thelerner

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Everything posted by thelerner

  1. Mjjbecker

    I am very sad to hear that. If people want to pick up some wisdom, they could do worse then hitting the @mjbecker link and reading through his old posts. There was a cultivator who knew his stuff and explained it well. For example, I believe he's the one who organized and edited the interview with Kostas.
  2. Slowly Awakening

    Greetings 28pookie, It'd be interesting to learn how Vedic horoscopes differ methodically and predictively from Western, or even if they have the same ends. I look forward to your writing. Welcome to the board. We're an eclectic philosophy forum for learning, discussing and cultivation. Below are 3 important sections: Our Rules, The Insult Policy and our 3 Foundations. Before you join give them a read. Most of it boils down to being respectful. No name calling or trolling. Post as if your mom's looking over your shoulder. Discussion and arguments are what the board is about. Keep it civil, don't get personal. Don't be a troll or one issue zealot. We're here for good conversation and making some friends along the way, to be a community. Jump right in, start threads, ask questions, look for interesting threads and post your (relevant) thoughts. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. TDB team Read and review Our Rules: Please take a moment to review our Forum Terms & Rules detailed below. If you agree with them and wish to proceed with the registration, simply click the "Register" button below. To cancel this registration, simply hit the 'back' button on your browser. Please remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this bulletin board. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. The content is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of content found on the website. You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this bulletin board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, spam, obscene, profane, threatens or incites violence, invasive of a person's privacy, nor of denigrating and/or erotically suggestive avatars, signatures, links and pictures, or otherwise violative of any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this bulletin board. -Mal Rules & Use 7/22/11 Our Insult Policy- Read it, Live it Basically No personal attacks. It is totally fine to vocally disagree with a person's opinion, technique, politics, approach, lifestyle choice, etc. But no insulting (or links to attacks) of individuals, nationalities, genders, political preferences, lifestyle choices, etc. While this may sound restrictive and categorically un-Taoist, I believe it is a useful guideline to help us stop for a moment and think about how to present our perspectives intelligently without just flinging unproductive rudeness at each other. This way other members can receive value from your perspective and you can gain clarity by reasoning out why you initially felt compelled to verbally put down someone else for being different. No one, including the originating poster, gains anything from statements like "So and so is a complete moron", etc. If you have an opinion and you believe it's relevant to a topic at hand, post it as constructively as possible so we can learn from you, debate with you, ignore you, whatever. If you can't abide by this simple constructive guideline, either create your post in a PPD or expect it can be moved. This is our mini-octagon here for those of you that insist on a more primitive breed of taoist war. TheDaoBums' Three Foundations: Eclectic, Egalitarian, Civil. TDBs' Cultural Context and Founding Principles ver.2020-Jul-16 The purpose of this document is to concisely state the most fundamental framework principles that give TDBs it's distinctive shape. This is not "all the rules, permutations, etc", just the steel beams. TDBs exists in the general field of "The Search for Truth". The Usual organized formats (schools) for The Search tend to have: 1. focus exclusively within a school 2. hierachical learning structure, hierachical ability to speak TheDàoBums' founding principles form a deliberate cultural counter-point: 1. run independently of any school, which allows a more eclectic atmosphere 2. conversational learning, egalitarian ability for members to speak TDBs' social format is "cafeteria", not "classroom". It's part of TDBs' premise that, broadly in culture, these two formats are necessary, distinct yet complementary. TheDàoBums has a strong egalitarian ethic in that it's whole purpose is to provide a civil very open context for member conversations. However, its governance structure is mostly top down; it's not a democracy. - admins - own / run the board - moderators - enforce rules - members - converse TDBs' Conversational Context: 1. At TDBs member participation in conversation is non-hierarchical. Meaning, members have equal ability to talk regardless of level of knowledge, achievement, or status / credentials of any kind. TDBs has an underlying ethic of valuing the communication of each person. 2. TDBs most basic rules about conversation are around civility. While TDBs provides room for, encourages, lively, often vigorous and sometimes rough and tumble, debate ... that is balanced by protecting decency and sensitivity towards each other in such a variety of instances that no set of specific rules could ever adequately cover. A moderator's basic role is to moderate members' incivility toward each other in conversation. Members support this process by 'reporting' offending posts A fictional example of how 1&2 shake out: If there's a TDBs debate about music between Mozart vs a beginning piano player, and it becomes heated enough that reports are generated for moderator consideration then, still, "level of knowledge, achievement, or status" are not basis for moderation. Civility is, applied equally to each member. It's up to each member, not moderators, to sort out the truth (and other questions of quality) for themselves in conversation. Moderators just keep the conversation civil within reasonable limits. For issues of staff bias, members can contact the current admin. The staff (admins, moderators) also deserve and have protection against incivility and against abuse of staff resources. Staff protection is enforced at the discretion of the admin, lead moderator/s, and by consensus of the moderation team. The admin also has broad discretion to protect the civility and resources of any aspect within TDBs e-community. signed, - Trunk, author & past admin - Sean, owner & admin of TheDàoBums
  3. Qigong - the less trod path

