thelerner

That's great. Huge success story. Can you tell us more? What you did and how often?

maybe 20 if I include my toes . Often I think truth is best kept brief, othertimes it seems to achieve logical correctness its go to be very wordy. I've always liked the saying 'The opposite of a great truth, is another great truth'. In Zen it often seems most truths are paradoxical.

"What happens if we die?"If?? I didn't know not dying was an option. I've suspected some of the deeper aspects of dreamwork might give some answers to death.

Welcome to the forum. You've got some pretty good credentials, grey hair and all.

Ilya Naymushin / Reuters 15 A woman enjoys the sun on the banks of the Yenisei River as the temperature reached about 55 degrees Fahrenheit outside Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on April 6. >Wondered if this would come out. How is this fitting into the OP?? Perhaps as a future foretelling photo of the last (very hardy and sexy) woman on Earth.

My epiphany would be 'I spent all my money on wine, loose woman and song. Then like a fool, I squandered the rest.

Don't know if I subscribe to Lth's view. I'm a wait and see kinda guy. But the theory that after death your spirit is confused and its a critical time period for sorting out where you go next is certainly big in Tibet, which has very sophisticated system. Its also true in a totally different belief system like Orthodox Judaism, where the thought is the soul sticks around for a bit, and needs a little soothing. If there's a self aware soul (contradiction?), its as likely as anything else.

For OBE's anyone with the last name Monroe probably has a pretty good system. (don't know why that is).. Rawn Clark is a proponent and practictioner of Bardon's Hermetic system- Western Magic. According to him, spending years on Hemetics, going through the Initiation Into Hermetics, is a slow path that leads to a safer, truer more holistic kind of OBE. If you're pondering a long term path check out the IIH, and/or Rawn's site, abardoncompanion.com. There's quite a bit of great (& free) material there.

Back on OP. I don't think you should live each day as if it was your last. First, generally it isn't. Second might not be a good strategy if you survive the day. More importantly there are seasons to life. Some periods we're busy beavers others we have wings. Maybe part of Taoism is matching ourselves to the seasons we're in. Still, knowing that our days are numbered is not a bad coin to keep in our pocket and flip over every now and then.

Nah, it'll say Here lies Stosh, he was a bum, and one of the wisest or maybe we'll just graffiti it on the back.

I think the OP is right.

