thelerner

Fine, you're right. America via a consulting company has taken over Russia. Wow, that was easy. Why didn't we send consulting firms there earlier. So, these consulting firms are going to make Putin do what exactly? Declare peace, leave the Ukraine, make concessions to NATO.. what?? I know, whatever happens, its because of the consulting firms. That's the way it works. The Russians have no control, there leaders and government are clueless and powerless, in the face of consulting firms.

Don't know what FFCG stands for, but as far as the question above is concerned I'll say no. Matter of fact meditating outside on the ground is good, bugs and all. Ground is .. grounding. I can tell the depth of my meditation by how little an itch or bug disturbs me. You could say strong chi/intent doesn't mind the bugs at all, with weak intent everything is disturbing. We disturb our chi (poison is to strong a word) by mentally breaking or splitting our concentration, physically by tensing, spiritually by dividing the world into friend and enemy.

3 minutes of investigation make me think Evgeny Fedorov is playing the conspiracy theory, skies falling card. Judging by his blog and those writing under it. Same old, same old. Not totally unexpected to see Russians who follow such people as fearful and paranoid as those who follow them in the US. Again, same old, same old. Secret this, army that, skies falling down soon. Course the blog I read (Evgeny Fedorov: The Russian Revolution has Begun) comments underneath mostly agreeing disaster any day now. Lots of support. Course it was 5 months ago. So logically they'd be relieved, but since such people live and feed on paranoia probably not. What does it mean.. In my opinion, nothing. Ramblings to whip up fear, get people on your side. Hoping they don't remember the dozen other calls of impending doom.

Yes, its been widely postulated that our lack on intelligence, allows us perfect dictumtion by the way it's Chicawgo, my-ng home town. Old timers, like my dad had the odd habit of adding strangely inappropriate -ng 's to the back of words, turning 'mine' into my-ng. Many arguments were won that way as the listener hesitates to argue back, there mind turning over 'where did that ng come from?'

As a Midwesterner I speak Normal. Everyone else speaks funny. From the vantage of national broadcasters, the Midwest speech tends to be most emulated. Don't know why. In Chicago in the mid 1800's and 1900's we were a huge railroad hub, so we had much cross pollination from the coasts. In the face of different lingo's I wonder if we evolved a middle path?

No, the Nazi comment is off the mark. Firstly its the use of Godin's Law which usually indicates a weak argument. Is 'collectivism' like free mandatory health care the sin that Nazi's are known for? Secondly, it wreaks of the low brow level posts you see after every article on the Fox news site. Where comments with colorful insults are applauded and logic arguments rare. That's not that you don't have a point. I agree that democrats would like a socialist single payer system and the Affordable Care Act is probably seen by policy makers as a first step towards it. But that's a far cry from 'colourful Nazi remark' imo.

What are the fundamental/basic practices that should be mastered before moving forward? What are the signs that you've mastered such basics?

Real simple, a large glass of luke warm water, first thing in the morning. Or putting in some apple cider vinegar? Or genseng extract? Or keep it simple? Staying in bed when you wake up and.. doing ankle rotations remembering your dream going over your day not waking up to an alarm Just standing and doing the orbit and humming and doing chi gung routine in head What practices do you think gives the most bang, for least buck? Michael

Vibrations.. I wonder if thats why some see Jesus, others see Buddha or Angels.. So, is Light or Sound the most accurate unfiltered perception of 'knowing' the world? I've been rereading 'The Gods Drink Whiskey' and the Buddhist professor who wrote it talks about the 5 levels of reality in Theravada Buddhism. At its base is nothingness, but after experiencing it, you have to snap out of it and bring the insight and compassion you've gotten from it, into first level, tic toc world of separation. You can't stay there, not if you want to do any good for others.

Hey, Welcome , actually I'm just tired of seeing 'thelerner- premature ejaculation' being highlighted in the Welcome section for 3 days straight!

Watching children play. Yesterday I was at the beach saw some 4 and 5 year olds having a ball getting knocked over by waves. Fun to watch and many lessons in it. On mindfulness, happiness and mindless happiness.

heck, let me bump this one up too. How Does the World Work? Are we all Schroeder's Human Beings?

long as I'm lookin through old stuff bump

There are 100's of great threads made up over the years. This thread on Dream Yoga is great- http://thedaobums.com/topic/38953-dream-yoga/?p=637462 I look forward to this one involving studying the work of famed taoist Wang Li Ping work will be be a long deep thread- Yin Xian Fa and beyond http://thedaobums.com/topic/39020-yin-xian-fa-and-beyond/?p=638696 Many great insights from all the threads in the Interview section http://thedaobums.com/forum/356-interviews/ This has many interesting answers What Results Have People Had Here http://thedaobums.com/topic/38454-what-results-do-people-here-have-from-training/?p=626644 Here's an old one The Secret of Conscious Cocreation http://thedaobums.com/topic/1701-the-secret-of-conscious-co-creation/?p=15538 Here's a long informative thread on an important subject Opening the Third Eye- http://thedaobums.com/topic/27001-opening-of-the-third-eye-and-other-byproducts-along-the-way/?p=402840

