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You're the bravest I guess... As for beans recommendations -- I would have to quote William Saroyan's novel, "Tracy's Tiger," whose protagonist seeks a job as a coffee-taster (count on an Armenian to come up with this version of the American dream!) His prospective employer interviews him and asks him about the difference between good coffee and bad coffee. Tom Tracy gives a thorough and detailed account. "All right. And what's the difference between good coffee and the best coffee?" "Advertisement," he replies. So I would have to reiterate what I said earlier: start with whole beans and grind them only right before you make your coffee, one portion at a time; medium or light roast only; arabica or an 80/20 arabica-harari mix; organic if you can afford it; shades (rather than suns) if you can find them; as fresh as you can find it (use your nose -- even if it's vacuum sealed, good coffee smells strongly and deliciously through the vents in the valve the package is equipped with -- if it doesn't, don't buy it); never buy any flavored beans (if you want to flavor your coffee, do it yourself, frack those industrial chemicals no matter what they are supposed to imitate); practice your ibrik techniques to perfection; use the best, purest water you can find (I take a trip to a town within a 25 minute drive every couple of weeks for the best water in the area -- artesian -- not just for coffee of course... tap water in our neck-of-woods is atrocious and wouldn't think twice of destroying an otherwise immaculately conceived and executed cup of coffee); and that's 99% of your success. Most of the rest is advertisement.

Recently I've been incorporating my cultivation practices into the dream state. The catalyst for starting was encountering this book: Tibetan Yoga of Dreaming and Sleep http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CEQQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.holybooks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2FTenzin-Wangyal-Rinpoche-The-Tibetan-Yogas-Of-Dream-And-Sleep.pdf&ei=CM0cUoWNIaGTiQKA04CAAQ&usg=AFQjCNHHOKC242rU3NC_NiI3UpoMBf9ztA&bvm=bv.51156542,d.cGE&cad=rja. One of the stronger experiences came early on when I intended to run the MCO in the dream state. I became lucid inside a dream where I was a human, merged into a tree, running MCO in an egg shape inside the trunk. I've let this intention go recently, but reading about your experience has reinvested me with motivation to get this going again. Thanks for sharing. Changing up sleep patterns/times is a great way to help trigger lucidity in the dream state. I also use sleep fast/binge cycles to help trigger the 'big dreams'. /|\

http://www.classicreader.com/book/1370/11/ The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain Chapter 11 For as much as a year Satan continued these visits, but at last he came less often, and then for a long time he did not come at all. This always made me lonely and melancholy. I felt that he was losing interest in our tiny world and might at any time abandon his visits entirely. When one day he finally came to me I was overjoyed, but only for a little while. He had come to say good-by, he told me, and for the last time. He had investigations and undertakings in other corners of the universe, he said, that would keep him busy for a longer period than I could wait for his return. "And you are going away, and will not come back any more?" "Yes," he said. "We have comraded long together, and it has been pleasant--pleasant for both; but I must go now, and we shall not see each other any more." "In this life, Satan, but in another? We shall meet in another, surely?" Then, all tranquilly and soberly, he made the strange answer, "There is no other." A subtle influence blew upon my spirit from his, bringing with it a vague, dim, but blessed and hopeful feeling that the incredible words might be true--even must be true. "Have you never suspected this, Theodor?" "No. How could I? But if it can only be true--" "It is true." A gust of thankfulness rose in my breast, but a doubt checked it before it could issue in words, and I said, "But--but--we have seen that future life--seen it in its actuality, and so--" "It was a vision--it had no existence." I could hardly breathe for the great hope that was struggling in me. "A vision? --a vi--" "Life itself is only a vision, a dream." It was electrical. By God! I had had that very thought a thousand times in my musings! "Nothing exists; all is a dream. God--man--the world--the sun, the moon, the wilderness of stars--a dream, all a dream; they have no existence. Nothing exists save empty space--and you!" "I!" "And you are not you--you have no body, no blood, no bones, you are but a thought. I myself have no existence; I am but a dream--your dream, creature of your imagination. In a moment you will have realized this, then you will banish me from your visions and I shall dissolve into the nothingness out of which you made me.... "I am perishing already--I am failing--I am passing away. In a little while you will be alone in shoreless space, to wander its limitless solitudes without friend or comrade forever--for you will remain a thought, the only existent thought, and by your nature inextinguishable, indestructible. But I, your poor servant, have revealed you to yourself and set you free. Dream other dreams, and better! "Strange! that you should not have suspected years ago--centuries, ages, eons, ago! --for you have existed, companionless, through all the eternities. Strange, indeed, that you should not have suspected that your universe and its contents were only dreams, visions, fiction! Strange, because they are so frankly and hysterically insane--like all dreams: a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice and invented hell--mouths mercy and invented hell--mouths Golden Rules, and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him!... "You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly creations of an imagination that is not conscious of its freaks--in a word, that they are a dream, and you the maker of it. The dream-marks are all present; you should have recognized them earlier. "It is true, that which I have revealed to you; there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream--a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought--a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!" He vanished, and left me appalled; for I knew, and realized, that all he had said was true.

