kevincann

TI, I'm no parrot. For example a number of people find value in what you say, and if I was a parrot I'd join the pack. That I don't find value in what you say (not because your facts are much off), but because of the harsh way you treat anyone who disagrees with you, makes you poor company, for me at least. As for AYP, I'm certainly no parrot there either. Not 'before' and not 'now'. Yes I was obnoxious a year and some ago, just like you. I was a self-righteous know it all. Now please do not take these words as provocation or insult. I am in fact comparing you to myself back then. And also, my perception may well be wrong in every possible way in this matter. You and I could have been twins back then, and in fact we tend to dislike in others what we most dislike about ourselves. I am SO MUCH not an AYP parrot, that I'm even hosting a get-together for AYP people to come visit, and I'm not even teaching any AYP practices; and the man Yogani you seem to despise so much was apparently the one who approved that function. The one change that I made on AYP, is that I 'got over myself' and stopped being a douche. That's it. I show some respect in someone else's house, and that respect is deserved. I would also like to show respect in this forum, should I post here much, which I'll treat on a day by day basis. So, TI, it makes no difference to me one way or another if you wish to be friends, it makes no difference to me if you post up a storm and do whatever you like. So long as a child is not harmed, we are all adults here, and I wish you happiness in every possible way. For me at least, if I see you post, I will just scroll past without reading your words. I'd rather read the words of a good-hearted no-nothing, than a harsh expert on things that don't even matter. I'm sure you will do the same for me, and then we will get along just fine. I love you TI, just the same as anyone else. Kev

I see no reason for shame and guilt either. But that said, there are stages of spiritual unfolding that require 100% from your sexual energies, and during those times at least, it would be wise to not waste your jing. Also there is no doubt in my experience, that conserving jing does give a tremendous boost to health and balance; again at least for certain periods. Finally, consider the situation where one's marriage partner is very disabled. In that situation mastering continence is precious thing. -Kev

My observation is that meditation-only approaches can be problematic once purification has caused sufficient subtle changes in the body. It is understood that making Awareness the primary focus, without grounding practices, increase the flow of energy but give it nowhere to 'go'. Being a dual-purpose energy (sexual energy), if you do not focus it for spiritual purposes, it will just pile up as increased sex drive, and then it's hard to keep one's hands off oneself This is why I respect comprehensive systems, which honor both "as the mind so the body" and "as the body so the mind". Love, Kev

LOL. The unconditioned mind is not afraid to be alive! Does not have to be 'spiritual'. Love it when false piety is checked at the door, and the saints and sinners play liars dice while cultivating chi! Love, Kev

I read the policy, and in fact after reading it, I used the 'report button'. Now, I'm not couching anything here; I don't play games. This post would have sat here, giving food for thought, unless someone turned it negative. If the glove does not fit, you must acquit. If you think I'm attacking someone, and not following the policy, then there is that "report button" that works for my posts too. FYI, I've had a few people post condescending things back to me, and that will never be a reason for me to use that report button. I cannot be insulted. To be insulted takes action from both parties. The only reason I'd use it, is if someone abused a child or something really horrific like that. And just so we put this 'into the light', TI was someone I liked and respected on AYP. In fact 1/2 the reason I came here, is to read his posts, because I was told that he was here. My first action was to consider using the 'friend button' for him, but i decided to read a few of his posts first. Fortunately / unfortunately this was the first post of his I read, and it so concerned me, that I did not hit that 'friend button' Well there you go; I had thought TI and I were old friends from AYP, and instead the first thread I see is all out warfare, involving the harming of a child. I'm not making judgments, but yes, I'm not thrilled. So, does that clear anything up? And I've used that post you didn't like, since early 1990, only when there was a white elephant in the room, and the room's air needed clearing. Yah, I knew it would piss some people off, and others to send me happy emails. PS: I re-read the insult policy, and it did not cover my post. http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/4237-insult-policy-reminder/ However, I kept on reading to see if there was more detail further on down, that could apply. I did find one item, #14 "14. Do not play guilt trips with the other party." Now I can see where someone might misconstrue my post as a form of this. So on this limited basis, I apologize to TI, you, and anyone else who is offended that I wished to point out extreme rudeness and the potential abuse of a child in strict violation of that child's parent's wishes. But for that, I do not apologize. Next time I'll not be so kind, and just speak with extreme directness, which the insult policy recommended. Live and learn, or at least that is the desired outcome. Love, Kev

