Stosh

Well , I was already taking a peek before work. Yeah I know you are a freewillist too

You could know that there is one banana because you eat it, but .. How would one know if there was only one banana?

Then call me vain because I do think that there is free will. - but then, as you see it ,what would be the purpose of star or a moth?

If a person really doesnt want to do the life they have , (and have means to change it ) then I figure the paradigms they operate from,, arent paying off. I am aware that , the ideas one has can be pervasive, even sneaky and deceptive. But I just dont think the wise folk we read of wanted to have the impact of rendering this life -we each experience .. to suck. ( I wonder if theres a sanskrit word that equates)

The symbol exists to present a paradigm which is believed to address the seeming lack of order you eloquently delineated. Its a short-hand for a richer set of ideas. Ive also seen the same symbol on a roman sheild , the owner of which may have zero familiarity or exposure to the eastern mindset it relates to. For at least some of your questions , which are age old rhetorical ones the response might be , who told you it had a reason or that it mattered , or that things might be right ? and where would they derive their authority ? In pursuit of the answers to all this there are religions. My personal touchstone is that the ultimate question for anyone, is , "What do I do now?" which brings things into a really very pertinant focus.

If Im cutting a banana for with breakfast cereal , I cut it twice at one end but not all the way through so its still just one but then the third cut crosswise leaves me with five.

I can actually agree with a lot of that Ss, Id say for my own opinion, that is not that you cant or shouldnt do or know anything , quite the reverse, its that you could or may know and do stuff , this is the life youve got to do and know such as you are now. The I that you consider you IMO is just not ever going to be the same when you ( or I ) go on. The slings arrows and errors of this go -round shall be as gone as gone can be, and that strikes me as a lovely thought,, Ill get to make a whole fresh new set of mistakes , get hit with an entirely new set of circumstances and entirely fresh clean slate Which to me certainly beats the idea of reincarnation of the same me over and over again ! HANDS DOWN.

Not entertaining the difference between ones life or death , well then theres no perspective on which to base "early" or late. Yet fearing death , one would always have a perspective of ----' Whoa ! Not so fast there Reaper!' the number of years not withstanding.

Ask for anything you'd like , the Tao will be unmoved, while you maintain a false hope that it will assist you. Never begging again , relying on what you can make manifest , and accepting what comes with it ,is working within the Tao. Would that be selfish?

Words represent sets of associations , sometimes they are nonspecific. That which they represent is just as foggy as a feeling ,or an experience. They well up from the subconscious and appear before the awareness before being spoken or they blurt out before aware examination so they just arent clearly differentiable from nonverbal sentiment at their formative moment. Dharma , may be.many things ...teachings, conduct ,virtues, rights, laws, doctrine etc. If a person was going to try to study Dharma then its basically going to be by the use of verbal meanings and thoughts. If its said that Buddha said that was not the case, then the person saying it didnt understand Buddha or Dharma. As far as admonishment goes , you yourself are tough enough to withstand and dismiss it , and I respect a persons ability to do that,, more than the admonishing, which is easy.

Opinion is expressed here , its a very non specific statement , it may be that this nation has never been very peaceful. Im already honest Even if these stats are true , each one would have to be looked at to see whether any of them are improper I dont know that , 'disproportionate' alone just says someone thinks something is unfair.. but if crime is more prevalent in certain states or communities , one could make an association between police activities and a race , but that doesnt mean that they do not have justifiable cause for their actions. I think there was a stat that one in four black men in detroit will spend time in prison ,, did one in four commit crimes that warrant prison? if they did , then theres nothing racist about the prison stat, but it also shouldnt be construed that the other three guys did anything criminal either! I had my shoes checked for explosive residue at several airports , that would be very serious if they came up with a positive result due to exposures I was never aware of . I didnt cringe in fear.. but I can understand the indignity and concerns one addresses. I dont support these stop and frisk events on the street though, either Questions , without answers are pointless if you are trying to make a point. Is this article trying to create a sense of powerlessness, I think so , its listing all sorts of horrible things and saying you cant do anything about it ,,,So whats the point of reading it? What is the point of a wake up call if you think nobody can do anything about it? The public reacts to things without investigating or considering what has been presented , the media has more interest in playing up to fears instead of making rational explanations or showing the police properly enforcing law. IMO I dont see cause for the drama , you can make your point calmly and Ill try to be objective, but Im not crazy about this authors scare tactics and inuendo. Sorry

No, I and everyone else overall deserve better, we just cant out-vote ourselves folks overall have been trained that we are supposed to vote independently rather than as a voting block. The parties act as a 'block' which is more effective so we just bounce back and forth between politicians who are presented to us as viable , at the major parties discretion. The seats generally just oscillate back and forth between the two major parties. Those two parties manage to exclude smaller parties ,, and so , secure themselves half of the seats at the table perpetually. When the candidates are presented on mass before an election , doesnt the voting public say to themselves... " Is this really the entire group that we could choose from , out of the whole country? This is the cream of the crop?" The answer is no , its not, but thats all we are presented with to choose from.

Frequency of light relates to color, not its amplitude.

"Are there people (in the West) who don't accept mainstream culture, and are not New Age people nor followers of Eastern Religion" Of course , but since they arent neccesarily following a crowd , there wouldnt be a label to point them out as belonging to.

Taint as important as he may think it is.

Thats great I especially like the clip of congress shuffling around. Ohh its so true. Im still chuckling. I dont even watch the 'news' anymore, I also find it ironic that the 'story was about a bear running around , because we had one of them locally and I heard about it on no less than three stations that day.

So ,, Rise on the third day and freak us all out.

No no no! Im really Brian !

You may not agree with this ,, but I feel It agrees well with my view of the sage,, its not a real person , its a literary tool , which is the personification of tao (as a human would be) , demonstrative of the situation where someone was actually following the advice that the TTC propounds. for ex.. Why shouldnt one get involved with everyone elses business? Well , the sage doesnt , and you cant really lay any blame on him , and he lets you do as you'd choose. the logic of the advice to not interfere , applies even unto the extreme of the sage or Tao.

OooHHH So youre saying I have no Brain !

I didnt actually know him so my primary reaction is..What the heck was so bad that he felt he had to end now? It doesnt feel like it makes sense to me.

Thats interesting , what do you mean that theres no mind? You-i- brian have no minds?

Ahh but theres the rub! one uses their own perspective as a base to label things strange, just like one does for good and evil, though what you said is true from the view of the sage.

Why not?

Ive come to the decision that our system has deteriorated and the vote has been defeated by the paradigm of divide and conquer. When the supreme court can say that corporations are individuals and police canines are officers ,, well, the fall of the roman empire is repeating itself.