thelerner

son of a bitch.. i don't even know what square i'm on.

They're old and probably in the library; anything by Hugh Prather is good. Such as Notes to Myself, or A Book for Couples were very good humanist books for dealing with the human condition. Haven't done it lately, but I used to listen or read Eckhardt Tolle when I was in an emotional tizzy. His voice was calming and helped refocus away from the problem. later edit> oh yeah, liquor works too

Imo, good to give it some thought every now and then but bad to dwell on it. I tend to believe we're not who we 'think' we are anyway, rather we're mostly what we do.

Deci was always big on turning The Light onto itself. I always had trouble discerning what she meant. Trying to find another word for what Light meant. I tried substituting awareness. Finally with more help from Ajahn Brahms writings and the book 'Jhanas- Knowing and Seeing', my new understanding is that Light is light. Its the phenomena of seeing a bright light in the inner eye that comes once concentration and awareness passes a certain boundary. Nothing intellectual, rather a common experiential sign post along the way. Probably one often re-interpreted through cultural bias's.

exactly. perfect answer. that is how taoism deals with music.

Simple sitting isn't so simple. Lots of ways to sit. When on the floor, most traditions have you on firm pillows (in zen - zafus) that life your butt a few inches off the floor. Sitting a few inches (5 -7ish) higher alleviates some stress on the legs. I usually sit in half lotus with one leg resting on the other. When I'm feeling tight I'll loosen it up a bit, so neither leg is on the other, that can help. After 15 years of meditation and sitting as still as possible, I took a seminar in Stillness-Movement gi gung where a small natural bob motion was acceptable while sitting. That's helped me sit longer without discomfort. These days I'll usually sit with a blanket around me too. When cold bundle up.

Great idea, it can be used beyond flip flops into shirts, creating tan lines for chest, arms and back.

I always thought one piece of its power is derived from energy going where you concentrate. Most of the time the organs are on auto pilot your attention brings a dose of relaxed attention/intention/energy to them. Might also bring a bit of extra blood flow and/or some good hormones also. Not only to the organ but also to the brain area that controls it. Its a way of building a stronger psycho-somatic link to a vital piece of our machinery. Probably works whether you buy in to the whole organ/god/element philosophy or not. Just like researchers have found laughing has amazing health affects to; way beyond what the simple mechanics would imply. Inner smile while tortured?? If you've developed very high concentration then yes, you may be torture resistant. Anything lower then high mastery and while you'll last longer (yippee) and recover faster (perhaps) it'll still get you, imo. Personally, I had some bodywork done by Master Clyman. It was akin to torture (undoubtedly beneficial on some level) and through I was able to relax and laugh at the pain and situation in the middle of it. Because of that I got a longer session and had an amazingly painful time. (smiling, laughing, tell oneself I can take 30 more seconds of this repeatedly, only goes so far) Thus showing resistance to torture is not always in one's best interest.

Avoid when you can, fine. But like 'the plague'.. might be overdoing it. The human body is adaptable and if you avoid a common irritant too much and you might get sick when you're inevitably exposed to it. Beware of purifying yourself so much common tap water makes you ill. From what I've read there's a sweet spot, getting some fluoride is good for you. Later add> Americans live longer (&probably have better water quality) on the whole then Africans. Grass is always greener on the other side though. later later add> looking at statistics, in some cases way way longer. Songstan if you want an interesting look at Stats for life and death style, good links - http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/life-expectancy-africa http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/usa-cause-of-death-by-age-and-gender

Minke De Vos of Silent Ground has a great audio CD called Tao Basics. She's got a 30 minute indepth guided meditation on it called Deep Body Smile that goes is very well done. Also contains meditations on Sexual Energy and Microcosmic Orbit that are excellent.

long time no read. Good to see you back here .

While I like some of the sentiment, its not false victim mentality if African Americans are repeatedly and institutionally being profiled and treated differently then whites. Still the solution isn't the Rush to Outrage or Riot culture we've developed. Its better handled through strong civil and legal avenues as well as organized assemblies to air grievances. I lay lame in a lot of places. Most- I blame the people doing the crimes. They're number one and deserve punishment. Single mothers vs Police force profiling and prejudice? Both have damn hard jobs and could benefit from earlier training. Maybe mandatory training with any increased welfare check? This is the 21st century, if you don't have a job, maybe there should be an educational component, at a library or community center (or less preferably online) required (w/ daycare) for those getting government checks. Some taught by local leaders. An out of the box solution would be each police force having criminal rights people on hand who'd educate police in keeping away from brutal force as well as making sure those arrested have there rights protected. Maybe having police work less hours and more facilities to blow off steam would help too. Reforming drug laws would go a long way too.