Back 6 months ago, I found my yoga practice to be incomplete, so I wandered my way to some, as it turns out, Tao type concepts that worked really well for me. Now I'm trying to learn the words for what my body is doing all on it's own. I was one of those poor SOB's who had jing-transmuted-to-yang rampaging around my body tearing apart things for like -- um.. 38 years. It started when I hit puberty, that very day, and continued until I was about 50. I'm 51 now. So this makes me the official worst student in history, at least on this point, or so it seems. My body told me to pool that 'jing energy' into this space about 2 inches below my navel, and about 2 inches inward. So I did that. After that, my life started to become beautiful. I had twice the physical energy; the jing/yang wasn't rampaging around my body, and Kundalini entered the third stage. Now my question; From a traditional Tao standpoint, what path(s) are taken by the jing-transmuted yang energy after it has been stored in the lower dan tien for a while? There seems to be this truly obscene amount of storage capacity in that dan tien; it's like it can hold half an ocean. It just keeps expanding in a manner of speaking, without changing in apparent size much. Now apparently, some energy does circulate out of it, but its not 'rampaging' any more, so I have some trouble seeing it. Now a good chunk is going into the silent center of Kundalini, but i'm certain that there are other streams involved, and i'm just not good enough at perceiving it. I'd welcome any feedback/instruction on such a very basic question. Love, Kev

Hey DS, thanks for the post. You know that people tend to find what they are looking for! You know, I spent something like 30 years working with 'chakras', and I never noticed the LDT until my body needed it! I'm not saying it wasn't there, but of course is 'something really there before it's observed?' (quantum mechanics). Lots of yoga folks would say that dantien don't exist at all, and Tao folks often say wildly different things about chakras; Tao seems to document more like 70 chakras than 7. Now am I demeaning either tradition? Not at all. When we start listening to the body and learning it's wisdom, we will get everything that we need. Now this spinning thing; I'm not saying it's not valid. It certainly could be. In fact as everyone knows, a lot of people visualize chakras as 'spinning'. Really, this just helps build the sushumna, as the sushumnas analogue in the brain is the somatosensory cortext in the postcentral gyrus, and it is closely associated with the primary motor cortex, which is DEVELOPED (using neural plasticity) by imagining motion but not doing motion. This knowledge is also Tao! I talk about the silent center of kundalini in the lower body a lot (not just the more traditional one called brahmarandhra in the head. But this 'silent center' is not real for a lot of people (it's silent!). So is this center accessible before it's needed? Well obviously not. Thanks so much for your interest in adding value to my questions, and I'd love to keep learning from your perspective. Love, Kev

This is generally a wonderful forum to rub shoulders with other spiritual seekers. Welcome!

DNB, that look would make Chuck Norris shit himself. I love you man. It's impossible to 'win an argument' with someone who respects nobody but themselves, and other people who just happen to drone the same second-hand knowledge in the same dead-pan condemning, condescending mantra like they do. You know, the folks who know every last 'secret', but somehow no matter what they do, they remain a douche. Letting other people have a say, without jumping down their throat --- even IF they are totally wrong; now that is Tao. I'm just giving general advice here, and I'm thinking about a general personality type; if this does not describe you, then you have no reason to be offended. It's not my job to judge anybody; and if you judge me for talking with kindness on an internet chat forum; why then you ARE a douche. Kev

OG is right! The lower dantien is definitely where that sexual energy needs to go. Unfortunately the mind and emotions crave sex for release; not just physical release, but release of all kinds. You know that an orgasm is called 'le petite morte' in French, meaning 'the little death'. Our beings, which are very unbalanced at the first, crave 'the little death', because we are in fact seeking the 'big death' (the death of the conditioned mind). So over time, as we open up and purify, the craving for the 'little death' wanes, because we start to unfold the 'big death' - wholeness - Tao. So in short, just keep at it, and over time, probably in a later life stage you will find it much easier, for the reason stated. Now if you have a great mental / emotional purification practice, which opens you up even a bit to the 'big death', that in conjunction with the LDT practice will help you a lot. Love, Kevin

