thelerner

Truth that, but the tsunami covered a vast area way beyond the atomic plants. Its been less then 2 years. Within a year and a quarter clean up and infrastructure recovery are doing remarkably well. There are radiation problems but no where near what the apocalyptic scenarios some predicted. It may be my overly sunny attitude, but in my lifetime most disasters ecological and man made are cleaned up faster then early dire predictions once real work is started. Predictions of generations of dead land don't seem to pan out<with one or two Russian exceptions> Nature itself has amazing resilience, leave it alone and it repairs, best yet don't create harm in the first place. Personally along the route I often drive is a riverlet we'd called the sewage canal when I grew up (for Chicagoans I'm talking the canal along McCormick). It stunk, effort went in to cleaning it, new regulations and enforcements. There are boats in it now, I see fish, frogs, crayfish, turtles! The old signs 'Water contaminated, do not expose to body', are still up, and I'm not going swimming in it, but what a difference.

You make a good point. The math - $in $out has to make sense. Somebody pays for every free lunch. Still there's slack in the system. We pay 3x more as a whole for 2nd rate outcomes. I don't see Obama care as a game change. It has the same problems as before, some worse, some better ie millions of uninsured will be covered. I'm concerned with: businesses paying sky high rates to insure workers, 66 year olds losing their retirement saving to pay for 4 years of medical insurance, I worry that funding medical health will exacerbate the rich poor schism to where there is a first and third world U.S.

Careful what you wish for, sometimes you get too much information. Kudos on 1000 days of 1,000 cuts w/ suburi, very impressive. Years ago when I told a senior student I was doing a 1,000 cuts w/ a bokken <easier> a day, he replied "In the ancient days that would be considered the bare minimum". There is no pleasing some people. Another direction I might point you in is feed the head. Schedule in listening to Dharma talks. Search out Ajahn Brahms talks on the internet or podcasts from Infinite Smile or Zencast. Listen to the wise to get wisdom, its not always innate.

Love watching parkour. I can't imagine how many bruises, breaks and skin you lose getting to an elite level.

Since this is also a saving the world post I thought I'd add this link http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/nuclear_power/2013/01/chernobyl_wildlife_the_radioactive_fallout_zone_is_a_wildlife_refuge_photos.html Sometimes the world can save itself . But people and their government can make a difference. This is a year old http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-202_162-10011534.html

It was so long ago I bought the video cassette, practiced it then was able to do it with a group at a Healing Tao retreat. Its very very simple, I'm pretty sure I learned it correctly from watching the video, something that can't always be said for many qi gong forms. I like it for its simplicity and it gives you a good feeling for how chi circles. It compliments one of Winns early 5 qi gong forms from Fundamentals II, very simple repetitive movements. You don't necessarily have to get complicated to go deep. Year ago someone had a post about 3 different teachers, and how they taught it and had a critique of them. At the time I'm not sure Winns' version came out on top. I wonder if I could find the old thread w/ a search? edit: yeah, type 'pangu form' into search and you should get links to a couple of discussions over the years.

Sounds good, though personally I'm not even sure about the immortal spirits part. Oh well, in Tao we Trust . Given a vote on the subject, I'd choose to remember my past lives. Getting a full memory wipe each lifetime seems cruel. On a slight tangent involving long life, I was reading a new study that contradicted earlier ones about extreme calorie restriction leading to long life. Apparently the original primate study they gave the control group as much as they could eat of unhealthy food, while giving the other group a nutritionally dense but near starvation amount. The poor diet choice made up the big difference between the two. In the story I read when the control group was given an intelligent diet, more food, but not unlimited junk, the huge difference went away. Though there was a difference.

You think you're going, great. It is an anarchists dream. No money (cept for drinks in the main tent), no corporate logos, extreme self sufficiency in an extreme climate balanced by a gift economy and the ideal every one participates and everyone should find there art or passion. <mine was hanging out in bars and a defunct body outline project that failed early> Burning Man burn out. It hits a lot of people. For the Big Burn I came a day or two late and left a day early, still caught the big burn of course. But 2 of the 3 trailers that made up my impromptu group left earlier. You want to see it all, do it all, there so much energy in the place its very easy to melt down. People stay up 40 or 50 hours then collapse. Its the freakin desert 100 degrees w/ the wind blowing burning alkaline dust and all you want to do is see more and more. What saves you is slowing down, finding a bar or class, planting your feet and shooting the shit. Its okay not to see everything, try to get some rest, stay hydrated, always have a cup w/ you <I use a drinking horn>. Bring quality ear plugs, eye shades and very importantly a cheap bike; Black Rock City is just too big, hot and dusty to walk everywhere. It could be a 4 or 5 mile hike to get to The Man, The Temple, the Art sections, your favorite watering holes; you'll need wheels- a cheap expendable no speed. Sadly a tiny combo chain, its not that it'll be stolen, but it may be borrowed for a long periods. Burn out happens at the smaller regionals too. Camping isn't easy, I generally don't like it. Loud and exciting people cut both ways too. If you <or any bum> are going, let me know. We can set up some way to meet. M.

