manitou

I do see a similarity, but it's in the area of wu-wei, not-doing. I always give pause at using the word 'shamanic' because it's kind of ill-defined at this point in time. My idea of shamanic is Castaneda-shamanic, which may not be anyone else's idea at all; certainly not for the ancient shamanic traditions. When one becomes proficient within the Toltec tradition (don Juan's tradition) the conept of Not-Doing is reflected in Setting One's Intent and the 'power of silence'; the very same principle is involved. Both wu-wei and setting one's intent align themselves with the undercurrent of the life flow and allow life to happen as it will, recognizing that cosmic Love will always be the tendency.

I kind of agree that just about the worst thing on the planet right now is the current state of arrogance of Christianity, along with the military-industrial mindset that follows it. The funny thing about Christianity though, is it isn't about Christ at all. They're separate from him. As long as they belong to the Jesus Club and puts their 10 bucks in the plate every Sunday, their "sins" are all forgiven, and they're free to go out and do it all again, over and over. I'm doing a re-read of the Nag Hammadi gospels, which are the gospels that were stowed away when Constantine and the gang were picking the books for the New Testament in around 325 CE. The ones that they found squirreled away in a cave in Nag Hammadi, Egypt have all sorts of gospels which the powers that Be at the time didn't want the populice to know about and were supposed to be destroyed. But they survived and were found in 1945. They're a fabulous read. The Nazarene talked about Individual Enlightenment. That was nearly the entire focus of his teachings, were the Christians allowed to see this. But to see themselves as part of the 'I Am?' There's no way Constantine wanted the populace to read about this, this more Mystic Christianity. He wanted the populace to be under his narrow hierarchy where the people had to swear allegiance to him and worship in the way he dictated. It all grew from that point on. No wonder it's gotten so screwed up. I see the current state ofChristianity as being the very bottom rung of the ladder of individual enlightenment. Maybe not even on the ladder at all. I think the Nazarene was a shaman, a sage, a buddha. A man who found the way to the inner truth and manifested from that place. I don't put the Nazarene and Christianity in the same ball park. And to my way of thinking, the Catholic Church is the biggest whore of all.

It's curious - the earlier mention of the shaman wearing deer antlers by Flowing Hands and Chi Dragon - the more I study this stuff, the more I realize how very merged all the traditions become. It occurs to me that a great part of shamanism is in the 'pretending' to be something else. An animal that has particular qualities that they wish to adopt for their purposes - hunting animals, animals of cunning, animals with a particular type of vision. Could this not all be part of the innate understanding of the Oneness of all, particularly in the ancient cultures? We and the animals are One - and with intent and ceremony (in other words, wearing the antlers or the bear's head and hide for the purpose of emulating the deer or the bear). The deer is smart, fleet of foot, humble in nature. The bear is awesome in its destructiveness. Wearing the hide of a mountain lion (ceremonially) would add a different dimension to the hunt. It sure seems to me that the ancient shamans (wouldn't you think they overlap with Daoists?) had an inkling of the god-spirit that we are (for lack of a better word). By pretending to be anything they wanted to help with their pursuits, they were able to tap into something that we have lost through the generations. I'm just not sure that shamanism equates to 'theistic views', as someone earlier said. I think rather that the shaman saw all life as One and imitated those parts of it that he needed. He innately knew that to tap into the way of nature, this was the way to achieve success with whatever he was doing. I know this is slightly off topic for this thread, but somehow there is a connection at a level we haven't quite gotten down to.

The way to find out is to unemotionally examine the dynamics in your life right now. Things like people you're involved with, perhaps even a philosophy you are growing out of, or trying to determine whether to stay at a job or go elsewhere. It could be any number of things - but one you determine what the underlying fear is that's keeping you in a state of flux, your work can start there. If it does turn out to be a deep psychological thing I'd be happy to help, you can PM me - we could handle it from a shamanic perspective. But the fact that you're kundalini active certainly holds sway in this, I would think. I am K-active as well and the strangest sensations happen from time to time. So it may not be a deep underlying thing at all, just temporary weirdness. But if the physical methods don't work and this starts to drive you nuts, I'd be happy to help you try another way. Couldn't be anything as simple as cutting down on the Nestle's Crunches, could it?

