Cat Pillar

I'm glad you enjoyed the workshop, and doubly glad you found needed inspiration from it. I enjoyed hanging out with you there, and hope the practice continues to provide what you're looking for (I think it will.) It was nice having your company on the shuttle back to the airport. I hope your return trip was smooth!

Yeah, I missed this review as well! Saturday night was indeed fun, you impressed me, sir.

It has not been my experience that cultivation is limited to deep meditation/trance. I would agree that the most efficient cultivation occurs in deep meditation, and that there's no replacement for dedicated sitting...but I have managed to bring dantien to a solid burn while at work.

I'm curious about this. Does someone steal your money if you save more than $200? This seems to be rather self-limiting. If you can save $200, why can't you save $400? It may take twice as long, and I understand you may feel an urgent need to get away...but I don't understand the nature of that limit.

Regarding the OP... I've found that while books and such were great for getting me introduced to the concepts of cultivation, self-reliance is an absolute must on the path. Yes, I have a teacher and practice within a system...but no teacher or system can make you virtuous, disciplined, change your habits, or take responsibility for your actions. All of that is on the practitioner, and while guidance can be helpful at times, you still have to pick up your feet and take the steps yourself.

Word.

Currently reading "The Concept of Mind" by Gilbert Ryle, at the suggestion of a philosophical friend. Not even through the first chapter yet, but enjoying it already. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E5X5ZEO/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title

Apricot heffeweizen? That sounds fascinating, although I can't decide whether it sounds tasty or not. I need to find meals that take less than five minutes to prepare but are still healthy. That seems to be hard to do.

Me too!! A friend of mine loaned me a copy of "Illusions" and told me I should read it. It pretty much rocked my worldview and jump-started my interest in figuring out just what this reality thing is. Others that have helped me the most: Robert Monroe Robert Bruce (these two helped crack open my worldview even further) Lao Tzu Greg Goode Michael Lomax Alan Wallace (most recently) And I have to say the conversations here at TTB's have helped me immensely as well. Nothing like live interaction to see how things play out dynamically.

Some schools also say using the wire or touching the ground are the only way to gather yin qi. I think Mo Pai is one of them. It is not said to be so in the lineage I practice.

Yup, I know exactly what you're talking about, Dwai. I've experienced the same thing with certain maintenances or troubleshooting activities. Sometimes you just "know" it's about to go sideways.

I see Ganying in action all the time at my place of work. Device failures and issues tend to happen in clusters. One day it will be load balancers, another day firewalls. One day will be switch reboots, another issues with Juniper routers. It's always fascinated me. Great thread!

My dreams are often in third person. I don't think that's uncommon.

Supposedly it was in a chemistry class. I personally think it was probably just a funny piece written by a comedian somewhere, but who knows?

I finally found one of my favorite science-y jokes again, and thought I'd post it for others to enjoy. I'm sure many of you have already seen this. I snagged it from "http://www.enlightened-spirituality.org/Spiritual_Humor.html" [The following is supposedly an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so interesting that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now can enjoy it as well.] Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? [Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle’s Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:] First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let’s look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle’s Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. This gives two possibilities: 1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose. 2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, “it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,” and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct... leaving only Heaven—thereby proving the existence of a divine being. Which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting “Oh my God! [This student received the only “A” grade.]