i am

And Netflix!

I would be very curious to see what a motley crew we'd make! Wow. Can imagine a big house or building full of possibly 100 or so of the people who post on this site?? I would definitely have all the exits scoped out..

It depends on the particular club/bar scene. Some bars are just clearly places people are going with the intent of hooking up. Other places, yeah there's that going on, but you feel like you can hang out there without everyone assuming you're looking for action.

Not "clubbing", but definitely partying and going to bars. I went to a couple raves. It was basically most of college through to, oh, maybe six years after. What did I get out of it...well, alcohol and other drugs certainly got me used to the feeling of lower inhibitions. Other drugs expanded my understanding of what could be possible in the universe. I also got to see that party/alcohol/drug side of life and all the great and terrible things that can come from it. Relevance...I don't know. Everything I've done is part of who I am, and I like who I am.of course I wish I had dropped all that stuff sooner or never got involved in the first place and started this stuff much sooner. But the types of groups who didn't drink and do drugs...well, until you get into the kind of community we have here, most of the people you run into who don't drink or party are, well...often pretty lame. So i hung out with party-ers, and so I partied. More than I wanted to, but that's what everyone around me was doing. I've since found more and more people for whom drinking is secondary to what they're doing, rather than primary. That's a great start. In some ways the drinking and drugs helped open me up and get me out of my shell faster. But in other ways it painted me into a corner and stunted my development and opening up, a lot. I don't think there's a connection to clubbing or partying and cultivation any more than there are connections between anything else. The ecstatic and trance dance thing I can see. But having always been more of a partier than clubber, I probably don't have the best perspective.

I have a problem of not being able to recall what movies I've seen lately, even if I really enjoyed them.... But more and more I like movies that make me feel good. Much less violence and all that stuff. But I'm ok with movies that make me feel bad, if they're exposing me to a truth I'd rather ignore.

Yeah you'll know. I used to go to bars late night (not trying to get laid, just hanging out with friends). Then it just sort if faded away. Stopped doing it. For a while, when I'd drive home from a friends house late on a week night and pass by one of the bars I used to hang out at, and see people outside smoking cigarettes....ick. I'd just get a dirty feeling, and be SO happy I was not there. I actually avoided that block for a while. Now I dont get the shivers when I go by anymore, but Im so happy that its not me in there, buzzed at 11pm on a week night, surrounded by people, many of whom are lost, misguided, and just dirty, energy-wise. Bad energy in there, and people with unhealthy intentions and attitudes. Yucky places. On the other hand some bars and breweries that I still go to are pretty healthy places. A least before 10pm or so. If you have any interest at all in cultivation, you'll eventually realize that the club scene, meat market, hooking up with strangers thing is NOT where you want to be. Sex with friends? It can work if there's mutual love, respect and honesty involved, and probably be fairly healthy. But most of the time, that's not the case. Drinking and staying out late? How you gonna get up early and practice? Sleep deprived and swimming with toxins? With some stranger in your bed? I realize that on this site there are those who actually cultivate, and those who, like me when I was in college, just think Taoism is cool and love the seemingly mystical nature of it and are looking for peak experiences, but have no concept of what actually living it and practicing it means, and probably won't till they get older. There are all sorts of in betweens and variations but it tends to break down into those categories, it seems to me. That's cool. But your question, or your request, I guess, clearly puts you in one of those categories. When you find that you're actually ready to cultivate, not just think stuff is cool and be looking for crazy tripped out experiences, you won't need to ask people to convince you of things. You'll have a pretty good handle on things so basic as staying out late at clubs and sleeping around.

This forum probably has the most young people of any I'm on... When I reply to any post, no matter how many times I hit Enter, when I click submit, my post is all one paragraph. If I click edit, go to the end of all the text and hit enter a few times then re-submit, my paragraph spacing s come back the way I wanted them. This only happens on my ipad, but it happens on every forum I'm on. Is there a way to change settings or something, or do I just need to wait for all the technology to catch up with each other? Until then, you'll see that basically every one of my replies to topics will be edited one minute after it was posted...

I have one of those. Bulkier than an ipad by more than you'd think, and at least the ones they bought us...are crap. Worthless. And still bigger than an ipad. When all I really need is Internet and the ability to do some short email replies.

Yeah, it's not a big deal, just annoying, and makes it look like I never take the time to read what I'm writing before I post, and always have to go in to fix stuff, when really, I just like punctuation! The ipad is for internet use, and stuff work blocks on my desktop, which is connected to the network. When I travel for work, I used to bring a laptop. It's amazing, even though the ipad isn't that much smaller, how much easier it is to throw in a bag and haul around than a laptop. And all I really need a computer for when I'm traveling is to answer quick emails and look at some stuff online. No need for a keyboard or any of the laptop stuff. I have just a laptop at home. I have never wised I had a desktop. But I'm no gamer.

Or even if it wasn't anything in a past life and past lives don't exist, it's a living, feeling creature. Having compassion for it is only natural; grandpa Sam or no...

