Deepbluesea

Dayammn! Why you gotta hit me in the head with a brick like that! Stigward's 49 day plan made me read out loud the first chapter twice a day. Its a real ego crusher. I'm always trying to work an agenda; push things my way; pull things over to me. Careful study of chapter 1 may help you, but that's just my ego speaking. I'll be ready for careful consideration of chapter 2 in my next lifetime. Great question, lots of good insight ... like you say, my ego smirks and slips through the side door and says to me, "There are bigger questions to ask, more important problems to solve, you've got me handled, go on. Quick! Look over there, take care of that, I'm good, you put me in my place." The ego is a magician. My good coaches, my good teachers, my good sensei never gave me a word of approval. I had never thought of that before. It was always, "That's not good enough, you can do better." But the only thing that made me better was my ego striving to please. Quit asking the tough questions will ya? I think that Santiago has said that if you don't check your ego at the door during some practices you'll get your head handed to you (not his words).

Lino, Sounds like you are in a big pile of stinking manure. First off you need to KNOW with all your heart and being that you have some major league heavy hitters on your side. There are mountains pulsing under your feet sending you pure, perfect, loving energy. I've had a pretty easy life. I guess I've been lucky. Don't get me wrong, I've been on the bad end of several good ass-whoopins, and I have had my share of rip-your-eyes-out bad trips, but never both at the same time for two years like you have. I'll throw my two cents in because I can't never seem to be able to keep my mouth shut. You, and only you, know what's right for you, only you can pull yourself up out of the fetal position you are now in. That prefaced, here's my bullshit to add in: --Fuck Philosophy. Thinkin' got you to where you are now. Get really, really busy -- no idle time. Always busy always working. Be around people you know as much as possible. --Exercise until you drop. Either be around friends or be workin' your ass off. If you live in a city, run. I grew up burning wood for heat in the winter, my therapy is splitting wood. If I have a dilemma and I can't sleep, I always got somethin' to work on. 11pm, 4am no matter when, don't lay in bed awake. Find your physical therapy and use it. If you can't sleep at night, get up and work. Don't sit in zazen, don't think, wear your ass out. Stop working your mind, work your physical body. --Two quotes (of many) that come to mind. Its easy for me to spout this stuff, I'm not in the predicament you are in. The sunshine and lollipops world that I live in aint yours, do your best. --My mom always told me, "When everything is down, just smile. Things will get better if you just smile. No matter how bad it hurts, smile" --When I was playing high school football I had an assignment to take on a lead blocker much larger than I was, every play. He destroyed me. Not once did I get the better of him. It was a constant wave of pain and vague consciousness play after play. Over and over again, as I lay on the ground, my face bloody, my helmet crooked, stars all around; he stood over me and said (probably with some variation but I don't remember), "Ya better toughin' up pussy." That was twenty years ago, but I still remember it and when I'm feeling absolutely drained and limp for whatever reason, that comes to mind. You gotta get up off the ground, put your game face on, and be there for the next play. You may never win, but its not about winning, its about fighting. Lino, Don't let this beat you! You can, you can, you can! Stand up and ROAR! This is YOUR life! TAKE IT! Sending you lots of love, bro. Not from me, I'm not that good, but the ground is quaking beneath you from the love and energy from the BIG boys and girls. You have EVERYTHING you need to kick ass, I'll be expecting to hear a roar like a lion makes letting everyone and everything in the jungle know that it is KING. Stand up now and roar and take back your life! Peace and love, Dave

Thanks! What great new habits to fall into! There are a lot of people I know that could benefit from this ... mainly me.

Haha, that is ridiculous! No disrespect toward you, Blume. I am merely a beginner at this, but the "story" as you call it is unfolding in front of you this moment! Thanks for the kick-ass video Prince. "Go Fuck Yourself Dick Cheney!"

Zoose, I complement you on your thoughts and your analysis, I can't find anything specifically wrong with your logic. But it sounds very risk averse. I trade futures for a living among other things, I mitigate my risk by any means possible, I also jump out of airplanes and run down class V rapids. I read a plaque on a wall at a bar once. It was a rhyme that I don't remember, but it was something like: Joe didn't smoke, drink or have fun, when he died he went to the pearly gates and wasn't allowed in. St Peter said he couldn't have died ... only because he had never lived. You have an idea of Qi far more advanced that I could ever perceive. Your thoughts are logical and sound. You may be exactly on the spot, no one can ever tell you what is right for you. My perception is, my friend, don't get lost in your thoughts, longevity is a figment ... eat blueberries and drink green tea 24/7 don't leave your house ... find a very, very safe environment and hunker down. OR LIVE YOUR LIFE LIKE THE NEXT SECOND NEVER EXISTED! I will write this and probably be hammered for it: Longevity is for pussies!

