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Hi so for a quick background on myself, I came from a really abusive household they were also Religious and used it to control the children alot. Unfortunately I fell victim to it and joined the Religion for several years, I was told I was a bad person in my past life, needed to be punished, etc. I started hearing voices in my head ( not actual voices just intrusive thoughts) that told me I needed to fail and suffer in life, my life generally has been unfortunate up until this point. Now with Neigong and martial arts my mind got more clear and I've decided to leave, but the strange part is that I still get fear and panic which seems to cause blockages in my body. Anyone have experience with this?

Hi so for a quick background on myself, I came from a really abusive household they were also Religious and used it to control the children alot. Unfortunately I fell victim to it and joined the Religion for several years, I was told I was a bad person in my past life, needed to be punished, etc. I started hearing voices in my head ( not actual voices just intrusive thoughts) that told me I needed to fail and suffer in life, my life generally has been unfortunate up until this point. Now with Neigong and martial arts my mind got more clear and I've decided to leave, but the strange part is that I still get fear and panic which seems to cause blockages in my body. Anyone have experience with this?

Hey all! I have been lurking in the forums for some time now, ever since I first discovered the concept of qi in a real, undeniable way. In short, my journey began when I tried acupuncture to treat chronic pain, was reinforced when I began practicing qi gong daily, and then reached a fever pitch when I heard firsthand accounts of qi healing from my acupuncturist (waving a hand over a pressure point, essentially). Now I'm watching videos purporting to display qi's martial applications. At this point I'm inclined to believe it all may be possible - seeing auras, reading minds, telekinesis, who knows? However, I do find it hard to believe that ONLY the Chinese discovered this phenomenon. Could other practices around the world, religious and otherwise, have used qi in other contexts? For example, the saints of Catholicism all had some sort of miraculous power, accounts of Native American shamans commonly report visions of the future, Indian Brahmins or incarnations' are said to have possession of magical astras, etc. Obviously a lot of this has been embellished and a fair bit surely is bullshit, but I suspect there is a kernel of truth to it all, and that kernel is probably called qi. Or something. Has anyone else had this thought and looked into it further?

I am often fascinated by the behavior of people in the modern world. There are numerous contradictions in their actions and beliefs. For instance, I have a friend who holds a government position but engages in corrupt practices. Surprisingly, he also donates a significant amount of money. He has developed his own set of values, which can be seen as contradictory. He argues that donating the money earned through corruption absolves him of any wrongdoing, as the act of giving back mitigates the harm caused. I find this way of thinking truly astonishing. This example is just one among many. Recently, I had a conversation with a friend about adultery, and he expressed the view that it is wrong to initiate such actions. However, if a woman approaches or shows interest, he believes it would be acceptable to engage in such behavior. These double standards are prevalent in various aspects of people's lives. Many individuals who appear to be devoutly religious or spiritual also struggle with strong desires and lust. People have a knack for justifying their own questionable behaviors. I must admit that I, too, have found myself in conflicting situations at times. This constant exposure to contradictory behavior has left me thoroughly confused. Is morality not an integral part of spirituality? Can a person with low moral standards still consider themselves highly spiritual?

Checking in on you folks has become a bit of a guilty pleasure...not really as helpful to my day to day practice as all that, but entertaining. Read this and had an impulse to post it. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/the-pearl-of-lao-tzu/559109/

