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I am off this thread for the time being. The childish remarks are rather telling in regards as to the personality makeup of several incessantly posting here. It is no surprise that when the bait is tossed, the fish bite. The big lie which is larger than life always appears appealing and is so easily assimilated by the vulnerable masses. The incremental lies and half truths are the most insidious. Dream on.

It's not often I disagree with you Taoist Text, but this is one of those times. IMO he is talking only about the difference between physical reality and a dream. And this association can be taken directly into physical reality in that we oftentimes do not know the difference between the truth of reality and our illusions and delusions of what reality is. The "transformation of things" speaks to the concepts of birth/death, creation/destruction, etc.

At least you should look into the available evidence. There is an essay by a fanatical communist that asked the question 'when did you know ?' . It asks the question of his Western intellectual colleagues about their blindness to the situation in Soviet Russia. A lot of intellectuals were wined and dined by the soviets, shown happy children, hospitals, housing projects, schools etc and came back to their countries expounding the benefits of socialism. At one time it was thought inevitable that Russia would overtake the West through the success of communist principles. When the Soviet Union began to collapse-and it would have collapsed a lot earlier if the USA/Europe had refused to trade with it-then these intellectuals went very quiet. They refused to comment on the collapse and their previous enthusiasm for socialism-they wrote many persuasive articles (paid for with soviet rumbles) which found their way into all the major media papers and magazines of the day. The essay I refer to was intended as an admission of ignorance by the author, he decided to stand up and admit he had been badly wrong and to prompt his colleagues to join the condemnation of such a barbaric system. The terrible death toll in Russia alone, thoroughly outstripped any numbers from Nazi concentration camps. Unfortunately, though we accept that fascism is evil because of that butchery and genocide, the terror of Soviet concentration camps and mass murder has been largely forgotten because the Russians are seen as the good guys who helped stem the evil Nazi tide. Socialism should be related to murderous genocide and terrible barbarism in exactly the same way as the Nazi's, but instead, fools go around sporting Lenin/Che tee shirts as if it's cool. Yet these people would not dream of wearing a Hitler tee shirt despite the similarities. If you have 20 minutes to read Eugene Genovese's essay 'the question' I think it might begin some more considered thinking on the issue. http://www.dissentmagazine.org/wp-content/files_mf/1353953160genovesethequestion.pdf

Here, by 'the transformation of things' ZZ means death and rebirth in a new incarnation. For the purposes of this parable ZZ remembers and recounts his dreaming of being a butterfly, but normally, an ordinary man does not remember his previous dream-life ( "He didn't know that he was Chou".). This sentence "He did not know whether he was Chou who had dreamed of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming that he was Chou. " Should read "When he was a butterfly he did not know he was Chou; and when he was Chou he did not know he was a a butterfly" Therefore this parable, as are many others in ZZ, is an argument in favor of reincarnation, undergoing which a man forgets his previous life.

Actually, Dao Yin Shu focuses on complete unification, so refinement within the physical vessel is continuous. It ceases when there are no more negative aspects left to revise; then only Yang Shen remains. When we practise Dao Yin Shu, we are always in a gradual process of transformation from Yin Shen to Yang Shen. When there is adequate "unification" of all constituent elements; the Yang spirit can exit the body to continue refinement on a higher level. This takes more time, on the other hand, Yin Shen and awareness projection is often achieved by Dao Yu in the early stages. I know of cases where it happens on the first day after Dao Ying (Initiation). Fundamentally, achievement is endless - such that it reflects the ultimateness of the Dao. However within specific dimentions there are barriers which must be transcended. So there is a form of conceptual segregation on a microscopic level and uninterrupted perpetuity on a macroscopic ontological level - Taiji and Wuji. Maybe you didn't clean your ears - Or maybe it was my bad music in the background? : ) Every Hu Fa Shen has the ability to manifest countless transformation bodies. Each independently conscious as an aspect of the unified source soul, in the form of a Xian Shen or a Tian Shen - depending on what type of HFS was assigned to you. For example, Er Lang Shen is registered through Tai Shang Lao Jun as an authorised Hu Fa Shen of the Celestial branch of Xiao Yao Pai and our clan Tai Shang Men (The Supreme Gate). He instructs many, many, many Dao Yu here on earth as well as in other dimensions. As a simple example, during his ceremonial observance, when a Dao Yu lights incense and invites Er Lang Shen to guide them in a session of Dao Yin Shu, so does the whole school of 140,000 Dao Yu. All at a similliar time on that particular day; and he leads them all simultaneously. Space and Time are not an obstacle in Wuji and even if Hu Fa Shen needs to vibrate down to synchronize with Jing, Qi and Shen in Taiji, in order to interact with your awareness, in case yours isn't yet tuned finely enough to voluntarily exit Taiji and enter Wuji; well, they have more than enough merit (Gong De) to do so. They do it all the time. So, to clarify. Yes, Tai Shang Lao Jun, assigns a Hu Fa Shen to each student. They are independent entities. My Hu Fa Shen was my master from one of my former lives when I lived in China as a poor man. I guess someone likes my bad jokes, because he must have volunteered. The lower self or the acquired mind which forms after birth is not the Soul or it's Yuan Shen projection. Yes it is possible for Yang Shen to project its consciousness, but in XYP your implication would lead to a redundancy error, because what you're describing ie: the interaction of a higher-self with a lower-self - is simply the default configuration of a human. You cannot "assume" or be another soul, but you can share in its phenomenal experience. None of this should be of surprise. Just because in XYP we don't name our movements something flamboyant like "The Tesla Coiler" or "The Spirit Qi Pump" - it doesn't detract from the basis of all movement; the physical and subtle body. Let me clarify myself, while I clarify myself :> What I mean to say is that the physical limbs and torso are limited by the mechanical maneuverability and mobility of the joints. The electromagnetic channel network of the meridians is also pretty much the same in everyone, almost all the time, with the exception of... well, that doesn't matter now. If you move your hand up you will stimulate meridians A B and C if you move it down, meridian J, if you rotate it, push it, tense it, lift it, drop it, swing it - it will stimulate your subtle body in different ways. The body is used to choreograph these complicated symphonies, assuming the role of proxy to the manipulation of the underlying subtle energy within. Life is very mysterious and very interesting : ) Xiao Yao Pai doesn't compete with any system or school. We just want to facillitate the process of cultivation for others by providing support. If someone wishes to fully follow the path of Xian Tian Dao Yin Shu and make this their primary practice, it is fine. If they wish to practice in combination with something else, usually it's also fine, unless XTDYS has already been the main practice for a long time, in which case it's advisable to stay onboard with both feet as there are many things at the later stages that we do differently to other schools. Either way your HFS sees and knows everything you think, do, feel, wish, dream and fear, so you can't run or hide, haha. He/She is always there to help if you care enough to nurture your relationship. At the end of the day, they don't owe you anything and you don't owe them anything. This is freedom.

