ShenLung

Where were those car keys? Distracted for a moment; Just where I left them.

There was a time, some years ago, when I had a need to have a conversation with a certain person. As a private conversation, it had to be undertaken in a place that was not where he lived, where he worked, or where he went when he was not working; it had to occur on the way that he would travel between these places. The reason for the conversation, the details of it, and the consequences to the person beyond it are of no consequence to this story, it is a story of an experience. Along a path that the person was known to take, beside the trail with it's rocks and bushes, overlooking a small forested area, I found a place to wait. I did not know when the person would come this way, only that he would, in time. I settled in beside a bush, and focused my mind upon stillness. In order to remain undisturbed, I set my mind to be like that of a rock: unmoving, undisturbable, unremarkable. As time went on, people walked by. Some looked in my general direction, but I noticed that they did not see ME, or the "I" that is me ... they only saw a rock sitting beside a bush. All of myself, my clothing, my body, my kit, my tools .. only percieved as a rock beside a bush. No great wonder to myself, for after the first few hours of sitting, the desire to move had all but gone, the presence of musculature and mode of motion had all but fled from the conciousness. The illusion of time had been so contracted, that a moment and an hour were nearly imperceptible. The sun traveled( oh, illusion!) in it's arc, and as twilight began to set in, a spider dropped from the bush to the top of the rock that was I. To the spider, I was a permenant feature, or at least unlikely to move, and so she began to go about her business, spinning a web. The concerns of the spider, where her thoughts were, were so simple; squeeze here, relax there, follow the pattern so ancient and ancestral to her nature. In the pattern and the following of it laid the key to continued survival; the web spun, the insects caught, the meal consumed ... one day, she would mate and lay her eggs, but not now. Observing the spider, I could have easily reached out and flicked her away. Squashing her fragile body between my fingers would have been no heroic feat - but I was a rock, imobile of my own nature, and so she finished her work. For a time we were as one, the spider and I. Both waiting, both waiting. A life, a destiny, a meeting; chance, but not by chance. Life taken and life preserved, life continuing. When I arose to complete my purpose, the tearing of the web seemed the greatest violence.

There is a tendency to read and study philosophical works in the same way one reads a technical manual: Read a little, figure out what it means, read a little more, ect. and go back over the parts where further clarification is needed. I propose that this is not the best way to read the TTC. Tao Te Ching is, in a way, a technical manual; the essential technical manual for comprehending the nature of existance, but it is also a work of philosophy. As such, it is drawn with words, not diagrams, and the words themselves are like the brush strokes of a painting. A purely analytical approach cannot reveal the meaning in the same way that one cannot grasp the signifigance of a painting by analysing it's brush strokes. To properly see it, one must look at the entire picture, or, in this case, read the entire work, front to back, without stopping to ponder overmuch the meaning of the individual words and phrases. There will be time to get close and admire the masterful brush strokes later - look at the whole picture first. After reading TTC all the way through, relax, and breathe. The breath is important, if it does not become clear, breathe again, and allow the picture to resolve itself in your mind. In some traditions, it is said that the breath itself is the purest prayer to god: it is thanks, it is praise, it is appreciation. If you are uncomfortable with the concept of god, you can substitute whatever label you like - it is that which cannot be described in terms of this reality, as it is beyond this reality. Breathe. This is first and foremost. This is life; the entire cosmos is contained and described in just this simple act.

