thelerner

So.. the actual policies you'd want.. No minimum wage. Ending medicaid and medicare No regulations.. on businesses- food? medicine? on banks? on business? on environment? Are you for tariffs or more protectionist? In your ideal, does the government provide education, build roads, police, rails.. there are some countries that do those things now but they're not exactly ideal

I don't believe thinking badly about people makes bad things happen to them. If it did we'd have a much smaller population. In movies the bad guy gets a comeuppance and we're supposed to cheer. Real life is messy. Full of shades of grey; lots of colors actually. Good and bad roll around, sometimes changing places. The best revenge is living well. Defend when attacked, otherwise walk away, maybe even forgive. Move on, grudges and hatred are chains.

I wouldn't want bliss all the time, or even most of the time, but it'd be nice to be able to pull it out every now and then. Rejuvenating as well as pleasurable. Maybe 2 or 3 times a month, even once or twice.

I think 'Pure' Capitalism is good at producing extreme wealth and sweat shops. In many ways China is closer to it then Westernized countries are. Much less regulation. They have millions and millions in sweat shops. A few years ago when it was a bit less regulated and extreme, they had to put suicide nets under some of them to catch those who'd given up hope and wanted to send a signal on how horrible there lives were. Those millions are free to go to another sweat shop, If they're black balled. A main reason there has been progress is Western countries demanding conditions improve. In pure capitalism maybe there's impetus for that, maybe not. I think its fanciful thinking that Pure capitalism would produce better people or better government. I know we do this dance each time you bring up your god, but can you point to a country that's a good example of pure capitalism and how there people and government are better. I bring up China, as an example with less regulation. In the past people brought up Somalia and a couple other failed states as examples of where there is pure capitalism or at least no government rules. What country would you say is an example of pure capitalism or is it a little more like Neverland, second star to the right? I only try to nail down this point so there'd be a hope you'd get the point that the problems of nepotism (war etc.,) are human problems not really due to economic models. Also, you mentions banks and corporations like they were bad things. In your imaginary world you'd outlaw them? No borrowing money. No company bigger then .. 50 people?? I disagree with your writing on monopolies. There's no magic reason why they fail, matter of fact a monopoly can grow very strong. At least in the U.S the government will often take them down when they become too powerful. Its important and allows the free market breathing room. In your system, taking a monopoly is based on ?? hope??

My youngest is an avid gamer. At a certain time I take his Ipad away (Our school district has gone ipad, personally I don't like it) and he cannot use the computer. I don't allow computers or TV's in bedrooms. He needs to get his homework done by then or explain why its not, and get an extension. If he doesn't and gets bad grades there are consequences. Its a parental discipline thing. As the parent. Its my job to explain expectations, support dreams and set up boundaries. What I'm getting at is if we're playing the blame game. First I blame the parents, they should set up rules. Next the kid himself. Schools, corporations, society, may share some blame, but they are not the top 2. Plus it does little to blame them anyway. I can't change them, but I can remedy the situation myself by making rules and enforcing them. When we did the no electronics (cept for school) Mon thru Thursday, it was a pain to enforce, until it got through to them, then it made life much much simpler.

To confuse the free market with the Tao is a mistake. Is Capitalism moral? It's an economic model; the people who use it will determine its morality. Immoral people will certainly make it an immoral system. Good people can set it up as a moral system, where the strong don't take advantage of the weak. I'm a fan of capitalism, but I find the majority of comments above to be naive. Just like a starry eyed communists who thinks ofcourse his side has all the answers plus common sense built in. From a certain storybook intellectual sense yes, you are right. In reality, it misreads the human race and condition. Pure capitalism without some humanistic controls can lead to feudalism. All to often some people buy up majority shares of resources and take advantage of others. The assumption of choice, disappears as the model rolls on. Only through intelligent intervention does it keep from becoming increasingly feudalistic. In which case there's revolution, heads roll, bad things happen.

I'm open minded. What kind of bliss you got?

What a concept, running foam through concrete. He said he's using dish detergent. Still the timing and mix would have to be pretty precise, but a cinder block size and strength at 1/10th of the weight would be awesome. Hell even as a kids toy to play with giant blocks would be amazing. There's a nature park by me, and they have life sized Lincoln Logs and kids love to haul them around and build with them.

Great ideas here. Amazing material. In essence its concrete with foam. Simple, cheap, light.. So many uses beyond just housing.

