Daeluin

I chose to use extreme over special, because I feel those who are more highly evolved are also more refined, centered, balanced, whole. I speculate these qualities allow for a greater array of circumstances in which to call home. Conversely, I feel those who go against balance tend to come back with planets on their south node, difficult aspects, etc, which may require matching up to similar extreme imbalances perhaps not so easily found. But just my speculation. Thanks. I've never felt a clear answer for where one ends up. I sense there are conceptual "boundaries" depending on how refined one has become, but imagine these boundaries may exist in many manifestations. Non-physical realms that are connected with the cosmos seems a pretty broad description, but I like broad descriptions; they tend to stand the test of time. I enjoyed reading and agree with all of your other comments too!

What is simple is powerful. Using power is leaking energy. Over time one should become more humble, not more arrogant. Stillness strengthens the mind. Humility returns to stillness. Maintaining sincerity is all one needs. Empty yourself of everything.

I'm confused by this, as where this comment leads me is likely not where I was intended to go.

urine is also known to be very medicinal - so pissing on a post could also be regarded as a high complement.

Well gosh, you got me. How can I know? 'Tis a windy, sunny day, and the snow appears to be going both up and down. I don't see any on the ground, and imagine it is possible some has melted and some has re-evaporated. As to flying, I suppose that is open to interpretation... meanwhile the snow cares not what we think and simply is. Sorry to Zhuangzi up a Laozi thread... but I know Marblehead loves it when I do this. Wait... what do I know?

What is there to know, when everything may change? We don't need to test to see how they change, we can change them simply by the attitude we take in regards to what we think we know. Zhuangzi, tl. Brook Ziporyn: Translator's note: Song Rongzi is another name for the philosopher Song Xing, to be discussed at greater length in Chapter 33. His doctrine that "to be insulted is not a disgrace" is acknowledged by Zhuangzi here as a salutary first step toward independence from the opinions and value judgments of convention. But as the commentators point out, this is still just a first step, which rests on making a clear and fixed distinction between self and other, safeguarding one's identity against external influence. And, from ch2: I am happy to respect the scope others choose to operate under, I'm just pointing out it is a choice.

All sorts of snow flying around outside right now.

The limits we perceive may influence what is possible for us, but not what is actually possible.

Oh.. you think wings are needed to fly? I've read stories of immortals flying.

Not with that attitude. Why limit possibility?

I think Qi Gong can be a type of energetic vampirism. We work with internal energies, but also may be directed to absorb energy from the environment. Humanity in general sustains itself on vampirism, in almost every way. Something I've been wondering about is what happens to the energy of cear-cut forests. Each tree, plant, animal in those forests has energy, and as a whole the ecosystem has a wholistic energetic component as well. Not much different than slaughtering entire villages.... it's going to leave a mark, likely an imprinting of trauma on the land, and spirits and souls who perhaps no longer feel they are welcome or have a place here, confused, afraid, all the things that "darken" energy. What happens to this collective of darkened energy? Our habits of cutting corners to increase financial gain and power, like polluting rivers, testing poisons and bombs out in nature, even exploiting loopholes in the law because we can, even though it hurts our own species, also darkens energy. In Qi Gong we tend to work on drawing in pure energy, not dark energy, to help heal our own darkness. However it is also possible to refine coarse energy back into something pure. What is dark is really just stagnant and separated from harmonious connection and flow, and this is why it drags people down and has a negative connotation. Just like our millions of acres of landfills, we like to dump what no longer serves us and steal more from what is more easily bent to our desire. So yes, I think if there is an abundance of "dark" energy out there, and humans keep creating it, then if it is able to be harnessed and brought back into connection, given a purpose, then this is a step towards cleansing it and turning it back into something celestial. Further, if we just keep darkening lighter energies... how long will it be before we are swallowed up by the darkness of our own creation? Making use of this is likely similar to those who rescue perfectly good food and other usable "waste products" from dumpsters or creatively find ways to re-use and recycle our waste. On the other hand, your "Vampirism" suggests stealing something others value. But I would tend to think this type of energy has been abandoned. If you are stealling energy from people that they are using, I would think they would need to replenish somehow, and if they feel drained they are more likely to just become darker themselves. This is all just my uneducated speculation and theorizing... but in the end whatever happens balance is important, and refinement is its key.