I do not believe that there is a brush so wide that it could paint such a thing as an 'American Taoist'. Coming up with a narrow set of definitions may well be the result of failing to understand America itself, which is fairly common, even in America! For starters, there are over 300 million people in the United States, Most of whom are either immigrants from any number of nations around the world, or descended from such immigrants. Each group brings along with them elements of their own cultures, which become assimilated into the whole gradually. I have a Southwestern Pioneer breakfast, a Greek lunch, and Chinese dinner ... although it can easily change from day to day to Italian, Polish, or Mexican .. it all depends on the mood - the entire world is represented here in some way or another. Compassion is not a communist virtue. In reality, there are very few communists anywhere in the world ... The Soveit Union, China, North Korea, these are not, in fact, communist nations, although they are called such; They are socialist nations that became thus by exploitation of the communist ideal to decieve their populations into transferring power to a limited set of elites who decide how to 'redistribute' the nation's wealth. There is nothing compassionate about that. When people strive for self reliance, they obtain the ability to be free from desperate individual needs, and are therefore free to excercise compassion for those who do not enjoy such freedom, if they so choose. In American politics, there are perhaps 15-20% who are devoted to the National Socialist Right, another 15-20% devoted to the Democratic Socialist Left, and around 15-20% who will be unhappy with our government regardless of which side manages to get 'elected'. The remainder don't care, so long as everything still works, mostly. Frugality was a quality highly prized by the founders of the United States, and it is not an expression of fear, but a preparation to experience abundance; For when one does not waste what one has, one has more, and having more, is in a better position to be of use to others. For a time, Americans departed from frugality, and large portions of the population still live in excess, but the tide is turning; People are rediscovering the meaning of "Waste not, want not", and "Look after the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves" either by desire or neccessity. I suppose a mousey person might see American women, and regard them as 'battle axes', and there is no shortage of mousey men here, as well ... In the Southwest, we like to laugh at the city slickers in their tight jeans and makeup -! Yet, if there are strong and independant women, there are a great number of men who are every bit their equal. We generally walk gently, and don't make too much of a fuss, getting only mildly preturbed from time to time; When we are aroused to anger, the world will absolutely remember the qualities of American men. The patterns of speech and dialect from the far North east to the Southwest are very different, and although both are nominally speaking English, a person from Maine and a person from Oklahoma might well be from entirely different countries. From one house to another, ideas change and culture differs ... even the translations of TTC are varied from the literal to the poetic, and if we wind up with different views of Tao, it would be no surprise. In summary, No, there is not such a thing as an 'American Taoist'. There are Taoists who are American, each an individual.

Sensei has one live in student currently, and when the main dojo is built, there will be living quarters for at least half a dozen teachers + students, in addition to the regular "go to dojo" type students, possibly additional quarters for students who will not neccesarily be primary students, but have traveled to train at the dojo. Groundbreaking is still about a year or so away, depending upon the funds.

In a personal conversation, there are moments when the time is proper to speak, when the spoken words are appropriate, and will be properly recieved to the benefit of another. Preaching is like letting the rain fall; in some places, it is beneficial, in others, it does no good, and still others will suffer harm from the excess of water. Not all teachings are for all students. Better to say nothing, than to say the wrong thing - I should heed that advice more!

Torturous to the soul, are unrealized expectations. While one has the desire for the things that others have, be they wealth, power, status, love, family, ect, others have quickly moved to obtain these things, with no regard for the unexpected future. In the short term, they may believe that they have found happiness; in the long term, unless these gifts are within the scope of what their true needs are, they will be lost. Releasing expectations opens up possibilities; the desires of the ego may yet be fulfilled, in the proper time, for the proper reasons. The gifts that the universe brings come with patience, so practice patience; the gifts of the universe should be appreciated, so practice appreciation of everything that one has - and want for nothing.

There is no attack, I am truely sorry that you have chosen to percieve that there is one. I watched the video, observed his attempt to paint a select group of people as facist, without acknowledging the facism of the opposing groups. There are people going about constantly pointing fingers at each other, calling 'fascist', and then embracing the same sickness, embodied in another. Perhaps he is sincere, but misled, or perhaps he is shilling; when the outcome is the same, there is no difference, objectively. Instead of finding fault and assigning blame, I feel that more progress can be made by embracing the spirit of individual responsibility, and benevolent voluntary participation in community, with no need for an external force to 'make' us be better people. > The welding of a corrupted vision of christianity to national socialist ideals in the attempt to make use of people's faith to transfer power is practiced quite extensively, and not merely by those who take up the right hand side of the false political spectrum. As I pointed out before: there are not two parties, only an illusion propogated to ensure the supremacy of one party, that being the national socialist party, who's sole goal in governance is CONTROL. I have not read Reich's work, but to be perfectly fair, I doubt that he has read mine, either. I shall look into it.<