I think you should change the name to "It'll Kick Your Ass Up Over Your Eyebrows." A bit more inconvenient than "KAP", but more appropriate maybe.

It occurs to me that this is off-subject and I don't have a whole lot of evidence. Haha, I was thinking I might get destroyed by a debate too. B-12 absorption is more of a problem than the B-12 itself, from what I understand. A glass of low-fat milk and an egg will give you 4 times the amount recommended for nursing women (which I am not, but that is the high level on the recommendation chart). I have mentioned a book called Blue Zones before. I think it was a Harvard study that located the communities in the world that lived the longest and wrote about their lifestyles. I am pretty sure that all of them were either completely vegetarian or ate very limited meat, I think one just ate meat once a year. One of my big problems with meat is that it is generally really crappy. I live in the top agricultural county in Virginia -- renowned worldwide for its poultry industry. The "farmers" here along with the agribusiness infrastructure can produce a chicken or turkey, prepare it, and send it to any industrialized country in the world cheaper than that country can produce the same product itself pound for pound. You don't get big fat poultry that grows superfast from feed and water alone. They pump these birds full of anything and everything to grow them huge. The same is true of all meat industries. The organic movement is big around here too, but really it is just a step down from the other meat factories. If you want good meat you have to go out and get it yourself, and that kind of sucks. The best meat you will ever have is off of a yearling doe with a shot between the eyes that drops it immediately. Dress it and skin it right then and there. Now you have some kick-ass meat, how good do you feel about yourself? I lived that way for a while, when I wanted dinner I went out looking for volunteers. I never felt good about it though. Taking the life of an animal really sucks. Ever gig frogs? You can cut off their legs, hell you can cut them in half, throw them over the hillside. You'd be frying them up and still hear the poor bastards barking ... or a rattlesnake still shaking in the frying pan, it takes two people to skin a rattlesnake, even after you cut its head off it will still try to strike you with its headless body. There is no joy in taking life, and its not a necessity. I have said for a long time, "If meat didn't come on a styrofoam trays and you had to go get it yourself, there would be a lot more vegetarians." A walk through the garden plucking the ripe fruit is joyful while gunning a defenseless being down unnecessarily is cowardly and spiritually empty. Sorry for the downer! Wendy's has $1 Double Cheeseburgers I love 'em and they are goood! Just not good for you. I gotta get some shit done so I got a clear body, mind, and spirit for the equinox shakti tonight! Peace, Dave

Oh, I can't wait to see your argument as to why vegetarianism is unhealthy. I am not, but I eat meat sparingly. There is significant evidence that equates longevity and a balanced vegetarian diet, likewise, there is evidence supporting digestive health and fasting, not to mention the other benefits. Obviously, if you overdo the fasting or just eat potato chips and call yourself a vegetarian you will run into problems. I love a good confrontation! Where is your subforum?

KAP does suck! I've got this pile of energy and my crappy teacher hasn't told me what to do with it yet! (Maybe he has, and I wasn't paying attention) Haha. It sucks so bad I am taking side jobs so that I can take KAP 2 and attend the Hoshinfest in Newport News. If you don't want amazing changes to your psyche and spirit, stay far, far away. I sure hope KAP 2 sucks worse than KAP 1!

I am way out of my league here, but since I usually am, and still run my mouth (or hit the keyboard as is the case) I would say either your getting mind-fucked by an entity or you are mind-fucking yourself (I'm still pretty convinced it could be the latter), if it is indeed the former, from what I understand this movie doesn't end real well. If you are not concerned about your health, energy, or attachment, why the post? I heard a song as I was driving home today, I really don't like the song -- Me and Bobby McGee, I think by Cris Christopherson, but this was the crappy version by Janis. "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." I wonder if you look deeper into this, I think you are interested in non-attachment. That is why you prefer this relationship to all of the relationships you have had since you were thirteen -- the non attachment. I'm not on a high horse here or anything, I've got a pile of unhealthy attachments and the above quote made me think about mine. No matter what your attachments are, they will necessarily bring you fright, anger, sadness, or grief in the end (that's awfully bold and I may get destroyed for writing it but I bet it is generally true). Maybe these emotions are just the flip side to your orgasms and you love the roller coaster. Respectfully, your words sound markedly like a hedonistic/nihilistic hybrid. If you don't care about anything other than getting off, sounds to me like you are in seventh heaven. I don't think you are who you let on to be though, I think you are protecting yourself with your carefree attitude. Your original post demonstrates reservations and caution. If you were in fact unconcerned about this you would have never posted. I could be wrong though, I am wrong ALL the time. Of course, as always, best wishes.

