i am

Well...I think at one very basic level, for the individual, it's simply the filter of awareness which was/is necessary to allow people to focus on what they need to survive. If you're walking around completely opened up and aware of the universe, you aren't really hunting or foraging for food...I think we have a built-in filter which allows us to focus on what's important for survival. Once those needs are met...the work to break open that filter is up to you. As far as society...small minded people are afraid of what's new and unknown. Witch hunts, assassinations etc. Fear the unknown... That's probably just a very simplified, one-level look at it.

Good call Great. Ok. I figured since two of my black teas are actually smoked over pine wood, the puers probably were, too. That's interesting that they take on a smoky flavor. Do you know if it was present before they were aged, or does it happen as they age? I'm glad it's getting into puer season here in the states. At least to me winter and fall are puer season... If you want, PM me with the website so I can check it out.

Where are you getting the puer? I haven't had one yet that was smoked, but I've just starting drinking more black tea, and a lot the varieties are smoked. It's not going to be my every day tea, I don't think, but it's an interesting new flavor, especially since I'm used to green and wulong. I've only had maybe 5-6 different kinds of puer, but haven't run into a smoked one, yet.

You could be right that gutter oil made you sick, but meat/eggs aren't the only thing that will give you food poisoning. In fact I think a restaurant salad is more likely to get you sick than a steak, in the US anyways. The steak, at least, is cooked. I heard about the gutter oil thing just a little before I went to China. Nasty...

You could see spiritual cultivation in general as a selfish pursuit, if you looked at it right... My take on physical activity is this: Is it breaking my body down, or building it up? If I take up a new hobby or job or activity, and I find that it's causing a lot of injuries or wearing down my joints, I stop. You aren't in balance if you're always injured, even if what you're doing is supposed to be "healthy". And that's what you want. A healthy, balanced life. You can't have a healthy spiritual practice if you're neglecting your body. Yoga is great. But so are a lot of other things. Especially if you do them in addition to yoga. I have some weak places on my body. My shoulders are not super strong, and on top of that they are very flexible. Which is why I've injured them a lot. So I do exercises that specifically build up my shoulders. Yeah there's some vanity involved...I like how I look better with strong arms and shoulders. But I do it to work on a weak point in my body. When I help someone move a couch or wrestle with someone or work manual labor for a bit, I can do it without injury. I think a lot of it comes down the intent behind what you're doing. Is it vanity? Some un-examined bias or stereotype or societal pressure? A little of that is unavoidable for most of us, but if it's not hurting you, and there are more enlightened reasons for doing it, I think it's probably fine. Martial arts are a great example. They can be on both ends of the spectrum. Egotistical, power hungry, creating damage all over your body. Or selfless, building your strength up, showing you how to be soft, healing your body, meditative. Etc...

Neither am I.

It depends on where you're at and what you want to accomplish. We've been down this road and like everything around here it tends to end in an argument. I don't know much, but I think that "healthy" (probably defined differently to different people) sexuality is probably beneficial to some people's practice and progress. It seems to me, and I've been taught, that at some point you need to move beyond it. It is, after all, a sensual thing and we want to transcend those things eventually, right? So some people think that casual sex and using energy and spells to trick women into sleeping with you is a spiritual pursuit. Some go too far the other way and think any sex or sexual feelings are dirty and bad. The answer of course is somewhere in between, and probably truly different for different people. But I'm definitely coming to believe that the final stages require saving sexual essence and giving up worldly desire. If you're just looking to be spiritual and live a healthy life filled with love, sex is great.

Yeah...I mean normal people aren't going to get into that sort of thing before the first date. Not even on the first date. But then we aren't exactly normal around here... If you truly believe what you're preaching, and are ok with the prospect of never being in an intimate relationship with someone, I think your approach is ok. If you find a woman who isn't scared off, you may have found a compatible one. But I'll admit that to most people, you've got red flags all over you in the dating scene

The Way of Energy is a good book, in my opinion.

I wan't responding to you with that post, but mike. He's the one, if you'll recall, who posted about his "spiritual" "problem" of not being able to rub his boner against women in nightclubs. Unfortunately, I think that's the lens I'll be seeing most of his posts through for a while...I'll try my best to see beyond my own biases but I'll admit that my interpretation of his posts will be colored by that. I think what you're seeking is perfectly normal and not in conflict with a spiritual life.

Or perhaps spirituality and wanting to bone women don't necessarily go hand in hand. Always strange when people on a spiritual site miss this.

I know nothing about remote viewing. I'll check out the link.