Hello, I would like to introduce myself properly by giving my related background in regards to internal alchemy, which is what i am about... I started out with the religion of my parents until early teenage years, became agnostic as it didnt matter to me and later on picked up interest in Christendom. Not having any preconceived notions about anything Christian by external teachings... and reading the book on my own, I came to other conclusions than those that are mainstream. My understanding or interpretation has evolved multiple times, after which I took a step back and realized that relying on interpretation, understanding, knowledge or reasoning is not enough and can be misleading. That was the main point that made me stop trying to reach God with the intellect, but start walking the path of the mystic (experiencing God > knowing God). One day, I had a very interesting experience, which changed everything. I sat on my bed or I was lying, I dont know and had a moment where I totally surrendered to "God", giving up my life, basically, saying its all yours and meaning it and fully giving up... As I was lying there, my body started to burn hot. Internal waves of goosebumps emerged that came in waves, stronger and stronger, and overtook my entire body. If I was to describe it, I would say my body was in blazing, overwhelming, invisible fire, which did not burn me, but which I could sense! At that moment, I had no clue what was happening, but nowadays, I think I know... anyway, as it was happening, I was thinking of God's embrace, of verses like "God is a burning fire" which does not burn, things of that nature, which intensified the whole experience... IIRC, it kept going for 2-3 minutes, give or take and then i went to sleep. I never paid more attention or taught to it, but nowadays, I think it was a key event in my energetic unfolding - i think it started it all. Anyway, I evolved from Christianity by becoming a perennialist, due to my mystical/esoteric approach to the bible. I discovered non-duality, first in the bible, then noticed how other traditions, mainly buddhism (secretly) and advaita vedanta (openly) are teaching the same thing. I realized that "God" is not personal, but rather impersonal and more than that, that God's identity, which I knew was "ineffable" - somethign that did not make much sense to me, was beyond concepts, language or reason, making me understand the ineffible-ness of God's identity. It transcends the intellect or speech, the Tao that can be talked or written about, is not the real Tao... The buddhists call it the void or emptiness.. The evolution of my understanding has been happening in multiple strands, in parallel. The main strand or framework I was working with, was alchemical Christianity (occultism), but I was open minded so I was pursuing other maps or frameworks like budhism and yoga (of patanjali) to better understand what they were all pointing at. As a perennialist, I view God as a mountain-top, with different starting points having different paths (potentially-) all leading to the same top, or trying to, at least. From Christendom, I understood that the way to God is by "Christ" alone - which is an occultish way to say that celibacy is sine-quo-non. This knowledge has been esoterically distilled from a few things...: - the allegory of the fall of Adam & Eve, who "ate" from the forbidden "tree" placed in the "midst of the garden". ther is a verse that says one should come to a conclusion on a matter by taking multiple witnesses in court cases, but esoterically speaking, this is referring to textual interpretation - so, there is another place (Proverbs 30:20) which says "the whore eats and wipes her mouth and says she has done nothing wrong", showing and indicating that "eating" = sex, making the allegory of Adam & Eve all about sex, as they also "ate".. making the forbidden tree the genitelia, the garden the center of the human body etc. - allegory of Christ's crcufixition - being crucified at the age of "33" in "golgotha" is code for the spine, which has 33 vertebrates and the human skull: "golgotha" literally means "place of skull" - the word "Christ" means anointing or oil, in the original, its "cristos" - this is the same "oil" of the parable of the 10 virgins, all of whom seek to enter the "kindgom of God" (deciphered: samadhi/jhana), 5 wise having "oil" in their lantern, 5 foolish who dont have "oil" and cant enter during the dark night (meditation) - the Christ (anointing, oil, essence, "jing"), which came from above ("Most High" / "God" - aka the brain, pituary/pineal) must also go up the same way it came down - by being accepted (celibacy) and not rejected (sexual indulgence) - "to know" meaning to have sex and the saying "know thyself" occultishly referring to self-frucitication (internal alchemy).. Equipped with this knowledge, I practiced mainly 2 things: - meditation - celibacy (both of which are simply non-doings, now that I think about it - I did not "do" those things, I rather stopped "doing" in both instances xD the yoke of Christ is easy after all...) The form of meditation I practiced was what Buddha described in the anapana-sati sutta. Awareness of the breath. By "breath", I mean the false breath - the mechanism by which we suck in air. These days, my main interpretation for "breath" in occult or spiritual ancient texts is Chi automatically, because you can breath chi as well. Sooner or later, I discovered that I can voluntarily cause piloerection, in short - create goosebumps voluntarily with my breath. I now understand this as chi-control. Initially I did not understand the significance of it and ignored it, but thanks to articles I found here and elsewhere, correlating it with the other knowledge I have, I think its the key to all of it.. The comment I am referring to is this one: Having spent some time here and having read about xing and ming (a 60+ page pdf called "Destiny, Vital Force, or Existence? On the Meanings of Ming in Daoist Internal Alchemy and Its Relation to Xing or Human Nature by Fabrizio Pregadio"), I think I now have somewhat of a better understanding of what the process is really all about. (I am still not hipp to the taoist lingo, but i am trying xD) And I find myself more leaning towards Taoism or rather, internal alchemy (neidan) than any other framework, as its the most straight forward and the one that makes most sense to me personally, assuming you know what the cryptic elements mean. All spiritual texts are cryptic, but if you have a little bit of progress or related knowledge to compare it to, you can usually make sense of it... or delude yourself you are undersanding them, lol xD Here is my current understanding ,which is ever-evolving: - Meditation (false xing exercise, post-heaven xing?) creates true ming (chi movement, awareness of chi, voluntary piloerection), when the body and mind are completely and 100% relaxed (no movement: physical stillness and 0 muscle tension + no thoughts) - True Ming & its exercise (chi-gong, taichi, external movements but paying 80% attention to the movement of the chi internally, not