Encephalon

Evidently so. Waterloo Station http://www.lamkamchuen.com/index.htm

This is so you won't be too flattered by my extraordinary charm. I wouldn't want to make your husband upset. Welcome to the forum. What is it about Taoism that appeals to you? The food? The music? The dancing? Inquiring minds want to know. B.

Do you live in London as well?

JF-Christ, don't even bother. The subject of what is known as "social capital," non-monetary exchanges and processes between people and groups of people, has been one of the most influential themes in the Social Sciences of the last decade, due in large part to Robert Putnam's "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community" of 2000. I also witnessed this in Cuba: economically depressed/suppressed environments where people's lives are intricately woven together with the entire community. It's the only way to make it, and, IMO, it corresponds with the theory and practice of Indra's Net (if people even take that concept seriously) more than our self-serving consumer culture. This is just reason number 543,582 why education is good for people and good for society; it keeps incomprehensible stupidity and ignorance at bay (or at least we once thought so, at a time when ignorance wasn't held in such high esteem).

Not necessarily. But I do believe that newcomers with sincere and unambiguous requests for introductory materials should be taken seriously. It seems of late that the capacity to decipher even the simplest of each other's posts has been eliminated. Being a Palahniuk fan and someone who grew up with "Hitchhiker...", I can attest to the presence of a less circuitous learning curve. PS - My wife says I shouldn't go online when I've got darvocet coursing through my veins, so, my apologies Betwixter.

Edited due to post-surgical darvocet diatribe, which feeds my own incurable sarcasm.

There are three titles that get consistently recommended here. "Scholar/Warrior: An Introduction to Tao in Everyday Life" by Deng Ming-Dao. "The Complete Book of Chinese Health & Healing: Guarding the Three Treasures" by Daniel Reid. "Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body: Chi Gung for Lifelong Health" by Bruce Kumar Frantzis. I would recommend them in this order. The first puts Taoism, a vast subject, in context for the beginner. The second demystifies in western terminology the physiological side of Taoist body/mind disciplines. And the third launches you into a comprehensive explanation of how to get started safely with energy work. The "Tao te Ching" is indeed the "bible" of Taoism. As a westerner, you would likely encourage a friend from China interested in the Bible to read a good introductory piece written for Chinese; likewise, a westerner like yourself might do well by taking the introductory chapters to various TTC translations seriously. Then, "Jesus and Lao Tzu: The Parallel Sayings" by Martin Aronson, can be a lot of fun.

http://robhu.livejournal.com/529325.html

I would argue that jumping into original texts, regardless of translation, is not the best way to be introduced to Taoism, especially if you're a westerner, due to the inherent difficulties of keeping cultural differences in context. Leaping headfirst into the Bible can still be daunting for westerners; wrapping your head around the subjct of nonduality is enough to keep intrepid beginners busy for weeks. When in doubt, I always take the advice of one of my history profs: imagine that your friend is an intelligent person who knows nothing about the subject. My suggestion would be either Scholar/Warrior: An Introduction to the Tao in Everyday Life by Deng Ming-Dao, or The Book of Chinese Health and Healing by Daniel Reid.

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Well, my friend, it looks like we're back where we started. My side and yours can't even agree on the dynamics of the 1920s and 30s so we might as well bury the hatchet. I've calculated that I could get another 90 minutes a day of nei kung practice if I simply say goodbye to TTB, which I have tried to do every few months or so, but there's something about this forum that serves an important need. Even in LA, I still have to drive 40 minutes into Santa Monica or Koreatown to find facetime Taoist/Buddhist comraderie. TTB also seems to serve a need for aspiring writers to hone their chops first thing in the morning, sort of like "The Morning Pages" exercise. I'm attempting to create two more Canadians and two less Americans, so I guess that'll make some folks happy. No offense, EG, but your metaphysical musings kinda sounded like a light show, and I'm still reeling from a bout of semi-lethal superstition. Please forgive my prejudicial tone. O vwar!

Gosh golly whizzacres... in a firefight, I think I'd rather have Joeblast on my side than a New Age conspiratorialist, but hey, we're all on our own learning curve, eh?