    Hello Sue, welcome aboard. I'd love to see some new topics on which qigong forms people like the most and why. I welcome your experienced input. We're an eclectic philosophy forum for learning, discussing and cultivation. Below are 3 important sections: Our Rules, The Insult Policy and our 3 Foundations. Before you join give them a read. Most of it boils down to being respectful. No name calling or trolling. Post as if your mom's looking over your shoulder. Discussion and arguments are what the board is about. Keep it civil, don't get personal. Don't be a troll or one issue zealot. We're here for good conversation and making some friends along the way, to be a community. Jump right in, start threads, ask questions, look for interesting threads and post your (relevant) thoughts. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. TDB team Read and review Our Rules: Please take a moment to review our Forum Terms & Rules detailed below. If you agree with them and wish to proceed with the registration, simply click the "Register" button below. To cancel this registration, simply hit the 'back' button on your browser. Please remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this bulletin board. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. The content is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of content found on the website. You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this bulletin board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, spam, obscene, profane, threatens or incites violence, invasive of a person's privacy, nor of denigrating and/or erotically suggestive avatars, signatures, links and pictures, or otherwise violative of any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this bulletin board. -Mal Rules & Use 7/22/11 Our Insult Policy- Read it, Live it Basically No personal attacks. It is totally fine to vocally disagree with a person's opinion, technique, politics, approach, lifestyle choice, etc. But no insulting (or links to attacks) of individuals, nationalities, genders, political preferences, lifestyle choices, etc. While this may sound restrictive and categorically un-Taoist, I believe it is a useful guideline to help us stop for a moment and think about how to present our perspectives intelligently without just flinging unproductive rudeness at each other. This way other members can receive value from your perspective and you can gain clarity by reasoning out why you initially felt compelled to verbally put down someone else for being different. No one, including the originating poster, gains anything from statements like "So and so is a complete moron", etc. If you have an opinion and you believe it's relevant to a topic at hand, post it as constructively as possible so we can learn from you, debate with you, ignore you, whatever. If you can't abide by this simple constructive guideline, either create your post in a PPD or expect it can be moved. This is our mini-octagon here for those of you that insist on a more primitive breed of taoist war. TheDaoBums' Three Foundations: Eclectic, Egalitarian, Civil. TDBs' Cultural Context and Founding Principles ver.2020-Jul-16 The purpose of this document is to concisely state the most fundamental framework principles that give TDBs it's distinctive shape. This is not "all the rules, permutations, etc", just the steel beams. TDBs exists in the general field of "The Search for Truth". The Usual organized formats (schools) for The Search tend to have: 1. focus exclusively within a school 2. hierachical learning structure, hierachical ability to speak TheDàoBums' founding principles form a deliberate cultural counter-point: 1. run independently of any school, which allows a more eclectic atmosphere 2. conversational learning, egalitarian ability for members to speak TDBs' social format is "cafeteria", not "classroom". It's part of TDBs' premise that, broadly in culture, these two formats are necessary, distinct yet complementary. TheDàoBums has a strong egalitarian ethic in that it's whole purpose is to provide a civil very open context for member conversations. However, its governance structure is mostly top down; it's not a democracy. - admins - own / run the board - moderators - enforce rules - members - converse TDBs' Conversational Context: 1. At TDBs member participation in conversation is non-hierarchical. Meaning, members have equal ability to talk regardless of level of knowledge, achievement, or status / credentials of any kind. TDBs has an underlying ethic of valuing the communication of each person. 2. TDBs most basic rules about conversation are around civility. While TDBs provides room for, encourages, lively, often vigorous and sometimes rough and tumble, debate ... that is balanced by protecting decency and sensitivity towards each other in such a variety of instances that no set of specific rules could ever adequately cover. A moderator's basic role is to moderate members' incivility toward each other in conversation. Members support this process by 'reporting' offending posts A fictional example of how 1&2 shake out: If there's a TDBs debate about music between Mozart vs a beginning piano player, and it becomes heated enough that reports are generated for moderator consideration then, still, "level of knowledge, achievement, or status" are not basis for moderation. Civility is, applied equally to each member. It's up to each member, not moderators, to sort out the truth (and other questions of quality) for themselves in conversation. Moderators just keep the conversation civil within reasonable limits. For issues of staff bias, members can contact the current admin. The staff (admins, moderators) also deserve and have protection against incivility and against abuse of staff resources. Staff protection is enforced at the discretion of the admin, lead moderator/s, and by consensus of the moderation team. The admin also has broad discretion to protect the civility and resources of any aspect within TDBs e-community. signed, - Trunk, author & past admin - Sean, owner & admin of TheDàoBums
  4. Prudent path of star mind science

    Greeting IAFI, the board tends to run a bit conservative and stodgy. Your ideas might be a little to fantastic and or/new agey for this forum. If so, don't push the river, find a forum that's more open and accepting. In the meantime you can see what kind of replies you get. Again, if you're getting much negativity, maybe shop it elsewhere. My 2 cents.. lots of orbs in esoteric meditations. In Kaishan Qigong we'd make/imagine a crystal orb in the dan tien, have a red spot on it, have the orb rotate and slowly fill with the light of the 10 am sun.. and we'd close meditation similarly with more a moon instead of sun. So orbs are nothing new, just generally mental constructs, not physical. We're an eclectic philosophy forum for learning, discussing and cultivation. Below are 3 important sections: Our Rules, The Insult Policy and our 3 Foundations. Before you join give them a read. Most of it boils down to being respectful. No name calling or trolling. Post as if your mom's looking over your shoulder. Discussion and arguments are what the board is about. Keep it civil, don't get personal. Don't be a troll or one issue zealot. We're here for good conversation and making some friends along the way, to be a community. Jump right in, start threads, ask questions, look for interesting threads and post your (relevant) thoughts. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. TDB team Read and review Our Rules: Please take a moment to review our Forum Terms & Rules detailed below. If you agree with them and wish to proceed with the registration, simply click the "Register" button below. To cancel this registration, simply hit the 'back' button on your browser. Please remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this bulletin board. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. The content is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of content found on the website. You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this bulletin board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, spam, obscene, profane, threatens or incites violence, invasive of a person's privacy, nor of denigrating and/or erotically suggestive avatars, signatures, links and pictures, or otherwise violative of any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this bulletin board. -Mal Rules & Use 7/22/11 Our Insult Policy- Read it, Live it Basically No personal attacks. It is totally fine to vocally disagree with a person's opinion, technique, politics, approach, lifestyle choice, etc. But no insulting (or links to attacks) of individuals, nationalities, genders, political preferences, lifestyle choices, etc. While this may sound restrictive and categorically un-Taoist, I believe it is a useful guideline to help us stop for a moment and think about how to present our perspectives intelligently without just flinging unproductive rudeness at each other. This way other members can receive value from your perspective and you can gain clarity by reasoning out why you initially felt compelled to verbally put down someone else for being different. No one, including the originating poster, gains anything from statements like "So and so is a complete moron", etc. If you have an opinion and you believe it's relevant to a topic at hand, post it as constructively as possible so we can learn from you, debate with you, ignore you, whatever. If you can't abide by this simple constructive guideline, either create your post in a PPD or expect it can be moved. This is our mini-octagon here for those of you that insist on a more primitive breed of taoist war. TheDaoBums' Three Foundations: Eclectic, Egalitarian, Civil. TDBs' Cultural Context and Founding Principles ver.2020-Jul-16 The purpose of this document is to concisely state the most fundamental framework principles that give TDBs it's distinctive shape. This is not "all the rules, permutations, etc", just the steel beams. TDBs exists in the general field of "The Search for Truth". The Usual organized formats (schools) for The Search tend to have: 1. focus exclusively within a school 2. hierachical learning structure, hierachical ability to speak TheDàoBums' founding principles form a deliberate cultural counter-point: 1. run independently of any school, which allows a more eclectic atmosphere 2. conversational learning, egalitarian ability for members to speak TDBs' social format is "cafeteria", not "classroom". It's part of TDBs' premise that, broadly in culture, these two formats are necessary, distinct yet complementary. TheDàoBums has a strong egalitarian ethic in that it's whole purpose is to provide a civil very open context for member conversations. However, its governance structure is mostly top down; it's not a democracy. - admins - own / run the board - moderators - enforce rules - members - converse TDBs' Conversational Context: 1. At TDBs member participation in conversation is non-hierarchical. Meaning, members have equal ability to talk regardless of level of knowledge, achievement, or status / credentials of any kind. TDBs has an underlying ethic of valuing the communication of each person. 2. TDBs most basic rules about conversation are around civility. While TDBs provides room for, encourages, lively, often vigorous and sometimes rough and tumble, debate ... that is balanced by protecting decency and sensitivity towards each other in such a variety of instances that no set of specific rules could ever adequately cover. A moderator's basic role is to moderate members' incivility toward each other in conversation. Members support this process by 'reporting' offending posts A fictional example of how 1&2 shake out: If there's a TDBs debate about music between Mozart vs a beginning piano player, and it becomes heated enough that reports are generated for moderator consideration then, still, "level of knowledge, achievement, or status" are not basis for moderation. Civility is, applied equally to each member. It's up to each member, not moderators, to sort out the truth (and other questions of quality) for themselves in conversation. Moderators just keep the conversation civil within reasonable limits. For issues of staff bias, members can contact the current admin. The staff (admins, moderators) also deserve and have protection against incivility and against abuse of staff resources. Staff protection is enforced at the discretion of the admin, lead moderator/s, and by consensus of the moderation team. The admin also has broad discretion to protect the civility and resources of any aspect within TDBs e-community. signed, - Trunk, author & past admin - Sean, owner & admin of TheDàoBums
  5. Interested in Neigong and ALchemy

