zerostao

Excellent post by the way, taomeow. I isolated this section, becoz, my attitude differs from yours. Your's is a noble just attitude. Mine, because there is no was; I ain't trying to convince anyone of anything. I don't give two hoots to a barn owl if bums think I'm some codger sipping shine. Maybe I am. I wasted a lot of time and trouble before I learned that the best way to take all people, is to take them for what they think they are, then leave them alone. Let em all think what they want to think. Soon enough they all gonna be thinking differently, but that's none of my bizness.

Nungali, we should hang out around a campfire telling stories and smoking hashish.

Right, and you could think who is going to argue against loving kindness, although I've seen it criticized, almost ridiculed. You bring up a few good points @Miroku one being no profit comes from it. Its not as bad as it used to be here on TDB when hordes of new members arrived demanding only the most powerful systems replete with super powers and oh by the way they were very busy and probably couldn't devote much time to it. Not one of them had the slightest clue what power is. Those are imo exactly who would be at risk in the way we're discussing here. There is always a handy peddler available to "serve" the hordes. The bright news is there is profit in loving kindness and this site and this world does have those kind here as well as everyone else. Honestly, it'd be just as easy to sling some un grounded person flying across a room using kindness. As odd as that may sound Works like a charm, really. The hard part is getting folks to buy into it. The kinda wealth and power id like to have more of.

Yep, it's part of the reason why I quit teaching out anything a few years back. Even some qigongs and similar practices; its easy enough to correct physical structure in postures, the mental deviations can be another matter. Having a physical practice like tai chi balances well with meditation. And meditation has a wealth of benefits including strengthening immune system. However, no matter how safe any particular style is generally, there is no magic pill that works for everyone. Its probably a big reason the old school teachers took years getting to know their students before passing on certain practices. I was lucky, I did have one student who had a mental disorder, unknown to me until it became very noticeable, others thought that student just became over the top annoying and demanding attention. But there was an underlying issue that meditation was amplifying. A close fellow teacher did have a student choose suicide and I quit showing anything to anyone except seasoned veterans, like 20 years experience with these practices.

amazing stuff

A bit like hashish without the stone, no body effects ? Probably didn't taste like hashish either. Man, that taste! Those effects! Boring war story alert: My first week in Turkey I had made a name for myself somewhat when I "accidentally" missed my connection flight in Rome. I left Lexington, Ky with 20$ in my pocket, flew into JFK to Rome and would board another plane in Rome to Istanbul, then switch again at Istanbul for a final leg to Adana. I was 18 at the time and other than a couple trips to Florida or several trips to the Tennessee line,,,,I'd never been out of Kentucky. Other than basic training, combat skills,terrorist training in Texas. When we touched down at Leonardo da Vinci airport, I had made up my mind and I hailed a taxi to the city. THE CITY! ROME! 3 days later I was broke, traded a pack of Marlboro reds for a ride back to the airport. Yeah I was AWOL AF, I didn't care, I just spent 3 days on the streets of Rome. I still had my ticket to Istanbul and Adana, they were very helpful at the airport, made a call got me on the next flight to Istanbul. It seemed like a couple of airport security, blue berets, green fatigues were actually pointing their grease guns at me. I just grinned at them. Pardon me now as I pack a bowl here... When I got off the plane and walked into the Istanbul airport before I could look for the flight to Adana, my future First Sergeant met me and walked me to that flight. He said there wouldn't be a tour of Istanbul. Hope I haven't told this story already. Sparks up bowl... So, my first Friday night in the barracks, I was hanging out in the day room, looking at the murals, big can of budweiser painted on the wall, a staff sergeant walked in the room asked if I was the one from kentucky, yep, thats me. He handed me a fifth of jack daniels, not sure what part of yeah, I'm from Kentucky he didn't understand , handing me tennessee whisky and not dickle either, GD charcoal taste. Wasn't Jim Beam, thats for sure. But before I could break that down for him, he redeemed himself like a champ, handing me about a 3 gram flattened slab of Lebanese Blond. Then he just left me alone, a couple of hours later I was hurling in the latrine, but I maintained that grin through it. I was proud to have joined the AF.

Passes the blunt to Steve,

Just stopping by the thread with Jack Herer, just wanted to kick back and see if ralis is down to smoke.

Spot on, Plato's cave. We had a president who must've had the same guru as sun lu tang.both were able to cross a snowy field without leaving so much as rabbit tracks. My night vision ain't bad. For me,, trying to read through dark blocks of redacted text is somewhat harder. Apparently some are skilled in that. Why else would heavily redacted pages,, thousands of them that were due to be released early 2017 by legislative action after being hidden 25 years still be guarded so close? Twenty thousand, seven hundred and eighteen days have passed since that morning when one walked in front of a school book depository and without a trace, except for a chance photograph. 2017 -25= 1992, if my math is correct. Why 1992? Was someone leaving office then? Didn't Trump say that after 41 passed away he would unseal those pages? Now, he is saying in 2021 he will. Don't look now but Trump can't be found. Thats a different story though.