Yes! But further, this pattern isn't something new to us, but is something we "choose" due to our pre-existing spiritual momentum within the celestial mechanism. That momentum, shaped by a long thread of past life decisions, is part of us, and we need a matching pattern to be present to reincarnate. This includes the very precise components of each of our parents, during conception - their sexual energies during this time radiate signals outwards that reach very far. This includes their traumas, fears, all of it, which we deeply resonate with at some level, in addition to our resonance with the particular location on the planet, the current momentum of the stars within ever changing time - it is all connected. Perhaps the more extreme our pattern, the more rare it is to find the right conditions, and the more balanced our pattern, the easier. To me this fits with how those like the Dalai Lama are able to have some say in how / where they will reincarnate, and why it doesn't tend to take long. I was taught that when we are waiting to reincarnate, we have come to clarity on what we needed to accomplish, and can spend a long time waiting for the conditions to arise from which we can return, though I do not know if this "waiting" is perceptually longer, actually longer, or if we even are able to feel things such as impatience at such a state. I believe Evolutionary Astrology reads very deeply into aspects to the nodal axis of the moon. A planet conjunct one of these lunar nodes may indicate a type of karmic weight directly influencing one's momentum within destiny. A planet square these nodes might indicate not necessarily being pulled forward or backwards, but needing to deal with a particular issue holding them in a standstill, perhaps something traumatic that they allowed to influence their momentum in their past which is reflected in current early life traumas they experienced and presents an opportunity for them to overcome these challenges. I agree - these are only the influences of our own momentum, and how we express this soul pattern of ours is up to us. Yet can we say that it is possible to completely abandon this pattern? I feel the more we try, the more we just reshape it. The more extremely we shape it might be like steering our vehicle off the beaten path where navigation is more difficult and will slow us down. Marblehead says he doesn't believe in destiny. I'm starting to see destiny as a type of habit momentum, but more deeply ingrained. It might be a little challenging for Marblehead to leave our community here, given his 26,155 posts, and if he tried would likely get habit based impulses to login and catch up on things for a long time. Totally possible to change this pattern, but it requires commitment to working with that momentum over time. And having lived through that pattern, it will always remain a part of who he is.

I don't feel scientific knowledge reaches the root. On a scientific level I agree with what you say, but my intuition says it is much deeper than that. I wonder how accurately scientific thinking really understands what is beyond this event horizon. I know we have some very brilliant theories, and I am humbled by the great minds who understand these things. But deep within me I sense there is something beyond. I'd love to hear what Brian feels. As far as rooting goes, when the vessels in the legs open up and circulate, one can energetically pull into a deeper connection to gravity. In doing so one also increases the energetic depth and capacity within the body, and ability to root more deeply to heaven from the top of the head. Some masters will demonstrate rooting by standing in a neutral stance and having people attempt to push them over, which cannot be done. They don't appear to resist physically at all - it comes from energetic strength on the physical level, controlled by the mind intent. So even as gravity is a constant, perhaps this is like being able to make oneself heavier? It'd be curious to see if this type of rooting changes the reading of a scale... chances are it wouldn't be that simple to detect.

Not really anything special. Putting yourself out there, exposed to the the criticism of others is an easy way to get humbled. But I'm not worried about that at this point as I have some clarity. I hope what I share is able to lead others more towards clarity than confusion, and overall I would advice caution in regards to sharing of experiences. Interesting question. One I do not feel qualified to answer. The Zhong Lu Chuan Dao Ji seems to suggest the need to circulate the golden elixir to refine the body. But I would need to study a bit more to speculate with any clarity. Do you have ideas about this you'd like to share?