    Hi X, Welcome to the board. John Chang RIP, was a great master but his system was private ie he got strict orders from higher ups not to teach it to Westerners. Thus its problematic. There are some schools for it though but again problematic. There are other indepth systems that are more open. Amazing results take hard work and long dedication. Hours of practice a day, best done under living tutelage. We're an eclectic philosophy forum for learning, discussing and cultivation. Below are 3 important sections: Our Rules, The Insult Policy and our 3 Foundations. Before you join give them a read. Most of it boils down to being respectful. No name calling or trolling. Post as if your mom's looking over your shoulder. Discussion and arguments are what the board is about. Keep it civil, don't get personal. Don't be a troll or one issue zealot. We're here for good conversation and making some friends along the way, to be a community. Jump right in, start threads, ask questions, look for interesting threads and post your (relevant) thoughts. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. TDB team Read and review Our Rules: Please take a moment to review our Forum Terms & Rules detailed below. If you agree with them and wish to proceed with the registration, simply click the "Register" button below. To cancel this registration, simply hit the 'back' button on your browser. Please remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this bulletin board. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. The content is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of content found on the website. You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this bulletin board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, spam, obscene, profane, threatens or incites violence, invasive of a person's privacy, nor of denigrating and/or erotically suggestive avatars, signatures, links and pictures, or otherwise violative of any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this bulletin board. -Mal Rules & Use 7/22/11 Our Insult Policy- Read it, Live it Basically No personal attacks. It is totally fine to vocally disagree with a person's opinion, technique, politics, approach, lifestyle choice, etc. But no insulting (or links to attacks) of individuals, nationalities, genders, political preferences, lifestyle choices, etc. While this may sound restrictive and categorically un-Taoist, I believe it is a useful guideline to help us stop for a moment and think about how to present our perspectives intelligently without just flinging unproductive rudeness at each other. This way other members can receive value from your perspective and you can gain clarity by reasoning out why you initially felt compelled to verbally put down someone else for being different. No one, including the originating poster, gains anything from statements like "So and so is a complete moron", etc. If you have an opinion and you believe it's relevant to a topic at hand, post it as constructively as possible so we can learn from you, debate with you, ignore you, whatever. If you can't abide by this simple constructive guideline, either create your post in a PPD or expect it can be moved. This is our mini-octagon here for those of you that insist on a more primitive breed of taoist war. TheDaoBums' Three Foundations: Eclectic, Egalitarian, Civil. TDBs' Cultural Context and Founding Principles ver.2020-Jul-16 The purpose of this document is to concisely state the most fundamental framework principles that give TDBs it's distinctive shape. This is not "all the rules, permutations, etc", just the steel beams. TDBs exists in the general field of "The Search for Truth". The Usual organized formats (schools) for The Search tend to have: 1. focus exclusively within a school 2. hierachical learning structure, hierachical ability to speak TheDàoBums' founding principles form a deliberate cultural counter-point: 1. run independently of any school, which allows a more eclectic atmosphere 2. conversational learning, egalitarian ability for members to speak TDBs' social format is "cafeteria", not "classroom". It's part of TDBs' premise that, broadly in culture, these two formats are necessary, distinct yet complementary. TheDàoBums has a strong egalitarian ethic in that it's whole purpose is to provide a civil very open context for member conversations. However, its governance structure is mostly top down; it's not a democracy. - admins - own / run the board - moderators - enforce rules - members - converse TDBs' Conversational Context: 1. At TDBs member participation in conversation is non-hierarchical. Meaning, members have equal ability to talk regardless of level of knowledge, achievement, or status / credentials of any kind. TDBs has an underlying ethic of valuing the communication of each person. 2. TDBs most basic rules about conversation are around civility. While TDBs provides room for, encourages, lively, often vigorous and sometimes rough and tumble, debate ... that is balanced by protecting decency and sensitivity towards each other in such a variety of instances that no set of specific rules could ever adequately cover. A moderator's basic role is to moderate members' incivility toward each other in conversation. Members support this process by 'reporting' offending posts A fictional example of how 1&2 shake out: If there's a TDBs debate about music between Mozart vs a beginning piano player, and it becomes heated enough that reports are generated for moderator consideration then, still, "level of knowledge, achievement, or status" are not basis for moderation. Civility is, applied equally to each member. It's up to each member, not moderators, to sort out the truth (and other questions of quality) for themselves in conversation. Moderators just keep the conversation civil within reasonable limits. For issues of staff bias, members can contact the current admin. The staff (admins, moderators) also deserve and have protection against incivility and against abuse of staff resources. Staff protection is enforced at the discretion of the admin, lead moderator/s, and by consensus of the moderation team. The admin also has broad discretion to protect the civility and resources of any aspect within TDBs e-community. signed, - Trunk, author & past admin - Sean, owner & admin of TheDàoBums
  6. Envy of a mere mortal