Interestingly, isn't tea very high in fluoride? Researching... traditionally brewed tea is 3.37 parts per million of fluoride. Tea does accumulate fluoride and there's more in older leaves. Yet, so what, I only drink a few hundred billion parts each cup and fluoride is low on my list of boogie men.

Hot Chocolate w/ Irish Creme liquor on a cold winter day comes pretty close for me.

I was taught Chia's/Taoist Inner Smile. A different take on it, that I like better is the Secret Smile from Glenn Morris's practice. Here's a thread about it: http://thedaobums.com/topic/9719-dr-morriss-secret-smile-breathing-basic-kap-1-giri-for-the-tao-bumbs/?p=116420 excerpt: Safety First: The Secret Smile The first meditation required for success in the Lightening Path training is the "Secret Smile". Always begin your practice with the secret smile. You want your body to be very happy. That way your hormonal system will cooperate and you will avoid discomfort. I have observed that kundalini moves best through a happy camper and this meditation is a process for internalizing an intensely positive mind-state. A certain degree of intensity is required to raise the kundalini and so this practice draws on highly charged positive emotions that most people are familiar with. There are five emotions utilized in the Heaven's Way Chi Kung, Lightening Path Esoteric Yoga Secret Smile Meditation. Circulating the Five Intense Positive Mind States Relaxed Calm: After you are in the fudosai meditation posture and have begun Zen breathing for 5-10 minutes, put a smile on your face. You should actually lift your cheeks so the corners of your mouth turn up. Next tighten your toes until they really hurt and then release them. Do this three times paying attention to the relaxed feeling that occurs with in between each pause. Move that relaxed feeling up from the soles of your feet to your ankles and then up to your calves. Bring it around to your knees and to the heavy muscles of the thighs allowing them to soften and relax. Picture your thorax as a grail filling up with relaxation. Let the intestines, stomach, and lower back fill up as well. Next, allow it to flow up into your chest, upper back, and shoulder so that it overflows into your arms and down to the fingertips. Let your arms fill up until the relaxed feeling begins to move around your neck and up the back of the head coming up over your ears and skull to rest behind your eyes. Catch the feeling with your relaxed tongue and swallow it down to the bottom of your belly where you swirl it around. Confidence: Remember a time when you did something you were not only proud of but other people recognized your achievement. Pay attention to how you felt. Erase the people and the event while keeping the feeling. Take that feeling down to your feet and bring it up through your body in the same manner as in the active relaxation, but this time you don't have to tighten your toes. Bring it over you head, mix with the saliva, swallow, and allow it to mix with the relaxed feeling and then the cycle begins anew. Do this for three cycles of more of breath. Happiness: Next, picture a time when you were laughing so hard you literally fell down, cracked up, and totally lost it. Take out the joke or situation and hold onto that wonderful feeling. Take that down to your feet and bring it up through your body over your head, swallow it down and mix with the other feelings. Then combine the four feelings to breathe through your body following the identical procedure. Do this for three or more cycles of breath. Love: Now remember a time when you were in love and felt loving. Take out the loved one and the situation and hold onto that wonderful feeling. Take that down to your feet and bring it up through your body over your head, swallow it down and mix with the other feelings. Then combine the four feelings to breathe through your body following the identical procedure. Do this for three or more cycles of breath. Ecstasy: The smile is for adults over 19 years of age. If you are sexually active, remember the best orgasm you ever had, and if male, hold onto the movement just before ejaculation and breathe that feeling through your body (as you probably don't want to stain your trousers and the male orgasm is usually too short for this exercise). If female, let it rip as you breathe through your body from the tip of your toes to the top of your head, down behind your eyes, through the tongue, and back to your belly. This is the power behind the secret smile and one of those important items usually regarded as oral transmission. Do this for three or more cycles of breath. Once you've succeeded in combining all these feelings and moving them from your feet to your head and back to below your stomach, memorize the process. Make it part of your daily practice until it is so easy that it just become a warm up for other methods that sticks with you. - Dr Glenn J Morris

Its an interesting and controversial topic. I don't think Maldor was trolling either; more likely its just hard to read things in context without visual and audio cues. His viewpoints seem fine. So, speaking of telepathy, why don't we let the bad vibe settle. Anyone care to share specific stories? Long ago I went from visiting a Yoga Ashram to a Orthodox Yeshiva. I wasn't surprised telepathy came up at the ashram, but I was surprised to hear an older renowned rabbi talk about it. He said we have so many voices going through our heads constantly that between 'look at this, look at that, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, what's next?' that we get messages like 'someone's going to call', 'someone's in trouble' but our minds are so busy that either miss or dismiss them.