It is ironic that Hedges could decry journalistic dishonesty while engaging in it at the same time. Clearly he wants the audience to percieve the worst aspects of one political camp, with the only reasonable solution being the embracing of it's "opposite". However, if one is honestly examining the political parties with first principles one finds that both camps wind up goose stepping at the end of the day. An excerpt from a post in the Model for a doable anarchy thread: "The Anarch/Totalitariat spectrum is not the only consideration when contemplating political thought - and it IS political; any time we discuss the relationships between persons and groups of persons, we are discussing politics. Nearly everyone in the USA is either familiar with, or has at least heard of the left wing/ right wing political diagram, and often associate left or right with one or the other of the two major political parties. This view is, of course, quite wrong, for when we begin to really examine what these political entities DO, it is obvious that there should be more axis in the diagram. In addition to the Anarch/Totalitariat spectrum, there is a Moralistic/Hedonistic spectrum, and an Individualist/Collectivist spectrum. Examining the two major parties based upon the x,y, and z axis of the more complete political diagram, we find one party to be tending towards Totalitarianism, Hedonism, and Collectivism. The other party tends towards Totalitarianism, Moralism, and slightly less so than the first, but still Collectivism. This does not look like two seperate political entities with radically different viewpoints, but more like one party with two faces. WIth this realization, we can readily comprehend that we will not be the beneficiaries of greater liberty from either face of this system, for they are both tending more and more towards Totalitarianism. A new system must be brought forth, but there are problems with how it can be constituted, and how it can be deployed." Media groups are no longer content to simply report the news, they now filter the news, selecting which stories to run that they feel will support their opinions, and the formation of opinion, to the point of spoon-feeding ideas to the public has become the main concern. The vast majority of the public, the electorate, is not adept in critical thinking. Critical thinking is not a skill that is developed in the public educational system, perhaps by design. Sensing an inherent 'wrongness' in the media establishments, they run away to other sources of information, and fall into the arms of other opinion-makers; the trap is complete.

I wouldn't call them opposed so much as them being different layers of truth. On the one hand, we have these bodies, which can be classified as animals. On the other hand, are humans just animals? If we adopt the attitude that humans are just animals, then we are left with the question of what is the implication associating with human animals? Are they dangerous animals? Logically, the answer would be a qualified yes, humans are dangerous animals. Dangerous animals require management in order to render them less dangerous, in the minds of some. Milking the venom from snakes, de-clawing cats, limiting tigers and lions to 'preserve' areas ... these sorts of things are done to make potentially dangerous animals more 'safe'. Training and conditioning of the animal and it's handlers is also a method of managing a dangerous animal. The natural weapon of a serpent is it's venom, the natural weapon of a cat is it's claws and teeth. What is the natural weapon of the human? It is not guns, knives, sticks, rocks, or even the bare hand. The natural weapon of the human is intelligence. Does there not seem to be an effort being made to limit the intelligence of humans? Deliberate defects in education, introduction of mind dulling drugs, and paring down of language so that humans find it more and more difficult to communicate meaningfully, and most importantly, not communicate thoughts that are deemed dangerous by their managers? I believe that these efforts all stem from the attitude that humans are merely another type of animal, requiring management from external sources. In some respects, I agree with the managers and minders, that humans can be quite dangerous. I disagree with the proposed solutions to the percieved problem. The answer is not to impose control from above, bringing humanity to heel like a beast, but to embrace the element of humanity that is more than simply animalistic, to awaken that divine spark that lies within each and every human being. All attempts to conquer the world by bringing it to it's knees have failed thus far, and from the examples of history, all such attempts will also fail in the future. Instead of bringing the world to it's knees, I would rather see the world brought to it's feet.

The habits of spiders are varied; not all spiders go about pursuing their life requirements in the same way. It is not a distinction between individual spiders, but between differing species. Most spiders will kill their mates after mating, and suck the life out of their former mate, they will leave their children to abandon their homes at a young age ... although some do raise their young, providing them with food and shelter. These behaviours are the product of instinctive programming, not concious choice. Spiders do not have the capacity to make moral decisions, they do not engage in such thinking. As a result, there is no malicious intent in them as they go about their lives. Their thoughts, such as they are, consist mainly of the program, and condition-response. So long as a person does not provoke a self defense response from a spider, they are completely harmless, and, as they make their living by killing insects, their presence can be beneficial. So long as they confine their activities to places that do not disturb the harmony of my home, I pay them no mind, but when they get disruptive, it's time for them to be escorted outside.