    Hi Lantern, Cultivating properly is alot like changing a light bulb, and you know how many practitioners it takes to change a lightbulb? 4, 1 to change it, the other 3 to criticize his method. Maybe its not that bad, the mountain has many paths and a few pitfalls. It begins with a quiet mind and healthy body. Look around, ask questions, be aware there are many answers, great, good, bad & ugly. We're an eclectic philosophy forum for learning, discussing and cultivation. Below are 3 important sections: Our Rules, The Insult Policy and our 3 Foundations. Before you join give them a read. Most of it boils down to being respectful. No name calling or trolling. Post as if your mom's looking over your shoulder. Discussion and arguments are what the board is about. Keep it civil, don't get personal. Don't be a troll or one issue zealot. We're here for good conversation and making some friends along the way, to be a community. Jump right in, start threads, ask questions, look for interesting threads and post your (relevant) thoughts. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. TDB team Read and review Our Rules: Please take a moment to review our Forum Terms & Rules detailed below. If you agree with them and wish to proceed with the registration, simply click the "Register" button below. To cancel this registration, simply hit the 'back' button on your browser. Please remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this bulletin board. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. The content is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of content found on the website. You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this bulletin board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, spam, obscene, profane, threatens or incites violence, invasive of a person's privacy, nor of denigrating and/or erotically suggestive avatars, signatures, links and pictures, or otherwise violative of any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this bulletin board. -Mal Rules & Use 7/22/11 Our Insult Policy- Read it, Live it Basically No personal attacks. It is totally fine to vocally disagree with a person's opinion, technique, politics, approach, lifestyle choice, etc. But no insulting (or links to attacks) of individuals, nationalities, genders, political preferences, lifestyle choices, etc. While this may sound restrictive and categorically un-Taoist, I believe it is a useful guideline to help us stop for a moment and think about how to present our perspectives intelligently without just flinging unproductive rudeness at each other. This way other members can receive value from your perspective and you can gain clarity by reasoning out why you initially felt compelled to verbally put down someone else for being different. No one, including the originating poster, gains anything from statements like "So and so is a complete moron", etc. If you have an opinion and you believe it's relevant to a topic at hand, post it as constructively as possible so we can learn from you, debate with you, ignore you, whatever. If you can't abide by this simple constructive guideline, either create your post in a PPD or expect it can be moved. This is our mini-octagon here for those of you that insist on a more primitive breed of taoist war. TheDaoBums' Three Foundations: Eclectic, Egalitarian, Civil. TDBs' Cultural Context and Founding Principles ver.2020-Jul-16 The purpose of this document is to concisely state the most fundamental framework principles that give TDBs it's distinctive shape. This is not "all the rules, permutations, etc", just the steel beams. TDBs exists in the general field of "The Search for Truth". The Usual organized formats (schools) for The Search tend to have: 1. focus exclusively within a school 2. hierachical learning structure, hierachical ability to speak TheDàoBums' founding principles form a deliberate cultural counter-point: 1. run independently of any school, which allows a more eclectic atmosphere 2. conversational learning, egalitarian ability for members to speak TDBs' social format is "cafeteria", not "classroom". It's part of TDBs' premise that, broadly in culture, these two formats are necessary, distinct yet complementary. TheDàoBums has a strong egalitarian ethic in that it's whole purpose is to provide a civil very open context for member conversations. However, its governance structure is mostly top down; it's not a democracy. - admins - own / run the board - moderators - enforce rules - members - converse TDBs' Conversational Context: 1. At TDBs member participation in conversation is non-hierarchical. Meaning, members have equal ability to talk regardless of level of knowledge, achievement, or status / credentials of any kind. TDBs has an underlying ethic of valuing the communication of each person. 2. TDBs most basic rules about conversation are around civility. While TDBs provides room for, encourages, lively, often vigorous and sometimes rough and tumble, debate ... that is balanced by protecting decency and sensitivity towards each other in such a variety of instances that no set of specific rules could ever adequately cover. A moderator's basic role is to moderate members' incivility toward each other in conversation. Members support this process by 'reporting' offending posts A fictional example of how 1&2 shake out: If there's a TDBs debate about music between Mozart vs a beginning piano player, and it becomes heated enough that reports are generated for moderator consideration then, still, "level of knowledge, achievement, or status" are not basis for moderation. Civility is, applied equally to each member. It's up to each member, not moderators, to sort out the truth (and other questions of quality) for themselves in conversation. Moderators just keep the conversation civil within reasonable limits. For issues of staff bias, members can contact the current admin. The staff (admins, moderators) also deserve and have protection against incivility and against abuse of staff resources. Staff protection is enforced at the discretion of the admin, lead moderator/s, and by consensus of the moderation team. The admin also has broad discretion to protect the civility and resources of any aspect within TDBs e-community. signed, - Trunk, author & past admin - Sean, owner & admin of TheDàoBums
  7. Wim Hof's Meditation

