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It's American politics. Everyone wants to be King or Queen. Some can't even make up their mind what they want to be. To hell with reality - it's a dream world now.

I thanked for everything. Rejection is also key, so have at it. "Have it as you wish", meaning, there is acceptance of you're unwillingness to have a reasonable discussion. I'm quite content in your freedom of beliefs, and wouldn't dream of encroaching upon them. That you've become so defensive once having to consider alternatives speaks volumes of their nature. Someone challenging them does not equate to someone compelling you to change them. There having never been an argument points to the reality in which apparent similarities and differences are known to be of one and the same substance. They are non-different from that consciousness which goes by so many names, and non-different from the one who believes he identifies them. As the rising of similarities or differences are like waves on the ocean of consciousness, consciousness is like mist on the ocean of Parabrahman. That which the mere feeling of being Shiva has appeared upon. Contrary to how the ocean appears on its surface, there lies below depths unimaginable. A direct experience expansive in nature quite contrary to the waves of narrow-mindedness or the mist of shallowness, and yet, it contains all waves and all mist simultaneously.

True, but how do we know that this "reality" might not be the product of a greater (non-human) consciousness? I mean, a dream is not a product of the consciousnesses of the characters IN the dream, either. Perhaps the better question is not HOW, but IF we even can KNOW anything with 100% certainty? HOW implies that we can...somehow. But, why do we assume that? Shouldn't we prove it first before we "assume" it? And even if you could prove that something absoultely exists in a system...can you ever prove that that system exists (and is not a "dream")? But I do agree that realistically, even if this is a "vivid" DREAM, it is still for our intents and purposes now real ENOUGH to take "seriously."

I think someone or something is doing some energy work on me this morning, During the experience, the time frame was in the middle of the night, 2am to 3am. The actual time frame, my time frame, was 5am to 6am. What happened? Basically, I woke up at 4am and went back to sleep. I had a mundane dream about my distance uncle. Nothing extraordinary. Then, within the dream, I woke up and to realize that something was probing or massaging the back of my skull and down to the bottom of my neck. Like someone was using a set of fingers oscillating the energy points in those regions. It didn't hurt. The oscillation was accompanied by two distinct and acute vibrational sounds, a lower one and a very high pitch tone. The high pitch tone sounded like some techno, space age, mantra music. The lower tone sounds like some regular beat. This lasted for about a minute or 2, maybe. I didn't know what was going on and I assumed I was being probed by aliens. Hehehehhe. I didn't move since I didn't want to alarm anyone, including myself. I felt the entire experience was taking place in the middle of the night but when the experience stopped, it was 6am in the morning. I turned around and to check the room to see if anything has changed. Nothing of course. I am pretty sure someone or something is doing some energy work on me. Not sure about the benefits of it, enhancing the oscillation in the back of the skull and the lower neck region energy points. It felt like there was a worm wiggling in between the back of my skull and the lower neck region.

I have had a number of these type of experiences. I posted these on another forum but here you go "So I have just woke up from having some work done on me in dreamtime. The dream was normal at first but then veered off as they do into trans-dimensional dreamtime activity. So someone behind me is doing quick, light blows to points on my back , spine, then a kind of massage , I heard him say put heels down and he lifted me up and pulled me back , like he was straightening my back. The one thing I remember the most is at the end he blew on the back of my head (jade pillow) and that was it , it sent me way out and triggered full on eneregetics. I was semi conscious at this point lying spasming on my bed with energy shooting up my body. Wow ! That breath on the back of my head was serious ! Thank you who ever it was I never saw him , only felt him , got the feeling he was an old man. A few weeks back I felt a series of super fast light blows to my stomach , just under belly button but the thing with this was I was 100% percent awake which kinda freaked me ! They didnt hurt but it did freak me to know spirit can be so strong in this dimension. " Here is another one " So lately I have felt a kind of gnawing at my mingmen point when I am asleep and enter into multi-dimensional dreamtime. I assumed it was an inter-dimensional parasite of some sort which always seemed to try and latch onto the mingmen point for some reason ( energy , food ?) Last night it started again but had a different feel , I went along with it to get a better picture and a being of some sort was working on my spine , again with a sort of gnawing feeling like it was using teeth rather than hands. It spent a lot of time working on the point between my shoulder blades , then mingmen , then up and down my spine and all the while energy was moving up and down the full length of my spine. At one point I saw it and , well , it was the head of a dog on the body of a man , looked like a doberman. When I came out of the dreamtime experience I lay on my bed with the energy still moving up and down my spine for quite some time and let it do its thing. This creature had me intrigued as I have never saw anything like that before. Today I had a look on the net and to my utter surprise saw that there is a whole history of dog headed men , The Cynocephali and their culture from whole areas where they lived with reprots from Marco Polo and Colombus to Christian saints as ST Christopher was reported to be a dog headed man and we also have the Egyptians and Anubis which although some say is a jackal looks very simlilar to what I saw. There is so much history of these creatures it is quite unreal and there seems to be an increase in sightings of these beings , " and yet another "Last night I was lying in bed asleep on my side , dreaming , when these beautiful chimes began to play in my dream. I awoke to feel a strong presence behind me , my quilt began to move and pull back leaving me revealed , the energy from this presence was getting stronger and stronger , seriously projecting at my back. Once again I woke up ! hehe , in exactly the same position I thought I was already awake in BUT the energy was still running up my spine , really strong. This lasted for about 10 mins , I re did my shield and used the light sword to sever anything that may be attatched to my back but it didnt make any difference. "