In my experience, extreme experiences were exciting, but not helpful. They were more akin to chemically encouraged experiences - temporary and out of our control. After having many such temporary experiences, all of them different and educating, but none permanent, I began to realize how important constancy, refinement, and gradual progress were, in terms of cultivating the conditions to lead to stable, harmonious and permanent results. I've had one run-in with the golden elixir, and it happened when I was in a more stable, egoless, very refined and calm state, and even then I could not maintain the delicate balance enough to slip into the mysterious pass. But it was enough to understand, and was unmistakable. But the key is not to attach to the experience, to put it on a pedestal, but to learn from the experience. Any experience is just a stepping stone for the next experience - if we attach to it, it becomes more difficult to get beyond it. Even the golden elixir is just a minor blip on the way. Refinement is key. Refinement is balance. One needs to be fully balanced and harmonized in every aspect of themselves in order to work with the golden elixir and mysterious pass. Extremes tend to work like a sine wave, drawing you up and down repeatedly. Even when you think you are stable, an extreme from the same time last month or last year might can pull one out of balance. This is why it helps to pay attention to the solar and lunar cycles - the more balanced we become, the more we can tangibly feel the ebbs and flows of these cycles.

<Then I stood up, walked to the biggest kid, went on my knee and told her to move forward a little bit. Big blue eyes were looking at me, but she did as I suggested and the seesawing went much better > I felt an implication of hesitation here, a moment of fear and concern because a complete stranger was telling her to do something, a moment where her little ego had to get beyond its attachments and just be. Maybe it wasn't the picture I saw in my mind - I wasn't there - but this is what I see happening all the time. I used to work in wilderness therapy, and late at night every week the staff would share feedback with each other. A strength and a growth. When people were telling you how you needed to grow, sometimes it would be gentle and encouraging, other times it would be humiliating. At times I felt myself wanting to respond with justifications for everything a person saw, and needed to learn to swallow my ego and hear them out. I didn't need to take what they said as absolute truth, but I needed to truly listen and receive it as something true that this person saw. When teaching, it can be difficult to teach someone who thinks they know everything already. When someone's cup is full, they don't really have ears to hear what other people think - it won't get very deep. In emotional conflicts, I've seen others get into tense arguments just in attempts to get the other person to take what they are saying seriously, because they don't feel they are being heard at all, and just want the other person to hear them. So I think a teacher is wise to see what a person is open to hearing, and to work from there, rather than focus on what they would like the person to hear. I think your next two paragraphs speak to this from a different perspective. Yes, I have learned so much from how my teacher is always right there at the level of every student, both advanced and beginner, in the same breath. Always so simple, so accessible, yet deeply subtle and profound. That a person can become so attached to the necessity of their ego that they lose sight of how they behave around others. They are operating from a set of patterns so necessary to them that they have lost the ability to modify their behavior depending on the responses of their environment. When they are told what they are doing they won't believe it is true, because they are blind to their own actions. I find this type of pattern in people who are older and might be somewhat related to past trauma. Yeah, my teacher would just say it all takes time, and advise us to keep our experiences to ourselves. I threw it in because to me the principle fit in such a complete way. I think this is related to how the meridians connect to each other at the extremities. Once one is able to feel their lower dan tien, and feel qi moving through their arms and legs, the task is to connect the lower dan tien to the extremities, to fill the body with qi. But of course this is geared more towards inner martial arts. Other types of qi gong likely have different techniques for working to open the meridians. I believe it is a higher level manifestation that will naturally unfold when all the blockages have been dissolved, and leaks repaired, and the three dan tiens harmonized into oneness. What I experienced was more of a recognition of the refining that was beginning to happen as my meridians were wanting to connect to each other. At another time I was simply so dissolved and fully inside myself that they naturally opened all at once. That lasted many months, but then I got lazy and it faded. But yes, probably best to not worry about understanding how the qi gong of it all works - the principle can still be applied. The more we are open to hearing the external cues from our environment, the more we are told where our leaks are and where we need to return back into ourselves. Like here how I tend to share too much - I should work toward sharing less.

