Rara

I actually went and rewatched the first film last night, trying to see all this but didn't. Even though Neo makes the first shot with a gun in the final infiltration to rescue Morpheous, The Matrix isn't real and is yet trying to destroy humans and zion. Way I see it, if your computer games were actually taking your soul away to the point of you playing them 24/7, that computer probably needs trashing.

Nikolai has some great points in there. I have experienced some similar things with someone very close to me - she will do whatever it takes to varify things that she wants to believe. In her case, it's being followed or harrassed...but it is merely her perception, it isn't actually happening. She is unhappy where she lives so therefore sees everything as an attack on her. Please don't be scared by words like "psychosis"...I've been there many times and there are plenty of ways out. It doesn't seem extreme in your case in any sense and if you begin work on yourself now, you will certainly become much healthier and be able to make your own decent decisions yourself. I recommend daily meditation on breath, ignoring any distractions. Recognise these feelings you get during, and let them pass. In other words, stay on track...when the mind wanders, catch yourself. Bring it back. Joining a martial arts academy 5 years ago was the best thing I ever did too. Even if I didn't want to go, I really feel the benefits now of sticking with it. Just belonging, learning something new and having a group of supportive guys around you helping you to move forwards will help bring your sense of purpose back!

Awww, haha. Yeah, still love my eggs and cheese.

Thank you, I have all that info from you stored

Zinc, iron and amino acids can be found in other foods from the ground as well as supplements. As long as I get plenty of spinnach, broccoli etc and a multivitamin and zinc pill every morning I think I will do just fine. If anything, my reflexes and energy levels have increased. I will report on this later on in the year though to see how I am affected by the time the busy business period starts. RE moral decision...plants don't scream when they are chopped down. There is an obvious distinction between eating something that was once able to see and feel than corn from a field.

Ok, would you care to offer your two cents?

Thank you, although I have a more mushroom and tofu heavy diet to replace my chicken. Seems to work out though, and beans, eggs etc are still very present. Yes, my first attempt failed because I wanted it too. I would find any excuse to help varify me turning back to eating meat. I'm quite the opposite these days. Listening to the heart, not the head!

Good post! This is my meaning...everything in the world will be reflected. But humans entertain more negativity than positivity. Bound my limitations of the influences around them..."you can't do that"..."don't listen to him"..."that will never work". So why not reflect the good parts as well? Let's not get consumed by the negativity that's in the air!

You're reading into it too much. I meant that people around are very negative, so cultivate positivity and negativity in your mind will diminish.

Do you mean that unlike Zhuangzi, The Matrix offers too much of an answer?

FYI, I returned to not eating meat just over a month ago. Feeling fine! I have a very balanced diet and it's really working out for me. I figured...the body is my temple...and I no longer want to put dead flesh in the temple. I'm not a vegetarian though. I just don't eat meat XD

Alternatively, start watching Elliot Hulse videos on youtube. That beefcake has some great yang energy and no nonsense advice to become the "strongest version of yourself"

Not 100% sure as it's been a while, but the way I saw it was that in the very beginning, Neo is running around a video game. He is rescued and offered the red or blue pill by morpheous (did I spell that right?) As a result of taking the red pill, the magic went...it was all an illusion, all fake...just smoke and mirrors. They were sold a fake happy life but were really enslaved...

Hehe, I started a similar thread a while ago, but more geared towards objectivity. I can't speak for qigong but general mindfulness meditation always leads to the realisation of what it really going on. You've spotted something very key here, so simply practice this mindset in day to day living. Day by day, you will change (or return) to a less fearful "you" because you "get it". Because you get it, your confidence will grow and nothing will "matter" anyway. And you will transmit these vibes...people will pick up on them. Then you'll get the girl for good

Interesting view here though. Ok, I'm off to watch these films again. I'll be back! Oh wait, that's Terminator. But yeah, great stuff. Seriously I'm going to watch again even more carefully!

But it wasn't "transcending" reality...being in the matrix itself was being blind to it.

And then there is Zion too XD A great mish mash/combo of philosophies, drawing on the similarities between all faiths, thus projecting a universal message. In short, it's based on real events lol.

Where can I get mountain teas from? I have Oolong at my house but I don't know if this is quite what you mean. It's loose-leaf from the Chinese store...

Bit of both? However...birth. I don't ever remember my birth being a consequence of anything! You ask all the right questions...I'm afraid they are unanswerable though!

Tea threads are not appreciated enough on this forum.

You had me at the title After the first paragraph, my brain broke!

As Bill Hicks said, they allowed him to love everything. I was always ok with weed, I never dared go for anything stronger. It certainly helps me keep my eyes open (of course, not literally, quite the opposite!) Just keeps me here, reminding me not to get too sucked in to my slave role. That is why I will walk away soon. Some will call it mad and blame drugs or being influenced by the wrong types of people (Taoists lol)...but they are plugged in, so what can I say? Ok, foxes, back to that lol.

I can't speak on this lol. 1) I have no idea if I'm sane and 2) I have never tried mushrooms.

A bit of that. A bit of "f*** it therapy". It is hard, because I can easily take the view that none of it matters anyway as it's all just points of view and I am just being paid to use my skills for their service. e.g One month I was doing a campaign for a tobacco firm...it was all very underhanded and sneaky. Two months later, I was helping a stop-smoking campaign. The problem was that it all became very weird...finding myself changing angles like a schizophreonic, only that I was aware of it, unlike many marketers and advertisers that seem to lack any sincerity and soul. So I do try and keep clients consistent now and that does help. I feel a need to be more "moral" in what I do, but again, down to my own programming of how I want to brand myself? I haven't used affirmation meditation for a while. Just like NLP, this can seriously change one's brain. I became a very deluded "immortal" by doing this, "touching bliss" and "meeting Buddha". If you choose, you can use this technique to become a more confident person, the list goes on. But no, these days I meditate on breath and listen to my body. The mind makes its own true mind up then without the need to self-program. Whether the mind sorting itself out is still a matter of brainwashing, I can't be sure. We all have preferences at the end of the day. Are they our own? Or did the outside world put them there? But with my journey so far, and meditation at where it is, my mind is still telling me to walk away from the marketing soon!

Some cool answers! I will have to read the rest when I have time. For me, Tao(ism) came to me. The word "Tao" kept popping up in front of me and as I explored, getting TTC at first, I realised how this was just me. I didn't have to force myself into a belief.. this book just told it like it is! Similarly to others, I have found zero teachers or guides where I live, and also realise that within tradition, there are various lineages so I haven't pursued traditional practice. I have just taken some exercises that appear to be of use to me. After a complete family meltdown, I had to find a place to take refuge in. The Buddhists were there for me and I learnt so much from Buddha's teachings that my Taoist texts were never designed to do. So I love and thank Buddha and Buddhists for their help, without their guidence, I would still be in a state. All is one, but I merely speak of Tao because it encompases this all...this one. I could never say one practice is better than the other because they all lead to the same place, if you follow correctly. In Taoism, that is the Tao, in Buddhism, the path to enlightenment. Same difference.