The need to escape from the cycle of life, suffering, death, and rebirth. This is one of the principle motivators of Buddhism. One of the issues that I have is this: The Buddha, being an illumened being, would not abandon the world after his own enlightenment, but return, again and again to aid others in their quest to be relieved from suffering. Any person, in the quest to achieve enlightenment, upon approaching that goal, will desire instead of release, to return, to aid others in the quest to be relieved from the karmic chains. When I regard my daughter, I am looking upon a being that has been incarnated many times before. She has endured immeasurable hardship, and promotted the ideal of the Bhodisatva in her actions many times in order to be born in this incarnation, in the care of myself, I remind her of her true nature, and hope to aid in her advancement of spiritual perfection, as well as the encouragement to attain to the perfection of all sentient beings. She is, my honored elder.

I don't call it suchness, but substance, for short of calling it potential that only exists as experiential reality under observation, which is just too freeking long. Space is not a vaccum, it is an extreme low pressure zone, made imperfect by the incursion of this 'substance' from elsewhere, outside of the reality that can be experienced or observed. Call this existance the endless void, call the source of potential the limitless light (although it may not be limitless, who could possibly tell?) So non-dual thinking is another layer of embracing illusion, and dualism is found upon the other side of realisation. Within the range of experiential phenomena, there are many layers of reality, those energies that you spoke of, Jeff. I've been hoping someone with a fair grasp of them would present the lingual key so that we can match them up to the words and symbols that get thrown around so casually qi, chi, shen, ect. qi seems to go beyond merely body energy, but I don't think it qualifies as pure, raw potential, either. Shen, to me is more of an amplitude/frequency variation upon strings of existing potential, not the potential itself. That leaves some fairly large gaps in the lexicon of understanding.

It seems that the less I care about getting looks from ladies, the more looks I get. Whenever I haven't bothered with bathing, combing the hair, or am wearing stained clothes, just generally looking like I just came out of the woods, there is more interest from strangers. The ladies that I already know act a bit funny whenever I shave, put on clean clothes, wash up and wear cologne. Maybe it has something to do with being 'different' from the usual experience: many men try so hard to be attractive to the opposite sex that the 'trying' is obvious, contrived. I think on some level the ladies want a 'wild' man, but then, once they've got him, they want him cleaned up a bit

merchant marines get to travel, get paid for it, too. You could head out to alaska and work one of the fishing ships that haul from the bering sea, good place to put that breathing technique to the test, and its just a couple months of hazardous labour followed by a year full of doing whatever you want. The really smart way is to work at something that pays well enough, live simply, save, and invest in a business that will allow you to enjoy your time, cultivate, ect. Ice cream parlor, candy store, bookshop, whatever. Running a business can be hard work, too ... but if it's something that you really enjoy, it isn't really work, either. While you are doing all of that, think about this: If the universe itself were attempting to guide and shape you into a certain person, what would you possibly have to want for if you were to become that person? Finding that point can be a challenge, but the closer you get to it, the less effort it will require to accomplish your dreams.

I feel that each nation that got involved did so out of their own self interest. Allow me a moment to make the case: Prior to the great war, the european nations maintained peace through a patchwork of mutal defense alliances and the percieved balance of powers. When the Austrians suffered an unpardonable insult in Bosnia (Serbia, or the influence of Serbia being blamed) the force of the alliances were set in motion. Any nation unwilling to honor their previously arranged allience would suffer a loss in esteem, as no one would be able to believe the worth of their diplomatic offerings .. self interest. When the Kaiser's forces proceeded to enter Belgian territory, Britain could have ignored their commitment to Belgium, but the long term cost of doing so was something that she could not afford do. Certainly there were other opportunities and interests involved, things that may have made the descision easier so to speak, but there was, in the nature of the pre war alliances the seeds of future conflict. Consider the terms of the central power's surrender, and how, in the pursuit of 'punishing' Germany, the stage was set for a more monsterous political power to come into play. Conflicts lead into conflicts: The set of alliances that were in place before the first world war came into existance because of prior conflicts going back centuries that I don't want to discuss in detail - it makes my head hurt! Across the Atlantic ocean, in the western hemisphere, concern over seemingly endless European wars, the escapades of Napolean in particular, and the sovereign power's response to them in general, brought about the 'Monroe doctrine', a determination to not permit the European nations to solidify power in the west, in the hopes that such horrors could be prevented from coming to American shores. Excercise of this doctrine came about with the reletively brief Spanish American war ... it keeps on going, and going. Breaking the cycle ... I don't believe that more force and more control is going to do the trick. (edit) Sarejvo was in Bosnia, the region being in a state of flux after the cease fire in the balkan wars, just one year previously.

