Apech

There's no need to apologise. Posting opinions (unpopular ones) is what this thread is all about. Think of this. When you say go with the flow of life etc. you have to remember that the natural flow of existence is that of increasing entropy - in other words everything if left alone gradually falls apart. If you took a car and left it for say 1,000 years - what would you have? a pile of rust. Some of us have cars which are already like that Even mountains slowly erode. The end point is called the heat-death of the universe because everything just turns to equally distributed dust and there is no life - because life requires organic organisation and growth. The reason we have life on earth - which is a closed system - is because the sun provides a nett input of energy in the form of sunlight. Without that input of energy there would be no plants, animals or human beings. So in this sense life itself is against the natural flow. Life is formed because of the nett input of energy into a closed system. Internal alchemy starts by conserving the energy we have inherited - jing and qi - and then using the body, subtle body and mind to transform ourselves first into long lived healthy beings and then into immortal ones (we are told). This is not anti-life really - even though the time and effort put into it might mean that you sacrifice much of the simple enjoyments. If you see what I mean.

it is - I didn’t know he had done that

I think you may be mixing up a few ideas there.

Why?

So 8/10 ?

I won’t be able to sleep tonight wondering what you think that you dare not say!

its easy to mock! Very easy😀

'Laying the foundation' is found in both Wang Mu and Charles L'uk's 'Taoist Yoga' and comprises all the stages up to the creation of the 'pill' in the LDT. So anything done in the way of circulating qi or clearing the channels etc. prior to the creation of the pill/elixir is part of Laying the Foundations. It starts with guarding the three treasures up till making the pill. So most practices that people do are not the MCO, which arises after the pill is made. If the orbit is applied before this it is just a mapping exercise or a channel clearing exercise - or at worst a waste of time - but it is not the MCO. Its like the difference between looking at a map to see where Route 66 goes and driving Route 66 if you see what I mean. (is there still a Route 66?) I don't know but I get my kicks there

3. IQ is a fake metric. 4. The most unhealthy diets are vegetarianism and veganism.

the MCO occurs naturally when the LDT is ready - you don’t need to visualize or force anything. if qi gets stuck then this is an indication that it is not natural

This came up in another thread - my observation is that there is a natural tendency in westerners ( mostly Europeans and Americans) to accentuate the phys bod over the mind. Sometimes reducing mind to mere electrical activity and so on

i am sending that to the IRS

The government should introduce a Deschanel Tax to tax people with bangs at a higher rate.

Nooooooo supposed to be unpopular! dammit!

This expression 'emotions are the path' comes from Mahamudra Buddhism (possibly Dzogchen also) but I don't want to come at it particularly from a Buddhist perspective. But that's where it comes from - so I thought I would establish that. What does it mean? What is emotion? The word emotion comes from 'ex' meaning 'out' and 'motion' which itself comes from a PIE root *meue which itself means to 'push away'. So overall it has the sense of pushing away. So even though you can think of enjoyable emotions like joy for instance, there is still an underlying sense of pushing away or being pushed away. So emotions have their base in duality and separation - whether pleasurable or painful. Sometimes emotions are described as 'conflicting' or 'conflicted' which implies a push/pull in the motion. Motion itself is simply the expression of energy. So there is energy being discharged within ourselves which leads to separation of one feeling from another, or you could say separation between our sense of ourselves and our moods or actions. The conflict being that we think of being a certain kind of person and then act differently because of conflicting emotions. This can cause more problems with identity later when we try to justify to ourselves how we acted and so on. So you can see a grand mess evolves. When faced with this there are probably three stages of response. Firstly trying to stop or control the emotion. Then wanting to transform them into something better. Then lastly waking up to precisely what is going on and why. The first two are ok and natural but not really much use. It's the last one where emotions become the path. This does not mean that your individual feelings are particularly important. They are just patterns of movement of energy. So for instance, you might feel particularly angry about something and want to express it. But that is missing the point. If you are just indulging in the strength of yur feelings you aren't learning anything - even if there might be some temporary feeling of liberation. It is in the emotional field where this 'pushing away' is occurring which is blocking your ability to see your true nature, duality is being generated through it. One reason for cultivation is to create a unified and coherent being - one pointed focus - which can form the basis. On different levels and different ways conflicting emotional states are being generated - for instance by holding together essentially contradictory ideas about ourselves and the nature of reality. Unfortunately for most of us we have a huge baggage of emotional content and experiences to work through. It can seem overfacing. But nevertheless this is the work. Just some thoughts (for you all to pick holes in ).

If you have the patience - or maybe just listen to the first 15 mins or so - but this is a good account of the kind of way that a tulku is recognised. It is very intuitive - and in this case became subject to a lot of political infighting (which was not a credit to anyone - the Karmapa controversy - mostly now resolved as the two Karmapas are mates).

I’m lovin’ it.

Um ... can't remember but I'll PM something to you.

I read one of his books once.

I would say that from my experience focus intensifies because by your attention you are introducing more energy into the 'zone' or more presence perhaps. I know that in TCM emotions are viewed as disturbing factors and sometimes disease causing energy when they interact with specific organs and so on. But in qi work I think emotions should be viewed differently. They are aspects of consciousness which while they may be disturbing they also open us up to the full spectrum of consciousness itself (Spirit if you prefer). In tantra for instance the main emotions like anger and so on are seen as reflexes of types of wisdom (prajna) - and wisdom in this case refers to direct 'experience' or knowing of consciousness. You need to build an understanding of your relation to emotions and what lies behind them. What lies behind them is your true self, God or buddha-nature - depending on how you want to put it. The trick is to feel the emotions as fully as possible without identifying with them or becoming submerged. How to do this I think is quite idiosyncratic in that there isn't a formula but just repeated experience of being thrown into the water (so to speak) and learning how to swim. Sit with the feeling of tiredness and try to feel where the energy has gone. Emotions are strong energy flows at base - and that energy is life energy - which is what you are (if that makes sense). Sometimes we are overwhelmed and all we can do is sit back and conserve energy till they pass. They are phasic I think so 'the planets' is valid here. If you see the world alchemically then we do exist in dynamic field. Rather like the weather they come and go rather unpredictably I think. Do you mean Byron Katie? When you said Mrs. Byron I could help thinking of the poem I quoted above I don't know anything about her but I do think keeping a journal is helpful as it helps organise thoughts and spot patterns. I have to admit I am not very good at this myself and only do it in patches. But I think daily journal would help. Just my thoughts as ever!

She walks in beauty , like the night?

yes but don’t you find in the cold weather things go brittle and drop off?

more bangs for your buck ( or something)

A lullaby

“At this point I am not even annoyed ….”