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Yeah, there's no hard feelings from me, for sure and I appreciate what you had to say. I guess what I should take from it is that 1. What I value isn't necessarily the same as what others will value (I wish someone - anyone - would put up 2 hours worth of seminar material and talk about how to transcend the state of being human, in a way that is holistic, deals with a bigger picture view of things, etc. and not include a sales pitch to "find out the rest that you can't do this without". . . ) 2. I shouldn't assume that people would want to contribute to something simply because it's something that I want to contribute to. Since you were kind enough to watch part of it, and seem like a civil guy - I would like to talk about 3 other things that I either thought about when reading your posts, or which I thought might be inferred, or which are simply on my mind right now. First, there's a reason I stuck to just illustrative slides, rather than doing live video or talking about this or that technique. It's the same reason (or one of the reasons) why I decided to stop working on Wudangquan.com for now. That is, that I'm not interested in running "The Jonathan Show". I would rather that nobody at all knows who I am, and that I can live my life quietly and in an upright way, in peace. I don't want to make martial arts videos because I don't want to have sausage necked tough guys on the internet challenging me to fights, and I hope to avoid doing the same about Taoism or cultivation because I recognize that I am a student, and while I think I could teach just about anything at least efficiently - I'm not qualified to tell people what to do with matters of spiritual profundity or those with permanent consequences. Second, on the issue of money . . . I want to be totally frank and direct and hope it won't be misunderstood. The $30 I pay for the hosting (which is necessary for alot of multimedia transfers) each month represents between 20-40 meals for me. I'm currently completely out of money because I was cheated in a business deal here, but this is not anyone elses problem but mine. I felt like I put alot of time into making the video, and that if 100 people watched it, and 5% of them donated $5 to help with the site, that would be . . . You know - $25. Less than one months expense. But I don't mind paying for it myself. I like doing the work, and would probably do it even without a place to put it on the internet, so it's no problem for me. I also thought that some kind of investiture would contribute to people wanting to contribute in other ways, as well which is my main objective. There is one thing I want to be very, very clear about though. I felt (and you may not have intended to say) in your original post that there was at least the implication that I was running an attempt at profiteering. I've tried to examine myself very closely on this matter. Of course I could use and would like more money. However, to the extent that I can understand my own motivations, I really don't think this is the case. Again, allow me to be frank. This demograph is like a marketers wet dream. People are willing to spend double digits on PDF's. Bruce Frantzis (Who I respect and only use as an example) sells cd's of HIM singing Taoist songs for like $60 or $80 a pop, and evidently people buy it. All of the commercial Wushuguans here around Wudangshan (the teachers of which I also completely respect) charge people between $500-$1,000 a month to train and people are happy to pay it. Wang Liping (again, who I don't know but respect by virtue of his reputation) charges $5,000 for western students to come to a single seminar, not including their flight costs, lodging and food, etc. This site runs advertisements (and I think he should charge people to post them in the forums, as well). And I think it's fine for all of them to do that. They have organizations and other responsibilities to deal with, and I understand that and think it's no problem. But the point is - If I wanted to exploit this community I could do it. A few spooky videos, my way or the highway, enough traffic and knowing my conversion metrics and it would be like shooting fish in a barrel . . but that's not my intention. Finally . . . If I've lead you or other people to believe that I don't respect or find value in other systems - that's my mistake for not being clear enough. I have the upmost respect for all traditional Pai's of Taoism, as well as many unorthodox or new practices which are upright. I have the upmost respect for the Buddha Dharma although I am not a student and am not so learned in it. I have the upmost respect for the majority of practices that would fall under the banner of Hinduism. Same with Tibetan Buddhism, Bon, etc. Comtemplative Christianity, and many of the Monastic, hermetic, and other traditions of Christianity? You bet. . . . I suppose the place where I have made an error is in not being clear enough that there are one or two systems or practices which I feel a strong amount of reservation towards. It could be that I'm one of Li Jiongs 3rd rate individuals, and that my enlightenment quality is so low that I can't see the value in what they're doing. Who knows. I also have probably made a mistake by not prefacing things with caveats like "I believe" or "It's my opinion" or "As I understand" enough. In casual conversation I assume that people understand that those are implied, but it's my fault for not saying them, and maybe making someone think that I am saying that my understanding is the ONLY correct understanding. That's never what I mean. Anyway -- this is a long one, and I tend to write long posts. To be clear: 1. I don't want anyones money for moneys sake and would much rather people write indepth material, record audio, their own video, etc. and share it with the world if they feel so inclined and I will happily pay the cost of keeping it archiived and available. 2. My video is boring. Sorry. 3. I respect all upright paths, practices and systems. I have publically questioned what one or two are leading people towards, and how they interface with the public. In general, my feelings about that are the same now as before. To wrap this longwinded thing up - I would be MORE than happy to put up material outside of the bounds of QuanZhen/Zhengyi on the site. I have openly and publically said that I would like audio and video material from everyone from Max Christensen, to Li Jiong, to other individuals understandings of existing material, etc. What I want is for people to be able to access as much information as possible to make the most informed decisions possible about what seem to be very important issues. Take Care, Jonathan

