thelerner

As far as cloud busting goes, I like looking up at the sky. One thing you notice is clouds kind of morph by themselves. You stare at one continually and they do fade in and out. I'm not sure if any extra power is needed to do it. Michael

Well if Osho said it.. See Osho discussion thread. Come on quantum physics takes place in a submolecular environment. I can lift this carrot I'm eating. if 100, even 200 people around me think I can't, I can prove them wrong. Same thing for my other skills. Besides why not just have a room full of believers and a video camera. Just about every school has past masters who could do ultra stunts. Very impressive, too bad that there followers are either deficient or rubes. The worst is when good saintly men are turned into samadhi superman because there followers couldn't let there teachings and compassion stand on there own. Michael

I've always thought my larger belly was due to over eating. That it was natures way of providing padding if I should fall forward. When 'top researchers' throw out numbers like - thousand times more powerful then- .. It makes me think, what a coincidence not 999 or even 1001, it perfectly 1000 times more powerful, what are the odds You don't strike me as someone who needs to lose much of tire. I on the other hand have just gotten through day 1 of the No Inflammation Diet. Just fruits and veggies. boring. Michael

Am I too PC? Something has been bothering me about the list I posted on religion and shit. Most of it is humorous, but sometimes humor betrays our worst prejudices. Islam had 3 shit sayings. I think a Muslim would find the first humorous and perhaps accurate, but the second one, 'When shit happens, kill the person responsible'. When you get down to it, thats offensive and inaccurate, I think it betrays a common bias in western culture. So I took it off the list here. Michael

It would be great to meet, but hard to schedule. The easiest might be a meeting of the Eastern block and another meeting of the Western block. Yoda's suggestion of Las Vegas as a third site sounds good too. Why don't we brainstorm in terms of those three locations. Think about possible whens and locations, then see who could make it. Lozen (Cam), what place and time would you recommend? Sean(Yoda), where would be an ideal location for you and when? Michael A good ongoing idea is let members know what seminars (and why) we're going to and plan to connect there(which is already happening to some extent).

Bottom line as I see it is-If you can't teach it (a wild skill) to anyone else it may as well not be possible. For example Daniel Reid and others have pointed to a chinese wandering herbalist toaist who lived to be 256 and died in the 40's or 50's. BUT, they say he had wives and kids. Where are they? Where's 200 year old Junior, his 3rd divorcee who is only 150? If he couldn't teach the skill to those he truly loved, then what are the odds he really knew the 'secret'? It leaves us with he was a fraud or benevolently mutated. Disclosure- I read the Sceptical Inquirer. From what I've read of him, I'd be really surprised to see Randi swearing. Heavy sacasm and condescension, sure. There are a number of people who bad mouth him because he is a debunker and symbolic sceptic. Yes, his tests raise the bar, but its there to keep people honest, not to rip off the truly gifted. I think he does way more good then harm. When someone can truly prove they have extraordinary powers, then he will be there best friend. Ofcourse as the saying goes, for extraordinary claims you need extraordinary evidence. Michael

If we must - Taoism: Shit happens. Confucianism: Confucius say, "Shit happens." Buddhism: If shit happens, it isn't really shit. Zen Buddhism: Shit is, and is not. Zen Buddhism .2: What is the sound of shit happening? Hinduism: This shit has happened before. Islam: If shit happens, it is the will of Allah. Islam .3: If shit happens, blame Israel. Catholicism: If shit happens, you deserve it. Protestantism: Let shit happen to someone else. Presbyterian: This shit was bound to happen. Episcopalian: It's not so bad if shit happens, as long as you serve the right wine with it. Methodist: It's not so bad if shit happens, as long as you serve grape juice with it. Congregationalist: Shit that happens to one person is just as good as shit that happens to another. Unitarian: Shit that happens to one person is just as bad as shit that happens to another. Lutheran: If shit happens, don't talk about it. Fundamentalism: If shit happens, you will go to hell, unless you are born again. (Amen!) Fundamentalism .2: If shit happens to a televangelist, it's okay. Fundamentalism .3: Shit must be born again. Judaism: Why does this shit always happen to us? Calvinism: Shit happens because you don't work. Seventh Day Adventism: No shit shall happen on Saturday. Creationism: God made all shit. Secular Humanism: Shit evolves. Christian Science: When shit happens, don't call a doctor - pray! Christian Science .2: Shit happening is all in your mind. Unitarianism: Come let us reason together about this shit. Quakers: Let us not fight over this shit. Utopianism: This shit does not stink. Capitalism: That's MY shit. Communism: It's everybody's shit. Feminism: Men are shit. Chauvinism: We may be shit, but you can't live without us... Commercialism: Let's package this shit. Impressionism: From a distance, shit looks like a garden. Idolism: Let's bronze this shit. Existentialism: Shit doesn't happen; shit IS. Existentialism .2: What is shit, anyway? Stoicism: This shit is good for me. Hedonism: There is nothing like a good shit happening! Mormonism: God sent us this shit. Mormonism .2: This shit is going to happen again. Wiccan: An it harm none, let shit happen. Scientology: If shit happens, see "Dianetics", p.157. Jehovah's Witnesses: >Knock< >Knock< Shit happens. Jehovah's Witnesses .2: May we have a moment of your time to show you some of our shit? Jehovah's Witnesses .3: Shit has been prophesied and is imminent; only the righteous shall survive its happening. Moonies: Only really happy shit happens. Hare Krishna: Shit happens, rama rama. Rastafarianism: Let's smoke this shit! Church of SubGenius: BoB shits. Practical: Deal with shit one day at a time. Agnostic: Shit might have happened; then again, maybe not. Agnostic .2: Did someone shit? Agnostic .3: What is this shit? Satanism: SNEPPAH TIHS. Atheism: What shit? Atheism .2: I can't believe this shit! Nihilism: No shit. And of course Alcoholics Anonymous: Shit happens-one day at a time! M.

