manitou

The phenomena reminds me of Oroubouros (sp?) swallowing his own tail. Seeing as All is One, All is Mind - I wonder if the very fact that there are several of us inputting this observation into the 'parallel universe of the Internet' doesn't help the dynamic somehow. Particularly if we hope for a compassionate outcome somehow. This situation is just getting unbelievable, and wouldn't be nearly as possible for it to grow at the current speed if it weren't for the fact that us earthlings can now communicate at the speed of light worldwide.

I didn't look at the videos, so I can't comment on your topic. But does it strike anyone else strange that the fact that the world is focused on the word ISIS seems to indicate a full circle from ancient history?

I'm with Brian and Spotless. Stuck energy is all it is. Work in abeyance.

Hello everyone - I'm currently reading the 600 page book by Dr. Jerry Alan Johnson, titled Daoist Internal Alchemy: Neigong & Weigong Training. I'm not too far into it, but I've come across the most wonderful page. Please know that I did receive Dr. Johnson's approval to quote his book for purposes of our discussions. Below is the email he sent - what a kind and wonderful man he must be! 'Hi Barbara - Yes, by all means please feel free to use this material...and thank you for asking. The primary purpose for originally writing the Daoist Alchemy book was to assist others and sharing this life transforming information. That's why we're here...:-). Best wishes always, Dr. Johnson' (I was surprised to actually hear back from him personally - his website is www.daoistmagic.com) Please pardon the length of this post: THE FOUR TYPES OF VIRTUES The ancient Daoists believed that the cultivation of Virtue has its reward, both within Heaven, and within the Dao. These energetic and spiritual rewards are without shape or form, and are the magical stepping stones used by most Daoist disciples to access the secret teachings hidden within the various Spirit Realms. In high levels of Daoist Magic, the acquired magical powers of a disciple are not totally dependent on his ability to practice powerful Qigong and Shengong exercises, but are also dependent on his ability to cultivate Genuine Virtue. According to the Huimingjing, "If you do not have Virtuous Power (De), even if you encounter the Dao, Heaven will certainly not grant it to you. Why is this? Virtuous Power and the Dao are like a bird's wings. If one is missing, the other is useless. You must have dedication, devotion, compassion, moral integrity, and obey the Five Precepts (no killing, stealing, adultery, lying, or intoxication). Only then do you have something to hope for. With each kind deed, the disciple's Heart becomes purer and the subtle activities of his True Spirit increase. This allows the gap between the Qi of the disciple's Yuan Shen (Original Spirit) and the radiant light of the Shen Xian (Eternal Soul) to be reduced. Daoist priests traditionally divide De (Virtue) into four categories: Apparent Virtue, Yin Virtue, Mystical Virtue, and Genuine Virtue. Each type of Virtue represents a specific level of spiritual cultivation, and is described as follows: #1 APPARENT VIRTUE This is considered to be the first level of Virtue. However, in this level of compassion, all charitable acts are visible to others and are immediately rewarded with material and/or verbal gratitude. Because in Apparent Virtue there is an even exchange of energy, no accumulation of spiritual energy is cultivated. #2 YIN VIRTUE This is considered a transitional stage of spiritual evolution. At this level the disciple performs kind deeds without expecting any form of reward. This is the foundation of a true cultivator of the Dao, and is considered to be the preliminary stage to go progressing towards the level of Mystical Virtue. #3 MYSTICAL VIRTUE This is considered to be a higher form of Virtue. It is the expression of Virtue by mystics in the process of cultivating and nurturing their True Shen. These disciples are able to do good deeds without people knowing about their charitable actions. They are both knowingly and unknowingly helping others and society by healing the sick, helping people in trouble, protecting the balance of nature, etc. #4 GENUINE VIRTUE This is considered to be the highest form of Virtue. It is pure, genuine, natural, and un-contrived. It is performed spontaneously, without any formulated mental process, as an natural expression of the individual's internal connection with the Dao. In order to first help a disciple develop his Virtue, he is required each night to take inventory and accountability of all of his moods, thoughts, and actions. Everything that occurred during the day must be accounted for. In this way, the disciple begins to observe all of his actions without judgment, and is slowly being introduced to the skill of projecting his spiritual consciousness as an active observer. I just couldn't pass up the chance to share these wonderful explanations on to The Bums. Can it be said any better?