Oh goody good! can you tell the master to give him a slap for me. Eating when hungry, sleeping when tried, without a single thing on your mind, neither delusion or enlightenment has a place to hide. Smashing up heaven and earth even beyond the particle physics of the known universe leaving no dust behind to get fixed in the eye. Even the above quote of previous times is just all airy fairy dream talk, a big shiny hook.

Xuanji Cultivation System is for the first-rate indivaduals who has open mind and wide heart, the third-rate indivaduals are not welcome definetely even if they would like to pay. I never stated the payment can be refunded, that is just in order to prevent the unready ones sneak into us. Unfortunately, this kind of thing still happened. I commiserate rookie very muh, but I will not break my rule to refund the money to him, otherwise, more third-rate indivaduals will have unrealistic dream of fluke. In internal cultivation, there is no fluke, any tricks are useless.

Brother Lin, Tao Bless you man! That's all I need to say. Oh, yeah. I need to add this as well... You are right on every level and one who attains need not to talk. Teaching no talking. Cultivation is within not without. It is for ourselves to cultivate our Tao or Buddhahood. We need not to play a game with charlatans. We don't need to give up our own power to someone or something that does not share the same air and nature we breathe. Thanks for your comments on Li Jiong. This person will never wake up from his dream. Wudangspirit One must master him/herself first in order to master others. then once he/she master's themselve they will give up the need to master others. That takes loving and forgiving yourself first. Heal yourself first Li Jiong and Tao Bless you.

Firstand foremost, thanks for your reply! Basically I want a system that gives me the ability to slow down aging and stay strong physically, the ability to use energy to heal and defend myself like DJ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml0j2ZkQ7WQ, and lastly will take me to enlightenment (whatever that is). That's my dream and what I call a Complete System!

Well, it's not for me to say whether it was a transmission, you're a better judge of it. As a general rule though, shifts of consciousness happen WAY more often than transmissions. OK, let me give you one example of what would qualify as a transmission. A Song dynasty emperor, Qinzong, was very young when he inherited the throne, very ignorant, and controlled by his corrupt ministers. Using the opportunity, a competing tribe of Jin declared war in 1125 and started gobbling up larger and larger parts of his kingdom. Eventually the Jin entered the capital, Yenjing (known today as Beijing) and captured the royal family. The young prince Zhao Gou managed to escape. All alone and lost in a dark forest, however, he started losing heart and thinking of surrender and death as a welcome finale. He came to the conclusion that his father and grandfather failed as kings, and that it must be for the better if he dies and puts an end to the dynasty. With this decision, he came upon an abandoned temple hidden in the forest, walked in and, tired as he was, almost immediately fell asleep by the altar. Suddenly, in his sleep, he heard a voice that said, "Get up! The Jin will be here soon." The prince saw a man of striking appearance standing before him. The stranger drew the characters of "Song" and "obstacle" above him and said, "Many obstacles lie ahead. Are you willing to overcome them and revive the kingdom of your ancestors? Or are you going to abandon your own fate, your family and your people to the Jin conquerors?" The prince replied, "If I am given a chance to escape, I will overcome the obstacles, revive my kingdom and bring peace to my people." The man said, "You will find food and wine on the altar. Outside, you will find a horse." At this point Zhao Gou woke up, smelling freshly cooked food and sweet wine. He got up and ate in a hurry. Then in the moonlight he saw his dream visitor standing by a fresco of a white horse painted on one of the temple's walls. Zhao Gou recognized him. It was Cai Fu, the judge of the living and the dead. He bowed and promised that if he lives to become emperor, he would build temples dedicated to Judge Cai Fu throughout the land and uphold justice the way he did. When he looked up, he saw that both Cai Fu and the fresco of the horse had disappeared. He heard neighing outside though and saw a white horse tethered to a tree. He mounted it and rode away, barely escaping a Jin patrol. The rest is history -- the Song dynasty ruled for another 150 years till they were conquered by the Mongols -- and the above is an example of a "transmission."