Feel free to edit this out, but I've reading about the Anthropocene and thought of you. An era we're at the birth of (maybe)-http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/did-the-anthropocene-begin-in-1950-or-50-000-years-ago/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ScientificAmerican-News+%28Content%3A+News%29 Did the Anthropocene Begin in 1950 or 50,000 Years Ago?Scientists debate whether hunting, farming, smallpox or the nuclear bomb define the start of irreversible human impacts on our planet April 2, 2015 |By David Biello Happy Earth Day! Welcome to the Anthropocene How Long Have Humans Dominated the Planet? The lethal pairing of hunting and burning is just one of the ways humans have been changing the world for millennia. Another is planting crops such as corn or wheat, which now cover most of the world's arable land. Chickens, cows and pigs have become the dominant megafauna, thanks to ranching and herding. Forests have been cleared to make room for agriculture and the mass expansion of the rice paddy may have led to enough greenhouse gas emissions to stave off a long cool-down into an ice age starting 5,000 years ago. Each of these world-changing actions should be considered when choosing a start date for the Anthropocene—a potential new geologic epoch that begins when humankind started significantly altering Earth—according to a new report published in Science on April 3. So should more recent human inventions, such as widespread burning of coal or detonation of the atomic bomb. Given the long spans of time separating each of these possibilities, "we suggest simply using the term 'anthropocene' informally," says William Ruddiman, a "semiretired" paleoclimatologist at the University of Virginia and lead author of the new report. That would "allow room to recognize the millennia-long, rich history of anthropogenic changes," he says. Courtesy of William Ruddiman But the scientists in the Working Group on the Anthropocene are currently considering which of a number of proposals might best define a more precise start date for a formal Anthropocene epoch. The ideas range from the nadir in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations caused by the regrowth of CO2-absorbing forests in Africa and the Americas following mass deaths from human-introduced smallpox around 1610 to when scientists exploded the first atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945. The latter time frame, around 1950, is perhaps the most popular choice. "Sometime around the mid-20th century seems on current evidence to be where the stratigraphic markers are clearest, most widespread and most nearly synchronous," explains Jan Zalasiewicz, a geologist at the University of Leicester in England and chairman of the working group that is evaluating whether or not to incorporate the Anthropocene into the geologic time scale. That includes new data showing that fly ash from coal burning spiked around 1950, accelerating a steep rise in atmospheric CO2 levels. The spike of ash is preserved in sediment cores pulled from lakes around the world, although mostly in Europe. Similarly, the 20th century’s two world wars introduced new geologic features to the landscape, shaped by bombardment and other military actions, that are likely to be preserved for millennia, along with all those mines, oil and gas wells and even the cracked rock, plutons and radioactivity that will mark where nuclear bombs exploded underground. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations surpassed 310 parts per million around 1950, too—roughly the highest levels that occurred during the entire duration of Homo sapiens’s existence on the planet. Concentrations have now reached 400 ppm, higher than any time in the last 800,000 years, at least. A more recent start date to a formal Anthropocene would omit perhaps the largest changes humanity has wrought on a global scale, however: cutting down forests and plowing grasslands for farms. University of Maryland Baltimore County ecologist Erle Ellis, a co-author on this new report, has found that humans have been impacting most land on the planet for at least 3,000 years, mostly by farming. As Ruddiman asks: Would historians tie the start date of the settling of the North American West to the building of the Sears Tower in Chicago in 1973? "Not likely—it would omit too much of the actual history," he says. Cutting down forests is reversible, however; witness the regrowth of trees in the eastern U.S. and Europe as well as the massive reforestation after Europeans invaded the Americas, precipitating massive loss of people from smallpox and other diseases. "The impact of farming could only be clearly seen as a global change to the Earth system when it stopped across a continent," argues Simon Lewis, an ecologist at the University of Leeds and co-proposer of a 1610 start date. A shift in geologic epoch is meant to signify an irreversible change. For example, the Pleistocene endured for more than 2.5 million years despite a cycle of general freezing and thawing that represents swings of 6 degrees Celsius in global average temperatures, 120 meters of sea level rise and fall and at least 80 ppm changes in CO2 concentrations, along with the repeated growth and retreat of glaciers. "We must treat human changes in exactly the same way as natural ones so we can really understand the extent and magnitude of our impacts," argues Mark Maslin, a professor of physical geography at University College London and co-author with Lewis of an earlier paper proposing 1610 as the best start date. "Defining the Anthropocene means officially recognizing that humans are a major geological superpower and that, at this moment in time, we are the most important force shaping and changing the global environment." In the end, whether the Anthropocene is formally designated as a new geologic epoch or not, the concept "helps us understand this rather remarkable interval of recent Earth history by putting it in a deep-time perspective," Zalasiewicz says. It shows "what is really novel in planetary evolution and what is déjà vu, and gives us some sense of scale and tempo." Humans may have been transforming parts of the planet for millennia but fossil fuels, nuclear weapons and other modern marvels helped us pick up the pace.

Sorry if this is non OP fwiw Drew, I did some research on chocolate and slavery and from what I gathered your 70% statistic is way off. Which is a good thing. The slavery exists, but its much much smaller then 70% and has been shrinking for years. (Hershey <the elephant in the room> hasn't signed onto various nonslavery agreement but that doesn't mean all its chocolate is slave grown) Its also damnably complicated. You've got parents and the law looking the other way because they don't want kids to starve. You have small farmers who aren't making much money saying they need it and are at least feeding kids in a very poor country. You have big companies that don't want to buy tainted chocolate but purchase in mass market places. A large efficient farmer can set a lower price on his crop and that becomes a baseline that buyers use. The smaller farmer is squeezed and goes to extremes to save money. Obviously it should be stopped. Chocolate producers should be pressured to invest in poor areas and farmers using slave labor should be closed down, just beware there will be unintended consequences, ie some kids who now live a very hard life might have it ended through starvation. I applaud fair trade deals but when you stop making them volunteery you inevitably introduce corruptions and imbalances.

