doc benway

I don't interpret the author as saying that forgiveness is impossible or inadvisable. She is saying that for most people, forgiveness will not be successful at eliminating the pain and memory of trauma and will not solve the problem of PTSD. "The survivor imagines that she can transcend her rage and the impact of the trauma through a willed, defiant act of love. But it is not possible to exorcise the trauma, through either hatred or love." I imagine that if we had more of Dr. Herman's thoughts to consider we may have a better understanding of her thoughts and recommendations on the subject. What has been quoted her is a very limited snippet and would be easy to misinterpret. I happen to agree with everything Dr. Herman says. I live with a victim of PTSD and her descriptions are quite accurate, IME.

From an anatomical point of view the spine is NEVER straight. It is shaped like a recurve bow. That curve is lessened in meditation but the spine is only straight in pathological conditions. The importance of a "straight" spine in seated meditation is that it allows you to find a balance where there is a minimum of muscle tension necessary to remain upright. This is the same in standing (and moving such as Taiji for that matter). Trying to learn proper posture from a book is difficult. If you are trying to learn from a book and experiencing discomfort and frustration, you may want to think of investing in a live teacher. That said, the spine is not straight in meditation. The goal is an erect spine with minimum muscle tension. If sitting on a chair or stool make sure the hips are at a comfortable degree of flexion - too flexed or too extended will cause imbalance and tension. Experiment with higher and lower stools. Allow the top of your head to lift upwards tucking the chin extremely slightly (millimeters). The feeling should be elongation, opening, relaxation of the cervical spine. Relax the shoulders and allow the chest to relax inward very slightly. The pelvis tucks under just a bit, again - all of these adjustments are minute. This should allow a similar feeling of elongation, opening, and relaxation of the lumbar spine. That's about it. I used to use half lotus but am more comfortable now with the Burmese posture. The full lotus is the most stable and can be achieved with a little patience and proper practice. Good luck!

Similarly, I began learning a bit of Chinese to translate Taijiquan and related stuff for my Shiye (and for myself). I will have to take a look at Chapter 15!

On a more serious note, I think that your personality will determine to what degree you specialize or generalize in things. I have a tendency to get very deep into things that interest me, pathologically so at times, but then I get tired of them and move on to something else. I'm not sure either approach has an advantage in the grand scheme of things but in a limited sense there is a difference. If you choose to be a performance artist, martial artist, or a surgery you'd better be prepared to specialize. If you are interested in politics, history, philosophy, counseling, and so forth, a wide base of knowledge will serve you well.

I once stopped a guy and asked for directions. He looked at me with bloodshot eyes and said, "Man, I don't know nuthin' 'bout nuthin'!"... and walked away. Not sure if he was a specialist or a generalist,.... definitely a Daoist!

Even that much is questionable. Here are a few links with decent scholarship about Laozi. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/laozi/ http://history.cultural-china.com/en/166History5066.html

Excellent questions - I will briefly address two. 3) Qi = 氣 in Qi Gong 氣功 and means air or vapor but also refers to the energy or life force. Qi Gong means breath work, literally Ji = 極 is the second character in Tai Ji Quan 太極拳 Ji means extreme as in the end or tip of something. Tai Ji refers to the Daoist principle of balance in the universe. And Tai Ji Quan is the martial art that makes use of the Daoist principle of Tai Ji in combat, which leads to the answer to number 4) Tai Ji Quan literally means the art of fighting based on the Tai Ji principle which is one of the core principles in Daoism. Therefore, IMO Tai Ji Quan is wholly integrated with Daoism. You can say the same about Xing Yi Quan (5 elements are used) and Ba Gua Zhang (Yi Ching) but I don't think it is as accurate in those arts. This is because only in Tai Ji Quan do you really see the philosophical principles clearly reflected in the martial movements and strategies. Just my opinion, of course.

What does being Chrisitan have to do with the existence or non-existence of Jesus? What does Daoism have to do with whether someone named "Old Master" was a historical figure or a legendary one? If the message of Christianity is genuine and true and you allow it to be a guiding light in your life, then you are Chrisitan. Same with Daoism. If Laozi was alive at some point, he's dead as a doornail now. Same with Jesus. Whether their wisdom could be attributed to two individuals or the culmination of decades or centuries of compounded cultural and social wisdom really doesn't make any difference at all, at least to me. It's much better to see the truth in things as they are than become attached to the words of a corpse.

