Encephalon

An old Tae Kwon Do instructor up in Oregon recommended cold showers. I finally got around to it on a regular basis in college. There was a great scene in the fairly decent movie "Best of the Best" where the Korean TKD team is running through the snow and then meditating in the icy river. So, it was really my ego that got me started on cold showers. I'd climb into the shower stall, aim my face at the spigot, and crank on the cold water, imagining that this would help turn me into a warrior impervious to physical discomfort. I am so totally NOT in the mood to do this these days, but since it's 80 degrees at ten in the morning here in LA, those days may come back. The feeling of the blood returning to your peripheral tissues after a cold shower is awfully nice.

I don't see a viable means of avoiding "that fatal breakdown in the world's social structure," no matter how enlightened or virtuous the population becomes. Ken Wilber and Co. (Spiral Dynamics) have argued that only ten percent of the population at any given time is enlightened, self-actualized, self-possessed, etc. There is simply no means of growing enough food to feed 7 billion people without petroleum, and most of the alternative energy folks are well-intentioned but they overestimate our ability to replace oil. The planet can support about two billion, and that assumes adequate access to water, topsoil, and agricultural skills. We are on the same page, or I should say, you and I and Kunstler et al are on the same page. He is ultimately optimistic that the culture that outlives the withering hordes will possess the spiritual component we speak of. "World Made by Hand" is deeply moving. I haven't yet thought through the question of whether an enlightened and virtuous community precipitates out of the the struggle to survive or if it's the reverse, but there seems to be a correlation. Personally, I'm set. I have land in the mountains with a home, two wells, deer, arable land, weapons, a barn. Part of me romanticizes a simplified future in which I can grow food, tend to the property, practice piano, guitar, chi kung and meditation. Unfortunately, that is cold comfort when I think of all the friends I have made since moving to LA 7 years ago. Most of them won't have a chance. Keep an eye on this wonderful state of California. We're $25 billion in the hole and about to join the ranks of the third world in July. As goes California, so goes the...

I'd like to thank everyone for contributing such thoughtful commentary. I would like to conclude by answering the preceding paragraph - "...but have we industrialized too far to see a potential for this type of simple life in the world? Also, would we be willing to sacrifice all that we have accomplished to live in a peaceful, enlightened world like this one?" According to the trajectories posited by a number of social scientists, as well as physical scientists (particularly the "peak oil" and "post oil" folks) we may not really have a choice but to adapt to an agrarian 1850s level technology. This is the premise of James Kunstler's "The Long Emergency" and "A World Made by Hand," as well as a host of other writers frequently profiled at http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net. The sheer enormity of having to raise our own food and live in a post-oil world, which we could see in as little as two decades, will force this upon us, and those who can find the resilience and resourcerfulness to do so may very well be the ones who find it a means to a Jeffersonian ideal. I've attempted to bring up the post-oil scenario in this forum because the "Transition Town" movement that is taking shape in Europe, and to a lesser extent in the US, would be a particularly appropriate vehicle for such a Taoist agrarian community. James Lovelock predicts a population of 500 million will see the 22nd century. I predict that many of them will be Taoists!

David Loy - "The Great Awakening: A Buddhist Social Theory" - explores what a "culture of awakening" would look like. I don't think excessive rules and regulations are the answer - they have generally been regarded as a sign of a decrepid culture - but what kinds of institutions would exist, what kind of behaviors would be rewarded and made positive examples of, if an awakened populace were the goal? Human beings are basically reptiles who are tremendously susceptible to environmental conditioning. We gotta get 'em young if positive attributes are to be encouraged more than the negative ones. I can offer no rigid examples or social prescriptions, I merely pose the question.

David Carradine, Michael Jackson, Farah Fawcett_____________________? 1. Dick Cheney 2. Britney Spears 3. No one 4. Osama Bin Laden 5. Pat Robertson 6. Iranian Mullahs 7. Kim Jong Il 8. Pamela Anderson 9. Donald Rumsfeld 10. Blasto

I once read that you should always spend as much on shoes as you possibly can because your feet are so important to the rest of you. I think the same may be true with vitamin supplements, depending on the quality of your food supply. If you're a poor, caffeine-dependent college student eating bean and cheese burritos from Taco Bell 10 times a week, you should probably take a good vitamin (or spend the vitamin money on better food). If you live in the shithole I live in called Los Angeles, then a good anti-oxidant is a really good idea given the quality of our water and air. But ultimately, it's more about increasing your chi flow and getting exercise than using supplements.

I think you'll find indium very rewarding. There is a noticeable reaction within a week, but the effects seem to continue with long-term use. If you are extraordinarily healthy like I was when I started it - daily nei kung and four day/week weight training - you'll still feel something good. My guess is the older you are the more pronounced the subjective experience. It may depend on your age too. I'm almost 50.

Could you elaborate?

I realize this not about Taoism per se, but it is obliquely related to the health care fiasco in the USA. http://haarm.org/ please forward this to every creature you can think of.