I'm thinking as a guy who does game design you're on the computer daily. Using a mouse quite a bit. That can put your arm, hand, wrist and fingers in an unnatural position as well as cause repetitive injury through over use or continual pressure in the wrong spot. Long term it can cause problems. I know my wrist and arms give me problems on days I do long writing. I'll try to shake my arm out after each long use. If that indeed is the problem then possible solutions would be moving the mouse to the other hand or positioning it in a more ergonomic way. You can also turn your phone or pad into a cordless mouse and keep it lower on your lap in comfortable neutral position. In extreme cases writers have started using voice commands instead of the usual mouse interaction.

Thought this was interesting. Bill Gates on coming changes to help the world in the next 15 years. Less controversial I saw this very interesting youtube on lucid dreaming. Starts getting serious at 2:00, nice simple method, sleep 6 hours, wake up, spend 15 minutes intent on remembering and being awake in dreams, then go back to sleep. Mentions an app Shadow and eye device Remee I may look into.

I'm hoping they'll show mercy when I explain I've been defending Northern European style socialism. damn that's alot of I's in one sentence. Also alot isn't a word. crap now I'm correcting the corrections. repetitive and not Capitalized. Hopefully they'll show mercy when I explain I've been defending Northern European style socialism. Hopefully they'll show mercy when told I've been defending Northern European style socialism. screw the

It's a book , the full title is Pronoia The antidote for Paranoia by Rob Brezny. http://www.amazon.com/Pronoia-Antidote-Paranoia-Revised-Expanded/dp/1556438184- My bottom saying is a quote from it. Helps me keep positive on the Bums, probably annoyingly and combatively so. I like it, I think without a shot of positive thinking its easy to fall into melancholy. We're inundated by the news that's a concentration of all thats going wrong in the world, so much so its easy to forget how much is going right. Here's a bit of the review- "Brezsny persuasively advises readers to go along with the universe's good intentions, but his rejection of cynicism and a bleak view of human nature isn't rooted in denial. On the contrary, he makes a case for a cagey optimism that requires a vigorous engagement with the dark forces. He asks us to rethink life as a sublime game created for our amusement and illumination."

Diary Entry # 17,365 Woke up, opened eyes. Peed. Searched for food. For the 17,365th time despite disagreeing and disproving of it, physical reality still here.

Not very persuasive. Ironically made to sell a book, through fear. Makes the first video seem logical. They call Marx a great prophetic figure? I kinda wish the people talking here could live under a Marxist government of there choice. Even if we needed a time machine, send'em to there Utopia, be it USSR, North Korea, Czechoslovakia; any Communist country of they want, anywhere in time. The only caveat being they'd have to stay there for there entire lives. We'll see how well their free thinking radicalism works out there. Both video's feel like they're from an impractical, theoretical fringe and imo aren't very persuasive.

Still, one needs to plan ahead. I'm diverting some investments into Interstellar flight, Solar manipulation and Interdimensional travel. I feel small investments now will pay big dividends in the next billion years or so.

In the absence of true knowing, we might as well pick a paradigm that empowers us. I like Seek of Wisdom's. We don't even have to pick one. In the end, life is about the decisions we make, the actions we take and the legacy we leave. Not which end of the egg we crack open first.

I enjoy Ajahn Brahms works. He has many great talks available online. He talks about Jhanas and how they're a natural progression in ones practice. Here's a link to the first 4 chapters of his book Mindfullness, Bliss and Beyond (great book) he - http://www.dhammaloka.org.au/files/pdf/Ajahn_Brahm-Mindfulness_Bliss_and_Beyond-Chapters1-4.pdf He has quite of a bit of free material online excerpt: "Stage Seven: Jhāna There are two common obstacles at the door into jh›na: exhilaration and fear. In exhilaration, the mind becomes excited: “Wow, this is it!” If the mind thinks like this, then the jhana is unlikely to happen. This “wow!” response needs to be subdued in favor of absolute passivity.You can leave all the wows until after emerging from the jh›na, where they properly belong. The more likely obstacle, though, is fear. Fear arises from the recog- nition of the sheer power and bliss of the jh›na, or else at the recogni- tion that to go fully inside the jh›na something must be left behind—you! The doer is silent before entering the jh›na, but it is still there. Inside the jh›na, however, the doer is completely gone. Only the knower is still functioning. One is fully aware, but all the controls are now beyond reach. One cannot even form a single thought, let alone make a decision. and here's a list of his talks- http://www.dhammaloka.org.au/downloads/itemlist/category/18-ajahn-brahmavamso.html he's got quite a few. All are insightful, show good humor and nice blend of modernity and classic Buddhist thought.

I'm a big fan of all of Daniel Reids books. I particularly like his method of fasting.