.broken.

Beautiful quote: "Intellectually I touched God many times as truth and emotionally I touched God as love. I touched God as goodness. I touched God as kindness. It came to me that God is a creative force, a motivating power, an over-all intelligence, an ever- present, all pervading spirit -- which binds everything in the universe together and gives life to everything. That brought God close. I could not be where God is not. You are within God. God is within you."

Just a thought... I have heard that many people who take up qigong end up giving up smoking. Apparently they just lose their taste for it... Yours humbly, James

Thank you for sharing this How should one make an offering and what should one offer those to generations who are unknown to ourselves? Your humbly, James

Genius It was an awful summer indeed... I wonder if we're gonna get one of those mild winters like last year. No winter, no summer - horrible way to live. Here's to hoping it's a cold one!! Yours humbly, James

Ermmm.... New age bs???

To put it simply, Japanese and Chinese. I know of no technical differences...

Althought I don't agree in this case, tricking the mind is the easiest way to heal the body. Embrace it.

What you say is true, it is easier to focus on the nostrils when looking down and it is also true that doing so can make one feel drowsy. I had the pleasure of meeting a Buddhist nun who instructed that if you are feeling drowsy you should point your eyes above the horizontal until you no longer feel so. Yours humbly, James

More news on centenarians: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7612363.stm Yours humbly, James

Well I wouldn't expect one to find the answer in geographical and demographical statistics. The answer probably lies in attitude toward life, how life is lived and how one looks after oneself. The older generations don't eat wheat or meat (unless they are up in the hills) and all the food is very fresh. Warm temperatures most of the year round - particularly in Okinawa where the highest concentration of centenarians are located. This makes it an ideal place to grow many tropical fruits. Along with an intimate connection with nature and a strong sense of community, these factors begin to add up. As far as I am aware they probably don't drink coffee and just lap up the green tea. Women generally live a lot longer than men by nature - a Daoist might be led to think that it's due to loss of jing throughout the man's sexual encounters. Whatever the reason, this holds true in all countries, imo, and seems to be a fact of life. Interestingly enough, according to Wikipedia, "Okinawa also has its own religious beliefs, generally characterized by ancestor worship and the respecting of relationships between the living, the dead, and the gods and spirits of the natural world." Anyway, I hope this gives some food for thought Yours humbly, James

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!" The pleasure was all mine. Yours humbly, James

Don't forget to smile

Master Lam's book, the Way of Energy, has a set of 5 standing postures which relate to the 5 elements. Can't remember them off the top of my head but it's certainly a nice set - I practiced it for some months way back. Yours humbly, James

Wise words It's strange how my research and practices seem to have come full circle. Back I am with Zen

Well said I'm glad you disappointed me too. You're right, the business practices were at fault - my disappointment stemmed from me reading it as more of a personal attack on the Grandmaster. Why share my disappointment? To get the response I was hoping for Most humble, James

I would ask you why you got so irate, yet it would serve no purpose. I would ask you what you wanted to achieve by posting this, but it would serve no purpose. I enjoy reading your posts. This, however, was an exception. A disappointed, James

I would agree that it is very important, but more important than mental well-being and exercise? In all honesty I would not be too quick to believe that there is such a thing as "the main factor." In my opinion all are very important. Yours humbly, James

Lol, you're not alone there brother!! Honestly thought my early 20s would be rife with flange... Oh well

Behave you two The front of the "deep spot" is known as the A-Spot or the Anterior Fornix Erogenous Zone. Works wonders, but just like witch my experience informs me that the back of the "deep spot" is better. Vortex, there is no optimal length. Just as us men, women have different sized genitalia. Even the kama sutra teaches us that for every length of man there is a female with an equal length of vaginal passage. Though, I do sometimes wonder if this is the case for micropenises.... I have been with women as loose as canons and some as tight as a toothpaste tube - some with shallow passages whom are easy to pleasure and some with deep passages where it hardly feels like your making any impact. Lol, and go figure, I can still count them on two hands. Each an individual unto themselves. Men come in thin, wide, long, short, curved, straight, etc... Each an individual unto themselves. The trick is finding one your size... whatever your sexual preference. Yours humbly, James

