Harmonious Emptiness

Yes, could be. For Ken Cohen, with all the other things he manages to do as a Shaman, it seems only natural to me that his memory is also very powerful. Interestingly, the following topic showed up in the Taoist forum soon after my response above. If you check the table of contents for the book, there is actually a fair bit about Taoist abilities of increasing intelligence! http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/19992-dao-and-de-life-and-afterlife/

I believe "The Sages" which Confucius referred to would have to have been Taoist(?)

I think it was mentioned in Opening The Dragon Gate about using a doll as a surrogate for a patient when doing distance healing/acupuncture on them. I'm pretty sure that's the practice referred to here, lol. You all might like the videos of Taoist music and rituals in this link : http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/19862-the-yue-ji-confucian-classic-of-music/page__p__281618__fromsearch__1entry281618

Lol, I was just trying to make a joke.. He has the memory capacity of a walking library, so I was just speculating on how he does this.. lol

I'm gonna take a shot at this because I like puzzles. Now, personally, I have not managed to eliminate my desires, but I have been able to reduce them significantly, and get them under control when they come around. First, the Dhammapada is an excellent thing to read since it provides many examples of how desires are inconducive to peace and wisdom. This can at least help to remind that the surging passions of love and hate can be let go. When they are let go, serenity is the only emotion left, in my experience. Another good food for the mind is just letting go of thoughts about profit or loss. Did I profit? Did I lose? It can help to let these go too. However, these are not the only things that trouble the mind. So, although they might provide relief at some times, the won't solve all of your problems. The most effective thing for me when I have something difficult going on is sitting meditation. There are many hand positions, mudras, to effect this and that, but I still find that for me the best one is just putting my palms face down on my thighs. This position was suggested by Chogyam Trungpa in Sacred Path of the Warrior, and I find it does feel very warrior-like in confronting whatever is trying to push you this way or that way. Keeping the back straight, shoulders and arms loose, and ears over your shoulders, palms down, use your stomach muscles to keep your posture. Don't engage in thoughts and don't suppress them, if they come in, let them go out. Eventually your mind will be clear and this clear mind is also good discipline for commanding your mind during regular life. If you are new to meditation, you may want to just lie down for 10 minutes, then 15 minutes, then 20 minutes, just to practice doing nothing. It can be very difficult for a lot of people to just do nothing for 20 minutes, but once you can do this, meditation will be a lot easier. Also in regards to whether we should have desires or not, I personally believe that there is often some misunderstanding of what is meant exactly by having no desires. I made an article in my personal practice blog about ambition in the same regard. Feel free to check it out if you're interested.. H.E.

basically being the backbone of a network between judges, law enforcement, and politics.

Yeah, I can't remember where to find it but there is a quote from an anthropologist in the 1700's who say's something like "what would happen if only everyone knew that the people from the Cradle of Civilization were of the same race as those we hold in bondage" when talking about the sphinx. Maybe this is why freemasons have been part of the conspiracy against blacks in USA. Maybe they're afraid they themselves are somehow racially inferior and so they have to keep the black man down? I don't know, but I'm white and find this simple fact to have HUGE potential ramifications.

If you check the topics from the past couple of weeks they seemed about 75% flame wars which made everything kind of suck, since to post anything required duking it out with someone who ignored everything that pointed out his errors rather than admitting to them. So he would just continue the flame war for ever since anything that would stop him was ignored. Pretty much every person, aside from literally 1 or 2, who got into a conversation with him had to fall into this toxic type of interaction. The board looked like one big flame war, imo, and a lot of people seemed to avoid the board possibly to avoid interacting with a personality like this. It's pretty much been a small handful of die-hards who stuck around, ime. He may have had some historical whatever, but all I was getting from him was negative, hateful energy and toxic behaviour. He will stay on my ignore list. I don't even read the responses to him -- just people getting sucked in by his behaviour. It's depressing to see really..

Well I can tell you that if your playing music with someone and you stand right next to them you get a much better reading as to what they are going to do. I don't know what it is exactly, but there is like an energy that becomes more and less intense which says which way they're going. I think just being in step, or in time, with people opens you up to the same thought patterns. I didn't see anything about it on the entrainment link there, but to my knowledge entrainment mostly refers to the fact that if you have 2 beats moving at the same beats per minute but not in sync, they will eventually become in sync and stay that way, like nature has an efficiency mechanism to put them into the same beat. Apparently this works with electronic beats as well as those perpetual motion contraptions with the metal balls. your first link didn't work for me. Now I tried it again and it worked, so I see you were probably talking about synching the left and ride sides of the brain rather than two people being in sync?