I love the Big Dreams! I've experienced those deep, purging tears of realization in the dream state and they are so healing. Sounds like you were very close to having a conscious OBE as well, with the sleep paralysis and the onset of the vibrational state. What an amazing experience! I've been Lucid Dreaming since the age of four and reconciling the effects of the memories of those experiences has been instrumental in my transition to become more aware of the illusionary/fluid nature of 'waking consciousness', or 'real life'. I've had so many dream experiences that are more vivid and impacting on my awareness/memory/experience of truth, than so called events in 'real life', that I came to the realization that any experience in any state of consciousness is equal to any other in its ability to impact my reality and convey truth experience.

Exists within your perception, yes. Like everything in my room right now exists for me. What More_Pie_Guy is saying is more on the quantum mechanics level...I think. We perceive it to be real but we are merely just a dream in some other mind that we're stuck inside.

I took cold showers first up in the morning. I do not recommend ice cold showers before going to bed. Cold showers pretty much got me pumped up and readya to conquer the world. Not exactly the feeling you would want before you wind down and go to bed, but may be 4-5 hours before your bedtime might be a good idea. Personally, I used to get wet dreams every 10 days last year when I was abstaining. This year when I went on a 90 day abstinence, my frequency increased from every 10 days to every 14 days and after a month (that is 2nd wet dream) I stopped having them. So yeah, give cold showers a try. In my experience it helped immensely.