Loop, stuck in,,, Truth or consequences. Its just a game show. "Politicians all seem like game show hosts to me, " ---sting Don't believe anything you read on the internet without using a fact checker. Who checks the checkers ? We are to believe a mom & pop operation discerns all truth? How far down the rabbit hole do you need to go to chase rabbits? In the above spoiler box those propagandizing Russians suggest Yale university may be corroborating with conspirators. This great fabled institution of higher learning (i enjoyed John Roger's course on Milton there and worth every cent) is above shadowy deals with conspirators, right. Right, skull n bones non withstanding, of course.

Absolutely Qanon exploits the blurred lines between fact and fiction. And even with facts, the narrative can be slanted to suit the narrator's objective. Qanon is not the only player spinning webs. Psyops, political warfare, winning the hearts and minds, propaganda, whatever names it goes by, and there are many, as many as the methods and tactics used, to influence value systems, belief systems; emotional buttons are pushed, motives altered, reasoning and behavior altered. Taking a cursory glance inside Taomeows's spoiler box reinforces "conspiracy theorists' proclivity towards accepting conspiracies. To me it's one of the dark arts. As far back in history you want to look you can find evidence of its practice. In the current mass media internet phase global connections allow free and fast access to information and disinformation. Black ops aka false flags are combined with psyops to target pretty much anyone and everyone; from political groups, governments, militaries, civilian populaces, even down to individuals. Being able to see this dark tactic playing out on certain groups and yet being unaware the same game just from a different group is influencing ones own attitudes is common. 20th century French thinkers were the bane of my higher education. One such, Jacques Ellul who wrote about the impact of technology on society. The major theme of all his works was the threat to human freedom and religion posed by modern technology. One of his most influential works was Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes. A dark art indeed. No matter what bolt of cloth one is cut from, its still cloth. What is made of cloth? Puppets?

Merely a dancer, surely nothing more. To think so would put one in the conspiracy theory camp. How do we label events that were thought conspiracy theories-- that later declassified documents shown were in fact, fact?

If you're made out of star stuff & powered by the stars; every now and then, the stars all line up, for better or worse. If you're made out of earth stuff, everything has its season. Being made out of light is the way to go, may you trip the light fantastic.

Does dry humor induce laughter though? I think dry humor is usually perceived or appreciated, often without expressed acknowledgement.

Hi Toni, hope you are safe and healthy. As the song says, "there many here among us who say, life is but a joke" others think its but a dream. There are differing ideas concerning all of this; the parts and the whole. Of course the media and governments are the real virus. However, it was accepted way back in ancient Greek that we made the choice towards civilizations, governments, medias, somewhere around time of gilgamesh and we crossed the point of no return on this. Notice I said ""we". And we are not going to step away from governments. It isn't every generation that always deals with all that is going on presently. It is roughly every saeculum, which is every fourth generation. Like clock work every 90-110 years. 100 years ago influenza , the great war. Go back to the saeculums preceding that one, you get american civil war, then revolutionary war. I'm speaking of America because I live here in murica. Wherever your geography is, I'm confident trace back and you will find major events. Influenza and the great war are common to most of us. If you have a good qigong teacher and you have given due diligence to your practice and meditation. No worries. You should have protections, force field, or enhanced immune system. I myself, am not concerned of covid-19 befalling me. I am greatly concerned for others. It is a serious enough thing and it's not like whisking away a fly. The indirect dangers, the dominoes are every bit as dangerous as the direct danger. This world is globalized, when something far away goes very wrong, it's not far away at all, it's at your doorstep. The world is a dangerous place. The last bit of your post though, the clever and sage stuff. I dont see any merit in that. It's just tossing off. Clever isn't any noble goal, it's often a trap. Trying to be clever, really? You should set your goal higher than that. Sage? Way beyond my pay grade. Sage is a worthy goal. You cant overstudy Nature, and best be banking some merit and virtue and dont slack on the meditation. Friends in High places helps. Still, no one said itd be easy or easy to find one. Practically speaking, we dont have the time for it now. A couple of days ago I mentioned there are 2 or3 real threats, no fucking joke coming in behind Corona. Really, its 3 to 4. Edit> using the "stupid" word suggests perhaps you're at risk of being caught up in the clever trap. Yes, things can appear absurd AF any direction one looks. I'll put it another way, how is complaining about stupid helping you? Its not. Second edit> folks waiting for the vaccine, the flu already has vaccine, no? Yet, many still die from flu. Third edit! A trifecta, right now choices are hanging in the air like ghosts, choose wisely. Maybe we ain't got sages, but you know what we do got? We got bums.

stepping out of one's comfort zone usually creates a new comfort zone.

Looks like the dog knows it too

Thanks for causing me to remember my first encounter with a camel over in eastern Turkey I can laugh now. At the time, not such a pleasant experience.

Russian folk metal. Music is one of the universal languages. Other universal languages include but not limited to passion, sincerity, art. dance, fun, play, camaraderie, care & concern, The band below got me interested in Russian folk music. Bonus track!! Idk but maybe peace springs from goodwill & respect, And from basic understanding of the universal language

Q what did Gandalf smoke in his pipe?

Is this another knock knock joke? Ah I cant remember her maiden name.but rosie gamgee she came to be! I have a couple Qs in the bank, feel free to answer one or both Since last names matter Q what is legolas last name? Second question Q how many meals do hobbits eat each day?

Rosie Q. How old was the old took?

2 mysterious Blue wizards who went east and founded esoteric cults

Eleventy one.