ShenLung

Not just the little rewards that the reps give the docs, but such an immense volume of new drugs coming out of the pill mills that it is difficult for even the more principled to keep up. The nurses who catch dangerous drug interactions after the scrip has already been signed .. the stories curl the hair. Part of the problem may be in the way patent law works regarding medication. The last time I checked, a new medication could have two years before another manufacturer could duplicate it. Since the pharmacological companies always want to have the next hot new med, R&D keeps finding new ways to accomplish the same treatment with a different molecule. Many beneficial medications started life as herbs, but one cannot patent a plant, except by the genetic designing of a new species. Instead of constantly designing new drugs that are farther and farther from what nature made first, the better meds should take nature, and provide a reliable and consistent dosage. Since these meds are not always produced here, one would have to import them from somewhere else ... but there are barriers to doing this, as well. Craziness.

The variation in concentrations of active chemical in any given herbal sample is one of the reasons that, unless there is a very urgent need, some preparations are avoided. First, do no harm is a simple rule that seems to get forgotten in the rush to treat. A person who prepares a mind altering substance and then gives it to a 'patient' for later use is not a shaman - that is a drug dealer. The shaman will sit with the patient and guide them through the experience. Perhaps a better job is being done across the pond, but here in the USA, the mental health profession has gotten into the habit of reaching for the prescription pad far too early. I feel that this is an abandonment of the first principle of medicine. There are still good doctors, of course, but the number of well-educated pushers has grown to a societally unsafe level.

Between a general funk and soul crushing despair, there are a lot of feelings that can be called 'depression'. Characterization of the symptom specifically, and then discernment of the cause must be done before any kind of treatment can be attempted. The cause may also be a symptom of a more general disorder. I would recommend in-person consultations with a legitimate healer. Ayahuasca, and other ethnobotanicals are part of the shaman's tool kit, and the decision to use them or not use them, or when and under what circumstances is a decision best left to the shaman, if that is the healer that is being consulted. Solitary experimentation with these chemicals is not advisable regardless of one's mental state, and particularly if one is depressed.

Having no emotions .. how would you say you feel about this? angry, sad, what?

I agree, the cultish following seems to be asking more of qi than it could provide. If the body is like an office building, and the qi could be likened to a maintenance man, he could be incredibly energetic- running around fixing things all of the time. If the building materials needed to do repairs were to run out, however, the cleverness and industriousness of even the most skilled maintenance man could not compensate for this fundemental lacking. The building would fall into disrepair. Doing without water, as some stories have it, seems unlikely. The tissues in the final few feet of intestines ordinarily reabsorb water from the feces before excretion. Water need not be consumed by way of the mouth; if one has abstained from drinking water for an extended period of time, the body will naturally attempt to gain hydration by the reverse route - during a bath, for example. This seems to me a good way of introducing unwanted organisms to the body, not healthy.

Acronym for The End Of The World As We Know It. Teotwawki sounds like a character from a James Fenimoore Cooper novel .. half expect him to be tied up in a loveless relationship with a maid named Tanstaafl.

Every day, every minute somewhere in the world a person is experiencing "The end of the world as we know it" to some degree. I like to think of the "big event" as a reminder to be prepared for eventualities, not in anticipation of something specific. TEOTWAWKI is the thief who slipped in through the back door while we were busy watching for something else ... The rat! stole my last pack of twinkies.

Ok, let me get this straight ... The test of the quality of attainment in my particular excercise of wisdom is to allow someone to kick me where?

I wonder about those tests, some times .. the answers available don't quite fit .. ie, I think of possible outcomes, actions and scenarios far ahead of time - years, even - then act quickly when the need for action is evident. I'm not sure how that should be scored Still, I suppose they can make for an interesting diversion - found one online here: http://www.humanmetr...win/jtypes2.asp I get a different type every time I take this test, and type changes to suit the situation, I think. Is there a need for a better diagnostic tool, and if we should have it, what might be done with the results?

Under bodhi tree Santa rests his weary sleigh Ho, ho, Buddha boy! Ho, ho, Buddha boy At last the sack is empty; Here's a gift for you!