Custodial rulers knew that they needed to keep spiritual beings permanently attached to human bodies in order to animate those bodies and make them intelligent enough to perform their labors: In the clay God [a spiritual entity] and Man [physical body of Homo sapiens] shall be bound, to a unity brought together; So that to the end of days the Flesh and the Soul which in a God have ripened— that Soul in a blood-kinship be bound. 6 The tablets are silent about which “personalities” were chosen to animate the new slave bodies. Based upon how things are done in human society, we might guess that the Custodial society used criminals, deviates, prisoners of war, detested social and racial groups, nonconformists, and other undesirables to obtain the spiritual beings it needed to animate the new slave race of Earth. Humans were certainly treated like convicts sentenced to hard labor: With picks and spades they [human beings] built the shrines, They built the big canal banks. For food for the peoples, for the sustenance of [the Gods]. 7 As beasts of burden, humans were brutally treated by their extraterrestrial masters. The clay tablets tell of vast and catastrophic cruelty perpetrated by the Custodians against their human servants. Cold-blooded population control measures were carried out frequently: Twelve hundred years had not yet passed When the land extended and the peoples multiplied. The land was bellowing like a bull, The God got disturbed with their uproar. Enlil [half-brother and rival of Ea] heard their noise* And addressed the great Gods, “The noise of mankind has become too intense for me, With their uproar I am deprived of sleep. Cut off supplies for the peoples, Let there be a scarcity of plant-life to satisfy their hunger. Adad [another Custodian] should withhold his rain, And below, the flood [the regular flooding of the land which made it fertile] should not come up from the abyss. Let the wind blow and parch the ground, Let the clouds thicken but not release a downpour, Let the fields diminish their yields, There must be no rejoicing among them.” * * These lines suggest that Enlil had lived more than 1200 years. A similar longevity is attributed to Ea and other Custodial rulers. Many people find it difficult to believe that any creature, including an extraterrestrial, could live that long. The surprising longevity attributed to Custodial rulers may perhaps be explained by Sumerian spiritual beliefs. The Sumerians believed that a “personality” (spiritual being) survives the death of a physical body and that it is possible to identify the “personality” after it has abandoned one body and taken on a new one (in the same way that one can identify a driver who jumps out of one automobile and climbs into another). A “personality” could therefore hold the same political or social position body after body, as long as the “personality” could be identified. When Sumerians gave Custodians an extensive longevity, they were not necessarily suggesting that a single Custodial body survived for centuries; in many cases they appear to have been saying that a Custodial “personality” held a political position for a very long time even though it may have done so through a succession of bodies. An Assyrian tablet adds: “Command that there be a plague, Let Namtar diminish their noise. Let disease, sickness, plague and pestilence Blow upon them like a tornado.” They commanded and there was plague Namtar diminished their noise. Disease, sickness, plague and pestilence Blew upon them like a tornado.9 The tablets describe ghastly conditions in which food supplies were cut off, in which diseases were laid upon the people that constricted wombs and prevented childbirth, and in which starvation became so rampant that human beings were forced to resort to cannibalism. Lesser diseases, such as one resembling influenza, were also visited upon Homo sapiens, suggesting that the Custodial “Gods” understood and engaged in biological warfare. When this genocide did not produce a sufficient drop in the human population, the Custodians resumed it. Eventually, a decision was made to destroy the human race entirely with a great flood. Many archaeologists today believe that there was a cataclysmic flood in the Near East thousands of years ago. One description of the “Great Flood” is found in the Babylonian ”Epic of Gilgamesh,” which predates the Bible. According to the Epic, a Babylonian named Utnapishtim was approached by Prince Ea, who opposed the decision to destroy his creation, Homo sapiens. Ea told Utnapishtim that the other “Gods” planned to cause a deluge to wipe out the human race. Ea, who is described in other writings as a master shipbuilder and sailor, gave Utnapishtim instructions on how to build a boat which could survive the flood. Utnapishtim followed Ea’s directions and, with the help of friends, completed the vessel before the flooding began. Utnapishtim then loaded the boat with his gold, family, and livestock, along with craftsmen and wild animals, and hoisted off to sea. Babylonian and Assyrian tablets relate that just prior to flooding the land, the Custodians scorched it with flame. Then they flooded the region by causing a long rainstorm and by breaking the intricate system of dams and dikes that had been built in Mesopotamia to control the erratic flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The Gilgamesh Epic relates that Utnapishtim and his crew survived the ordeal. When it was over, they sought out dry land by releasing a series of three birds; if a bird did not return to the boat, Utnapishtim would know that it had found dry land nearby on which to alight. Once back on solid ground, Utnapishtim was joined by several Custodians returning from out of the sky. Instead of destroying the survivors, a degree of leniency prevailed and the Custodians transported the surviving humans to another region to live. The tale of Utnapishtim should ring a bell with anyone who is familiar with the Biblical story of Noah and the Ark. That is because the tale of Noah, lace many other stories in the Old Testament, is taken from older Mesopotamian writings. Biblical authors simply altered names and changed the many “Gods” of the original writings into the one “God” or “Lord” of the Hebrew religion. The latter change was an unfortunate one because it caused a Supreme Being to be blamed for the brutal acts that earner writers had attributed to the very God-like Custodians. Early Mesopotamian writings gave us another famous Old Testament story: the tale of Adam and Eve. The Adam and Eve narrative is also derived from earlier Mesopotamian sources which described life under the Custodial “Gods.” The “God" or “Lord God" of the Bible’s Adam and Eve story can therefore be translated to mean the Custodial rulers of Earth. The story of Adam and Eve is unique in that it is entirely symbolic, and through its symbols it provides an intriguing account of early human history. According to the Bible, Adam, who symbolizes first man, was created by “God" from the “dust of the ground.” This idea reflects the older Mesopotamian belief that Homo sapiens was created partially from “clay.” Adam’s wife, Eve, was also created artificially. They both lived in an abundant paradise known as the Garden of Eden. Modern versions of the Bible place the Garden of Eden in the Tigris-Euphrates region of Mesopotamia. The Old Testament tells us that Adam (first man) was designed to be a servant. His function was to till the soil and to care for the lush gardens and crops owned by his “God.” As long as Adam and Eve accepted their servant status and obeyed their ever-present masters, all of their physical needs would be met and they would be permitted to remain in their “paradise” indefinitely. There was, however, one unpardonable sin that they must never commit. They must never attempt to seek certain types of knowledge. Those forbidden forms of knowledge are symbolized in the story as two trees: the “tree of knowledge of good and evil” and the “tree of life.” The first “tree” symbolizes an understanding of ethics and justice. The second “tree” symbolizes the knowledge of how to regain and retain one’s spiritual identity and immortality. Adam and Eve obeyed the commandments of their masters and lived in material bliss until another party entered the scene. The intervening party was symbolized in the story as a snake. The serpent convinced Eve to partake of the “fruit” * from the “tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Eve followed the serpent’s suggestion, as did Adam. “God" (i.e., Custodial leadership) became immediately alarmed: And the Lord’ God said. Look, the man has become as one of us, knowing good from evil: and now, what if he puts forth his hand, and takes also of the tree of life, and eats, and lives forever? GENESIS 3:22 * This fruit is usually portrayed as an apple, but that is the invention of later artists. The Bible itself does not mention a specific fruit because the “fruit” was only a symbol to represent knowledge. The above passage reveals an important truth echoed by many religions. A true understanding of ethics, integrity, and justice is a prerequisite to regaining one’s spiritual freedom and immortality. Without a foundation in ethics, full spiritual recovery becomes nothing more than a pipe dream. The Custodians clearly did not want mankind to begin traveling the road to spiritual recovery. The reason is obvious. The Custodial society wanted slaves. It is difficult to make thralls of people who maintain their integrity and sense of ethics. It becomes impossible when those same individuals are uncowed by physical threats due to a reawakened grasp of their spiritual immortality. Most importantly, if spiritual beings could no longer be trapped in human bodies, but could instead use and abandon bodies at will, there would be no spiritual beings available to animate slave bodies.