I'm always going roundy-roundy on this one. Yes, all 'sensory objects' of ANY kind are temporary and will pass. But even 'temporary steps' are steps. That is the nature of all spiritual practice. If you watch jing or yang or yin 'do something', that perception is a temporary sensory object. But people give those kind of 'illusions' / 'delusions' a free pass, because some great person first convinced us to use that terms; and BESIDES, those 'temporary steps' actually WORK. At least they can. So, if the temporary step is part of something which is helpful, I do not look down my nose at it, so long as that tool is not allowed to become a 'golden shackle'. Of course that nearly always happens, and that's ok, so long as you get rid of it when it's purpose is done. Now people often ask me about all this 'layers of being talk' that I use. Well all that kind of talk has been with us forever; 'very special teachers' have used terms like that for thousands of years. Of course i don't give a diddly about that myself, but it's an interesting data point to consider. But for myself, the reason I use the 'being model' as a basis for a lot of things, is that my first spiritual practice I ever used in this world; gosh going back nearly all the way.. was a practice that shot 'fire' through 'everything' and lit it up like a christmas tree. After that, I 'felt' and 'saw' and 'was' several layers of being at once; the 'sleeper' was awoken. It was only decades later that I discovered that other people had talked about these 'layers' of being for thousands of years. Now, eventually, all these 'layers' of being fall off like a dirty sock full of holes. They do not matter diddly. Eventually everything collapses down into the body, until even the body isn't what it was. Everything is a tool; all tools are 'salt to taste' for a different person. Everything that can exist, does exist, and exists right now, including temporary beings. It's all a matter of what you go looking for, that is what you will find. On the other hand, if you just stare at your navel and say, "my mind is empty! I am Tao!". Well that probably won't accomplish crap. The nature of Tao is that if you wish to experience Life, you have to ante up SOMETHING. Ante up any playing pieces you like; and if you chase them around for a while, you will build up some invisible muscles you don't even know you have, and eventually those muscles will carry you somewhere; eventually to Tao. Of course some paths, some 'temporary tools' seem to work a bit better, or at least have some consensus, so you can at least have some company while you do whatever you do. After all the spiritual talk do I *really* believe in those layers of being? Yes, 100%. Do those layers of being matter in the long run? No. Just like this 'layer of being' doesn't really matter in the long run either. I hope someone received some value from this post; it was paid for with a lot of pain before it all became clear, for me at least. Love, Kev

The kriyas have always been operating in me, since I was first properly conscious. Mainly they were relatively simple ones, such as samvhavi mudra, tongue seeking the roof of the mouth, buddha belly breathing, bellows breathing, mulabandha and some other situational ones. I'd also be 'inspired' to create new practices for me to follow,then I'd follow them. These were mainly Bhakti-Shakti practices as I call them; with which you can rev up that fire on ALL levels of being most powerfully. But apparently I had no concept of 'water practices', so the fire revved up and consumed me for all those years; until just recently (see other post in this thread). It was more than 40 years later, before I even heard of any of these practices, that my body had been doing all these years; as I don't read spiritual material; I don't like it. A lot of it is fake. I've just started serious reading of spiritual material in the past couple years, so I have a mutual frame of reference to speak to people with, and hopefully to smooth over some of the (no doubt) vast gaps in my knowledge and tunnel vision that I no doubt possess. Love, Kevin

I'm really fascinated that these things are clearly known, when at least my less than perfect knowledge of kundalini yoga and other practices does not inform me, whether all these Tao things are present in those other systems or not. But that is not important for me anyway. I don't use systems. Ok, I'll tell you a bit about the alchemical transformation I've been watching, and then you might be able to advise me in some manner. I was born in a blaze of gold and silver fire; the gold was 'hot' and the silver was 'cold'. The light was tremendous but gentle. While I was being beaten and abused, this fire was my companion until I was about 7, then the pain got to be too much, the noise in the world got to be too much, and it faded away; leaving me chasing after 'it' for the rest of my life. I'm not going to blather about kudalini and all that.. lets skip ahead 43 years. Until not that long ago, the sexual fire was roaming about my body driving me insane. There was nothing in my tradition to tell me what to do with it, and my body was not properly processing it, as I had a stick up my ass, and had the delusion that I was someone special, which I'm not. Then suddenly my body knew what to do; there was this 'click' and suddenly the pain and torment of 38 years (since puberty) was over. Completely over. With time, I realized that (apparently, I'm a newcomer to Tao) the Jing energy was being converted to yang (or so I'm told) and it's being stored in the lower dan tien. Now I have 2 other things to mention. The (what I call and see) as the 'gold phase of kundalni' has been over for a long time; my body is at peace with the golden fire and it does not bother me. It's integrated somehow. The (what I call and see) as the 'silver phase of kundalni' is just ending now, apparently; my body is at peace with the silver fire that is cold. The 'silent center' of Kundalini, which is not in the body at all, but just outside of it, seems very active; most of the energies in my body are collapsed into it. There is a wonderful, cold-silver fire emitting from this silent center, and it's feeding into the lower dan tien, and mixing with the fire. This mixed substance is transforming my body in every nook and cranny. It feels delightful fire-cold in my every cell and thought. I'm feeling very calm, after a life of torment. This is what I'm observing, but I certainly don't understand it. I just know that after I stopped being a prick about 'spiritual things', everything just seems to be taking care of itself. Again, I have no idea what's happening from a Tao perspective; I just know me likee. I'd love to understand more. Love, Kev