I found the book to be amazing. What I like about it is how he talks about and suggests the reader/ dreamer work with "dream figures." I found myself remembering more dreams as I read the book and culminating with a lucid dream, my first in a few years. Curiously though I found the techniques at the phase to be both simple and very effective, although I haven't been able to devote as much time to it as I would like. At the ob4u website the author feels that the lucid dream and an obe are different stages of the same experience.

Right, but you see - this "knowledge" is simply based upon historical consistency. IOW, it's always happened that way before, so you "know" it will always happen like that in the future. But, are historical track records a 100% accurate predictor of the future? If I flip a coin 100X, and it somehow lands heads 100X, does that mean the next time it must also land heads? Or, can you prove that this scenario could NOT happen in another way? Bascially, if we only "know" something through limited experience, how certain is that really? And what's to say it HAS to always behave the same way and CAN'T some other way? I mean sure, the most convincing illusions are the ones that maintain the highest consistency. And maybe one with 100% consistency could even be called a "virtual reality." Except for the fact that the arbitrary rules of an illusion could presmuably also be changed anytime at will by its creator(s). As opposed to an "absolute reality," which would be where the buck finally stops... But, I am just thinking out loud here, as I really DON'T KNOW anymore! ---------------------------- Here's a more routine example: When most of us dream, while we're IN the dream...we believe it's real. Only when we wake up, do we realize it was just a dream. So, how do we know we're not in a big, long "dream" now when we're "awake?" Especially considering how you also thought you "knew" things were "real" when you you were dreaming, too? ---------------------------- Here's another thought: Our minds can often be easily tricked... Or maybe they are even, in fact, what tricks us into this Grand Illusion? Essentially like game consoles or projectors.

The way I talk about illusion is different, I say everything - whether of deluded cognition, or awakened cogntion, are all equally illusory, so there is no such thing as a non-illusion, not even Nirvana. Why? Because they are by nature empty - there is no substance at all, so that is why there is ultimately no wisdom, no ignorance, no eye, ears, nose, etc (basically no Everything). Having no substance, yet appearing vividly, therefore Emptiness is Form. So basically everything is illusory... but whether people realize it is another matter, this is why practically speaking, all the people are suffering right now because of their perception of inherent existence of self and things. Their state is such that they do not recognise their dream as a dream, so they treat the dream-tiger as real, and suffer as a result of it. This is just an analogy of course. So the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas, knowing that all along there never was any substance to ignorance or wisdom or anything else, nonetheless understands that a lot of sentient beings are deluded about things and suffer as a result. For example even though everything they perceive is illusory, but nonetheless it appears very real to them and so they suffer needlessly. And it is because of this understanding that we show deep compassion and try to help other beings awaken. If Buddhas are not able to understand the situation of sentient beings, there will be no Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to help sentient beings. They have wisdom, they understand the situation of sentient beings, but they don't rely on concepts. Wisdom is spontaneous. For example some people may upon seeing that the building is on fire, spontaneously without even a thought for themselves rush into the fire to save the children. They did not even have a moment of thought to analyse or think. Anyway a Buddha has five wisdoms: [edit] Tathatā-jñāna Keown, et al. (2003) hold that the Tathatā-jñāna is the jñāna of Suchness or Dharmadātu[4], "the bare non-conceptualizing awareness" of Śūnyatā, the universal substrate of the other four jñāna.[5] [edit] Ādarśa-jñāna The Melong is very important in the esoteric Mantrayana traditions such as Dzogchen. Keown, et al. (2003) hold that the Ādarśa-jñāna is the jñāna of "Mirror-like Awareness", "devoid of all dualistic thought and ever united with its 'content' as a mirror is with its reflections".[6] Ādarśa is Sanskrit for "mirror", the term may be parsed into the etymon of darśana with a grammatical adposition. Kalupahana (1991: p.99) proffers that: Samatā is also identical with the second ādarśa when samatā becomes the non-duality of upāya and prajñā.[7] [edit] Samatā-jñāna Keown, et al. (2003) hold that the Samatā-jñāna is the jñāna of the "Awareness of Sameness", which perceives the sameness, the commonality of dharmas or phenomena.[8] Kalupahana (1991: p.99) proffers that: The Tattvāloka says "The wisdom of equality of Tathāgata is the non-dual method of upāya and prajñā, and it is the wisdom of the universal that can be tasted in the dharmādhtu." [7] [edit] Pratyavekṣaṇa-jñāna Keown, et al. (2003) hold that the Pratyavekṣaṇa-jñāna is the jñāna of "Investigative Awareness", that perceives the specificity, the uniqueness of dharmas. [9] [edit] Kṛty-anuṣṭhāna-jñāna Keown, et al. (2003) hold that the Kṛty-anuṣṭhāna-jñāna is the jñāna of "Accomplishing Activities", the awareness that "spontaneously carries out all that has to be done for the welfare of beings, manifesting itself in all directions".[10]