Very nice job Sean. Thanks for your hard work on this.

Wonderful post taomeow! I would like to see more of your Dao De Jing translations. It's funny to see people refer to 'what Laozi intended' and so forth given that in all likelihood no such person existed. Like the bible, the Dao De Jing is more likely a compendium of multiple authors and folk knowledge developed over a long period of time. To try and determine a given intention is meaningless. Looking at the original characters as you have done, and coming up with an interpretation that is consistent with Daoist principles is much more valuable, IMO.

It seems to me that many people choose a path of priesthood or the monastery because of inner demons or conflict. It's no great surprise then when "holy" people commit such acts. The only real difference between the laity and the clergy is the amount of time spent praying (meditating) and there's probably a reason why they feel the need to pray so hard.

Kindness is a human value judgement. I think this chapter cautions us not to project human traits on nature. Within our own bodies, millions of living cells are sacrificed at any given moment for the homeostasis of the whole. It is the same in nature. We just have a very limited and biased perspective. Every living thing exists solely through the consumption of other life. This is essential for the balance of the whole. The sage is not attached to human value judgements just as nature is not. Being unattached, however, does not preclude civility and compassion.

I made that assumption from your words - my error. I'm still here because I like it!

I like Tao99's description - elegant, concise, beautiful, and poetic.

I figured as much...

Noisy, quiet, hot, cold, high, low. It doesn't matter. Desiring freedom from samsara is still samsara. Nirvana is not somewhere to go. You're already here, the only obstacle is the belief that there must be something better. I think it would be equally valid to say that higher levels of awareness are inclusive of our manifest reality.

Yeah, people are usually horrified when they find that they agree with me... It's so terrible that now you're backpedalling, huh? Maybe our idea of installments are different but that's just different strokes. To me it is not about adding installments but dropping the "domestication" as Taomeow so elegantly put it. I agree 100% with the concept of humans being domesticated animals. Again, this is what the sages have been asking us to shed so that we can return to whatever we mean by words like "natural" and "true nature" and so forth. In general, I think we're using different words to describe similar concepts. Run Away!

Great post - This also brings us to another Daoist principle - De It's usually translated as virtue and we make the assumption that it refers to the definition of virtue which implies proper or good behavior and invokes value judements and so on. Another interpretation (and a much more accurate one IMO) is using the translation of virtue which means trait or characteristic. Be that which you are as deeply and fully as you can. The tree can never more tree-y, the cat more cat-y. Why do we humans have so much trouble just being human?

We will agree to disagree on this. It is not impossible, just challenging. There is no need to fight, just investigate. Seeing deeply into the nature of conditioning is all that is necessary for it to lose it's grasp. This is exactly the advice of Zhuangzi and Buddha (and countless others). What is the difference between human and animal? Other than language, of course. What is the difference between something that is natural and something that is a product of the environment? This implies that you believe there is a separation between the animal (human) and environment. There is no separation - just the illusion of separation. Natural means organism/environment - they are one. Instinct is generally used to refer to behavioral tendencies that are independent of learning and assumed to be related to evolution (which, after all is learning - just on a bigger scale).

Nevermind...

Wu Wei is a fascinating topic. Based on Tai Ji theory. Good and bad do not exist independently, they define each other. Furthermore, good and bad are relative value judgements that depend on our conditioning and perspective as well as our closeness or distance from the subject. I disagree. Animals display natural instinct. If it exists in one species, it exists in all. It's just that it is buried so deep that most of us don't recognize it. This is what the Daoist sages are asking us to look for. We are the product of years, generations, and eons of individual, familial, social, and cultural conditioning. Is it ever possible to see through all of that? Can we as individuals strip away, layer by layer, our emotional, psychological, social, and cultural conditioning? If we are able to do that, then we may understand what "human nature" or "natural instinct" means

I'll definitely check out The Primal Scream. At the level at which most of my patients function, Sarno's stuff is very profound, both in its simplicity and significance. I'm looking forward to see Janov's ideas. Thanks for that suggestion. Yup - trigger points are widely focused on in fibromyalgia - for better or worse...

One of the few positive effects of increasing air pollution...

That's a loaded question, I would ask in turn - what is fibromyalgia? Have you ever read or listened to John Sarno, MD regarding chronic pain? His work is profound. It's helped me personally and I've shared it with a lot of people, both in my personal and professional life.