Eric23

vocation- Cartography, specificly aerial photographer for a photogrammetric firm avocation- Art, specificly figurative works in watercolor and various printmaking techniques The day job is a nice fit for me. (later edit) Around my second or third year in university I discovered maps and decided to become a cartographer. Was facinated with the graphic component of producing maps and took several courses in graphic arts. Once I got into the profession it took a while to find my niche as a photographer. What I do is much more than taking photos. I do all the flight planning to insure that the stereo photos can be used to produce topographic maps, that requires an understanding of the entire photogrammetric process. I love the work, it's a nice blend of science and art. Couldn't see myself doing anything else. However like all jobs, the people you work for/with have much to do with enjoying the day to day grind. p.s. Nice to have you back Rain!

My father is in the autumn of his life and slowly loosing his faculties. It's a very scary time for him as well as me. Losing one's independence is a very big deal to him, a very big deal. Not being able to care for ones self is extremely disturbing, and leads to some interesting thought processes. I managed to get my father's doctor to perscribe hospice care. There is a illness present that makes hospice a necessary step in our case. With hospice comes social workers and a network of professional help. If you can tap into some professional help I would recommend it. Talking about suicide is a fairly common behavior pattern with seniors facing the end of their life, unfortunately I've heard it. If your aunt is in hospice, you might be able to get some help from her hospice team. The end of one's life is a very profound experience, but at the same time it's loaded with all sorts of unexpected surprises, unbelievable anxioties and emotions you really can't and don't know or understand. If you had told me a year ago how this process might go, I would never had believed it. What's the family situation? Is your mom able to help? Cousins? This is one area where having a profession care giver who's seen a number of these cases helps and comforts. Best of luck.

I applaud you guys for using the opportunity of filming the video, to upgrade your choice of beer from Miller High Life to Hoegaarden Seriously, I just got in from a business trip to the oil country of Eastern New Mexico/ Texas panhandle, some places just aren't hip. Now that I'm back home, I just may have to swing by a nice little bar that's tucked away in the arts district and enjoy a Hoegaarden.

I'm in the middle of the Aghora book right now. The reviews on Amazon seemed to indicate that one should approach them like Casteneda's work. He's very big on Karma from a Hindu point of view. Kind of like Karen, his teaching isn't really resonating with me, but I didn't buy the book for that purpose. You'll enjoy the book, he's out there and it is entertaining.

Friend request on its way. I mainly use myspace to network with the art crowd in Phoenix .http://www.myspace.com/ericfigureartist

What's wrong with doing another 6 months of full lotus meditation and wall gazing? Then another six months and another six months...

Thanks Rex! Keep em coming.

I've read Alan Watts The Watercourse Way and think he had a pretty good grasp of the Tao. He says you can talk about what Tao does, describe it's effects, compare it to other things that are similar to it, but you can never really write a definition for it. Henrick's description of Tao in the introduction to his translation of the TTC is a perfect example. After reading it, you have a very good concept of Tao, but at no point did Henrick actually define Tao, he describes it in a metaphorical sense.

I'm a photographer/cartographer by trade. Art is my avocation. Been at both for many years, well before starting this journey. At this point it's really hard to say if Daoism has improved or altered my art. I have been working on a new medium recently and getting good results. Now, is it the Zhang Zuang or just realizing that you have to make a couple of hundred pieces before you really get a grasp of any medium? At the work end, I recently had to train a new guy for our satillite office. It's very difficult to describe something that just came naturally to someone. I'm up in an airplane with a map in my hands looking out the window and it's perfectly obvious where our photogrammetric project is. I can visualize the flight lines, see where the discrepancies between my flight plans and reality lie. Once we're on line with the camera running, you look through the viewfinder system and confirm that the plane is over the intended flight line. I've been doing it for 15 years or more and had to explain to this new guy how I did it, when in reality I don't know how, I just do it. The new guy's nickname for me is Obi Wan