the physical form or movement) is what charges the battery at the core of the human system and allows for true xing (jhanic absoprtion, samadhi, emptiness) to occur The anapanasati sutta is ingenious in the way, that it contains both elements. You progress from the breath of air to the breath of chi all naturally. Once you do celibacy or become a monk and then completely relax the body and mind for a while, you feel start feeling the pulsations of chi in your body (mainly abdomen), which are exponentially intensified through celibacy.. and sooner or later, acquire control over them. You start feeling light-orgasmic sensations in your abdomen when you fully relax and meditate! This is the bliss of the secluded monks, Buddha talked about, who were entering Jhana! When the breath is traced down, which naturally occurs, as you can not focus your attention to the nose-tip as mainstream buddhist teachers teach, because you have let go of all control (even awareness) to achieve stillness, bodily and mentally, awareness itself will natural latch on to the breath and follow it down to the belly. in the belly, when the breath is slow (long), heat sensations will start to form near the belly button and it will heat up. this natural xing-approach can be simulated by a ming approach of doing reverse breathing and intentionally moving chi (voluntary piloerection) to the belly region. visualizing energy moving in from your limbs like electricity down into your belly helps a lot. 2 different approaches, but the same effect. i think once this center is charged sufficiently, it spills over to higher regions which is when supernatural phenomena are gonna start occurring around you, usually unintentionally and without control... perhaps you can gain control, but I am not that far yet and I am not really interested, tbh... i could not make sense of it either, it seems that certain physical phenomena occur, when there is a "delta" in awareness, say you are at 50% of stillness or emptiness (random number) and then you drop to 49% or jump to 51% abruptly for whatever reason, this has a ripple effect on physical reality. this is the best way I can describe it and I could not induce it by will, it happens on its own or is out of control... i could not attribute it to anything else, because its hard to "think" while not thinking or being completely still.. so when the phenomena occur, it rips me out of emptiness completely when i try to make sense of it, completely stopping the whole process! i think thinking (mental movements) are too coarse for supernatural phenomena - you have to have a super subtle mind with super subtle movements during stillness, to (probably) intentionally induce these things. and even then, how would you do that, when you have to let go of all things to reach such levels of stilness (non-doing)? how to do while not doing? i have no idea... its super complex and I have no one to really talk to about these things, except perhaps you guys! I believe that dual-cultivation is necessary and complementary to each other, cultivating both energy (chi movement) + stillness (100% body/mind relaxation, no wavering at all, no movement of any sort). Christ may have been a taoist, btw., having said what he said in the gospel of Thomas verse 50, in regards to where we come from: > (50) Jesus says: > (1) “If they say to you: ‘Where do you come from?’ (then) say to them: ‘We have come from the light, the place where the light has come into being > by itself, has established [itself] and has appeared in their image.’ > (2) If they say to you: ‘Is it you?’ (then) say: ‘We are his children, and we are the elect of the living Father.’ > (3) If they ask you: ‘What is the sign of your Father among you?’ (then) say to them: ‘It is movement and repose.’” Movement (ming) and repose (stillness) or yang and yin, etc.. The Tao (stillness, void, emptiness, nothingness) spontaneously created unity (golden elixier, the unification of yin and yang) which split into duality (yin and yang), which procreated the 3rd (mother+father=child) and from this process came all the things (10.000 things)... so its about uniting duality, merging movement with stillness, action in non-action, doing in non-doing or non-doing in doing - i think this is what wuwei refers to, ultimately. effortless action is born, when both yin and yang merged into one. no one can do this, except the exalted ones, the taoist immortals, the boddhisattvas, the saints, etc. etc. intentionally. in regards to internal alchemy, I think this refers to controlling energy while being in stillness. its kinda paradoxical, how is there a "doing" (yang, chi-control) in "non-doing" (meditation, yin). i think the answer is: spontaneity - its a natural phenomenon, its not you, who does anything, it is something which follows a certain law and happens on its own on the path of cultivation. i think this is what has been depicted in the yin and yang symbol, where there is a dot of the opposite in each one of them. yang has a dot of yin and yin has a dot of yang, as they both complement each other and one induces the other. they are tightly knit together, one could argue they are the two sides of the same coin... And Jesus also talked about how to create the golden elixier, allthough cryptically, in verse 106, for example: > (106) Jesus says: > (1) “When you make the two into one, you will become sons of man. > (2) And when you say ‘Mountain, move away,’ it will move away.” (sons of man is a title for offspring of the perfect one, the first "man" aka Adam, who was 100% perfect before the fall) Anyway, there are many traditions and many esoteric sayings, which I have not referenced outright, which point at this general direction. The muslims "pray" (repetition of words; mantra meditation) by placing their hands on their belly buttons and doing a few stretching movements.. i think its a veiled form of internal alchemy! In general, the abrahamic flavors seem to use the formula: celibacy + xing practice (or non-practice, lol, letting go, non-doing). I think this is called xing before ming in taoism. Xing before ming, in true christendom, evolves into xing with ming at the same time, once ming becomes doable due to xing cultivation - as one other daobummer once pointed out in a completely different context but still related: "how can a pianist play the piano, if he has no hands? he first needs to cultivate and have hands.. hence the higher teachings are secret or only given to those who qualify.." something along those lines - which makes sens in this context as well - how can you do ming work, if you are not aware of your chi and can not move it. So I am of the "xing before ming" school, allthough nowadays I practice both at the same time, beceause I "grew hands", so to speak.. ---- I am grateful for this community, there are many nuggets of wisdom and lots of interesting discussions. I am happy to be able to be part of it, allthough I am one who prefers personal, direct experience over theories, its still nice to have a few ideas or different POVs... and more importantly, likeminded people!