I think that anyone who wants, at the end of the line, to find enlightenment will be unable to do so without finding Self-Realization. In order to find self-realization, this is a product of elimination. Elimination of the traits we have acquired post-natally, our acquired personality - filled to the brim with 'wrong teachings' by well-intended people. To acquire mastery of ego, for example, we must remove the 'need to be first', which is a direct offshoot of that urge to succeed, to win. There is a time and a season for everything in our lives -there is a time for contention, for contending for promotions, to pile up lots of money (or stuck energy, as I see it). But someone who is at a point in their life where accumulation is of utmost importance is not going to be seeking self-realization. He may be seeking it, but it will be at a surface level. To see with clarity is to be able to see without the contortion of anger, of ego, of jealousy, of lust, of obsession, of addiction, of judgment, of gluttony, of pride, of excessive ambition to be above everyone else in any fashion. It is to be One with What Is. When the disciple reaches the place of non-judgment, being content to be 'second', to have achieved Love or Compassion without having to even try - this is not something that is acquired without the elimination process of the removal of the distorting traits we have acquired. It's getting back to our pre-natal personality, the enlightened template we were born with, is what the Genuine Virtue, the fourth virtue above - this is what the Sage or the Enlightened One possesses. I equate this to the double conical shape of the chakras. One cone faces forward, attached at the tip to another cone which faces backwards. This seems like a perfect metaphor to me. There is an outer dimension to enlightenment - our learning, the teachings of others who are with us and who came before us. This we are all familiar with. But how many of us, even on this site, actually go out of our way to become better people, to return to this original personality? How can that possibly happen by accident? It takes great effort on our parts to get to know our own acquired personality. This is the inner cone of the metaphor. There are Bums on this forum that have so obviously done the inner work - and it shines through their words. It is equally easy to see the ones that have not done any inner work - their words are hollow, they can cut and paste until the cows come home; they have mastered the words of others and perhaps have multiple letters after their names. But unless the 'soil of the soul' has been prepared by inner exploration, the words of others will fall on rocky soil if the soil has not been prepared, and the plant will not grow. The outer knowledge will be present, but the root of the plant will not make its way down to the heart. One of the best ways to see ourselves is to observe others. We are mirrors of each other. If your words make me angry, I should look at what is in myself that is being challenged. Once I find it, I will ask my Higher Self to remove that quality within me. In my own case, I don't find that my Higher Self reaches down my throat and removes that quality. Instead, I find that my Higher Self will make sure it draws me into situation after situation that requires my attention to that very defect of character (anything other than my pre-natal personality). It requires 'acting to the opposite' many times. When I really want to argue, for example, the correcting action would be to not argue - in fact, to really listen to the points that the other person is making and try to put myself in their moccasins. And then to dive even deeper and find out where that characteristic started. Once it's been exposed to the light, it will often disintegrate into dust. Humility, in my experience, is sometimes acquired by humiliation. Humility is absolutely essential for Self Realization or Enlightenment. When we look back over our lives and see where we have harmed others, the true disciple will go back and make amends - regardless of how the other person takes it. The more humiliating the amend, the more it does for my soul. It stings on the inside. But this is also an indication that you have really found that trait that you have been seeking; the more sway that trait has within our personality, the more contorted our vision becomes. It becomes jaded with the trait. If the particular trait is jealousy, for example, then there would be a 'green glow' (of jealousy) that colors our vision and affects and distorts everything we see, everything we think we understand. I think that looking at the qualities, the 3 treasures of the Sage, are a beautiful template toward enlightenment. Yutang would say the 3 treasures are 'Love, Never be the First, Never too much'. Stephen Mitchell would say the 3 treasures are 'Simplicity, patience, compassion'. When we have become like the Sage, these are the qualities we possess. Simplicity (Mitchell) would equate to 'Never too much' (Yutang). Patience (Mitchell) would equate with 'Never be the first' of Yutang. Love equates with Compassion. When I was a young girl, my parents bought a board game for me to play with them; it was called "Be At the Head of Your Class". We played this game all the time; it involved flash cards filled with more knowledge than a 5 year old needed to know. But this is the very thing that started off my race to 'ALWAYS be the first'. Yes, perhaps this suited me for that season of my life, where school is a competitive phenomena. But in striving for something much more in my later life, the present life where I want to Really understand, that particular trait had to be greatly diminished. And the ego deflation that came along with being right in the middle is something that was greatly required in my case. Someone else may be totally different. I wish I could say that this trait is totally worked out of me, but it isn't. It still periodically raises its head, and I must catch myself and usually have to 'act to the opposite'. But I can truthfully say that my progress in this area has been considerable - and the times it does appear are less and less. The way we remove the unwanted and contorting traits is to first identify them - but this is done from a 'witness state', where we are the observer of our own thoughts and actions. Once we're willing to see ourselves as we really are, only then can they be removed. They can't be removed before they're identified. I think one can make a better life for themselves by not doing the inner work, by relying on the words and works of others. But the ones who have written the great books that we benefit from are ones who have Self Realized and gotten down to their Core. I guess it just depends on how seriously we want to take all this. As for me, I'm in it until the end - and I do so willingly. I no longer avoid looking at my defects because I want to get rid of them. I've been actively working on this very thing for 32 years; the greatest work was at the beginning, once the decision was made. Now, at this point in my life, the work is merely day by day when one of the undesirable traits pops up. It's just staying on top of our own behavior, is all.

