thelerner

I'm glad things went back to normal as far as editing. But it was a worthwhile experiment. Its worth taking a risk to try something new. And giving it time. Change can be good. I can't wait for the next experiment . I'm thinking black print is too authoritarian, the default should be muddled grey, wise purple or calming blue

I hate deleting all cookies. Some sites, like the bums, keep my passwords and to have to re-remember and type them in. I was on a site today and it wasn't working properly. The answer was to switch browsers, going from Firefox to Safari, and wahla, it worked. Matter at hand, Logs are visible using Firefox on a Mac.

Frankly I've studied the subject a bit and don't think we're 1930's Germany. Its not a valid historical comparison. If it was then Moslems would probably be this periods scape goat. We'd see legislature and government sponsored pile on against them or some Middle Eastern country. But we're not. Obama and most his staff has been quite politically correct. American troops have been leaving Arab countries, accelerating our exit in most cases. Which is good. On subject there's increasing good news on Syria. Assad has stated he 'likes' the Russian solution of putting the Chemical weapons under international community guard!(?) US public opinion and most recent, but not definitive Congress polls show the House won't agree to a strike. With the odds of one going down after Assad's declaration. Another unexpected but interesting piece of news was Iran's new President tweeting a wish for a happy new year to Jews everywhere, especially in Iran in honor of Rosh Hashanah!(!?) It doesn't mean anything concrete but its a far change in attitude then the last president. Things change. People see things getting worse and draw lines to hell without always taking into consideration the cyclical nature of history. The pendulum swings, public opinions and whats fashionable change. Yesterdays enemies become tomorrows friends and vice versa. Hell our latest ally isn't Britain, its France!(?) You have to take that into account otherwise you stay stuck in a position that has long grown old.

I guess we'll see. You're going with Dictator in 5 to 10. Your sources and there paranoid forebears have been proclaiming that as well as civil collapse and disaster du jour for 50 years. If you were honest you'd man up to the fact that your sources, like Infowars, has been spouting The End of the World is near since its very beginning. And its been wrong. Your 9/11 conspiracy theories, simply wrong. Paranoid clinging.

MPG, so obviously you didn't ask anyone but turned to your friend 'the internet' to search out idiots youtubes. In real life, not the uber parnoia you surround yourself with, you'd find the obvious. People around you care more about Syria then Honey Boo Boo, but you couldn't ask them cause you'd look stupid or it would hurt your prejudice. This is probably indicative of most of your 'research'. Do internet search until you find someone who agrees with you. But, if you honest and people in what I call, real life, I highly assume you'd find results then your cherry picked internet reality. Do the frickin test, not search for the dumbest people on the net, but ask people around you. You'll find you're wrong. Your posts and videos seem lunatic to me. The internet allows people to bathe in there extreme prejudices. Thus while I don't want to waste my time on it, because its fruitless to convince paranoids of the well established truth and its hijacking this thread for deniers ranting , let me put down a few of the sites that say why 9/11 wasn't an inside job and more importantly why the paranoid conspiracy theorists cling to it with such intensity. Why crack pots cling ** nice simple fast logical- http://www.cracked.com/article_15740_was-911-inside-job.html From scientific/engineering angle- good but you'll need your thinking caps on http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/news/1227842 The whole Shebang against deniers-exhaustive, long worthwhile http://www.debunking911.com/ low attention span? Just want to watch a youtube that debunks 9/11 deniers? Here-

