Soulthriller

I believe that the more metaphorical and symbolic the Tao Teo Ching is, the closer it is to the essence of understanding Tao, since abstract and complex aspects of ultimate reality cannot be downloaded into word syntax in a complete manner. I am wondering if anyone would be able to recommend a very poetic and metaphoric translation of the Tao, rather some literal or transliterated copies. Many thanks

I don't feel a need to separate bliss from awareness but rather unify them along with being to create a harmony of Being-Awareness-Bliss as I have found this to benefit me more than the separation of these aspects of existence.

Pouring out the energy of peace into the collective...peace to you all

I love the one on anger and hot coals, thank you for streaming it into my awareness.

I found this while on Stumbleupon and just had to share it because it's beautiful. Simplicity Those who follow Tao keep life simple. They conserve their energies; they are content with what they have. Since they don't aspire after the dazzling goals of others who are ambitious, they are able to maintain their equilibrium. Sensitivity Those who follow Tao are observant of others, avoid the aggressive, and help those in need. They love nature and spend time in the wilderness learning from the seasons, studying animals, and absorbing the lessons of nature's creativity. Nature is not wholly synonymous with Tao, but it is completely a part of Tao and thus a perfect way to glimpse Tao. Flexibility This is the aspect of Tao people of other disciplines often have the most trouble accepting. Since Tao holds that everything in the world is relative, it does not espouse any absolutes. Followers of Tao rarely rule anything out, because they believe any choice they make is dependent upon circumstance rather than preconceived notions. Independence Those who follow Tao seldom care about society's dictates, fads, trends, political movements, or common morality. They find these too limited, too imperfect, and too petty. It is not that those who follow Tao are immoral. It is just that they act from a far more profound level of the spirit. For this reason, followers of Tao have often been accused of being dangerous both to religion and society. But those who follow Tao affirm wisdom and experience over government, conventional morality, and etiquette. Focused Those who follow Tao learn an inner direction in their lives. They accept who they are, and they first ascertain and then accept the details of their lives. They take advantage of who they are and do not try to be someone they are not. They accept that they were born, they accept that they will die, and they take the distance traveled between those two points as their personal path. They accept that at each stage their lives has certain advantages and disadvantages, and they set out to work with those advantages. Cultivated Since a life of Tao is one of simplicity, observation, and action, people strive to refine themselves in order to follow the Tao more perfectly. Disciplined Those who follow Tao are disciplined. This discipline is not a harsh structure imposed upon one's personality, but the taking of orderly actions toward specific goals. That requires concentration of the highest order. Joyous Once one gains Tao, there is absolutely no doubt about it. It's like seeing a god, or paradise: no matter what anyone says or does, the experience cannot be erased. So too is it with those who have seen Tao and who live within its flow. They have a joyous sense of deepest sustenance. They feel directly connected with the source of life. The do not fear tyranny, because no tyrant could ever destroy their faith in the Tao. They do not fear poverty, because Tao brings them wealth overflowing. They do not fear loneliness, because Tao surrounds them constantly. They do not fear death, because they know in Tao there is no death. Walter C. Schmidt

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If this is so, what then of free will? Is our fate sealed in that this "Dark Age" cannot be transformed into an age of enlightenment? If we live in a Reality where our fate and destiny is predetermined based on macrocosmic forces, then we are slaves in essence, no? It's a thought that occurred to me a while ago after I kept seeing the explanations for why things are the way they are being attributed to universal cycles that severely limit our potential...

Does someone here know the reason behind doing the exercise where, after in a standing position, the individual will lift one back and do an action that results in them dropping to the floor sitting in the crosslegged position? Perhaps energetically-speaking it would have a place? I ask because I have seen this done by one man outside of the ones in one of the videos posted in the beginning and in that video, it was supposed to be the first time that this yoga has been filmed and allowed for the general public to see. I think the reason was because the yogi was afraid that with the declining amount of people following the yogi way of life, these forms of yoga would disappear forever.

I remember coming across this story a while ago and as much as I like to keep an open mind concerning the abilities of human beings, it is a rather difficult idea to accept fully without some verifiable data concerning this. It reminds me of the breatharians who write about how to live off of energy alone or the sun-gazers who live off of sunlight. Are any/all of these things possible? I believe anything is possible, but there are some things that are more difficult than others to attain and this may be one of those things. Does anyone know of the scientific study original papers on this particular example?

That is very interesting. When did he make these predictions?