A Kickstarter project being developed to help you recognize you are sleeping and thus make you aware in the dream and become lucid: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1705207344/the-lucid-dreamer-wake-up-inside-your-dreams so you don't need to train or do anything in order to become lucid and worry about anything. https://www.facebook.com/NowThisFuture/videos/1257420744299103/ some would say that lucid dream may help to clear issue and thus help with chakras and so help with enlightenment, would be more like making a virtual world to deal with your issues and solve them, in a safe place, under your control. would you think it is a good idea? would you think, we might come to a time where an enlightenment pill or something in that space would be invented? wouldn't it be beneficial to just clear your chakras and become aware of energy without the hassle of the whole process? Even though, yes it is about the journey, but still.. things much easier Thanks

Einstein said, "Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile." Consider three ideas: Live for others. Live for you. Live for love. I prefer, of these three, live for love. Billy Graham has frequently preached, "Live for Christ." My point is that there can be some kind of higher purpose or dedication. Know that your life DOES indeed have meaning. You don't necessarily have to intellectually understand it to have a deep sense of purpose. Check out Viktor Frankl's books, "Man's Search for Meaning," and, "Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning." He survived a Nazi concentration camp, and developed his Existential philosophy largely from the wisdom gained from his experience. One more thing. The driving ambition of my life has been to find enlightenment, and this goal has provided me with a profound sense of purpose and meaning. You can have a long-term goal or dream that will endow your life with meaning. Oh btw, both Eckhart Tolle and Paramhansa Yogananda teach that the ultimate purpose of our lives is to awaken spiritually. I'm editing this now to add two things. Einstein also said, "Try not to become a man of success, rather, try to become a man of value." And Emerson said, "To live so as to have made one life easier is to have succeeded." Try to be a blessing to others.

I found it to be extremely hard after the first wave of experiences, first there was alot of bliss and pain one after the other. After that there was just normal life again, and all the repressed emotions from the earlier years.. Sometimes I thought it had all been a dream, not so much now.

The way it was explained to me - our brains need both of its sides functioning during an experience to classify, and categorize, our experiences appropriately. For example, when we have a bad dream, or nightmare, when we wake up we might recall it fully - but our brain has already given it the 'dream' clasification/code... and we can shake it off, eventually. In some PTSD, in the case of a extreme-stress event, one of the brain's sides (hemispheres), doesn't kick in to do it's job during the experience and the experience isn't 'coded' appropriately...i.e., it isn't given (in my case) the 'it happened in the past, it's over now' classification. For 7 months, back in the winter of 2010-2011, I lived in extreme fear. By choice, and because there was no other choice, I kept my husband alive through constant vigil, 24/7. Some things were in my control (right meds at the right time) but the things that I had no control over were the source of my fear: if the power went out he would die within 15 minutes and all I'd be able to do is watch. Remote Canada. Winter. Snowed in. Rescue wouldn't make it in time. Yeah, right. I didn't realize the physical-stress toll this had taken on me until after he died, in the spring. The power never did go out - amazingly - but that constant fear still had me by the throat; couldn't even start to grieve, could barely function; I was so fucked up and didn't know how to fix it and sought help. I got lucky. EMDR was pretty new back then & the counselor I found wanted to try it. The theory is this: Stimulate both sides of the brain while the experience is relived, through recalling everything, so the experience can be classified/coded the way it should have been in the first place. It took six 2-hour sessions, twice a week. The debilitating fear no longer had me by the throat. I still remembered (and remember) everything....but only as a memory, rather than as flashback, and my stress-level (from the fear) dropped to near-zero. Everyone's story is different. EMDR might not be effective on all types of PTSD. By god, though, it's worth a try. Saved my life, that. I'm open to questions, if any. Warm regards