Sorry, that makes it a tough choice, isn't attachment a bitch! Only you know the right thing to do. From what I have read here it doesn't sound healthy, best wishes. And who knows maybe the liver cure will end up being exactly the right thing, maybe in some way you can have your cake and eat it too.

I have no idea what women should do to expand and protect their energy. I thought that the original post was a little fright-ridden and paranoid (no offense smartgirl, my reactions are wrong all the time). SB, I truly admire your skepticism and consideration. There is so much information available today, you are obviously looking at things closely, keep it up! I hate it when people tell me to stop being so critical. When you ask someone to take a leap of faith, you gotta have a background, some referrals, ... something.

At a paranormal conference years ago a speaker was talking about having sex with ghosts. He started by asking the people in the forum how many had seen a ghost. Most of them stood up. He then asked of those standing, "How many of you have touched a ghost?" All but around 20 sat down. He then asked of those approx. 20, "How many of you have had sex with a ghost?" All but one man sat down. The speaker asked him to give his name and where he lived. He said, "Billy Bob from West Virginia. The speaker then asked him again, "You have actually had sex with a ghost?" Blushing, the man said, "Oops, I thought you said goat." I have never had sex with a ghost ... or a goat for that matter.

Yep, just another case of big business putting profits above the best interests of their consumers, which is an unsustainable way to continue doing business. As a nation we are salt and sugar sluts, agribusiness knows this, pumping as much maltodextrin and high fructrose corn syrup into retailers and wholesalers from McDonalds to Sysco and Cardinal who in turn shoot it into our blood supply when we enter the franchises like smack fiends looking for a fix. I think health care should be affordable for EVERYONE, but I also think you should take care of yourself. I am pretty active. All I have ever needed to maintain a good energy level and stay trim is to stay within the traditional food pyramid. I am though, at my best when I am eating 10-12 servings of fruits and vegetables a day and fish and eggs for protein. I make sure most of my grains are whole, but I think I have read that most Taoists don't eat grains at all. I'm wondering about more black beans, do black beans really give you more jing?

My comment was really just joking. I wanted a first-hand account of the exorcism. I am sorry that you lost a friend over it. Like you say about the horse, at least you tried.

The quickest way to eliminate joint pain is to adopt a vegetarian diet and quit being so adamant that humanity can only exist on a diet that includes meat! Sorry my brother, I know that this does not help, and it may not even be correct ... just figured I'd give you a laughing prod. Haha. Best wishes. Peace and love, Dave

I am wondering if you are not colliding two different thoughts into one. You can never put your hand in the same river twice (sorry, I don't know the real quote) is one of my favorites. Things are in constant motion. Since you are bored it sounds like you have come to the conclusion that you must be bored because either you or your world have become stagnant. I don't think that I agree with your logic. Maybe you are bored despite the fact that everything around you is in constant flux. I can't equate your problem with permanence to what I just wrote though. Maybe there really is no permanence. It sounds like you are saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Or "It feels like deja vu all over again." I don't think there is a quick answer to your question. It is almost Koan like. It seems like you can not have both permanence and motion but we do. I do think though, that the boredom part of your statement is a different altogether. One could be bored in a changing environment or a permanent environment. As others have said, that's more of a mind set. This is something good to think about -- I'm certainly not bored, thanks! Peace and love

Thanks, very cool. Maybe one day I'll get one or two of them scratched off! Peace

