rex

Things have been pretty awful here of late so I've just done an experiment and put a number of posters on ignore function. Two results became apparent: 1) About 95% of posts are made by 2% of the membership. Sometimes entire pages of threads are hidden and the easy grace of hitherto unnoticed posters shines through. 2) Reading the forum with ignored users activated puts the forum vibe back to the amateur, enthusiastic, fun sharing vibe of how TaoBums used to be.

Cheers Guys! Filtering stuff out is so obvious though it has taken an awful long time to cotton on to this. Being too open when reading has a lot to do with it as well as treating reading a forum as equivalent to reading a book at home where information is absorbed through the body too. Threads covering interesting subjects can attract certain undercurrents so apart from staying away there is always the option of doing what readers did in Middle Ages when reading grimoires and that is wear an iron headband!

Is this really necessary?

The Tridaya levels are covered in this course: Tenaga Dalam Ilahi You get guidance and transmission too.

Edit: refs removed This manifestation has returned to the void

Superb! If only this fine explanation appeared earlier on - it would have saved a lot of grim reading.

Nice! I haven't a clue about the ontological status of the higher self. Clearly acknowleding its presence is a source of power and support that shouldn't be dismissed. It may take quite a while of study, reflection and meditation combined with personal aesthetics to come to some sort of understanding but I wouldn't let lack of understanding get in the way of the positive connection.

I think the spiritual embryo is a metaphor for the delicate psycho-physical state that precedes a state of internal cultivation where Humanity, i.e. the human cultivator, becomes a conscious mediating bridge between Heaven and Earth.

Not to be taken too seriously though this chart has a certain piquancy:

Thanks! No, It was a chanced upon find. Spiritual Materialism could be B,D,G. Looking at the lines inside a heptagon the combinations are many: This enneagram gives a nice sense of dynamism too!

This is something that can be neither proved nor disproved.

Four months teaching with daily videos/audios of teaching, practice and forum access is well worth £115 (converting from $ to £ ) which works out at about £29 a month. This is how I put it into perspective: my sangha is holding a series of monthly weekend teachings covering much of the same material. I live about 75 miles from the sessions so attending every event would mean shelling out each month £55 for travel; £25 for the weekend teaching (if poverty is pleaded, but I can't in all good conscience - though I'm not that rich either); £45 for an overnight stay (assuming no one can put me up) and that's excluding food. It suits distance learners and I've enrolled. Thanks again Sunya! Eitded for tpoys and duration/price errors

Cheers!

Sorry, link to potentially copyrighted material removed which also renders this post redundant.

Cheers! I've used http://www.httrack.com to download the whole thing.

These will keep interested folks busy for a while, videos and papers from the: Neuroscience and Spiritual Practices Conference Click the presenter names to follow the links. Edit: Found a better link

Hi Mewtwo, Now what's that saying? Ah yes, there's no such thing as failure, only feedback. You've been given fairly brusque feedback in this and other threads but the essence is build a strong foundation and really look into and clarify your motivation. There's nothing wrong with enthusiastic non-authoritative sharing of information as a friend with all the usual caveats this involves, especially so given the subject matter of the material. Kudos to you for the openeness and courage to expose yourself and seek advice and, as another saying goes, don't let the bastards grind you down.

Spot on! As were all the replies this engendered. Personally I don't hold with any approach that ignores, devalues or denigrates the body.

There are some stories that the first race on earth were the faery race (not fairy) and their age was the Age of Lemuria. When the first humans appeared and the human race gradually supplanted the faery race the Lemurian age gave way to the Age of Atlantis. Fascinating material which is explained in depth in this book: Red Tree, White Tree: Faeries and Humans in Partnership

Ego is a verb as well as a noun - it is something that is being constantly created. I suppose Presence would reveal fabrications and, if you're lucky, the deep source which silently supports and sustains ego as it does its thing.

Reminds me of Dr Dee's obsidian mirror.

Hi Cat Pillar, It's about being still and resting in faith, hope and love. Information from a rather unorthodox source can be found here: Emptying the self The 'official' website with instructions is here: http://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_practices_centering All the best.

I think your distrust is good and healthy. It's source may be from an inner sacred knowing that throws false guides into sharp relief when compared with the internal image of how things should be. Perhaps sitting in silence with something like the Centering Prayer to communue with your sense of the sacred within may help.

This 8 week course looks well worth checking out and you can pay as little as $1 to a maximum of $100. It's pure TaoBum material. These passages from the blurb floated my boat: In this course you will experience the union of grounded passion and peaceful joy in the core of your body and heart that we all need now in these difficult times in order to keep inspired and be able to respond to our growing crisis from a place of compassionate wisdom. This course will present simple yoga postures along with simple mystical practices from all the great ancient traditions. You will learn practices that will root your whole being in the calm and luminous energy which is both our source and the fountain of continual renewal flowing into our hearts from the heart of the universe. Heart Yoga is a way of joyfully offering gratitude, and of honoring and serving the divine presence in all of creation. The wisdom of the creators of yoga is simply and profoundly expressed in a timeless yogic text, The Upanishads: "From joy all beings have come. In joy all beings are sustained. To joy all beings return. This is the highest teaching This is the highest teaching." Enrolment details are here: http://www.dailyom.com/cgi-bin/courses/courseoverview.cgi?cid=178

You're welcome! I stay rooted in one tradition but as a 'bee seeks nectar from all kinds of flowers, seek teachings everywhere'. Song lyrics on the radio can be suprising sources for me too!