The topics fly by so fast now, I'm just bumping this once. To me, it's so very important....

I think the reason we have to go into the subconscious to 'find' the Wu Wei is because unless we've received inner clarification, we will always be reacting as a result of ego. The inner alchemy of removing the unwanted characteristics of our shadow self is the very thing that makes acting within the sphere of wu wei possible. Without that, it's not wu wei - it might be setting a high standard for your actions, but this is not the same as inner digging and removing the inner carbunkles so that the lens is clear. The person who is capable of wu wei is capable of 360 degrees of action, because he doesn't 'have to respond to his egoic reactions'. Without this clarity, we are left with only 180 degrees of action - it will always be limited to what our ego and our inner character defects will allow us to do. The Sage has compassion at his core, and at some point this is spontaneous. He does not act kindly for thanks; he does not act kindly for recognition; he does not even act kindly for his own approval. Rather, it has become a part of him. And because the compassion is now a part of him, unthinkingly, his 'action' or 'non-action' will always be aligned with the Dao. With the grand Order that underlies everything. The grand Order, the Dao, (even the Manitou, to the native American) is the underlying Order that always tends toward the light. Towards love, which is the end result; Love is the purpose as well, although it's sure hard to see at times. But trust that it's there. Because the Sage is capable of wu-wei, his timing is impeccable; he lets the dynamics come to him. Other times, because his vision is far and impeccable, he nips things in the bud. He can take the smallest of actions when he Sets His Intent to bring about a change for the better in any situation, then leave it alone until it rotates back into him. Love is in his bones at this point. This, to me, is wu-wei. To me, it is truly a subtle type of sorcery that is available for all of us at the end of the inner shadow work. Because We are the Creator, the point of the evolutionary spear that walks, talks, thinks. When we achieve clarity, it was as the result of years of work, not just reading the right book. But we have developed that Third Eye that they talk about - that particular vision that is extraordinary and can see dynamics that others are unable to see. Years of work.

I remember that not too long ago someone started a thread titled 'What have you learned from The Tao Bums?' And I remember that someone answered 'That there are other people as crazy as me'. I actually find this a very comforting thought - because among my acquaintances and my family, they do consider me crazy. A rather delightful crazy, but crazy. The things that are important to them - accumulating more in life, etc - these things no longer have any attraction to me. They have no conception of the mindset I walk around with. Nor can it be explained very well. The thing that does give me comfort (as the circle of people I can truly communicate with gets smaller and smaller over the years) is the part in the DDJ where it says that 'It wouldn't be the Dao if it weren't laughed at'. I do use this often as a reminder to myself when someone ridicules me for some thing I may say or do - although the particular words or action makes perfect sense to me at the time. But the best thing ever was emailed to me the other day. This is specifically what I want to share with you. It was just one of those jokes that gets forwarded around the internet. And it said...."It's the cracked people that let in the light" I think that is just grand. And it should make many of us feel a lot better, lol. For what it's worth.