In some sick way, I would lose all respect for you if you did I must say the women on this board rock. Now to the subject at hand. I belong to a number of boards covering a variety of subjects. Most are broken down to multiple sub-catagories to better organize the discussions. For instance, an art forum that I participate in has seperate sub forums for different mediums, subject matter etc. each with their own moderators. The discourse is always civil, but it can get boring. Although the subject matter of "art" is so far reaching to compare it to TTB, what does happen is that you only check out the sub-forums you are interested in and miss out on meeting new people and learning new stuff. One thing about TTB is that if you sit back, read and ask thought out questions you will learn more than you ever thought was possible. Sometimes you are surprised, and when on a spiritual journey I think it is important to be surprised by whatever the universe sends your way. You may think you know all about your path and that all other possible paths have no bearing on where you're at, but you're leaving out the possibility that there is something out there that you should check out. So my conclusion is that a few additional sub-forums would help organize TTB, but it shouldn't be over-managaged. I must commend Sean for giving us a long leash. I was on a forum where outspoken people have been banned for far less than what goes on here and the forum lost it's mojo, and became completely boring. That's my .02

Did you catch the Leonard Cohen documentary on Sundance channel?

Taxi Harry Chapin It was raining hard in 'Frisco, I needed one more fare to make my night. A lady up ahead waved to flag me down, She got in at the light. Oh, where you going to, my lady blue, It's a shame you ruined your gown in the rain. She just looked out the window, and said "Sixteen Parkside Lane". Something about her was familiar I could swear I'd seen her face before, But she said, "I'm sure you're mistaken" And she didn't say anything more. It took a while, but she looked in the mirror, And she glanced at the license for my name. A smile seemed to come to her slowly, It was a sad smile, just the same. And she said, "How are you Harry?" I said, "How are you Sue? Through the too many miles and the too little smiles I still remember you." It was somewhere in a fairy tale, I used to take her home in my car. We learned about love in the back of the Dodge, The lesson hadn't gone too far. You see, she was gonna be an actress, And I was gonna learn to fly. She took off to find the footlights, And I took off to find the sky. Oh, I've got something inside me, To drive a princess blind. There's a wild man, wizard, He's hiding in me, illuminating my mind. Oh, I've got something inside me, Not what my life's about, Cause I've been letting my outside tide me, Over 'till my time, runs out. Baby's so high that she's skying, Yes she's flying, afraid to fall. I'll tell you why baby's crying, Cause she's dying, aren't we all. There was not much more for us to talk about, Whatever we had once was gone. So I turned my cab into the driveway, Past the gate and the fine trimmed lawns. And she said we must get together, But I knew it'd never be arranged. And she handed me twenty dollars, For a two fifty fare, she said "Harry, keep the change." Well another man might have been angry, And another man might have been hurt, But another man never would have let her go... I stashed the bill in my shirt. And she walked away in silence, It's strange, how you never know, But we'd both gotten what we'd asked for, Such a long, long time ago. You see, she was gonna be an actress And I was gonna learn to fly. She took off to find the footlights, And I took off for the sky. And here, she's acting happy, Inside her handsome home. And me, I'm flying in my taxi, Taking tips, and getting stoned, I go flying so high, when I'm stoned.

I would like to pass along a quote (or at least a paraphrase of it) that my high school english teacher shared with us. He said when he heard it, his blood ran cold. It's funny how the mind works, in the midst of living a life very much like Al Bundy in "Married with Children" I recalled it and started to change directions. "The cities are filled with men living lives of quiet despiration" Henry David Thoreau Resolve NOT to be one of those men. In spite of all your expectations now, at some point down the line you will almost certianlly wind up being chewed up and swallowed by our system. Mwight is right in that the system is totally screwed up and based on lies. Unfortunately, it's such a dominate force that it's almost impossible not to get sucked in. One thing I've learned in my 50 some odd years is that you can never really know what lies in store for you 1 year, 5 years or 15 years down the road. You might have a general idea on where you would like to go, but the world now will not resemble the world in 15 years. There are opportunities and paths awaiting you that you can not even begin to imagine at this point in your life. Again Learner is spot on. Earning a living is one thing, your avocation that trully defines who you are is/can be quite another thing. So the advice your parents and teachers are giving you regarding earning a living and navigating through the muck of our society is well intended and probably worthwhile. Just keep in mind that you work to live, not the other way around. I hope that the Thoreau quote will come in handy some day. My children are a just a few years older than you and I've watched them struggle to find their way. I wish you well.