Hello, I have several questions about the essence of Tao. So, let's go. I am former Muslim, so my thoughts about the Tao might be not correct 1. Our universe emerged from Tao? Or it's emerged from Wu Ji as the Creation of the world, this is its Path? 2. Is Tao forcing to do something? Like "Even leaves fall with his knowledge"? Or Tao (named Tao I mean, because true eternal Tao of course cannot be expressed by words) is basically the nature of all things? 3. And please say, if we consider, that some Supreme God exists, Is it correct to say that the creation of the world and the management of the world is the God's Tao? Sorry for this questions, they might be strange, but do you think about same things? What are your thoughts on this?

Hello there Im taoxingzhi, young adult from from northern europe glad to have found this site. I first got introduced into taoism through as i recall it, Samurai Jack. It was a cartoon I used to watch before going to school, it had fighting and the samurai theme was edgy for a kid. In one episode, moreover, i remember there being a yinyang symbol on an amulet. Life continued and in my teens i battled through serious existential crises, nihilism, and i can only say that these things will stay with my my whole life. I remember seeing the yinyang symbol once or twice again, but due to my surroundings at the time it was unimaginable to allow such radical thought (compared to where i was then) into my life. Then, finally, when im at another city during early adulthood i have a particularly bad patch of life and partly because of that i start to gather information from eastern philosophies and religions, whatever you want to call them. Traditions of wisdom, i guess? Taoism seems to resonate with me most strongly, after comparing it to buddhism, confucianism and shinto. Im really a novice at this all, and scientific or textual knowledge is not why i find taoism so great. Its just a tradition of wisdom that time after time has the tendency to make my life a little bit better, usually it happens through these tiny snippets from daodejing, or work of alan watts, or just reading what someone else has said about it. I can only say that my life is a little bit better because of taoism, im grateful for it and pleased to find a place where people talk about it. Nice to meet you! -taoxingzhi

You practice. Perhaps you practice a little. Perhaps you practice a lot. Maybe you practice every day. Maybe you don't. Maybe you meditate. Maybe you ruminate. Perhaps you move about, or not. You might move fast. You might move slowly. Perhaps you read, and write, and think. Or maybe you feel, deeply. You might follow a well worn path. You might forge your own path. Maybe you follow secret and esoteric teachings. Perhaps you train high on a mountain. Maybe you train in your back-yard. You might even train at the local strip mall, right next to the dollar store. (I see you! You know who you are...) It doesn't matter where, or how - at least not to anyone other than you. But to you it matters deeply. To you it is essential! So why do you do it? What do you want from this?