    Winter's coming.. bump
  8. Question for TheLerner

    whoops, shoulda been more clear. I meant the higherexistence.com website. Specifically- https://highexistence.com/the-wim-hof-method-revealed-how-to-consciously-control-your-immune-system/ Haven't been there in awhile, but they had some good articles. I thought the one on Wim Hof got people the important parts of the Wim Hof method. Course now, 4 years later there's tons of articles and youtubes out there. also Welcome to the Board We're an eclectic philosophy forum for learning, discussing and cultivation. Below are 3 important sections: Our Rules, The Insult Policy and our 3 Foundations. Before you join give them a read. Most of it boils down to being respectful. No name calling or trolling. Post as if your mom's looking over your shoulder. Discussion and arguments are what the board is about. Keep it civil, don't get personal. Don't be a troll or one issue zealot. We're here for good conversation and making some friends along the way, to be a community. Jump right in, start threads, ask questions, look for interesting threads and post your (relevant) thoughts. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. TDB team Read and review Our Rules: Please take a moment to review our Forum Terms & Rules detailed below. If you agree with them and wish to proceed with the registration, simply click the "Register" button below. To cancel this registration, simply hit the 'back' button on your browser. Please remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this bulletin board. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. The content is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of content found on the website. You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this bulletin board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, spam, obscene, profane, threatens or incites violence, invasive of a person's privacy, nor of denigrating and/or erotically suggestive avatars, signatures, links and pictures, or otherwise violative of any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this bulletin board. -Mal Rules & Use 7/22/11 Our Insult Policy- Read it, Live it Basically No personal attacks. It is totally fine to vocally disagree with a person's opinion, technique, politics, approach, lifestyle choice, etc. But no insulting (or links to attacks) of individuals, nationalities, genders, political preferences, lifestyle choices, etc. While this may sound restrictive and categorically un-Taoist, I believe it is a useful guideline to help us stop for a moment and think about how to present our perspectives intelligently without just flinging unproductive rudeness at each other. This way other members can receive value from your perspective and you can gain clarity by reasoning out why you initially felt compelled to verbally put down someone else for being different. No one, including the originating poster, gains anything from statements like "So and so is a complete moron", etc. If you have an opinion and you believe it's relevant to a topic at hand, post it as constructively as possible so we can learn from you, debate with you, ignore you, whatever. If you can't abide by this simple constructive guideline, either create your post in a PPD or expect it can be moved. This is our mini-octagon here for those of you that insist on a more primitive breed of taoist war. TheDaoBums' Three Foundations: Eclectic, Egalitarian, Civil. TDBs' Cultural Context and Founding Principles ver.2020-Jul-16 The purpose of this document is to concisely state the most fundamental framework principles that give TDBs it's distinctive shape. This is not "all the rules, permutations, etc", just the steel beams. TDBs exists in the general field of "The Search for Truth". The Usual organized formats (schools) for The Search tend to have: 1. focus exclusively within a school 2. hierachical learning structure, hierachical ability to speak TheDàoBums' founding principles form a deliberate cultural counter-point: 1. run independently of any school, which allows a more eclectic atmosphere 2. conversational learning, egalitarian ability for members to speak TDBs' social format is "cafeteria", not "classroom". It's part of TDBs' premise that, broadly in culture, these two formats are necessary, distinct yet complementary. TheDàoBums has a strong egalitarian ethic in that it's whole purpose is to provide a civil very open context for member conversations. However, its governance structure is mostly top down; it's not a democracy. - admins - own / run the board - moderators - enforce rules - members - converse TDBs' Conversational Context: 1. At TDBs member participation in conversation is non-hierarchical. Meaning, members have equal ability to talk regardless of level of knowledge, achievement, or status / credentials of any kind. TDBs has an underlying ethic of valuing the communication of each person. 2. TDBs most basic rules about conversation are around civility. While TDBs provides room for, encourages, lively, often vigorous and sometimes rough and tumble, debate ... that is balanced by protecting decency and sensitivity towards each other in such a variety of instances that no set of specific rules could ever adequately cover. A moderator's basic role is to moderate members' incivility toward each other in conversation. Members support this process by 'reporting' offending posts A fictional example of how 1&2 shake out: If there's a TDBs debate about music between Mozart vs a beginning piano player, and it becomes heated enough that reports are generated for moderator consideration then, still, "level of knowledge, achievement, or status" are not basis for moderation. Civility is, applied equally to each member. It's up to each member, not moderators, to sort out the truth (and other questions of quality) for themselves in conversation. Moderators just keep the conversation civil within reasonable limits. For issues of staff bias, members can contact the current admin. The staff (admins, moderators) also deserve and have protection against incivility and against abuse of staff resources. Staff protection is enforced at the discretion of the admin, lead moderator/s, and by consensus of the moderation team. The admin also has broad discretion to protect the civility and resources of any aspect within TDBs e-community. signed, - Trunk, author & past admin - Sean, owner & admin of TheDàoBums
  9. Curious to find inner power

    Karezza.. wasn't sure if that was the practice of loving cuddling or cutting your tongue so you could stick it further down your throat. (its cuddling). I go from devouring books to being anti-book. I'm more anti-book now, except from some quick sketch books, a subject I want to try. Being anti-book at the moment, no book advice from me. But there are good ones. Likewise I've known people who've been burned by Mantak Chia, but also people who've been dedicated and found enlightenment, or at least what they consider enlightenment through his system. With the admonition stop or slow down if things get hot or to strange, I think his system is more plagued by not doing it with a live teacher who can give feedback. I've had numerous teachers begin by telling me how they've cured student of other systems from harm, including crosswise. If you're energy sensitive or go to far too fast, you can get burned. That's why access to a live teacher is so important. I'll add that enough people here have cautions against Chia that it'd worth listening to, but personally I've done Healing Tao stuff up to Fusion w/ Michael Winn and I'm happy I did. Even took a 2 day seminar decades ago w/ Chia when he was visiting Chicago. Check out what's close to you. A great nearby teacher be it Yoga, or Tai Chi is worth a master's who's 2,000 miles away, writing a dry book. See what connects, its good to have a sitting and moving practice. A chanting one is nice too.
  10. Third Eye Block?

    Writer and teacher Glenn Morris was big on having his student stay aware of the phosphene colors behind their eyes. I believe he encouraged the indigo colors if you got to them naturally.
  11. Happy Thanksgiving

    We've all been bitching and rightfully so. It's been a trying year, what with the deaths, illness, layoff and such.. but at least we're not turkeys :0 Still, its in such times, you gotta count your blessings and appreciate what you've got. Having decent family, food and shelter are all pretty good. Good enough to toast to, and another for a better year to come. Made a pretty tasty cranberry sauce this year. Ghee, cranberries, heated up, then added thinly diced mandarin orange(including the skin), added some wine, drank some wine, added brown sugar. A little pumpkin spice, I saw we had some balsamic fig vinegar, added a bit of that, let it cook down, perfect
  12. Trouble uploading images

    I try to fool the system by cutting and pasting text above and below an image when I [copy] it. I tend to have more success that way.
  13. Curious to find inner power

