thelerner

I've drank worse but not by much Peace Michael p.s. I see you're online at 12 pm

At your recommendation I just bought some organic Tahaitian Noni $32. Wow is it bitter. Angustura has nothing on it. Ofcourse in a sugar coated world maybe bitter is exactly what we need. Took an ounce or so tonite. Tomorrow I'll probably water it down somewhat. I bought the 100% pure stull, not the mixed w/ grape juice. Peace Michael

I've spent hours making love, but usually only half an hour or less in actual coitous(to be honest 5 to 15 minutes usually). I don't particularly think the penis is the ideal tool for getting woman to orgasm. There's thrusting techniques and changes in rhythm, but its still lacks the sensitivity and flexibility for bringing out the best in female orgasm IMHO. By the time I 'insert' my lover/wife is usually at or near orgasm. An exception being when I do yin/yan technique like 'Praying monk holds butterfly'. Where you shift from usual missionary w/ man on top to seiza kneeling position(helps to have sobakawa pillow strategically placed). I find it the ideal position for long term coitous. The penile position is more stimulating for woman then the man, and the man has the ideal position for massaging the womans clitorous w/ his wet thumbs. Peace Michael

I had a choice of films to take my mom to, HUstle or Sin City. We picked Sin City which was great, Ultraviolent film noir. I'll catch KOng Fu Hustle later, I rented Shaolin Soccer a few weeks ago, it pretty funny. Peace Michael

Sometimes the heavy steak eating is to get cattle processed steroids. Really, eat enough steak and you eat what they ate, steroids. You get bigger more aggressive and shouldn't expect a real long life. Peas Michael

I liked it. Good descriptions, characterisations. Kind of reminded me of "The Cave mans Valentine". Keep it up Peace Michael

Only a foolish man would disagree w/ the Buddha's Suttra's, and I am that man! I'm thinking of Harry Pains Buddhist advice of using images of bodies decaying as an antidote to sexual desire. To me it seems like overkill. If success meant having a mental image of gross decay everytime you saw an attractive woman, it would be loss of beauty to ones life. Beauty should be a source of pleasure, energy and contemplation. Kudos for Osho's method, sit with it, see its roots, transform it. Peace Michael

I'm reminded that at the time he wrote Walden, Thoreau was led womans group in spiritual/hikes around the forrests. One critic called him the high priest w/ a gaggle of woman. Peace Michael

I'll have a glass of wine or a beer most days for dinner. I tend to think 1 is healthy, 3 becomes a bit drug like where I get a mild euphoric buzz and lessening of thoughts. At that level there may be a level bodily abuse, toward liver and mind so I don't do that more then 1 or twice a month. I'll get pretty loaded once or twice a year and somewhat revel in the numb peace and altered state it provides. I offered Michael Winn some wine at campfire at Tao Mountain. He declined saying he didn't like what it did for his Chi. One drink doesn't seem to interfere w/ my meditational abilities. But everyone is different. And when you're dealing w/ mind altering drugs it is easy to fool yourself. Peace Michael

Here is the ultimate short crash course in comparative religion: ;* 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 #2: If shit happens, kill the person responsible. 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. Darwinism: This shit was once food. 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! Zoroastrianism: Shit happens half on the time. 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 we must add...Alcoholics Anonymous: Shit happens-one day at a time! Peas Michael

I've done an isolation tanks twice. I wasn't the meditator then as I am now. Nor the claim 'a weeks vacation in an hour!'. I didn't have any great experiences I should try it again. The 2nd time was at a high end, new age place. The isolation tank, (popularized by Lilly) the second time had a built in two way speaker. I spent the first 20 minutes asking for music, changing my mind, asking for another album etc. Its amazing they didn't cut off my air. The place also had a crystaline water bed that acted like a giant vibrating speaker, very neat. Unfortunately it went bankrupt ten years ago. I studied dolphins a long time ago. Lilly was a bit infatuated. They are wonderous, friendly, spiritual, sexual beings. Wild dolphins really have rescued drowning sailors dating back to Greek times. But there intelligence is on par or a bit below chimps. As the long time dolphin trainer who trained Flipper said, "I know they're saying, they saying, 'Give me more fish, its time to play'." Watch for there escape in "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" Peace Michael

Try this site www.bronzebowpublishing.com , John Peterson was highly influenced by Combat Conditioning. His take is softer sell, good explanations of Hindu Squatts and pushups, has intelligent isometrics and is much less commercial. It also has a great forum. The sites claim hindu squatts help repair the knees. I don't know. I'd certainly start out slow and cautious. I don't go down quite so low and I keep my feet flat on the ground. Peace Michael

The book 'Chi Running' is all about running 'safer'. The author has a different style and posture of running. The body is straight but angled forward. The foot movements are rounder/ more elliptical. You hit the ground flat footed. I'm not a runner, but the book intrigued me enough to buy it. Peace Michael

Hmmn, Lymphology, the science and study on Lymphs. Never heard of it Peas Michael

