Tokoyo Tama

I haven't gone through the thread as a whole much, but this statement seems pretty far off the line. Mostly wished to voice my opinion, and not start a debate within this thread, but to dismiss the influence of Shinto in the rape of Nanking is HUUGELY oversimplifying and is indicative of possibly grossly misunderstanding the causation of such an event. Just to put one fact out there to connect the two, Shinto and the belief that the emperor descended from amaterasu was a major factor in causing much of the unparalleled actions of the Japanese in WWII. Don't know if that was the best fact linking shinto to the war, but it's the one I'll post. Tried to write a response to the 'good Buddhists' thought you had, but I cannot find a sufficiently distinct point for me to hang on to. I'll say this instead:I've always thought the problem with organized religion was the (almost always eventually corrupt) organization. This is a function of their influence, and thus power, which naturally lends itself to abuse. If any ethos has sufficient sway, there will be horrors done ostensibly in its name. A brief personal opinion on the thread topic: I suspect if one of two paths is ever better, it is likely that only one who has walked far on each, or walks neither, would be able to say which leads where. If we believed ourselves to be on an inferior path, would we walk it?

Dogma is dogma no matter what form it takes, although everyone subscribing to a dogma wishes to believe that their rules hold the true truths and so are outside of the realm of dogma.

apparently geomagnetic storms are considered highly significant in Russia, so this sort of warning is highly unlikely to be replicated in any other countries. Might be just a random quirk of culture, though it could also be that Russians have focused on the effects of radiation more and for longer than western (is that the correct word here?) researchers. I know that Beckers research in 'the Body Electric' was inspired by some obscure Russian research on electricity and biological functions (well, something vaguely like that). edit:figured I'd note that the only refs I found to the original article was repostings of the original article, so it is very dubious considering the quantity of junk reports coming out of Russia. That being said, there could still be general smatterings of truth within it even if it is essentially a false report. on the videos:multitasking listening to this, but why is he calling the sun a black hole?!?!?! Like above, might be some truth, but that's some very weak information

I thought the main distinction that 'high' imparts upon magic (just feels right to me ) is ritual. So it is my impression that the practitioner chooses the goal, and that 'realizing' God would only be the goal of those who chose for it to be, not of all 'high magick' practitioners. One book, tome really, that has been of great interest to me is "Mysticism" by Evelyn Underhill, a victorian who had the perspective of Theosophy, the Golden Dawn and eventually went the vanilla Christian route. She discusses some of the distinction between mysticism and magic (maybe magic is the wrong word here). Very dry reading, but some of the best insight density I've seen around related to western spiritual practices. Probably a free download from somewhere. I mention it because it phrased very eloquently the merging with _____ through mysticism, and contrasts that with the willful means of ritual magic. In fortune cookie form -> "Balance is of utmost importance" Sidenote: Never have and probably never will read the writings of Crowley directly, but I get the impression that he has a veery developed third eye (upper dan tien? dunno if they're synonymous) but doesn't have any 7th chakra opening or activity. Do you know if he did much to open the 7th chakra/merge with God/Kether (not 'gods', I know he was down with that) or something similar?

If anyone looks into this and finds good quality links with some details (like which of the existant millions of Russians is being referred to) that'd be... nifty

Tumeric is a great rhizome. I can believe that it would be useful for clearing meridians (though I suspect it would focus on some) and can be taken by anyone w/o allergy with no concern of imbalance unlike with formulas. Tasty too if used in cooking

I've heard that the radiation does travel up the wire, though a bluetooth earbud doesn't have this issue (it has it's very own special set of issues )

is this a drew hempel ref? saw him on another message board before I made my way here. Had lots of character. edit:guess I could throw in my 1 cent. Though I don't utilize any lotus like sitting, they seem to create a circuit with the lower legs that might have some kind of 'energy' effect. I'm a big fan of bodies as circuits

I wonder if this is truly the best way to deal with the strange parts of practice or if there is another way that neither rejects nor strives for these occurrences. I haven't thought of many alternative views, but have been playing with fully allowing for all options at once: both being delusional and 110 % correct. Helps me not take either side too seriously. I'm still working through being a generally critical person, so apologies for the phrasing having an air of critique...

