tao_gone_blue

Taoism intrigues us all. Welcome. And good luck.

hi

If you're just approaching Taoist meditation in this light, I would suggest reading up on both Tantra (Kundalini) and Chakra Meditation practices. They're very heavily geared toward the movement of energy in the body and translate well into this specific form of meditation. One exercise: cycling of excess energy up from the base of the Kundalini through the crown chakra (Sahasrara) and then back down the front of you into your Dan Tien (added to accommodate Taoist practice). Breathe in and envision the energy pooling at the base of your spine, feel it rise up your back toward the top of your head. On the exhale, let it fall down the front of your body and settle in your Dan Tien. From there you can begin to study how you'll be able to turn that energy into jing and from there into qi. Another thing I've learned is not to try and repeat exercises too close together when you first begin trying them. Sometimes it's worth while to wait a week or so between events when adding fairly intense forms of meditation to your practice. Just like with the use of psychedelics, at the beginning, using it too often can cause you to try and 'chase' the original/pre-conceived sensations and results. And when you don't get them to repeat exactly, finding yourself frustrated. As well, when engaging in this sort of practice, don't extend it for too long; the release won't feel like enough until you've developed some familiarity with your body and how it responds to this sort of training.

I don't necessarily believe that enlightenment specifically corresponds with psychological maturity, though I definitely see a correlation with finding true enlightenment along the way to reaching the top of Maslow's hierarchy. A lot of the steps on the hierarchy look similar to stages passed through on the way to enlightenment and they certainly encompass characteristics we tend to associate with enlightened persons. However, the desire to return to the uncarved block, or child-like state, I feel is somewhat incongruous with what we actually know children to be. We idealize child-like natures as we walk the path, but children are, by nature, immature. They steal, they lie, they're prejudiced (how many kids do you know immediately want to try brussel sprouts?) and do all sorts of things out of the purely driven motivation of self-satisfaction or preservation. That doesn't necessarily match the various jewels as we understand them along the path once we get a little older. Some aspects do matter: their hearts are often more open to change, they don't have to pass through certain prejudices (race, height, size, etc.), which are signs of maturity, but they're also very open to persuasion and therefore easily subject to the thoughts and opinions of others - especially perceived authority figures. That isn't often a sign of psychological maturity. Their minds are to learn, whereas we are to sort through that excess knowledge and reduce what isn't useful so as not to be too clouded. Children lack a lot of the clouding, but don't do these things with awareness and so we idealize them, as it seems naturally spontaneous; but, the very nature of maturity is the knowledge of options and/or that things can be different and that you have the power to enact those differences. Spontaneous wisdom is great, but few receive every step of the path in that fashion. Instead, wisdom/maturity is earned through time, example and experience. In light of that, I also don't believe that enlightenment is an inherently biological process. During moments of ling, we all feel the shift in internal energies, and may even feel kundalini rising if we are on that path. So, while I do think it can be argued to be a socio-biological activity in a growing species that seeks to continue to understand and make peace with the world around it, there is nothing in us that forces spiritual enlightenment or psychological maturity. The latter is a by product of experience, which can be resisted and ignored by just about anyone who wishes to as we are lacking a physical imperative (hormonal most likely) toward making it happen, while the former is pure personal choice to utilize a metaphysical or philosophical spin in one's understanding an personal growth. In terms of spiritual enlightenment and psychological maturity, I do think that as a person gets closer to one, they may often find themselves closer to the other, but just as a psychologically mature person isn't necessarily considered enlightened, I feel that while truly spiritually enlightened people may often be psychologically mature it's not a given.

Thank you.

What's terrible is, as a writer, I'm terrible at writing about myself. It's because I don't do it very much. Anything that feels like a fixed representation of me makes me wary, because it's difficult to live up to whatever that image happens to represent to the person viewing it. I tend to avoid photographs as well. Maybe I'm just insecure, but I believe I once read something about a sage steering their way by doubt and insecurity; so, here's a representation of me, as I exist in this particular moment... I am a martial artist. I have been since I was little (I'm very tall now, I assure you). I ultimately found the way through martial arts. I study them to study myself. Through that study, I'm lucky to have understood enough to have the privilege of teaching them to others. My traditional meditative practice is sporadic, but becoming much more common-place in my everyday moments. My non-traditional meditative practices are regular, but not quite common-place, yet. Music is a major tool for me. I am a syncretic, blending a number of philosophies into a form of the way that feels most natural for me. Science and Metaphysics coexist in my world; one encourages the other; one compliments the other. I believe in work and progress. I also believe it's important to challenge ourselves daily, because axes don't get sharp without the help of a good grindstone and life can be a very good grindstone if one learns how to dance with it. [/extrapolation] Thanks for having me.