You are missing what I said completely. Statement 2 (a self is non-existent) is not rejected because it is redundant, but because there is no existent self that can serve as a basis for that self to go into non-existence. In other words, if no existent is established, no non-existent can be established either. If there is a self, then naturally the four extremes must apply because there is an entity to exist, not exist, and so on. If no self can be established to begin with, then naturally the four extremes don't apply. Conventionally, you are here looking out there at the beautiful tree, but, if conventional truth is seen through and dropped, there is simply the "suchness of seen" without establishing a cognizer or something cognized (a tree), in the seeing just the seen, this is directness. I don't assume. I realized, and that is the whole point. And it is more like 'no self could be established' - it is a rejection of existents but not a postulating of a position of non-existence with regards to an existent. I never said anything about reduncy - I said positions cannot be established - even of non-existence - when the existent cannot be established to begin with. Therefore as Namdrol said, this is about a non-asserting negation that leaves no positions established at all. It is difficult for me to 'prove to you' that your dream is a dream until you investigate for yourself. For whatever 'proof' I present, will be seen from the dream (as in delusional) framework. In any case, the only proof is through yogic realization. You can never show objective evidence of things like rebirth (well maybe a bit, but limited), karma (definitely not), much less things like anatta or emptiness. All these can only be verified through yogic realization and experience. Just because you haven't realized it doesn't mean it isn't true. Illusion and delusion are different. I say - everything is illusory, full stop. But everything is delusional (conventional truth = false cognition) except ultimate truth. In other words everything is illusory but not everything is delusional. When you realize always already, there never was a self, then you see immediately that the view of self has been delusional from the beginning. Yup. Same for rebirth and karma. Buddha is telling you, this is what I see, see it for yourself. He didn't say 'this is what I see and only I can see it'. Nor does he say 'This is what I see and I shall show objective, scientific evidence for you' (impossible). He says, I see this, so practice and you can see it too (via yogic realization and experience).

The following quotes from Tao, are my personal interpretations of my ego's experience with Tao. It is by no means intended as a personification of Tao. Once upon a dream... I was right there, in the kitched, as I gave my good words towards the water I was about to drink, only to realize that this was a dream. I decided to let go of everything. Fell down, my muscles became numb, my body vibrated and faded away. I felt high excitement and filled the infinitely empty vessel with trust all the way to the brim that I would now return to Tao and face it. I said, "This feels great!" I had a vague memory of the reality I usually find my self in. All I recall that I was discontent about the fact that it had so many limits! I said in all excitement "Wow, I feel so free here with you, Tao, compared to my previous reality!" "How is it that you felt enslaved in the reality you just came from, and not as free as you feel right now?" said The Tao. I said "It was much more limiting then this one, much more physical and dense! So heavy! I have no idea... I guess I doubted your existance and took the limits as the unchanging truth instead! How forgetful I was!" The Tao replied, saying "Does this conversation matter to you, now that you are certain that I exist?" I said: "No, infact, I don't need to talk anymore..." Tao "Do you wish for me to challenge your trust in my being?" I said: "Sure, go ahead. Nothing can make me forget this! Now I know I can face anything, because I trust in your existance 100%!" Tao: "Off you go, then! Also, forget about this conversation shall we? Don't want to create a personification of Tao by describing me as some guy with vocal chords!" I slowly woke up in my bed and was no longer afraid. I wrote down, "...My... purpose... in... life... is... to trust Tao... to... infinity..." I closed my eyes, and stood up. thought: "I doubt the Tao will warn me when I am about to step right on a sharp object!" I peaked trough my eye lids to see whats in front of me and decide to just open my eyes and walk this way. Lest I should feel the pain on my feet! thought: "Surely, the Tao could not make that pain go away, haha! Uhmm... What was I dreaming about again?" Oh yeah! Trust Tao! These limitations really make me forget about Tao so quickly... I write down "No... idol... worshipping... ,lest... ye... forget... the ...Tao!" Closed my eyes again: "There is no place for fear in full trust..." "I trust Tao to infinity..." I became conscious of Tao and let the thoughts just be, without influencing my actions. Placing my awareness mostly on Tao, without thought, without doubt, without question... I tried to sense where the Tao was leading me and just trust it to infinity. I felt a thought saying "The Tao will hurt you!" I sensed the Tao in the wall, and hit my head against the wall and enjoyed the pain, followed by the silence of my ego. I felt the Tao in my feet, walking guiding me towards a table. The ego was shouting "The Tao wants you to brush your teeth! Its good for your teeth!" I remained focused and conscious of Tao and trusted that this will lead me somewhere. Every action was followed by sensing Tao for further action. I found my self in front of a table with a lady bug lying on its back. I was filled with joy as it became appearant that Tao guided me towards this side of the table, intending me to take the lady bug outside of the house. I recalled the dream more clearly now and felt free. The Tao usually led me towards doing actions that my thinking mind totally did not approve of doing. Paradoxically, once I followed them true, many great personal events happened that lead to allot of joy and harmonious results in my life, as long as I held the intention of trusting Tao. It seems scary, it seems like the opposite direction of love! If you follow it trough without doubt or fear, you will be rewarded for it! The reward of this world lies with trusting Tao, truely! I do not even know what it is, yet I thank it for every moment in my life... Lest I forget about the Tao and the freedom that follows the recalling and trusting of it! Tao "Become conscious of me, so that I can become conscious of you!"