Nobody is boiling frogs, quite the opposite, the heat is coming off. As 9/11 tensions slacken, we're seeing the natural movement away from the overly paranoid initial reaction. The over reaction that happens almost every time we go to war. If you think the patriot act is unique, you haven't studied American history or history of other countries. Over reaction and as things settle down its reverses. Its only because you listen to Jones you think there is mass murder of unarmed citizens on the streets. Shit happens, its illegal and its rare. Actually crime has been moving down dramatically for 2 decades. Pot is moving (slowly) toward decriminalization in many areas, harsh sentencing mandates are getting a second look and may be reversed, gays are legally marrying, soon we'll wear our shoes through airport security. There's a movement back towards expanded freedoms. The Tea Party is greatly weakened. Alex Jones has preached we're becoming Nazi Germany before 9/11 and will do so ever afterwards, because thats his shtick. Everything is a dark conspiracy, no other answer in his play book. No matter what happens, he'll continue and his followers will have a dark lop sided version of reality. Again I'm not saying we don't have a fair share of injustice here or that things are perfect. But Infowars constant preaching of the coming Armageddon, brown shirt police officers invading our homes and kidnapping children, and mass FEMA prison camps is consistently wrong, and the man lies out of his teeth, constantly. Here is my conspiracy theory- In investment terms gold is a 'hysterical' metal, and he makes his money selling hysteria because his main advertisers, those who pay him millions, are gold companies (Limbaugh too). I assume he makes a fair amount of advertising change from Survivalist companies too. <edit!> Slightly back on track looks like the House is moving to block any Syrian intervention. That could change, but for now those who've placed there votes on the table are largely against it. The president did the right thing by going to Congress, at least the house is voting no. That and the lack of a majority of American public support will keep the strike from happening. Obama is not pulling the massive sell of a military strike that Bush did. FWIW, I think Bush honestly thought there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraqi. (it points to amazing honesty that he didn't plant'em there when he was wrong) Most leaders in the area did at that point, and we had top level defectors who backed it up. They were wrong and/or lied, Bush 'massaged' evidence to prove his point, but I think he believed and wanted to accomplish what his father hadn't, or at least get a share of what he thought was his fathers great victory. He wasn't the brightest bush on the lawn. <more editing cause I still can! and horribly don't have anything better to do > If you think we're more into Honey Boo and Miley Cyrus then concern over Syria, you're watching too much Disney, reading too many rags or listening to Infowars. There's an audience for light weight, turn your mind off, cotton candy. But if you ask people around you if Honey Boo Boo is as important as Syria, they'll laugh at you or think you're making a joke. You should really do that experiment. I think Jones stated it and you believe. But if you ask ten, no twenty people that question, you'll find out the truth. Please, do the experiment, ask and find out if Boo Boo is on more minds then Syria these days. Ask some people and let us know your conclusions. I wouldn't want to waste precious board space but you could do a poll here, though i assume the pro Boo Boos and Cyrus'is were just being sarcastic.

Thought I'd post this here: The monk who lives up a rock to get closer to God A Georgian monk has lived up a 131ft pillar of rock for 20 years in a lonely quest to get closer to God. Last of the Stylites Maxime Qavtaradze, who lives on top of the Katskhi Pillar, Georgia. Photo: REX/AMOS CHAPPLE By Matthew Day 3:53PM BST 06 Sep 2013 224 Comments Maxime Qavtaradze is following in the ancient traditions of the Stylites, or Pillar Saints: men of the Byzantine world who believed residing up pillars would remove them from temptation and provide ample opportunity for prayer and contemplation. The monk's life of solitude came to light after New Zealand photographer Amos Chapple was permitted to photograph the man and his rock, but only after he had spent four days in intensive prayer. At first life on the Katskhi Pillar, Mr Qavtaradze's limestone monolith which stands in the Caucasus Mountains that run through Georgia, was tough for the monk. "For the first two years there was nothing up here so I slept in an old fridge to protect me from the weather," said the 59-year-old monk. Later, Christian supporters renovated a derelict chapel and built a cottage to provide him with a few creature comforts. Mr Qavtaradze makes the 20 minute and perilous climb down a ladder attached to the pillar twice a week to pray at a small monastery at the foot of the tower. But he relies on daily provisions winched to him by supporters on the ground. Once home to Stylites, the Katskhi Pillar had remained derelict for centuries, and it was only in 1944 that a team of climbers scaled the tower, finding at the top the skeleton of its last occupant. Mr Qavtaradze moved in 1993 after taking his monastic vows, and found it moved him closer to God and help banish a troubled past. "It is up here in the silence that you can feel God's presence," he said. "When I was young I drank, sold drugs, everything. When I ended up in prison I knew it was time for a change. "I used to drink with friends in the hills around here and look up at this place, where land met sky," he added. "We knew the monks had lived up there before and I felt great respect for them."