Whoops, seems I stumbled onto the Ma ***k forum. Anyone seen a MaGICK forum around?

well, I have to give Steve f his due credit on that one.. but yes, it is something to consider about how this attention affects the cells and "nourishes" their self healing ability. What I do know is that the placebo effect can do miraculous things just by the mind convincing the body to heal itself, so if we can do it intentionally in this way, it wouldn't be difficult for me to accept (in fact I already do in many ways, as do many here I'm sure..). Sometimes I wonder if a large part of qi gong skill, along with developing the body awareness and muscles and stretching organs and things, has to do with having our mind realize and trust it's potential to make these things happen. And following that, how much is possible at a lower level of chi cultivation just by faith and trust in what we are doing and feeling. There are people in Eastern Europe, for instance, who have natural healing abilities as a result of higher electromagnetic energy (See the intro to the book linked by zerostao in comment#2). We all have this energy, but some just seem to naturally be able to use it. Do they naturally have more chi? Or do they just naturally have a feel for it that experienced practitioners develop over time? I realize this could encourage plenty of new-age delusion, but it's something that I'm sure at least a few people here could attest to witnessing. This doesn't mean that any little focus or attention will work, but, is there something to it? I would add to the list of ways of cultivating attention: attention with the body (just feeling what's happening vividly)

There's also the theory that the nose and lips were defaced by Napoleon, maybe angered over impending defeat in Haiti, to cover up her African features.

I used to to get exzema, which I don't anymore. Milk can make it worse. A good thing to do is to cut out milk and take bone meal with extra vitamin D. This will make up for the calcium lost from milk, and is a much better source of calcium which is important for strong nerves and absorbing the shock/reduction to the calcium in bones that stress causes. I would also suggest taking 1 tablespoons of hempseed oil per day which provides 120% of the recommended daily intake of vitamin E, and I suspect that is the main reason the flax seed oil helps, though flaxseed oil is also really nutritious so she could alternate them if there is any issue that might develop from too much vitamin E due to a pre-existing blood condition or something. I'm not a health professional, so she should probably check with one about this.

Marble, stop being so serious

He also speaks a dozen or so Native American languages and, although Jewish by descent, is well respected as a Native American healer within Native American circles having been taught over 100 sacred songs and being sort of a lead apprentice (though maybe not the only one) under Rolling Thunder in the late 60's. I think he has expanded his chi forcefield for more memory storage or something He also speaks Mandarin and/or Cantonese and lives in the Colorado mountains which is also pretty awesome being a Qi Gong and Tai Chi master. A marvel, and also awesome proof of the zero boundaries of race to knowledge

Hm. something smells like cleaning AGENT

"I send you out as lambs amongst wolves, so be shrewd as a serpent and harmless as a dove." I think trusting that people are not entirely bad is not the same as trusting everything that they say or do or want to do. In Chinese Medicine they talk about the Po spirit connected to the lungs. The lungs breathe in and out the outside world and have a lot to do with our "instincts." Ever notice how a bird flys away when you just think about approaching it? That's because they have a super amazing Po. The same goes for cats. They can sense people's friendliness. Just watch their ears and movements change when you approach them. We have this too, but most humans need to understand everything before they accept it.

Hmm. Yeah, speaking of Wu Wei in regards to this, if your trying to make new friends or find a girlfriend, Wu Wei is important to keep in mind. Part of Wu Wei has an illusive moralistic side, meaning that you don't "take" things. A lot of people see what they want and they try really hard to get it. When this thing happens to be someone's affection or company, that is especially not right. There is a Chinese saying somewhere referring to hunting with 3 dogs. If you hunt with 4 dogs, they can surround and corner the prey which is unfair, so sport hunters (since they exist anyways regardless of what we feel about the so called "sport") should only hunt with 3 dogs so that prey that really really really wants to escape has an opening.

Disinfo agents. You ready for a really far fetched theory? How about if some people are actually trying to win souls for SATAN by causing them to engage in unnecessary frustrated debates? ignore all posts and responses to such posts. CLEANSE the vile demons from your pleasant mind stream. Halleluja!