Imagination allows you to see things you otherwise would not be able to see, for the purpose of inspiration. When you don't like your life, it is because you cannot see clearly, and thus causes discomfort, in a lack of understanding. With imagination, you can recreate the world around you in a way that you can then feel good about what you are imagination. It helps you learn what you want. When imagination becomes unuseful, is when people have found what they want to see and then hold on to the imagination, and insist that the reality around them becomes like their imagination. The reason this is unuseful, is because the reality is always attempting to become more than even the best of the best that you could ever possibly imagine for yourself. So eventually, you have to understand, you only imagine things because they feel good. And when you just allow yourself to feel good, you cannot in a sense look at reality, misunderstand it, and not notice the intense pain that comes from that misunderstanding. Because you are so used to feeling good in your imagination, and now the reality around you feels extra bad, because your ways of perceiving the reality around is an old outdated habbitual way of perceiving. Imagination allows you to learn how to make peace with life, by getting in the habbit of recreation. You recreate your own perception of reality. The best way to use your imagination is to ask yourself, when you do find an imagination that feels good to you, to ask yourself why you want that. Not why you think you should be allowed it to have it or want it, but why you actually want it, and what about it feels so good to you. To reach the core essence of the desire, which is always pure and harmonious and in alignment with the reality you already exist in, and the entire universe infact. And then, when you take that core essence and focus on it, and allow the entire universe to show it to you in all the ways it can, you realize that what you imagine is not the ceiling of what is possible, it is the absolute lowest level, floor level, of what is possible and attempting to show itself to you. People are sometimes going through life as zombies. And then they like to imagine things be different, and in so doing they feel good in that, untill again, they return back to their "reality" which is their habbitual way of perceiving, their most practiced way of looking at the reality around, that has allot of momentum and attraction power, so it continues, and they perceive themselves to be in a reality they don't like. So the best way to use imagination is like a wave on the beach, ebb and flow. You expand the net of possibility in your mind, then let all of that imaginary stuff go, and contract the net back, and you are left with pure value, core essence of your desire, which is the feeling itself. You take that feeling. And allow your life to support that feeling in ways you couod have never imagined and trust that it is already always trying to do so in the first place. Often people say, oh I want this and that. I imagine this in my life and when this is in my life, THEN I will be so happy forever! But they forget, that anything they think they want, is because they believe that they will feel better in that having of it. So that is why it is so important, when you do use your imagination, to ask yourself, why that imagination feels so good. What about it feels so good. Why you want that. And when you reach core essence. You realize, that that is already available in your life. And then they can instantly and naturally go with the flow of that and allow it to expand their positive good feeling emotion, in ways they could have never imagined. For example, you can say I want money. Why? Because I am poor! That is not the reason you want money. But people think it is, and so, the imagination helps you with gaining clarity. By imagining you have money, what would you do with it? Oh I wanna buy that and that! Why? Because then I can finally be happy! Why? Because I like that thing so much. I want that nice computer! Why? Because it can play all the games! Why? Because I wanna have fun. And why do you like to have fun? Because I wanna play and relax and be free to do whatever I want. I want freedom. And why? So I can just do what I want to do. And why do you like that so much? Then I have no worries, and I feel blessed and supported by the entire universe and I feel worthy and I feel that god loves me. And why do you want that? Then I can be happy and feel free to be myself and free to express myself in anyway I want to. So you sort of take it all back to the center point of power, the core essence, the root of all desire. Is to feel good. And this is perfect harmony with nature. It is natural to want to feel good. So you realize, you already have freedom. Which is what you want. And if you then let go and trust the entire universe, because the entire universe will support your freedom, for it has made you as a nature that will always desire for this freedom, then you realize you exist for that freedom and then you move and flow with the freedom that is already always present in your life. And as you do so, the universr will support you and your freedom to expand evermore, in ways that you could not have imagined, in ways that feel infinitely more better than everything you could have possibly imagined, and in everlasting and evermore expanding ways of better and more, with the everlasting perfection of each moment, and the joy of the never ending journey. And so you no longer try to be free. And you just are free. And thus express your freedom in ever more and new free ways, that will naturally show itself to you as the next logical step for you to take. Like, going outside. Or freedom may feel like looking at the sky and clouds and all the free space and so much freedom and so much space to move and be and feel free. And so you move, and you enjoy the ability to move. And you go places you would have never been able to dream of. So you enjoy the freedom you have, which is what you wanted in the first place. But everyone has to ask themselves, why they imagine that which they imagine. Only you can tell what it is you really want and why. And follow the alignment with your true core essence of true pure desire that is always in harmony with who you really are and all that you are, in harmony with the entire universe and all life on the planet.

