Wayfarer64

I have thus far avoided the void and feel no less for the lack of void in my life. To void may be to deficate, or to emit some error or to negate some behavior...But I have not found my emptyness to be a void. When my mind is "blanked" and I reach a state of "no- thought" I am filled with a deep sense of fullness and a completness, a satisfaction that holds my consciousness at peace. If there is some great cosmic void in which my consciousness will find some long lasting peace I do not want to find it. I want to be able to come and go from that peacefull state, not remain there in an eternity of quietude... that sort of "completeness" has no appeal for me. I would rather exist in a more active role... able to be in a higher plane of consciousness, manifesting joys and wonders for life to spring from...not a pacified emptyness to waft through as an entity in eternity... But of these things I can only speculate, and hope my direction as a spirit having this incarnation will lead me to an ability for manifestations of light and growth of spirit in whatever comes to be my destiny...

Back to the topic -how we learn- I return to the Taoist thought that belief is not knowledge and that indeed belief is the source of much folly. I have long thought that Taoism has a deep and solid basis in a prototypicaly "scientific approach"; where in it is the observation and testing of actual cercumstances that has built the premise of philosophy for what we now call Taoism. (which developed into the YiJing) The constant change that is accepted as constant is the way of natural interaction, allowing seasons and life cycles to manifest in the myriad forms we take for granted ... Supposition and misplaced assumptions are not what I trust to gain my footholds for/of progress in my cultivation nor my day to day life... Changes can be observed and realized as growth or decay as cycles come and go... This does not preclude other ways of seeing reality nor has it always superceded them, but for me it is the basis of where I come from. I for one enjoy both the sun and the rain...

I try to walk 5 miles every day and usually average about 3 miles per day over a month's time... For me , it is best to walk through old growth forest which I am lucky enough to have some access to. Staying in touch with the natural world and my own heart-beat keeps me real...and healthier too... namaste-Pat

a hairs' breath? where's the d ?-is it another lost dimension? in fact I very much like the idea of a hair's breath- mine have mostly fallen from my pate and what life they have I hope has breath indeed- Just a lark's flight between us -

I for one whole-heartedly agree with Yen Hui's approach to this issue. There is no question in my mind after 40 years of studying the YiJing an the TaoTe Jing that the YiJing is the root from which Taoism (as we can follow it backwards in time) has grown in its' myriad forms and wonder. History matters in this issue. Fudging the time-line of growth (even in a circular sense of time) misses the importance of growth itself. We are now living in an age of knowledge that grew from the industrial age which developed from the agricultural times of our past as a connected family of mankind... There is a way in which nature takes its course and in the way we as humans have developed our understanding of our world. Preferences do not matter the pattern of growth does, it lends direction to our efforts and time. Yen Hui -Please !- keep up calling us on the truth of these matters! Confrontation is not what I see from you-only a grasp of truth being more important than druthers or anyone's casual attempts at insight, encluding my own- Wayfarer

Over the past 40 years it (& everythingelse) - has changed, encluding my thoughts and sense of being as a Taoist. Right now it seems I am trying to find a "blameless" path where I act to the best of my abilities as far as I can be able... But that does not preclude a beer nor exact anything other than a continued plan to be aware of the world around me... thinking about how I am being a human being a spirit being a spec of dust being conscious being becoming as I head towards non-being. So, in a way it just gives me a great frame-work to live within... maybe a bulwork of quiet contemplation offering something that is really just a sense of being one with all in some small (human) way...

You can "hit the ground running" by working out yr bi-laws and asking those who you wish to be your officers-(you will probably need at least 3 people that will take on the titles FOR NO PAY...usually a president, VP a treasurer and a secretary)- One person can do several jobs but in NJ I needed to have 3 people on my board of directors in order to apply. In fact for most NFP corporations the board is mostly a fund-raising operation... Try asking on line at NYU for info on applying - it may be the way to get started - but I wouldn't start out telling them you are still in China as they can probably only work free for NY State residents. good luck-Pat

Yes indeed they did their work for free at Rutgers Law School in Newark. As I noted - the state of NJ and feds had charges. NYU should have a similar program. It takes a few months longer then if you pay a law firm to do the work; almost a year in the case of TRAIN... but is time a big deal to you in this matter?