Hi folks Long time since I´ve been here. I have a question for you wise people: During the last week I have been drinking Chaga tea, and for a couple of nights I have also been plagued with intense nightmares. I rarely have them, and wonder if there is causation and not only correlation. The reason I think there may be a link is that they were particularly vivid, and particularly dark. I have not found anything online that would support this claim. However, I know that mushroom-based effects may, if one "overdose" have a degree of dream induction through it´s high melatonin content. So; if there is a melanin - nightmare link, may I be overdosing on it? h

I do recognize the photo above. this is what I have translated. I have dreamed my whole life...as far as sleeping dreams. just recently digested term lucid, although I have a few recalls in my memory that seemed just as lucid. I think it is just mental art. abstract and then not getting too busy into the meaning. If I begin to think I can dig into meaning than it gets bumped into psychological matter-of which I have had the thought processes my whole life to sift. what concerned me was the deeper UNDERLYING message----for the cosmic dream makers. what I want to convey here, albeit not so clearly(las vegas) translate in Spanish and then translate in vagus nerve.... is that I do get scary moments, embarrassing, spiritually I was concerned and am concerned about the stuck quality------ and what baggage I have brought if any------and I do not mean that I am not responsible for what my actions are--- but that the dream matter first struck me as(even though I see myself in the dream--I was glad to wake up .... lay there for a minute and process how I give meaning to that. I first thought that this was me representing where someone else is sleeping...as in someone from my past who has now moved on and married and that I maybe carrying her----but the image was not her.... it seems trivial and a bit tricky. the other unsettling things is my own mind... I begin to hyper connect vortex matter-----inside my own processing... my computer helper T-projectile vomitting my uncomfortableness in the outrageous intricacies of dragonfly's faces-- the video of the leaves blowing---just seeing that for a few and the harnessing---- In facing my own version of wrong doing and squeezing and insisting--- I think T was hijacking kmart system and that I am having evil lurking in and on me. and that I am this I have done this and that---- and who knows what you know and all of the good intentions in life and all the not so good. the swallowing and the movie of what my life has contained... in the pretend world of my mind--- it is like going to a circus...it is overwhelming and there are plenty of scary faces and places-and I have plenty of my own work to do...sometimes just sitting still and not reaching for anybody... sometimes laughing now at my own delusional meltdown--- my son witnessed my mental emotion fear...I would not want to steal from people... by the end of my meltdown he hugged me and teased me that my sister had texted him from the bank and that she was hijacking the bank....we both laughed ourselves silly....that I could see my own goofy crap and so could he--- the underlying lessons here for me we to just step carefully---and the runaway mind has to settle down and it can't figure all of it out. and the fundamental true matter here as best I can put forth is that I am thankful to be able to say thank you for a very difficult lessons it is from a place I do not know- so in swinging from one pendulum way to the other is odd. to say the least.

"I have heard from Confucius," said Master Timid Magpie, inquiring of Master Tall Tree, "that the sage does not involve himself in worldly affairs. He does not go after gain, nor does he avoid harm. He does not take pleasure in seeking, nor does he get bogged down in formalistic ways. He speaks without saying anything; he says something without speaking. Instead, he wanders beyond the dust of the mundane world. Confucius thinks this is a vague description of the sage, but I think that it is the working of the wondrous Way. What do you think of it, my master?" "Even the Yellow Emperor would be perplexed by hearing these things;" said Master Tall Tree. "How is Hillock {{Ch'iu, Confucius' personal name, possibly referring to the philosopher's high, knobby forehead or to his presumably illegitimate birth in the countryside.}} capable of understanding them? It seems that you, too, are overly hasty in forming an estimate. You're counting your chickens before they're hatched, drooling over roast owl at the sight of a crossbow pellet. "Let me say a few careless words to you and you listen carelessly, all right? The sage can lean against the sun and moon and tuck the universe under his arm because he melds things into a whole, Sets aside obfuscation, And is indifferent to baseness and honor. The mass of men are all hustle-bustle; The sage is slow and simple. He combines myriad years Into a single purity. Thus does he treat the myriad things, And thereby gathers them together. "How do I know that love of life is not a delusion? How do I know that fear of death is not like being a homeless waif who does not know the way home? When the state of Chin first got Pretty Li, the daughter of the border warden of Ai, she wept till her robe was soaked with tears. But after she arrived at the king's residence, shared his fine bed, and could eat the tender meats of his table, she regretted that she had ever wept. How do I know that the dead may not regret their former lust for life? "Someone who dreams of drinking wine at a cheerful banquet may wake up crying the next morning. Someone who dreams of crying may go off the next morning to enjoy the sport of the hunt. When we are in the midst of a dream, we do not know it's a dream. Sometimes we may even try to interpret our dreams while we are dreaming, but then we awake and realize it was a dream. Only after one is greatly awakened does one realize that it was all a great dream, while the fool thinks that he is awake and presumptuously aware. 'My excellent lord!' 'Oh, thou humble shepherd!' How perverse they are! "Both Confucius and you are dreaming, and I too am dreaming when I say that you are dreaming. This sort of language may be called enigmatic, but after myriad generations there may appear a great sage who will know how to explain it and he will appear as though overnight. "Suppose that you and I have a dispute. If you beat me and I lose to you, does that mean you're really right and I'm really wrong? If I beat you and you lose to me, does that mean I'm really right and you're really wrong? Is one of us right and the other wrong? Or are both of us right and both of us wrong? Neither you nor I can know, and others are even more in the dark. {{In Taoist thought, darkness signifies many things, including mystery (cf. Tao Te Ching, chapter 1), concentrated yin, origin, etc., and is associated with the north and water. This is the region where the Way (Tao) is most immanent.}} Whom shall we have decide the matter? Shall we have someone who agrees with you decide it? Since he agrees with you, how can he decide fairly? Shall we have someone who agrees with me decide it? Since he agrees with me, how can he decide fairly? Shall we have someone who differs with both of us decide it? Since he differs with both of us, how can he make a decision? Shall we have someone who agrees with both of us decide it? Since he agrees with both of us, how can he make a decision? Given that neither you nor I, nor another person, can know how to decide, shall we wait for still another? "Whether the alternating voices of disputation are relative to each other or not, they may be harmonized within the framework of nature and allowed to follow their own effusive elaboration so they may live out their years. What does 'harmonized within the framework of nature' mean? I would say, 'Right may be not right, so may be not so. If right were really right, then right would be distinct from not right, and there would be no dispute. If so were really so, then so would be distinct from not so and there would be no dispute. Forget how many years there are in a lifespan, forget righteousness. If you ramble in the realm of infinity, you will reside in the realm of infinity.'"

