thelerner

Seems to me we have 100,000's even millions of average persons going to war, following the dictates of their rulers. Not the smartest thing we do. We may not like it, but we may be a species of (mostly) followers. I've always said mankind is more rationalizing then rational.

I watched this video (crap didn't mention name),>>addon Game of Thrones-The Musical at Burning Man, I thought it was hilarious. Amazing they got so many cast members. Great production values. Particularly loved the song 'Wildling' at 5:55, enjoyed Rastafarian Targaryen was moved by Nice Day for a Red Wedding. A must see for any fan of the show.

I'm a big fan of Yoga Nidra. I collect guided meditations and they are a great form of it. I don't know the history, the style I've used seem very modern. I see many guided meditations from Taoist(as per Wudangtao Master Chen) to ultra modern like The Monroe institute take many ideas from it. Particularly the body asleep, mind awake approach. A very good source is here- http://www.yoganidranetwork.org/downloads . Here's a link to a comprehensive article on Defining Yoga Nidra http://www.yoganidranetwork.org/sites/default/files/downloads/files/Yoga%20Nidra%20The%20Future_0.pdf Please let me know which about any other links and sources you've found.

Yes, but I think most things, don't end up quite as plannned.

and thats why the gods invented alcohol.

As a business major and even more so as a business owner (w/ 12 employees) I disagree with the absolutism of your thinking. Since the USSR couldn't find a sweet spot then regulation should be done away with? I've read static economic thinking with its mathematics and closed system thinking and its largely an academic exercise. In the real world you have to take into account basic human self interest/greed- people will pay others as little as possible and also to cut corners to the point of danger to employees, customers and the environment. Intelligent regulations are good. Is your 'Real free market Capitalism' a real entity or an ideal? Which countries that practice it? I'd add, that I'm arguing as Centrist and Pragmatist. What some remember as 'Golden Age' for the United States economy was due to hard won benefits from unions. Though that historic tidbit didn't keep me from trying to stop the Teamsters when they came to my small establishment.

In the real world, historically Fred can become so rich and powerful he buys the pond, bakery and farmland thus Bob's production is zero. Fred can then put Bob to work, take all his production and pay him a minimalist wage. Fred is very happy, Bob lives a relatively poor life and society is the worse for it. Aren't we seeing something like that going on in the U.S with wage stagnation? The middle class getting poorer and wealthiest getting richer? Thankfully the middle class is recovering from the 'jobless' recovery and wages are beginning to rise. Its taken a long time and its devastated 10's of millions of lives. I think Capitalism has many benefits, but left unchecked can devolve into near feudalism. Its the job of sound economic theory to run the numbers and find the 'sweet spots' that protect workers and employers. To me, part of that sweet spot includes a minimum wage. Society needs a safety net. There is a problem with too much wealth inequality. Eventually it leads to the system shattering.

No, that sounds more like Monday morning to me, then refugees.

While I consider Taomeow to be brilliant, I don't buy this. Shit happens; happens more as populations grow and people fight over resources and trinkets. I don't believe in monsters, rather bad circumstances cause bad (sometime good & neutral) people to do bad things to each other and the environment. Not only don't we need to create a boogie man or group to explain it, its detrimental because it makes us blind to the fact the same impulses and evil potential is within us as well. Seems to me in the creation phases of her early empire there would be the creation of the very controlling illuminatti groups she's against. Still, monsters aside, I admire the long view she is takes in shaping her empire; a very big, long term vision and path, that would probably turn out pretty good. Course the modern world has set a relatively low bar, versus its potential. <funny.. i misspelled believe as beleive and the spell checker didn't catch it. Gotta remember you can't believe without lie s.

You show a picture with no details, no explanation, no particular conflict, and we're supposed to immediately understand its a picture of horrendous civil war because... they're black people in the picture?? Seems a bit prejudiced. Happiest nation on Earth?? I didn't mention that, from the picture you don't know what's going on and the assumption one group is happier then another seems filled with materialist assumptions.

Hmmn, in one picture I see 100's of people in the other 4. Truthfully I don't know if those 4 are happier then the 100's above. Yes they're carrying large colorful bundles but that could be for a festival or positive event. Those 4 waiting on a bullet train in an empty station might be there at an ungodly hour trying to get to a far away job they have to go to each day. I don't know. We don't know, so its easy enough for our prejudices to fill in the gaps. High tech, socioeconomical-success and money may not be the keys to happiness. It has been repeatedly found that while living in poverty does suck, that after a certain point, more stuff, more money has nothing to do with happiness.