Maybe. I've only dabbled lightly in Franz Bardon style Hermetics and it certainly starts with psychologically knowing and conditioning your mind. In the early stages (and later) its certainly working with altered states. And thats all I can attest too, as a beginner. Of late I've been playing with the idea of how far you can go to control your 'personal reality'; that is body, mind, personality, habits, life and lifestyle. ie one can't magically make something appear but within that personal reality there's quite a bit to work with. Our locus of control being within our body, mind and living circumstances is much greater then we realize. On the third hand those who've put in real time studying and practicing seem to go beyond 'personal reality' and into changing our shared reality. Don't think they can move mountains, but have access to ephemeral dimensions and shift odds of events. Though proofs of such are not easy to define or nail down.

In case you missed it, Tibetan Ice linked to this free book in an earlier thread- http://www.buddhanet...le/know-see.pdf It's very well written. Great explanation of Jhana's both practical and philosophical. The first chapter goes into good depth on the first Jhana, the method and its signs and why you should take it slow. Take a look, you may find the answers there in the first 34 pages. I think it talks about your issue in the levels of accomplishment within each Jhana.

I'm all for following the science, which ever way it points. Doesn't look like its much of a reduction though. "The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released its recommendation for an optimal concentration of fluoride at 0.7 mg per liter of water. The previous recommendations, released in 1962, allowed for 0.7 to 1.2 mg per liter." So its just concentrating on the lower side of the scale it established earlier. And its just a recommendation, so particular force of law. It'll probably lead to many municipalities reducing the amount in there water. Going from 1.0 to .7 is a 30% reduction.

There's that, but I was referring to lineage spread and problems. In many arts you have father to son, and you have favorite students, many very high level and you have schisms as high level teachers expand, add or change the original art. A lineage holder dies and successor-ship goes up for grabs with lots of contention on who is teaching the real art. Often all the parties are sincere and dedicated but it makes for a messy situation with bad feelings and vendettas.

That's a story that repeats itself through dozens of small lineage arts.

I be realistic. Though realistically I'd have to admit that the test relies too much on stereotyping. Truth is the real answer to most is 'I don't know, just guessing from a limited number of choices that playing off bias's'.

I'm interested in experimenting with anything that'll work. But.. isn't the first rule of the 12 Step program that the person has to choose it. Without strong buy in it might not work. Still if you had the right people running it, maybe. There is a riot mentality going on. And its may cause more secrecy rather then openness, ie rather then risk the death and destruction of riots people will go to greater lengths to cover up incidents. While reform and transparency are the best way forward they're not going to happen over night and in a country of 300 + million there will always be incidents, some outrageous, some justified. Between Incident and riot something has to be done. In Chicago they use the carrot and stick method. Immediately have places to protest, planned and centralized with reputable speakers leading. And there's a stick, large police presence with extra large paddy wagons that funnel protesters in unauthorized areas to be arrested and processed. No brutality, but quick arrest and transport to stop the worst before they begin. Most arrestees being released in a few hours under there own cognizance. So you can protest and give speeches in a few large areas, or face mild case of arrest, or if you're caught doing a crime, you're arrested for it. Its not a great system, but everyone suffers during riots. Better to have places, several of them, for meeting, for marches, speeches by activists, politicians and the police. There are so many riots and potentiall ones that these contingency plans have to be in place, and practiced, before incidents occur. Leaders on all sides have to be on call and spring into action before it gets out of hand. Again this is an imperfect compromise, between free speech and protecting the public from hooliganism. The media has an important part to play too. Maybe the most important. To see news of peaceful protests gets out. Cover the initial event and protests accurately and very importantly to keep all sides honest. Afterwards keep reporting on what reforms are passing and being enforced.

I find it another move to normalize The PIt. It's becoming a valid location, instead of a place where we put things that are overly offensive and/or break forum rules. This way It Is advertising some of the crap that people have been banned for. Do we need members so bad that we hook them in with our most negative stuff?

hmmn, probably easier to invent the opposite device. ie if you can't achieve a higher conscious level then others, a machine that helps man achieve a lower conscious level. We can call it TV.. back to OP They've had goggles that flashed lights and had biaural sound effect programs in them for decades. They never really took off though. I think the closest might be some guided meditation programs like The Monroe Institute.