This is sort of what I was getting at earlier. To try and find something going on in your life that mirrors the medical phenomena. Could there be something in your life, Crunchy, that you are having indecision about, whther to "keep it or let it go?" It's almost like the anus is symbolic for indecision in this case. Our bodies talk to us more than we imagine. If this turns out to be the case and there is a psychological cause (why not possible? After all, we are the Manifester) then there is ceremonial work that can be done to set things "to the opposite", to get under the indecision, to work with a particular character defect that is causing the waffling behavior. Even if the muhla bandas were the cause, this wouldn't eradicate your body expressing indecision in this way. Something to think about, if the physical meditations/practices don't help.

I don't come from a TCM perspective at all, rather a deep personality perspective dynamic. I can't speak to the validity of whether your practice created this anamoly or not. But what I would ask you, is why are you maifesting this? Is there an unusual circumstance going on in your life right now, aside from the physical?

I just called him for you.

We have a friend, Mo, who has terminal cancer, and has for the several years we've known him. Western medicine in all respects has been tried, and it's now just a matter of pain management. I have used every bit of healing intent, ceremony, and conversing with his higher self to try and turn this around, but he is now in his terminal stages. He lies there in his bed, in his apartment, gazing at the ceiling, an oxygen tube in his nose, eyes fuzzy and unfocused, and the only sound in the room is the heavy labor of his breathing. The time for visitors has come and gone. the time for bringing him pumpkin pie and Cool Whip has come and gone - we've done that for months. Nothing awaits him but the crossing. My sense told me to go over there today, unannounced. Had I called, his sister Mary Kay would have told me not to come, he was too weak for visitors. But I just went and knocked on the door anyways. He was so morphined up that he didn't know up from down. I told his sister that he likes my 'touch', he thinks my hands are healing. She agreed, he had told her that as well. So I went in and knelt down by his bed and placed my hands on him. I stayed in that position for maybe 20 minutes. During that time, he painfully moved one of his arms and placed his hand over my wrist and held it there, just gently squeezing once. There was no conversation. But there was a wonderful bond of silence that I've never experienced before; so very close to death in a physical sense, and holding the hand and being present for someone who is looking into the precipice. He has lots of folks around him during the day. Mary Kay will clean his place, compulsively so, to cope with losing her brother. His estranged wife comes at night and sits in a chair on the other side of the room. His father comes to his bedside at night and reads him the paper. But sometimes there is nothing better than physical touch. Just for the person to know that he has another 'soul' with him, that he's not alone as he stands facing death. Just holding the hand in silence seems to be the most intimate communication to have with someone so close. And to hold the hand for an extended length of time is truly a gift; not only to the person dying, but to the person living. A peace beyond compare, almost. There was a time when I coudn't have stood so close to death. I was one who never knew what to say to someone who was dying....I would avoid funerals or anything to do with death....or especially visiting people who were imminently terminal. I couldn't wait to get out of the hospital - my visits were short. I just didn't know what to say - I guess my own fear of my own mortality stood in the way of Love and communication. I now see what happened today as a true gift to Me. I am so very grateful that I was able to communicate with Mo at a time that he needs it most; even if it wasn't with words. Actually, I did whisper some words to him as I was rubbing his forehead; I told him thank you for the incredible service he gave his country (he was an Army Ranger), the service he's given to his community in Pennsylvania, the incredible job he did raising his 3 kids, and I thanked him for the wonderful friend he's been to Joe and I. I don't know if he even heard the words, but I'm pretty sure that at some level he did. Anyone who is reading this, if you ever have an opportunity to spend the very last hours with someone, please don't shy away from it. I can't express to you how wonderful it is, once you accept the fact that your friend is facing the inevitable. To be a true friend to someone in that kind of need, the need for human contact at the time of his crossing -- this gives you a sense of peace and love that I can't put into words. I'm just grateful, that's all.

This says it all, as far as I can see. Wu wei is realized the closer one gets to inner perfection, without seeking results. But the key here is self-realization (a perfection of the self to the best of our ability) wherein our character is delved into and the distortions removed. Synchronicity, to me, is a confirmation that we are liiving in alignment.