This is the email he sent me back in March: Hello, Please forgive me for responding so late. I've been suffering from prostate cancer and just recently have been defeating it...and feeling much better, enough in fact to begin trying to catch up with all my late emails to everyone. You have to understand that the books were written about John were basically about our "adventures" with him, not instructional books. I teach Mo Pai's nai gong and have many students...if you are interested. I will give you my 3 requirements at the end of the email. In our system of nai gong you will receive "2" sensations (that everyone has) during the 1st level. The second level lets me know that you are ready for the 2nd level. But both signs/sensations will confirm that you are in fact accumulating yin and yang energy. About the pebble. If it only happened once, and you can't do it again, then there is a good chance you didn't do it. When I hear of these things there may be something that I need to "gently" discuss with you and try and not alarm you at the same time. Usually, things like this are the result of a spirit. This type of behavior is something that is somewhat common with people generating yin energy. Spirits are attracted to yin energy. What I try and do to offset this is have the practitioner say a prayer before they begin their daily training to God...for protection. Using his son's name is more powerful than just using God's name if that matters to you and don't want the spirit to return again. I can tell you this, when an event like something being thrown as it did in your house, usually it only happens once. There may be something else that may occur sometime, but it normally won't be the same thing happen twice...unless of course there is a very powerful spirit in your house. But that doesn't seem to be the case with you. Also, when people seek to find out about spirits and want things to occur over and over, it is like an invitation to them and you don't want that. Here are my three requirements for those who wish to learn Mo Pai's nai gong: 1st, I ask for a short bio on your life, I want to know who you are. This helps me get to know you more quickly...it also helps me when working with your training. 2nd, I require $300. I had to institute this because people have taken the ancient and privileged knowledge/training of the Mo Pai from me and then disappeared. This fee seems to work safeguarding, to some degree, the Mo Pai's training system. Those that want to "steal" this knowledge usually don't want to spend any money so they don't get involved at this point. And plus, I didn't want to make the amount too much, but just enough to foil thieves. It is the best I can come up with to keep Mo Pai's training in the control of my responsibility. This is a one-time fee, I ask for nothing more. 3rd, I ask for a promise from you that you will NOT speak/talk/communicate anything concerning me or the Mo Pai or Mo Pai's training on the Internet. I don’t want to burn any bridges with my teacher. That is basically all there is. Should you decide to continue...I will give you my phone number in case you would want to talk to me directly: (removed his number)...I am two hours behind East Coast time. I am finding that helping people train has become almost a burden at this point, as more and more people seek me for training. It will not be too long before I discontinue allowing other people to become students; I will however continue training those I am currently working with. Again, thank you for contacting me. I know how you must feel...I was there once myself, which is why I want to help others find their path/dream. Jim -------- That's the last I heard from him. I never sent him the money, that's probably why.

I celebrated prematurely. I thought the painful part was over. I was wrong. The more painful part was about to begin. Since the first connection, the rest of body wanted to be connected. I didn't realize there were so many kinks, pain points and dead zones in my upper body. I did a period of agressive clean up. I did three to four hours of various movement, stretch/twist, self-massage before bed. The next morning, the stretch out body parts shrinked a little. The bonea, tendons and ligaments were in wrong places. The nerves were pinched every where. It was painful. Sometimes, the pain woke me up during sleep. Once I was woken by weeping noise, I realized it was my body crying. What a wimp! I kept going. My body finally got enough. It came in my dream to pleading with me. It showed up in a bloddy mess, the shoulder was torn open with intruding bones. I eased up a few days. I feel much better now. I wake up in morning without too much pain. With the improvement, I can enjoy something that you normal flexible guys take for granted: drop shoulder, round chest, connect tan tien to Laogong. No more chips on my shoulder.

In my whole life, I probably have a handful of these dream encounters. Basically, the being I encountered in my dreams....the experience caused my third eye to open and to experience the nimitta. The dream started off of me being in a wedding party. I couldn't figure out whose wedding was it. I felt it was my wedding party but couldn't figure out who was my fiance. Then, I found myself on the second floor and noticed that the head of state of this particular country was walking up. Here, I assumed the identity of my past life self. I couldn't believe what I was seeing because the leader of my country was attending this party. I made my way to the side and noticed staff members I knew about. Then, someone in the group pulled out a gun and began shooting. I quickly rushed to the lower level and felt the need to warn the first lady. Or I felt the situation wasn't safe and I was compelled to warn the wife of a very important political figure. I found her and addressed her in another language, or her language. Then, she left quickly. Somehow, I wanted to go back up to see if everyone was OK. Then, I was greeted by this being. He is light skin black, more of a Jamaican. I believed his name was Gordon or something sounded similar. We both introduced ourselves and we shake hands. This was when I began to see the nimitta glowing in my third eye. I closed my eyes for a second in the dream and all I saw, in the dream, was the nimitta (whitish, bluish light). During my meditation I often see the nimitta but to see it in a dream induced situation is "something." Here, I realized he wasn't just a figure. He was a spirit being. I remembered looking at him very intensely and he had a smile on his face all the times. There was a woman next to him too but I didn't know who. Then, he began telling me things. Something about he has spent 20 minutes trying to raise my consciousness. He even went so far to grab my hand and to show me the time on my watch TWICE. I told him I saw him before in my previous dream. I had a dream about him before this one, maybe few hours before. From that dream, he told me that he was a detective for a brief period of his life. Then, he told me that everything would be happening normally. After hearing that, I was disappointed because, I told him, I thought that something would happen to me. He then said that the wedding party would continue next week. I am still single and so I don't really understand this dream. The number 20 has been a key component because it represents a time frame of my future. More than 6 months ago, I dream that the Hindu goddness Tara telling me she had predicted my future 20 years ago. So, now, number 20 has been repeated again by this being. The beginning of the dream seems to be referencing to my past life identity. I don't know. I don't have a clue what he meant when he said things would be happening normally and the wedding would be continued next week. I had this dream last week, fyi.