Kunlun has definitely helped me with social anxiety. The energy allows you to open to love. It allows you to connect with people in a meaningful way. For the most part i rarely experience social anxiety anymore. When it does arise it is not entertained for very long. I have also noticed that the energy has allowed me to see myself more clearly. As this happens you will be able to become aware of the aspects of yourself you have repressed. this allows the fears to dissolve. Also try reading some of wayne dyers work Your erroneous zones covers most common types of repression from a psychological standpoint Real magic is the beginning of dyers spiritual works and covers how to create meaningful change in your life. Your sacred self is a book about connecting with your spirit and dissolving fear Manifest your destiny is a book about changing the environment with the spirit. It contains Joppa instruction (mantra meditation) I really like this practice. magical The power of intent is a book about connecting to your scource and co creating your life. Sadly this is as far as i have gotten in this series I use the joppa meditation. Things tend to happen fast with this. I had to stop for a while in order to overcome some fears that cropped up when using this. It starts to feel as if you are living inside of your own dream after a while. It takes some getting used to.

Thanks for your input. I felt like it was a positive dream. Right now, I do 5 elements Quigong to warmup. Then sit in front of a heater in the Burmese position while listening to a Dane Spotts meditation cd. If I listen to it laying down, I fall asleep everytime. I just focus on breathing. I am trying to quiet my mind as I have way to much inner dialog. My job is boring so I tried to keep myself busy with inner dialog and letting my mind wander but I am realizing it isn't good.

at the end of the day an "Ability" occurs if the Creator wills it and grants the "Shakti" for things to happen. Also certain things are not for show. They serve a higher purpose (Healing, mass change, transmutation etc). It may be common that when you are with a generous teacher your life changes, it is as if you are living a seperate reality or dream where all things are possible. This is the Creator working through your "guru" to show you the potential of the creator itself with in and with out you. I have seen enough to not doubt and I have seen enough to know we are capable of the miraculous if our hearts are in the right place. Also keep in mind as the Native Americans say " you see what you really want to see"... If you want to see things not work they wont. If you want to see things work and be miraculous they become that. Peace & God Bless & eat your Nutella on toast and not in your shorts! Santiago Dobles

Welcome ! About the dream you had, could it be a reflection of your subconsious on a spirtual or physical cleansing proces wich started in your body due to picking up a meditation practice ? Yust an obvious guess as i dont know alot about the meaning of dreams hehe. Regards

Absolutely right. I think this 'dream' is a very nice one but one that can hardly materialize. I don't know much, if anything, about other traditions but in Daoism - in history as today in China - when two great masters from different lines meet they both humble each other and immediately the one *more developed* (for lack of a better term) is recognized by the other who becomes "the student". This is expressed in the Daodejing as the river always flowing toward the sea. Also just think about the encounter between Confucius and Laozi. When two students from different lines meet they mostly argue about who's school is better I think this depends on the fact that Daoism is very much a "personal" endevour, a solitary and personal path. The pratictioner is very much concerned in walking up his path of development and sees 'external' knowledge as a disturbance - very much like a student of medicine would not want to loose time talking scholastic/learning issues with a student of engineering. Historically speaking, in Daoism, the relationship is always very much a student/teacher and not a peer-peer one***. Cross pollination is fundamental to growth and this is very common in Daoism of course but that is done again by student/teacher relationship. A student of a certain line, going up his path, often seek assistance, guidance and new material from teachers of other lines - but always as a solitary and personal endevour. Maybe this is something 'western Daoism' can do better than Chinese Daoism ? YM *** peer-peer relationship is common with Shamanism in China

