What is your plan?

[Old Man Contradiction]

I thought this would be a good way to see other people's perspectives.

 

My plan:

 

I'm 19 yrs old now.

 

All of the work I lay out here will be on the surface of an undercurrent of remembering to be aware. Just remembering to be aware of the now.

 

Right now I practice yichuan/taiji/hsing-I and a little pa kua with a body conditioning agenda that is progressing in intensity as time goes by. All around conditioning a la kung fu, boxing, gymnastics, pilates, etc. This is mainly to lengthen my life and give my body physical freedom.

 

After i'm strong enough i'll have fun with parkour and probably

. Just something to enjoy and have fun in.

 

After I reach a really high steady level of physical health, could possibly be even 20 years from now, I will devote more and more time to letting go and self awareness. We all know what happens when you let go of everything.

 

 

What's your plan?

Edited August 20, 2009 by Old Man Contradiction

[Sunya]

After I reach a really high steady level of physical health, could possibly be even 20 years from now, I will devote more and more time to letting go and self awareness. We all know what happens when you let go of everything.

 

 

I hope you don't die before then. we never know when we will die, life is so impermanent and unpredictable.. having such a long term plan is iffy.

 

what do you mean by "we all know what happens when you let go of everything" ? what do you think happens?

[findley]

-Earn a doctorate in philosophy by the age of 30,

 

This is my goal, and it is a toughy. Perhaps the most 'indirect' path of all, but I like to think long-term

 

If you're 19, I highly suggest you establish 'worldly foundations' before you give your life away to spiritual growth.

[Old Man Contradiction]

I hope you don't die before then. we never know when we will die, life is so impermanent and unpredictable.. having such a long term plan is iffy.

 

what do you mean by "we all know what happens when you let go of everything" ? what do you think happens?

 

The truth is, I don't know what happens when you let go of everything. I'm just glad to be a part of it. And you are right, a long term plan like this is iffy. I wanted to keep this post as concise as possible to encourage more posters to get done reading mine and post theirs, but I was going to write that really I don't know if this is how things will work out. Another way I could have written this was,"this is what I am doing now, and then this is what I am interested in, or inspired towards". My interests seem to be steadily actualizing in life, but I don't know the future. It is okay if I die before then. If I continue and remember what is true within me in everyday common life, I won't have any regrets.

 

-Earn a doctorate in philosophy by the age of 30,

 

This is my goal, and it is a toughy. Perhaps the most 'indirect' path of all, but I like to think long-term

 

If you're 19, I highly suggest you establish 'worldly foundations' before you give your life away to spiritual growth.

 

Are you going to school now findley?

 

And you got it man, I have a career lined up that is a nice fit with my lifestyle and ambitions. Thank you for your sound advice.

[Encephalon]

It's very encouraging for me to see young people with such a robust level of self-worth, positive expectation, and a solid footing in a Taoist tradition (which I believe to be, on the whole, the world's most brilliantly conceived and balanced philosophy, incorporating body, mind, and spirit). I think this bodes well for a segment of the population, at least.

 

I'm one year south of 50. I worshipped at the Bart Simpson Alter of Underachievement for the first 35 years, and eventually went on to get my master's. A lifetime of fitness, after sobering up at 22, has kept me in very good shape. The nei kung and chi kung and vegetarianism will probably grant me an extra 15-20 years of life so that I may live long enough to die with no regrets.

 

My only concern, and this is mostly for younger people, is that our culture has just about run its course. With peak oil, resource depletion, and fanaticism of all stripes, the opportunities I both squandered and took for granted will not likely be available come 2020 (I'm a serious "doomer;" comes with being a geography major I guess). I heartily encourage everyone to buy a copy of Scholar/Warrior by Deng Ming-Dao and pay attention to the historical elements of early Taoist life, because after cheap energy disappears, life could become very similar; rural, simple, physical. I've said in this forum before that Taoists seem to have a natural advantage in the coming economic contraction. I hope I am correct. If your "plan" includes becoming the most resourceful, talented, skilled, useful person you can become, then you will find a life of immeasurable value and meaning. If you end up in the middle of Los Angeles with a degree in English Lit. but no means of securing food, water, or your own safetly, you, like millions of others, will perish.