Its ridiculous. I couldn't even find out what current health care rates would be for people 65 to 69, I assume it would be <9000(!$), matter of fact I assume it'd be closer $15,000 now and could only imagine what the current doubled medical inflation would bring. In 20 years would we need $60 to $80,000 to pay for our last 3 years of health insurance? Seems like a bill that impoverish many. There is one good thing about it though. Once it went through and the ramifications were known the odds of getting single payer health care like the rest of first world nations would be in the bag. Ultimately that would help even the CEO bigwigs AND raise our national health outcomes above 16th in the world. In some ways we have the best health care money can buy, but increasingly you'd better have a whole lotta money to get it. Thats why support Obama, his first choice was single payer, what we have now, I hope, is an intermediary step. We shall see. and i imagine finding a job is harder for the 65 and older set.

I love the Pan Gu form, learned it from Michael Winn. As I recall his explanation of 26 was had to do a 26,000 year positional shift the earth does, ie The Earth's axis completes one full cycle of precession approximately every 26,000 years. Not the most inspiring answer, but thats what he gave.

Lesson 1, its not about learning, its about dreaming and going with the flow. One of the camps I hung out w/ 4 years ago seems to be open to new members. Whiskey & Dust, out of Denver. They had a beautiful set up, small wooden houses, nice bar, yoga platform, very nice people. I joined in one of there public offerings- foot massage. I actually have some expertise in the field and my clients were often beautiful and well painted. Good times. I'll contact them, they actually have a website. To get a taste of what theme camps are about go to http://www.burningman.com/themecamps/themecamps.html?yy=2011 and a search word like 'yoga', you'll find some interestings camps. Many downright blew my mind. There was one giant cave that seemed impossible to build a short time. It turns out the people behind it were special effects guys from California. So many impossible things, like a sledding hill in the middle of the desert, amazing and fast but watch out of the nylon carpet burns. The idea to bring out an old fashion phonograph is not too practical, they're expensive, heavy and delicate. A modern take is the Soundwagon, a toy car that runs its needle around an album! The albums stays still, the toy car rides on top w/ its needle in the groove. Relatively cheap, small, runs a single 9 volt; and its cool looking. Just what the doctor ordered. Until the needle breaks off and I don't have replacement.

ditto, nice add on, feels like my room is less crowded.

This years theme is Cargo Cult. Kind of strange, past ones were Evolution, Fertility, The Green Man. I learned about Cargo Cults from an old Larry Niven sci fi book. Cargo Cults was a strange cultural snafu that happened on some South Pacific Islands when natives began thinking of visiting army base personal and there equipment as Gods! Coca cola became drink of the Gods, planes their mystical transportation. After WWII the troops left and the legends grew. Humorous and easy to look down as humorous foolishness until you wonder what Cargo cult ideas we all have. How would I express Cargo Cult? Maybe from the angle of a sacredness that has left. What was good in the world <and a bit ridiculous> that is no longer? Scooby Doo, symbol triumphant togetherness? Have a totem stick w/ Scoobies head, all worship the Doo. Hmmn, stick would have Scoobies head impaled on Mountain Dew bottle!? Not bad..not bad.. What else? What was good, and a bit decadent and naiive? What do I wish would return? A show from the early 70's? 3's company? nah. A book? a song.. A record? Maybe a record. Yeah a record, having a wind up recorder w/ bull horn speaker. I wonder I could find one, make it into a public use/display? Make art out of the covers and allow people to play what they will. Have some inflatable couches around, corny music from the 60's. Yeah, that cargo cult. Back to the 60's when times were good straining to listen to old worn out records, cornier the better. Dr. Demento, stuff like that.

'The Next Decade, Where we've Been and Where We're Going' by George Friedman. Author of The Next 100 Years. He's got a Freakonomics style of analysis with a historic background. Analysis with a combination of social and economic forces, looking for trends with gratuitously few filters. An interesting book to read, then reread in 10 years to see if he was right. I was reading another book of this genre a few months ago, it was interesting because it was written after 9/11, maybe a year later. Very insightful, the author was right. You kinda want to get into a time machine and throw the book at Bush and take off.

Its fine not keep track, but sad if its been so long one can't remember. Also, I don't think there needs to be an either/or divide between Buddhist and Western compassion. It may be the combination of both is best. The deep listening, awareness and objectivity of the East, then the taking action, problem solving mindset of the West. Take India, in many the birth place of inspired sacred ideas. Holy men and scripture up the wazoo, but it also suffered crushing poverty, short life span for far too many of its people last century. The solution isn't to become westernized, but to see the poverty as a true problem and work to raise people out of it. If the best and brightest are cloistered, working within there walls, giving only lip service and prayers to the betterment of humanity and teaching poverty and depravation are just maya, illusion, then solutions are neither found or looked for. People suffer.

Good idea. Maybe pin it in the Book Club section? Then have a few dedicated volunteers remember to repost them there when they come up in other posts.