Good attitude! I've long held such a dream. Great schools like this have existed before but to my knowledge, never have many traditions gathered under one roof. Imagine, the opportunity for masters to study each other's systems, discuss methods, and collaborate. I know many masters have the ability to simply watch a practice and immediately understand its purpose. Put these men and women together to study how their methods are alike and differ and I imagine you could develop a very refined system of cultivation. You bring up a very good point that many different methods exist because many different minds exist. Certainly there is no one way best for everyone. This is where you could also introduce the traditional medical and psychological systems to help guide who should be practicing which methods when. Different bodies and minds have different needs, these differences too could be investigated and cataloged. I know Ayurvedic and TCM are both used to diagnose constitutional conditions and temporary disease patterns. Using these diagnostic techniques cultivation could be further tailored to suit each individual. Use western material diagnostics to study the course of cultivation and within a generation we could have the start of a new tradition of human spiritual technology. When would you like to start?

I've been a long time viewer, but haven't posted yet. I've meditated off and on for a number of years, but have mostly learned from books, audio/video tapes and self-exploration. I've had interesting experiences along the way including lucid dreaming, synchronistic events, dream guidance, some experience with altered states and a brief glimpse of "emptiness" which I experienced as the absence of internal dialogue and found frightening the time that it occurred. So that I balance out both the light and the dark - I've also pushed too hard, depleting myself energetically and had a number of experiences which were quite frightening at the time. I recently began the KAP 1 course which has already paid dividends. I'll post about this on the main forum. Anyhow, looking forward to meeting everyone and being a more frequent contributor. Also, have been involved in martial arts for a number of years now and continue to be very intersted in the link between meditation and movement arts.

I knew her as just Susan. (I looked it up, her last name IS Carlson) She was on several kundalini forums. She liked to do online chats with ppl and blast them with shakti. She also coordinated dream/astral journeys. I remember her affiliation with Glen Morris, but I didn't know anything about him. Satyalok

You're living in a dream world, Neo.

Laziness is a symptom of boredom Without a full life everything we do is work Get up go out hug a tree, talk to a bird, smell a flower,wrestle your dog,walk with your sweetheart holding hands down a forest pathway. Go to a job you enjoy. Or just run away from it all, sometimes we wake up and find we have choosen to have so many responsibilities we feel trapped, and yet we created the entire scenario that we are living out. If you are american the fantasy of the american dream, will give you more responsibilities then normally 10 people could deal with and be happy. May be sometimes it is time for a reevaluation of what we think we truly want as a responsibility we are capable of handling without it infringing on our own peace of mind. Sometimes we get so busy fixing people, places and things outside of ourself,we have no time to fix ourselves.

Just slow drip of time Goes on and on and on and on, Man. What's this sleep system? (am interested Stig? Have you seen good results with it with FMS folks? ...don't tend to go past the dream state? Forget what it's called! ...no real deep sleep, not often. am interested! Thanks!)

Its hard to argue against the philosophy of 'Before Enlightenment carry wood and water, After enlightenment Carry wood and water. To quiet the mind and go deeper into the moment is indeed one of the greatest challenges. But there are others. There are esoterisms to be considered and explored. I've got to credit Ron Jeremy for this saying that struck me, 'How will your practice help you once you're dead?' One one hand who knows what happens when you die. On the other, there are practices, dream control, phowa, astral travel etc. that give tantalizing clues and skills. To chase after those 'powers' early is probably a waste. Without a long strong developed practice you're climbing the limb of an undeveloped tree. But I think after the Dao of the tic toc world there are others to explore. Maybe after this Dao, That Dao. maybe. Michael