 

May the Tao be with us all.

 

 

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/BreakingNews.html

 

 

http://transitionus.ning.com/

[everseeking]

"... I highly suggest you establish 'worldly foundations' before you give your life away to spiritual growth."

 

 

I couldn't agree more, Findley!! I plan on continuing to train martial arts daily, emphasizing Iron Palm, which Im about to train for the third time today.

 

I will be accountable. I will blame no other for any perceived shortcomings in my life. I will get up every morning, early, and be prepared for class, clinical, and anything that comes my way. I too will constantly bring my mind back when it strays, being aware of the present. I will do what I know to be right, regardless of the ways of the world. I will however, adhere to the law while at work. I will exercise compassion. I will strive to be the best nursing student, and graduate to become the best Registered Nurse I can be, accepting nothing less than this from myself. I will burn Karma. I will be present, and allow myself to feel others pains, but not attach to it.

 

I plan on taking an online meditation course soon, and I will practice the techniques I learn every day. I will continually break away the limits I impose upon myself, I will in time become nothing that has been constructed, and all that simply is.

 

I will, after graduation next may, use martial arts as the vehicle to teach others, through words, presence, and transmission. I will teach them to rise to the highest self they can.

 

I will, in all of this, unwaveringly continue to pursue abilities with Iron Palm which are legendary or mythic by modern standards. I will reach a point, through my abilities, through my efforts, that will be completely limitless and pure. I will continue to seek out the best teaching. I will read, I will do I will live. And eventually, I will become one with the universe.

[Vajrahridaya]

Start school and see where the wind blows from there, at the age of 34.

 

p.s. Within the spectrum of writing, philosophy, Buddhist studies, Tibetan Language studies. Around those areas...

[Trixter Streetcat]

leave mexico, return to london and finish my BA in English lit and creative writing (2 years) and maybe MA (+1 year).

 

during this 2 to 3 year period, learn and work in horticulture, indigenous arts & crafts and energy healing, while keeping forward with martial arts training (tai chi kung fu I call it, tai chi-chikung-kung fu, but I would also like to delve into bujinkan ninjitsu) and of course hardcore, daily meditation practice.

 

during this time I would also like to travel across europe on bike, and would love to learn how to sail a ship (a ship with sails lool).

 

my goal by the end of this 2 to 3 year period is saving enough money to buy land somewhere in the mountains of mexico (initial number is at 3000 pounds, but the more the better).

 

after that, it all becomes less clear (not that any of this is set in stone), but I'd surely love to sail around the mediterranean, maybe go for a while to a retreat or monastery in india or tibet, and there's also a pilgrimage from Paris to Jerusalem planned with my girlfriend.

 

all the while cultivating mind, body and spirit, becoming a better, more aware and perfected human being, at one with the harmony of the universe and versed in many diverse esoteric sciences.

 

if all goes well, have my first fiction-poetry book published before the end of the first or second year, and my great psychedelic fiction saga coming up when I'm done with school.

 

it also wouldn't hurt to quit smoking.

 

I know this seems like an awful lot of work and activity, but after spending the last two years on partial vacation, nothing could seem more enticing than going back to serious work, serious roadtripping and never forget to have lotsa fun.

 

I'll be 22 next month.

 

those are my current plans. nothing is set in stone but I plan to squeeze the juice completely out of (at least) the couple of years to come. so there.

[King Kabalabhati]

Love more, love more, love more.

 

To help me accomplish this I shall keep on doing more Tao Yin, more Microcosmic, more sexual kung fu, more Inner Smile and I want to learn the healing sounds from a teacher so I get it right, and why not get some more advice for the other practices as well. Iron shirt sounds very interesting but I don't know if I got the time for it very soon.

 

I want to dive deeper into Ayurveda, the science of life.

 

Oh and finish high school, it's been hanging since -99 and I only got one math course left

 

And if Immortality be on my path then why not, otherwise I'll just dissolve peacefully once the time comes.

Edited August 22, 2009 by King Kabalabhati