thelerner

It's November here in the Midwest**. Just got the first snow. Thus Winter is Coming here. I hope for myself it brings longer meditation. To ditch the usual 20-30 minutes and start moving towards longer sits. Catching up on some podcast dharma speeches I've missed. Maybe more sitting and writing, versus the usual long walks. Doing some tonics, gathering the nuts and chi. What about you guys? Any new practices, themes or thoughts about Winter? will there be any Starks left and will they be happy? **It's probably November where you are too, unless you've got some sort of time travel device or are reading this in the future. In which case it's probably not November or even Winter. In that case, I hope the future's working out. You know.. it usually does but you know, past results are not indicative of future trends.

What the Author Silvers was getting at is that those two books while important, were part of a much much larger library of must readings for religious Taoist. ie for for a philosophical Taoist they're must reads, for a religious Taoist they're within a subsection of must read.

For many religious concepts, I get the feeling India did it first. As far as possessions, I work with paradigm, its very very rare and if you leave it alone, it leaves you alone. The more time, effort and reality you give it, the more likely you are to see/be entrapped by it. I was thinking that while it exists its not a channel I watch. Funny how TV channel and 'psychic' channel are the same word. Yet in my mind there's much truth to we get what we watch, where we put our minds and attention. Are possessions/ghosts real? Illusions of a coping mind? Something in between? I don't know and at this point in my life, its not an important question. I got other channels to watch.

Thing is, do it right and your pantheon talks to you face to face. That's the goal, intimacy with your altar's god. Not worshipping from afar, but getting them into your room and finding out what's what. Which is actually a very Hindu/Yogi thing too. From what I've heard, the point to learn the prayers and prostrations is because they're a formula to build a relationship and get an appearance. I don't prescribe to those religions, but I don't diss or disallow there reality either. Big Universe.

These days stockwise I'm keeping things simple, ie a third 40% big market etfs (DIA, QQQ, SPY, VYM), 40% high dividend payers, maybe 20% stocks with a good growth story. My thinking is more dividend oriented too. Thus less interested in price and more in how solid the financials of a firm are, and how its been growing its dividend. I'm less infatuated by a stock price that's gone way up, and more by earning 8, 10, 12% on the money originally put into a stock, and that takes years, but holding a good dividend payer 8 or 10 years and some become nice cash cows. Which I prefer to shooting stars. on a more practical basis, I have a target card that saves me 5% at target, a similar 5% one for Amazon but I just got a Starbucks card that in the short run beats them both. It's $49 a year, but buying $500 in the first 3 months got me 6500 points, enough for 52 free items. If I made them all the Zatar Chicken salad lunch at $9 a pop, $10 w/ tax, that means $520 of value for spending $49 (the $500 I'd have spent anyway). Even using it to buy my usual small dark coffee $2.25 means over a $110 of value for $49. (I'll quit the card next year if no similar bonus) You could certainly make the argument its way cheaper to make your own, but that a slippery slope to drinking well water in a cave. And what fun would that be? The internet connection would suck. Every now and then unusually good deals are available. The site Mymoneyblog.com will list especially good ones.

For good insight into the Taoist religion I recommend The Taoist Manual by Brock Silvers. It goes into depth about the religious side of Taoism, its pantheon and practices. Starting with a certain disdain for so much 'pop' Taoism. Good read because most books on Taoism have so little about the Taoist religion. Right now the Kindle version (which I bought) is $5, a good deal. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BVX00W2/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

Glad to have you onboard. For Hermetics I like Rawn Clark's works. He's heavily influenced by Franz Bardon and has many free online multi-level courses based on Bardon's work, yet don't require the commitment. From elemental stacking systems like the Archaeous to chant as canticle like the YHVH system. His work is at abardoncompanion.com . I also like the writings of William Mistelle.

They certainly compliment each other. Was it Einstein or Newton who said, If i've seen further then others, its because I've stood on the shoulders of giants. ** Geniuses get lost in the cliff notes of history, until there genius become applicable or some how capture the public's imagination as opening up new insights. ** it was Newton Letter To Robert Hooke Feb 1676, If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of Giants. Here's another interesting quote of his on wikiquote- I have not been able to discover the cause of those properties of gravity from phenomena, and I frame no hypotheses; for whatever is not deduced from the phenomena is to be called a hypothesis, and hypotheses, whether metaphysical or physical, whether of occult qualities or mechanical, have no place in experimental philosophy. Letter to Robert Hooke (15 February 1676) [5 February 1676 (O.S.)]