A few years ago I founded the Tenants Rights and Information Network. I went to the Rutgers Law School in Newark to have them help me create my bi-laws and apply for the NFP status. I opted for the 501 c 4 status (rather than a C3) - because I wanted to be able to legally lobby elected officials more than I wanted to offer donators a tax break. There were costs due to the state and federal agencies but they were not steep. If you want to incorporate in New York I am sure NYU has a law school to help you do this for free. -Or of course you can pay a lawyer lots of money to get it done somewhat faster. Good luck!!!-Pat

Shadow is much more than something it is the acknowledgement that something has gotten in the way of light and created a place of rest. It is the manifestation of where matter and light interact. It is the place of darkness and contemplation... And the art thing too- namaste- Pat

Yikes! This thread is pretty discouraging. I guess where there is smoke there's fire so some truth to all these allegations must be present. But I see many of these problems as indemic to an urban vs. rural setting. Those who stay close to the earth and her ways seem to keep a better balance. They also seem to be somewhat more backward in their socialization/ modernization. We are just not balanced as a society. When the empty-headed machismo of a puissant dolt like G.W. Bush can be passed-off as leadership then how can we hope to realize our potentials for furtherance as a species? If this sort of fool can be elevated to a position of real power what can we hope to attain as indeviduals seeking our own true natures? Where are the role models? I see it as a question of what we value in ourselves that gets our attention and is allowed to thrive. When the compliant male and the hard-edged female become those who succeed then the norm shifts away from the more traditional roles once assumed for each gender. There is no fault to be found 'cept within ourselves. If we do not like who/what we are -then it is up to each of us to develope those traits we wish to portray. If we toady to the expectations of a society so obviously out of synch with nature -(as to be on the brink of distroying our own planets' environment)... Why would we think that our acceptible behaviors as gender-specific persons would be in balance?

I went to Alex Grey's studio/museum a few months ago, after hearing him speak at a One World event in NYC...His exhibition space is open,I think its on west 29th Street or near there anyway.. - there is also a link to his work on my sites'...(http://www.pdgart.com) art-links page. My own work has Taoist content as well...Enjoy!!! http://www.pdgart.com/Abs.html

I just saw Pans' Labyrinth- a Spanish language film that has a strong element of fantasy/myth that should appeal to any interested in these aspects of imagination and its manifestations on the less etherial planes of being... Got me wondering some...

Welcome Rain ! Just a quick howdy and an introduction to what I'm into- By book's nice review at another site... http://www.thegoldenlantern.com/editor/editor.htm I hope you come out of yr shell and add yr thoughts around here! Namaste- Pat

All this back & forth didn't make me horney -but it does remind me of a joke from my sites' joke page - Subject: The Social Contract or PoliSci 101- A little boy goes to his dad and asks, "What's politics?".... Dad says, "Well, son, let me try to explain it this way:..... "I'm the breadwinner of the family, so let's call me Big Business. Your Mom, she's the administrator of the money, so we will call her the Government. We're here to take care of your needs, so we'll call you the People. The nanny, we'll consider her the Working Class. Now your baby brother, we'll call him the Future. Now, think about that and see if that makes sense."...... So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said. Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper. So the little boy goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. So he goes to his parents' room and finds his mother sound asleep, (dad having given her a sleeping pill), not able to wake her, he gives up and goes back to bed........ The next morning, the little boy says to his father, "Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now."...... The father says, " Good, son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about."...... The little boy replies, "Well, while Big Business is screwing the Working Class, the Government is sound asleep, the People are being ignored and the Future is in deep do-do."......

This is a good topic to explore, thanks Sean, I have a differing view of the chronology of today's main-stream pluralism. The introduction of pluralism was an intellectual movement that cought on over a few generations. The "lost Generation " of Hemingway and G. Stein as ex-pat Americans and the great French painters as well as Picasso had many influences from Asia and Africa in their work. Even earlier, Van Gogh was using Japanese prints to find subject matter. The next or so-called "Beat Generation" was extremely pluralistic as Our "Bums" comes from the Book Dharma Bums Which also illustrated the Eastern influences we admire so much here. The civil rights movement got started - (it may be argued)-in ernest back with Paul Robison. These open-minded attitudes were part of an ongoing inter-action over a long while. This was due mostly to improved communications world-wide as much as anything. The web that we enjoy so much is the tool that will break down all remaining barriers between societies. So I see these socialogical changes as being much more fluid and evident by degree rather than by steps that generations take. Being born in the middle of the boom, I have a vantage point that allows me to notice the trends from a sort of pivitol perspective , in that trends that started with those who are ten years older than me are now becoming mainstream in those who are ten years younger- with (now 50 somethings becoming grand-parents) ... As a self-proclaimed "old hippy" I am glad to see the environmental issues so important to me finally coming into the mainstream consciousness that I have tried to infiltrate for thirty years. I just hope it isn't too late ! This generation looking for new work and new fields , may need to open up the environmental field as one that can support people not cost jobs as has been claimed. That is the lesson the boomers need to advance... that with changes wrought; many new responsibilities are also created . I think of that as Response - Ability As in - Seeing what needs doing and then able to get the job done -or so I hope and pray Peace