a few thoughts. the fewer your wants/desires, the freer you are. the more risk & uncertainty you're willing to accept, the freer you are. the cheaper you can live, the greater your options. the creative mind can generate streams of income that minimize or even eliminates the need for employment (especially if you have the above points handled) i live in Northern Sacramento, but my day-to-day experience is not one of "life in the city." i am able to devote as much time as i like to my studies, explorations, and practices. i made a decision years ago about what matters most to me in life and what i can do without. getting clear on THAT is an important first step. i come across people all the time, some of whom frequent this site, who are in love with the "dream" of the spiritual life, but aren't really willing to risk their comforts. they want all the certainty, safety, and security that secular life promises them, and they don't want any of the burdensome trade-offs that come with acquiring those things. i put it all on the line. i walked away from from a top college. walked away from professional money. i essentially took a vow of poverty and embraced a radical uncertainty. but i was rich in what truly mattered to me, which is the free time to seek the divine and to explore the deep abyss of my own being (which wasn't always pretty). "time is NOT money. anything lost can be found again, EXCEPT for time wasted." i only worked enough to make rent and eat. rent was cheap and things didn't always go smoothly. yet my life became richer than it had ever been before because i knew what my priorities were, and i wasn't afraid of the uncertainty & insecurity of living a poor man's life. my only luxuries were my laptop (a hand-me-down gift) and my book addiction. spent my time reading, sitting, practicing forms, and mastering the principles upon which those forms were built. spent my time wandering in deep contemplation, and seeking the audience of different masters. today i don't work a wage job of any kind. i live in a 4-bedroom house that was given to me by one of my students. my living room is one big practice space, and i've got a huge back yard for practice and for gardening. i had NO IDEA things would work out this way. i sought my life of the spirit with a very sincere reckless abandon, knowing that this life isn't worth living if i don't seek the divine to the fullest. getting free of the bullshit is relatively easy. getting over ones own fear and neurosis is the hard part. perhaps it was the hardships of my youth that gave me the courage to do what i did to get where i am. i grew up very poor and was even homeless for a time as a child. so none of that really scared me as an adult, since i've already endured those things at a much more vulnerable stage in my life. the one part that was difficult was letting go of the worldly pursuits in academia. i had made it from nothing to the brass ring as an intellectual. i was being offered "advances" on books & critical essays, and i had the respect of professors, doctors, politicians, and lawyers. i almost traded GOD for the trappings of that world. maybe some people could have found a balance between the two worlds, but i could not. i'm a very intense person by nature, and such a compromise is incongruent with my very being. so i had to make a choice. and i made it. i was honestly, in my heart of hearts, willing to sacrifice everything to follow my Truth. ALL IN.

From the subtle view all appears as if a dream Even this is false

It doesn't read right to me. Feels made up. Nobody writes 'We Jews & Church Leaders(church?) know X'. That's how a racist writes about a group they know shit about. Kinda like the KKK finding a documents that says 'We Blacks have decided to X' or We Catholics have decided to take over America by running Kennedy for President'. It written like a wet dream from people who are trying to sell an agenda to bigots. Simply put, nobody writes in that style. It's clearly made up from sentence one. The language feels wrong, too modern. Jews were considered a crazy backwards people by most Romans, common and elite. First thing you need to do is cut off a piece of your penis, is simply not a selling point, nor is a couple hundred pages of rules and regulations. Simply put, with Christianity you get heaven, murky but decent theology, and 1/100 the rules. There was no threat of mass proselytization with Judaism. There was no We Jews back then, there were denominations, a few main ones, and dozens of smaller off shoots. Herod destroyed the Sanhedrin, shattering its validity. Jews remember the Pharisees far more kindly then Christians, but it was mixed bag depending on who and when. I think there was a 'Jesus'/Yeshua/Joshua. There may have been a dozen of them, radicals caught in a dangerous turbulent very superstitious time. He was probably a mystic and faith healer. Older myths got tied to his name, in the usual way 'telephone' is played. Then massively once it became institutionalized and you needed to prove your god is bigger and better then other gods. Certainly once Constantine got involved it became a method of control. At its earliest, not so much, it could have gone a different way if other gospels and sects had emerged as number one. There are pivot points in history that are easy to miss, but often the scales are weighted so evenly only a few key people are the fulcrum by which mighty stream of history is led. I don't think Piso was one of those.

you touch the HARD palate, not the soft palate. The hard palate is right behind the teeth. It is very easy and does not require any strain at all. Just curve it upwards very slightly. also I am curious about this statement: in this thread http://thetaobums.com/topic/22912-semen-retention-100-days-and-my-experiences/page-2 it says I have been experiencing flutuations in dream intensity over time, sometimes it seems like I don't dream at all but other times I am having vivid dreams all night long. I don't do any practices though, and I certainly enjoy dreaming more than not dreaming.