I trust the traditional attribution of authorship. I don't think its cogent to question the authorship given that he has been attributed with authorship for a 1000+ years now. I've highlighted the section of your post that IS relevant (imho) wrt. the comparison you started out with. I think it is great that you're doing it. But you stopped at the "jagat mithya" bit. So, it was incomplete. There are aspects of Vedanta that normally people are not well versed with. What is the relationship of Brahman with Vak (the four states thereof)? When looked at in context of Vak (parā, pashyanti, madhyama and vaikhari), suddenly many things become clear. Parā is Vak in primordial state, undifferentiated, with full potentiality of all permutations and combinations that arise out of it. It is corresponding to Turiya. Then there is Vak as Pashyanti, where it manifests as "archetypes". This corresponds to the causal state (and deities, et al arise exist here). This is the state from/in which infinite beings (kārana sharīra) arise (and re-incarnate over and over again, the body-mind changes). Then there is Vak as Madhyama, where it manifests in thought-forms and is accessible by the mind (more profoundly so in the dream state). Finally there is Vak as speech (and words), where it exists in the most unsophisticated state (verbal communication, language, etc). The Shivoham of Shankara, I am inclined to say is the parā, that he verbalizes (so it is in my books, not different from Kashmir Shaivism perspective that dramatically). And it manifests as Pashyanti, Madhyama and Vaikhari (as Deity, Concept/Ideal and in speech). Seems tangential, but thought we should look at this subject from a different angle

Moderately prosperous society (Chinese: 小康社会; pinyin: xiǎokāngshehui) is a Chinese term, originally of Confucian origin, used to describe a society composed of a functional middle-class. The term is most well known in recent years as used by Chinese leader Hu Jintao when referring to economic policies meant to realize a more equal distribution of wealth. In the usages (tifa) of Xi Jinping, the term "China Dream" or "Chinese Dream" has gained somewhat greater prominence. Origins[edit]It has been loosely translated as a "basically well-off" society in which the people are able to live relatively comfortably, albeit ordinarily. The term was first used in Classic of Poetry written as early as 3000 years ago Pope Francis on Twitter: "When a society lacks God, even ... https://twitter.com/pontifex/status/514334822253481984 Sep 23, 2014 - When a society lacks God, even prosperity is joined by a terrible spiritual poverty.

I realize the logic is tricky here. If you can do real embyronic breathing THEN you can also do full lotus for two hours in ease. If you can't do full lotus for two hours in ease THEN you can not do real embryonic breathing. No where logically does this mean that embryonic breathing relies or depends on the full lotus -- the full lotus though demonstrates the ability to do embryonic breathing. If a person can't sit in full lotus then their energy channels aren't open. It's simple. It's powerful. haha. As for my own practice -- relating to nocturnal emissions - I have had no nocturnal emission since last spring. haha. That was only because I was perv attacked and I didn't get a chance to sublimate or convert the sex fluid back into chi energy again. About my recent phone healing from Chunyi Lin -- he said it was GREAT that I was sitting in full lotus. haha. He only said that I should store up the chi energy instead of doing my pineal gland transmissions all the time. He did say my kidney, lung and heart energy was weak but then I had gone three days on just three pieces of fruit and NO full lotus! haha. I was suffering from a stopped up colon full of charcoal. I give the details on my blog http://naturalresonancerevolution.blogspot.com So speaking from experience ONLY the full lotus enables stopping nocturnal emissions. The actual qigong masters rely on full lotus like Wang Liping, Yan Xin, Effie Chow, Chunyi Lin, Nan, Huai-chin. If full lotus is necessary for the qigong masters then why not for the students? haha. But really full lotus is not necessary...except for the real qigong masters. haha. Hilarious. Oh yeah the other thing is mastering the PC muscle flexing. So let's say you're having a dream that turns into not a dream -- meaning it turns "real." haha. If you're good then you can wake yourself up from the dream and flex your PC muscle just like stopping urination -- and then this will prevent any loss of fluid. Then you just go into full lotus and do reverse breathing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9lkq4LDQhk