    Hi Zeit, Dao Bums was originally a take on Kerouac's Dharma Bums book. We're more general philosophy and eclectic practices then being purely Daoist. So in that, we do have many voices, many views. I find the longer along the 'path' I go the more emphasis on dropping things, then on power. I love breathing.. practicing long and varied breath cycles. Welcome to the site. Jump right in We're an eclectic philosophy forum for learning, discussing and cultivation. Below are 3 important sections: Our Rules, The Insult Policy and our 3 Foundations. Before you join give them a read. Most of it boils down to being respectful. No name calling or trolling. Post as if your mom's looking over your shoulder. Discussion and arguments are what the board is about. Keep it civil, don't get personal. Don't be a troll or one issue zealot. We're here for good conversation and making some friends along the way, to be a community. Jump right in, start threads, ask questions, look for interesting threads and post your (relevant) thoughts. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. TDB team Read and review Our Rules: Please take a moment to review our Forum Terms & Rules detailed below. If you agree with them and wish to proceed with the registration, simply click the "Register" button below. To cancel this registration, simply hit the 'back' button on your browser. Please remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this bulletin board. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. The content is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of content found on the website. You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this bulletin board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, spam, obscene, profane, threatens or incites violence, invasive of a person's privacy, nor of denigrating and/or erotically suggestive avatars, signatures, links and pictures, or otherwise violative of any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this bulletin board. -Mal Rules & Use 7/22/11 Our Insult Policy- Read it, Live it Basically No personal attacks. It is totally fine to vocally disagree with a person's opinion, technique, politics, approach, lifestyle choice, etc. But no insulting (or links to attacks) of individuals, nationalities, genders, political preferences, lifestyle choices, etc. While this may sound restrictive and categorically un-Taoist, I believe it is a useful guideline to help us stop for a moment and think about how to present our perspectives intelligently without just flinging unproductive rudeness at each other. This way other members can receive value from your perspective and you can gain clarity by reasoning out why you initially felt compelled to verbally put down someone else for being different. No one, including the originating poster, gains anything from statements like "So and so is a complete moron", etc. If you have an opinion and you believe it's relevant to a topic at hand, post it as constructively as possible so we can learn from you, debate with you, ignore you, whatever. If you can't abide by this simple constructive guideline, either create your post in a PPD or expect it can be moved. This is our mini-octagon here for those of you that insist on a more primitive breed of taoist war. TheDaoBums' Three Foundations: Eclectic, Egalitarian, Civil. TDBs' Cultural Context and Founding Principles ver.2020-Jul-16 The purpose of this document is to concisely state the most fundamental framework principles that give TDBs it's distinctive shape. This is not "all the rules, permutations, etc", just the steel beams. TDBs exists in the general field of "The Search for Truth". The Usual organized formats (schools) for The Search tend to have: 1. focus exclusively within a school 2. hierachical learning structure, hierachical ability to speak TheDàoBums' founding principles form a deliberate cultural counter-point: 1. run independently of any school, which allows a more eclectic atmosphere 2. conversational learning, egalitarian ability for members to speak TDBs' social format is "cafeteria", not "classroom". It's part of TDBs' premise that, broadly in culture, these two formats are necessary, distinct yet complementary. TheDàoBums has a strong egalitarian ethic in that it's whole purpose is to provide a civil very open context for member conversations. However, its governance structure is mostly top down; it's not a democracy. - admins - own / run the board - moderators - enforce rules - members - converse TDBs' Conversational Context: 1. At TDBs member participation in conversation is non-hierarchical. Meaning, members have equal ability to talk regardless of level of knowledge, achievement, or status / credentials of any kind. TDBs has an underlying ethic of valuing the communication of each person. 2. TDBs most basic rules about conversation are around civility. While TDBs provides room for, encourages, lively, often vigorous and sometimes rough and tumble, debate ... that is balanced by protecting decency and sensitivity towards each other in such a variety of instances that no set of specific rules could ever adequately cover. A moderator's basic role is to moderate members' incivility toward each other in conversation. Members support this process by 'reporting' offending posts A fictional example of how 1&2 shake out: If there's a TDBs debate about music between Mozart vs a beginning piano player, and it becomes heated enough that reports are generated for moderator consideration then, still, "level of knowledge, achievement, or status" are not basis for moderation. Civility is, applied equally to each member. It's up to each member, not moderators, to sort out the truth (and other questions of quality) for themselves in conversation. Moderators just keep the conversation civil within reasonable limits. For issues of staff bias, members can contact the current admin. The staff (admins, moderators) also deserve and have protection against incivility and against abuse of staff resources. Staff protection is enforced at the discretion of the admin, lead moderator/s, and by consensus of the moderation team. The admin also has broad discretion to protect the civility and resources of any aspect within TDBs e-community. signed, - Trunk, author & past admin - Sean, owner & admin of TheDàoBums
  14. Blue aura people

    I tend to be skeptical about indigo children, but that doesn't mean they aren't out there. Or that some kids are screwed up when their parents decide they are. On the other hand, in low light, against light backgrounds, if I defocus my eyes, I see an outline around people. It's usually just a light color, and at times I've seen the halo affect around some people.
  15. I wonder if part of that is leaving our own hate behind. I'm not saying accept or 'love' the haters. Seems good to avoid them or see what peace you can safely and ethicly make with them. But to actively hate, have it consume your thoughts.. that seems bad.
  16. Hello and flying phoenix

    Greetings Wismerhill, welcome to the site. The Flying Phoenix Chi Kung thread is one of our best. Enjoy. We're an eclectic philosophy forum for learning, discussing and cultivation. Below are 3 important sections: Our Rules, The Insult Policy and our 3 Foundations. Before you join give them a read. Most of it boils down to being respectful. No name calling or trolling. Post as if your mom's looking over your shoulder. Discussion and arguments are what the board is about. Keep it civil, don't get personal. Don't be a troll or one issue zealot. We're here for good conversation and making some friends along the way, to be a community. Jump right in, start threads, ask questions, look for interesting threads and post your (relevant) thoughts. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. TDB team Read and review Our Rules: Please take a moment to review our Forum Terms & Rules detailed below. If you agree with them and wish to proceed with the registration, simply click the "Register" button below. To cancel this registration, simply hit the 'back' button on your browser. Please remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this bulletin board. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. The content is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of content found on the website. You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this bulletin board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, spam, obscene, profane, threatens or incites violence, invasive of a person's privacy, nor of denigrating and/or erotically suggestive avatars, signatures, links and pictures, or otherwise violative of any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this bulletin board. -Mal Rules & Use 7/22/11 Our Insult Policy- Read it, Live it Basically No personal attacks. It is totally fine to vocally disagree with a person's opinion, technique, politics, approach, lifestyle choice, etc. But no insulting (or links to attacks) of individuals, nationalities, genders, political preferences, lifestyle choices, etc. While this may sound restrictive and categorically un-Taoist, I believe it is a useful guideline to help us stop for a moment and think about how to present our perspectives intelligently without just flinging unproductive rudeness at each other. This way other members can receive value from your perspective and you can gain clarity by reasoning out why you initially felt compelled to verbally put down someone else for being different. No one, including the originating poster, gains anything from statements like "So and so is a complete moron", etc. If you have an opinion and you believe it's relevant to a topic at hand, post it as constructively as possible so we can learn from you, debate with you, ignore you, whatever. If you can't abide by this simple constructive guideline, either create your post in a PPD or expect it can be moved. This is our mini-octagon here for those of you that insist on a more primitive breed of taoist war. TheDaoBums' Three Foundations: Eclectic, Egalitarian, Civil. TDBs' Cultural Context and Founding Principles ver.2020-Jul-16 The purpose of this document is to concisely state the most fundamental framework principles that give TDBs it's distinctive shape. This is not "all the rules, permutations, etc", just the steel beams. TDBs exists in the general field of "The Search for Truth". The Usual organized formats (schools) for The Search tend to have: 1. focus exclusively within a school 2. hierachical learning structure, hierachical ability to speak TheDàoBums' founding principles form a deliberate cultural counter-point: 1. run independently of any school, which allows a more eclectic atmosphere 2. conversational learning, egalitarian ability for members to speak TDBs' social format is "cafeteria", not "classroom". It's part of TDBs' premise that, broadly in culture, these two formats are necessary, distinct yet complementary. TheDàoBums has a strong egalitarian ethic in that it's whole purpose is to provide a civil very open context for member conversations. However, its governance structure is mostly top down; it's not a democracy. - admins - own / run the board - moderators - enforce rules - members - converse TDBs' Conversational Context: 1. At TDBs member participation in conversation is non-hierarchical. Meaning, members have equal ability to talk regardless of level of knowledge, achievement, or status / credentials of any kind. TDBs has an underlying ethic of valuing the communication of each person. 2. TDBs most basic rules about conversation are around civility. While TDBs provides room for, encourages, lively, often vigorous and sometimes rough and tumble, debate ... that is balanced by protecting decency and sensitivity towards each other in such a variety of instances that no set of specific rules could ever adequately cover. A moderator's basic role is to moderate members' incivility toward each other in conversation. Members support this process by 'reporting' offending posts A fictional example of how 1&2 shake out: If there's a TDBs debate about music between Mozart vs a beginning piano player, and it becomes heated enough that reports are generated for moderator consideration then, still, "level of knowledge, achievement, or status" are not basis for moderation. Civility is, applied equally to each member. It's up to each member, not moderators, to sort out the truth (and other questions of quality) for themselves in conversation. Moderators just keep the conversation civil within reasonable limits. For issues of staff bias, members can contact the current admin. The staff (admins, moderators) also deserve and have protection against incivility and against abuse of staff resources. Staff protection is enforced at the discretion of the admin, lead moderator/s, and by consensus of the moderation team. The admin also has broad discretion to protect the civility and resources of any aspect within TDBs e-community. signed, - Trunk, author & past admin - Sean, owner & admin of TheDàoBums
  17. For better or worse I tend to look at religions in terms of what I can learn from them.. from there best.
  18. Welcome to the Charnel Ground

