Wayfarer64

Thanks TM- you say it well, for something that we supossedly can't articulate!-

My only knowledge of Sailor Bob came through a link I found here... he does seem to be a very interesting sort of bloke... I hope you get a chance to meet him.... and he you too of course! Sean ....Please -try to realize that to feel anything but pride for what you have created here, is missing the importance of what you've done for us. Even as the three of us have been somewhat absent from the board of late - WOW_ it has grown! We are each and all much better people for having known eachother -even if merely in cyberspace.-

Hi again Taomeow- I guess this is not the best vihicle to express my thinking - but I am not saying "anything goes " as to Taoist Practice. The way IS a razons' edge... I am saying that the manifestations we go through in life, and in our thinking, - become the path no matter where the path leads us- if it gets us to be "one with the Tao " -then we got most of it right... There are many paths through and on the Tao... many may be false, - in that they lead to confussion and not clarity- but they may be the path to knowledge none the less. everything in its own time

Yeah thats a great time to take a walk in the woods - the initial - slightly eerie aspect adds an edge that actually deepens my sense of contentmant when I get past it while walking and listening... Sitting quietly under a tree anytime is basic to my well-being... Enjoy! This transit seems very auspicious to me as it nearly coincides with the Hebrew New Year...I do feel a new beginning blossoming for me ...(Soon)-

Thank you AiWei . I will keep this always. I have been wondering why I have not felt Father Paul pass into/through me at some time... This phenominum has always been the case with those I have felt any such spiritual connections with... Now I understand that his spirit has been waylayed in China! ... in fact it seems as if he has become a very "spread-out" sort of entity, compared to the well-centered old hippy that I had met in cyberspace... One with the Tao indeed... Wild-rice pancakes are on the menu !

These next two days are high holy days in the Hebrew traditions... I have often thought that the 'concept that the whole world is reborn every year a very Taoist idea- for me it is reborn evry minute of every day... Still a looking backward and forward in one's own life is often a very good tool to orient one's-self - have a great new year every one!- I celebrate as many "new years" as I hear about,-Bali has it's own as do several other small spots of humanity... any excuse to take note of change is a good thing -and the celibrations are always welcome- Shalom-PDG

I'll miss him... and am saddened by the loss to our community. I offer my prayers with those of his closer friends and kin. He was a great boon to us here.

I want to peep into a few of these ideas... BEING Insubstantial may be the goal for some . Going on an intrnal(lonely) journey that leads beyond the chosen/dictated) path of any given society and creates a new path -the edge of the razon -as it were...For one's own being to live on... NOT Being part of the social norm - their reality - gives them a status (as social beings)- that only makes them someone who is living a different reality- I see it then, as being perceptions that become a way to see who/what they are as individuals For a seeker who is trying to go beyond the mundane and expected paths that so many ASSUME is the only accepted pattern of life... Non attachment may be their way to become awakened... or maybe not...For some it is the long-term partnering that brings them to a state of harmony with life - -which is a pretty good step to have taken...for them- harmony with life can be found anywhere -it is a matter of us knowing ourselves well enough to abide as we grow...

I've also missed you Cloud Recluse. I too have not been on the Bums very often of late - But the growth here is amazing -Sean ...you have built a great site !!! I am sorry I missed you guys in NYC- but I was in Atlantic City etc ... looking for work & a place to live... Basic stuff that kept me away from contact- In any case It feels good to say howdy right here and now !

I am astounded by the number of new members over the past few months... It is a wonderful thing to happen here and Sean has done an amazine job. As to the thread- Sorry to interject -but I've not been on line much over the past few months... The Tao that we can speak of is just not the Tao... That is... Where? Could it be anywhere ...? or is it - (by its very nature...), just everywhere that is possible in nature, and can be explained with science and reason as well as that which is beyond the imagined and even that which I/we can not even imagine... where ever consciousness is expanding in step with the universal flux - through time and space? ...!? Is it by its very nature Way-Beyond our abilities to communicate...? So, for me, there is a possibliity that we will each be able to apply one's own connections to the Tao ...(yr inner Taoism)... to any approach to life's options... Any way/path can be on the way If you have heart when facing life's changes or yr just looking for answers to scary questions- Answers can be found in the YiJIng and almost any other Taoist lit... BUT- By the wey... I agree that Cleary has a very Buddhist take on Taoism in his translations... So welcome newbies... and I Believe we can learn from each other one and all...