Stuff I do <sometimes> before I leave bed. I'll try to recall my dreams. I'll do 'digital' drawings. Breath from my little toe to my crown, then down to hara. Then the next toe and repeat til I'm at the big toe. Then start at my pinkie, breath up to crown then down til hara. Then next finger etc til breathing up my thumb. I also have my handy dandy collection of guided meditations by my bed. I'll listen to Minke de Vos's energy meditations from sexual to fusion to breathing. Or Anne Wise's from Deep Relaxation to Coming to Clarity. Robins Rice's Shamanic Drumming meditation, or Kaishan's Longevity Meditation. The meditations take no physical effort and since your mind tends to be more easily focused in the morning making it an ideal time. Before I get up, I'll circle my feet at the ankles and sometimes use one foot to give the other a pressure point massage. Peace Michael

Not that I know of. What are they like? Please describe them. Peace Michael

Taken from Otantra.net by Osho Yoda you spend time standing, sitting, staring, here's something for on your back IN SUMMER WHEN YOU SEE THE ENTIRE SKY ENDLESSLY CLEAR, ENTER SUCH CLARITY. Meditate on the sky; a summer sky with no clouds, endlessly empty and clear, nothing moving in it, in its total virginity. Contemplate on it, meditate on it, and enter this clarity. Become this clarity, this space-like clarity. If you meditate on open unclouded sky, suddenly you will feel that the mind is disappearing, the mind is dropping away. There will be gaps. Suddenly you will become aware that it is as if the clear sky has entered in you also. There will be intervals. For a time being, thoughts will cease -- as if the traffic has ceased and there is no one moving. In the beginning it will be only for moments, but even those moments are transforming. By and by the mind will slow down, bigger gaps will appear. For minutes together there will be no thought, no cloud. And when there IS no thought, no cloud, the outer sky and the inner become one, because only the thought is the barrier, only the thought creates the wall; only because of the thought the outer is outer and the inner is inner. When the thought is not there, the outer and the inner lose their boundaries, they become one. Really, boundaries never existed there. They appeared only because of the thought, the barrier. To meditate on the sky is beautiful. Just lie down so you forget the earth; just lie down on your back on any lonely beach, on any ground, and just look at the sky. But a clear sky will be helpful -- unclouded, endless. And just looking, staring at the sky, feel the clarity of it -- the uncloudedness, the boundless expanse -- and then enter that clarity, become one with it. Feel as if you have become the sky, the space. In the beginning, if you only meditate on the open sky, not doing anything else, intervals will start appearing, because whatsoever you see enters you. Whatsoever you see stirs you within; whatsoever you see is pictured, reflected. You see a building. You cannot simply see it; something immediately starts happening within you. You see a man, a woman; you see a car -- you see anything. It is not just outside, something has started within, the reflection, and you have started reacting to it. So everything you see moulds you, makes you, modifies you, creates you. The without is constantly related with the within. To look into the open sky is good. Just the expanse is beautiful, with no boundaries there. Your own boundaries will disappear, because the no-boundary sky will reflect within you. And if you can stare without blinking your eyes it will be good. If you stare without blinking your eyes... because if you blink your eyes your thought-process will continue. Stare without blinking the eyes. Stare in the emptiness, move into that emptiness, feel that you have become one with it, and any moment the sky will enter within you. First you enter into the sky and then the sky enters you. And there is a meeting: the inner sky meeting the outer sky. In that meeting is realization. In that meeting there is no mind, because the meeting can happen only when the mind is not there. In that meeting you are for the first time not your mind. There is no confusion. Confusion cannot exist without the mind. There is no misery, because misery also cannot exist without the mind. Have you observed this fact anytime or not -- that misery cannot exist without your mind? You cannot be miserable without your mind. The very source is not there. Who will supply you with this misery? Who will make you miserable? And the same is true from the opposite direction also: you cannot be miserable without your mind and you cannot be blissful with your mind. The mind can never be the source of bliss. So if the inner and outer sky meet and mind disappears, even for a moment, you will be filled with a new life. The quality of that life is absolutely different. It is life eternal, uncontaminated by death, uncontaminated by any fear. In that meeting you will be here and now, in the present -- because past belongs to thoughts, future belongs to thoughts. Past and future are part of your mind. Present is existence -- it is not part of your mind. This moment doesn't belong to your mind. The moment that has gone belongs; the moment that has to come belongs to your mind. This moment never belongs to you. Rather, you belong to this moment. You exist here, right now here. Your mind exists somewhere else, always somewhere else. Unload yourself. I was reading one Sufi mystic. He was travelling on a lonely path, the way was deserted, and he saw a farmer with his bullock-cart. The cart was stuck in mud. The road was rough. The farmer was carrying a big load of apples in his bullock-cart, but somewhere on the rough road the tailboard of the wagon became unfastened and the apples were scattered. But he was not aware of it; the farmer was not aware of it. When the cart got stuck in the mud, first he tried to bring it out somehow, but all efforts were in vain, so he thought, `Now I must unload my cart, then maybe I can pull it out.' He looked back. Hardly a dozen apples were left -- the load was already unloaded. You can feel his misery. The Sufi reports in his memoirs that that exasperated farmer made a remark. He said, `Stuck, by heck! Stuck! -- and not a damn thing to unload!' The only possibility was that if he could unload the cart it could come out; but now -- nothing to unload! Fortunately you are not stuck in such a way. You can unload -- your cart is too much loaded. You can unload the mind, and the moment the mind is not there, you fly; you become capable of flying. This technique -- to look into the clarity of the sky and to become one with it -- is one of the most practised. Many traditions have used this. And particularly for the modern mind it will be very useful, because on earth nothing is left. On earth nothing is left to meditate on -- only the sky. If you look all around, everything is man-made, everything is limited, with a boundary, a limitation. Only the sky is still, fortunately, open to meditate on. Try this technique, it will be helpful, but remember three things. One: don't blink -- stare. Even if your eyes start to feel pain and tears come down, don't be worried. Even those tears will be a part of unloading; they will be helpful. Those tears will make your eyes more innocent and fresh -- bathed. You just go on staring. The second point: don't think about the sky, remember. You can start thinking about the sky. You can remember many poems, beautiful poems about the sky -- then you will miss the point. You are not to think `about' it -- you are to enter it, you are to be one with it -- because if you start thinking about it, again a barrier is created. You are missing the sky again, and you are again enclosed in your own mind. Don't think about the sky. Be the sky. Just stare and move into the sky, and allow the sky to move in you. If you move into the sky, the sky will move into you immediately. How can you do it? How will you do it -- this moving into the sky? Just go on staring further away and further away. Go on staring -- as if you are trying to find the boundary. Move deep. Move as much as you can. That very movement will break the barrier. And this method should be practised for at least forty minutes; less than that will not do, will not be of much help. When you really feel that you have become one, then you can close the eyes. When the sky has entered in you, you can close the eyes. You will be able to see it within also. Then there is no need. So only after forty minutes, when you feel that the oneness has happened and there is a communion and you have become part of it and the mind is no more, close the eyes and remain in the sky within. Simple, natural, I'll have to try this one Peace Michael