Gagh, this is such a disappointing answer...your abilities in the dream are just as limited as in the waking world. Of course lucid dreams have limitations, the very dream itself, the fact that you are playing with the "sky" is a form of limitation isn't it? Just because one has more boundaries than the other, or the quality is different doesn't say anything about whether one is a projection and the other is not. Perhaps the field of influence varies. A teacher of mine once said that the mahasiddhas simply switch their dream world for the real one and that's how they can perform what we perceive as miraculous powers effortlessly. Is this an appearance? If yes, then by your standards it is illusory. So why is this anymore real than the mirage? You know people who believe in a "self" don't go around saying to themselves, "here I am! this I, "me" interacting with "him." They, like you don't purposefully ascertain a self or a non self. I sure didn't before I delved into spiritual stuff. If people did they would be far more aware of their egoic tendencies than they are most of the time. It is a matter of habit, ways of being. They forget why they live that way though, what is at the basis of that habit, the beliefs that have spawned it. Your case is no different. You just have another way of experiencing life that's all. It's no more true or false than anyone else's experience. You are being too irrelevantly wordy and repetitive and simply continue to reassert your position. You are not engaging in a discussion with me but talking at me. Instead of replying to my post word by word and taking phrases in their own out of context narrowness, let us both try to reply to the ideas and question we have here concisely. So I'm going to just try to dig out your main points. Isn't perception of truth a cognition? Do you not have an experience of it in the mind? And you say this is true than other cognitive states. One an awakened state and the other a delusional state. How is this not giving reality to a certain mode of cognition over another? Furthermore, what is the difference in the mind when it is labeling a certain experience as "truth" and something as "substantial"? Isn't it mere semantics? When we say something is substantial, it doesn't necessary mean something has a core to it, or an identity to it. It very much means that we take it to be real, that it is unfixed in its affect on our livelihood. The degree of something's "reality," as in its shades or rigidity, is also another factor in how the mind perceives. I don't think really understood what I wrote in that phrase. I'll try to be more concise replying to the post below.

Conventional truths are framed within an absolute view of the world and it needn't be clearly outlined by the conscious mind. Always. Most people take this for granted because they do not delve into the constructs of their awareness (this is where perhaps you should actually do vipassana). It may not be a perfect picture, or even logical, mostly it is unquestioned and accepted. But for any sort of conventional view or comprehension of our surroundings to make sense, the mind must have an ultimate belief in the world and its orders. Just because you don't think about it consciously, does not mean your metaphysical belief is not present. You are clearly not awakened if you do not see the relationship between the absolute and conventional beliefs and how they are really the same ocean at different depths. You can't have shallowness without depth and vice versa. So you believe that you are gifted. And also that Buddhist deities have bless your family and the birth of you and your sister. Whether you truly believe this is true or a hallucination doesn't matter because clearly you, as a devote Buddhist, accept these auspicious signs. Also it seems that you have prophetic abilities which you likely attribute to Buddhist practice. Do you still truly believe that you are an ordinary individual? I don't think so. You may not flaunt it. That would be too easy especially considering an upbringing in Buddhist ethics of humility. As you did above, you probably tell people that you are very ordinary or like to be seen that way. But I doubt you truly believe this. You believe, behind all the false humility, that you are extraordinary, special, blessed, and gifted. Nothing disappears into thin air. Not even your imagination. No energetic formation dies. A fire that burns the candle together make the smoke that dissolve into the atmosphere. It may become clouds, it may become mist. Similarly a belief cannot be destroyed. It is always transformed as a river does down a bank, taking different shapes, dissolving varying materials. It may be as dense and clogged as a rock or as abstract as thin air. But there is never a nothing. Even nothing takes its definition from the existence that came before, or the potential for existence in the vaccuum. It is erroneous, imo, to see this as a belief vs. no belief, as you seem to see it. I think you do see it in those extreme terms, as faith vs. no-faith, as you used that word in the previous post. It's rather a spectrum of seeming opposites, a degree of faith, and their seeming opposition is not absolute. Unicorns and monsters are very real in their imaginative existence. Your consciousness gives them life in a dream. You become joyous from seeing one in a dream, the sensation is there, the vision is there. It is experienced, just as the fear of the monster. And when you awake it does not disappear. The idea is very much alive within you. It can be communicated to others as well. It is indeed very real. You say you have no metaphysical positions, but here you are revealing that in your conscious interpretation of the world the dream world is less real than the daily world. I'm not saying it isn't. But do you see how you do have a certain metaphysical filter for life? That you cannot be without one? How can you have such little insight into your own mind for someone who claims to be awakened? That metaphor has another level of depth to it. The snake is still there and it has nothing to do with the rope in the first place. It is present within the mind, along with all the associations put around it: the fear of its venom, its shape, look, behavior, potential effects on your body, the slipperiness, the eyes. The snake does not come alive to the person because of the rope, but because of his mind. The rope is just a trigger that coincides with one of these associations. It's not that important whether the rope is really a snake or not. The idea is what lets you interact with it. If you had no idea of it, then the snake"ness" would be meaningless; you wouldn't recognize a snake at all. And it is still very much alive within even if someone has turned on the lights revealing a mere rope, its not gone or affected. If you contemplate deeper into this idea of a snake you come to understand what understanding is, how that snake is present within you. Then you do not tame the snake nor do you get rid of it, you comprehend your relationship to it. As a side effect that original fear may be assuaged, but that's not the point. The point of the metaphor is for you to see how you are always within the scope of your mind and its ideas, and how they are very much real and alive as anything you experience.