In your profile you have your email listed as 'private' so you won't accept an email; I have no way to contact you other than to list my private email address on the open internet, and I won't do that. So if you want me to email you, you'll need to at least temporarily unblock your block on your profile. Love, Kev

Very nice. In another system which will remain nameless, there is the concept that all the energies are to be activated and to sink within the body within silence; then just live. Of course it seems that most systems favor some energies over others, so there is a disagreement over what 'balanced' really is. Although hopefully Life itself will do the final balancing and keep it that way, once the practitioner gets it within the ballpark. It would seem this concept is fairly universal. Love, Kev

I watch life and practice compassion. My body executes 'automatic kriyas' (automatic spiritual practices) of a variety of kinds, as required. Recently it has started Tao practices, even though I know nothing about Tao. I watch the body and document what it does. Thanks for your information; I enjoy learning things in this way too. Love, Kev

For some strange reason I like your post ;-) LOL. You are very correct. The thing which a lot of people miss, is that even the Self (the transcendent One) has an ego. In fact, it is the primordial ego. We don't bad talk this ego do we? Likewise, the "Sleeper", the most accurate representation in matter of the Self has an ego. We don't bad talk this ego do we? Without this ego, we could not feel joy. The so-called soul also has an ego; it is the desire within the 'soul' to experience transcendence which drives us to recognize that we are Tao. Without this ego, there would be no desire to exceed limitation. We don't bad talk this ego, do we? At the last, there is the organic ego. It just wants to do it's job and live in peace. It's job is to preserve the body and to be aware of social boundaries, as we are social creatures that 'keep score' 'against each other'. What is so bad about that? Nothing. Now, when ANY ego, at ANY layer gets all snooty and bloated, trying to do things outside of it's scope, then things become unbalanced. Does this explanation resonate with anyone? Love, Kevin

This post should be pinned at the top of the forum. Thank you Kevin

Sometimes jabbing at an angry hornets nest with a stick is required. Some people find benefit in old, partially accurate kundalini forcing scripts. Some people do not. Some people find benefit in living quiet lives, with open hearts, finding stillness in nature which they observe. Some people are explorers and have no need of anything written whatsoever. Some people use a mixture. Some people are just born awake. Ranting and raving, no matter how close one is to actually being correct benefits no one. Not one living being in the history of the world has the right to be the 'enlightenment police' The 'enlightenment police' tend to be the most miserable person in the room, as they have their 'enlightenment', which is the one thing barring them from the joyful life. If the 'enlightenment police' were really all that and a bag of chips, then they would let other people be 'wrong' without it bothering them. There was as time when *I* was the 'enlightenment police'. Thank GOD that I'm now a swinging dick like everyone else (to use a metaphor that is gender specific). Love, Kevin

It is perfection that you brought up this point. It was the most obvious and important point. Love, Kev

When the spirit starts to awaken within it's clay vessel (your body), you start to feel the joy of spring; of endless new life; this quiet joy makes everything else you have ever experienced pale in comparison. Then you have a choice: listen to and eventually become the quiet joy, or play around with the clay and pat yourself on the back about the clay. Love, Kev

You are right on the money. If our isolated egos play with individual chakras, we just scuff them up. If Tao opens them up, it will be done right. So making ourselves fertile ground, so Tao wishes to come around; that is OUR work. Love, Kev