What do you mean we've heavy handed with Syria? So far its mostly common sense sanctions. There are discussions of small targeted attacks but people are being heard. Its not a revolt its democracy. Do you really think Russia and Chinese are so in love with Syria they'd halt 10's of billions of dollars in mutual trade? Trash there economies for there love of Syria? You assume beyond that they'd risk destroying there economies AND spend billions on war And the deaths of thousands of there citizens to support Assad? Seems highly unlikely to me. Your read of world politics is far different then mine then. <edit!> Though I'd add I think we're on the same side on Syria. We should keep the hell away. We can't make the situation better. In terms of generalities Jones is crazy, foaming at the mouth crazy. If he was one tenth correct we'd all be in a prison camp right now (actually worse, according to his schedule 50% would be dead by NWO), thankfully he lives a fantasy world.

Two questions. Will the final vote poll be the decider on edit limits? A second question, if it doesn't go back, I'd propose that those who have Personal Discussion sites here keep the ability to edit old posts. Its theirs. It was presented as a place to write and control a little bit of cyber space here (& some of the best discussions happen within). Some have written during dark times in there lives and don't want the baggage out there. Seems wrong to say, you no longer control what you wrote- good, bad, private or ugly- its now permanent, consider it a spiritual lesson imposed from above. Thus I'm hoping the owner of the Personal Discussion spots continues to have editing control of what's on there. my 2 bits.

Do people really believe InfoWars? No one can be that gullible, not long term. At some point a person would think 'We're still here', his constant predictions of imminent apocalypse are consistantly wrong. I only visit his site every few months and its non stop apocalypse. I was reading an analysis of his 'work', from a seemingly impartial view, he lied every 3 or 4 sentence. Either plain out wrong or plain out lying. This was done on 3 of his 'apocalytmentaries'. It so frequent he must be doing knowingly or be psychopathic and simply not care. It'd be funny if there weren't who believed or took his stuff as evidence of anything. This video says the nukes are being moved (in order to attack Syria Russia Iran? the US?). I ask believers who go to his site regularly; How often do we get such dire proclamations of doom? How often does he announce his secret knowledge from unnamed experts pointing to impending collapse? I hear it every it every time I go there. Seems to me he's a iv feed for the paranoid. There is solid well informed news out there. You need several sources to get a good picture, but Inforwars, Alex Jones, is a very bad source, unless your paranoid, in which case, you're home; unfortunately your house is about to be invaded and burnt down any second now, month after month, year after year. Wait here a site that breaks down some of his 'analysis'- http://conspiracies.skepticproject.com/articles/alex-jones/ For people who don't want to read, here is video with similar analysis: Again listening to it, I can't believe a rational person wouldn't see him as a paranoid clown instantly. Yet there people who use him for 'evidence'? Its beyond me. Here's the video, needless to say it could be replicated on virtually everything he says. that was from 2009, his rants are almost identical in 2007, and 2005, 2003,.. 2011 and 2013. He's not a news source, he's a gimmick, a repetitive one. In 2015 and 2020 he'll be using the exact same lines, word for frickin word, and gullibles will be 'Wow, how he do it?' Wait, there are those who think 10 pieces of information is better then one (using just common sense) But for those who think more means better . Here is more- http://metabunk.org/threads/alex-jones-debunked.1029/

'Egregore' cool word. I'm leery of anything channeled. But I like simple. This came to me from a teacher (M. Winn) I respect who had experience with a wide variety of forms and masters. Plus I saw a few respected masters had picked it up and recommended it. There was a good post (can't find it now) of someone who had experience and compared 3 styles of Pan Gu teaching. Mostly the same with differences in speed and accent.