Capsaicin loaded nose spray, interesting. You could use it to clear your nose and self defense. Many papers will list ragweed, mold and various spore counts on the weather page. This is a last hurrah for some plant species. See if you can find a correlation between very high, say, mold count and your allergies. That won't help you but it will give you something to blame it on, as well as being able to predict next season when it will hit you. In Chicago mold is currently 19,800 considered high, but lower then the 25,000 level that hits me. Get a good air purifier. Try some cheap psudoepinephrin, sold over the counter in any drug stores. In tests it works as well as prescription brands. It should dry you up too. Michael

I thought I had a built in tonque scraper. For a few months after I'd brush I'd scrape my tonque between my two teeth. I thought I was giving it a message and removing plaque. When I went to a check up the assistant showed my tonque to the dentist. Apparently I had been scraping off taste buds. They grow back I'm told. The moral of the story. Tonques don't need heavy duty massage and if you scrape, do it lightly. Michael

Not bad in a very un PC way. I think what I posted long ago was in the same vein, but the classic 'Shit' version. I.E. how each faith relates to 'the shit'. Michael

Thanks for the kind words. Actually the trip was a few years ago. I am psychically mostly good, sometimes excellent, but it comes and goes like waves in the ocean. Counting your blessings is good. Giving up on enlightenment is good. That is find a path, walk on it, admire the scenery, enjoy the people you see on the way. Don't keep your eyes too far to a goal, don't be too taken up by any philosophy, sometimes be a glutton, sometimes a ascetic, most of the times find a happy liveable medium. 90% of all unhappeness is the stress of wanting others to think like you do and wanting the world to work the way you think it ought to. Michael

Its a commercial brand, but I use the Arm and Hammer with Peroxide. It has fluoride which has gotten a bad wrap here, but its mostly baking soda. It also has a little peroxide which in small amounts is a potent germ killer. I gargle long and thoroughly after I brush, hoping it distributes the soap, salt and peroxide better through my teeth. My wife flosses daily. I don't. In the book Real Age, flossing adds more years to your life then most things. I'm reading a book Stop Inflammation diet. Its also shows how bacteria slips through sores in your mouth triggering abnormal immune responses, leading to lots of bad things. When I'm done with Arm and Hammer I'll try a tube of the salt and oils Waleda toothpaste. Michael

Hey Way, I tagged on with my pregnant wife who was there for a 3 day conference. I'm usually not so masochistic, but I'm smart enough not to drag a preggo to such deeply depressing sites. So I went to see them on my day alone. As I said quite a bad trip. Michael

Hagar's post reminds me of a time I went to Washington DC. They had the Aids Quilt out that day. It was two football fields long, made up of 3x3 foot flags each personalized and representing someone who had died of aids. It was very effecting. Then I went to Vietnam memorial wall. It had the names but also gifts and items left on the memorial to those killed. Afterwards I went to the Holocaust mueseum there. There was the aspect of having you see the massive death at a personal level, to try to encompass the incredilble loss emotionally. The experience of all 3 in one day left me psychicly shaky. It drummed into me that the universe truly doesn't care if I live or die. So much death, untimely, purposeless. Michael

Glad to have you here. You're younger looking then I thought Michael

I kinda like Trunks answer- :I feel that reality is multi-layered, and different layers have different rules of play. How the world works for you has a lot to do with which layer/s you're at play in, which has everything to do with your current configuration. - but wonder where it comes from. Personal experiential insight or observances, daily or otherwise. Michael

What? You say his three rules are good? Damn next he'll be outlawing chocolate, then everything I love will be sinful, illegal or fattening. Michael spoken as someone who has happily abandoned 3 weeks of retention.