Are the laymen of these three religions trying to get to the same place? Mystics and monks will vary, but are the rest of us all seeking the same result? Are The Enlightened, The Superior Man, and the True Christian not each a person who: has overcome clinging to the self, cultivated a humility that they happily serve their fellow man and fellow woman are generous and selfless in their actions despite the actions of others who, by having a true heart will automatically embody all doctrinal moralities who communicates with the source of creation, works with It/Him/Her to make things happen for others and occasionally themselves Seeks not to fall out of harmony with natural law A lot of people like to hate on Christians, but the True Christians are very humble and generous people. There are plenty of people who just go to church, the same as there are in the other religions, but those who really embody the message, I feel like this selflessness is the same goal that Buddhist laymen are trying to reach by dissolving the ego, and the religious Taoists as well. There is a Christian Hatian woman in Montreal, 113 years old, who laughingly said "I'm still here because I love people." Is this the same spirit to be cultivated by religious Taoists who attain longevity? Most here probably know the story about Jesus possibly learning Buddhism in the Himalayas, but He did come from the Assines who were very shamanistic so he may have merely been learning more about his same path, like a Native American healer learning from Polynesian healers. He would have already cultivated the selflessness of a shaman before going on this journey. Some would also point to the Paternalism of "God the Father" but keep in mind that Jesus also spoke of "The Holy Spirit" in the inseparable Holy Trinity. I know there are many correlations to Ancient Egyptian religion, but this myth is all over the world in different ways, and Jesus wouldn't have been the first nor the last to be witnessed by followers after his death. So, say what you will about mythologizing and political agendas of the Vatican, but the Story behind Christianity is neither unheard of in other traditions, nor implausible to those who know about shamanism (edit I should probably add "especially Taoist healers, considering the Assines practice something "similar to Reiki", and there are many stories of Taoist healers removing serious disease by energy manipulation--). So without twisting this into a spiteful political debate, if possible, what would YOU add to or take away from this? H.E.

agreed. As much as I do learn a lot of things, get directed to different books and things, it's interesting to hear what other people's experiences are and also to get some more authoritative opinions on vague experiences. I would venture to guess that few people here know too many people that have any clue about most of this stuff. Plus, it's a good testing ground, putting ideas through the fire...

Also, going with the flow, to me, is often done to change the flow, depending on what the flow is. Know the flow so that you can change it without disrupting it's flowingness. Aikido is one example of this.. A lot of creativity happens just on the edge of the flow. Going with it and scooping things up along the edges, so the flow keeps propelling you in an easy direction while you bring things in from the limits.

ROFL!

I would say that the disinfo and distraction is just people who post ridiculous shit to get a reaction by pushing buttons. Then people get sucked/hooked in feeling they need to keep the board clear of fallacy. This ends up being a distraction, causes bad vibes which turns people off from the site. Who can be bothered to engage in fully negative interactions all the time. Bor-ring! So, yes, easily there is dis-info being posted which causes distraction. The negativity I think is the biggest distractor since it pulls people into pointless conversations. It's not so simple as people doing it on purpose, however. I think they just really want someone to talk to and that's the only way they are guaranteed a response. It works!

Some Taoist music: If ever it was said that Chinese people don't have rhythm.. hu haaa! anyone up for doing a translation?? Here is an excerpt from the Yue Ji: 28. There are heaven above and earth below, and between them are distributed all the (various) beings with their different (natures and qualities):--in accordance with this proceeded the framing of ceremonies. (The influences of) heaven and earth flow forth and never cease; and by their united action (the phenomena of) production and change ensue:--in accordance with this music arose. The processes of growth in spring, and of maturing in summer (suggest the idea of) benevolence; those of in-gathering in autumn and of storing in winter, suggest righteousness. Benevolence is akin to music, and righteousness to ceremonies. 29. Harmony is the thing principally sought in music:--it therein follows heaven, and manifests the spirit-like expansive influence characteristic of it. Normal distinction is the thing aimed at in ceremonies:-they therein follow earth, and exhibit the spirit-like retractive influence characteristic of it. Hence the sages made music in response to heaven, and framed ceremonies in correspondence with earth. In the wisdom and-completeness of their ceremonies and music we see the directing power of heaven and earth[1].