Apech

Hey don't encourage Marblehead he'll get spring fever.

Same here - straight from winter into summer sometime in May.

Well, I decided to experiment by putting the urine so far saved on my turnips. They are looking a little pale. So I am hoping that this humble yet proud root vegetable will not feel insulted by having pee poured into the soil. I diluted the urine about 10:1 with water and low and behold it frothed up nicely and looked exactly like this: ... which is quite a coincidence ... maybe ... By the way my strawberries are flowering again so I'm hoping for more fruit ... a second coming to rival that of JC.

Oooh!

Merry Bismuth to you and a happy new year.

@N you are a god of chemicals. I have built a shrine. tomorrow a sacrifice.

@ Nungali I am not ashamed of the size of my bottle!!! Wots an N Vat? I want one.

Don't sell yourself short, I'd give you an A- at least.

All hail Starjumper ... is he coming back? I saw a video of him in Peru (?) or somewhere. Great. he was doing classes with the locals. Not sure if he has internet out there though.

I feel that your practices, especially stopping all sexual thoughts before they arise, are too intense. Porn addiction seems to be pretty much a universal problem now, presumably because porn is so easily available on the internet. Everyone has sexual feelings and that is natural but its very difficult to a ) get into a good relationship and b ) even then reach a high level of harmony within that relationship. It might even be in reality impossible and just a fantasy aim which has been made up for us. What is important is your state of health and your happiness. If you feel trapped by your addiction then too much struggle and especially self disgust is not a good thing. Just recognise that it is perfectly normal for the body to set up pleasure pain loops which then tend to want to repeat. With gentle persistence they can be overcome. But it usually takes time. You need I think to go back to basics. Eat good food at regular times, take gentle exercise like walking or running if you prefer. Do gentle breathing exercises. Think about the subtle energy body as a sphere around you which becomes distorted by strong emotions, strong likes and dislikes and so on. the idea is to make this subtle body balanced and stable - so that means no forcing - whole body breathing ok but in a very light and light hearted manner. Forget the MCO for now I would suggest. I like the idea of TCM. Think a little about the rest of your life. Are there any changes you can make to enhance your happiness. Reward yourself a little. Don't get anxious about change but be persistent about willing things to improve.

Yes ... interesting thought.

Sky News showed quite a lot of commemorative activity. What I can't quite work out is what role Abba had in all this

from: https://theconversation.com/ancient-dna-reveals-how-europeans-developed-light-skin-and-lactose-tolerance-43078 ... doesn't mention blood type tho' ... just for info.

I meant the solids as I assume they contain the minerals. Doesn't rain that much here in certain seasons though some storms - so it tends to be a deluge or nothing. I think I could do both - hand water with dilute and store some for major feed up in spring. My only issue is the smell and how to piss in a bottle

I Think what they are suggesting that storage in a sealed container for 1 - 6 months makes the urine free from bacteria and also allows solids to precipitate. But there's an old guy who just puts it straight on ... which is smelly! They say dig a trench and cover it. What I was thinking was to collect and store it during winter and then mix it with wood ash and compost and apply in Feb / March just before planting out. The same way they do with manure. Dig the ground over, spread the stuff on and then dig over again. Anyway it will be great to make some use of what usually goes down the drain - and will encourage me to drink more red wine so as to have a good supply ha ha!

Well thank you anyway, I think.

@9th ... this doesn't make sense ... what Tibetan/Sanskrit terms are being used for 'ego' and and 'demons'? I think it's a poor translation. And you say demons are products of the human mind ... what term is being used which translates as 'human mind'?

Ah but that is not the appropriate warning ... this is ...

@Nickolai That was very nice indeed, thank you.

On soft grey mornings widows cry, The wise men share a joke. I run to grasp divining signs To satisfy the hoax. The yellow jester does not play But gently pulls the strings And smiles as the puppets dance In the court of the crimson king.

Now it is the time of night That the graves all gaping wide, Every one lets forth his sprite, In the church-way paths to glide: And we fairies, that do run By the triple Hecate's team, From the presence of the sun, Following darkness like a dream, Now are frolic: not a mouse Shall disturb this hallow'd house: I am sent with broom before, To sweep the dust behind the door. ... aha!

True I was thinking of bank robbers and so on.

he conspired to try to have people killed ... so I think that is justification in part. But it is true that financial crime gets harsher treatment than crimes against the person.

That's a nice formulation. Regard it as provisional (I would suggest). Test it to destruction as see if it stands up for you. If it does keep it, if it doesn't throw it away.

The Buddhist view is quite difficult to get right, whether you are talking about dependent origination or Nagarjuna's sunyata. I think one of the reasons for this is that it is not founded on the 'usual' question(s). The usual philosophical question(s) are ontological - what really exists? and epistemological - how do we know what exists?. All the Vedic philosophies like Samkhya, Yoga philosophy, Vedanta (e.g. Advaita) do address these questions exactly ... with slightly different but similar answers. To put it very, very simply you exist (as a self = observer) and it (reality) exists as substance or spirit = brahman for instance. And there is a 'how do you know this? answer as well. This is by most people very satisfactory since it answers the burning questions of the day. Who or what am I? what is God? and so on. So its very easy to transition from say Christianity to Advaita Vedanta by equating Atman = immortal soul and brahman = God as all being, bliss and awareness. The Buddha when he started to teach did not begin from there. he was interested in liberating people, so he started from 'what's it like to exist?' answer being 'dukkha'. It sucks. Why does it suck? Is there a way for it not to suck? How do I get from here to there? Four noble truths. As part of the last noble truth there is right view. This can be taken as understanding the cause of suffering, or dependent origination or understanding emptiness - depending on what type of Buddhism you are talking about. None of these give the nice answers that Vedanta provide. Nagarjuna would say of any posited ultimately real that it neither exists or doesn't exist (as well as both or neither). To make it even more confusing all Buddhists to date (except modern secular Buddhists) have accepted a world view which included heavens, hells, gods, demons, devas, ghosts and so on. In fact most Buddhists propitiate local deities and spirits. The Buddha might even accept that there is a being who identifies himself as the ultimate creator ... but would say he is not worthy of worship because he would not lead to liberation but to further suffering (after a long time). Taoism traditionally had no idea of an ultimately irreducible self like the Atman ... and so there was some confusion when the translators into Chinese got to work. Added to this the school of Buddhism that made headway in China the Yogacara taught about Buddha-nature which is easily misunderstood as being like the Atman. there is a well read paper by Park called 'How Buddhism made its way to China and acquired a soul' which many people misquote as saying Buddhism somehow morphed into a soul religion. This is not really true but I am sure there were periods when it seemed this way.