Encephalon

Life is a long lesson in humility, eh? I'm grateful you're far enough along to put it all in context.

Ouch! I can see how serious it can be. Well, you certainly caught me. As much as I try to remind my family about the virtues of "Right Speech" (Buddhist), I am frequently reminded of my capacity for this particular form of communication betrayal. It wasn't until about 2pm Los Angeles time that I connected the dots about why you took me to task in the other post. I would have been angered as well. I've always tended to live in my head and invest far more in the strategy of "maintaining cognitive hygiene," whatever that means, than with being cordial and kindhearted. I'm coming out of a personal era of critical thinking, a practice laid down in college, and I am all for loosening the bounds of that keep physics and metaphysics separate. However, some could rightly argue that I am just now learning how to be less of a pedantic asshole, and am all for loosening those bounds, but according to my own terms. I've really failed to acknowledge the non-impirical element of Taoist and other esoteric arts, and have only given them creedence when I acquired a personal experience of the teachings. But I've completely throw humility out the window in the process. I'm really sorry. "Eternal Student" has gently reminded me that unusual experiences can be expected after you acquire the ability to pulsate your brow chakra at will. Perhaps I'm moving into an era where my personal dick-headedness is becoming easier to recognize. Regards, B

Confession time. I started this thread out of the simple dynamic of psychological projection. I got sick of all the maudlin self-absorption being passed off as poetry and wanted to bring it to a head. Of course, it's all the maudlin self-absorption that I detest within my own self that causes me to lash out when I see it in others.

SCARS Markings in dry clay disappear Only when the clay is soft again. Scars upon the self disappear Only when one becomes soft within. Throughout our life, but especially during our youth, many scars are inflicted upon us. Some of them are the results of violence, abuse, rape, or warfare. Others arise from bad education. A few come from humiliation and failure. Others are caused by our own misadventures. Unless we recover from these injuries, the scars mar us forever. Classical scriptures urge us to withdraw from our own lusts and sins. But scars that have happened through no fault of our own may also bar us from spiritual success. Unfortunately, it is often easier to give up a bad habit than to recover from the incisions of others' violence. The only way is through self-cultivation. Doctors and priests can only do so much. The true course of healing is up to us alone. To do this, we must acquire many methods, travel widely, struggle to overcome our personal phobias, and perhaps most importantly of all, try to acquire as few new problems as possible. Unless we do, each one of them will bar us from true communion with Tao. Deng Ming-Dao What is the significance of his admonition to "travel widely"? Is it related to his reference of travel in the Jan. 28th theme? Does the Internet help or hinder this pursuit?

I started taking raspberry leaf tea about a week ago when I read that it works wonders for healing adrenal exhaustion brought on my a lifetime of stress and caffeine consumption. I found it in bulk at our local health food store for $1.31/oz., so I can easily afford to drink four cups a day. http://www.jcrows.com/remarkableraspberry.html

That was my fault. I started it up with "Masturbation and carburator repair" in order to make a satirical point. What can I say. I've been tossing around the idea that the Net brings out the worst - banal, mundane, self-absorbed - in everyone, only to discover, after everyone else, that it brings out the same in me. Life is a long lesson in humility. James M. Barrie

Oh my... Are we talking about the same thing? I posted a youtube link with a Korean man singing a song by Mariah Carey, and joked that it was me. The geographical references about Korea/Africa is something I'm not aware of. For myself, I should probably consider that the novelty of an online forum wears off for everyone at some point. When my meridians started opening up last summer I was ecstatic with the ability to discuss it online with those farther along than I. There seemed to be no shortage of interesting topics. I'm coming up on my one year online anniversary. Maybe it's time to move on?

There is no need to complicate the issue. Your heart is opening and you care about others; you should take comfort in the knowledge that you aren't a sociopath! All the advice you can get here will enable you to continue to feel the the pain of others without becoming derailed by it. In TCM, a deficiency of the Earth element can leave you vulnerable to grief, sadness and depression. But one can correct for that, and at your age, you've got plenty of time. Ken Wilber has a great presentation on the capacity for the kind of deep empathy that is painful and yet empowering. It's cheap to leave you with youtube links, but it's highly worth it if you can spare 10 minutes.