“Before I sought enlightenment, the mountains were mountains and the rivers were rivers. While I sought enlightenment, the mountains were not mountains and the rivers were not rivers. After I attained enlightenment, the mountains were mountains and the rivers were rivers.” - Zen Proverb It's all happening right here. Anything that teaches that there's somewhere to go or something to achieve is just trying to teach another method of control, ultimately. There is obviously a difference between pre and post, not in the objects but in the awareness. It's not true to say we were better off as babies because they are born empty. There's something about returning to innocence after seeing the mountains were not mountains, that is different... more lucid. We are living in a dream. Don't get too hung up on the word "enlightened". Let's just talk about the essence... The thing is... you don't gain anything by achieving this. Inner peace, supreme wisdom, ending of suffering, love... none of these are the point of enlightenment. There is nothing out there to grasp onto. There is no point. It arises and dissolves, and that's it. Everything is like that. This is a dream. One minute you're in love, the next you're dying in the dirt... no matter what happens, you're always "it". You're always there. No trying necessary, but if you feel like trying you're still "it" anyway. I have been struggling with how to bring this into my human level experience. If everything is pointless, if there is ultimate freedom, if there is no inherent meaning or structure, then how do I live? Seems that... the answer is that I am this, and not this, simultaneously. You build a sand castle and the ocean washes it away. Did the sand castle have a point? If you know the candle light is fire then the meal was cooked along time ago. We are living in one big post hoc fallacy -- that because you've always been here, you came from something. Can you please point to this "you"? But this reality, this life, is gnawing. It goes on and on. The awareness never ends. It's a kind of helplessness that has no real solution because nobody is doing it. I find myself going to Vajra Buddhist ceremonies, getting "empowerments" - emptiness empowering emptiness - what do we think we're really doing here? There's nothing in here for karma to attach to. There's nowhere to store merit in a vessel that is already empty. I already hung up the phone, but the phone keeps ringing. And when I answer the phone, the call has already ended. Yet I keep answering. Why? There's nothing happening here. I could do anything I wanted, or do nothing, and it wouldn't matter. Sometimes when I see people earnestly seeking so much, I want to tell them to just focus on the material world. If someone offers you money or enlightenment, take the money. At least money can create temporary experiences and joy. Ultimately it doesn't matter either way. Nothing is wrong. I suppose it does free up a lot of energy to not worry about things that don't exist. Like what it means to you personally if you can't pay your bills. Worst case scenario is you lose everything and die. But now you know -- it was never yours anyway. Just some things moving through my awareness... no point really.