I think what is trying to be said here is that in five element theory earth is the center. Not the planet, the "element." This applies to any layer, be it the earth, the universe, the body, the spirit. In Neidan people cultivate the golden elixir, or golden light, which cannot come into being until everything else is in balance, and is directly related to the mysterious gate, which is like a gateway beyond 3 dimensional reality back to the center of the universe, which is everywhere and nowhere all at once. Who knows how many dimensions there are - is there a limit? The point of Neidan is to return to the tao, not explore other facets of creation, however spiritual they may be. To really get there on a deeper level, it helps to recognize how that gravity thing pulling us down to the Earth (planet) is a part of the dynamic of balance we are operating in. Likewise, the Earth is connected to the gravity of the Sun, the Sun to the gravity of the center of the Milky Way, and so on. By rooting to this gravity we are able to connect more deeply with this physically oriented center that is in polarity with the celestial center. By cultivating earthly receptivity, we increase our capacity to contain heavenly light, and when we mix them all together we are able to create a golden light that blooms in balance. And to truly transcend our physical bodies, rather than just sending the light off like a cut flower and leaving behind a corpse, we need to root all the way back to what some call the Central Sun. Is this anthropocentric? The WuJi posture in taiji, etc, is directly related to this, as Wu is the yang of celestial energy, and Ji is the yin of celestial energy. The "10 celestial stems" are considered to be very pure, celestial "five element" energies. Their counterpart are the "12 Earthly branches," Earthly in this context referring to more base planet-bound energies, which are just combinations of the "10 celestial stems," much as molecules are combinations of atomic elements. Both stems and branches contain all five element phases, including that of earth (center). However earth of these more pure celestial stems is considered to be the center of these celestial energies (which are contained within the physical and spiritual realms), and the yin and yang earth celestial stems are named Wu and Ji. When one is able to refine all their energies back to this central polarity of yin and yang, Wu and JI, one finds tao. So transcending in both the physical and spiritual senses. In Chinese Astrology, there are 4 seasons - Winter (water), Spring (wood), Summer (fire), and Autumn (metal). Between each of these seasons is a month for the phase of earth, which helps to transition between the other phases, brining harmony. In Neidan, before the five phases have been balanced and there is still major polarity between water and fire, earth is called the "yellow woman go between," residing in the middle and receptively assisting everything to remain in balance. The earth phase is associated with the color yellow, so all references to gold are references to this phase. The emphasis is not on just light, but golden light. The trigram of earth ☷ is associated with the planet Earth in terms of Earth's receptivity to allowing all manner of things to be grown upon it, stored within it, built upon it, etc, and ultimately it is also connected in the same way with Emptiness (time and space) and Stillness. In Emptiness and Stillness we develop the capacity to harness spiritual power. Even as people focus on the blooming flower or body of yang, they so easily miss that which has been developed in order to receive and hold these things. I mostly posted this as it is tiring to see all of this back and forth dancing when it is all so simple. No need to cultivate earthly energy if you do not feel so drawn - the heavenly dominant path is also full of glorious beings and such, but this is not what the ultimate goal of Neidan is all about. Neidan focuses on reaching the root and considers all else to be a side path. But hey, without all those side paths, of which some are extremely highly evolved, there'd not really be much at all to do in this universe. May everyone get to where their divine way leads as they are able, without tripping over terminology and dogma. Peace out.

Cut flowers are pretty, but don't last.

Yes, of course - you know what's best for you!

In addition to the sleep advice, along the same lines I find it helps to make sure I'm getting enough sunlight, and to avoid eating past 75% or so full. Sometimes I want to eat way past full, and it just bogs me down. The sleep, sunlight, and not eating to full help the hun shen to integrate better in the body, while the opposite tends to unbalance the po shen. For me, same with thinking instead of acting. When I think about, well pretty much anything, I never want to get up. When I just let go an move, I amaze myself by how much I can accomplish, without even thinking about it! Also, as you found, some days are just challenging, but the next day tends to be better. On days like that I find it helps to put extra effort into taking care of myself, especially in the ways I don't want to. Usually if I don't end up going to class I feel worse, but when I summon up the courage to just get there, afterwards I feel completely different, and much better. Best wishes!

