BaguaKicksAss

Because it's really neat to have 3500 spiritual practitioners all in one place, to chat with .

Connect more fully with the divine. Also the mystery and magic of it all; what is further/beyond what we presently can perceive, as well as what we can do.

Research any charities well, most of them only give 1% to the actual people.

So what did everyone do with all their free time? I photoshopped all day and evening...

Congrats about getting them into four galleries! I really enjoy energetic and spiritual art. I guess some could say all art is like that, but then some of us put a bit more into it.

It takes some time; I know some magical folk who have spent 10 years working through it, and still have some lingering bits. I was fortunate, I was not raised in any beleif system. My family felt that religion was something that someone should only do on their own, when they are old enough to decide for themselves. I appreciate them for that. Though I did have a spiritualist/theosophist babysitter/friend of the family for awhile, but that was more just energetic exercises.

You did the giant painting that you are painting though right? That is pretty awesome. Do you live down there, or do you paint during vacation time? That would be pretty cool... travel to different places and leave art there .

That giant painting, and background too, is awesome! Also neat to see the artist at work. Is this part of a mural you are doing in your town, or?

Disclaimer, the views expressed in this post are my own and in no way whatsoever reflect what any of my teachers past or present believe or taught me (though they have have led to some grey hair or loss of sleep over the years in said people). I also titled the thread in such a way as to give a warning that my views about such things may not necessarily be the popular opinion, nor popular on TTBs . So anyways... the concepts of karma and hell, I think are ridiculous. I do not mean actual karma, I mean what people have made it into and their views on it. Also I don't mean actual hell, as I have not seen nor experienced such a place, and believe more that hell is our own personal crap in the here and now, and perhaps hereafter. What I mean in this thread is people's views of hell. OK so, I find it sort of messed up that some folks base their actions on a fear or reward system. For example the only reason they are not robbing other people, lying all the time, being selfish, not harming others, not selling kids into slavery... is because they are afraid of negative karma or hell?! Wow. I wouldn't trust such a person as far as I can throw them personally. What if they for example found out without a doubt that such concepts do not exist? Or what if their beliefs changed? Dictating one's actions based on what others tell one to do, I find ridiculous. We are told good karma for such and such, and bad karma for other such and such. Heaven for such and such, and hell for such and such. Do people really do good actions just to get some sort of reward, or perhaps less punishment? This seems extremely selfish to me! OK to recently I actually felt some karma, it was sort of neat, it was an energy of some of mine being released because I did some super awesome go out of my way with no personal benefit to myself thing for someone. Neat. HOWEVER, there's no way in hell I'm going to go doing things for people just so I can eliminate my own karma. Wouldn't that defeat the entire purpose of helping others? I wonder if when someone helps you, but they are doing so just to decrease their own rebirth cycle type of thing, that it feels like an ulterior motive at all? (though realistically I feel it's probably more a bit of both here). Also, the spirits I work with will warn me if something I'm about to do will cause some negative karma for me. I still base my decision on whether it seems/feels right for me to do, whether it fits into my personal ethics, and sometimes whether I just want to do it anyways . For example if helping out a friend, I might not care if it's going to bring about an extra bit of negative karma (though I guess this could also be seen as selfish on my part as it is not a complete stranger). So how about instead we just treat people decently so they have a better day? Or maybe help others to see them suffer a little less? Or not be an ass, because being a decent person is a better option all around. Why must we get some reward from it, or avoid some punishment for it? /rant

These are the ones I use . Just took me damn near 6 months to figure it out back then with all the conflicting opinions LOL. When I started I was doing things like painting Baguas, and also painted a Bagua onto my practice space floor. Much fun.

I've seen people born with some pretty strong abilities. I haven't seen it be much weaker than those gained with training, since it requires one have a natural born with starting point for the training to even work (doesn't work for everyone). This is from what I've seen having been around and trained with a LOT of people working energetics over the years. Now you get someone who is born with natural ability *and* trains, wow. However most born with odd talents or abilities do NOT want anything to do with them, and tend to view them more as a curse and something confusing they don't understand, than something good or something to brag about. Actually I have yet to see anyone who was born with some natural really strong talents brag about it, now that I come to think about it. They tend to be more confused and wondering.