This is the piece I read decades ago on the subject. I can't recall too much, other than I loved it, and should probably revisit it some time. The Tao of Psychology: Synchronicity and Self (Paperback) by Jean Shinoda Bolen http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Psychology-Synch...9778&sr=8-1

"you guys have no clue of the effects of the legislation of which you speak. (if you do and still support it, then I apologize for your gullibility in accepting the #s you're believing...or, that's just your political bent, which although I completely disagree with, I can half-respect with a funny look on my face.) I'm out for the weekend Look objectively at these things, fellas - a politician telling you to "hurry up rush we need to get this done now or its never going to get done and here's really the only way it can happen" most certainly has his fingers crossed behind his back." From this sentiment I am assuming that you hold your political opponents in very low regard. John Galbraith and Bill Buckley were the best of friends for decades, sharing a mutual love of many interests, even though they were on opposite ends of the political spectrum. I suspect this will become less likely in this highly polarized climate. Personal attacks don't often contribute to informed discussion. I've been a political junkie for almost forty years and performed fairly well in grad school; I am aware of the roots of my ideas. The life of the mind is an exciting one, particularly when hidden connections are revealed between ideas that on the surface appear incongruent. But this process can only happen in a benevolent and cooperative spirit. I would encourage everyone to consider the possibility that there are thinking people who represent a variety of intellectual persuasions. To insist that some points are beyond debate is to cut off creative thought. I don't consider myself an egalitarian, but I recognize the risks of letting insurance companies run a nation's health-care policy. Their creative contribution to society is, in my opinion, vastly lower than their compensation. But I recognize that this is a debatable point, and not worthy of impugning the intellect of people I have never met. I've learned an important lesson in public blogging; don't assume that personalities who are attracted to Asian thought are necessarily progressive. I obviously enjoy Taoism, as well as Buddhism, for the way it resonates with the tenets in my own mental universe. But I cannot lay claim to an exhaustive knowledge of Asian thought. Perhaps that could be a subject for discussion - "Does Taoism presuppose a political viewpoint?"

The USA is a business-run society, has been since the end of the civil war. We can expect societal norms that prevail in European social democracies to fall well outside American parameters. Our use of the term 'socialism' is almost entirely perjorative, and in fact, the average American knows very little about the political spectrum and where specific ideas are plotted. If you listen to Fox News on a regular basis, you would come to believe that fascism and socialism are the same thing. A lower-division political science class at any junior college could fix that, but of course, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh couldn't handle college. "A little learning is a dangerous thing."

Does internal energy practice make you more vulnerable to emotional intensity? I noticed this watching the movie "Up." My 12 yr old was sniffling uncontrollably on my left, my wife to the right, and as my ego got in the way of any conspicuous sobbing, the energy of grief and remorse that the writers so skillfully illicited from the audience was overwhelming. I felt wave after wave of energy, mostly from the tailbone to the throat. It occured to me that if any chi kung master could learn how to open up the energy channels by paying attention to the physical manifestation of the grieving response, chi Kung would sweep the planet, since the vast majority of mortals, as screwed up as they are, do suffer tremendous grief and shame, whether they acknowledge it or not. Anyway, go see the movie. If you're middle aged and don't weep, there's something wrong with you. There are powerful themes related to unfulfilled dreams and the agony of dying with regrets. According to Dan Reid in "The Complete Book of Chinese Health and Healing" (1994:356) one of the main reasons for longevity practices is to live long enough to get your act together mentally and spiritually so you don't find yourself on your deathbed weeping over a foolish and meaningless life. Apparently, the ancient Chinese took the midlife crisis very seriously.

here is just one link that might answer your question. http://healthier-harvest.com/risotriene.htm

according to the available literature, there is virtually no uptake of indium by either plants or animals from natural sources. the www.indiumease.net website says that some of the other products, like the indium water, aren't too good and may even be unhealthy.

I guess after years of living like this, it comes naturally. I was a kid who rode around in the back of a VW bus on the way to health food stores in Berkeley, CA. back in the early 70s. I'm a freak of nature...as is my family.

They weren't attempting comedy - the content speaks for itself My fault however, since I did record it as "hysterical" which it is not, now that I think of it. I could easily go postal over the FDA mess as well. We are so phukked in so many ways.

Have to agree wholeheartedly with Ryan T. - if the American food supply wasn't so nutritionally depleted, maybe we could get by without vitamins. But the topsoil is worn out, and most of the fruit and veggies are picked too soon. If you're a meat eater, you have to buy organic because the meat supply is almost toxic. A simple multi-vitamin is a very sound policy unless you have access to Oprah's food supply. But, ultimately, jacking up your chi flow will do more for you than drastic changes in diet. I've been thinking about posting my whole supplement regimen here soon. Stay tuned.

Just kidding.

It's been 21 short months of Nei Kung and I've read all the warnings about blocked energy flows and the unfortunate side effects of stagnant chi bouncing around inside. My electrical symptoms throughout the arms are now localizing in my upper torso, and my tan tien is generating a lot of heat. What are the dangers, if any, of not checking in with a qualified instructor? I own books by Frantzis, Deng Ming-Dao, Jwing-Ming Yang, Way-Sun Liao, and Chia, but sometimes the text seems impenetrable. I hear from some sources that I should become more familiar with the tan tien before attempting the MO. It's all pretty freakin' cool that this stuff is happening, regardless.

It appears that my humor bounces off the foreheads of some.

That was purely the intention!

Looks like Hollywood is going to treat 2012 like an impersonal release of pent-up cosmic tension, rather that what is looking like a likely point of convergence between social, economic, and ecologic collapse. "We couldn't possibly have anything to do with this? Poor little us?" http://www.whowillsurvive2012.com/

This is a 5-10 minute read with citations. If you're looking for a quantitative, no BS explanation of chi kung medical benefits, you'll get a lot out of this. http://www.ancientway.com/Pages/QiGong.html