I think Zhan Zhang isn't flashy but gives good bang for hours spent. Along with The Way of Energy, I liked the book (read it many many years ago) Warriors of Stillness, about a Tai Chi practitioner who panicked when his master got the Zhan Zhang bug.

From the Sunshine simple site: Desktop Computer using 200 watts, 2.8 hours 8.8 Cubic Foot Freezer using 80 watts, 7.5 hours (place on timer or switch to extend) 18 Foot Refrigerator using 120 watts, 3.8 hours (place on timer or switch to extend) Sump Pump at 1/2 HP using 300 watts, 2 hours Microwave using 1000 watts, 19 minutes

Hold on, he's in the other room. 'Jesus, are you a real person?' He just said 'Yes'. I don't know if I could give any better evidence then that. Not just feelings, but my common sense rails against it. It makes my BS sense tingle like crazy. Can I prove George Washington didn't say 'Yo Boys, we gonna bust a cap on King G'. He might have, but when people claim a 200 year document has such speech in it, I don't spend much time debunking it. I don't need to, thus I haven't. To me its incredulous and stupid. I don't know if Jesus was an actual person. I'm certainly not a Christian. I do know the style of writing you present reminds me of racist forged literature that pops up every now and then. Like the Klan finding a 'We blacks have a plan to put ourselves into slavery to infiltrate the new world' or 'We Catholics have decided to create and spread Islam because it'd be fun'. Jews wouldn't get a whole lot out of benefits out of creating another religion. It'd be kind of blasphemous in a big way. Your hypothesis is they'd do it for their love of some Roman guy. It doesn't make sense from any angle I can see other then it falls into a racists wet dream. Early Christianity was no perfect boon for Romans either, note the way it was initially treated for decades. It was apocalyptic and had strong themes of peace and brotherhood, which could derail the Roman war machine. If I was Roman looking to start a new religion it wouldn't be built on the backwards minority Judaic platform, I'd build on my strength, go with Mars. Keep heaven, let Mars have a kid with an emperor's daughter and go in that direction. late night ramblings On the third hand, its an inevitable conclusion that Judaism led to Christianity. It contains the seed for longing for a messiah and over its history got more then a few. Thus far rejecting them all as not The One. Heck the old testament even names a non Jewish Persian, Cyrus as a small m, messiah. A little after Jesus's time the greatest rabbi of the period Akiba was proclaiming Juda Maccabee as the messiah(later changed his mind, cause Judas was killed by Romans and didn't bring paradise to Earth). During Jesus time, even in the old testament people seemed to John the Baptist (who ran a Jewish Mikva) was a messiah.

What is the traveling hands phenomena? Thanks

I'm hoping we stay out of it. Civil wars suck. I can't think of anything we could do (or blow up) that would benefit the situation. Though perhaps the threat of us doing something stupid might be a catalyst for peace discussions. Historically how do civil wars end? In the U.S it was by clear victory. Too often each side gets a powerful benefactor and the war carries on, slugging it out, murderously, til years turn into decades. Strangely, for the sake of civilians its often better someone win, even the wrong side, as long as the fighting ends and a slow reform process can get set in motion.

I've been using my ipad the past few days, plus not reading these posts and wondering why I couldn't edit stuff. Thought it me I re-edit much of my writing immediately for better flow and expression. I prefer the old way. Though I understand why knocking out old posts rile some people, I don't have a huge problem with it. Just some peoples way.

Most of it, while engaging, is just distraction. Better a quiet hut, then an xyzbox.

I was just in Wyoming, it was interesting to see there had been a Taoist temple in a small town built in 1894, its not there any longer but there is a Happy Joss Chinese museum and beautiful garden. I like the practical things that Turtle Shell had to say: "Posted 31 August 2013 First step is to form your Taoist religious organization, and then file for tax exempt status. Also look into property tax exemption, which I am pretty sure is a separate consideration...so that you don't have to owe hundreds each year for your land. Or at least find land with cheap property taxes...some are less than $100 a year. Make sure the land is zoned so that you can farm and have residential buildings. Make sure you have a clean source of water, that your soil is good, etc. There is really a lot to consider if you plan for your future, and you must become proficient in working the system...or else you'll get screwed over. I would personally not worry so much about going off grid and being fully self sufficient, as I would about just living closer to nature...especially in the beginning. No one will want to join you if it's uncivilized...but "if you build it, they will come". An especially important consideration, I think, is making the buildings with good feng shui. I really like Baolin Wu's book, as well as Vastu (from India, which seems to be a much more complete system of knowledge)..." You should also start correspondence with people who've done such a project. Minke DeVos comes to mind. She'd created Silent Grounds, which had long term Taoists programs on an island in Canada. I don't think its very active anymore. Its very hard to keep such projects up. Still, there's starting small, literally a house, a garden, grow organically into a building then a farm. Get into hyper gardening, be an example for the whole neighborhood. Get experience with group dynamics. Often people think 'like minded' people will get along with no problem, au contraire. People who are convince they 'know the way' mayl fight bitterly with others who's knowing the way is different.

As I've mentioned before, I like to do standing practice listening to a series of elemental meditations called the Archaeous series, free at Abardoncompanion.com. Listening to good music can help. Also relaxing into it, as you get tired instead of a mental toughness battle, strive to relax more. As with most things, steady practice is the best route.

This came up in The Pit. We're talking about the lower dan tien, the hara, belly area. What is it? How physical is it? How physical is the location? In Ki-aikido, my main art, it was a center of focus and balance, it shifted depending on our physical stance. In chi gung descriptions its been in roughly the same spot, an inch or two under the belly button, considered a chakra and/ or storage area. Being energetic I never thought of as physical with an exact physical location. I'd like to find out what others think. What are your thoughts?

Personally, I'd prefer it if he didn't. Its a prescription for entry into The Pit. One persons evidence is another's gossip. Intelligent people will scope out the teacher, their school, and look to the students progress and sanity. Such a person can even find gems, good practices, from a questionable practice.

I thought this was poignant and on subject. What kind of coffee & what kind of fruit Hagar ?

I'd like to leave it open ended. What is the nature and location of the tan tien?

It doesn't read right to me. Feels made up. Nobody writes 'We Jews & Church Leaders(church?) know X'. That's how a racist writes about a group they know shit about. Kinda like the KKK finding a documents that says 'We Blacks have decided to X' or We Catholics have decided to take over America by running Kennedy for President'. It written like a wet dream from people who are trying to sell an agenda to bigots. Simply put, nobody writes in that style. It's clearly made up from sentence one. The language feels wrong, too modern. Jews were considered a crazy backwards people by most Romans, common and elite. First thing you need to do is cut off a piece of your penis, is simply not a selling point, nor is a couple hundred pages of rules and regulations. Simply put, with Christianity you get heaven, murky but decent theology, and 1/100 the rules. There was no threat of mass proselytization with Judaism. There was no We Jews back then, there were denominations, a few main ones, and dozens of smaller off shoots. Herod destroyed the Sanhedrin, shattering its validity. Jews remember the Pharisees far more kindly then Christians, but it was mixed bag depending on who and when. I think there was a 'Jesus'/Yeshua/Joshua. There may have been a dozen of them, radicals caught in a dangerous turbulent very superstitious time. He was probably a mystic and faith healer. Older myths got tied to his name, in the usual way 'telephone' is played. Then massively once it became institutionalized and you needed to prove your god is bigger and better then other gods. Certainly once Constantine got involved it became a method of control. At its earliest, not so much, it could have gone a different way if other gospels and sects had emerged as number one. There are pivot points in history that are easy to miss, but often the scales are weighted so evenly only a few key people are the fulcrum by which mighty stream of history is led. I don't think Piso was one of those.