thelerner

Thoughtful thinking Wayfarer. You do the Western world proud I'd ask the alchemical Taoist about the importance of the microcosmic orbit. We have instructors who teach it using guided imagery, others who use chi gung forms to develop it and others who say it should come along naturally without force or mental effort. What does he teach? I'd also ask how we should relate to the major organs in the body? Should we consider them as housing independent souls? For both of the masters I'd ask; I have a family, many responsibilities and often little time. Is there a particular practice they would recommend for a lay person such as myself to develop. Jesse, many thanks for this opportunity. Michael

Its an honor to have someone so gracious and knowledgeable sharing with us here. Thank you Michael

Thankfully there was an intergalactic newcast showing how we earthlings can fight this menace. One way shown was to construct a primitive cannon using everyday objects like tnt, diamonds and such. They're strong, but slow lumbering beasts so you'll have plenty of time, especially in winter where they'll be even slower! Another had scientific information showing the so called 'advanced' race couldn't handle strong emotional thoughts. Just think dark thoughts until one gets close enough to choke out. See, they're not so tough. As long as you remember to keep a blaster close and not believe everything you see you'll be just fine. Michael

Like understanding a magic trick, what you don't see is more important then what you do. You don't see the multiple takes and videos of the failures. Darren may have tried that trick 8, 10, 20 or 100 times before finding the perfect pigeon and conditions. Hitting someone over the head and taking there wallet may be a faster and more time effective way of getting peoples money His stuff is real, but without a rough idea of how many tries it takes to succeed, its probably not the super power it appears to be. Magicians practice dozens of hours to develope a trick that takes 30 or 40 seconds. Michael

It sounds pretty basic but, practicing acts and thoughts of loving kindness. And keeping the mind quiet. Michael as Joey Buddha once said; feedeth the monkey mind bananas til it barfs and goes comatose. Then sweepeth it away and enjoy the silence

Works for me, even though I don't own the book yet. The most important thing is we have people on the same 'page' er book. In some ways I'll miss the first choice. Taomeows criticisms of Luk formed a great basis for future discussions. Nothing more boring then everyone agreeing with each other Though sometimes its a nice change of pace. Michael

Brilliantly done. Thanks for the link. Michael

Cha cha cha cha cha Changes. Change is good. Leads to adventure. Good luck Cam in Atlanta, which is wonderful town Congrads on the pyramid in paradise Sean & Lezlie as I've always said, in the future we'll all wear chrome cover alls and live in pyramids Michael

I have an aging laptop. Its a nice small Sony w/ a small 10 inch screen. With a old celeron processor it runs slowly and then as time goes by it crawls til I wipe its memory, which speeds it up at first, then it gradually slows again as Windows fills its memory w/ crud. I'm thinking of loading in Linux. Should be smaller faster and not accumulate the constant heebie jeebies that windows does. Any thoughts on which version of Linux I should get? Any benefits or problems? Thanks Michael

Thanks Smile, that decides it. I've been confusing myself looking and trying to compare all the different flavors of Linux. Unbutu seems to have the most support and best interface. Now I have to decide Unbutu or Kunbutu? Michael

Thanks Mal. Hoping I'd find more users and opinions here. Haven't loaded it in yet. Still trying to decide between versions, Unbutu, Red Hat, Pandora. It probably doesn't matter. They're all available for the price of a cheap book, heck you can probably download'em for free, but I like having some paper documentation. Michael

Either book would be fine. I might prefer Krishnamurtis book because I think the Light of Bliss is more practice oriented whereas K.'s book (I think) is more philosophy. It might be better to go w/ Practice type, philosophy type, fun type then back to practice. This might stop the practice dujour orientation. Give a person at least 2 or 3 months to see if a practice resonates. Month to month books full of exercises might burn people out. Just a thought. Michael Any thoughts on a Fun book suggestion?

You're in top form Proc. Why do I get the feeling Brian would be your total superior in Pakua?? Love. He loves it and has made it his own. He can 'think' in it. Its not a mysterious eastern mistress to him. Its a buddy. Michael

Inner space abides When the thousand becomes one and peace reigns supreme

Eh, so what..Same stuff I see on the UFC-only they're fatter and furrier Michael

I don't like cluttering up the main discussion site w/ a long term subject only some people are interested in. If we don't want to bother SeanO, a person serious about the book club can create a Mr.Bookclub login, and set up a personal discussion called Bookclub. Then they could set up subdiscussions- General Info. and rules, March Book Taoist Yoga, April Book 'How to Get Along'.. Why don't we declare Taoist Yoga our first book. Thoughts.. Michael

Not a bad idea. Shall we go for it. Taoist Yoga; Alchemy and Immortality? It works for me. Whats the best source for buying copies? I don't know if any particular rules are needed other then normal politeness and criticisms be constructive. I might have a copy somewhere, or it might be another book tittled Taoist Yoga. Michael

Buddy, look at Hagar's avatar. The birds, the flowers..is that the kind of viking who would hurt someone? No. I was in Ki-Aikido for many years. I had trouble w/ the concept of ki. Its not neccessarily helpful, but the more you live out the metaphor the more real it becomes. We'd have a ki class each week. And believing or pretending to believe the metaphor made actions and balance much more powerful. I don't think we'll ever have a ki-omatic machine, but the concepts of ki or Chi are beneficial to performance. Michael

One of his quotes that I found most thought provoking was: 'HOW IS YUR PRACTICE GONNA HELP YUH WHEN YUR DEAD?!' I found a lot of depth to that. Most philosophies have dogma about death, taoism has some practices for experiencing it. Using dream work to enter lucidity and investigate other realities. At first I found RJ to be a wonderful purveyor of crazy wisdom. Then the good crazy started turning darker. Paranoia, anger, bitterness, nastiness. Its a constant reminder to me that if you're doing energy work you'd better go out of your way to remain positive and centered. Negativity becomes a demon that must be fed. It gives you heat and direction, but it shreds your soul. Michael

If the universe gives you lemons.. find another universe Michael

The last place I look was like the first place I looked I seek no more, ahhh

Ditto on separating out most of the kunlun stuff into a separate forum. Short term I'd love to see someone like Mantra start a Personal Page here and have it separated into Practice, problems, history and whatever. What we may consider trolls are the price of a larger group. I could take the sniping comments better if there was some positivity added, instead of what comes off as egoic masturbation. Michael

I was told Silent Grounds in Canada was close to a Taoist monastery. These days its only functioning part time though. Look it up, SILENTGROUNDS.COM I think, it should be in the Link section here too. Michael

We are good. The depth of knowledge and understanding on this site can be awesome. Fantastic insights in the last couple posts, I hope a couple of them stick with me. If so I'll be a wiser man. Michael