About twenty years ago at the San Fransisco Renaissance Fair; a buddy and I walked around waving our arms erraticaly calling out... "WE NEED ARMS CONTROL ! HELP SUPPORT ARMS CONTROL...! That silly and fun sort of whackiness had to be done by force of choice. Can spontanious humor ever be done without choice? Silly, fun and whimsical behaviors seem to me to be acutely dictated by choice. That is what makes the god-head in us happy and allows us to live through the grusome realities that we may stumble into or have foisted upon us....with at least a semblance of free will... There certainly seems to be an element of fate in my life. Without the will to go on and meet it, there would be litle to recommend life to me, if/when things get pretty aweful. The challanges that we greet with a grin may be taken a bit more lightly, so I believe that we do have the choice as to how we act & react to the events of our lives. But who knows - What if it is all just a pre-programed sort of dream state we are in that allows us to manifest our wills in efforts to create loving kindness or any other sort of behaviors like some sort of test for the after life...There does seem to be an element like that in many of these entries... Namste-Pat

I am a non-consumer when it comes to fads and markets... The only markets I'm ever in are maybe a health-food or Asian food market, I give the local super-market a little biz for sundries- but most of those things I try to by at the local independent Pharmacy- just to support a store that is not a maga-chain, like CVS A&P etc...

I know of no better sleep-aid. If I have any, even the amounts in chinese take-out when I ask for none-(always)... I am asleep within 20 minutes... I guess it is my body matabolizing the crap ASAP to be rid of it... And yes it is pretty ubiquitous in many packaged foods. The unlabled idea is a good one in any case... -Bon Appitite!

That Jesus guy is always coming between folks. Wazzzup widat? Such a trouble maker! And he could have been such a nice catch if he hadn't gotten all up with his posse and roused the rabble against those nice Roman folks; then he gets the Romans to front for him & now everyone's asking what would he do? So Here's he said to be all pro-choice and whatever- but else wheres the anti-choice people say he's with them. Maybe he's got too many folks claiming his allegence...got me...baffled...

What were Bubba's last words? Hey y'all, watch this!

Lozen you make many good points here. It seems to me all good art just flows through the "creator"- be it music poetry, prose, painting sculpting...Most artists worth the name let it flow through them and then only adapt their skills to the needs of the work. Michaelangelo-said the figures were just in the stone and he only released them. The hard part of being an artists is the actual doing allowing one's self to be exhausted by the process and then get up and do it again until the work is done -it takes amazing amounts of will-power to keep going, open yrself up to the process and then allow yr skills to make the visions you receive come to life. I agree on the dream thing and there are many techniques that can be learned to stay aware and have some control in yr dreaming.

Hi there Tao Parrot, & welcome- For me, The YiJing is a portal to connectivity, synchronocity as Jung wrote... It isn't so random as linking to aspects that may not enter yr consciousness without a nudge.- I do however like yr take on it and think it may be of some real value. To get outside of yrself to take a look isn't a bad way to expalin the process...But seems to me that it is even more about finding the links you have to the wider world and yr place in it. The selfishness issue can't take precidence over yr need for food, shelter, clothing. I have undermined my own comforts at times to do good works and "the right thing" but then found my energies sapped for other efforts - and that those I had helped were not as wonderful as I could have hoped. So I guess the thing to do is indeed look for the place that you feel at home and picture yr self there. If its the right thing it will probably happen. I usually plug my book here , the yellow & red banner for the Sonnets is flying... See ya 'round cyber-space...Pat

I've always thought back on it as a test of my stupidity... I was found to have an ample sufficiancy in that capacity! It was a dare to hold my breath for as long as I could. I foolishly went past my capacity. I didn't - until this thread -ever think of it as a matter of will-power. That actually gives the episode a silver lining, that I doubt it deserves...

Welcome to the Bums Flynn! I am very glad to read this, as I too have had some similar experiences. I recently wrote a comment about these sorts of experiences in reply to an introduction by David S Verdessi -over at the Foundation site, which I had been asked to revisit -(and found wanting in many aspects as a path I would want to take)... That you too can see ahead with directed intent is something I hope to learn more about. I have only been able to do this in regards to large events in my life that involve a real change of circumstances for me physically. I do not think I have had much ability to see larger, not smaller aspects and I would llike to know if there is a technique to focus or broaden these perceptive abilities. With many thanks for keeping this topic alive - Pat