I like the question! And I am guessing you don't have the answer. Whether or not it was cancer I don't care. But this post was specifically about longevity. It sounds great that eating liver seems to have this effect in rats, and hopefully something similar in humans, but it says nothing about longevity. Which has more energy, a stick of dynamite or a log of wood? The dynamite expends a lot of energy very quickly, but the wood burns slowly for a long time. Ramon, I am trying to trend toward vegetarian, I truly think that it is much more healthy. I can't really figure out how your argument of vegetarianism wouldn't work in other circumstances, it only works because we can ship ripe fruit and vegetables from all over the world very quickly. To some extent the same can be said for meat eaters. I lived for some time where the only meat I ate was wild. I hunted, I gutted, I skinned, I butchered. Personally I never liked it. I never enjoyed taking the life of another being. I didn't enjoy bleeding it and putting my hands inside its warm body to gut it and finally to butcher it, it doesn't smell particularly good, it doesn't feel real good either. I also raised hogs for a while. Its not much fun sprinkling a little food on the ground so it drops its head low enough that you can stick a handgun between its ears and pull the trigger. When you miss the brain and it doesn't drop immediately it really, really sucks. My point is that in today's society, if meat wasn't shipped in and conveniently packaged on styrofoam trays at FoodDog, and people were forced to "get their hands dirty" I think there would be a lot more vegetarians. But I have brought it back away again from a question regarding longevity. My apologies.

I will mention something that I learned some time ago about longevity and diet, but does not specifically pertain to Taoism. In a book called Blue Zones, researchers found four communities where people lived to be substantially older than the averages of those that surrounded them. If I remember correctly, most were either completely vegetarian or ate very little meat. Other qualities of the people of these blue zones were that they have a very strong sense of community, individual purpose, and a strong sense of spirituality. I don't think that the book mentioned anything about internal martial arts.

Thank you, I look forward to more also. I will try to understand, but it is difficult because it seems that we are from two different planets without a translator. I deeply appreciate your efforts in using yourself as a guinea pig for the whispers you have heard. I endlessly respect your value of trying over succeeding. Peace and Love, Dave

You alchemists really scare me. I admire your efforts and ambition but it seems like an awful lot goes wrong most of the time. I am new here and you have been around for a long time, I respect what you say, and maybe you know exactly what you are doing. But all I can foresee is: "help me, my johnson just fell off, I have no energy whatsoever, I was practicing some alchemy and I just don't know what went wrong." I know nothing, the extent of my practice involves very simple, well researched practices that I have picked up on Trunk's page among a few, widely circulated others. Please be careful and emphasize to others that your experimentation is just that: an adventure into the unknown and much, so much can go wrong. I know that new ground is never broken without exploration and that ground is broken with tireless commitment, experience, and confidence among other things. I look forward to reading the fruits of your efforts. Please convey that this can be a dangerous business. Respectfully and with love and peace, Dave

It sounds to me like you got it already ... listen to yourself ... continue to grow. You may change, keep your mind open. When you stop asking questions, when you become the master instead of the student, that is when you become stagnant. I think most religions have good features. We corrupt them and add unnecessary things to them and then the good is lost or clouded at best. I like the idea of karma and rebirth but I can not buy into them completely ... for now. I'm better at just taking a piece out of this religion and that. I've kinda decided just to try and take care of my body, and love everyone and everything. After Katrina hit NO, in a NO concert, Papa Mali said something like -- the difference between religious people and spiritual people is that religious people are afraid of hell, spiritual people have already been there. Maybe not 100% true, but not bad.

Maybe this is reading into your post a little too deeply, but I am wondering if you are either trying to sabotage your relationship subconsciously. or simply looking for a reason to end your relationship. I can not address the chemistry side of things but being so excited that you get a wet spot on your pants is not uncommon at all. I have joked about it with male and female friends, I don't know if it is "unhealthy" in any way but I can tell you categorically that it is extremely common. The problem that I see is that it sounds like you are taking something natural, normal, common and humorous and contemplating ending your relationship over it. Did you see Obama joking about his big ears the other day at the pyramids? Laugh with yourself a little. Will she be able to laugh about it? That would be about the only important question here to me. Maybe you can take a closer look at your relationship (your actual relationship -- your connection with another human being, not your hard wet weener). Are things going in the right direction? If they are then go with it, forget the negativity and your embarrassment and go with it. Sabotaging relationships for no reason is as common as the "problem" you think you have. I'd put my money on the former being the actual "problem". If I am right, are you sabotaging it because you should be getting out or are you sabotaging it because you are scared? Maybe I am flat out wrong too! Good luck, peace and love

I have been reading this post for days now, sometimes disinterested, sometimes sad. Thank you seadog: kind, wise words.