If the dinosaurs and godzilloids became oil I wonder what we'll become (yeah I know it was grass trees other carbon stuf) perhaps some sort of drug, that'd be cool. & thats the worst Godzilla song I ever heard. Whats she trying to do, date him??

Or are We the gods.. Collectively?.. not the brightest ones, but powerful creatures nontheless. We knock down mighty mountains and extinctify whole species with a fork. Yet, I'm still optimistic or at least open minded that future while not utopian could well be brighter then it is now.

Its not just about extinctions but the arrogance of naming a new epoch for man's influence on our planet. The realization that instead of celestial or geological phenomena, We are the prime movers and changers of our planet's evolution. Cue Godzilla theme. Anthropcene- the period during which human activity has been been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.

Ask the big questions superficially and you'll get superficial answers. Maybe we need to put ourselves in the right place, right mindset and with plenty of time before we can truly answer the big ones. Only then do we have enough clarity and force of mind to find the answers powerful enough to change our lives.

Good marketing and role models are whats needed. Strangely I think only the government can provide them. What'll save us is simplicity. A return to simpler life. Eat simpler, live simpler but to be effective it can't be forced. Imo that would only cause back lash. The world wants More and Better because the world has ads and TV. We see the models, shiny things and dishes are held out as prizes. We need insidious but truthful push back in the form of advertising and shows that push the simpler life. Not much money in it, but much better for the environment and in truth better for us, body and soul. A couple 10's of million spent on marketing and role models and you might be some voluntary reversals. A few hit TV shows, a bill boards, catchy phrases, celebrity commercials. Hit'em both emotionally and factually. Smart people are doing it right now, simplifying. What the world needs is take away the alure of big city lights and replace it with smaller, simpler living, communities with the human touch. It can be done, but best accomplished with the tools of the enemy- marketing and role models.

1> What time is it? 2> Where did I put my keys? might not be the most important questions but they're the ones I ask most often.

From a different tack, humans aren't that alien from other life forms here. We're not 'Pandora'(the movie) unless you look real close then we share so much dna; our evolution, our link to everything alive on earth is written in our genes. We're amazingly close to all the life on the planet. As far as I know there's no crazy alien/hybridness in our code. Our gestation is like fast forward evolution. The point I'm getting at is we're not an alien thing brought to the earth, at least no more then any other living thing here. So if they're aliens, they started early, created everything. In that case they're so close to God they may as well be; or it just pushes the God dominoe to some other planet. Frankly the story above seems as mythically based as anything else, especially with the names.. may as well be Xenu . Still, we want an origin story; to find out who's Mom. The question digs deep, and we're willing to believe some whoppers in order to get closure. Does the answer we come up with color our perception of the world? I don't know, probably a little. Sometimes cold truth is too cold.

I was thinking of that <I actually typed in picqued, but that didn't look right). Firefox spell check has gone awol for me on the Dao Bums. It's slowed me down and made me look less goodly.

I took a beginners class with him and have the Fundamentals I and II on video cassette; yeah it was a while ago. I like him. I think his teaching is authentic and/but Westernized. Like most qi gong teachers his advertising tends to over promise, not because its not true, its just most people don't go all the way, a few do. I don't, but its still worthwhile. Go to youtube and watch some of his clips. If they peak frickin pique your interest get the videos.

How do you define The Good Life? I've always thought Americans tend to be too focused on Things, thrills, other things that begin with T'.. I admire the European ideal of slowing life down, the importance of sharing a simple meal with friends and family. Which to me epitomizes the good life. Sitting down enjoying good food, good conversation; with the conversation being the most important part. Course we can't do that all the time, but its a shame we don't make the time and effort to do it more often. Another part of the good life would be a creative outlet. Preferably what you do for a living, otherwise a hobby, something you do and grow with; something that stretches your mind a bit, turns you into a creator, not just a user.

Reminds me of a recent article about a woman who was 104 who credits her longevity to 3 cans of Pepsi a day. No mention of liquified asparagus though . Strange world. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/19/elizabeth-sullivan-dr-pepper_n_6907106.html

I've got a lot of respect for KAP and its teachers Santiago and Tao Semko. For an idea of what the teachings are like, here's a free one they are giving out: by Tao Semko: