thelerner

I read the OP, but was referring mostly to the answers that came after it. Did you read the post I put infront of my post? Goal of Taoism..to become immortal.(?) That's the 1% of 1% of 1% I was referring to. If Immortality is a goal of Taoism, I don't think we have many good living examples. maybe starbucks if they're coffee drinkers, otherwise Teavana. Probably not over the internet. Seriously the place I'm likely to meet an immortal is.. during deep meditation or deep dreamwork, a 'dimension' where I couldn't be sure if they were real or my own creation.

Its so much work to write a zero, you have to go up, then loop, then down, then loop. One- is a fast slash. I, as an efficient and lazy person vote for 1. After all it is number One for a reason, all others are 2nd or less <or more depending on how you look at it. My spiritual goal is to become one with 1, then the two of us will happily ever after.

It'd be easier if we had a couple of immortals to talk to and compare notes with, but they seem pretty rare these days. Are we talking about a religion where only a handful (1% of 1% of 1%) make it to the top? Seems like I'd have an easier time getting an audience with the pope (singular, but he's real and I know where he lives) then an immortal. And its not like Taoist monasteries are packed w/ 200 year old monks. I respect Taoism for the many fruits of its practice, but lets it keep it real.

Again, I question the metaphor..riding a tiger..are we really a moment from death every second, one slip and that's that? Not really, most of us will make it past our 60's, we may be a healthier bunch with most of hitting their 90's. Whether its a tiger, horse or tortoise, we're all getting off sometime. I guess a taoist would say we ride an ox, I'd say horse. Its not getting off the horse that's so important(particularly if you only get off once). Its learning to ride well, making a friend of it and getting to where you want to go.

as a kid I believed they'd only come true of I ate them (the paper fortune). they don't don't taste too bad, no taste at all if you swallow.

This was being discussed in the lobby but I thought I'd bring it up here. I guess there's a new rule that newbies have to post a few times in the lobby before getting access to the whole site. Is that correct? If so, how many times and how clearly is it stated? I understand the need for control against spambots, but I hat to turn off potential members. It seems at least a few people in the lobby are unclear. Actually so am I. Thanks Michael

In August I've got a 1,586.3 mile road trip to Black Rock Utah, if I leave now and didn't stop gmaps said I'd be there in 23 hours 4 minutes. I've gotta a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and I'm wearing sunglasses.. eh, I'll wait.

nope, just good luck w/ the biopsy.

I do not know. That said, whether real or self created staying busy and focusing away from it might be a solution. Obsession, giving it time and thought might be attaching yourself to it. If she wants it to stop, maybe back off of meditation for a while..maybe a few months. Substitute walks or listen to music instead. maybe we are the ones haunting them. perhaps we're the ones who have to let go.

I think the element of watching for danger is a slow drain on us. The need to be vigilant burns up mental energy. I find a good audio CD or podcast makes the time go by faster. As I've gotten older I'll take stop more frequently every 2 or 3 hours to get some fresh air and stretch. Plus as I ride I'll flex my back, lift out of my seat a bit, shake one arm, then the other, stuff like that.

Looks like a great book. It allows quite a bit of perusing. Thank you for sharing.

I had high hopes for Tai Chi Zero. It was okay, hope Tai Chi Hero improves it. Best Taoism isn't in a movie, its TV, the original Kung Fu series. You can find whole episodes in Youtube. They hit Taoist subjects with a surprising amount of knowledge and integrity, or at least as much as you could get circa late 70's.

Alex Jones and infowars might not be the best place to find information. If you forget about the date and listen to his early rants circa 1996 or 97, you'd hear the world is clearly coming to an end. If you could read infowars in the the year 1999, you'd clearly see Armageddon Soon. Every President (& pope) an anti-christ. Every year, doom, war, economic collapse. Every month predictions of the police or slave state since 1997. If you really believed him, you'd be a basket case, constantly waiting..expecting..the black helicopters and storm troopers to beat down your door. These are typical topics that he recycles monthly: The New World Order Wants You and Your Children Dead - April 6th, 2013 Alex Jones | The globalists are obsessed with eugenics. Mass Arrest and Gun Confiscation Has Begun: Video - April 6th, 2013 Infowars.com | This is a dire warning for every man, woman and child, not just in the U.S., How many times can you buy into it? Month after month, year after year? I understand how new listeners can be seduced, but after reading the same thing every year, wouldn't one get the feeling he's wrong? Or do you continually think.. the end is soon, but not yet, soon but not just now, soon soon soon. He's not even as fun as the cubs game.

Only reason I can see is that it might stop some of the aggressive spam bots that have been active lately. Still probably snags more honest would be members then bots. 10 seems like too many.