Thank you, Michael and Anoesjka - at least the suicidal thought has passed - it was a quick one, but I knew I had to get back to Ohio. The thing that hurts the most is that they see no difference between one who 'came to his own realization and turned himself in' - and being caught redhanded by someone else. I believe there's a huge difference, a difference that has everything to do with character building. Which Joe has in spades today, ten years later. Luke - I can only hope that what you say is true about the awareness of the Oneness affecting the dynamic at a very subtle level. I too believe this to be true, and all I can do now is set my intent on it and let the whole thing play out. All I know is that I cannot harbor any sort of resentment about this, or it will affect me to great harm. Not only in a spiritual sense, but in a sense that a recovering alkie (myself) can take that first drink even after years and years of sobriety, if a horrible situation catches you unaware. I'd like to believe I'm beyond that, but care must still be taken, even after 32 years of sobriety. I don't ever expect their forgiveness. I'd just like the rudeness to stop, the intent to sting him repeatedly year after year. I don't know if it was that great a mistake to ask for that or not. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't.

Another view: I am a person of unlimited compassion and forgiveness. It is now in my nature to be so. I can be no other way, it conflicts with how my heart beats today, and the consciousness I am in. The same is not true of my family - any of them. I love my younger brother, his wife, his kids - so very much. But we've come to a painful separation. They are unable to forgive something that my Joe did about 10 years ago - he stole some money from my mother's piano bench. The guilt drove him nuts and he came clean on it to the family. This is part of his alcohol recovery - he was a street wino for years and years. This incident was a crucial part of digging out the thief that still lurked within him. He has plead with the family to forgive him, he returned the money. But my brother, the least introspective person I know, will not forgive. His mindset is that Nobody Can Ever Change. This last week, I went to California to be with my mother, who had emergency gall bladder surgery and almost died (I ran energy to her for hours, and she's doing much better - the surgeon is amazed at her recovery). My plan was to return us to California (sell the house here in Ohio). Apparently I made a horrible mistake. I asked my brother and sister-in-law (and asked them to ask their kids too) to PLEASE stop sending Christmas cards addressed to only me, and omitting Joe as the addressee. This is a hurtful thing they all do every December, and it seems to me that doing this for 10 years is enough. Joe does get the message - it's not lost on him. I requested that they just stop sending greeting cards at all, unless we were both the addressee. I am the strange one, to them. They are upright people in their own minds - and they want Joe out of our lives altogether. After all, how can I possibly forgive someone who stole money from our mother? (Even if he couldn't sleep for days afterwards and HE was the one that told us about it). So unfortunately we had a blow-out in California this last week - I got to my emotional end-zone and had to return to Ohio. My brother and his wife are no longer speaking to me, won't even put me on the list of people who are able to get information about Mom at the convalescent home. My god, this 'strangeness' hurts. The only way I can possibly live with this is to transcend the fact that we appear to be separate from each other, but we're all really One. I MUST look at it as though we're just tentacles of an octopus that don't know they're connected down at the other end. But there we tentacles are, interacting with each other as though we're separate. If I didn't look at it this way, my old default position kids in and I just to want to take my own life. (Which I won't do - I just feel like doing it). I am totally heartbroken, and as Joe and I live out in the wilds of Ohio I have few people to relate to, who understand things like unconditional love and forgiveness. I'm crying now at Tim Horton's as I write this - my broadband connection at home is down. So sorry for whining to you all. I just so appreciate the fact that there are others who try and walk their talk - who care about things like doing the inner work and seeking the light which lives within us. And to love our brothers as ourselves, regardless of the dynamics we find ourselves in. What lessons family contain for us. I guess the biggest lessons are from the ones closest to us. My challenge is to not let my heart become hard. And it will not. Viva the Cracked Ones.

Ba-a-a-a-a-aa-

Are those Sheeple, or Bums?

You're lucky you're in a location where you have 'unique' friends with unique gifts. In my area, I've found a few that consider themselves 'Reiki masters' - and yet their egos override the gifts they have. It's quite hollow without the inner introspection, and not very effective. It's so refreshing to speak with people like yourself, BKA - that are the real thing. I experience waves of gratitude for this site. I haven't been real active lately because a huge lightning bolt knocked out our electricity, my computer and printer, and our garage door opener. What a storm. The electrical activity around our house during storms is astounding. Sometimes i wonder if the fact that Joe and I are K-active doesn't have some sort of effect on that. Perhaps that's just ego speaking, lol.

Beautifully said, Clarity.

I'll bet, at your age, you have very little behind form. I'll bet it's morphed to your belly, lol.

I think it may reach a critical mass out of necessity....

I read a book once that said to dwell on the idea behind the form. This has always stuck with me.

interesting point. But I'll bet the first time that the early human smelled the sizzling flesh of a dead deer after a forest fire, he said "Damn!" to the aromas. Maybe the fire thing just came circumstantially.