Hello, I have recently become interested in Flying Phoenix Chi Kung. I have studied various forms of Chinese martial arts for most of my adult life (mostly external) along with some Chen Tai Chi. I am interested in the health benefits of Flying Phoenix, but have no interest in Taoism or Buddhism. I have studied them and have no misgivings about remaining Catholic. Incidentally, I have no need for syncretism, nor for obscure forms of christianity. In short, are there other people who self-identify as "Christian" who practice Flying Phoenix Chi Kung? I ask because there seem to be a great many people who practice eastern religions here and wonder if I am quite alone. P.S. This is not intended to stir a debate relevant to the truth content of various religions. Thanks, Sulo

Are there any non-Taoists, non-Buddhists here? I am interested in FP for overall health, and wonder if there is anyone else here like me.

Some people consider daoism a religion. Some people consider it a philosophy and not a religion. What do you think, and why? What qualifies it as such, or disqualifies it as such, for you?

This is not a question about who is better or this and that... The reason I need a plausible and ostensible answer to this question is patterns. What makes one thing different from another that can make it related to another thing. If you do not understand patterns, just dismiss my explanation. However getting to my question for people who would actually know from experience or reading: Who is more "Orthodox" when it comes to following rules? Is it Buddhists? Or Daoists? Even more important, in the past do we know what the comparative was? Were things the same or different? I greatly appreciate any knowledge anyone might have on this subject. I have been too close to most of it so fresh opinions help me refocus.

Hey guys, I have recently picked up "The Little Book of Meditation" by William Bodri. I found out about this book from the energy cultivators handbook thread. And honestly, a lot of the ideas resonate with me at this stage. Anyone read his material? It's repetitive so I have to skim slme of it, but I'm liking what I'm reading. He goes over different aspects of life like gaining merit/karma, dieting, and sexuallity. If you have any input on his thoughts please elaborate. He starts off with talking about meditation and all of its benefits. He says that you can open up chi channels with meditation and so fourth. Then he dives into a subject I am spending a lot of time trying to implement into my life and that is the subject of chanting. He says it's good to chant all day when you aren't busy (which is literally all day for me being a lifeguard this summer). He gives numerous chants from different religions. The are also numerous websites discussing chanting and the different benefits they can bring depending on the chant. So I took to chanting and for the last few days I chant out loud when I'm alone and in my head when in the presence of others. It kind of makes sense because in the very least, it forces me to breath deeply in and out. I've been chanting on the out-breath and taking deep in-breaths afterwards, all through my abdomen. I've also been chanting in my daily meditation. The chant I have been using is "Om Mani Padme Hum" prounounced "Aum Ma nee Pie me Hoom". I've been liking the way it sounds and feels so far, but I've only chanted it maybe a few thousand times and compared with most monks that chant, that is supposedly next to nothing. Anyone have experience with chanting? What chants do you use? Anyone have opinions or input on this practice? Best Regards, Chi Boy

Sooo due to some comments in another thread, I came across the topic of fasting. It only seems relevant that if I'm going to be practicing Brahmacharya (celibacy), I might as well start by testing my self control with regards to food. I ate my dinner last night, and all day today I haven't had a bite of food. I like how it has been making me feel. Yeah, I'm not the highest energy today, but I've been feeling very spiritual and very blissful all day. I feel like I've been more in tuned with situations, and more my true self. It is also nice to step back and realize how thankful I am for the food I recieve. I think I want to start giving thanks for food before I eat it as well. My stepmom is Japanese, and her family says "tadakie mas" (idk about spelling) before eating as a way of giving thanks for the food and farmers that it came from. Fasting gives my body a chance to regenerate and cleanse apparently as well. I can also tell that next time I have a but to eat, which will be tomarrow, it will be the best bite I've ever had I've been drinking water all day and I took my liquid multivitamin as well, but that's it. I got the idea from a really amazing bum named Arramu and I am very thankful. I also want to fast one day per week or at least every two weeks. What are you alls feelings towards fasting? Does anyone practice multiple days of fasting at a time? What kind of fasting have you all done?

