manitou

But if life is all one, how does one mountain get to be holier than another? Because of some human interaction?

Chapter 37? Passion flowers? It's all One. Garden on...

And that hollers at me, 'Just Do Nothing' and be kind. The situations will align in their own time and in the proper way. To Do Nothing, Think Nothing - there is no hidden agenda upon meeting a person...regardless of their status in life. The renound authorities you speak of reminds me of when the Dao is lost, the rules arise. The person of stamina who understands wu-wei also knows that all time and space are his. And he does own his yes and no - YES!!

That's why I love the fact that one of the Sage's 3 treasures is Love.

Very poetically put, and resonant for me. some really great posts here, everyone.

I will be there, but I need to do some shapeshifting first. Look for a very large Western Gull with a bright orange spot on his lower mandible. He will be pulling plastic bags out of a trash can and doing stupid things with them. That'll be me.

I sometimes wonder if the universe isn't expanding because our relative consciousness is expanding.

I'm thinking that 'It' didn't need modern man's brain for It's manifestation. The manifestation started with a chunk of the sun, then cooled, and the manifestation began. Modern man is perhaps the most modern manifestation. But we continue to evolve - maybe kundalini awakening is an evolution of sorts for man. All of nature has a brain.

Wow, blasto - that was incredible. I don't know why, but throughout the reading of your words, I kept remembering that I am a conglomeration of everyone I've ever known, I think. Sometimes something will come out of my mouth, and it'll surprise me - not said as something in my heart, but rather something an old police partner of mine would have said - and with the same inflection, the same attitude. This awareness comes to me often. It's like I'm a patchwork of others. I've never quite understood the bantering back and forth between Buddhist thought and Taoist thought. From my perspective, it all goes to the same place (or non-place) and it's an individual hosting of any mindset, whether Buddhist or Taoist, that brings us to the Oneness inside of us. Personally, I shoot for lack of structure in any mindset. It just seems that the arguments we've had on TTB's about this merely goes to form, not essence. The essence is there for all.

What are the 3 treasures of the sage? 1. Love - I see this as immersion in everything in life, the seemingly good and the seemingly bad. To love another as himself. 2. Never too much - this goes directly to balance; to find the middle way. 3. Never be the first - I really like this one because it seems to go directly to ego. It's quite helpful to think 'never be the first' when driving in traffic; or it can go to subjugating our ego in all matters. But as I said on another thread, I think enlightment also means to be 'enlightened' of religious structure and enlightened of judgments. It does also seem that the enlightened ones do have access to a channel of sorts because of the clearing out of their own distortions of thought.

As a long-time Castaneda person, don Juan Mateus makes it clear to Carlos that there is indeed a shamanic initiation sickness of sorts, that actually tries to kill you. In my case it was alcoholism....and very much self-created.

That was a nice interpretation - very contemporary and understandable. The Tao Master thing used to drive me crazy. I don't know who makes the evaluation, but I found that mine would jump from Tao Master to Tao Addict to Tao Bum, and it finally got so disconcerting that I just went to the profile page and put 'Student of Life'. It's almost like someone with a sense of humor decides who is who - and I just didn't want to pay attention to it any longer. Besides, it's a bit of an ego-smasher when you get kicked back to Bum after saying something stupid, lol. If you really mind your P's and Q's you may get to keep the handle forever,

Your own physical responses and the physical responses of others in your videos are probably causing very deep imprints in you and others. It reminds me much of a shamanic ceremony where emotions would be imprinted to the opposite. They're almost like cinemagraphic koans...

Might it be that wuji goes more to the state of the possibility of the limitless (the thing before the manifestation); whereas Dao would include all which has manifested? I'm taking a totally uneducated guess here. Would wuji possibly be describing the actual movement of the Dao in action in creating the 10,000 things?

I have to say that when I was in my 20's and 30's I was truly a beautiful woman. But I also have to say that I didn't have very many dates. The reason was, that I had no self-esteem at all, nothing but self-loathing. If a bashful man had seen me at that time, he probably would have been intimidated to come up to me. I wish he would've; I probably would have met some of the nicer men that treated me better. As it was, I usually ended up with the A-holes in the bars; the ones I'd usually end up in a big donnybrook with and then someone would strangle me because of my horrible alcoholic ways at the time. I'm just saying....don't assume so much about beautiful women. They may not be what they seem. They may be dying inside. Now I've come to understand that in order to Find what we want, we have to first Be what we want.