I am glad you've joined us- I hope you will add many such observations over the coming years !-

Freeform- I appreciate where yr comming from on this topic-the maze refference is a very apt one and I have used the "female view" to problem solve -usually with a woman to help- The various ways that we humans look at, and react to life - is the rewards we may gleen from our interactions... But I too have run into the lack of integrety that Pietro alludes to- it is more common in less introspective women than those who meditate and take note of their own "beings" as a regular practice - which is also the case with men... So for me introspection and self analysis is the key to being true to ourselves... and how we interact- which I hope is another path to the middle way...

I am lost with all of this labeling !!! We are first of all human beings -not human actings or human pretendings etc... Be who you are and deal with yr reality as you are able - the rest is empty of meaning for me... I have always been able to attract women and I do not put much effort into it... Usually we pick each-other up rather than they allow me to pick them up or her picking me up... as if the activity is passive on one part.- Traditionally men are the aggressors -but allow the woman to act as the "leader in the wooing stages of a serious relationship... there is "courting" as it were - The pick-up scenerio has a very different set of behaviors to it ...as the results are very different and the desires are very different. each circumstance has its own essense just as each of us have our own spirits and needs that we hope to be cherished and fullfilled by our lovers... Sex without a spiritual connection may be great sex -but it is not ( usually) much like love-making and it has a very different place and meaning in my life.

The idea of blamelessness - which is one of the ideals of Taoism as I undestand it ; leads me to believe that my activities should not bring about results or conditions that I would feel myself to be at blame for -or guilty about. I think most of us - ( but maybe not those who are actually sociopathic anyway)- do indeed know the difference between right and wrong at a very basic "gut" level... we know when our thoughts and actions are low-down. The whole idea of living for the physical, sexual and hedonisic potentials of life is in itself a lowering of our beings. When we keep our consciousness higher in our efforts; than our efforts and actions will probably have better results -this does not however preclude the fact that no good deed goes unpunished -which has baffled me for a very long time !!! I do not think that there is any proscribed right or wrong in the usual christian morality view of life ( in the west mostly) -that is a reason that Taoism has so much appeal for me...The -" to every seasaon" -there is a reason-ecclesiastical -way of thinking... for the Christians -is to my thinking a rightious attitude - So, there is a time to seduce or be seduced, there is a time to kill. There is a time to go to war- it is odious and hateful but sometimes it is needed due to the foilbles of humankinds' nature... But back to topic-HONESTY and compassion are all that is needed to be a good lover. The rest is machanics.

Pietro- Kudos on having the sheep while riding a bike ! We discussed just that situation on an earlier thread and I have been very happy to see this activity given the light of day. If the gay rights agenda can usurp the freedoms of scientific research as has been noted around the web- than sheep lovers need to unite as well- if just to create another front for love and freedom... I am in favor of humor taking precidence over political correctivity at every instance ! Laughter at the expence of others proclivities is a god-given right ! BUT... ethics in love and romance is a very important factor of our interactions! We need to show respect & nurturing for each other. If we can laugh at our foibles while doing so all the better...

Age makes little difference to me. Older, younger same aged, it is the heart and mind that matter-the body can be ignored -even when making love! But the heart/soul connection is what is real... I for one have almost entirely given up on American women-just as I have given up on American society- there is so little culture here and so much materialism and attitude about status that I want to laugh/cry/scream/puke when I contemplate the wasted enegy and life forces ...

Now I'm curious (yellow)... AND THEY"RE OFFF...!!!

there is also the possibility of a PUA becoming an AFC...The ethics are probably the same in any indeavor for most people...either one is ethical or not. Some tret family better than any other people some do not ...etc... But how we treat our lovers is also a pretty good indication of how we treat ourselves, in that we put more energy into our "higher" realms of being rather than our more base realms of being - this to me is the crux of what gets bandied about as cultivation... Are we cultivating ourselves to be merely powerful or to be blameless... More later- off to work- peace-

Thank you for yr kind thoughts Paul. I am pretty well-grounded for the most part. Sometimes even well-rooted as I note in another thread here. I am happy to have the work to do, helping others enjoy this world as they see fit to do. I only think that if I hope to maintain a sense of being "one with all" slicing up the remains of my fellow creatures is a difficult way to feel the oneness...I am able to deal with it - but find myself asking forgiveness from these creatures quite often- mostly when I am forced to throw so much away do to corporate policy... I see it as very ironic as I make my way...- Peace my friend and I hope you are feeling well these days !