No shortage of bold claims on the internet. This one from Youtube, an interesting exercise for activating your Pineal gland with a specific technique allegedly from Tibet, according to the video's author. I tried it with my skeptical but inquiring mind and have to admit to a certain joy in the vibrational effect as it begins to resonate throughout the bones around your sinuses. You have to find the right pitch to make it work. Hopefully all you musicians, anatomists and Third Eye Junkies will try it out and report back. Another video says that we won't be able to recognize the spaceships when they arrive unless we've opened our third eye, so ya'll better get on it.

I would have to agree, alhtough I should preface my agreement by conceding that I've used this forum for irrelevent chuckles and lightheartedness, and I've also been a real prick on occasion. The place has definitely given me an opportunity to see my ego in action. But aside from being an egotistical jerk at times, I do enjoy the life of the mind, the beauty of an original thought, the joy of shared experience, and the ecstacy of having my fledgling chi flow experiences corroborated by those much farther along than me. Taoism is so extraordinarily comprehensive - it connects and subsumes so many disciplines - that it seems destined to be trivialized by its connectivity.

del. mistake

What, does my Karaoke make me look fat?

I just wanted to let everyone know that Drew is my research assistant, and he works for free.

I use it as a nutritional supplement to emulsify the fat in my bloodstream, as I have genes that grab on to cholesterol. It's also great brain food. But I have no subjective experience by taking it.

ACCOUNTABILITY A father without a father Has difficulty balancing. A master without a master Is dangerous. We look up to our parents, our teachers, and our leaders with trust and expectation. Their responsibility is to guide us, educate us, and even make judgments on our behalf when circumstances are uncertain. Ultimately, they are to bring us to the point where we can make our own decisions, based on the wisdom that they have helped us develop. But the potential for abuse and mistakes is very great. What person can be right all the time? A simple lapse at the wrong time can cause confusion, psychological scars, and even great disaster. Harsh words during a child's impressionable moments can engender years of problems. That is why we need a parent for the parent, a master for the master, and leaders for the leaders. This prevents errors of power. In the past, even kings had wise advisers. Every person who would be a leader should have such assistance. Eventually, someone has to be at the top. And who will that person turn to? Let us invoke not deities but pragmatism. It is experience that is the ultimate teacher. That is why wise people travel constantly and test themselves against the flux of circumstance. It is only in this way that they can truly confirm their thoughts and compensate for their shortcomings.

I'll revert to my Buddhist sensibilities and simply state that this is not a relevent question, nor did the Buddha find it so. He cautioned incessantly about speculative sidetracks. I don't identify myself as a Taoist, but I am comfortable with suspending my rational convictions and taking comfort in the belief that we are subsumed by the Tao upon death. But I'm okay with a strict humanist spin as well.

I've been a big fan of lecithin consumption for many years. When I heard that the Pineal gland has the greatest concentration of lecithin of any other brain tissue I became even more convinced of its positive effects. I guess I should dump the flouride.

For the record, these are not my creations. They come from "365 Tao" by Deng Ming-Dao, a contemporary Taoist scholar. I hold vertical hierarchies with as much skepticism, suspicion, and even disdain as anyone I know. I am satisfied that a thoughful reading of today's commentary in its totality, not sentence by sentence, adequately addresses the issue you raise.

I came to realize that mind is no other than mountains and rivers and the great wide earth, the sun and the moon and the stars. - Dogen

This is precisely where I'm coming from, and that part of our collective mental universe where we are obliged to spend at least a little bit of time. Stephen Hawking would say that the impirical world is inexhaustible as a source of mystery and wonder and awe, although we can still have spiritual lives that have secular and humanist foundations. How to Think About Wierd Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age http://www.amazon.com/How-Think-About-Weird-Things/dp/0073386626/ref=dp_ob_title_bk This is one of the few textbooks that I was assigned in college that regularly received critical reviews and I've referred to it and recommended it repeatedly over the years. It opened up hundreds of opportunities for me to clean up my mental universe, and, at the very least, become less vulnerable to misplaced authority.

Thanks a bunch! Maybe I should move back to Silverthorne CO and take advantage of altitude training? What do you mean by external stimulation? I've been able to throb my brow at will for a few weeks now. I feel a little more balanced, and am coming into more money these days, but I don't feel like I'm ready to sit down at the right hand of Jesus. Six more you say?

I've see 11:11 quite frequently over the years on digital clocks. As intriguing as it is, I've always chocked it up to probability and the human proclivity for recognizing patterns amidst the randomness - I don't remember seeing 10:43am or 12:39pm as frequently as 11:11pm. What are your sources of information on this sacred geometry? I'm a critical thinking junkie, but I'm also a musician, and I'm am always eager open a metaphysical door with music.