Brilliant, Jing Attig Even so can anyone be more or less on the same pathway, isn't all of nature moved by Tao, and ultimately moving toward the Oneness we search, appearence say the world as we perceive it outside of ourselves is in utter chaos, and confusion, doesn't nature appear to us as same when a monsoon, or hurricane rampages its way through lives, are we better off for consciously searching for purpose and meaning, then they who appear not to be as we. Are all the practices we do to control and manipulate our thoughts,and feelings setting us truly free or are we actually the ones imprisoned by our ideas? Chuang Tzu spoke of the illusion of a dream he had wondering was he a butterfly thinking he was a man or a man thinking he was a butterfly. Our universe is but a drop of water with us wandering aimlessly along our way, some of us with such grandiose ideas that we are there, we are it. We have finally reached our purpose our destination, and we have to communicate that to others, so we can all be in the same boat in this drop of water. So we talk ,we discuss, we search the what is called the ancient wisdoms, and from those ancient scripts,others will come along to express just how they see it themselves and write new books, the old books will be translated by so many others that soon the ancient wisdom isn't even wisdom any more. They are just words written in the wind In this short period of time we are here in this form and shape we, here in the western world have thought we had true freedom, because we had most things needed to make ourselves comfortably numb. Certainly some of us rebelled against our upbringing ,our religions, our parents, everything because it didn't feel right to us personally. For some of us it took us far away from what others did ,thought and beleived, we actually became alliens in our own bodies. So we began our search, we became nomads traveling through every denomination of the religion we began with, still dissatisfied we took a chance and went to a different religion only to end up just as disenchanted, we moved on to another philopshy and another program that said...this is really the way. For those of us who could not find satisfaction we eventually arrived at the door of Lao Tzu, so different from our western thinking, thrilled by the words we dug in, for me then came Chuang Tzu, at this point I stopped to return to my beginings The Christian Bible, with my new found freedom to inspect and explore, that which I had challanged , I finally asked the question, who really compiled these books, chose the books that would be acceptable and discarded those they found unfit. You see for most of my adult life I accepted blindly on faith they were the inspired words of god, even though I felt that no matter how hard I tried I had to fail and wind up in hell, so I kept digging and search. Well as it turns out some ruler took control of what they say jesus was about, and created a new religion, and it was he and a cohort Jerome who put there heads together and the bible as we see it in uncountable different versions has been destroying humankind ever since in the name of the god they created. Having reached this conclusion and come back to Lao TZu and Chuang Tzu after reading and searching and turning their ideas all around and upside down, for years,I come to the same conclusion, I arrived at with the bible. In somewayThe government of China, or India, or Japan,created that which best full filled their own mission to control and manipulate their own people, to the western mind, the ideas are magnificent , so freeing up after being confined to a god who was going to judge and condemn his own creation, when I say it now it sounds ludicrious, that for 1700 years they have been able to control and manipulate with fear. Can it be any different in any of the other cultures, as the world gradually becomes capitalistic, which government will reach the pinnicale of deception and wind up being the world government. So here I am and I have heard what you said Jing Attig, and it sounds awesome, we humans are great for performance and drama, look at jesus they gave him a script, all he had to do is follow what the prophets,(who by the way were all derelicts living isolated in caves, eating locust and wild honey,) said the messiah was going to do. When they created the bible they had it all their own way they could say anything they wanted 300 years after the supposed happening, if it ever happened at all, and they made him in to a god. And their god has been attempting to control and manipulate the world with war ever since. More of humankind has been destroyed by their creation then anyone in all of history. Now do you really think it would be any different with any other religions the states adopt and promote. So we talk about oneness, we are all one, and I honestly believe that is true only because of the concept of quantum and that we are all connected no matter whether we want to or not, we talk about dao, and argue back and forth or we discuss how we see it, or we ridicule one another because we think we know morethen the fool who just spilled his guts out, and my friend in the end it all winds up just entertainment, because we are so bored with our existence the way we created it that we just have to look for more and stir up more trouble. I am not even going to try to edit this or read it over Just going to hang it out there to dry. Tell me my bullshit don't stink, and I'll tell you "come on let us all get honest" joe

What's up? This was the best response I've had to that- No one jokes enough these days, unfortunate. Anyways, yes, I'm brand new to the commun-i-tea. I've really been hearing a lot people speaking about the dow recently. I'm glad I found this forum. I plan to learn lots about it here. The truth is I like the Tao, I-Ching, meditation, tea and plan to glean and share some things here. I have a blog @ http://dreambored.blogspot.com/ Dream Bored plans to get into the tao at some point in the future, but as for now, we're still under the trees. Hope all's well, and each has the energy to send positivity into this world. Peace

Like, literally and measurably? Or just perceptually? Cool, please link it here when you do! My friend had a dream about a lion, lately. Could you expound upon these spiritual stories and symbology here?