Let me thank all who takes the time to help me with this issue. I will describe as many details that may have something to with my problem as possible, to aid in your diagnostics. Your advice, suggestions, and feedback will be incredibly valuable to me. I've waited a long time to post here to ask this question, hoping my problem would resolve itself, but it hasn't. Here's the issue: I have a physiological problem with my eyes being filled with heat, and I don't know what to do about it, other than around 5 times a day dunking my head in a stream of cold water in my shower until everything cools down. As the eyes are basically reflections of the state of the health of our brain, I am worried that my brain, and by implication, nervous system, may be inflamed to an excessive degree, causing me to feel the sensation of intense heat in and through my eyes after about 3 pm in the day until bed. I will continue talking about this in a minute. First, let me explain something else that I believe is related to this phenomenon (the reason I am here). One of the best resources I have found on the internet on the subject of conservation of one's sexual energies is thedaobums.com. I drew great inspiration from the conversations on the forums that have taken place in the past on here and have learned a great deal from them. I have for the last 12 months successfully for longer and longer periods of time been practicing semen conservation, simultaneous with my practice of meditation, and training my mind to do what I want it to do on demand without delay. Recently, over the course of 4 - 8 weeks, I have for the first time in my entire life felt as though I have made some very real progress in these areas. I have greater control than I have ever before over what I choose to focus on. More and more I am able to look at women, not impulsively as objects to be fetishized about, but as gorgeous beings, realizing how beautiful they really are, and therefore completely undeserving of my sexual objectification and fantasizing. I have more and more dreams as well. They are increasingly becoming vivid too. I actually briefly became lucid in a dream just the other night! I am acing my classes at the university. I have great focus of attention and memory. I feel a sense of power within, a deep self-confidence - I feel as though I can accomplish anything. The world may be in the way of my goals, but by the sheer force of my will I feel as though any obstacle I could overcome. The only limiting factor is my decision to do so. Anyway, the benefits of this practice go on and on. My thought process has been the following: "No more masturbation. I will not do this anymore. If I have a nocturnal emission, that's alright, I will simply put it behind me, and modify my strategies of energy sublimation. The next time I will consciously make the decision to ejaculate/orgasm will be with a woman. I am done taking the easy route and letting my energy's dissipate. I shall learn to control this energy, redirect it, and use this energy to make the changes I want to see in the world." Please know I'm not attaching any moralism whatsoever to masturbation. Of course, there is the formula of the precise frequency of ejaculations one should have based on one's age. (I am 22 years old.) However, it is my desire for good or bad to learn how to transform whatever energy would be lost through ejaculation into something else. (notice I didn't say "higher") So, back to my main problem. I've noticed that the longer I continue in my practice, especially over the last 6 weeks (I've had maybe 4 ejaculations in this time - for me, relative to past frequencies of emission, this is a life record) I have begun to feel intense heat in my eyes. I've been taking cold showers for 6 weeks as well, and during the day when I feel my head get heated I usually turn on my shower, produce as cold a stream of water as possible, and then just put my head under it for 30 seconds to a minute. That always helps for sure. My question is: is this a common experience, this heat in the eyes, causing a slight strain on one's vision even, with men who practice semen conservation? More information: • I sleep grounded via a bamboo sheet made with silver linings running through it. This keeps my system electrically neutral at night at least, and resynchronizes my body's biochemical/circadian rhythms to the rhythms of the earth, and by implication the activity of the sun, because sun -> earth's surface -> grounding -> my body. • I own a medical-grade negative ion generator. In my room can be measured ranging from 10,000 ions per cc of space to 250,000 ions per cc of space depending on how close you are to the generator. It is as if I live under Niagara Falls. • I eat a 90% vegetarian diet, including lots of steamed asparagus, broccoli, some bell peppers, leafy greens, blueberries, kiwis, bananas, grapes, avocados, cucumbers, tomatoes, hemp seeds, carrots, and other things of this kind. I eat only between the hours of 11am - 6ish pm to benefit from the effects of Intermittent Fasting, and also because I noticed eating at these times positively affects my sleep quality. • I eat a handful amount of grass-fed organic turkey about twice a week - that is the limit of my meat intake. • I take nootropics on a regular basis, taking the weekends off from all supplementation to restore brain homeostasis. These include substances in various dosages, usually on the very low end below what is a recommended dose, such as: Alpha-GPC (150 mg once a day) Piracetam (800 mg once in the morning, 3-4 times a week) Aniracetam (750 mg, maybe once or twice a week) Mega Hydrate (Negatively Charged Hydrogen Ions in a capsule basically) MSM (4 grams taken most days) DHA and EPA sourced from Algea Phosphatidylcholine (500mg - 1.5 g a day, taken occasionally) Phosphatidylserine (maybe 300 mg a day) ALCAR (usually less than 200 mg a day) Garden of Life's multivitamin Pycnogenol (100 mg once a day) And finally I take my favorite long term brain health stack called Mind Lab Pro, which contains things like Bacopa (150 mg), Lion's Mane Mushroom (500 mg), Rhodiola Rosea (50 mg), Vitamin B6 and Vitamin B12 at the proper RDA dosages, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine (175mg), and Vinpocetine. • I have been on a 5 week hiatus from my best friend cannabis, if it matters. • I've used psychedelics, most heroic doses of mushrooms, beyond a year ago. What really hammered home to me that I have this problem with "hot-eyes" was last weekend when I first experienced the effects of 100 micrograms of LSD. At least ten times I had to dunk my head under cold water. My mind was set free and I assure you I witnessed impossible-to-describe three-dimensional highly complex fractal geometric mandala-like diamondal superstructures in the space of my inner vision (behind closed eye lids), and the experience I would rate as within the top 10 experiences of my life. It was fantastic. I learned all kinds of things, especially an awareness of the importance of the posture of my spine. I could literally see and feel my energy field. I was astonished. I wondered "this must be how people get into energy medicine". If I could see what I see on LSD permanently, I would become a healer, no doubt about it. I envision I could single handedly change the world if I had that kind of vision. I wonder if it is possible to gain this sort of visual and empathic access to these energy fields around all objects and living things without the use of LSD. If so, I consider myself a student in training and deeply desire instruction. Anyway, my "hot-eye" symptom seemed to detract from my experience. I could just feel my brain and eyes becoming incredibly heated. No, I wasn't worried my brain was melting. It just felt analogous to what happens to a computer processor when it is taxed maximally. Supercomputers for example require some kind of liquid cooling to keep them from overheating. This occurred to me on LSD. To return to my main point and I ask you all this: Is there a relationship between the heat in my head and especially in my eyes that seems to become felt after midday, and the energies that are building up in my system as a result of my practice of semen conservation? I've been moving mountains at university, reading all kinds of books like I never have before, I'm running often - the point is I'm not just sitting around letting the energy stagnate; I am actively on purpose trying to use it up, because I naturally feel compelled to move and do things with all this energy I have when I refuse to ejaculate. It's very pleasurable indeed. I just don't enjoy feeling like my eyes are on fire. In conclusion, if you have read all this, thank you very much for your time and if you have any thoughts on the matter I will very much appreciate to see them! Peace