When touching the tip of my tongue to the roof of my mouth and doing energy work there is a notable burning sensation that increases in intensity felt on the tip of my tongue. I understand that during meditation one should put the tongue tip against the soft pallet and lightly touch the teeth together. The soft palate is toward the back of the mouth, so there is definite stretch in the bottom of the tongue. I do feel that my jaws tend to tense up due to the teeth having to touch, which has the purpose (I believe) of bringing the tongue further up toward the back of the mouth, and that in itself the teeth touching doesn't really do anything metaphysically speaking. I understand that touching the tongue to the mouth roof closes the energy circuit of the body and allows for complete energy circulation, but is it always good to keep the tongue in that position? I am a beginner at meditation, and I think I can start feeling my jing moving as heat flashes across the skin, especially the skin of my torso and especially around the lower dan tien area. My tongue has always burned when touching the top palate, after some minutes in meditation, even after severe and constant jing depletion. The funny thing is that usually after jing depletion my dream life becomes notably more vivid.

Going for myths, miracles & powers. Not any more. Maybe its a Buddhist thing, but the longer I'm in the game, the more my goal is inner peace, some longevity, feeling oneness. For me, Taoism is about being closer to true nature; following its rules. Immortality and strangeness's like psychic powers aren't on the list, though dream work..lucidity/astral travel is.. so I guess I have a little of the bug in me after all.

within this labyrinthian ruins of the mind doth i create the fabrics of eternity casting shadows across each drape and fold darting forth, here and there seeking that which was never lost frantically, i hurried on my way. one morning as i lay half asleep a dream did i have of worlds so vast unfathomable thru lifetimes suddenly i awoke with a start i realized the discontent which plagued me day upon grueling day and crimsoned nights of high revelry this eternal search was no more than nought and, from that moment on i search no more.

I want to second what Lloyd said about not wanting to disconnect from doing Flying Phoenix. That describes it so well. I had that feeling and attitude from the first week that I learned the first few meditations and it is has never gone away. It is one of the main motivators making me think about wanting to retire this coming January when I am eligible for full Social Security benefits. I think of how much extra time I would have to do more chi kung. Most guys dream of retiring to play golf, now we have guys thinking of retiring just to get in more chi kung time. How the world is changing! Not wanting to disconnect from the experience is similar to what I am going thru with a new girlfriend. I just don't want to have to leave her on weekends to go back home, the disconnect from an experience that is so compelling and charming. That is Flying Phoenix Chi Kung. And I compare this to some of the other chi kung methods that I had tried for awhile before Flying Phoenix. Some were just outright torturous holding some uncomfortable positions in static postures for so long. That caused some breakups, LOL!

I would like to know what is the difference between polarity and duality? I once had a Straneglove-ian dream that loosely hinted that one can destroy almost anything in this world by shooting against its primary salt. And the best armour of defense is to keep your opposite salt in front. I don't really know what that means... but I guess that somehow it made sense to speak of it here.

Our life is the image in the dream that Life is having just like these words describe something else Art is the image of our experiences So art is no less real than life

Damn 3bob! If I could answer that question definatively I would actually consider myself brilliant. But no, I can't answer it. That is because it will be different for each individual. Oftentime people wake up and still believe they are living their dream - not knowing if they are Sam or a butterfly. Yes, cause and effect. At basic level the movement of energy. But I know the ice cream in that other thread is now gone but the tree is still here.

MH, I see your description as being problematic in that one might then ask where does illusion begin and where does it end, along with such answers not being the same for all? For instance if one knows themselves as or has done shaman type journeys then I believe what is real and what is a dream is open or should be open to different understandings or interpretations as to what level of reality is effecting another level. (another example: nothing happens in the physical world without happening first in an energy world that drives it)