Some people are born with them, but it is extremely rare. Also those born with them generally tend to hide from society not advertise.

I think y'all should settle this in a friendly game of Go .

Well at first it wasn't too bad TG replied to a new member saying don't throw out MoPai (the new poster had mentioned dismissing MP, as there aren't teachings).... I wouldn't really call that as started it.... though continuing on with it yep lolololol. At least I hear the forum software is working better for thread splitting now I hear , just in case....

Does anyone else click on the spoiler in Thunder_Gooch's posts just in case it is a different video this one time? OK just me then LOL.

You're new around here aren't you? We have FAR more than 15 pages discussing powers.... lol Yeah doing the static thing in a speedo (or shorts), but with legs and bare feet showing for any static demos would work.

Martial arts *is* good training to never hit anyone out of anger, and thus learn to control your anger.

Sooooo not touching that one....

I wouldn't give advice, I would just sit with them and enjoy what little there is to enjoy, perhaps the sunset, perhaps a bird... I would also likely tell some jokes so they had a couple of minutes of laughter. That is what I usually do when someone is suffering greatly, I just sit with them. PS unless someone actually asks for advice, they don't want any, and more often than not don't need any. It is just us who wants them to be different. Hmmm, though it would be tempting to sneak in an extra minute at the end, and tell them that next time someone takes a photo with a fancy camera to mug them for all their food, their water, their SUV and a warm jacket . (I never claimed to be 100% perfect OK lol).

See my PPF rant about "fuck uncompassionate people", though in the case above, that person gets the world record for the year I think .

I have an interesting story pertaining to beleif vs reality... A friend of mine is a famous author. He did a lecture/workshop at a large convention (the convention had 2000 magicians all together). I mean occultists. A few hundred people showed up for his workshop. It was a seance. There was a huge lineup of course, and everyone was pretty excited to see what was going to come about, from this powerful magician, who had been practicing for over 40 years and so on and so forth. The whole famous author thing also had everyone expecting something pretty fantastic . I offered to help him setup, but he said no, him and his wife would do it fine. He also didn't allow me in the room beforehand to hang out and chat while he setup (as he usually does). So I figured some pretty heavy duty ritual work.... Everyone piled in and sat down. First he demonstrated some stage magic tricks, calling out a number one person had written down, and some other tricks. He talked about how many seances were nothing more than stage magic, the paranormal affects of them at least. So after all that, then he starts allowing the spirits to come in, or calling them in, I forget which now. Several people had visions of spirits, felt something touch them, some water on them, and so forth during the entire thing. The table used for it all also rocked back and forth quite a bit. One person broke out into tears as one of her relatives showed up.... Then the seance ended. Several extremely loud arguments broke out in th hallway afterwards about whether it was just stage magic or a real seance . This went on for about an hour after it was over. A couple of folks went to yell at the person who did the seance. Other folks swore they saw ghosts and thanked him profusely. I went to checkout all the gear he had used during the seance, looking underneath the tables, tablecloths and etc., but he shooed me away from it rather quickly lolol. He had allowed each of the volunteers to check out his gear during the seance, but that was in the dark . I asked my friend if it was real or fake, and he asked what I thought. I told him I didn't feel a single spirit in the room, and that it felt so well protected that one couldn't have even snuck in who wasn't called. He never did answer my question... I would say half of the room thought it was fake/stage magic, and the other half of the room thought it was real.

I think internal arts are 10,000 times better for such things, but with a good teacher you still learn from external arts... IF you are the self reflective sort. So yes good point, if you just don't care, nothing much will be learned. Internal arts at least forces it up and out either way . Most folks who go into martial arts come from a background of violence that they are working through. The various interactions in class can bring up and out quite a bit. This is bad if you have a crappy teacher, and can be useful if you have an experienced teacher. Also everyone realizes they are far from the biggest/strongest person around, yet also learns their own inner strength and power (usually via the warmup exercises).

We should make all staff requests include prostrations! PS I love this idea, since I want to learn the iching, and I don't mean just at a surface level .

Someone I know beleived that Criss Angel was an actual occultist and had actual powers. Right up until he flew down to Vegas to see a show..... apparently in person he wasn't even as good as half the others. Pretty impressive on TV though .