Parse the difference between unconsciousness and evasive conceptual thought. The mind that is aware there is no thoughts-is conceptualising 'no thoughts'. If one is unconscious then there are no conceptual thoughts. I learned this early on during meditation, that to see a blank screen, is to conceive and be conscious of a blank screen. This is how the witness arises, how to see our thoughts, to see we are never without them until we stop thinking and we only do that when we are unconscious-sleeping. Even then we have dream states and low level thoughts which we can access if that's our wish. I can sit for five minutes knowing that to think the mind is still is to be in error. When the mind is still, it is unconscious.

I'm not :-) I'm a man. A God is omniscient and omnipotent, a God can learn nothing, a God needs nothing, a God creates nothing, a God loves nothing. A God is limited, it has reached its limits due to its indestructible, all knowing nature. A man has no limits as yet defined. A mans consciousness is capable of growth beyond that of any God, it his position as man that gives him wings that Gods could never dream of.

That's just a conspiracy theory. The MSN are investigative journalists of the highest calibre, individually verifying every claim, of story, that wouldn't dream of simply taking a democratic press release and cut/paste it into their top news slots. It's that alt media that gets it all wrong, that's why they are all slightly out of synch. If they were real news people they would have come to exactly the same conclusions as the MSN, using almost exactly the same words and phrases. Hillary will 'power through' of course she will, the press no precisely how I'll she is-even if they managed not to report it, the little people don't need to know anyway. They need to get behind Hillary and stop rumouring.

Not how we perceive (view) but how we interpret (conceptualise) what we perceive. A dog has no name for a tree, to a dog it just is and it only is once he comes upon it. A dog may dream about a tree, but not in the abstract sense, only as a memory of some familiar object. It cannot abstract 'trees' or 'forests' or the number of species of tree, nor how trees grow, or die, nor can it add other species to creat the abstract 'plant life' or consider a science like botany. The stick in the clear tumbler of water looks like any other stick like object to a dog, it doesn't consider the diffraction to be a significant detail. One human might conceive the stick as physically bent, another may argue the stick cannot really be bent by the water. Both see the stick as bent, but each may have a different interpretation of the phenomenon depending on exposure to other knowledge. One may consider it is magic, or that the water pressure bends the stick, the other has knowledge of diffraction.

And that is why Chuang Tzu never answered his own question regarding his butterfly dream. Both were real to him. However, if he had asked anyone who was in the house while he was dreaming if he ever mutated into a butterfly I am sure they all would have said "No." Yes, our background knowledge and beliefs greatly determine how we understand things that happen to us. Your example above regarding meditating and the feelings and understandings we get from our experiences is a perfect example. But they really aren't different worlds. It is a difference in perspectives - a difference as to how we view the world - the universe.

There is an aspect that I feel to be sadly lacking in this discussion. With any rules, there comes the need to enforce them. In this context, this means that people's private chat conversations are being read by staff because somebody "felt some energy" or had some dream. Is what is to be gained worth the diminished privacy and confidentiality? If so, then I wonder what has happened to the spirit of Lao-Tzu this forum was breathing once.

Well, first, please don't argue between each others with something that is not directly related to the main subject. Thanks Secondly, i m talking about something deeper and something that demand a little bit of thinking and contemplation of the idea,. Because whatever you say is actually relative to you and to what you actually read and believe in as the truth and that is not the point of the thread. in other words, you have to get out of your own beliefs and doubt them for few minutes and contemplate with an open mind to all the vast possibilities. I've done this today and thoughts came into my mind, that we might come from a state of emptiness and nothingness, where no reality exist and at the same time everything exist... It is a state that many people have experienced similar to it in their life some faces of it: lucid dreams or maybe astral projection where whatever your think of or you experience or it appears in front of you. the world starts with the first main belief, The Body, with limitations, senses and filters. followed by the vast majority of sub-beliefs that are different from one person to another but that cannot go beyond the body limitations. for example: a car is built by certain beliefs (sciences..etc) you cannot increase its speed beyond its limit with taping your hands or just thinking like a car created in a lucid dream. Other major beliefs like a Spirit: and we start creating sub-beliefs of energy, healing, chakras, heaven, hell, reincarnation ....etc It is like we make different worlds that are followed by rules, limitation, procedures that creates sub-beliefs. all are real to their believers. a healer can heal himself and maybe others if they believed in healing because it is as real as the world to the scientists. it is like we are worlds creators and we share invites.