Agreeed,...you cannot separate space from time,...but as neither space or time exists, why try? LOL Both Buddha, and Quantum Cosmologists, suggest that never was a Big Bang. Sure, such a concept makes things more palatable for ego,...but is that the right thing? Swami Amar Jyoti wrote, "As long as you are projecting yourself into time and space in your calculations, your measurements, your excuses,...as long as time and space conceptions are consciously or subconsciously occupying your mind, you will not attain enlightenment....the worse fallacy of ego is this; that it does not take itself as a conception." "illusion of time, space, and ego" http://light-of-consciousness.org/ Perception is a dream,...that means you are a dream to. It does not mean that everything but you is a dream. Please stop with the Big Bang/Singularity stuff. It's man manufactured fiction,...a theory that will never, can never be proved. Because time (and space) does not exist. The Present exists,...but there is no Present in time,...and thus no Present in space. Quantum mechanics works on all levels, all the time, and in all space. I agree that it does appear to works with skandhan notions of conceptions. There is ABSOLUTELY NO ENERGY in Undivided Light,...the fulcrum upon which Duality effects its motion. Energy is merely the perceived motion of Duality attempting to find unity with Undivided Reality,...which it never can, because it was never really separated,...and does not exist. Absolutely no energy beyond duality,...absolutely no energy in non-duality,....absolutely no energy out of time and space. That applies directly to your experience of life,...and just because you might refuse to be honest enough to see it, doesn't mean it's not true. To understand Non-Duality is to understand Undivided Light. The thread 'What is Light' has everything one needs to realize Non-Duality. V

Duality does breakdown into a singularity or totality, I am I, or it did for me and it's still slightly breakdown still as my awareness is still growing. If you do the exercise you will find your self more and more in the present moment and your SELF getting more and more positive. Try it. However I see it as I have written above not as a case of just doing pairs, although it is too as long as you do all the positive or negatives in the same column or as many as you can get!! (VERY IMPORTANT!) My understanding is when you put positive and negative in two columns what your doing is making a list and then reading it to make sure its correct and it becomes glaringly obvious to your subconscious TRUE self that the LEFT POSITIVE column is all true and the right is all false. This can not be argued with and you become all POSITIVE and you realise that you are - read down the LEFT column and see what you are: Positive>< Negative Reality><illusion Love><hate Truth><fiction Understanding><no understanding Calm><agitation Now>< Then Here><There Self><No self Time><no time Space><no space Etc.. And it's true! It's that simple. Buddha said. 'What you think is what you are' or what you think you are is what you are. Nothing gets added or taken away you simply are yourself now and you cannot argue with your self because my friend you are 100% POSITIVE it's true! And this positivity goes round and round gaining more positivity constantly expanding. Loving more and more and more. And you qi vibrational frequency keeps going high and higher and higher exponentially. The more you are in the NOW as days go past things become aligned and the NOW gets bigger and time collapses and you start getting knowings. When you are 100% positive you know! And gradually you start to know the future and other things too. You have to try it that is all I can say. I cannot make you enlightened only YOU can. Reality is not something other than what is HERE and NOW in front of your eyes right!? How can it be anything other than that? And when you understand that you get more insight into the reality which is consciousness! And you understand space and time don't exist. And you can go anywhere anytime. Only started doing this last night! It's getting very very interesting folks I can tell you! :-) Anyone who has experienced a lucid dream has done this. Life is a dream in conciousness. :-) TaoMaster may seem like he is mad but he has truthfully expanded enormously, beyond my or your comprehension at our present vibrational level. Best of luck...

Wait a minute! What is being used when you are sleeping and having a dream? Not you conscious mind because during the dream you are not aware that you are dreaming. Yes, there is only one brain. There is the conscious aspect of it and the unconscious aspect of it.