Hey Yoda, on your test I scored a 5, which means higher locus of belief in ones personal power vs belief in luck and randomness. (Locus is their word not mine) I think there is more power and certainly more comfort in believing in an intelligent compassionate powerful being in the Universe, but while I strive to believe in more, I don't think I do at the gut level. I intuit that a persons strong focused belief can somehow change the odds of an event happening. Yet on an intellectual level I see that as childish. My best metaphor of life is a poker game. You are given a hand of cards, try to make the best of it, new cards come and go. I don't know if the dealer is on automatic or not. When I've been to Vegas I play black jack. I'm smart enough to know that I'm not going to win, that I'm basically throwing up a coin, head I win, tails not. Slowly the house percentage catches up with you and lose. But when I find a good table, there is great comraderie there, cheering and solace as the coin flips, that is the good part and why I play what is essentially a suckers game. Personally I don't like quantum arguments in philosophy. Quantumness might effect us if we're atom size, but us biggies don't seem to follow quantum madness, we have our own. Despite all the emptiness making up my hand and vast emptiness of this table, wallah my hand hits every time and doesnt go through. Unfortunatelly the real secrets of a movie like 'What the Bleep do we Know' is Special Effects. Turn the camera off, bring in the FX guys, then turn it on again. I believe that there is only one world. That it can be recorded and its there whether we see it or not. The tape recorder hears the sound of the falling tree (unless its hit by it). But each human being interprets the one reality in there own way with there own filters. Maybe the whole point of Zen is reality like cigarrettes is best unfiltered. Those damn smoking monks later Michael

Didn't mean to lump you in with 'haters'. Its not political correctness we're after. Its not even about THE TRUTH, since we can't handle the TRUTH. For me its about looking at a situation from all sides. One thing I've learned here, other then Buddhas are supposed to have recessed gonads is that "Don't blindly believe what anybody says. Even if its the Buddhas himself. Think it out, test it out, feel it out with heart and brain." Michael

I hear you Grendel. I just bought a book called 'Pronoia'. Its subtittle is, 'The answer to the paranoia of our times'. In part it speaks of the hundred of incredible miraculous things that happen every day, that are considered so common we don't appreciate them. Instead we watch a nasty concentration of the worst things going on amongst Billions of people. For entertainment we watch(on TV) murder, rape and gross materialism thousands of times over and over. The first part of waking up is strong coffee, but the second is putting our focus into the reality at hand. If that focus is a misery 6,000 miles away or a story line of what our president may or may not be doing, we're missing the richness of the people in our lives. Conditioning ourselves to impotence instead of acting on things we can change. Ofcourse for the sake of discussion; Bush is a dyslexic, easily manipulated idiot.- I can't believe I voted for him. Michael

Hi Fly, Whats a 3:33? Specifically yours Michael

Thanks Mandrake. I've had several experiences on the Healing Tao web site, defending Judiasm against claims that pretty much follow - 'all evil things can be traced to the Jews', or damn close to it. On one level its insulting to have to defend yourself or religion against charges that are ludicrous. There is the dimension of 'quoting rascist things that people of your group have said". First, often the quotes are made up bull shit. Two, its a long life, and at times people will speak in anger and say stupid things that are not indicative of there beliefs or way they've led there lives. Likewise you have a big enough religious book, and there is bound to be foolishness somewhere in it. Certainly there is (IMHO) in Judiasm. But if you look closely within the tradition, it is interpreted in a softer, much more civilized fashion. I.E. the 3 dozen or so death penalties in the old testament are reinterpreted by someone like Akiba known as the greatest of all Rabbis in his saying, "If one person in 100 years is put to death, that is too much". Sometimes all you can do is say, "I am a Whatever. I don't believe in that. Its not taught in our schools. The Whatevers I know are all against it." When you ask haters if they know anyone who is a Whatever, inevitably they say, "Yes, but he's not a Real Whatever." When we get the balls rolling against the Tibetans, or Saudi's or even the Bushes, its nice to have someone to give another side and give us a little much needed information. Michael That said, being perfectly nice is boring,

My 'spiritual' writing here does sound a bit limp wristed (now he's going after the gays?!) when I read it back. In this world, to me, there is right and there is wrong. But, we're not G-d, and the when force is used the dominoes spill in all directions. It works great in a 2 hour movie and even better in a half hour show. As I get older, I see violence in a darker starker light. But its crappy to be a victim, and when you fight, fight to win. Half measures are no mercy for either side. Michael

Nice to see so many Intentional Communities around. My state, Illinois, had a history in the mid 1800's of founding Utopian towns and villages. Most faded away, others were burnt to the ground by less enlightened neighbors. Michael

I was thinking over what Wayfarer said about some people having no souls. Maybe right, but I think in most cases its a matter of we close off our souls(empathy?) to people we label Them. I know nothing of Guiliani, but I bet you could find those who says he is a warm loving guy with lots of soul and compassion. When you had a chance to talk to him, you were labeled as a THEM, a wacky special interest guy who wanted his time, efforts and money. So he shut you out- completely. Are the Nazi types closer to souless. They may get there kicks and ego boost from beating up on the lesser beings who inhabit there world, but they can show true friendship to each other, pet their dogs and be good to their mothers. Again its definition of others as THEM. Believe me, I'm defending them and would as soon see them bodyless as souless. But the root of the problem IMHO is defining others as THEM, and closing ourselves off, losing our empathy, our soul, for them. Its not just the who, it also the when. When I'm angry at my kids and yell at them, I feel the separation and hardness. ' I don't have answers, but I know the trap, thinking of others as THEM. Solutions? Karma Yoga helps; selfless acts of kindness. Awareness helps, watching your mind and soul expand and contract. Michael