Its small but there's a verbal bias here. Concentration tends to denote force/work. If we substitute the word Awareness we can keep the same phenomena but stay away from the forehead creasing stereotype. I tend to agree with some advance people that what most think of as MCO is not. Its a body/nerve mantra that can possibly lead to MCO but its more a drip then fire hose of the full blown 'real' phenomena. note I am certainly at drip level though like any mantra there are benefits there. I think getting more familiar with the points along the route is a must.

Haven't we all had that involuntary leg vibration thing going on? I always thought it was a tension/anxiety thing. The body's reflex to burn off energy. It goes away. Some practices like (Max Christensen's) Kunlun seem almost built on the reflex, harness it. Since its a natural thing, there's not a whole lot to do. Perhaps hard exercise burns off enough energy that the reflex isn't triggered. It tends to go away as you get older, imo.

I'm looking for short playlists suggestions for healing purposes. If someone is angry, depressed, anxious, in pain etc., what list of music songs would help them? I'm looking for specific songs, well thought out and in order, that could help snap people out of negative moods.

Interesting question. Course its not the kind of thing where we have much choice. For instance, if you're lying bleeding after an accident you probably won't ask 'Who's blood is this from?'. It can be possible to donate your own blood early for a planned operation, but it takes much effort and coordination for many people. Some things are so subtle that if your not sensitive you won't notice. Its a drop in a big cup, a pint in a few gallons. Its unlikely to be as dramatic as receiving a transplanted organ which can have psychic residue. From the modern point of view, I've heard giving blood can be very healthy. Its gives the body a chance to get some exercise generating some new fresh liquid vitale.

I find ZZ more boring then tiring. When I do it I like listening to Rawn Clark's Archaeous meditations (at abardoncompanion.com). They're 15 minute long, relax the body, then stack the elements from feet to head, moving from earth up to fire. They make the time go by faster and the feeling of legs as earth, middle region as water, chest as air, head as awareness/fire, improves my standing.

There's some good answers here. A roundabout for part of the problem is meditate with your eyes open. In many traditions seated meditation is done using eyes half closed, focused on a spot a few feet ahead. See if a slight distraction helps. Like listening to a biaural recording, or counting breaths. Lately I've been doing long counts, ie 1 to 100, breath in = 1, out 2, in 3.. less traditional but keeps me focus. After 100 I'll let go of counting and just be there focused on the breath under my nose. Another roundabout, eyes open, work on standing meditation. A good yang, build up energy and strength kind of thing. To make it yangier there are warrior variations with one foot out. Or just go to yoga's Warrior poses. They're called that for a reason. Build up the warrior spirit, even consider a martial art, anything close, instead of losing fear, gain confidence and courage. I've found top Yoga people have excellent and calm warrior spirit. Join a class, maybe meditating in a group will help.

As emperor, I think I'd mostly steal from it. Enough to buy a nice tropical island. Move there and relax. People often get the governments they deserve. No sense messing with the flow of destiny or pushing against a river. But thats just me. Others might be more proactive. p.s. hopefully this won't be used against me in case there is a vote for emperor and i'm in contention. Add on> Ofcourse that's part A. Part B. Would be to hire a smart competent guy to hire an excellent cook, masseur, mixologist and support personnel. Preferably from the 3rd world where'd I get abnormal loyalty and discretion as I do i-legal, i-moral, and use iproducts on my i-land. Then I could fire the smart guy. Part C. Buy Yacht. Nothing ostentatious, but I would like a small helicotoper on top and escape sub on the bottom incase my loyal subjects prove otherwise. Part D. Implement some of the ideas in Save the World thread. I'd rehire the smart competent guy I fired in Part B and put him to work building some new planned communites with government, business and environmentalists working in concert. A house shouldn't look like a house, an office building or factory, shouldn't look like a standard building. I want people to walk outside every day and see something way different then a modern city or town. For examples some homes might be hobbit style, built into hillsides to take advantage of insulation and leave more open spaces. Other areas the homes would built in C shapes, smaller but with open space courtyards in the middle. Few sharp angles, with space and light accented. There'd be a strong tradition from the start on strong community ties. Weekly or monthly celebrations- potlucks, music, dancing. Building projects where everyone in the community shares responsibility, working together for a common good. Building an ethos of strong community. If these proved successful, I'd want to start adapting them around and into cities. Keeping things small. Instead of improving the world from top down. I'd work from the bottom up. Creating small communities that worked together with strong ties. Improving the world from community up.