In my experience, the shielding has been in my dream state. I was given a Mantra by a Yogi in my dream many years ago. I used that Mantra to "evaporate" negative elements (again in my dream state) several times. I have also used it to generate a shield (a force field like you see in a sci-fi movie) around myself, my home, my neighborhood, etc. A technique used in India even till date is using a conch (called Shankha in indian languages) at regular times of the day. http://bharathkidilse.blogspot.com/2009/10/shankham-conch.html Another I've seen done as a kid is the burning of what we call dhunachi (coconut husk burned and sprinkled with some sort fragrant resins like frankincense etc).

I'm a better note taker and researcher then Understanderer. I took some pretty good, incisive notes from different sources and edited them down a while back. Here's the link: http://www.thedaobums.com/topic/37570-golden-flower-thingamabobs/?p=607715 Worth looking at if you're interested in GF. I should probably go back and take a gander, so my queries can run deeper then, it's alot of looking at the nose. from the section concerning the nose: (note this source is from Osha, a very controversial teacher, not one I generally recommend but I found this writing to be clearer and more direct then most) '..THE SECRET OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER IS an alchemical process. These are the words of those who have known. The Golden Flower blooms in you when you are utterly empty. It is a flower in the void. In the lake of the void the golden lotus blooms. ONE SHOULD LOOK AT THE TIP OF ONE’S NOSE. Now the practical point of the whole sutra – very simple, but try to understand it correctly, because mind wants to distort even simple things. Mind is a distorting mechanism. Why? – because this helps, it brings you in line with the third eye. When both your eyes are fixed on the tip of the nose it does many things. The basic is that your third eye is exactly in line with the tip of the nose – just a few inches above, but in the same line. And once you are in the line of the third eye, the attraction of the third eye, the pull, the magnetism, of the third eye is so great that if you have fallen in line with it you will be pulled even against yourself. You just have to be exactly in line with it so that the attraction, the gravitation, of the third eye starts functioning. Once you are exactly in line with it there will be no need to make any effort. Suddenly you will find the gestalt has changed, because the two eyes create the duality of the world and thought, and the single eye between the two eyes creates the gaps. This is a simple method of changing the gestalt. ONE SHOULD LOOK AT THE TIP OF ONE’S NOSE. BUT THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT ONE SHOULD FASTEN ONE’S THOUGHTS TO THE TIP OF THE NOSE. That’s how the mind can distort it. The mind can say, ’Okay, now look at the tip of the nose. Think of the tip of the nose, concentrate on it.’ If you concentrate too much on the tip of the nose you will miss the point, because you have to be there at the tip of the nose but very relaxed so that the third eye can pull you. If you are too concentrated on the tip of the nose, rooted, focused, fixed there, your third eye will not be able to pull you in, because your third eye has never functioned before. Its pull cannot be very great in the beginning. Slowly slowly it grows more and more. Once it starts functioning and the dust that has gathered around it disappears with use, and the mechanism is humming well, then even if you are fixed on the tip of the nose you will be pulled in. But not in the beginning. You have to be very very light, not a burden, without any stress and strain. You have to be simply there, present, in a kind of let-go. WHILE THE EYES ARE LOOKING AT THE TIP OF THE NOSE, THE THOUGHTS SHOULD BE CONCENTRATED ON THE YELLOW MIDDLE. So don’t concentrate on the tip of the nose or – the second trick the mind can play... The Master is simply trying to make you alert to all the possibilities, to all the games that the mind is capable of. First it will say, ’Okay, so the Master says, ”Concentrate on the tip of the nose.”’ He is not saying, ’Concentrate on the tip of the nose,’ he is simply saying ’Look. Just a very light, effortless look.’ Or the mind can say, ’Okay, if you are just looking at the tip of the nose, then concentrate on the third eye.’ Mind is always in favour of concentration because mind feeds on concentration, lives on concentration. Hence in your schools, colleges, universities, concentration is taught not meditation, because they are all factories for creating the mind; they manufacture the mind. WHEREVER THE EYE LOOKS, THE HEART IS DIRECTED ALSO. HOW CAN IT BE DIRECTED AT THE SAME TIME UPWARD AND DOWNWARD? And then the mind can say, ’Look, this is impossible, the demand is illogical. How can you look in two directions simultaneously, at the tip of the nose and at the third eye? It is not possible, it cannot be done. Don’t be foolish! ’And another function of looking very lightly at the tip of the nose is this: that it doesn’t allow you to open your eyes wide. If you open your eyes wide the whole world becomes available. And there are a thousand and one distractions. If the eyes are completely closed you fall into a kind of reverie, you start dreaming; you become feminine energy, yin. To avoid both just look at the tip of the nose – a simple device, but the result is almost magical. And this is not only so with the Taoists, Buddhists know it, Hindus know it. Down the ages all the meditators have somehow stumbled upon the fact that if your eyes are just half open, in a very miraculous way you escape two pitfalls. One is being distracted by the outside world, the other is being distracted by the inside dream world. You remain exactly on the boundary of the inner and the outer. And that’s the point: to be on the boundary of the inner and the outer means you are neither male nor female in that moment. Your vision is free of duality; your vision has transcended the division in you. Only when you are beyond the division in you do you fall into the line of the magnetic field of the third eye. That is very important to remember: you are not to pull the light in, you are not to force the light in. If the window is open, the light comes in of its own accord. If the door is open, the light floods in. You need not bring it in, you need not push it in, you need not drag it in. And how can you drag light in? How can you push light in? All that is needed is that you should be open and vulnerable to it. And that’s exactly what happens when you are looking at the tip of the nose. Just looking, without any concentration, just looking, without any heaviness in it, without any strain in it, suddenly the window of the third eye opens and the light starts streaming in. The light that has always been going out starts coming in too, and the circle is complete. And this circle makes a man perfect. And this circle makes a man utterly restful, relaxed. This circle makes a man whole and holy. He is no more divided. LOOKING AT THE TIP OF THE NOSE SERVES ONLY AS THE BEGINNING OF THE INNER CONCENTRATION, SO THAT THE EYES ARE BROUGHT INTO THE RIGHT DIRECTION FOR LOOKING, AND THEN ARE HELD TO THE GUIDE-LINE: AFTER THAT, ONE CAN LET IT BE. ONE LOOKS WITH BOTH EYES AT THE TIP OF THE NOSE... Remember, you have to look with both eyes at the tip of the nose so that at the tip of the nose your two eyes lose their duality. So, on the tip of the nose the light that is streaming out from your eyes becomes one; it falls on a single point. Where your two eyes meet, that is the place where the window opens. And then all is well. Then let it be, then simply enjoy, then simply celebrate, delight, rejoice. Then nothing has to be done. And remember, not concentrating but just remaining alert, just a slight alertness. Look at the tip of the nose and remain slightly alert to the third eye. In fact, the moment you look at the tip of the nose you will become alert to the third eye, because that is the other pole of the nose. One pole, the outer pole, is the tip, the end; the other end of the nose is joined with the third eye. The moment you become aware of the tip you will suddenly become aware of the other end too. But just remain aware, effortlessly aware.'