Simple but not easy.

Ah yes, you're right. The black dots inside each other's eyes. The consciousness going from one human to another, one human to an animal, an insect to a dog. Eye to eye. Somehow there is a framework here. When an animal is challenged the first thing they look at is the eyes. A dog barks at you and looks at your eyes, not your waist. Somehow this is the framework for consciousness. Why don't you start it, lol? My threads always bomb. It would be a good one....

strange to hear your species are already passing through, when our ground just got dry enough to put a seed into, lol. And when you say passion vines, are you talking about those strange flowers that look like they come from outer space? I grew up inside a 'fort' of those things out behind the garage. I ran into a worm today that nearly made me scream, it was so large. Worms I have. I'll send you some

Yes, you can find it in chapter 67 of the Tao Te Ching. Here's Lin Yutang: LXVII. THE THREE TREASURES All the world says: my teaching (Tao) greatly resembles folly, Because it is great; therefore it resembles folly. If it did not resemble folly, It would have long ago become petty indeed! I have Three Treasures; Guard them and keep them safe: The first is Love. (footnote: tender love, associated with the mother). The second is, Never too much. (footnote: frugality, be sparing) The third is, Never be the first in the world. Through Love, one has no fear; Through not doing too much, one has amplitude (of reserve power) Through not presuming to be the first in the world, One can develop one's talent and let it mature. If one forsakes love and fearlessness, forsakes restraint and reserve power, forsakes following behind and rushes in front, He is dead! For love is victorious in attack, and invulnerable in defense. Heaven arms with love Those it would not see destroyed.

My theory us...until a person goes IN and Experiences by some sort of inner cultivation, it's all left brain. I don't know if I'm going to fit into your theory or not, LOL. My path in started 30 years ago in AA with the 12 steps, which are a very blatant and rather painful beginning of the inner journey. The intent of the 12 steps is to remove what they call character defects. So what I considered character defects in my personhood are what I looked to determine, to do a personal inventory and make amends to reverse the imprint on the harms I did others, as I look back on it now from a more shamanic perspective. the process is, and is intended to be, a bit ego shattering when an amend is made. But I know in my heart of hearts that there are a zillion paths to this big wonderful room we all share. Is your experience a bit different? There is no doubt that mediting on attachments, for example, would do the very same thing; plus the many ideas for inner cultivation we share. It brings us to the place where we are capable of dissolving ego and letting humility and truth bubble up through us. A channel of sorts. It seems to take a very different path in each of us, this self awareness thing. I've recently been noticing your posts. What an incredible thinker you are. that's the fun of this place - being able to engage in some real mental gyrations and metaphysical whoop-di-doo from time to time. I call it stretching my metaphysical legs. Really glad you're here, Mr. Herman!

Good point. The ideal...yes.

Ah! I do! Regularly! Talk to the manitou in them. I've named some of my trees. Marbles, you were so very right about the no gardening gloves thing. My pair had a big old hole in one of the fingers so I threw them away and didn't buy more. I'm loving getting into the earth with the bare hands and also playing with the worms. I feel so very bad when I accidentally cut them in two with a shovel. Damn! But I guess they regenerate. (Couldn't science actually learn something from that??) And how does your garden grow? Pretty maids all in a row yet? I'm putting in corn, cukes, tomatoes, and of course the occasional ganja.

Those parks with their hanging birds are wonderful, lol. I, a very white woman wearing a bright yellow raincoat, walked alone around Shanghai very early one morning. I happened upon one of those wonderful parks - and in one corner of the park all these people were dancing to Western music (in addition to all the tai chi going on in the park). This very old Chinese woman wearing the traditional black outfit came up and asked me to dance. There I was. Mambo-ing with another woman in a park in China at 6 in the morning. Best morning of my life, just about--- There's a trick to not worrying about what others think. Practice not looking people in the eye for a while (not people you're talking to, of course) - just people you pass on the street, in the elevator - wherever. Just don't make eye contact with strangers. After doing this for a while, it has the odd effect of not caring at all what you look like or what others think. I think the reason this works is because subconsciously we may be looking for the approval of others we pass by; approval in their eyes. When we stop looking for it, we stop caring so much about it.

Oooooh. I like this.