Hey JOe!! Welcome back. Your summer must be more interesting than mine. I no longer expect you to address the points specified by various arguments, so it's no surprise that your sentiment fell into place the way it did. "vomit... this is trash... I disagree... everyone I know hates this guy...." A careful reading will show that Kunstler has nothing but contempt for Obama, although he was relieved that someone with thoughts in his head had moved in to the White House. I think your answer to his last question is very well thought out. I think class allegiance is a legitiamte argument, and I could express an argument for social darwinism that would make your blood coagulate as we speak. I find it astonishing that folks like yourself, and the rest of the hard right, can continue to harangue Obama out of the perception that he's trying to "redistribute the wealth," that he's a socialist who wants to penalize productivity by taxing people and giving away the money to the surplus population, who really don't do anything useful anyway. "Political correctness is to blame!" What seems to go unaddressed by your side of the aisle is the upwardly redistributive nature of corporate capitalism in the first place. While you've been railing about food stamps,the upper class has consolidated even more wealth and power, the middle class is being destroyed (the goal of corporate America since the 60s), and the country's broke. And if we had a plan (which some do) of rebuilding the country with a state of the art infrastructure and housing stock, we can't, because there's no more credit available. The US is being hollowed out and turned into a third world country, and all you can manage to do is blame PC and some poor son of a bitch getting a welfare check. This has been your line consistently since I've been in here, and it's "painfully simple" from my side of the aisle. All those tea party jerkoffs share the same sentiments. Granted, some of them are completely clueless, and this becomes evident when reporters actually get them to answer questions on camera, but for the most part, they are the same crowd of uneducated reactionaries that have always embraced the simplest explanations when they're desperate for answers and the truth is getting buried under reactionary bullshit (see Weimar). Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin are the Joe McCarthys and the Father Coughlins of the day; hopelessly uninformed, obscenely incurious, uneducated and willing to be exploited by Fox News to rile up the masses with sermons that demonize anyone who dare criticizes the status quo. And we're off!!

One break coming up. How about... you're f'n clueless? The corporate and right-wing bankrolling of the Tea Party movement, with no small help from Fox News, is one of the biggest stories out there right now. Who would've thought, since the same dynamic is so readily observable in the early days of the Third Reich. And you're still bogged down trying to see these events through the "liberal vs. conservative" lens. If you had any inkling of the genesis of your own ideas you would realize that criticism leveled at conservatives doesn't automatically translate to liberal sympathies. Kunstler may appear "liberal" but he's quite a libertine and rarely delivers nice messages to the Big Libs. J-F-C, get a library card.

Oh, baby.... butter me up...

You're the one Alexander Pope warned us about. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/opinion/29rich.html?_r=1&hp

Craft yourself into a useful person and make it up here no later than 2014 - 53°55′01″N 122°44′58″W - and you'll be fine. (I'll save a place for ya.) To answer Kunstler's question; 100 years of aggressive commercial advertising, 60 years of intense TV propaganda, have turned our citizens into cattle and our nation into one giant feedlot. Guess where cattle go after they're fattened? The Masters of Huainan said it best over 2,000 years ago -- "When society is orderly, a fool alone cannot disturb it; when society is chaotic, a sage alone cannot bring order." "To blame the Tao for not working while we are living in a polluted world is like tying down a unicorn from two directions and expecting it to run a thousand miles." "Even wise leaders must await appropriate circumstances. Appropriate circumstances can only be found at the right time and cannot be fulfilled through being sought by knowledge."

You're quite right. It's not possible. I've been trying to increase my boner mass for ages and it just seems to be a false hope.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus of Nazareth.

When my wife went on Paxil about 6 years ago she found it very difficult to climax. With Gingko, we were back in business. So, nay to memory, yay to circulatory issues in the erectile tissues. Hey, that rhymes!

I would have to disagree, given that hydrogen is the most common element in the known universe.

I desperately need a safe and efficient flea remedy for kittens under 8 weeks of age and under 2 pounds of weight. Would you please look it up for me in the Akashic records? -- or maybe you just know off the top of your head? Would be greatly appreciated. I understand the British have made tremendous strides in the area of food irradiation technology. They may very well have perfected the art of kitty irradiation. I'll gestate that subject and get back to you. Not necessarily. I've determined that it is better to live without delusion than to experience happiness for no good reason. As I've already made clear, I no longer require the trust of anyone. I regret that the truth of this is beyond your understanding, but it cannot be helped. 7, 12, 19, 31, 50 + 1 I have been known to dabble in a concoction of 2 tbs organic blackstrap molasses with 1 tbs of brewer's yeast in hot water, when the ignorant masses are getting me down, or when pure artesian spring water is no where at hand. Sorry. If you ain't Mopar, you ain't shit. And I don't teach remedial grammer. Thank you. I've tried to absolve you all, but the Absolution Dispenser is only taking tokens at this time and I forgot my password. Cheers.

Yeah, Ralis, you might as well accept it and get on with your life. We've just learned that most young people are far deeper and more spiritually experienced due to being both indigo or diamond children and they deal with 6 sense and 3rd eye phenomena on a "constant basis". So you might as well pull that 9mm out from under yer rocking chair and end it now while you still got enough sense to reckon how delusional you are. Kinda sad, eh? Woulda been great to be both indigo or diamond. Well, I still got a couple teeth left in my head, so I better hitch up the wagon and tend to the fields. All the best, grandpa Blasto