This entire situation with Wikileaks is quite interesting...not in that it reveals some surprising new secrets, but because of the effects this disclosure is having on the collective consciousness. Could this be the reason for the jump in novelty in Timewave Zero in October/November? Could it be the initiator of a quantum shift in awareness and realization? I think this Wikileaks situation will help stir many from their slumbers and it seems like it is providing an opportunity for humanity to take the path leading towards a bright future, rather than a dystopian darkness. Could it have been a created event within the timeline from the subtle plane of reality in order to get people to notice that there is little time to change the potentially disastrous future we are creating for our species and the planet? I think it is certainly possible...

I believe in universal truths, yet I also note that there are different levels of truth, whereas the higher within the domain of consciousness one goes, he or she sees truths that supercede them (polarity is a truth in the third dimension in various things whereas nonduality is a truth seen in higher dimensions of reality. Do no harm is something I associate with the universal rule, in that whatever you do to someone or something else, affects you as well, given the interconnected nature of everything within reality. I wish to present the thought that it is impossible to do no harm within this dimension of reality completely. Even the Natives of the Americas that understood the interconnected nature of everything, and looking at the idea of Indra's Net, we can see humans understand the reality of oneness. However, even these and others have caused varying degrees of harm to other localized fields of consciousness, be it an animal they killed in order to survive another day (albeit blessing the animal for the bounty it has provided) or even the act of cutting down a tree in order to build a shelter for oneself, when it is known that both animals and plants feel pain in these situations. One of the paradoxes of life? From my current position of awareness it seems so. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we are able to continue living the way of "do no harm" in this dense reality where there is unavoidable harm caused to certain aspects in the circle of life? I know there is a group in the East that follows "do no harm" so stringently that they have special face masks to protect them from accidentally harming insects such as flies that would get into their mouths. It's quite a predicament, I feel.

For those of you who practice Tai Chi, I was wondering what was the driving motivator for getting you interested in this energetic art? I ask because the answer for me is of a particularly emotional kind. I was 16 and decided to watch a film called Tai ji: Zhang San Feng (Twin Warriors or Tai Chi Master in english) and I was moved to tears of joy when I saw Jet Lee's charachter developing his tai chi mastery in a temple in China somewhere. I was so moved that I was ready to take a one-way flight to China and learn tai chi chuan in the genuine traditional way. I still plan to do this one day but that's my story, and I mention it because the initiating attractor field was a movie but it shows you that all paths lead to the summit (of course some paths take much longer and are more winding), if we can see them as such.

I would have to say sadness. The sadness, for instance, after a relationship that you committed too much passion to is destroyed by forces neither you nor your beloved were able to control. That feeling that you will never be able to see that person again..that person who acted as an extremely strong attractor field for your consciousness and energy.

A friend of mine had sent me a short video on "how to be alone" and it turned out to be a wonderful little video giving advice on how to strengthen the relationship one has with oneself through being alone sometimes.

I understand where you are coming from Lucky7Strikes. However, through moments of unification with Infinity, I have come to realize that everything is something when nothing is everything and that the point is that there is no point. This does not mean, however, that life is absolutely meaningless. The statements I have mentioned previously which I had received in no-mind states of existence are perceived in my mind why sages of the highest calibrations go off into the mountains to live in solitude, since there is no more that is to be had, done, attained, etc. What reason would there be to speak to someone or anyone? Such a statement is barely comprehensible to such sages, not even mentioning everyone else. Sure, someone may say this statement and think about it, but from their position of awareness, they are thinking about something utterly and completely different. They are not thinking about the thought-form that makes you feel like your head is being blown apart and disintegrated with the realization of nothing-ness infinity. Infinity is something the human mind can never understand, even though occasionally humans have realizations concerning infinity, but the true magnitude and scope of these realizations is not correctly downloaded into the brain since there is not enough capacity and processing power in order to compute such realizations. So my answer to your aphorism that life is absolutely meaningless is a non-answer. There is no way to answer in the proper manner to such magnanimous statements in a true way. Peace and Love to you all

Enlightening music for me would be musical harmonics by: Boards of Canada Tycho Black Moth Super Rainbow 2% Casino Versus Japan Ciaran Byrne Freescha Frequent C Isan Jay Bharadia Lithium Enchantment Lone Loop Guru Milieu Orange Crush Our Valley Saturday Index Trills

Hello everyone, glad to be here. I run a website myself that I think the admin here used to come to and remembered it again and am enjoying what you are doing here for people. I just finished the Tao Te Ching and enjoyed how it complements the book I'm writing when concerning aspects such as infinity, existence, and nonduality. I'm sure I can become more mindful of various positions of awareness that exist concerning the Tao Te Ching here so I thank you for that.