Hello. My name is Kevin Cann. I do not believe in hiding my identity, so I use my name as my logon name! I'm sure that various people will recognize me from AYP. I'm probably the most vocal person ever to be on the AYP forums, and I'm certainly no parrot. But I do not see a need to bash AYP. In fact I respect the hard work that went into writing all those books and taking disparate practices and molding them into a system, all the while attempting to prevent 'kundalini syndrome'. So I have a certain amount of respect for what is being attempted. Yes, it's an experiment; but everything we do is an experiment in one way or another. Now as to the efficacy of the practices; well I'm not the person to ask. I was born awakened. I'm not saying 'enlightened'. I'm saying 'awakened'. A lot of people now living were born that way, so I'm not saying I'm some grand pubah with a funny hat. I certainly understand most AYP practices, and in fact I understand the basis in biology and even a little physics of many spiritual practices I have come across; I just don't do them, except every once in a while to help someone else. I've never had to do much yoga or any spiritual practices. My body has done a lot of automatic kriyas over the years, so I pretty much leave it to that, other than an appreciation for jnana and I try to help out here and there as best as I am able. I have a certain appreciation for various systems, including the Taoist systems, but if you pin me down, I came first and foremost from a Kundalini Yoga background. But I developed the system from scratch, starting around the age of 12, and to be honest I'm just completing it just now. So I've been watching Life, both material and less obvious for almost 51 years now. I have written some instructions and documents for a couple of the Gopi Krishna foundations, but there is karma at work there, so I won't say more on that front. I'm not saying that this system is good for anyone besides me; but I do talk about it a a fair bit, as I see hints of it here and there in various systems as I come across them; so really i'm not reinventing the wheel, I'm just 'proving to myself' that I don't need some half-baked teacher to teach me Life. I do see a lot of horrendous, ignorant things said about Kundalini almost wherever I go. And even those systems that attempt a whole-being approach don't do very well, as unbalanced personalities will always grab some 'shiny object' and abuse the shit out of it until they are in full Kundalini syndrome. I try to help out, but people with Kundalini problems are nearly universally caught in the 'false light' of the maya aspect of Kundalini, which I call the 'golden stage'. Beings get caught up in this stage for millions/billions of years sometimes. Then they go on to the 'silver stage' and hang around for another trillion years or so. I can't fault the silver stage however; it's the last vehicle for consciousness before final absorption into the full-void beyond worlds. If you want to play the game, you need to have a piece on the board. Anyway. I just thought I'd say hi. I have no pressing plans for the remainder of this life. It's possible I'll write some little book or two, documenting some of the critical things gotten wrong with spiritual systems, but you know I'm kinda a lazy man. A couple years ago I was ejected from physical form for 30 minutes, and my body went cold and mostly dead. That was nearly all she wrote. I must say that those Dakini's look pretty good, and a wee bit of a vacation sounded rather nice. But here I am again; and I would like to be productive; there is a lot of suffering out there due to a lack of understanding of a few basics. But I don't want to just be another yutz who writes a book about Kundalni and the meaning of life. The world is full of them. So here I am, saying hi. And, "I don't mind learning stuff the old fashioned way either" from interesting people. "Hi". Kev

See - your own guidance has chosen well for you. Success in self-actualization flows from success with awareness training and purification of what hinders. Where our thoughts are, where are emotions are, where our latent impulses are stored; results in subtle tensions that choke the flow of life, and colors our view of life (Life). Once the mind is steady, it may make sense to proceed to energy systems; but then again it may not. There is this tendency to be restless and jump into new practices, when the restlessness is the indication that one is not in the present; that restlessness is the indication that you'd be running away from your first lesson, by taking up the second lesson and distracting yourself. However only you can determine this for yourself; and energy work with some community support may be your next step. As the mind so goes the body. As the body so goes the mind. So this is not a cut and dried matter. I suppose your question was really, "how can I become self-realized faster!" That is often the real question. Of course there is no answer to that. It's rather a conundrum. If you have no fire for self-realization it may never happen. If you have fire for self-realization you may be caught up in delusion for half of forever and it will never happen. It is generally said that it is a matter of grace, or the 'way' and it unfolds as it will. And this is certainly true. You are not a man trying to force yourself awake; you are a man trying to force yourself awake AND an inner essence wishing to be awake; at the first both live in different worlds, have different agendas and different time tables. And one without the other cannot succeed. Fortunately for you, most of the information you need is available in the world, and the rest will come to you as you follow your path. Love, Kevin

Ah I see. When I was in my early teens, I decided that I would feed all living beings, and do so until all the universes ended, and even blades of grass were enlightened. Then opened up all the way and let the feeding begin. I'm sure you know how THAT brilliant little plan worked out. I guess that was my purple cloud ;-) Love, Kev