ZenDruid

If that is your belief.

I guess if we didn't need to learn anything from anyone else, we'd all be Taoist Immoratals by now and authors would all be living in the streets Neil - Like Fire Dragon I just breath naturally and don't syncronize it with the circulation. I've read different ways, but this works best for me. In the first instruction I had, I learned to use the breath to "pump" chi between points (inhale at the point, exhale moving to the next) but that seemed to me to be not very smooth and I really don't try to "move" the chi that way anymore. I've also read inhale up the back, exhale down the front but I like what I am doing now best. Richard

Well, the placebo effect has been established for over 50 years, so there is much to see if you will allow yourself to see it. One of the criteria for new drugs/treatments is that they produce a better result that of a placebo. An anecdotal story is that of Ram Dass giving his guru heroic doses of LSD with no results. I had not realized that you were a confirmed skeptic when I started here, or I would not have bothered. Unlike skepticism as I learned it in epistomology class, the confirmed internet skeptic cannot be moved by rational argument and no proof is sufficient. As to the transmission video, if you believe in transmission from Master to devote, then there is no reason why that can't occur via video as well as in "real life". And I think if the devote has not yet met the Master physically this could still occur. My opinion only. You stated that you would like to see it happen to you. If that is really true, why don't you go and report back on your experiences? After all, ifyou really desire the experience, or desire to prove the negation of the experince, then time & money should not be an issue. Otherwise this is all just speculation. Richard Despite being straight & happily married I might be interested in this experience as well! Richard

I've had several as a direct result of using Hemisync's "Gateway" series. It might be better to catagorize them as just astral experiences. I've not tried (yet) any experiments to, say, find something hidden in a box or anything like that. But I have left my physical body, looked at it, explored the house and floated above it, seeing my community. I've also made trips to favorite places on Earth and trips to places certainly not of Earth. I also have an "area" that I like to go to that is like a big table on the beach where I drink iced tea and talk to guides that help me. I can't say if these are technically OBE's or not. One thing I did learn from using this technology is that I know, rather than believe, in a life beyond my body, because I have experienced it. That has in itself been worth the price of admisssion...certainly an E-ticket ride! RIchard

Buddy, I am rather sorry that you took nothing with you from all that reading from Osho. I cut you a break because you surprised me, but you really never replied to the concept of negative logic as being false, merely accused Osho in an ad hominum mannor. You still do not address the numerous proofs as to the physical outcome of beliefs. Richard

Very observant Buddy, not many folks I know have read that particular one! Osho works for me...I like the way he shakes things up Credible? Eye of the beholder I suppose.

They're all to busy...well...you know

While calamine certainly has active ingredients, I maintain that you could decrease or eliminate its effectiveness by believing it would not work, just as you could achieve the same effectiveness with a placebo or with just your thoughts based on belief. I have cured or accelerated the cure of numerous minor injuries to myself by belief. Suggested reading: "Instant Healing" by Serge Kahili King (psychologist and Kahuna) To the creationists I would say "Go for it dudes!". It matters not to me if someone believes in video transmission or the age of the Earth being X number of years. We all filter everything through our senses and bias what we receive to fit our beliefs anyway. For all I know they might be right. Patanjali said there are 3 types of logic. One of the faulty ones is kutarka - reasoning oriented toward the negative: thinking in terms of no, denying, doubting, nihilistic. A person doing this will look to the sun only to see sunspots or to the rose and be able to tell you how many thorns but not see the flower. It looks like reasoning but it is dark. Richard Richard

I first heard about "The Secret" quite a while back when the whole project was in it's early stages. It was originally supposed to appear on TV. I view its explosive success as a good example of its principles in action. Certainly nothing new here, but it is new to a lot of people. As far as Abe, a lot of their teachings resonate with me and I find that the ones about "going with the flow" are not far off from the Taoist ideas of going with the advantageous. My reservations about "channeled" entities in general is that the channelers are usually not people of advanced training and are probably just channeling various astral entities rather than expressing something coming from Self or a higher, more dependable realm. Esther Hicks began contact with Abe after meditating for only a short while. Like people, astral entities come in all flavors and some can be devious and unreliable. As Dion Fortune comments in her book "The Mystic Qabalah", when people first transcent Malkut, physical reality, and experience Yesod, the astral, they may encounter various astral entities. She suggests ignoring them for the most part due to their unreliable nature and focusing efforts on ascending the tree to Tifaret, the Vision of Higher Self. Richard

It seems unlikely to me that you would undergo chemo or use a lotion if you did not believe it would work. Otherwise why subject yourself to such things. So you already have a belief at some level in the effectiveness of the treatment. You could probably cure poison ivy with just about anything iincluding just your thoughts if you believed.

Just wishing to post a "Howdy" from the cold Washington coast. I have quite an interest in Taoism and have been doing a bit of reading of both the classics as well as some newer books and doing some of Chia's energy exercises. I look forward to moving beyond the printed page to talking to some real (albeit electronic) folks. Now that I have introduced myself I have to leave town for a week, but I look forward to returning here.

Thanks Yoda, I've been reading your personal practice logs. Great stuff!