There is a passage in the TTC about the best ruler or governor being the one that no one realizes is even there. He nips things in the bud. His vision is so distant that he sees things coming long before others do, and he is capable of tweaking with just the slightest tweak, just enough to 'bend the light' and change the situation so that there will be a different outcome than the one that he can see coming. This is how I see wu-wei in our lives; if we've developed the third eye, the ability to see dynamics way out in the distance, then small actions can be taken well in advance. As the sage knows that there is a time and purpose for everything, he then knows there is no cause for concern; the action has been taken, the light has been bent. He can turn his attention to other things, knowing that the outcome will be the perfect one. This can be analogized to Castaneda's 'setting one's intent' on something. He too taps into the concept of wu-wei without calling it that, trusting that the outcome will be the right one. Both of these 'techniques', for lack of a better word, also involve something else. During the period of time when the intent has been set, the tweak has been made; after that, the sage or shaman will do nothing to intentionally change the dynamic of the situation. Rather, any time a decision is brought to the forefront and the sage or shaman has to take an action, it must always be the best and highest action; the most truthful or the most loving. But other than reacting only when one has to react, the sage or shaman does nothing to further the situation. If a leader is doing this, he is often accused of leading from behind; this is because he is not the one out in front manipulating the situation; rather, he is watching it evolve, knowing that the tweak has already taken place and all things will align in the correct time and way.

Blue Moon Taoist - if your avatar is any indication of the extent to which you are embracing your study of the Tao, then you are well on your 'wei'. Seems like all senses are involved.

I think the active side of pursuing perfection is impeccability Perfection may well be a destination - impeccability is the practice we need to follow to achieve perfection. Impeccability with our thoughts, our words, our deeds; it is through impeccability that clarity is achieved. I'm not sure I'm one of those who subscribes to the theory that 'heck, we're human, we're not perfect, so why try?' I think maybe the end result of our evolution is for individual perfection after all. If we take the words of Jesus (I see him as an enlightened one) he tells us to 'be ye therefore perfect'. I've read the same in occult Yogi literature and other works within other traditions. I'm not sure this quest for perfect alignment with the life-force isn't what this is all about. I can't imagine it becoming stagnant.

My god this is beautiful, lol. Did you write Silver Linings Playbook?

This makes imminent sense to me. Only an enlightened one can see another enlightened one. Or as a little kid would say "It takes one to know one, nah nah nah na naaah nah! This is why i believe understanding this wonderful tome is best done by triangulating multiple translators, and then applying your own brain to the mix. Every translator is not at the same level of enlightenment as the next one, if at all. There are several works I read at regular intervals, perhaps yearly (the TTC included). There are just some books that are viewed at different levels every time it is read, because our eyes are at a higher level. Reading these works are like reading them for the first time - each time. because my eyes are different each time.

One of the more profound things I've ever heard on this site.

Perfectly said, as I see it. I personally have found 'my' greatest wisdom by overlaying every tradition I have studied. I am metaphysical, used to be traditional Chrstian, Castaneda shamanic, Taoistic,Buddhistic, Yogic, and rather Zen-like. It doesn't matter what we call ourselves. The overlay of all the viable traditions will show a commonality of essence which is true of all of them - they lead to the One. I see the One as the center of a wheel, the hub, and I often feel that The Tao Bums sits in the hub of the wheel - because we represent so very many traditions and paths who make it to the same lilypad because of one piece of literature we've discovered: the Tao te Ching. Perhaps this is so because the more we follow the path we're on, the more the extraneous dogma and fairy-tale folklore of the religions is peeled away; the truth remains, and will remain in the center of our quest as long as we're searching. The beauty of the TTC is that of all the tomes that I've ever read, the TTC has the least structure or requirement of a specific mindset...as opposed to the Bible or the Bagavhad Gita, etc. There is no lore whatsoever. It is all wisdom; and like all true wisdom, it seems to run absolutely opposite to what we've been led to believe up to this point. I do like the word Pioneer that someone mentioned earlier in the thread - I feel like a pioneer because I like to put my brain to the stuff I read. I like to find connections between Taoism and Buddhism and new age shamanism and sometimes I set up camp right in the middle. I don't want anybody or any tradition telling my brain what to think; but I am so very grateful that I've been a seeker all my life; just a seeker for the truth, that's all. It even reflected in my physical career: a detective. But that was just on the physical level. The real detecting has always taken place in the upper realms. And I've gleaned from all, each and every one. And the very most I received from the 12 step inner work because I was a pathetic alcoholic many years ago. This just goes to how life takes us exactly where we're supposed to go to find what it is we aren't even aware we're looking for. I say mix it all up. Comparative everything, rather than stiff adherence to any one path. We were given these incredible brains for a purpose, and this right here may be the very purpose we were given it.