Hi all, First of all, I wouldn’t try to claim that I’m offering some kind of pure-bred Taoist product here. But I am saying that philosophical thought is relevant to the spiritual search, and I’m also saying that this makes it relevant to some Taoists. But we are on a Taoist site, and I hear what you are saying, so I will try and make sure that I relate what I’m saying to works like the Tao Te Ching. But to continue... We’ve talked a lot about notions like emptiness/heaven as it contrasts with the world of form/earth, and the importance of the ability to see things from either perspective. As with everything else, both perspectives are fully known to us already and to learn emptiness is not to learn anything new and exotic. But I can explain this further: Imagine you are looking at a tree. You close your ideas for 5 seconds, think about ice cream, and then open them again. We are looking at the tree again. We believe that the tree continued to exist, even while our eyes were closed and our attention was elsewhere, and that it is the same tree we return to. This is the belief in the world of form, of independently existing objects in a world outside of ourselves. Now imagine you are thinking of ice cream. You open your eyes and look at the tree for five seconds, and then return to your thoughts of ice cream. In this case we believe that the second thought of ice cream was a completely new thought, although on the same theme. The first thought ceased and became non-existent, was replaced by our awareness of the tree, which in turn was replaced by a new thought about ice cream. This is the belief in the world of emptiness, of ephemeral and transient flashes of consciousness that pass in a moment and are replaced by the next. Perceptions (of trees) and thoughts (of ice cream) both behave similarly as far as consciousness is concerned. Perceptions are constantly transforming as we look at the top of the tree, then the bottom, then the side – each view entirely unique. Thoughts too are constantly transforming, as they shift from chocolate ice cream to strawberry and then back again. In terms of behaviour, a thought and a perception are indistinguishable. They are both things that come and then in a flash are replaced. But for some reason we believe that a thought is empty of anything but the briefest existence, while a perception is a reflection of something objectively real – something unchanging that exists independently of our roving perceptions. This is the illusion that chains us to the world. This is the illusion that makes us believe that there is an inner subjective realm of thought, and an outer objective world of independently existing objects. Liberation come when we see that thoughts and perceptions are both the same. They are both the same by being just items of awareness. Things come and in a flash are transformed. When thoughts and perceptions are made the same, we are free to interchange how we understand them. A thought can be viewed as something ephemeral or as something eternal that passes in and out of awareness; a perception can be viewed as a reflection of something real, or as something dreamy like a thought. Our view of ourselves as individuals is entirely based on the belief in our own subjective experience- the realm of thought. But when we see that the outside world also passes before our ‘eyes’ as something ephemeral and transient we are no longer able to believe in the distinction between object and subject. Who we actually are seems to contain both thoughts and perceptions and by being neither transcends both. Just as the mug handle is neither left nor right, but in a sense both, and by being so, neither…so are we both subject and object, and therefore neither subject nor object. Just as it takes a certain spiritual vision to be able to see that the handle might also be on the other side, so too does it take a certain vision to be able to see that thoughts pass into awareness and transform, just as perceptions come into awareness and are constantly transforming. This is the hard problem of spiritual philosophy. We do not realise we’re doing it, but we are constantly living through our beliefs. We believe that we are subjects in an objective world, and that belief shapes everything we do and think before we can do anything about it. We live blindly and we are so blind that we don’t realise that there is an alternative way to see things. It is only when we first truly see that we are not our thoughts or our perceptions that we are free and are circumstances can improve. This is a fundamental and crucial spiritual vision that is emphasised in all religious traditions. Jesus tells us in the Gospel of St Thomas “When you make the two one, and when you make the inside as the outside, and the outside as the inside…then shall you enter the kingdom” Buddha advises us in the Diamond Sutra: “Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world: A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream; A flash of lightning in a summer cloud, A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream” And in everybody’s favourite the Tao Te Ching we are told immediately in Ch 1 to see the Tao equally, whether in thought or perception “So, as ever hidden, we should look at the inner aspect/ As always manifest, we should look at the outer aspects/ These two flow from the same source though differently named” Until we have seen how the subjective world and the objective world are from a common source, the notion The Tao, God - cannot possibly occur to us. I’ve treated this subject pretty briefly considering its importance but it might be a good time to stop and make sure that I’ve been able to make myself understood. Best wishes guys

You mention meditating on death and where to start. There's a Vispassana style 'theme' I sometimes use before sitting in emptiness. I am not my body. I am that which inhabit it. I am not my thoughts. They are like clouds passing through the sky. I am not my emotions. I acknowledge them and let them pass like ripples on a pond. I am not my past. That is old memories and patterns I can repeat or not. I am not my future. That is only projections and fears. I am not my possessions I am not my family. .. .. I am breath and awareness. You mention the fear of the future that hits the young 20 something very hard. Life is long and takes us on winding roads. Get skills, dream.. some how things always work out in the end.

