. Your approach and mindset seem overly intellectual. You want to tread the path of holy mystics while disdaining the deeper wisdom in the traditions, continually entangling yourself in petty arguments and pissing contests on the internet. Big mistake in my opinion. Without attaining the wisdom and discipline in there system through learning, listening and applying you're on a stool missing a leg. Energetics and meditation are great, but at some point you're just polishing rocks.

I'd feel that way in college, much melancholy. I needed to get out of my head, away from philosophy. I turned to the martial arts. You do Iaido, good stuff but it doesn't wear you out like other more active arts. Hard exercise, staff, bokken, hands on contact helped me. Much of the crap in my head was excess energy, working out helped drain it. As did getting away from books and philosophy that had made me to head heavy. maybe something like that could help you. addon> if its full blown depression though, its good to contact a professional. deep depression often can't be thought or wished away. help, even the right drugs can be a godsend.

I like the word 'intent'. Chi follows attention, with relaxed flowing extension being the best. Using different words in each description might not be the clearest, but intent, attention, flowing extension.. all good.