I think we're saying exactly the same thing. I can recognize the buttons that used to be there, or may be there still to some degree, but the reaction to act out in a given direction is gone. Before they were gone, the button-pushing would always involve Reaction A. When the button is removed, I can choose Reaction A,B,C, or no reaction at all. Full poential is realized. The way you described stealing potential reminds me of a mental image I've talked about before. The moment of most potential is that moment when the conductor's baton is raised, there is dead silence and lack of motion. then, when a sound is made, the note is committed, the potential is reduced. Perhaps the most beautiful music is the silence.

I just hope that we all get to have the last laugh together before we dissolve....

Seems to me that there is a time and a place for everything under heaven. The Tao will poke through our consciousnesses in our lives when the time is right. When the time is right to build an empire for yourself, to raise a family, to put kids through college - this requires a much more aggressive way of approaching life. The concepts referred to in the TTC would seem ridiculous; laughable, as it even says in the Tao. Surely, there are many concepts which will aid anyone in any time of their lives. I would guess that the concept of american taoism would take into consideration the more aggressive nature of this society, as compared to, say, the ancient Chinese society for whom it was written. We Americans are taught from the cradle to compete, or at least I was - that 'head learning' was the most important thing, and that how much money we made was a pretty standard measure for how we were doing in life. But when life takes a turn - suddenly you're retired, or in my case pensioned off with a disability - the game changes. The Tao seems to know this too. It knows when to suddenly appear in the form of a used book at a yard sale, or a casual mention from a stranger - something will plant the seed. The necessities of life are now different than they were 30 years ago - and along with it comes a lot more time (and desire) to delve deeply into the softer effects of the Tao, to learn how to do by Not-Doing, which is a very viable achievement. One must have the time and the inclination to indulge in the subtleties of the Tao; and there is no full comprehension of the Tao without having divested ourselves of the rough edges that life has formed within us in the form of character anamolies which keep us from seeing with total clarity. While we Americans are in the process of 'grabbing for ourselves' the time may not be quite right for the type of serious self-purging that produces the 3 dimensional understanding of many of our spiritual traditions. This is the only possible difference I can see between traditional Taoism and something called American Taoism....American Taoism would probably include a provision for a more aggressive procurement of those things in life one thinks one needs. Or....more interesting....perhaps an intentional mix of the TTC and The Art of War? Maybe American Taoism would place more of an emphasis on the battle of life itself; how the game is played, how the high ground is obtained, how the goal (whatever it is....riches?) is reached. that's food for thought, too. P.S. Mark - I really like your site. I did join but haven't added anything yet.

I actually ponder this silly question all the time. I sure liked the OP. Seems like there's this entity that is coming into a type of self-manifestation through all of humanity, all of nature. Perhaps it will never be finished. Perhaps a black hole is the other side of a white dwarf and the entity just keeps breathing in and out, like a bellows as it says in the TTC. Perhaps it's just an illusion that we're sitting at the intersection of time and space, and the reality is that there is no time or space at all - only Thought. But because our brains are laid out to be used in a linear fashion it only appears that time is a component. In reality it's all happening Now. All of this is my current way of seeing it. I absolutely guarantee that in a year I will have evolved somewhat on this. Maybe there's something to the narcissistic idea of falling in love with one's own reflection. Maybe that's what happened to the life-force at the beginning and it is wanting to manifest into something tangible. Or something tangible and then intangible. I don't think even Jack Nicholson would have the answers on this one.