Like it says in the TTC, maybe something inside him has to be inflated before it can be deflated.

This is so beautiful. We can get to the point where we realize that it's our choice to view life with Fear or with Love. If we choose Fear, everything will be fearful. If we choose Love....we realize in our soul that the Universe is a friendly place after all. Loving, in fact. After getting to the place where the Choice is met, why would anybody in their right mind choose Fear again? Total restriction of choice, as I see it. As I think about it, all I've ever really wanted in my life was freedom. Of what? I was never sure. Just freedom. I used to think that meant running away from home when I was a young girl. It's been a life long passion, and how many years I wasted looking for Freedom in this or that other substance or self-destructive behavior. I think this freedom of choice of how to relate to the world is possibly the most crucial one. The difference is black and white.

You almost have to look at it backwards to see it. To see it from the Point of View of the I Am, the Current. We are the current, and we are manifesting from the inside to the outside. Perhaps it is as Flowing Hands recently said in his translation of the TTC: The sage is as a tree (or something close to that). So what does a tree do? It takes its nourishment from the Mother; it transforms its energy to put out into the air, to enable a more sophisticated organic life. It is ever giving, this is its purpose, this is its plan. I do that sometimes as well - let thoughts ramble through and just look at them. I just find more rest in the void - gets me away from any PTSD tendencies I may have acquired, it puts my cells back to Reset. But normally, I don't walk around with too much inner dialogue any more. I'll bet you don't either, The method you mention seems like a method of non-differentiation, no? All matter is equal, visible or not. My metaphysical way of looking at it would fit in there somewhere: all is Mind, we are as a hologram of the illusions of Time and Space. Our Mind holds us together by repetition of thought, of habit. The more we can unloose the habit patterns the freer we become. It's an inside job. (in a nutshell, lol) Your mention of one's continual ability to rest is a bit of a challenge for me, since K-activity. There is an excess of qi that manifests by wanting to manifest as a moving snake - seriously! - in my back. It is with me 24/7 unless I consciously step out of it. Will you be calling the police?....

Personally, I know that the talking we've done on this forum - for me, in the past years - has changed my thinking. I am not the same person I was when I first found TTB's some years ago. I think, as to whether it's valuable or not, that that will vary depending on the open-mindedness of the folks involved. If people's ego's are largely in control - if the self-realization has not been attained - then it's often going to be a match of egos trying to demonstrate their knowledge - and not really listen to what someone else is saying. If it's just an ego game that is being reinforced from week to week, then I think the group discussions can almost be counter-productive. But if the focus is placed on the inner growth of the individuals, then this can be quite valuable. These internet forums are a very good place to see who has done inner cultivation and who has not. Even if we do not know each other's actual names - we get to know each other soul to soul. And those that hide behind their egos are easy to spot as well - their egos stick out like sore thumbs and the pattern is repeated thread upon thread.

I would guess those highly developed individuals live in places where they're not interrupted by 'news' of the day. To hear such reports and then transcend it does require a thought process of not only elimination, but viewing all players as part of the same entity which are interacting to accomplish the purpose of the 'entity', whatever we want to call the Underlying Order. Once practiced for a long time, it is possible to stay in the Consciousness for much of the time. For those times that it is necessary to engage thinking in a linear fashion - keeping one foot grounded in Love seems to be a beautiful template for reaction to all other circumstances.

To be in the mental place of the I Am, to truly be there - requires No Thought. But to perform on this plane, this physical plane of appearances, does require thought. What kind of Catch-22 is that? When we say Thinking is Natural - I just think thinking has evolved a whole heck of a lot since Ancient Man came on the scene. They wouldn't have had a fancy language to think in. It would have been immediate, one-word spontaneous. Example: 'Grunt...Ugh!' (translation - there's a tiger behind that bush. Look out! Today: "Holy crap - there's a tiger behind that bush - if you're not careful you're going to get shredded to death. Better get outta here! Did somebody bring the gun?"

This is interesting, looking at it with long eyes. "Thinking is natural for humans..." It is natural at this point in time, because our linear minds put linear words together to form linear thoughts. But I wonder about early Man. They had limited language, their thoughts wouldn't have been linear much at all. More in the Here and Now. It's interesting to think that maybe the concept of Time has 'evolved' with the linearity of our thoughts.