I feel sure that your students wouldnt dream of being so ungenerous.. it wouldnt be possible for them to be petty or resentful about money issues, would it, with their level of evolution gained from learning from you? Go ahead and give freely as your heart desires.

IMHO, I think this at least relates to your last question... Http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?s=&amp...ost&p=77446 from that narrative... <<<Soon she was transferred to a palliative care ward. It was cramped and noisy; restless and uncomfortable for her initially. That evening she manifested many symptoms and several nurses and her doctor attended. My brother and his partner and my wife and I were there. At some point she escalated into severe coughing, mucus, and cramping; sitting up rapidly and falling back repeatedly. My brother and I were on either side of her bed at this point and the nurses and doctor standing by, not having any particular diagnosis or treatment at that moment. My brother and I were each holding an opposite hand and elbow of our mother through this sitting up / falling back in an effort to cushion and stabilize her motion, while talking to her to comfort and elicit her reports of what was the problem /what was it she needed. Both of us began to feel a great sense of heat/energy/scintillations in our hands, going deeper and deeper and rising in power. With this she relaxed and remained resting for a few moments and the nurses took over again.>>> I have no doubt from that experience we were doing what we could to assist and communicate while she was attempting to leave. That lifeforce projection by her, for I cannot think it was anything but powerful intention driving it, was her first effort. A very determined and self-assured person, she had come very close to dying from a childhood disease when she was about six years of age. <<<As she was able to relax after this episode, but not having died then as seemed to be where things were headed that evening, she then slipped any medication out the side of her mouth and never ate or drank again, but agreed to me, my brother or our partners swabbing her mouth with a moisturizing gel. Fortunately she was able to be transferred to a private palliative care suite and lived relaxed, in and out of conscious lucid dream states talking but not in clear words to those in the dreams, and to us simultaneously for several days before going into a sleep/brief-waking/sleep cycles and then into a coma, until after my brother returned from a long-planned trip with his son, of about ten days.>>> Throughout this period, I was there daily and other family and the family minister visited from time to time. She cheerfully conversed with us and gradually also with her ethereal visitors, but in increasingly garbled speak as her vocal tract was drying and diminishing. Yet she continued to find meaning in our interchanges and joy. I brushed her hair regularly, which was one her great comforts. Through a period into the sleep to coma phase, she expressed discomfort and small doses of morphine alleviated that pain and through this virtually all talking stopped. I sang old favourite songs and hymns of hers. Occasionally she seemed to try to smile or hum... <<<The next day with both my brother and I in her room with her, and after days of no movement and coma, she stirred, lifted her head the little she could and worked her desiccated mouth as best she could, determined to articulate what we heard as: "Thank you...", with the attempt at a smile as far as her body could then do that, and left her body then and there.>>> We talked and sang to her gently through this until she came out of the coma briefly. We hugged her and kissed her and brushed her hair again as she was leaving and assured her we would be alright. "Everything that can be done will be done.", I said and looking into her eyes you could see her peace. It was an honour and a privilege to be able to be there throughout. all the best to you artform

