zerostao

gerard, if you are still about and deleting or whatever. i just want to personally thank you for all that you kindly shared with me. and bagua on brother.

i have wondered the same thing myself. i tried bumping a couple of his threads over the past month.

before heaven and earth found separation from each other, everything was all a great ball of mist(myst) went by the name of chaos, in those times, the spirits of the 5 elements took shape becoming the five ancients. there was Yellow Ancient, master of the earth. there was Red Ancient, master of fire. there was Dark Ancient, master of water. there was Wood Prince, master of wood. and there was Metal Mother, mistress of metals. now, each of these five ancients set in motion the primordial spirit from which they had proceeded, and water and earth sank, heaven soared above while earth became fast in the depths. then water gathered into rivers and lakes, and mountains, valleys, and plains appeared. the heavens cleared and the earth divided; then came sun, moon, and the stars, the sand, clouds, rain and dew. Yellow Ancient gave play to the purest (power) of the earth. and to this was added the functions of fire and water. then sprang forth the grasses and the trees, the birds and animals, insects and snakes too, cant forget the fish and the turtles. together Wood Prince and Mother Metal brought the light and the darkness together which created man and woman........

on that boots, i kept expecting to see benny hill make an appearance.

next time you speak with him , ask who Shania is? haha

absolute zero is always absolute zero, just sayin'

yes of course guiness makes you strong and is a proven qi booster but give me a fuckin' bottle of schmoke

the bangles yeah, i know, but it was sussana's birthday and i had to find a thread for her,,, it was cool to learn that the clash are not punk,,,,, but in our post modern world era so many lines blurred, pop/punk/rock all just random sound bites

"though turned more and more into a hunger games type reality.." "to what end?" i have also considered that folks want great art and poetry, literature , and aesthetic architecture, etc but they dont understand the conditions required to get to that level of humanity. what brought about the Renaissance? at age 87, micelangelo said he was still learning every day. what caused goethe to write young werther in love? it was beautifully highly poetic, but he had to have his best friend commit suicide, lose the love of his life to a richer person, and be thrown in jail within about a 3-4 month time frame to be conditioned to produce the work. i wonder myself what is before us, but i reckon there will be some great works of art afterwards. after the enlightenment there were the american and french revolutions then came the romantic age,,corporations are becoming the major buyers of art now, outbidding the museums and private collectors, hiding the art away in corporate offices,,to what end? i think you already know, maybe we will hit a second baroque period? and then after that,,,,,,,

wroa, i understand your frustration about the state of architecture, art, poetry, and the humanities. i think we share in common an appreciation of beauty as an ideal that leads to a higher state of humanity and a greater quality of life. i also think that we see 2 very different causes of this decline. you see communism as the great threat and i see consumerism as the great threat. consider this, in that if we maintain our present rates of consumption then your will seem like a very good deal 30 years from now. your campbell soup cans are signifying consumerism as the problem.

i agree that state and church should not mix, there needs to be a clear separation of church and state, otherwise we may as well live in iran. i understand about narrowing the argument and focus, as there are many serious and alarming issues at hand now. and none of us have the energy to devote to all of them. i kinda lean strongly towards environmental issues. it is a complicated matter and difficult choices need to be made. i support "states rights" as it is one of the ten amendments that comprises the Bill of Rights, and those rights have been under attack for decades. i see glimmers of hope as 2 states have legalized pot. some states have now added laws to protect those seeking employment from invasive background check scrutiny, also the south dakota senate race where a former senator Pressler is poised to run as an Independent. Pressler amazingly could likely win either the republican or the democratic primary, and his decision to run as an Independent is encouraging to me. i look at folks who support each and every component of their parties nationwide agenda as suspect as i would look at some religious missionary knocking at my door , explaining to me that they are representing the one true religion. if Pressler gets elected , then we would have 3 independent senators. this is a start in the right direction. we can move away from the idiotic pacts that these party members have made. such as no new taxes or no loopholes removed. i like the idea that a state could hold up a pipeline project. i like the idea of grassroots organizations empowering themselves against the fascist coalition that you mentioned above. it gets more people involved in the democratic process. i think i have always been consistent in my support of individuals, let the individual choose their own religion or choose no religion, sexual preference, etc i really do not see how the 10th amendment allows for a state to declare an official religion because of the 1st amendment. i also recognize that the courts have recently lost their minds ruling on different parts the 1st amendment. what i mentioned earlier on another post about voting with one's feet, i am looking around and considering to move to a state that is more suitable to my lifestyle. i could likely leave the us entirely, oklahoma and arizona i am not considering all that much. there is a senate race here in kentucky i am going to vote in before i depart anywhere.