Magick often doesn't go very far in the letting go of ego sense. Magick is very 'will' based, Taoist as well as many other systems aim to transcend the ego (or however it is phrased within their system). I would term this as a shortcoming in the relatively young system of modern magick, but with the proper motivation and understanding on the part of the practitioner this is a non-issue. Not sure this is the most appropriate place to post this analogy, but too late. So, it's great to spread seeds all around, but isn't it silly to throw seeds on barren land? First work the land, then plant the seed, water, etc etc. So all these people who are trying to do what they have intellectually rationalized as the 'best' path might be selling themselves short by not enabling a truly sustainable or fully transformative practice. Surely could be more elegantly phrased, but the gist should be pretty clear from that. ps:after using a 'k' with magic 3 times, I'm pretty sure I can't personally handle that spelling... Random moments of personal insight.

The above cited fybromyalgia study, and why westerners studying eastern medicine can be hilarious... http://www.annals.org/cgi/reprint/143/1/10.pdf generally seems like a valid study, but the limitations are significant. I'm also pointing this out as I wonder how significant anyone who knows more about acupuncture than myself considers this limitation. "Limitations: A prescription of acupuncture at fixed points may differ from acupuncture administered in clinical settings, in which therapy is individualized and often combined with herbal supplementation and other adjunctive measures. A usual-care comparison group was not studied." Didn't read all the cited studies, so maybe other cited studies did not have this limitation. Seemed philosophically interesting as on of the most cited differences between western and eastern medical practices is the west treats diseases, the east treats patients.

Much appreciated words. Going to let that absorb for a bit, we'll see what sort of vital nutrients are contained within it.

Too true.

Had a thought that could eventually lead to a reduction in flatulence, though it will take a long time. You mention you are into very hot food, something that modern brits are apparently notorious for going well above and beyond on. The appeal of hot foods physiologically is the endorphins (I believe, might be a different pain-killer) that your body produces in reaction to it. Maybe try adding other endorphin producing activities such as high intensity jogs or exercise into your lifestyle. Could eventually lead to a natural reduction in your desire for the super hot fart inducing stuff. On a side note, if you do decide to let go, maybe stand in back row. At least then people will know you are being considerate while offending them...

Never heard of a spiritual system that condoned suicide, don't expect to. If one wishes to gain insight from death there are ample Tibetan Buddhist methods for gaining deaths knowledge without suicide. Have not read this thread, so apologies if this is post is redundant. If you know someone who is, or personally are considering suicide please please please consult a professional or simply call the suicide hotline. The reason (to my obviously limited understanding) that suicide is avoided at all costs in every spiritual system I am aware of is that it is in no way way a path to insight, it only gives up the insights that could have been gained in life. There's plenty of time to be dead once your life is over, and I mean this quite seriously. Suicide as a "reset button" doesn't work either within the context of reincarnation. If one has spent 100 lives working to become human, only to gain flawed karma through committing suicide and lose all of that progress is not a clean slate, it's karmic suicide. Buddha said all life is suffering, his conclusion was that one should LIVE a full life to work through our desires for comfort. In the first couple of posts I noticed Japan as being cited as a counterpoint to suicide being shunned. First of all, this supports the fact that the initial post is very very problematic as suicide in Japan is the ULTIMATE form of shame. It is almost improper to consider suicide to be the name for the traditional practice in Japan as it was more of an execution by ones own hand. So any justification on suicide based off of Japanese tradition is absolutely FALSE. This isn't a full description of why it is false, but it should make one appreciate that superficially judging other cultures can lead to some very flawed conclusions. (edit:see Zhuo Ming-Dao post above)