Not boring, just overly dismissive at times. My viewpoint has nothing to do with Cain and Abelishness, it has to do with life experience. You want to find out about the human condition of death, go where the dying is. I don't think you'll find answers watching squirrels or bees. Or intellectualizing. I understand you're not advocating throwing grandma off a cliff, though you were edging close to it with, when they become a burden. In any case that's a distracting side issue, the main being How to die well.(?) I agree a taoist looks to nature for the answers, but, and here is a very important point; different animals have different natures. The squirrel and the bee lead vastly different lives. There way of life is right for them, in some areas they have a genius we could learn from. The question is, is death one of them? Bees, unsentimental, toss the dead out. I don't really dig the whole Bee hierarchy and wouldn't want to base my society on it, though it works them and god bless'em. Squirrels my favorite rodent, they live in the now, like most animals, but does licking wounds and crawling into a dark closed spot to die really what we should seek to emulate? Perhaps the nature we need to look into is human nature, free from cultural conditioning. Let me circle here, modern life has sanitized and kept us from being around and knowing death. Our grandparents, aunts and uncle do not die in our house. We don't have experience being around the dying, as virtually all our ancestors did. A powerful life lesson is kept from us. The artificiality of the situation creates intellectualizing. We end up reading books and articles about an apple, when its knowing its tasting. I don't think we'll know death til it happens, but we can end the taboos and get more comfortable around it by being near its experience. Strangely I was at my neighbors house and he was leading a group of high school kids through the issues of euthanasia. Out of a 100 kids only 5 had ever experienced being in the same room as someone who'd died. Most had misconceptions because so much was only seen in movies or TV. I'm sure I had a point here somewhere. dinner calls.

As I said I didn't write it for you cause your not into discussion, you're into dismissal. If you actually wanted help, you wouldn't come across so arrogantly. You read an idea, take it to an illogical extreme, ie 'We shoot horses don't we?' then dismiss it. After you pull the shtick 10, 12 times its boring. I don't think you'll find what your looking for. You can't intellectualize your way out of the death conundrum. You have to put yourself into a position to live it. You quickly dismissed the idea of volunteering in a hospice because you 'Live in hospice'. Great dismissal, you've intellectualized yourself cleverly away from real life knowing. You're on your way to learning nothing.

Wholesome natural organism or soulless operating system?? We have the ability to be either. I figure we're inbetween, though I like to think we're mostly on the positive side. Frankly there's not much chance of nuclear wars these days and it seems to be falling every decade. We really don't need nuclear weapons to have Hiroshima number of dead (not even in the 40's). We've proven it can be done w/ machetes. Nuclear weapons are to some extent a boogie man. You'll be shot and stabbed and most probably grow old before there's a nuclear war. I'm not saying a nuke won't go off sometime, but full pledged nuclear war is not in any ones interest. Despite a human disposition for 'now is worse then any time in ever' which is practically written on the walls of cave men, we do live in a relatively benign time, particularly true of high tech 'bums' reading this. Its hard to see it unless you look at the actual statistics. There is a movement towards greater education in the world and its a panacea. back on point. You're right contemplating death is not the same as the actual onset of dying. I repeat, you won't find answers in the written word. Go to the source, where the dying is, volunteer in a hostel for 2 or 3 months. Be with the dying, get to a know a few. Learn from them. I'd also add, don't be married to the word Tao, its too amorphous, particularly in this usage. I'd also add I haven't volunteered, but I'm not the one asking. My 'plan' is surrender w/ a quiet mind. Though it may be hard to execute without practice.

Interesting. I'm not sure I'd say hungry people are necessarily 'Godlier'. Still its food for thought. Certainly your traditional monks eat very little, very slowly. Most traditions have a prayer component before food, to slow down and give thanks. That heart felt thanks may be the key, as much hunger.

Your english is good and I there are many in this community who are trying to figure out there experiences with meditation, kundalini and energetics. I don't think 'Bum' in this context is bad, more an independent person- a little outside the main stream.

I don't think you need cataclysmic floods to spawn 'Ark' Stories. Regular 100 year floods that wipe whole areas, local villages might be enough to spark stories, and once started they grew into tall (epic) tales.

Interesting question. I've been exposed to enough Japanese philosophy that suicide doesn't have as much negative connotation for me as it does for much of Western society. Can't make a blanket statement about others. But personally I'd fight beyond the outset of a serious disease, past perfect health. My grandmother was seemingly on her death bed several times, pulled out of it, recovered surprisingly well and had a few more good years, seeing her grandchildren and enjoying life. If we quit when the going gets tough we'd never learn to walk, read or write. In a life where there are always good days and bad, the trick is making the good ones count (and maybe seeing the bad ones aren't so bad). The sun on the face, fragrance of fresh air, watching children play, keeping up tabs on your family and friends. Not causing friends and family the unnecessary pain which often accompanies most suicides. There's a line where suicide or letting myself die lies, but life is precious enough not to let it go too soon.

Its no myth. You should have seen flooding here in the Midwest last week. It was so bad I could only grab one of every animal .

Wow, what a cool professor. Did you slack off because of appearances? I didn't realize you weren't just asking questions and dismissing answers, but were considering yourself the 'Professor' of this topic. Which is fine. You created this topic, but as its leader you haven't framed what you're looking for so we're spit balling on topics of afterlife and living well, while you're dismissive of most of the answers. If you studied zen you might have found the phrase and philosophy life and death being the same. Not making a special deal out of death, ie its a natural thing to be faced calmly. The warriors walk being his everyday walk. Perhaps you can phrase a question that's less ambiguous.

The lobby is for introducing yourself. If you want to start a topic like this- you should probably put it in the Off-Topic section.

It's been a while but I really liked Franz Bardon's system of Hermetic magic. I didn't have the discipline to get far, but I liked how the methodology went beyond magic and into understanding reality and bettering oneself. The two practitioners I read from William Mistelle and especially Rawn Clark seemed like centered, down to earth, very intelligent people, who could see beyond the veil of the tic toc world, but still function well in it. What are your experiences with it?