Here are the opening lines to my sonnet on the Yi Jings' 16th hexagram- these poems can be found @- http://www.lulu.com/pdgart Enthusiasm (16) Leaders seduce with melodic voice to flesh out ranks they're filling; Chanting monks reach ecstasy, as teen idols cause girls to swoon. Marshall airs stir men up to march and take part in killing, So I believe that much gets done compelled by a simple tune. As a musician I strive play into the silence that allows the music to exist...as if my own spirit were a part of that series of notes and tones and the emptyness were the ear of the Tao...So it is the silence that calls to me to fill it with my spiritual expressions... peace -

Paul I hope you know Mantis well enough to allow him to sleep on yr brain- I realize yr too old to ask yr mom if you can have a sleep-over date but be advised... numbing ones' brain can become as adictive as any opiate ... I had a dream a few nights ago where-in I did a sort of "I am one with everything meditation" and I had an instantanious rush of feelings that were very much akin to being opiated - & I'm talking Thai-pure/dream-land bye bye for now high... more intense than most of my meditative highs-tho not all of them... But when it was over -oh so very quickly... I had the feeling/thought that my "being all with one" as a philosophy had become a sometime thing and the dream was telling me to try to make it more permanent... The best way I know to do that is continued meditation on being one with all... I shall report back later if I can carry this forward to some lasting & affective state... But since I am now working in a deli- (cutting/slicing meat for customers much of the time) -it is kind of hypocritical of me to try so very hard in that effort.... It is the only job I was offered and had to take it ... Ironic NO?!

I was introduced to this link through the wonderful www.wakawakawaka .com blog site...Hosted by a good friend of mine. Check it out: http://www.newdualism.org/papers/R.Sperry/214-1980.htm It is rather dry by Bum standards but there is much to ponder and reflect on here...- Namaste

Hi Rain & a belated welcome to da bums...I've not been around much the last few months... so I am glad to get yr response to the link- And yeah the physics involved in the mental constructs we develope to explain our world are very confusing -even to some physicists... But it does work for me -we've gone over the movie - what the bleep do we know earlier on this site and it serves as a sort of quantum 101 pretty well... But the many quantum theory ties to Taoism are what excite me as I relate the ideas I am able to grasp back and forth in my mind... there are too many coralations for me to ignore... more later-

I have been sexually active with many women in many different types of social situations. The "paid for" sex of a high-maintenance American "girl friend" is in many ways more contrived than the "paid for" sex with a Thai "hooker" who ends up staying weeks with you for food and board and the soon very natural interactions such as taking her whole family to the movies every so often etc... The sex is what you make of it with every person you have sex with. I paid for sex with professionals in Amsterdam who gave me GREAT sex and I left energized and renewed as I would with any "loving" sex...-There were also lousy paid for experiences there and else where -and some long-term affairs where the sex just wasn't too good... Of the dozens of longer-term relationships I have nurtured and been nurtured by, there are very few viable comparisons... each was different and I gave/took very different things from each... this whole argument is just not real to me... each of us deals with our sexual partners in unique ways EACH INDIVIDUAL TIME we have sex not just in the differences between lovers... But as an individual having individual experiences I will not doubt Witches claims -extraordinary as they seem to be...-They are not typical in my experience not odd or outlandish -just not typical... But in my experience there was a "paid for" woman in BangKok who did cut up her Thai (ex)boy -friend when he came to take her away from me... she wanted to be with me and didn't give a shit what he or anyone else wanted... So I did become alarmed at her passion and determination to be with me...I took great cares not to make her angry-(the sex was incredable)... but there ya have it - some "hookers" do get attached and can be like any other lover when passions arise and take hold...

Dear S.Z. Since you have written many questions to me privately about these issues - and I have been reluctant to answer them -because you seem to be intent on truth and I can only offer opinion -I think this is the better place for me to address you. I am not a spokesperson for Taoism nor can I claim to be a true scholar as I do not read chinese, I have only written a book of poetry that is my artistic interpretation of the YiJing... For anyone interested here is the URL- http://www.lulu.com/pdgart But I shall try to answer you as I am able- My quest has always been introspective in nature - In that I delve into my own consciousness to seek answers as a result of applied logic, reason and experience- some of these experiences have been very esoteric in nature- (cosmic, super-natural or spiritual are other ways of stating this idea)...but the basis has been in deep meditation and strict martial practices. The deepest inner "me" I see as that which may be eternal, but my human nature also has an outer me- (the personality - or that which dies)...the life that I am living now in time and space... My innermost being tries to get my selfish life-form to be spiritual in my conduct and direction -the body driven aspects are -just trying to make the most for myself in this existance... that is the simplest expression of the dualism I live with most of the time...That my training has taken most of the wind out of my personal sails -in a manner of speaking I see as a good thing. I am less materialistic and am living as a spiritual being as much as I am able to do so... But there is much effort given to these practices and my current state of being is not very comfortible -so a BALANCE must be found in life and that is the best reason I have for seeking Taoist answers to my questions... I seek balance...