Sometimes I take a moment to realize just how much I have changed since joining the Bums some years ago. I waft in and out, as many of us do.....but even during the times I'm not around I find myself thinking about threads we've discussed. I know one thing - that I'm a happier person when I have a platform on which to talk about such thing as we talk about here. when I'm not participating in the forum, I seem to get a little clogged - probably because I life in the middle of the darn bible belt and it's hard to find people who share our interests. I just wanted to say that The Tao Bums has been such a vital part of my spiritual evolution - I'm in my middle 60's now, I've been chasing down metaphysics for about 45 years, but it wasn't until I found TTB's that the fine tuning and embracing of the adept voices (that's would be all of you...) of so many traditions that all join together here and add our opinions to the whirling tower of human consciousness that seems to be self-manifesting, perhaps best symbolized by the Internet. We are the Creator, after all. So, just to acknowledge just what a great site this is, could you take a moment to tell us what the Tao Bums means to you, and whether it's changed your way of thinking at all? It sure has mine.

It really makes me crazy when my pinky accidentally hits a wrong key, it makes a little ping, and everything I've just typed goes up in smoke. Does anyone know what *&!!*k@# key that is?? My mind goes metaphysical to the max, so when I talk about buttons I'm also keeping in mind that I am the creator of my own life, at the very basic level. Maybe throw the bardos in, and my last bardo knew perfectly well what exact life I would create for myself in this lifetime; I believe at the time I make decision that it is me who is making the decision. I've come to believe that it really isn't. It's It, whatever you want to call it, the creative life-force, that makes the decision. So my repeated responses to certain stimulae that repeatedly happen over the years (because my life, after all, is exactly how it's supposed to be for my particular spirit to learn what it needs to know in this bardo and continue up the spiral) are what I call buttons. A person whose life depends on doing their best to remove these fixed responses to certain stimulae (buttons) has to dig down and see the source of them before they can even start to turn around. Usually 'acting to the opposite' for a while and/or making an amend or two, if owed, will start the process. People whose lives depend on this are alcoholics and addicts and other -icts of any stripe, I imagine. This is a deep and tough process. K - what is stealing potential in the sense this thread is talking about? Really nice thread!

I think there's a differnce between acceptance and Acceptance. No, I wouldn't accept somebody bullying me or saying unkind things - but there is a graceful way out of that that doesn't have to upset our emotional well-being. Just be kind and walk away, understanding that there's no other way for that fellow to act. The man's in a hell of his own making. But the Acceptance part is realizing 'that's the way that person is', and not expecting anything else from him. Part of maturing is taking people for what they are, bullies or not, and realizing that that's how they are. If he is in your presence, expect him to try to bully you. It's his nature. But how you are capable of responding, how much work you've done, is the thing that will dictate whether this will drive you crazy or something gentler, like looking at it with a degree of humor because you knew it was going to happen anyway. Blow it off. What I've actually found, over all the physical moves I've made in my life, is that I'm always still there when I get to my destination. If I have buttons that are still predominant sticking out of my chest that people can push at any moment, this is going to happen whether I'm living in the middle of New York City or a small village in the Himalayas. The ultimate answer lies within us, and repeatedly moving from one locale to another to escape folks which are unpleasant to us only extends the lesson, as I see it. Until we do the inner work and file down the buttons, it will happen everywhere unless you can find an uninhabited island somewhere.

The thing I like most is that it seems to be the room where all paths meet. Because it ends in the One, it's my personal opinion that all viable religions end in the One - even Christianity, if you read the Nag Hammadi Gospels and the words of Jesus that were hidden away from Constantine and the powers that be at the time. It just feels like the hub of a wheel where spiritual thought meets - the Oneness of all of Life. I merely happened upon the Tao te Ching at a yard sale about 20 years ago and have fallen in love with it - over and over, depending on whose translation I was reading. My personal experience has been that any wisdom I have gained from the TTC has been because of triangulation of maybe 10 different translations. But that seems to be what we have here - a triangulation of different paths in a locale where the structure is perhaps the simplest of any line of thought at all - no structure at all. No dogma. Just seekers. At least in the more philosophical discussions - and what's also awesome is that there are so many side roads to investigate here as well.

and isn't that just the coolest thing??