Someone asked: Where do the gurus get this idea that because we are temporal, we are not real? I answered based on what I have experienced to be true: That is a misunderstanding of the meaning and a misrepresentation of the truth by unskilled teachers. When the Buddha (and many before him) said that all is illusion, they did not mean that the world is not real. Rather, they were pointing out that the world simply IS and all phenomena exist absolutely. However, because we perceive them through the 6th consciousness we warp the true appearance of absolute reality before it even has the chance to reach our mind unobstructed. Just like a prism refracting one beam of light into the many colours of the rainbow. Thus we create a relative experience of reality subject to our own perception. You see, the goal is to perceive the beam of light in it's original state, before it is filtered through the prism and turns into Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. The many different colours are pretty, but some of us have impaired vision. Some see less red and more green, others more blue and less yellow, some see more orange but less red and there are those that are completely blind. This is why we all have a relative experience of what IS and this is also why two people may look at the same thing, but see two entirely different objects all together. Each will defend the opinion of their perception adamantly, claiming power and superior understanding over the other, when fundamentally both observers are interpreting a relative illusion and not the true nature of the object in the first place. Sort of like the blind leading the blind. Only where both parties are extremely stubborn. If we do away with the prism, which is an analogy for the ego-mind and acquired discriminating intellect, then we allow ourselves to perceive that one unifying all encompassing beam of primal light before it is distorted by our senses. This is the truth we all aspire to. This is the absolute goal of spiritual cultivation. The realization of reality. This is all meditation aims to achieve. When we sit to meditate it is important to always employ the Taoist concept of Wu Wei - Effortless Action. You see, the acquired ego-mind is like the surface of a lake. It is always active with thoughts, ideas and concepts and because of this it's surface remains turbulent and in a constant and unceasing rippling. One ripple bounces of the edge and creates many more. It is an avalanche effect and if we do not assume control of our mind, we will get buried under the snow and freeze, until someone pulls us out. This is the nature of our acquired ego-mind. It loves constant motion and activity. When the 5 senses perceive something, they immediately stir the heart and ideas and emotions are created. Thus, when we smell something, pleasant aromas bring about the desire to satisfy our olfactory stimulation and all manner of fantasies begin to formulate in our mind. When we taste something with our tongue, the desire to savour the many tastes arises and brings about fantasies of food and drink. We we hear a lovely sound, the desire for melodious music arises and brings about fantasies to prompt you to further satisfy it. When we see something beautiful, the desire to possess it arises and we dream up fantasies about how to obtain it. When we feel something with our skin, the desire to experience forms arises and we create fantasies about pleasuring the body. Like a skilful thief, the 5 senses thus steal the stillness from your mind and heart and replace it with many thoughts. Making you a slave to your own mental illusions and ideas. The acquired ego-mind loves motion and activity while the original mind thrives in stillness. If we constantly succumb to satisfying our senses we create the environment for thoughts, fantasies and ideas to thrive and the ego-mind will remain in constant motion. This is the domain of the acquired-mind. When we sit down to meditate and let our thoughts gradually disappear, we create stillness and facilitate the activity of our Tao-mind. In Taoism we aim to subside the activity of the acquired ego-mind and through that stillness, allow the Tao-mind to naturally emerge. The mind of the Tao, our original nature, is like the bright moon in the sky. It is always there. It has always been there. It will always be there, shining brightly with the light of all creation. It simply wants a surface off which to project. You may ask, but why does the moon have to reflect on the surface of the lake? Why can't we just look directly at it, to realize it? Is this not quicker and easier? This is a good question! The reason it is hard to directly look at the moon and realize it's presence is because in the first place, we can't make out if it the image is of the moon or not! When the surface of the lake is so rippled because of the motions and activities of thoughts in the mind, it can't reflect anything. All you see is a scrambled image. So how can you look directly at the moon if you don't know it's the moon you should be looking at? This is how the ego-mind tricks you. By keeping you in constant activity, it effectively never allows you to become still enough and in so doing, successfully obscures reality from you. Like a skilled trickster, it keeps you trapped in it's illusion and soon, you begin to believe it is real The Tao must be approached subtly and by skilful means. Through doing without doing. Time after time, as we meditate, the ripples on the surface of the lake begin to subside. Gradually the bright moon of our original Tao-mind will begin to show itself on the surface of the lake. Thus, when the mind is still, the lake will be serene and the water will resemble a polished mirror. The more the lake stills, the more apparent the reflection of the moon becomes. Until one day the ego-mind is so still, that not one thought arises, and the surface of the lake becomes as smooth as fine silk. Not a sound, not a motion. Only complete stillness. This is the awakening to reality. Like a reflective mirror polished through countless hours of meditation you finally realize the absolute image of the moon. For the first time ever, you see all it's fine details. It no longer looks like a wavy and indiscernible blob of white paint morphing about in the rhythm of the ripples and you finally realize, it is the moon. Without a doubt, you know it is the moon you are observing, reflecting on the surface of this calm lake. This is emptiness. This is realization. The realization of the reflection of the moon within you. But this is not the final goal. Why? Because we are still looking only at the reflection of the moon and not the actual moon! But you know what? It no longer matters. Because once you know, you know. Because once you are liberated from the illusion of the ego-mind, the only thing that is left to do is to but gently raise the gaze of the eyes from the lake to the sky in order to reveal the original heavenly nature of your mind. To look upon the very moon itself! To leap out of the motion, into the stillness and from beyond the stillness to leap into the absolute reality of the Tao. This is the practice of meditation. If we do not apply Wu Wei and simply allow the ripples on the surface of the lake of the mind to subside on their own. If we attempt to use our hand to calm the surface, we will simply cause even more ripples. Even if you use one finger! You will still cause a ripple! Even if you use a goose-feather, you will still cause a ripple. All it takes is one ripple to distort the reflection. Therefore, there must be no desire to achieve. For the desire to achieve is in itself a desire and a product of the ego-mind. Thus, Wu Wei employs doing without doing. Desiring without desiring. Working without working. Meditating without meditating! Achieving without achieving! As you release your mind from the desire to act. The ripples will turn to nothing and the bright moon of your original mind will reveal itself in all it's glory! Good luck in your meditation practice! : )