agentofchaos

The "chills" are the reason I've been so passionate about the arts my whole life. We should all have something(s) in our life that gives us this feeling. Love being at the top of the list.

Tom, with all due respect, I think you're over analyzing it, and in turn finding a message that isn't there. I think any messages and/or themes in Avatar were broad and much more innocent then some of the insidious and contrived theories I've heard here. We watched the same movie, and you took from it a negative message, whereas I didn't. Your ideas here, in my opinion, are pretty out there. It's a slippery slope with conspiracy theories.

I'm not sure what you're talking about really, but it's just a movie. People need to stop with the conspiracy theories. People go to movies for entertainment, not to form their spiritual and/or political beliefs. Not that I agree with your assessment in the first place.

I'm not saying every movie necessarily has these issues, but with any other movie there is always an opposing view, as it's always a matter of opinion. Meaning there's no way to say as a matter of fact which movies do or don't have any drawbacks of any kind. My point was, it's not a perfect movie, like most other movies you see, whether you like the movie or not.

The tech will become less expensive as time goes on, as it always does... I mean many big budget movies now are shooting in 3D, and it's not just a gimmick, it actually adds to the movie in a way that you have to see to understand. As far as the story standing on its own, it most certainly does in my opinion. As I said before, the story and character development does have it's issues like any other movie, but the positives more than make up for any drawbacks. The 3D does dazzle, and even more so because the world created is so visually outstanding, that when you add such depth to it as the 3D does, it helps to immerse you in ways previously impossible. I was skeptical before I saw it, but I was blown away.

Yeah me too. Or maybe Cameron is personally interested in the subject, or practices some form of Qigon/Tai Chi ect. Cause it was a strong theme in the movie and the energy they spoke of seemed to have too many similarities to Qi in the real world to be a coincidence. Also it's been said that Cameron was meticulous in making sure that everything in the film had to be at least theoretically possible in the real world sometime in the not too distant future, so it would make sense that he would want this energy to be rooted in the real world somehow.

That's brutal, I'm glad the bad experience didn't turn you off of the movie though. I have to say though, the 3D aspect makes a huge difference, so you won't be disappointed if you liked it in 2D. The depth it gives really brings the world of pandora to life. It's as if you're looking through a window rather than at a flat screen. It's a movie that truly must be experienced in theaters in some form of 3D. I really liked the Qi-esque influences as well, a life energy that connects everything, the story has its issues but they're dwarfed by the positives.

*Spoiler* This movie was awesome. Those who haven't seen it and have already judged and dismissed it shouldn't bother seeing it anyway, cause they have an attitude problem. And there is no death march of US soldiers at the end like stated in that 'review' above, they are mercenaries and it's not a death march, they're just sent back to earth. JK you haven't seen it, so how would you have the slightest clue? A preview? You've already said the 3d isn't as good as UP (and it is better than UP) yet you haven't even seen both. And it's an anti war movie,quite clearly actually. Is it just movies you prejudge or everything?