Interesting...wonder if I used the mobile apps, it would fix that. This ipad is actually owned by work, so I can't just download a bunch of apps unfortunately. Thanks.

I work in natural resources, and I can say with certainty that ranchers in at least one western mountain state attend and organize workshops on no till farming and planting cover crops. There are long presentations on it at conservation district (local farmer and rancher groups, formed after the dustbowl years as "soil conservation" districts, for those not familiar) conferences. Might not be in widespread use yet, but definitely on the radar of any farmer or rancher around here. The last I heard from anyone even remotely involved in permaculture was absolutely no tilling. They're all about soil.

Sounds like you have the real answer, though not the specific one you're asking, right here. What's wrong with being vegetarian? If it turns out that this great master eats meat, would you go against your strong feelings and eat it anyway, just because he does? If you can't stand the thought of killing creatures, stop eating meat and stop buying things that come from the death of creatures.

When I start a topic, on the other hand, my paragraph breaks show up just fine the first time...

Similar to permaculture? Stuff I'm very interested in but haven't made the time to really get into.

Yep, this is it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum I've only heard it in a few places. One of them being near the Frank Church wilderness in Idaho when I was working near North Fork.

I get, and always have got, random ringing in my ears. Along with probably 99% of the rest of the population. Doesn't mean it doesn't "mean" anything, but its an extremely common thing everyone experiences. The deeper frequency noise that's only heard in certain areas of the world is the more interesting thing, I think. Can't remember what people are calling it but I read an article on it somewhere. I first noticed it way out in the mountains of Idaho. A deep buzzing sound...

Yeah I sometimes get overwhelmed by all the crazy exercises I hear of people around here doing, and their practices, and all their knowledge of all this stuff. All that is great. But I'm also listening to a good number of people who will say just what your quote says. You don't do this stuff to gain powers, and party tricks, and drug-like "peak" experiences. You do it because you want to achieve liberation, and hopefully once you have that "knowledge", use it to help others. You can get into all the complicated stuff, but you can also just work on being the best person you can be, and doing simple meditations. Maybe you can achieve enlightenment without ever learning to cerebrally, intellectually grasp the concepts behind moving energy around. It maybe just happens naturally... I sometimes feel that all this cultivation stuff is a very self-centered, selfish, ego-trip pursuit. Even with all the talk of ridding yourself of your ego. What makes me feel differently about it is the idea that with cultivating myself, I'm building my ability to actually do things for other people and help other people. Not just some selfish "this world is pain and suffering, so get out of my way and leave me alone, because I'm not doing anything in this world except working to get myself the hell out of it".

I've been amazed at how little meat I eat lately. For a while I've thought "I'd like to eat less meat". But it was just over the last winter that it just kind of "happend". I still eat more than I feel I need, just because I'm a little weak and don't feel like having to explain myself when I friend has me over for dinner and I don't eat the steak...or having to tell them I'm not eating much meat so please change the menu... So at home I'm eating occasional fish and some eggs. Didn't shoot a deer last fall so I've had no red meat in my house for about a year. Haven't had store-bought red meat (or chicken or pork or turkey) in my house for over two years. I was stressed when I didn't get a deer...because I've basically stopped buying anything but fish from the store, as far as meat. Wasn't sure what I was going to do...then I realized I was half way through the winter, still stressing about it, and oh...wait...I'm halfway through the winter and I'm fine! So what am I stressing about? Clearly I'm fine. Depending on how often people have me over for dinner, I'm eating meat and fish probably 3-4 times a week. It would probably be more like twice a week if I only ate my own food. And there may come a day when I let my friends know I'm not eating meat. It's just tough when you're only cutting back...it's like trying to cut back on drinking. If you just DON'T drink, you don't drink. Simple. But if you're "trying to cut back", you and your friends can find all sorts of excuses for you to have a beer, or have one more beer, or one more...

I think a lot depends. I have a friend who stopped eating meat when he was a wilderness backcountry ranger. 8 day stints of backpacking in steep rugged mountains with a 4 foot saw, gear and food for 8 days. Hiking mountain passes, sawing trees out of the trail with the crosscut saw, doing general trail work. He did it on grains, braggs, and some natural supplements like nutritional yeast and some super greens stuff. He could out hike and out work pretty much all of us, even though he was at least 10 years older.

They just had the US gathering a couple weeks ago. I drove right by it on my way to a backpacking trip. Thought about stopping in...but didn't. Probably a lot of like minded people. But also jam packed with general homeless, wanderers and kids who do a lot of drugs and don't want jobs, all attracted to the free food and gathering of people they don't stand out in.

Well, I'm glad to hear you're getting better. Hopefully the healing continues.

I'm curious, did you ever actually see any sort of doctor, or is this all self diagnosed? Don't see anything about doctors not being able to figure out a problem...

I guess they qualify as bitter. I eat a ton of leafy greens like kale and I guess I don't think of them as bitter. At least not like an IPA is bitter. Well I'm glad to know I'm not missing out!