my 2c: There is nothing wrong with energy transmission teaching, but it needs to be done with a sense of moral responsibility. I want to illustrate this with a few personal experiences plus the experience of a friend: 1: Qi level: I've had this done to me by a number of people and on different levels. Firstly, the Qi level of energy transmission goes from very simple to very complex, so it isn't that it is one type of event manifestation, but rather different levels and types. The simplest type that I have encountered is hands on, which is similar to what reiki people do, but in the context of a qi gong teacher helping manifest Qi by guiding his hands over my head during practice. Another type of experience of this type that I've had is when practicing Qi gong with teacher and classmates, I felt an overwhelming sense of energy and had to sit down afterward. My teacher asked me if I liked the practice and I said what had happened, he laughed and said "I'm glad you noticed, my teacher Mr.Peng taught me how to do that, to send Qi to the room." I also had this experience while reading Dao Zang on a train in Shandong. An old chap who was sitting next to me started directing Qi in a very condensed way deeply into my body. He didn't say anything, but there was no other way that could have happened at that time. I view all of these practices as "ethical," in that the people doing it didn't try to get anything as a result, but on the other hand, I had a chap in Taizhong send what felt like a hot burning piece of coal into my stomach and du meridian one day and then immediately afterward went on a cosmic rant about how he was taught by the god of the Northern star and that all of his dao fa was taught to him from the spirit realm. He was also making fun of several of his students in the room and being quite dismissive of their questions. I view this type of practice as unethical because he was clearly using it to control people. on a more spiritual level, I had an experience with a Tibetan Lama where he caused me to have a waking dream with a spiritual message through chanting. It was an extremely life affirming and positive experience which also helped me to make some important decisions. On the other hand, a friend of mine during induction into a pseudo-daoist cult was directly given spiritual gifts via third eye communication and then signed into their book of the saved. They go around telling people that they have been looking for them for hundreds of years to train them to be Boddhisatvas. this kind of stuff I'm not too keen on because it is obviously cult like behaviour and preys on mentally weak people. So energy transmission or not really isn't the issue for me, it is more of an issue of intention. When people practice in a pure way, it can do beautiful things for others, but when they practice evil graft in order to control students, it is a bad thing. I notice that the graft method is an epidemic among Taiwanese schools especially. Take it for what it is worth.

Well to go slightly back on topic - what is this obsession with things have to come from somewhere else anyway? It seems to me to go back to old racial theories of superior peoples ... and the rest of us dumb schmucks who couldn't even dream of building a pyramid without an over-lord saying hey 'put one stone on top of another'. This kind of analysis goes back to the old colonials justifying their own presence as 'bringing culture and civilisation to the natives'. And we're kind of stuck with it. Pyramids are the most natural way to build long lasting structures in stone. Big at the bottom and pointy at the top. Very hard to make them fall over really - although they did manage to do that occasionally. And four sided is natural as well because we measure the earth by four directions - not five, six or seven. So to build a square base - why wouldn't you? Align it to the cardinal points to show off a little - yeah. Who needs aliens or Aryans for that matter? Why couldn't different people round the world come up with variations of that?