Happy Bday from all of us

This is more a recipe note. Few things are as fast, healthy and easy to make as a good Hummus. Into a blender put: drained can of chick peas(garbanzo), olive oil, bit of salt and what ever you have on hand. I drop in carrots, bit of lettuce!, garlic, dried tomatoes, salsa, tahini .. anything you have around the kitchen. Blend on low speed. If its not blending add more liquid, salsa, oil even water. Peace Michael

I use the Jack Lalanne. Its opening is large enough to take in a small apple w/out cutting. I drop in the suckers seeds and all. So far it works. Only gripe is it takes longer to clean then to juice. But that is probably pretty common. Peace Michael

Peter keep checking the <People Now in Chat Room> while you are online. You are online now, and missed a great conversation w/ MatthewQi. Your perspective is always welcome and live conversation kicks it up a notch. Peace Michael

Einstein spent his last 20 years searching for TOE, the Theory of Everything, why don't we spend some time working on POE, the Practice of Everything, or Practice of Enlightenment. Lets try to do it democratically, come up things that most could agree on. I'd also rather keep it light on philosopny and heavier on practice. I'd also like people to be conscious that a beginners way is different then an intermediates and advanced. I'd like posts to keep that in mind. Light on philosopny but some has to enter in. For example; are we in latter heaven a multitude of opportunities for happeness and enlighenment or is a world of illusion and suffering. I like the idea of latter heaven. The root of most suffering is the ego screaming for things to be some Other way, when really its pretty good here. Ofcourse there no denying we're physical beings and that physical pain and deprivation can be a bitch. On the practice side, I'd say the near term goal is a trinity of quiet mind, superior health and contentment. For a beginner what should they do? Peace Michael

Confession, I haven't done it. I tell/yell/plead at my kids daily to try a fruit/vegetable/noncandy saying It won't kill you its good for you. I assume I'll try urine one of these days. But the will is weak, particularly in the morning. But spring is here, a time for new beginnings. Things I've learned. Urine is distilled, in that there is no bad bacteria in it. It probably is good for us. Its interesting that the ancient Indian advice is in line w/ Michael Winn's technique of not drinking the first or last third. A technique he used while fasting in taoist caves. A 'purist' like Ron drinks it straight and swears by it. There are books on it. I paged through one a few years ago. It is a bizarre practice. But it is a long life and there should be time to try and evaluate everything. Peace Michael

Lets think about 24 minutes in the morning for a beginner. Kinda symbolic, one minute for every hour of the day. I'd say a few minutes of vigorous shaking, starting with vigorous wrist turns until the whole body shakes and the back of the heels pound lightly and naturally. This is a great practice to relax the body, open the joints and create a good vibrational state Then 15 or 20 minutes of ocean breathing, standing w/ hands 'cupping' the hara and as you breath in, the hands move to the side. Expanding as if you were in waist deep water a wave comes and makes your hand float effortlessly up and to your side. Then as the 'wave' recedes your hand go back to hara w/ the feeling of an ocean wave going infinately inside, til you breath out again and repeat. Peace Michael

Be young w/ an old soul. Happy Bday Michael