Observing my own body's response, a relaxed abdomen is essential to non ejac. You might look into a concurrent practice to relax the muscles after pilates. I'm sure there is great benefit to working out the abs, don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Sometime last year we were having a discussion here on TB and TheLearner brought up the old tradition of writing out sacred texts in your own words. I would say the mwight's idea of him re-writing this book in his own words for his own use would have great benefit for him. Don't know about distributing it, but the basic idea has merit. Stand in dragon stance, while focusing on the moon, and sun, and merge the dragon and the tiger in the lower cauldron and then plunge that into the original cavity of the spirit, convert lead into mercury, and nourish the sacred fetus. If I were pondering the meaning of this passage the first thing I would do is research how one assumes the dragon stance and then learn how to do it. That alone could take several months to a year, which should give you plenty of time to research the metaphorical meanings of the rest of it.

I just couldn't help myself Somebody just had to stand up and state the obvious.

Do you have any idea how much of an ass you are making of yourself?

Know a couple of people who have been. The desert in No. Nevada is a different animal than the Sonoran desert in AZ. Be prepared for high winds blowing sand and freezing temps at night. I would take every precaution for exposure to the daytime sun and blowing sand. Do your research and don't underestimate the conditions. A girl I know who has been there a couple of times already told me that everybody is very cool and more than willing to pitch in and share. Then again you're from Chicago so you know about extreme weather

I took Freeform's advice, and now quietly converse with my organs while doing Chi Nei Tsang. Very soothing. I had cracked a rib during a car accident 25 years ago. I still had occaisional tightness in the area and could re-injure it when coughing or sneezing even after all these years. Kind of chalked it up to scarring. So after all the wisdom here at Taobums, I started gently massaging the area and talking to the pain in my upper abdommen. After reading the Unwinding/ Chi Nei Tsang materials, the first time I got in there and made contact with my gall bladder, it really let me know. I'm presuming that the accident not only cracked the rib, but also did some pretty major trauma to my gall bladder. We're all doing much better now.

Spent a week or so re-reading that book and handwriting the teachings of Devi that I found most salient in a journal. I found it to be a very interesting exercise and wound up with a much better understanding and appreciation of Kashmir Shivaism. I must give credit to Michael (thelearner) for bringing up the ancient tradition of handwriting teachings that are important to us. He mentioned this in a post months ago and I decided to try it. Tantric Quest is a great read, glad you are enjoying it.

53 here. The past couple of years have been a time of really discovering what makes me tick. I'm learning that "the journey is the destination" is more than a cliche. The Bums has become my cyber home. Just sit back, read and learn. Michael, here's wishing you guys the very best. Hope to make it over to one of the lectures and meet some real life Taobums. Eric

Just happened to be on cable last night. Unfortunately no director's comments. Very enjoyable film.

Seems like a popular subject these days. Try www.unwindingthebelly.com buy the book from them or amazon. Nifty self massage technique. If you do it with an empty mind and listen to your body so much the better. This will get you started and going right away.

I've been dealing with neck and abdominal tightness for most of my adult life. Sports injuries in school and auto accidents haven't done my neck or back any good at all. General stress of being married with children and living the American dream got my belly screwed into a nice tight knot. My experience is that they're both important and getting them unblocked and loosened up are vital to relaxation. Used to see a chiropractor (US) about once a month years ago. I stopped playing tennis when it just simply wasn't fun anymore, and my back and neck immediately started to heal. Getting serious with yin yoga has opened up my shoulders which in turn helped my neck. Just recently got acquainted with Chi Nei Tsang through the Unwinding the Belly book, and it is paying nice dividends. Later edit: Picked up one of the memory foam contoured pillows several years ago, big help for the neck,