    I've enjoyed this practice. I find Chod to be kind of a strange sort of metta meditation. Learning and making peace with ones 'demons'. I've made the youtube below into an mp3, cut out some of the preamble and its a great and unusual guided meditation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTQcFfniDvY Thanks for the reminder about Chod. I'll use this meditation tonight.
  19. poll: what's your favorite asana?

    Tree pose. I'm not very flexible, so the tree pose challenges my balance and extension.
  20. No matter what the doctrine, old books and myths say, religion is full of people.. and I find, they're not all that different. A good group is a good group, a bad group, no matter what book, will be a bad group. They tend to take their lead from the leader. There is a possibility of finding your perfect open wonderful theology but if the guy who runs the place is a jerk, it'll filter down.
  21. If you go back a 1000 years or so you may find most religions less then tolerant. But your looking for a spiritual place now, not hundreds of years ago. So.. I'd recommend searching out LGBTQ tolerant religious orgs nearby. Google it. There's a real advantage to close by because you'll find community as well as spirituality. If you grew up in a Western tradition, ie Judeo/Christian, you should be able to find a group that is welcoming, so don't necessarily throw those out with the bath water.
  22. Greeting mr roboxemnas. Paywalls.. the modernity of wanting information and teachings for free. I think it does us harm. We get overloaded with so much information, that we de-value it. Instead of hard daily practice, we spend more time watching and arguing on the internet. Less may be better. Spending money and dedication may be the real secret. To find what you like, try some, for a week or so.. see what connects and go with it. Don't be too intellectual about it. On the other hand there are some great free programs out there. I love several of Rawn Clarks free programs, Archaeous, YHVH.. There are a couple of threads on Damo MCO program on youtube- In any case, welcome to the site. We're an eclectic philosophy forum for learning, discussing and cultivation. Below are 3 important sections: Our Rules, The Insult Policy and our 3 Foundations. Before you join give them a read. On the other hand there are some great free programs out there. I love several of Rawn Clarks free programs, Archaeous, YHVH.. There are a couple of threads on Damo MCO program on youtube- In any case, welcome to the site. Most of it boils down to being respectful. No name calling or trolling. Post as if your mom's looking over your shoulder. Discussion and arguments are what the board is about. Keep it civil, don't get personal. Don't be a troll or one issue zealot. We're here for good conversation and making some friends along the way, to be a community. Jump right in, start threads, ask questions, look for interesting threads and post your (relevant) thoughts. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. TDB team Read and review Our Rules: Please take a moment to review our Forum Terms & Rules detailed below. If you agree with them and wish to proceed with the registration, simply click the "Register" button below. To cancel this registration, simply hit the 'back' button on your browser. Please remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this bulletin board. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. The content is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of content found on the website. You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this bulletin board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, spam, obscene, profane, threatens or incites violence, invasive of a person's privacy, nor of denigrating and/or erotically suggestive avatars, signatures, links and pictures, or otherwise violative of any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this bulletin board. -Mal Rules & Use 7/22/11 Our Insult Policy- Read it, Live it Basically No personal attacks. It is totally fine to vocally disagree with a person's opinion, technique, politics, approach, lifestyle choice, etc. But no insulting (or links to attacks) of individuals, nationalities, genders, political preferences, lifestyle choices, etc. While this may sound restrictive and categorically un-Taoist, I believe it is a useful guideline to help us stop for a moment and think about how to present our perspectives intelligently without just flinging unproductive rudeness at each other. This way other members can receive value from your perspective and you can gain clarity by reasoning out why you initially felt compelled to verbally put down someone else for being different. No one, including the originating poster, gains anything from statements like "So and so is a complete moron", etc. If you have an opinion and you believe it's relevant to a topic at hand, post it as constructively as possible so we can learn from you, debate with you, ignore you, whatever. If you can't abide by this simple constructive guideline, either create your post in a PPD or expect it can be moved. This is our mini-octagon here for those of you that insist on a more primitive breed of taoist war. TheDaoBums' Three Foundations: Eclectic, Egalitarian, Civil. TDBs' Cultural Context and Founding Principles ver.2020-Jul-16 The purpose of this document is to concisely state the most fundamental framework principles that give TDBs it's distinctive shape. This is not "all the rules, permutations, etc", just the steel beams. TDBs exists in the general field of "The Search for Truth". The Usual organized formats (schools) for The Search tend to have: 1. focus exclusively within a school 2. hierachical learning structure, hierachical ability to speak TheDàoBums' founding principles form a deliberate cultural counter-point: 1. run independently of any school, which allows a more eclectic atmosphere 2. conversational learning, egalitarian ability for members to speak TDBs' social format is "cafeteria", not "classroom". It's part of TDBs' premise that, broadly in culture, these two formats are necessary, distinct yet complementary. TheDàoBums has a strong egalitarian ethic in that it's whole purpose is to provide a civil very open context for member conversations. However, its governance structure is mostly top down; it's not a democracy. - admins - own / run the board - moderators - enforce rules - members - converse TDBs' Conversational Context: 1. At TDBs member participation in conversation is non-hierarchical. Meaning, members have equal ability to talk regardless of level of knowledge, achievement, or status / credentials of any kind. TDBs has an underlying ethic of valuing the communication of each person. 2. TDBs most basic rules about conversation are around civility. While TDBs provides room for, encourages, lively, often vigorous and sometimes rough and tumble, debate ... that is balanced by protecting decency and sensitivity towards each other in such a variety of instances that no set of specific rules could ever adequately cover. A moderator's basic role is to moderate members' incivility toward each other in conversation. Members support this process by 'reporting' offending posts A fictional example of how 1&2 shake out: If there's a TDBs debate about music between Mozart vs a beginning piano player, and it becomes heated enough that reports are generated for moderator consideration then, still, "level of knowledge, achievement, or status" are not basis for moderation. Civility is, applied equally to each member. It's up to each member, not moderators, to sort out the truth (and other questions of quality) for themselves in conversation. Moderators just keep the conversation civil within reasonable limits. For issues of staff bias, members can contact the current admin. The staff (admins, moderators) also deserve and have protection against incivility and against abuse of staff resources. Staff protection is enforced at the discretion of the admin, lead moderator/s, and by consensus of the moderation team. The admin also has broad discretion to protect the civility and resources of any aspect within TDBs e-community. signed, - Trunk, author & past admin - Sean, owner & admin of TheDàoBums
  23. Hello