Wudangquan, Despite having a very different background, I read this and it rang so true with my experience of life that I simply had to reply. I cannot thank you enough for sharing. If you do not mind, I would like to start from the beginning: I was born in Holland to a Dutch father and an English mother. My mother and her family spoke English to me since birth and my father and his family spoke Dutch to me. I have one older brother. My parents divorced when I was 4. I relied heavily on my brother before the divorce as he knew more about this place than I did - someone must've told me that following his lead was a good idea. After the divorce my brother was less sure of the world he was in and, in turn, I picked up on this and carried on in the world pretty much alone (i.e. not following his lead... nor anyone else's). Being brought up with exposure to 2 different cultures helped me realise that nothing was fixed. There is no universal way of doing anything when it comes to culture. The divorce seperated me from this a little further - I had no real attachment to my family's way of doing things either. I then moved to England. Whereas you travelled and were literally alone, I stayed in one place (well, kinda) and with the same people (again, kinda). Yet my mind was in pretty much the same situation you were. Since living in the UK I have never considered myself either English or Dutch. As you so aptly put it, I was a wayfarer. Although if one were to meet me now they might consider me English... this is simply something I had to learn to operate effectively in this society. I took heavily to drink and drugs as a teenager because I knew both the Dutch and the English culture inside out. I was bored. I was frustrated. It took me many years to find out why. I no longer had the intellectual challenge that learning new cultures brings. I discovered this to my surprise when I started studying off my own back. How religion influences culture is a huge part of my personal studies these days. The backgrounds you and I have had, as I mentioned earlier, are quite different. These backgrounds, however, have been very useful to us... they turned us into natural anthropologists. Yours humbly, James

Tea

Anyone North of the border my want to go here instead: 19, 20 & 21 September 2008 Findhorn Bay, Scotland, UK All I need now is someone to give me a lift Many thanks for bringing this to our attention, rex!! Yours, James

Living in a city, avoiding reflective surfaces would be near impossible. There are car windows, shop windows, car mirrors, computer monitors, puddles of rain water... even the windows in one's own home... Despite the sheer feat of avoiding these objects, I would speculate that, for some, it is not necessary. Our appearance changes from day to day - the astute would realise this. If one is not quite such an observer one only has to look at a photo of oneself taken some weeks, months or years ago... Impermanence is quite clear. No self... well, that's a matter for personal enquiry and contemplation. Yours humbly, James

Awesome I'm a great fan of innovative food, it's all I cook. Quite taken by your idea so may give it a whirl at some point. I used to hate devotion, being brought up a Catholic. I couldn't understand how people could humiliate themselves so utterly, could fool themselves so utterly. However, I have come to find that all aspects of spiritual practice have their place and they each stem from a particular 'model' of the divine and how to attain union with it (despite many not knowing this is what they are working towards). I do not believe in higher level beings, but I do not believe that they don't exist either. I remain agnostic yet I practice bhakti, I practice jnana and I practice karma. Why? Simply to see where it'll take me. No expectations. However, I have been 'visited' by many beings in my time. I regularly receive teachings in my dreams. I have heard voices before and after major spiritual experiences in my past (most pivotal so far being, "When the time comes, surrender"). Yes, their company is humbling - it reminds me that I have purpose, it reminds me that there is so much more I can achieve, it reminds me that I am not alone. Their love is, too, awe inspiring. The greatest gift we have, I would argue, is their compassion. We can faulter and deviate from our path yet they remain with us. That is the greatest gift they have shown me. Om mani padme hum, Ah hung vajra guru padme siddhi hum, Through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, may glory and honour be yours, almighty Father, for ever and ever. Amen.