When people start trying to "fix what is wrong with the world" through the execution of force, stuff like this happens. When people in sufficient numbers take to the idea of "yes, the world is a mess, but I can fix myself" it wont.

The practice of maintaining a military presence abroad in anticipation of possible future conflict is a poor substitution for having real strategic mobility. By staging war material in various places around the globe, it provides an opportunity to bring it to bear when needed, but it is horribly ineficient, and may present a percieved threat where no hostility is intended. Rome could not bear the cost, and Rome was drawing actual tribute from the nations that hosted it's far flung garrisons. consider the following: External Strategic Mobility is concerned with the transportation needs of the military when operating beyond the borders of the State. It depends mainly on sea and air modes of transportation. Sea Transportation: Sea transport is the most efficient means of projecting military force abroad. Deep water ports should have loading and staging areas sufficient to accommodate the largest pieces of material, with cranes capable of manipulating these payloads. Ports should be closely or directly connected to rail lines, highways, airfields, and even inland waterways where possible. Close diplomatic ties with other nations that posses deep water ports is indispensable when it becomes necessary for the military to operate abroad. Craft specifically designed to transfer cargo at sea, and deliver cargo to shore in the absence of a port should be built and maintained. Air Transportation: Insuring safe landing zones for transport aircraft should be a priority for the diplomatic corps. In the absence of such airfields, cargo craft may be refueled in flight by tanker craft. Transportation Capacity: Transportation craft and specialty vehicles used for regular and routine purposes should be built and maintained by the State. Transportation capacity beyond routine usage should be either conscripted from civilian interests, or built to military specifications, and leased to commercial interests during times of peace. Would not the support of such capacity to move an army if it were necessary to do so be preferable to the current situation? Now, it can be argued that the practice of using the US dollar as the standard for commodity exchange amounts to a defacto tribute, but the glaring ineficiency of this system of forward staging still remains.

Lying to one's thereapist is not a good sign. Either find the courage to open up to her, or find one that you can open up to about your experiences. A good therapists listens, but doesn't judge, after all. Diet change, abstinance from mind altering substances (tobacco is also a drug) and general 'purification', followed by a desire to know God .. sounds like you are or were, making some attempts at a spiritual journey. Energetic awareness and altered states of conciousness do sometimes come about after doing things like that. Smoking weed. Particularly smoking weed while going about having a spiritual journey can open some doors, but it cannot do the necessary work that will transform a person in beneficial ways. Bad idea to toke up under those circumstances, unless you are a shaman, having been trained for years by another shaman, or are in the care of a legitimate shaman, which does not sound like the case. Ethnobotanicals aren't good to play around with, especially if you have some mental issues (that's not a bad thing, everyone has their 'stuff'). The side effects can really wreck your life. Good friends will understand when you tell them 'naw, man, I'm laying off of the sticky icky for a while, until I get my head together' ... even if the 'for a while' really winds up being a loooong long time. Changing the world, or society is a process, and the only part you can really do is work on changing yourself ... the rest comes along when it is time for it to come along. Seriously, talk to the therapist. They often have more experience with the crazy stuff than one might think ... and don't regard it as crazy at all.

There are some serious problems with adopting 'preemtive war' theory, and abandoning 'Jus ad Bellum'. The occasional necessity, perhaps ... but making it the routine business of national defense creates more problems in the long run, imo.

Not to worry, MH ... if I want to know about the elephant, and all I have are six blind men, I don't rely upon the perception of only one!

Forgot where they put it, I suppose?

You are too kind, thank you for doing the work. The reference to the two gentlemen, one from america and one from england was just an example of how, even though both speak the same language, we use the language in different ways. If we english - speakers can have such differences in meaning with our own language, in our own time, how much more challenging to understand what is written in another language, in another time! I will look for your chapter translations in the ttc study section, and again, thank you!

Downsides: intermittant electricity, volcanoes, tidal waves. Gotta agree on the beautiful women. And SamMiguel just doesn't taste quite the same when it isn't being consumed outside on a hot humid night Manila might be better than 'po city, though.

Yes, yes it was. Don't go getting caught up in that relative worth differential and back out of the "noble way to go" that you mentioned now!