Forget We, forget the Freakin world. Just show compassion, consider it a low easy virtue. If you see an alien child swept away in a flood and there's a ufo over head and powerlines to the right, what should you do?. My advice. It ain't going to happen. Don't worry if there's gun pointed at your head and you must choose between the naked nun or well dressed republican hippie. Its not going to happen. YOU Aaron, forgetting what you think the world knows, do YOU know compassion?? Are you filled with unease when you demonstrate it? Does it take years of skillful means akin to a shaolin temple to do simple acts of kindness? I don't think so. We don't need to over analyze it. Think about the last few compassionate things you've done. Were they so hard? and if you can't come up with the last few acts of kindness, then your homework is to Look for opportunities and Do them. Its freakin easy. Go out of your way to help others. Look for opportunities. Make a few people smile each day. and if you do, you know what it will mean for your odds of enlightenment? Not a freakin thing, but do it anyway.

I just worry that people who are too involved in lofty philosophies on the concept of compassion actually show little of it in real life. When a kid skins their knee or person has a flat tire, do you offer sympathy and help or spend time considering various sutras, karmic consequences and absolute vs relative? Aaron "Compassion means skillful action in that you have to cultivate the skills necessary to be able to practice compassion as a virtue. The vast majority of us will not just wake up one day and begin to act virtuously, it requires much unlearning and relearning." I don't understand this. Yes, you can get better at things when you practice them. But compassion doesn't seem that hard. Keep an open heart and it tends to flow naturally. Maybe you won't be perfect at it, but even a little bit helps, showing an effort goes a long way. You don't have to raise the concept onto a pedestal, you have to lower it to the ground and keep it on hand. Don't intellectualize it, do it, show it.

I always liked this piece about Taoism. Essence of Taoism Story From NonTien There is an old story that once Confucius, Shakyamuni Buddha and Lao-tzu were drinking some peach wine together. Buddha opined that it was bitter, Confucius that it was sour – but Lao-tzu, smiling, found it to be sweet. The wine, of course, represents human life. Taoism is not a philosophy or religion of salvation or of escape, but of appropriately enjoying and dealing with the real life which we have. Taoism finds perfection in imperfection, and taking the eternal and universal viewpoint of the Tao, realizes that the good is not to be finally judged by personal or human preference. Taoism suggests that happiness is found in accepting our situation. There is no reason not to do anything reasonable to better ourselves, of course, but resentment, denial or a negative outlook on life do nothing towards increasing our happiness. Cheerfulness, humor and a freedom from fussing are the attitudes that will stead us best in life. This is not to say, however, that Taoism is any kind of forced and strained "positive thinking". It is fine to be sad or melancholic from time to time. This is a perfect occasion to read or write sad poems, listen to sad music and complain to our friends, and (in moderation) can add to the overall enjoyment of life. Taoism is also unconcerned with ideas of "advancement" and "success" through some special mode of thinking. A Taoist is only willing to struggle to survive up to a point, after which he is content not to survive, death being a natural commitment of life. Lesser considerations such as career, popularity, fame and wealth are then obviously highly trivial, and not such as to cause serious unhappiness. The Taoist takes his positive pleasures from the enjoyment of love (in all wholesome forms), learning (of interesting and worthwhile things), productive labor (of a kind actually beneficial to human beings), contemplation (whether of the taste of tea, the beauties of art or the moods of Nature), and Taoist practice (of meditation, t'ai-chi ch'üan etc.). Above all, he or she endeavors to preserve the basic human integrity and innocence with which we are all endowed at birth, and not to be subverted by the concerns of worldliness. The Taoist strives not to want and get, but to enjoy what is already present with gratitude and grace.

Don't believe in maya, don't believe in astrology. Sun warms, earth axis creates seasons. Gravity is a force that drops in power exponentially with distance. Moon is big and close it effects us, tides & woman tied to its cycles. I just like looking at it. The sun is far but its big we roll along its curvature of space time. The other planets too far and not large enough to effect us, there gravity field effecting me as much as this cup of tea. Probably less since the tea will make me go to the washroom. In my opinion life's problems and answers lie within ourselves, not the stars, even the wandering ones. And thats good because its easier to change ourselves then the skies. If I had a planet, it'd be Mars, cause thats where all the monsters are .

Greetings. I report cold & cloudy here. Being from the backside of the planet, are you getting, what we got 6 months ago, or do we get what your getting now, six months hence?

Exactly. There comes a time you have to stop hoping for divine or celebratory intervention, roll up your sleeves and do something yourself. Here's one of my favorite charities: https://secure1.heifer.org/gift-catalog?msource=magento Flock o Chickens: Provide nutrition for family, a product to sell, they eat insects, scratching and dung makes the earth more fertile, future flocks can be given away to help other families and ofcourse they make good soup.

Hmnn, if that is a multiple choice question, then I choose Yes. Course I'm a keep it simple, kind of guy- by choice. A rock is rock, the table a table. Things are ephemeral though, our thoughts, dreams and desires even more so.

For that the short cut would be finding a place with an uchi deschi program, ie live in students. Its rare but they're out there.

actually Max is taller then that.