Last night I had a dream where Batman stops fighting criminals(I forget why) and while he is lying doing nothing police captain Gordon makes videos showing him fighting criminals to cover for him. When Batman finally realizes he has been inactive too long he starts getting ready to fight but finds out he has been lying in his socks too long that he has trouble walking now becuase he has foot fungus. My interpretation of the dream is my subconscious fear that I will confuse passiveness with inaction in the path of Tao. In my current life, I am lucky that I don't need to do much to live a comfortable life since most of my needs are cared for. So, the way I understand it Tao for me will be accepting the life I have(easy because it is so simple, hard because of the conflict of pride on being dependent) and living passively while reacting to the problems that may crop up as I flow along with the current of my life without railing against it. I am new to Tao so I am sure I am making mistakes. Any books you folks can recommend on this wu-wei aspect of Tao for the beginner?

You can't wake someone else up or interfere with a 14 billion year old process of physical-emotional-mental-spiritual evolution. That's ego at work. In fact there's no on/off button on spiritual ignorance. The psyche is a multi-dimensional infinitely-faceted psycho-organic super-power-house. By which I mean, it's way more complex than you think. Furthermore, your dream that other people are asleep and you're awake is just a dream. The binary concept of awake/asleep is a huge part of ignorance. It's more accurate to perceive it as a spectrum - sure there's a true zenith, but the infinite variances in human genetics and conditioning, not to mention the possibility of infinite karma, determines the capacity and preparation for awakening. Also, as All are part of a One, there's no one awake or asleep but yourself. It's true what you say: you simply aren't hungry enough for awakening yet to pursue or "achieve" it. The majority of you is still asleep. The majority of "US" is still asleep. It's all one thing though, man, and if you saw it that way, you'd not think people are delusional or foolish. It's just nature, and it's you.

That was before its first John Chang experience. You should see it now. Doesn't even dream.

Ultimately mankind is in a bad state and it is tragic. Hollywood movies and Hollywood Bodhisattvas give us the dream that one day it will be okay. Teachers try to help us by telling us we don't exist. Can you imagine how bad things have to be for that to happen. Yes and then it is quite terrifying when someone tries to "give you a hug" and it is obvious that this guy is suffering, and he lives through hugging people .... very bad energy. Because people who are needy have weak energy defence and the parasiting begins, feed off the weak. Of course it's all unconscious, so who can you blame. But you can put an end to it, and realise the danger. We can only help with the excess that we have after securing our house. Only that excess is available. No more. Help only those who are not idle, I have heard it said. On such a planet stark choices have to be made, and illusions shattered. Carrying on with the helping is a miserable spiral imploding. When a man has stood on that white ball of rock up there, and on the South Pole, get off your knees. Everyone must use their life to build create and generate. Otherwise their energy is destructive and sucks the sunlight out of the Earth. This reminds me of an old story : Mary Anoints Jesus at Bethany 12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore took a pound[a] of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it[c] for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

Well it's an open and imminent question for me. I question the whole fabric of this society, it looks one way, but inside is different. I think society is sick, deeply sick and the things we take for granted are actually diseased. And it's old. Why is there any compassion at all ? What does that mean, that people are idiots and can't help themselves ? Dependence and dependence, and old game of slavery. Sounds so nice ... "I'll help you". But maybe it's your undoing. On this planet you see nature documentaries, and this animal sitting on a branch with big eyes looking out ... along comes another animal and slurp it's eaten all up. Eaten alive. and this animal is still sitting there on a branch with big eyes looking out. Like nothing happened. That's this planet. It's completely unconscious. Asleep eating each other. Nobody even notices there is a problem. Mankind is far more like that animal on the branch than you might think. Who wants to know the bitter truth. Are mankind's problems just "an accident". Or does it speak of what we are. When you switch on the TV, what's the subject. Always the same, "helping". Who is "helping" and who isn't "helping". There is total unconscious deceit in all this, truly you would be very fortunate to escape the sludge. But hey on most days I drift through the streams of people. Be polite, pat the dog ... but what does my heart really say ? Is there something very very wrong. When I was young I was the same, it was how I was raised. The rainbow coloured plastic toys waggled in my face, coochie coo little idiot baby. And I would watch these "adults" do this and already something felt quite ill about it. I was smashed to smithereens, lucky to survive on several occasions, and only that has catapulted me far off trajectory. But still here. Perhaps I value these possessions and so on too much. I was thinking about selling up today and moving to Ecuador, a perennial dream. It is not that desire is wrong actually. But desire when you are born into such a species is not worth it. That's closer to the truth. Maybe we are in transition here, pay extra and take the express that's the best.

I had to simplify a bit in order to contrast Feng Shui with Bagua Zhan. There is more than meets the eye at first glance in the latter too, but the two arts differ in their emphasis. It's fine to dream.