What a great memory. Music is so powerful. Its too bad we live with it so separated from our lives. I was in a choir too. Growing up on long car rides we'd listen to cassesttes of famous musicals and spend hours singing along. Good times. Music.. singing soothes the soul.

Thing is Newton did the math, a whole book of it. He didn't know what gravity was, I'm not sure we actually know now, but he wrote down the equations that describe and model it. Equations that hundreds of years later we can incorporate into computer programs, put in weights and speed and Lunar Lander, Asteroids other games and can create models of our solar system and predict paths space crafts, using gravity slings.. etc., I'm sure Bhaskarachary was a genius who should be better known, but more then the idea of gravity, it was the Newton's formulas that allowed for the advancements that opened up modern physics.

It's the 'satan' statue thats being sued over. A similar version is seen on the show. Doubt they'll win. If so, any religious statue shown on any show might be grounds for $50 million in awards. The Netflix Sabrina show is a bit edgy and not bad.

me too. thanks mods.

I miss having the Unread Content on top and easy to get too. It tends to be my go to link when I'm here. Maybe I'll get used to Main Board Activity but for now prefer Unread Content.

I always found Judge not, lest you be judged to be wonderfully Daoist. In that the admonition to not be so judging is wise, ie keeping a quiet mind, not weighing everything as good or bad, how much a thing helps, hurts or flatters you, is lightening. It is what it is.. let it be. You don't need high philosophy to tell you to get out of the way of a charging bull, or need to consider it bad or evil, just frickin move. am i sacred, idk, i was taught sacred is what you make sacred.. thus.. idk. maybe when i sneeze.

Without study or much relevance, my fingers give me this. My metaphor is thinking mind (that assumes its Me), a witness that watches it, like a critic (often judging) and then a wider audience that watches dispassionately and doesn't give much of a damn.

Thank you for the links.

I don't know. For me in deeper states my breathing gets very slow, maybe 40 to 50 second breath cycles. Similarly deep equals not visualizing or thinking anything, not seeing. I've forgotten about my breath, but if I focus its long, slow and deep. Before I 'let go' there are some visualizations and techniques I go through, but after that.. I just let it be. Not sure I'm a role mode. As far as brain damage I do long breath holds, ala Wim Hof method. Past a minute and a half my oxygen (& pulse) level drop a percentage every second or two, from 99 to 60's. Hasn't given me brain damage yet, as far as I can tell, though maybe I couldn't. *techniques- I bob when I meditate, little natural back and forth motion. keep my hands together and pressed against dan tien area. a little vispassana pre-amble often before I start..

yeah but the all Beta Leftists lack humor remark was cut from a similar cloth. i hate seeing election exaggeration fall out crap moving into this site, creating animosity between good people.

Really looking forward to Wednesday. When I hope a good chunk of the mid Term rhetoric and heat are over.

That incessant mind noise is a hard nut to crack. Often we can't stop it, but if we don't feed it or judge it, the mind settles down. I'll start my meditations with a few rounds of counting breaths, 1 to 10, repeat a couple cycles. In the beginning that was hard and I'd count the in and out parts separately, which was easier. In any case it throws the mind a bone and allows me to move on quietly later. imo, often its best to consider oneself as the source of a problem, cause that's the thing we have some control over. Spirits, neighbors, insects, heat & cold, not so much.