I begin this as a spin off from Owledge's thread entitled "Atheism as a religion" http://thetaobums.com/topic/36593-atheism-as-a-religion/page-23 Mid-debate on this page, you will see a comment from Bubbles about stirring subjective views. This, we do find in most of life. Whether it's in forums, on the news, social media - everyone seems to have an opinion about something. An educated opinion? Or a biased opinion based on values implanted in us. Notice how defensive we get if something of ours is criticised; religion, diet, parenting...the list goes on. In the above debate, I had my own rumble with Iain, challenging him for a more objective view as opposed to going from what had been previously learnt from a yogi/teacher and attempting to apply it to neuroscience and quantum physics. My argument remains the same, and that is that I cannot go by what he argues because I have never experienced, nor had any reason to trust, his spiritual ideas. Yes, I can take them as a positive guideline for enhancing my own wellbeing and those around me, but if we're discussing the nature of the universe, religious and spiritual ideas provide very little other than what I see as beautifully written analogies. However, I can work with an evolutionist approach to at least use the tools that we have at hand to move one step closer, as opposed to making assumptions and links to dogmatic spiritual ideas that lack any form of credibility. That said, Iain if you're reading this, don't think that I don't recognise your same goal. Your commitment to understanding theories of quantum physics, biology, neuroscience etc in addition to your spiritual practices is admirable and proves that you're not a man of blind faith. And feel free to present whatever teachings you have come across from the yogi teacher you spoke about, I just can't guarantee I'll be on board hehe. So Bubbles' point is very valid as this is only one example of many conversations within that thread that had some very big opinions being thrown around. The main trend though, that I found, were almost reasons to argue for atheism as being like a religion. As opposed to looking at the scenario objectively, perhaps first looking at what defines religion and how atheism could (if it does at all) fit the description, some people instead choose to go straight for arguments such as it being a belief system of its own with its own label and following. Pure assumption, as you will see Marbehead fighting his corner many times on how this isn't the case. The same could be said about religious debates in general, they all tend to be based around subjective, biased arguments depending on who wants to be right, as opposed to actualy being right. This is why I love the Tao Te Ching - it's pragmatic. In the same way as science (not all, but a lot) is pragmatic. It takes a lot of faith to read a holy book and take it as seriously word for word. It takes even more faith to deem it as reliable as the information you see directly in front of you. Hypothetical example: A fundamentalist christian believes in the word of God and that it is portrayed in the bible. This same person is told by a friend, but with no evidence, that their son has been seen kissing a man. How do you predict his reaction? Most likely dismissing the news because he hasn't seen his son actually doing it. Could he deny this if he had evidence? Probably not. So in this case, he has made a choice about what he wants to believe. He wants to believe in the word of God and that it is portrayed throughout the bible. He wants to believe that his son is a straight man and that his friend is mistaken. Therefore there is a lack of objective thinking within this person - but it spares his feelings none the less. Of course, we don't even know if his son was actually kissing the man. That doesn't stop us trying to find the truth though, but his father probably wants to leve it there as he is worried about what he might find out. A Recent example: I was on Twitter the other day when over here in the UK, there was a huge storm over what this old talk show veteran said: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeOsBeeeEjI In context, she is talking about a professional footballer's crime of raping a woman and his rights to return back to the team. Due to her wording, trolls on Twitter went mad. Apparently she defended the rapist and blamed the victim. Looking at the video objectively, what do you see? Personally, I heard her say that she in no way was "minimising rape" and that his actions were "reprehensible". Yes she did also say that the victim was very "drunk" and that it "wasn't violent", but this is fact stating. That is all I can say about that. People on Twitter would say "Judy, all rape is violent", which is a fair statement to make although, in this circumstace, as the court files confirmed, there was no evidence of bodily harm. Even though forcing sex is violent intent, in context with what she was saying, it is clear that the attack was not as severe as say, if he drugged and/or beat her. The justice system has different grades of violence, and this is why someone will get more jail time for murder than manslaughter. More for GBH than a quick one punch in a bar before walking out and calming down. She acknowledged that he had done a bad crime, and that he had done his time. The law sees the footballer, (Ched Evans if you want to research this yourself) fit to be let back out into the world and therefore Judy recognised this. Still, Judy Finnigan had to make a public apology due to the subjective opinions and rants on Twtter. It resulted in her daughter receiving rape threats. I know, right! The wonderful opinion of "Oh, well let's see how she likes it if her daughter gets raped" mentality. The power of subjective opinion, aka, believe what suits you at the time. So I wish to express the importance, and hopefully convince you that we should not be debating with our own personal biases. If we do, we find ourselves desparate to look out for ourselves in situations that require a neutral and practical solution. There is no harm in having our own preferences in life, depending on what they are of course, but an open mind to logic and evidence should not be discarded for dogma that could be likened to sheer imagination.