Oh, that's wonderful! Often imbalance just needs a nudge in the right direction, but gosh it can be hard to identify what needs to move in which direction. This is why teachers can be so helpful, offering our would be forcefulness a path into efficiency with little nudges here and there. Certainly they aren't necessary... but really in the end we're all students and teachers. The more we are open to hearing feedback from others, the more we allow ourselves to be guided from the perspectives we cannot see. And in return we can help others see what they cannot. It doesn't take being a master, though it helps to be mindful of what someone has room to hear... often people will close off and become defensive if they have no room, which defeats the purpose of sharing feedback. Back when I was a musician, my teacher had me record myself. Even though I felt I could hear myself just fine, when I listened to a recording all these little things I hadn't caught started jumping out at me. From that I began to realize how easy it is to become biased to our own perspective, thinking what we see is the whole picture. Many people with intense personalities have trouble figuring out why people are so cautious around them, even as they react similarly when confronted with people who behave as they do. I find this very revealing. Perhaps a parallel here is related to refinement. With qi gong, I noticed that after I had restored my full energetic foundation and was able to fully extend my energy from my core to my extremities.... well when I full expanded to my extremities I was able to turn the energy around and return inward... not retreating back, but as though creating a new path after turning around, coming back from the outside in. As I worked with this, I realized my energy had started refining itself in a whole new way. So perhaps refinement happens most effectively from the outside-in. It sure helps me to refine a post after I've already submitted it. Preview helps but just doesn't feel like I'm seeing what others are seeing.

NaYin calls the yang wood horse "metal smelted 100 times." Horse is centered around the summer solstice in the seasons, and is the most yang time of the year. Horse is the center of the season of fire. Wood feeds fire, so this past year the heat was really blazing. All around me I noticed people dropping what they'd been doing in past years, and initiating bigger projects with an intense fervour. It was like everyone wanted to become a blacksmith last year and bee-lined it for the forge. Also somewhat interesting that this past winter solstice coincided with the new moon, that Lichun (beginning of the solar year) coincided with a full moon, and that on the spring equinox we have another new moon. To me it all feels like a reset switch, helping us to sync up with these important phases of the solar cycle. But I'm also pretty new to this perspective, so please take my opinions with a grain of salt!

There are two calendars, lunar and solar. As of February 4th, the solar calendar has entered the wood sheep year.... but the energetic waxing and waning of the moon tends to add a very strong energetic influence to the way we feel the solar cycle energies, so right now we're basically waiting for the lunar cycle to return to stillness (at the new moon) and catch on to the change in the solar energies. Sometimes this happens before February 4th, sometimes after. When it's after, they say the moon is blind to the change, which may effect the tone of the year a bit. When the moon is more aware of the change it's like getting a head start on a race or something like that. This yin wood sheep year is also somewhat of a response to the yang wood horse of last year, so we can perhaps expect (or create) some resolution to what was initiated last year.

Sounds like now your task is to stabilize, refine, and evolve your experience. Best wishes! If you run into trouble with this, I recommend chapter 4.

I used to be all too aware of... well everything related to the external world. It kept me from knowing myself. I was always reacting to something external rather than creating from the internal. After I started regular cultivating work and found a teacher, everything changed. I was able to surrender the part of myself that was worried about the external world and just trust it to do its thing. I started not looking at people when I walked down the street. Before, I'd always glance over at others with hyper awareness... often people would ignore me. Now out of the corner of my eye I'm aware of people looking at me all the time, though I've learned to stop letting this awareness trouble me in any way. Now that I've started just trusting the external realm to do its thing, and I'm not tugging on it as much with desire, fear, expectation, curiosity, etc.... well it's like what bes said - all kinds of mirrors are being held up for me, as though my setting of desire/interaction has allowed the external to settle into a calm that clearly reflects back to me and forms a conversation with my intuition. It greatly helps that I am often walking the streets of my city and being exposed to the real physical world. Even as I remain quiet and internal, my increased stillness allows me to receive so many messages. As a side note.... the "scorpionics" thing from the OP reminded me of something. In western astrology the first expression of water (emotions) is internal (cancer), and the second expression of water (scorpio) is the sharing between self and other. But the sharing of emotions puts one in a deeply vulnerable place. Often when an emotion is exposed to another they don't see it the same way one's self does, and however they reflect it back will change and transform this emotion. I've come to realize this is why many scorpio type people prefer to refrain from sharing their emotions at all, otherwise they'd be continuously dying and being reborn... it is said the higher path of scorpio is of the phoenix that rises countless times from the ashes, and becomes a great healer of others. But easy to see why some prefer the closed off and stable road, even if it does result in a bit of stinging here and there to keep would be heart-openers from coming too close.