Cat Pillar

I wouldn't call it cruel. It is what it is. With conceptual understanding out the window, it seems like what's left is a waiting game.

Hey now...quit talkin' about me behind my back! In all "seriousness" though...that's a really accurate description of how I feel.

Gerard, does your resource list any good teachers that you might be able to recommend in the Houston, TX area? Edit: Good grief, maybe I oughta click a link now and then. Although I would still be happy if you could point out any of the ones listed in Houston as being particularly worth checking out. Looks like the bidding war is on for the bagua program.

Thanks for the headsup, Sean. I'm totally bidding on this.

A temporary break of silence to appease curiosity. The answer spoke on many levels directly to the question asked (which I will not share.) Fascinating!

I have never gotten a tattoo, because I change too quickly to think I could get away with a permanent mark I'd never regret. No matter the symbology, no matter how much it means to me today...it might not mean the same thing to me tomorrow. I have no comment on any other aspect, like what kind of spiritual effects it might have...I don't know. Edit for an o.

Thanks for bumping!

Your articles are always so fascinating, deci belle. Poetic, too. A part of me feels like this article makes sense...but I can't relate it to anything, and there's no "aha!" or real understanding of it...just a flow of words that seems legit without any rhyme or reason. Maybe some day I'll understand.

Interesting. I'll have to try and bookmark this and check it out later. Would have been really neat to catch live.

When I write music, it's usually a result of hours of just messing around on the guitar until something "clicks." I find a riff or a melody I really dig, and it sets the emotional-energetic tone of the flow. From there, I focus on the emotion-energy and try to let it grow and express itself...it's very much about feeling into it. Sometimes conscious effort is required to bridge two disparate themes, or to provide a nudge to the flow, but a lot of it "just writes itself." I don't know much music theory, but I know what sounds and feels right for a particular piece. Like I've heard other artists state, it's not so much expressing my self creatively...rather it's trying to manifest a creative expression that already exists.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying, and I'm not saying there's absolutely no spiritual lessons that can be learned from MLP (or any other form of media for that matter). I'm just saying that it's a leap to attribute spirituality to the show itself, as some kind of intrinsic characteristic. The show was created to make money, not adepts. Same with Avatar: The Last Airbender. Whatever spiritual lesson is learned is completely individual (and I will say I don't see what the big deal is about people discussing something they've learned from a show in General Discussion, as long as spirituality is the core of the thread). The problem comes when this turns into assigning inherent spiritual qualities to the show or its characters - there is nothing inherently spiritual about it. The spiritual lessons are individual reflections from a brightly colored and entertaining mirror...but the mirror itself is empty of any such spiritual characteristics. Well, that's my opinion, anyway.

It's a cult craze because of who works on the show, and how it's written. Lauren Faust (Powerpuff Girls, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends) took the lead on re-engineering the brand for the new series, and animators from shows like Samurai Jack are involved in the development. The show contains a lot of geek/nerd culture references as well as popular media references. In essence, it's just really well done on a lot of levels. Hasbro and the MLP creative team took advantage of the show's initial popularity among non-target audiences and started including references to fan created memes in the show, which pretty much set up a feedback loop that solidified the fan base. Obviously I'm a fan, but I don't derive a whole lot of spiritual inspiration from the show - some of the Aesop's are pretty weak, actually. I think it's important to acknowledge that the show was created to sell toys.

May I ask how long per day you practice?

I second zerostao, I really wish these guys were talked about more. I remember reading about them (I think it was from Alfred Huang's translation of the I Ching) but didn't get as much information as I would have liked. Thanks to this thread for reminding me, though.

Interesting thread...I used to be obsessed with lasers. Glad to hear you're seeing results from your practice!

I can see why he'd say that. My spirituality started with Christianity. I didn't find any answers there, but it did provide a temporary foundation. When I abandoned that faith, I pretty much lost direction for many years until reading about NDE's led me into reading about OBE's, which led me to meditation, which led me to Buddhism and Taoism. I think the question of what would happen after the banishment of Abrahamic religions is kind of a needless one, though. They will never be "banished." At least, not until they've lost enough followers to lose their influence...and I don't see that happening any time soon.

I can see why you'd want that, but personally I think the forum is busy enough as it is. Another opinion of mine, is that health topics seem appropriately on-topic for both General Discussion and the Taoist subforums, as physical health plays a big role in a lot of Taoist topics. I think off-topic is a perfectly fine place for politics.

Really? I thought it was heard around the world.

In my experience "lifestyle" is nothing more than a collage of habits. Some of those habits are what I would call "habitual indulgences." You do something over and over again cuz it feels good, and the good feeling sometimes prevents you from noticing that it may be adversely affecting another area of life. The hardest part about reversing habitual indulgences for me is the delay between stopping a habit and experiencing a benefit. I sometimes don't have the attention span to avoid falling back into habitual indulgence. The indulgence brings instant gratification. For example... I want a taco. I buy a taco. DAMN, THAT'S A GOOD TACO (instant gratification.) Now, compare that to not eating a taco. It's going to take several weeks, maybe months, of not eating that taco over and over again before I can sell the little wheelbarrow I use to carry my gut around. Some of this stuff used to be a moral thing for me...y'know, celibacy, drugs, food, spirituality..."this is wrong, that is wrong..." These days, I look at it from a purely practical point of view. "Does this help or hinder my cultivation?" That, more than anything else, is the determining factor for me. Although that doesn't mean that although I see the taco as a hindrance, I won't still eat it now and then. Damn tacos. Edit: To tie in to the OP a little more...my opinion is that a sage's lifestyle is irrelevant because what matters is the attainment. But I think it's important to recognize that irrelevance goes both ways - a sage's lifestyle neither condemns nor condones habits or actions. It is precisely that - irrelevant.

I am totally following this topic.

I'm of the ilk that doesn't much care for labels, but if I had to put down a label for some reason, I would call myself a "Taoist" because it's the closest match among all the many labels out there. I practice Taoist internal alchemy and am learning Taoist medical qigong applications. I've read the TTC, but not all of the Zhuangzi...most of my studying is around the concepts of alchemy and energy work. But I've studied some Advaita and a tiny bit of Buddhism as well, and have found things in both paradigms that have been helpful to me. I spent a long time trying the intellectual approach, and it didn't work very well for me. But, I do think studying is important, because it helps with trying to communicate things for which there aren't many common frames of reference. If one had to categorize important concepts for a Taoist to "accept," I would say Wu Wei deserves much consideration.

That frame/explanation would be past lives and/or karma. Work done in past lives would pave the way for "easier" cultivation in the present life. My personal experience is that cultivation requires dedication, and that goes beyond just time and effort into the "formal" practices as well.

Thanks for the rec, bought the kindle version and am reading it.

So they are. Why do you say "merely," though?

That's pretty cool. I might experiment with that once my 100 days are up.