I have no idea how one would begin rainbow-veining... The western US is where I've stuck to. So far. I like what I like and you'd like what you like...No epic stories or earthshaking insights, except that in some ways every place is more or less the same, and your happiness depends on how you live, not where. Yet at the same time, the culture and environment around you can have a drastic effect on your quality of life and what you accomplish in this life. How's that? Mostly I just love doing what I want. I call the shots. Money is a huge limiting factor, but no one is telling me I have to do "this" or can't do "that". I go where I want, and 24 hours a day my time is my own. But I know this won't last...I just hope that when I settle back down I have much more control of my time than I did before I started this. I'm actually really surprised at how little I've felt cooped up. It's a tiny RV. But it has a lot of large windows. I also like small, cozy places. The whole tiny home movement is definitely in line with my thinking. A 600 sq ft home would be as much space as I'd ever need. I love fire lookouts. As far as sleep...well, I wish I could say I'm as sensitive to feeling energy as I'd like to be, but it's far from true. My experience is that I sleep really well. I have really firm cushions, and I'd say this bed is more comfortable than any of my "real" beds in houses in the past. Plus it sits on a wood frame, instead of metal, which I like. I like that I know what's going on around me. Like being in a tent, but you feel more secure than that. Put me in a dark basement room and I feel way too insulated from the world. It's going to be really tough when it's winter and I'm indoors and windows are shut. After this much time, it's where I'm comfortable. It might be an issue that my kitchen is my living room, my living room is my bedroom etc. No separation. But I fall right asleep every night (something that didn't always happen before. but then I also am not working, and I'm doing more or less what I want every day so there's very little to stress about ), and wake up feeling like I slept well. All summer I went to bed at 9pm, and woke up ready to get up at 5:30am. No alarm, no dragging myself out of bed because I know I should do my practices and be up early. Actually waking up at 5:30 and being happy to get up and moving. But a lot of that is just an overall lifestyle change, not necessarily just because of the RV.

Yeah...let's wait for the OP to come back and clarify what he meant in the first place before we take this too much farther off topic.

Let's just say that I saved enough money for a year, and already spent it... So I've had to find work here and there. It really depends on how you do it. If you drive a lot, gas is a major expense. If you can just park somewhere, obviously a lot less. I think $600-$1,000 per month is reasonable, but it can easily be more. If you have property to park on and live frugally, you could get by for much less. Basically whatever your monthly grocery bill costs. If you're filling up your gas tank, hanging out with friends, going on weekend trips, seeing music...it goes fast. I was traveling the whole first half of that time and spent a lot of money.

Well I'm no spiritual expert, doctor or psychologist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, and I'd say that if you get your general health checked out by a doctor, feel physically healthy, and don't feel you have problems with depression, I'd say you sound like you're doing pretty good.

Ever read the TTC? I'm not saying that in an undeveloped person that no drive is a good thing. But for developed ones, this is part of what they strive for, as soaring crane mentioned. I don't know you so I can't say. But when I walk around and realize at times my sex drive is practically non existent, and I'm just content with me and things the way they are, I think "ah, this is nice, maybe I am making progress".

I've been living in an RV for the past 7 months. What would you like to know?

Was going to post this before but got kinda turned off at how into "image" they are...but what the hell, it's a good song.

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I agree, in that I sometimes get sick of all the "semen" topics splattered (sorry) all over the general forum. Sometimes it seems like you can't step anywhere on this forum without stepping in semen... So maybe a "sexual" practices section, rather than "men's".

When we try to cultivate ourselves and connect to the Tao, we want to lose self consciousness. But so much of cultivation is creating a self awareness that most average people probably don't have. What's the difference? How do we become completely aware, without being self conscious? It seems like in the act of becoming self aware, there's a danger of becoming extremely self conscious. Thoughts? This is probably a topic more for people who have struggled with self consciousness than those who never really had a problem with it, but whatever.

If you don't follow my conspiracy theory, you're a sheeple. Period. Ironic. Those people may have seen something. Are you saying it was a UFO, or alien? Because they are very different things. Until I see, with my own eyes, an alien, I withhold judgement on whether lights or objects people see in the sky (UFOs) are aliens, or just unidentified flying objects. Undeniable means something different to me than to you, clearly. Here we go with definitions again...

Which is not to say I absolutely don't believe UFOs exist. Actually I know UFOs exist. There are Unidentified Flying Objects in the skies all the time. It's whether the objects are even actually objects, and whether they are from another planet, which is debatable. I believe in life somewhere else out there. But until it comes and visits me and I see it with my own eyes and experience it and it leaves no doubt (some lights in the sky aren't going to convince me), I'm just withholding judgement. Will the government try to cover up a story of a real alien race visiting earth? Absolutely. Does that mean that when some people see stuff in the sky and scientists say there is no evidence to confirm that it's alien life, that this then must be an alien visit and government coverup?? Hell no. But yeah, there's all kinds of proof out there that there are unidentified flying objects in the sky. Until they are identified ( as a plane, satellite, northern lights, drone etc), they are, by definition, unidentified.

Don't you understand what "undeniable" means??? Stop thinking and just believe.