Great documentary recommended by fellow bum on Bhuddist mountain Hermits. "Amongst White Clouds is a look at the lives of zealot students, gaunt ascetics and wise masters living in isolated hermitages dotting the peaks and valleys of China's Zhongnan Mountain range. The Zhongnan Mountains have been home to recluses since the time of the Yellow Emperor, some five thousand years ago. Many of China's most realized Buddhist masters attained enlightenment in this very range! And now? It is widely thought that this tradition was all but wiped out by the twists and turns of history. Amongst White Clouds shows us this is not the case. One of only a few foreigners to have lived and studied with these hidden sages, Burger reveals to us their tradition, their wisdom, and the hardship and joy of their everyday lives. "

That's not so far from Gabriel Roths method that starts out slowly, getting into one of the 5 Rhythyms, like percussion, staccatto, even stillness.. and once you have a feel for it, letting it take off, so you find your own dance.

how do you get into spontaneous movement? Any particular technique. I've enjoyed Gabriel Roth's material, The Wave. Which gets there through music and dance.

I'm sorry for your horrible experiences, yet I also realize that in the 70's and 80's there were psychologists who used hypnosis to suggest and implant tales of satanic cults into young children's minds. One in particular destroyed many families before his 'technique' was revealed. There have been crazy preachers that have also found everyone in town that wasn't in their church or who disagreed with them was in a Satanic cult.

Not really. Trickle down economics was done by Reagan and followed by a few other Republicans. It was about lowering the top tax rates and creating other tax breaks for the wealthy and hoping there new found wealth would in end up trickling down to the whole economy. Wasn't that wild an idea when top tax rates were over 94%, but these days with a shrinking middle class and wider disparities it makes no sense, imo. I'd also say, don't kid yourself, everyone is greedy. The rich have no monopoly on it. In his first term Obama dropped 100's of billions into the economy with make shift jobs programs. Didn't seem to accomplish a whole lot but got money on the street and into peoples pockets, it never had as much kick starting effect as it could have. Perspective: Keep in mind $3 for each citizen is a billion dollars ish. $30 each is $10 billion, $300 each = $100 billion. Giving each person a million dollars would cost 320 million million or 320,000,000,000,000,000, 320 quadrillion? doesn't matter, it'd create Zimbabwean wall paper. Quantitative Easing 1,2 and 3 (which has ended) bought up Government bonds. Which had the effect of pumping money into the system, probably inflated some commodity prices for a short while, pumped up stock prices too (in truth I don't fully understand it). Made money cheaper for banks. Its helped a bit but like adding paper to start a fire its a short term kind of approach. It generates heat, but you can end up with choking ash. Economists were amazed that Obama's acts didn't trigger more inflation, but much of that is due to timing, ie the lower velocity of money I mentioned above. Timing is everything. Five or six years ago we could have been heading for Greek style monetary apocalypse (& in truth our money debacle triggered a world wide recesion). Instead of austerity we went Keynsian, expanded the money supply and launched 100's of billions of dollars into the economy. Its worked out okay, not great but a whole lot better then many countries.

Course that would devalue money, making it lose value. Dump that much money on people and it'd be rapidly worth nothing. Its done in a slower more roundabout fashion. And its done when the velocity of money is decreasing. What that means is when a bank loans someone money it has the same action as magically increasing the money supply. You borrow a $100,000 from a bank to make a mortgage and you've sort of created that much of that money, poof!, ie the bank has $100,000 and loans that same 100k to a dozen people. Money is created out of nothing. In a recession that loan effect phenomena is greatly reduced. The money supply shrinks so the government is freer to pump new money into the system. When people are borrowing again they can't. In a recession you can hand out money, I think Bush did it that way, not millions but a few thousand and it didn't create mad inflation cause it was done during a recession.

Shaking. Getting your whole body to vibrate, especially if you can position yourself so your heels slightly bounce repeatedly off the floor. It good to start with shaking the hands, getting the wrists and elbows in on it, then bigger til it includes the knees and becomes a bit apelike. In Ki-Aikido kept it at the hand level w/ small movement. In KAP they liked it whole body, big shake. Yes, this isn't meant as a joke, slapping up and down your arms, torso, down your legs is practiced as a warm up in a couple of Qi Gong regimens. Wakes you up and is said to drive the chi into the bones.