While talking to a Bhakti-yoga practitioner today, I couldn't help but notice the many similarities between the way these practitioners (Hare Krishna folk) live their life compared to Buddhist and Taoist teachings. Basically, and unsurprisingly, religion and/or spirituality share many common principles. But how does one hone in on one school of thought? For example, if I choose to become a Bhakti practitioner, I feel like I would be missing out on a whole other world, namely, Buddhism and Taoism. Anybody here 'migrated' from one religion or spiritual path to another or encountered this question along their own path? Thank you for your time to read this

Has anybody seen these? Pretty good, even if a bit biased about some things from time to time... Here's episode 1 for those interested: I apologise for the typo in the title of this thread. Can I edit it?

Religious fundamentalism and cruelty to children may one day be treated in the same way as mental illness, a neuroscientist has speculated. Kathleen Taylor, a research scientist at Oxford University’s Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, says strong negative beliefs could be eradicated using techniques already in the works. Dr Taylor was speaking at the Hay Literary Festival in Wales when she was asked what she forsaw as positive developments in neuroscience in the coming years, The Times reports. She replied: “One man’s positive can be another man’s negative. One of the surprises may be to see people with certain beliefs as people who can be treated. “Someone who has for example become radicalised to a cult ideology – we might stop seeing that as a personal choice that they have chosen as a result of pure free will and may start treating it as some kind of mental disturbance. “In many ways it could be a very positive thing because there are no doubt beliefs in our society that do a heck of a lot of damage. http://refreshingnews99.blogspot.in/2013/05/leading-neuroscientist-religious.html “These beliefs are very harmful but are not normally categorised as mental illness.” In a previous blog for the Huffington Post, Dr Taylor wrote of the “astonishing” advances in neuroscience and how it offers hope for some of the most feared diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Considering how much abuse has gone on in the churches of the religion of Christianity, it makes the whole organized religion seem creepy to me, and like it is organized in order to control people and hide the truth from them. It's no wonder this ended up happening. Huge Sex Abuse Scandals in religions and churches http://www.npr.org/news/specials/priests/ SEX CRIMES AND VATICAN- http://vimeo.com/654677

SONIA BARRETT - "HOLOGRAPHIC GAME" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVl88xw6U_I A very enlightening 1hr 18mins. In fact it was enthralling and captivating. Its refreshing when something truly resonates. Namaste, gentlewind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHW5aTTOX1w

Hello everyone! My question is - what concepts does one need to accept to call himself a Daoist? My answer would be simply - "The Dao produced One, One produced Two, Two produced Three, Three produced ten thousand things." My understanding is that that metaphor denotes periods of creation in the Universe. Dao = Primordial being One = Existence Two = Yin, Yang Three = Yin, Yang and Qi, however, this is disputed Ten thousand things = Everything that is Am I right or wrong? So accepting those basic concepts: Dao, Yin-Yang, Qi and perhaps the Three Virtues (compassion, humility, moderation), one can call himself a Daoist. There is also the difference between philosophical and religious Daoism, which sounds like a Western misconception. I believe every Daoist is partially both religious/spiritual and philosophical. I sincerely doubt that Daoists agree with everything Lao Zi, Zhuang Zi or Lie Yukou said. What are your thoughts? How would you define the basic concepts of Daoism and how would you define a Daoist? Thanks in advance!

So I found a good read when I was younger, maybe 10 years ago or so, a book by Mary Summerrain called The Phoenix Rising. Another book she wrote, Dreamwalker, spoke of a concept that has been on my mind for a while and I figured it's time to just hash it out and put it into words. Maybe get some answers just doing so, but it's here as well, for discussion. (note, for some reason I cannot use the enter key to add vertical spaces between paragraphs, this wont be easy to read.) So! SummerRain makes note of something genuine: That a holy person, sage, monk, or other spiritually aware and/or advanced person's lifestyle is irrelevant. You can be a dreamwalker, as noted in this book, even though you drink sodas, smoke cigarettes, and eat red meat. MAYBE spiritual titles are irrelevant, that this applies across the board, or perhaps it's only relevant to dreamwalkers? It rings true, in my ears, that a physical lifestyle influences only the physical life-world, and is irrelevant regarding spiritual and/or psychic experiences and ability. So I am wondering to myself if it matters a person's sexuality, gender, diet, habits, addictions, or lifestyles have any genuine meaning in regards to practicing anything of the spiritual/energic sort? I personally do not believe smoking dope and promiscuity are going to directly inhibit immortality, but as with all things, everything in moderation...