altho much of what i thought i knew about Taoist concepts has changed in the past 2-3 years. i think my thoughts about Te are still close to what i posted in 2011. "it is about staying natural and being as close to ones original nature as one can be. and possibly attaining a level of enlightenment thru meditation or experience. to see "being-for-itself" Te is a piece of the Tao that is trapped inside us. our work is to un-trap it and reconnect back to Tao.(power of the universe) " i still look at Te as a unique type of virtue/integrity/power and Te is an expression of Tao. Te is being authentic and sincere.

above i presented other history that you may not be aware of? also , i will add that i do not feel that the decisions from DC have in any way benefited the americans living at Pine Ridge, quite to the contrary, i will argue. please make your case that directives from DC has removed the "abject poverty" at Pine Ridge. and it was only "In 1973 decades of discontent at the Pine Ridge Reservation resulted in a grassroots protest that escalated into the Wounded Knee Incident, gaining national attention." that brought any attention and token assistance from the centralized govt. so, while i do admire your effort and energy to speak up for gender and lbgt rights, i feel you have a blind spot and you overlook how entire cultures here in america have a history of long been under-served and exploited by national govt. ((its way worse than i just stated, but this is not the time for me to go into that)) there is currently a shift going on in central appalachia, where at beginning in the 1960's up until recently, we as appalachians tried to give to outsiders our own definition of ourselves and try to counter balance the long standing stereotypes that have been used as negative propaganda by the centralized govt in collusion with the corporations to further their devastation of this region. the shift (coming from academia) now is that we will no longer contest the stereotypes and find it more useful for us that the rest of the country will to continue its bigoted and malicious stereotypes of us here in this region. we have had more than enuff "help" from the centrailized policies,,whose results are to poison our water and air and to make the land here unsuitable to produce our own food. we would rather the centralized govt quit trying to "empower" us. a fine example of traditional corporate activity in collusion with the centralized govt is: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/17/company-files-for-bankruptcy-after-wva-chemical-spill/ no surprise here at all. it is always the case that corporations extracting resources, (once those resources have been extracted) then dissolve so to avoid paying pensions that were promised and to avoid doing the environmental cleanup required by law. this is the history i see. and if you want to talk about current events? like 21st century ? i am happy to continue to provide examples. notice the nice patriotic logo of "FREEDOM INDUSTRIES, Inc."

"Thanks for joining in Walker." ditto i will add here for those that do not know, that i am a student of mythological and folklore studies. and i will say it like this> even in these mythic and folk tales, i find great inspiration, useful knowledge, and energies. there are some books that when i picked them up the energy (felt) was so strong and undeniable before i even began to read them,,,,,also sitting around the campfire and listening to narrative tales, those are some of my most enjoyable memories and experiences. i still stand by my remarks to songtsan, where he asked if he needed to study the classics, i say not necessarily, and to properly taste sugar you need to find wild sugar.

walker, excellent post. while walking my circle this morning, i did choose to take the angle that i did. i look at Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu as having handed us their thesis on the subject. i very much like "Again, read without goals." you are right in that discovery can happen anytime and anywhere, even in a book. i am saying that without the books we can still make the same discovery. i am not saying that i have not read many classics myself. i prefer to learn out in raw nature but that is just me. i find that nature is the very source of inspiration.

post #11 by MH +3. @songtsan, if the hexagrams are resonating with you, first, look at the many attributes of the 8 trigrams, this is where all hexagrams arise from. read the Ten Wings. imo/ there is nothing more classic than the I Ching,,,,,, having said that, re-read this from MH; "As was mentioned above, if you are trying to learn the best way to live your life you don't need the Classics at all. There are many who have lived long and successful lifes who could not read or write. But common sense is important." one does not taste Tao by reading books. they do offer some guidance but you have to experience it to know it. books can describe the taste of sugar to you but will you actually know what sugars tastes like without tasting it for yourself?

(Six Persimmons is) passion... congealed into a stupendous calm. — Arthur Waley, [2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Persimmons

the goat's curse is stronger than the bambino's, so wonder how tomorrows games will be rigged? bobby lane has an effective curse going on also. i dont even wanna mention the curse waylon jennings issued,,,,,along came a spyder and picked up a rider,,,,, the 27 club (curse or coincidence?)

idk mh, i am sure it aint jazz, well i am not 100% tho. if we must have definitive answers-this attempts to explain; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVEsta-GPso

another surf punk california band but i will add that trying to tell someone what punk is or isnt , isnt very punk lmao cant believe anyone doesnt like patti smith? or consider her great music,,anyways

the opening act of this very thread blink 182, afi, nofx,bad religion, anti-flag and green day, the offspring, and sublime are considered by critics to be punk, not sure what genre primus would go into lol sublime ska punk with heavy reggae influence idk maybe they are surf,,,,anyways http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyuIWfnf4Hw