No nation could withstand my strategy, to remain entire once it onfolds with less than one thousand souls at my command would lay the mighty low only free men, with their freedom intact could I but harm but never break Can the timid mortal bear to speak my name? Perhaps, yet I think No. Rational thinking doesn't get to bed the homecoming queen, sadly. If the adversaries of mankind are doing their level best, then they are beggering fools, and inept, for I can do better in death, I the least of men; no man, truely - can concieve a better strategy. Peace and goodwill to all men must begin in the hearts of all men, grow in the hearts of all men, and be realised in the hearts of all men: Then the arms lie in their baldreds, and the iron turns to rust. The brass and leaden tools of death begin to turn to dust -I hope someone is taking notes, this stuff is only free for a little while - I could conquer any nation by means of strategy by the time I was six years old. This is not hard. Learning to live and die in peace - now that is hard. The dragon would say more, but the scribe is weary. Rascal, that dragon spirit is!

Nothing done at Sandy Hook with a gun that could not have been accomplished with a few chains, padlocks, petrol, and matches. A gun in the hands of one seeking to protect the innocent would have saved twenty six lives. Argument?

Maybe time to go ahead and open a new thread, as the media circus is going to be turning to a new tragedy soon enough .. and the doubt and concern will still be about. Normalcy bias is still there, even when folk are stepping into box cars. The hells emege into the middle way, and there's nothing to be done. I hate this bit of history, every time.

Paranoia takes on a life of it's own. Truth, lies, and who's to know better anymore .. that's what it has come to, sadly.

I think we are, today so easily accustomed to the shilling and the hucksterism of media that we have grown weary of it's trappings .. so weary that even when we see it clearly, the care is gone, and when the blood red hand appears before our eyes, we mechanically say "I see five fingers" regardless of what is displayed before us. Perhaps the new measure of defiance is to quietly slip outside at night, and with a purloined can of spraypaint, post upon the wall: IC4

I recall a bit from William Sydney Porter, on the topic of melodrama and the true character of humanity .. sometimes, bad acting and melodrama IS the way people express themselves. Sometimes, but not always. O Henry aside, I seem to have forgot something.. what, what was it? Oh yes .. let's play a game!

Take shelter and rest And draw the heavenly dew under bodhi tree

Ye're drunk, love, and kenna type, nor string a line o prose but s'truth that them who bear arms this day did cut their teeth upon our legends, and fear to the marrow that they are not yet our measure. The truth of Judas, though one plain to see in the text is one few fain to stomach on stout ale or sober still, the bondsman true till bitter end did do his masters will to his own great sorrow. (copyright 2012) - Shen

On the eve of the high holy day of the sun god Mithras, I recall one day when I was a wee lad. THe good-intentioned folk at the local gathering had bundled together a clump of hairs, and offered up a five dollar bounty to whoever could name thier number. Now their intention had been to promote some bit of doctrine, no matter what the truth of it might be; but I resolutely declared the number of the hairs, and upon hearing the answer, the learned elders of the church proceeded to teach their doctrine, oblivious to the fact that a mere babe had uttered quite correctly the number. Again, the gauntlet thrown down, this time with gumballs in a jar, the stake the gumballs themselves, and again, this young one did dare to speak the proper number; but yet - The elders did pretend to not hear the plainly spoken words, so plain in the simple fact in the mind of the youth, that the truth was the truth. Better not to say "only god knows" and have only god answer. I hated the christian church for a long time, before I learned to distinguish the difference between the idea and the messenger.

Hmm .. how this method would work might vary, depending upon whether one was in Evanston, or Cabrini green!

Ok, good explanation! Sadly, since this is already something that I do, it does not advance my knowledge But at least I know what term to give it when attempting to explain, thank you

Relevance .. eh, That's a good clip, in any case, love.

Cayce, no doubt tuned in. cut and paste volumes, no wisdom .. too much to read. How does this help now?

Information, once given ... I don't believe that the knowledge of weaponry can be effectivly removed from the American public; even if all weapons were to be withdrawn tommorrow, we would have them the day after. No rules, no regulations, just brutal. I've designed a few in my day. The US will not use them in war due to geneva convention rules, but the powers that be know full well that the most horrific of devices are constantly being concieved of by the people of this great nation - and some secrets, we ain't sharing. The same thought stopped Hitler, in his day, from attempting to make use of his chemical weapon supply ... the mere concept that nearly every American home has at least one of the two components necessary to make Sarin gas, and plenty of Americans know what to do from there should make any tyrant quiver with fear. At long last, when all other peaceful measures have failed ... No fear, we surround them. Check.

Dang that Verizon!