Growing up in Chicago I only wish our violence situation was as little as London. Doing a little math, it seems your rate of violence is 1 in about 60,000. Sadly here in Chicago its about 1 in 4,500. Waay worse. Most of that violent crime is gang on gang. That covers about 3/4s of it. Thus you get truer odds of 1 in 12,000 if you're not in a gang. Odds fall more if you're living in a safe neighborhood and stay away from drugs and drug dealers. Not hitting pubs late at night also moves the odds, as does avoiding bad areas and bad people, especially when they're your relatives, cause they're the ones most likely to kill you. Except for yourself that is. The person most likely to put a gun against your head and fire is, well you. In truth, with a middle class income and easy common sense precautions the odds of being violently attacked and killed are very very small, but enough that I'll know someone who has been. Truth is we're much much much more likely to be killed or maimed in a car accident. Or slipping in the washroom then violent crime, even in a city like Chicago. The odds of dying from a heart disease is much much higher. Statistically the violent death we fear is more like from our own hand, ie killing ourselves then from someone at random. If you wanna be afraid.. here's a list.. Top Killers The first eight diseases listed in the table below were the top eight killers in the United States in 2014, whereas the rest are shown for comparison purposes. Cause of death Number of U.S. deaths Rate of deaths 1. Cardiovascular disease 614,348 193 per 100,000 2. Cancer 591,699 186 per 100,000 3. Chronic lower respiratory disease 147,101 46 per 100,000 4. Accidents 136,053 43 per 100,000 5. Strokes 133,103 42 per 100,000 6. Alzheimer's disease 93,541 29 per 100,000 7. Diabetes 76,488 24 per 100,000 8. Influenza and pneumonia 55,227 17 per 100,000 Drug overdoses 47,055 15 per 100,000 Kidney disease 48,146 15 per 100,000 Intentional self-harm 42,773 13 per 100,000 Septicemia 38,940 12 per 100,000 Liver disease 38,170 12 per 100,000 Transportation accidents 37,195 12 per 100,000 Parkinson's disease 26,150 8 per 100,000 Firearm assault 10,945 3 per 100,000 HIV 6,721 2 per 100,000 Pedestrian deaths 6,258 2 per 100,000 Even in the U.S which is historically more violent then England we should fear Septicemia 400% more then Firearm assault, and you know what, I don't even know what septicemia is. & I don't care. addon> I've learned In the UK under 'avoidable' death (can it really be avoided?) the top killer is neoplasms. Not sure what that is but believe it's related to Doctor Who. *see https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/causesofdeath/bulletins/avoidablemortalityinenglandandwales/2016

I remember Bill Clinton apologizing for the a horrible experiment the Tuskegee Styphillis study (1932-1972) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment) where the govenment didn't tell African Americans (431) who were already infected with syphilis and tracked them over 40 years and kept them from receiving proper treatment in the late 1940's when it was available. Horribly criminal and unethical, its discovery in '72 led to new federal laws and regulations. There was a class action lawsuit filed which got free medical treatment to surviving participants and family members. Bill Clinton formally apologized for it on behalf of the government in 1997. There were a few similar smaller experiments done at the same time against other segments of the population, ie the military. However that the government infected African American with aids is wrong. A conspiracy theory, but undoubtedly based on the above. That should in no way diminish the horror of the Tuskegee Syphilis study. Its good to know that afterwards public disgust, safe guards and (limited) reparations were made. from the wiki above- President Bill Clinton formally apologized and held a ceremony at the White House for surviving Tuskegee study participants. He said: What was done cannot be undone. But we can end the silence. We can stop turning our heads away. We can look at you in the eye and finally say on behalf of the American people, what the United States government did was shameful, and I am sorry ... To our African American citizens, I am sorry that your federal government orchestrated a study so clearly racist.[32] Five of the eight study survivors attended the White House ceremony.

I enjoyed the movie 'Crazy Rich Asians'. It dealt with this question. Where an American born Chinese woman, who was a professor in game theory, had to deal with meeting a very strict would be mother in law. Who was adamant not to let her son marry the woman because Americans/The West look first to there own pleasure, whereas in the 'traditional' East Family was always put above all else. in a stacked game you win by limiting your losses and losing with grace. It's not just the East. Judeo-Christian has obey, actually honor your father and mother as a main commandment. We seem to be hardwired to spend our lives alternatively rebelling and becoming our parents. During the rebellion stages, its good to show respect and listen to them. They should have more experience and hopefully more wisdom then us. That's not to say you shouldn't go your own way. Listen, be respectful, even seek some compromise. When the chips are down no one will ever support you like your family. What seem stifling is usually being over protective. Sometimes just showing that you've listened and considered there side, is enough to allow you set your own course without overly hard feelings. Confucianism always felt overly rigid to me, but there's some good wisdom there.

I was watching football yesterday. Amazing athletes cheering crowds, but there's an emptiness to it, an illusion. Cause for all my cheering for the home team, but it's not my team. I'm not doing nothing, just sitting on my butt watching TV & eating junk food. What I mean is, in reality it doesn't matter much what they do, or what ancients did. A good life is based on what I do. The best take away I can get from history is inspiration, the worst is taking some kind of credit for there brilliance, cause like the football team I don't deserve any, unless I get in the game.

We have some big advantages. These computer thingies give us access to almost all the accumulated facts and information in the world. If we work hard enough a world of learning opportunities is open to us in ways that didn't exist in the past. The world's gotten smaller. We have some big disadvantages. It's a world of distraction. Some of the best routes of learning, the classical path of novice disciplining to a master of an art, is largely gone. Given unlimited choices, we never find our passions or dig deep enough into them. Too many of our Da Vinci's are caught up playing video games.