Uh, who are the parents, who are the children? As a parent I can take away my kids smart phone. I can make make sure they don't have one in the first place. I can take away there ipad, computer and turn off the internet in the house. I see this as a fault of bad, overly liberal parenting. Say no, earlier. If you are strict, and your children know they can't have everything they want, that there are rules they have to follow as long as they're living in under your roof, you may avoid such problems. We're slipping now with our 3rd kid, but we mostly had a no electronics except for homework, meaning no TV, computers, tablets etc., Monday through Thursday.

Nothing wrong with being check mated. Good chess is all about the play (and camaraderie of the players). Starting a new game, moving on, is a nice release of tension, and returns to a time with much more possibility.

psyillium seed, also known as metamucil. I don't use it as much, but I used to take it a dose or two each day the last 3 or 4 days of the month. By the last day, you almost don't need toilet paper. as others have said coffee is good, and i'm a big fan of ghee in cooking.

Daily exercise. Energy comes from energy. not that i'm a good example.

I wonder if you're thinking of the 'Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei'? They run/walk the equivalent of over 2 marathons a day, and then there's the death fast of no food, water or sleep. They are very interesting, John Stevens wrote a good book about them. In some Indian traditions people would wear stiff uncomfortable clothing that would reinforce perfect posture. Matter of fact some Indian holy men are all about putting themselves into harsh suffering conditions to test there mind/body connection. Long sitting itself can be torturous. There are tummo style practices that combine low stance, slow breath cycle and chants that are very difficult. As long as you won't do yourself any damage, try it. And let us know how it worked out.

Before getting too exotic I suggest trying different allergy medicines. It may well be something in the air. For me its mold. Thus even in winter for example, I have to keep my car from getting moldy from snow melt warming and wetting the carpeting for long periods. You can track which allergens are worse in your area on the internet or many newspapers weather section. See if there are any correlations to bad days, which ones are your triggers then experiment to find which over the counter medicines work best for you. Sometimes the right medicine, taken when the allergens are at there worse is the simplest way to get relief. Know your body, know what nature is throwing in the air.

Watch Fox news . Some yoga nidra (Indian guided meditation) scripts go into understanding opposites, ie feeling angry, now give it up, repeat.. Or feel hot, now cold, repeat..

When fringe politicians are elected it may not be so bad. There craziest ideas are blocked, but maybe there bolder less controversial programs get through. Every system needs an enema now and then. Such people cause a re-evaulation of everything. Old traditions are looked at closely to see if there's a better way. Good things can come out of bad politicians, strangely enough.

Isn't the gold standard for what Buddha thought being what's in the Sutras? (I'm asking, since I really don't know) Does anyone know if Kundalini was mentioned in a Sutra or older Buddhist writing?

Its not heavenly bodies that worry me, its some of the crazy earth ones.

Vaguely on the subject; I must admit I hold my breath and cross my fingers until each September 11th ends.

I wonder if a 'true guru' would tell you to give up on your dreams- all of it- house, wife, good job, Security.. All of it. I don't know. Stories I've heard at an ashram seem to say these holy men are pretty unworldly. They can be demanding and seemingly crazy, since there world view is so radically different then ours. They are as likely to take away your possessions, literally toss your car keys into a river then tell you some secret on how to get shiny new stuff.

Seems to me 'low' is a bad translation. Detrimental because people don't want to do things that are 'low'. Yet that's exactly where one has to. That's where the fundamentals are. Where one needs to become knowledgeable and strong. You can't stay there. Actually you can and still have a strong leg up on most non-practitioners. For those who want to make it a life long practice, its good to move up, when you're ready and found an experienced teacher.

In a limited sort of way, we're better off if we consider September to be the end. Likewise, tomorrow morning is a new beginning and late at night we face another end. Beginnings and ends flow like waves. Waves inside of waves.

I'd go to Burning Man after vanquishing the fetters. Maybe you could see through others eyes, turning on the TV or surfing the web is no substitute for being there. No matter how enlightened one gets, one hopes you're still a human, interested (though not clingy) in human kinds of things. If you love opera, would you never see another one again? The Buddha married, lived, taught, (had a kid) ate, crapped. It didn't seem to make him an alien.

So, you think they don't oppose the US or Nato. That they're somehow allies? We could re-establish the Iraq war, move in 30 to 50,000 troops, spend a few 100 billion to root them out. Then leave and because its an idea, have a new movement start that's called something else.