thelerner

Only comment I might make is- less is more. If you've got a good book that inspires you; stop looking at other books for a while. Better to read digest and deeply experience that book; make it a bible for a time, limited and imperfect as it may be, before moving on to other books. Go deep not wide.

The reality (as I see it) is we do see some Taoist living longer then average, 90's (w/ some outliers). Go to a Taoist monastery, talk to hermits that's what you get but after that as far as longevity it get increasingly legendary. Thus the oldest provable people are in there teens + 100, not looking great and from U.S and France. With immortality, it gets even fuzzier, unfortunately, ie your immortals tend to be from past generations and more like ghosts, ie we just don't see them walking around. The modern greats in Taoism and Yoga, who've dedicated there lives to there practice live healthier and a bit longer not amazingly so then your average Joe.

Correct: you'd have to largely throw out belief in modern medicine to be on the anti-vaccination side. God help them if they ever get things like rabies shots or need an antibiotic.

I acknowledge the past, but judge based on what people/groups are doing/believing today. I don't want to hold a group accountable for what there ancestors did, not if they've changed there course.

I would only add that I hope people will spend time investigating both sides. Consider the sources of information and follow the best science.

This is anime on Netflix, but my son and I are going through the Sword Art Online series. Nice sci fi set up as 10,000 people are trapped in a virtual reality game. Months go by between episodes. Solid story telling.

Christians seem alright to me, I've even had good relations with fundamentalists. Its the people who insist/preach everyone should believe exactly like they do- that I have trouble with. Vive la dif·fé·rence

I don't believe free will is free, so every morning I take a $5 bill, roll it up and say to the powers that be 'This is for ending my causal links and giving me free will today' and toss the money high into the air. That way I know I'll have free will for what ever nonsense I choose. Plus if the money falls back down I figure the PTB don't want it and I pocket it back up.

I believe Glenn Morris of martial art and esoteric energy fame wrote in his book 'Path Notes of ..' that after kundalini people would naturally turn towards a mellower diet. Strangely he mentioned eating less meat yet having a taste for raw meat/ sushi.

wearing white after May.

I spent like 50 seconds looking at just the first case. That all it took to definitively know there's no conspiracy for the first where the killer knew the family for years. I guess I could look into the others but why waste my time. I understand the desire for conspiracy here, but it doesn't exist. No one needs to assassinate antivacciners, its been debunked already, imo and thankfully for most society. Any violence would be silly and counter counter productive.

I'm not certain, but with Wim Hof, did the tummo practice come first or did he have his almost freakish ability at the beginning? And developed his tummo system so others could get closer to his natural ability?

I didn't mean to aim the Godwin's commment at anyone specifically, just thought Hitler/Nazi references/comparisons were getting hit on more and more as the thread rounded page 12 and headed into 150+ posts.

What..? You?? relationship with God??? what have you done with Karl????

I'm not that interested in God as creator. Nor am I interested in proofs- logical, emotional or biblical Or intellectual. There have been people gone before me, many mystics (and regular folks) who found God. A satori experience, often filtered through cultural and religious filters, but similar phenomena. A deep abiding sense of Oneness, finding and feeling the totality. In my tradition God is an awesome phenomena who's majesty and mystery suffices everything. From the Universe out there to the food we eat. Technically from morning to night, with everything we eat, every bowel movement, from the common to miraculous, Jews say a prayer that's essentially Wow, God. kinda Breath/Spirit of God is here, His mystery fills creation, Wow - bread, fruit, rainbow... Course I'm not that observant. Still I travel the time honored road that through meditation and the deep silence it brings, I'll attain a mystical experience of God. It won't get me anything, no miracles or prizes, maybe not even any huge insight, but as long as I'm alive, it seems a worthy goal.

or maybe there should be a 'Yes Please' option under it too. <or did someone suggest that earlier??>

Maybe we can't choose our thoughts (& emotions), but we can feed them. Keeping them alive way after the events have past, turning them into a needle that we perversely use to prick ourselves with. It keeps us from walking a peaceful path as often as we should; keeps us fighting or frightened when there's no immediate threat. Sometimes the best use for the light of awareness is seeing the needles we've created so we can put them away.

Its old but Anna Wise (book 'The High Performance Mind) did work on EEG's and bravewtf brainwaves of various masters of different traditions. Seeing what came up when they did there various meditations. The best seemed to run several brain wave patterns at once, unlike usual people. You can experience her work in the form of guided meditations she created that open up different brain waves. Here's a link: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/annawise I recommend 1, 2, 4 and 9 to begin with. Here is a page that has links to some of her papers and those following the same line of research. http://www.institutefortheawakenedmind.com/home/research/recent-studies/ >>geez I wrote brave waves instead of brain.. I need my own brainwaves checked. I think China has done the most study. There is literally Chi gung hospitals there. Ya Mu who posts did extensive work in medical such medical chi gung. Meditation has been studied and there's wide spread kudos for it, though much is due to relaxation response, that brings myriad benefits to mind and body. What kind of qigong style phenomena are you looking at? It goes from health benefits to the far end freaky stuff of telekinesis, pyrokinesis etc., for that stuff the proofs are harder to come by.. and much more controversial.

i don't know if you can see god, but sometimes you can hear him, but you have to be real real real quiet. even a whisper of thought is too loud.

Life would be pretty boring if everyone believed the exact same thing. This thread is on an aspect of Christianity, better to leave it alone or see if you can pick up any tidbits of wisdom then try to turn it into a 'I Think Religion is Bogus' thread. Which you can start up elsewhere or add to one of the older ones.

Do you see any parallels between eastern practices and philosophy and the Dine people? Also what important lessons have you learned from them? Are there any shamanic principles or ideas we should bring into our meditative practices?

I think I'll join u. The whole thread Godwins law gone Gangum and i don't do that dance.

I think when you confront a major force. For some there is the path of the hero and for others the heroic thing to do is to survive. Survive despite fear of cowardice, fear of loss, fear of living. Survive for those did sacrifice, survive so there is a legacy and a chance for justice. The only complete loss is when you become what you hate.

When you see hate, confront it, afterwards walk away. Beware entanglement in it. Beware letting it prey on your mind, robbing you of your peace. We can do a little for the world and we should, but don't expect to change it. We can do a whole lot with ourselves; and maybe walking a peaceful path and abiding in calmness, tolerance and kindness is the best we can achieve. <or be a warrior but know; the dominoes you push over will fall in unknown paths> We didn't start the fire, but we can choose not to fuel or fan it. We do much good by simply moving away debris.

I don't know. I'd like to see clear statistics and honest comparisons before deciding whats good and whats bad. I think people tend to confuse socialism with communism, and for good reason, often they're used interchangeably. Frankly I like a wider deeper social net of public protections, but central planning tends to screw things; good intentions causing nasty unintended consequences. Socialism (as seen in Western Europe) has its good points, but without intelligent oversight, allowing the people to vote themselves bread circus and benefits ends up in bankruptcy. Speaking of false alternatives: while I agree with some of Karl's sentiments, bringing up Russia, Venezuela, and North Korea are red herrings because most of the people here are describing European style socialism, not communist dictatorship. I think the U.S can learn some things from Europe, though its tricky to avoid some of the pit falls, they've fallen into. I'm an independent who leans Democratic. I'm happiest with a mixed government and like to see on balance 2 or 3 Democratic leaning elections to each Republican one. But eventual Republican leads are essential cause every system needs an occasional enema and shot of fiscal responsibility. It works best when the conflict between the two result in greater pragmatism versus the mindless automatic opposition we have today.