I can barely type what I'm typing because most of my fingers are glued together with Crazy Glue on account of a tube thereof having exploded in my hands earlier tonight. This happened to me for the first time in my life, and will probably prevent me from practicing the Red Phoenix and the Golden Flower, with their relaxed hand mudras, for as long as it will take me to scrape the damn thing off. The reason I tried to open the tube to begin with is that I intended to glue my wristband ID from the Kunlun seminar, with its long wavy dragon (of the particular variety small enough and worm-like enough to hide in the folds of one's clothes), into my scrapbook. Some forces started working against my Kunlun initiation in advance. The morning after I made up my mind to go to the San Diego Kunlun seminar, I woke up to an extraordinarily painful rash, possibly shingles, all over my face. I did a round of home remedies and improved just to the point where I still couldn't recognize myself in the mirror but at least I could smile or sneeze without screaming anymore. The night before the seminar I decided I couldn't possibly go, but then Chris the writing knight in shining Kunlun armor, and the I Ching consulted on the issue, together succeeded in convincing me otherwise. So I bit the bullet and went. There were perhaps around fifty people in attendance. Max wore stylish Chinese clothes and a wide bracelet on his wrist. The bracelet, upon being removed on a later occasion, revealed a deep scar that looked as though someone had once tried to severe his hand with an ax and nearly succeeded. Which didn't seem to interfere with its strength and speed when Max delivered a cannonball-loud slapping Hot Palm treatment to one of the participants, pummeling away at his bare torso as though trying to demolish a prohibition on corporal punishments. The eight hours spread over two days -- Kunlun level I seminar, which is where I went (there was also a level II seminar for people who had practiced the first one for a minimum of six months) -- proved eventful. Now then. I have never worked for personnel and have never handled benefits, but one thing I know: I'm not someone who will give a controversial teacher the benefit of the doubt until he or she has somehow earned this benefit. I view an experiential tabula rasa with implicit suspicion. Any which claims anyone might write on it, I would want validated somehow. Tell me, show me, get me to feel it, get me to get it. Not in my mind though... Get me to get it with my life, with the very aliveness of me. I don't care about any other kinds of "proof." On the other hand, I'm not someone who makes up her mind in advance about anything (took a while to learn not to), particularly about certain things supposedly being once and for all, for all purposes and for all eternity, impossible. No. There's no such thing as impossible things; if you think there is, you haven't been paying attention to the universe. Miracles? I'm all for miracles, I don't think our world could emerge on any other, non-miraculous premise. It is not the outcome of a logical process; it is not a rational thing that anyone can account for by any rational arguments; it's inherently miraculous. Anyone who believes that "anything is possible" is a wrong statement holds a flaky belief with no basis in reality. Now miracle workers, especially professional, money-making miracle workers, are a different matter altogether. I trust the miraculous universe; it doesn't mean being gullible, it means being reasonable. I don't so readily trust miracle workers, neither great nor small. People are not, generally speaking, trustworthy. People who make money doing whatever they are doing are particularly non-trustworthy. It's the nature of the human beast. I don't trust the so-called "modern scientists" either. If someone withholds or takes away their research grant unless they lie, they lie. If someone guarantees no career advancement ever unless they lie, they lie. If someone orchestrates peer pressure unless they lie, they lie. If someone... and someone always does. What's "proof?.." Of anything?.. To me, it is as non-linear as the world I find myself in. Proof is a pattern, a tapestry, a piece of brocade, a dance, a symphony, a meaningful congruence between what you question and what life answers. If it's step by step, it's not a dance -- it's a marching army, and an army always marches toward death. Note by note, it's not a symphony -- it's the tinkering of an ignoramus who owns the instrument but has never learned how to play. Argument by argument, it's no proof! Proof is time-sensitive. A post-factum "I told you so" is not it, anymore than an a priori "I believe." Proof is space-sensitive, place-sensitive. In China, "fear of cold" is a disease a patient will complain of and the doctor will treat; the patient is not expected to prove she suffers from the "fear of cold," the doctor is not expected to suspect a lie, and the proof is in the pulse. Our PDR doesn't contain such a disease. Do Chinese patients and doctors alike lie then? To whom? To themselves? To each other? To us? To god?.. Proof is, then, space-time sensitive, but... Our reality is not comprised of space-time only. There's things beyond -- like intent, like co-creation, like dream-dimensions, like tao... Proof ends where reality begins. Only unreal things can be "proved" and measurements that "prove" can only be taken in frozen, stopped, dead environments, under "controlled" conditions, under formaldehyde. Life and its theoretical variety known as the afterlife don't yield to the "prove it" demand. Life has nothing to prove. (to be continued)

Xeno, You're a funny guy. I have never seen someone so obsessed with something they claim to have no interest in. You're borderline stalker. By all means, please come save me from my path, sifu. I hope to one day speak in a condescending tone like you papa? Sarcasm I get, but arrogance is something only a master such as yourself could teach. Please learn me how ta do it. This is an exciting opportunity you have presented and I feel that if I work really hard, perhaps I could develop the critical analytical skills that would help me confuse the one post where someone detailed a satirical roller coaster "flying" experience, as an ACTUAL personal experience. Oh, a boy can dream... I do share my personal experiences, but on my own forum, amongst friends. Why would I put anything personal in here? It is like a cess-pool half of the time where sincerity is rewarded with shittyness. Not here. However, I would LOVE to have the conversation in person, where you refer to me as a tool. I think I might actually enjoy that a lot.