    Hi mnemonic. Welcome to the board. My biggest question to those who love the dao, is how do they define it? We're an eclectic philosophy forum for learning, discussing and cultivation. Below are 3 important sections: Our Rules, The Insult Policy and our 3 Foundations. Before you join give them a read. Most of it boils down to being respectful. No name calling or trolling. Post as if your mom's looking over your shoulder. Discussion and arguments are what the board is about. Keep it civil, don't get personal. Don't be a troll or one issue zealot. We're here for good conversation and making some friends along the way, to be a community. Jump right in, start threads, ask questions, look for interesting threads and post your (relevant) thoughts. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. TDB team Read and review Our Rules: Please take a moment to review our Forum Terms & Rules detailed below. If you agree with them and wish to proceed with the registration, simply click the "Register" button below. To cancel this registration, simply hit the 'back' button on your browser. Please remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this bulletin board. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. The content is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of content found on the website. You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this bulletin board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, spam, obscene, profane, threatens or incites violence, invasive of a person's privacy, nor of denigrating and/or erotically suggestive avatars, signatures, links and pictures, or otherwise violative of any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this bulletin board. -Mal Rules & Use 7/22/11 Our Insult Policy- Read it, Live it Basically No personal attacks. It is totally fine to vocally disagree with a person's opinion, technique, politics, approach, lifestyle choice, etc. But no insulting (or links to attacks) of individuals, nationalities, genders, political preferences, lifestyle choices, etc. While this may sound restrictive and categorically un-Taoist, I believe it is a useful guideline to help us stop for a moment and think about how to present our perspectives intelligently without just flinging unproductive rudeness at each other. This way other members can receive value from your perspective and you can gain clarity by reasoning out why you initially felt compelled to verbally put down someone else for being different. No one, including the originating poster, gains anything from statements like "So and so is a complete moron", etc. If you have an opinion and you believe it's relevant to a topic at hand, post it as constructively as possible so we can learn from you, debate with you, ignore you, whatever. If you can't abide by this simple constructive guideline, either create your post in a PPD or expect it can be moved. This is our mini-octagon here for those of you that insist on a more primitive breed of taoist war. TheDaoBums' Three Foundations: Eclectic, Egalitarian, Civil. TDBs' Cultural Context and Founding Principles ver.2020-Jul-16 The purpose of this document is to concisely state the most fundamental framework principles that give TDBs it's distinctive shape. This is not "all the rules, permutations, etc", just the steel beams. TDBs exists in the general field of "The Search for Truth". The Usual organized formats (schools) for The Search tend to have: 1. focus exclusively within a school 2. hierachical learning structure, hierachical ability to speak TheDàoBums' founding principles form a deliberate cultural counter-point: 1. run independently of any school, which allows a more eclectic atmosphere 2. conversational learning, egalitarian ability for members to speak TDBs' social format is "cafeteria", not "classroom". It's part of TDBs' premise that, broadly in culture, these two formats are necessary, distinct yet complementary. TheDàoBums has a strong egalitarian ethic in that it's whole purpose is to provide a civil very open context for member conversations. However, its governance structure is mostly top down; it's not a democracy. - admins - own / run the board - moderators - enforce rules - members - converse TDBs' Conversational Context: 1. At TDBs member participation in conversation is non-hierarchical. Meaning, members have equal ability to talk regardless of level of knowledge, achievement, or status / credentials of any kind. TDBs has an underlying ethic of valuing the communication of each person. 2. TDBs most basic rules about conversation are around civility. While TDBs provides room for, encourages, lively, often vigorous and sometimes rough and tumble, debate ... that is balanced by protecting decency and sensitivity towards each other in such a variety of instances that no set of specific rules could ever adequately cover. A moderator's basic role is to moderate members' incivility toward each other in conversation. Members support this process by 'reporting' offending posts A fictional example of how 1&2 shake out: If there's a TDBs debate about music between Mozart vs a beginning piano player, and it becomes heated enough that reports are generated for moderator consideration then, still, "level of knowledge, achievement, or status" are not basis for moderation. Civility is, applied equally to each member. It's up to each member, not moderators, to sort out the truth (and other questions of quality) for themselves in conversation. Moderators just keep the conversation civil within reasonable limits. For issues of staff bias, members can contact the current admin. The staff (admins, moderators) also deserve and have protection against incivility and against abuse of staff resources. Staff protection is enforced at the discretion of the admin, lead moderator/s, and by consensus of the moderation team. The admin also has broad discretion to protect the civility and resources of any aspect within TDBs e-community. signed, - Trunk, author & past admin - Sean, owner & admin of TheDàoBums
  24. Cosmic Consciousness

    In some practices, the Cosmic Consciousness is more a flash of understanding and oneness, ie Satori from the Zen tradition. A flash to sometimes lasting several days, a deep feeling of Oneness, yet afterwards one goes back chopping wood and carrying water. Its seen as a guide post along the way that one's practice has broken through a barrier. We're not suppose to stop there and gawk at it. Sort of like, you've gotten your master's degree, now its time to leave academia and go on to real life.