When I was roughly 11 (I'm now 23) I read about chi energy for the first time and immediately became hooked on learning more about this phenomenon. I subsequently learned a little about meditation and visualizing chi so as to move it around. Being young and impatient I wanted results immediately, so without learning any real techniques other than the little knowledge I acquired, I began trying to meditate while visualizing chi flowing from my dantien to my hand, just to see if I could feel something and prove to myself this was something that actually existed. To my surprise, every time I'd do this, almost immediately I'd feel a tingling slowly building in whichever hand I was focusing the chi to. At first I assumed it had to be some coincidence, but then the tingling would dissipate when I stopped focusing and start up again any time I focused my chi there. As amazing this was for me, and as much as I wanted to believe there was this supernatural power within us all, I was still always skeptical that what I was feeling was actually chi and not just something else going on or my mind playing tricks on me (like a placebo effect cause I wanted it so badly to be real). It wasn't until one night that I sat alone in my bedroom after my family was asleep, lit a candle in front of me, and decided I was going to clear my mind of thoughts and focus as long and hard as I could without stopping, on my chi flowing to my right hand (or left I can't recall), because up until that point, being only 12ish, I had never successfully meditated and any of the other times I'd tried focusing my chi to my hand, I couldn't keep up continuous focus and visualization for very long, so I'd stop not long after the tingling started. So I sat there trying my best to think of absolutely nothing but my chi flowing from my dantien to my hand, as usual the tingling began. I kept focusing. The tingling was becoming stronger as I continued visualizing, slowly but surely. After a while (I couldn't tell you how long anymore as it was so long ago) as I struggled to keep my focus, the tingling was starting to become intense, unlike before it was unmistakeable, it felt almost like the intense pins and needles you get when your hand has been asleep for a while, but not painful, just intense tingling. As I pushed on the intense tingling turned to an intense deep vibration. My hand was literally vibrating, like no part of my body ever has. By that point I had no question in my mind of what was going on. I was as excited as I was freaked out, and this excitement quickly put an end to my focus, I had proven to myself the tingling wasn't something in my head, but that it was of my own doing, so I stopped visualizing the chi to my hand. Still feeling deep vibrations resonating in my hand, my mind was blown away, my heart started racing in excitement at what I had just done (being 12 years old it had felt almost as if I just discovered I had super powers) I was utterly convinced of the power of chi. Till this day I haven't managed to feel my chi (if that's what it was) that strongly again, I still get tingling when I focus my chi, but I haven't focused as long and hard on doing this since that night. For years after I didn't really do any meditation or anything chi related until recently, although it's always been in the back of my mind. Now I meditate for health reasons (I had a type of bone cancer for a couple years which hasn't been back since I finished chemo a couple years ago), and I try not to just focus my chi somewhere for the sake of feeling it. My questions are, first, does this make sense to you guys? I mean was this truly my chi I was feeling? (although even if you say no, I can't imagine what else it would have been). Also since then I've learned more about chi, and I know now that chi can be dangerous to play with, but is what I described something that could be dangerous? And is visualizing your chi moving somewhere in your body without a proper method always hazardous? Lastly, when you focus your chi to a body part, are you draining your chi, or does it all stay in your body? Anyway thanks for listening to my story, I've actually never told anyone the full story cause people usually think I'm full of it when I talk about it.

Thanks for the responses, I'd never thought of it that way fiveelement, that it's just my body reacting to chi. I do hope to get a Qigong teacher eventually, for now I'm just working on getting some meditation done every day. Although I would be curious to know what chi actually should feel like now, or is it different for everyone? Not because my goal is to feel it, I'm just interested to know. Thanks again for the help guys.

Here is the link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5...03468448550106# I haven't watched it all yet so sorry if it's not complete. Also, I apologize if this is old news, but I know it's a difficult documentary to find online, so I hope you all enjoy. I'm still searching for the rest of the series, so if I find more I'll post links here, and if others have found more of the Ring of Fire series (aside from the John Chang clips we've all seen of coarse) or any related videos such as anything to do with the makers of this documentary Lawrence Blair and/or his brother Lorne, I'd love to see more of their work.

No problem NeiChuan! Awesome, thanks a lot Drew, I'd all but given up on finding part 2.

No luck finding the second part in the series called 'Dance of the Warriors' as of yet, but I did however find the third chapter called 'East of Krakatoa'. It can be found at this link in what I believe is its entirety: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=265...l=en&emb=1# Enjoy!

Hello everyone! First I apologize in advance, because although I've been interested in learning more about ki/chi/qigong etc. for over 10 years, I'm still a complete novice without a clue. But I'm here to learn from you all. I first felt my ki when I was around 11-12 years old. I read alot about meditation and visualizing my ki, I was able to focus it towards my hand which after about an hour lead to me feeling intense vibration in my hand, a tingling as if it were asleep only way more intense. Ever since I felt that I was hooked on the subject and learning more about it. I'm 23 now, and over the last few years I've battled with bone cancer and lost most of the use of my right arm, but today i am cancer free, and would like to keep it that way. So I am here to ask questions, and hopefully learn much from those of you who are willing to pass on any of your knowledge. I look forward to our future discussions, thanks for listening.

I'm looking for information on the best place to learn qigong in Toronto, Canada. I can't spend a fortune, but I only want to learn from somewhere with a good reputation. I've continuously heard that improper use of qigong and related practices can be harmful and dangerous, so needless to say, I'd want to know I was learning from some one who was very experienced and highly qualified. The only problem is I don't have any way of knowing which places are good and which I should stay away from (if any). Any suggestions or advice is much appreciated.

a couple years ago I lost most of the use of my right arm to a type of bone cancer, which makes it impossible to do any of the qigong meditation/chi gathering techniques I've seen. If anyone has any advice on how to gather chi with only one useful arm it'd be much appreciated. My main goal is to develop my chi, I want to be healthier and prevent my cancer from reoccurring. Any advice is welcome.

Thanks a lot for your responses, that's actually very helpful. I've never been sure how important the movements were to getting results. I would love to find a good teacher that didn't cost a fortune in my area, but it's hard to know who legitimately knows what they're doing when it comes to using chi, among other things.