answer the call of the tao

[zerostao]

not trying to start a what/who is tao thread, (even if i do enjoy and frequent those type of threads) but rather just an open call for anyone to post on this thread

if they have a little voice inside of them telling them to embrace the tao

and what that may mean to them on a personal level.

please no preaching, or trying to convert to a specific religion,or to a lack of one, no authority figures,

 

for me i am just trying to be close to nature and play some baguazhang. this along with studying the I ching is how i am trying to answer the call.

here i present this guys view.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheWudangTao#p/u/4/Ldbsij3SiYc

[manitou]

I've been meditating and studying the TTC for so many years, it's more internalized than anything else now. I immediately see what is Not of the Tao. Does that make any sense at all?

[Marblehead]

Hi Zerostao,

 

Interesting question.

 

I have never heard a calling.

 

To embrace the Tao?

 

I have had the inspiration to just hug myself on occasion (and I do). Does this count?

 

Sure, I talk to my animals and plants. I sometimes even talk to the decorative stones around the fish pond. And I listen to the waterfalls occasionally when they are singing their songs.

 

But no, I don't have little voices in my head telling me things. That's just me thinking.

[Taomeow]

The call is nothing... it's the nagging that drives me nuts!

 

that, and also the voice of tao's competition (?..) that keeps telling me, "don't bother," or even "don't you dare or else," and not just telling but delivering too... all kinds of obstacles that seem to be commensurate with my dedication to the practice and study of taoist arts and sciences and, especially, "results."

 

But then, few of these obstacles can be overcome without the use of taoist arts and sciences. So I'm not sure I know what's going on. I haven't heard of even one serious practitioner who hadn't come across huge obstacles, adversities, things to overcome... maybe because the ones who have a smooth ride really "don't bother" with taoism?..

 

...but then, who has a smooth ride? A snake in the grass?..

[lazy cloud]

I read the book The Call of The Wild.

In that tale as well, the dog, "Buck" certainly did not have a smooth ride either.

Many obstacles and hardships were endured. In the end Buck answered the call.

I liked that story.

 

I don't mind the challenges I find in my way now. luckily I have tasted some little results.

I recently read a story about this guy named Cloud Chief.

There is just too much wisdom contained in these Taoist Writings and Practices,

for me not to hear a faint call.

Edited March 27, 2011 by lazy cloud

[torus693]

my tao sounds just like my cat waiting to get in

Odd, they both show up at the same time every night

only one is going out and the other coming in

Edited March 27, 2011 by torus693

[Otis]

Once I started doing authentic stretch and dance, then the other practices called me to them. Fooling around with an umbrella one day ignited my desire to play with a staff, and from there, to sword-fighting. One day, I decided to take my shoes off on the trail, and I've been barefoot hiking ever since. I found myself climbing on urban features before I heard of parkour. I went from serious fear of injury to doing stunts and riding a motorcycle, in a couple years. I started breakdancing, at 35. I got in front of the camera for the first time at 37, and started making videos about facing my fears.

 

None of these practices even seemed possible to me, just a few years earlier, but once I started letting my body express itself in the ways it wanted to, it led me into all these new directions and more.

Edited March 27, 2011 by Otis

[Marblehead]

None of these practices even seemed possible to me, just a few years earlier, but once I started letting my body express itself in the ways it wanted to, it led me into all these new directions and more.

 

A perfect example, I think, of my suggestion that we should periodically test the limits of our capacities and capabilities. Things change. We change.

[zerostao]

Once I started doing authentic stretch and dance, then the other practices called me to them. Fooling around with an umbrella one day ignited my desire to play with a staff, and from there, to sword-fighting. One day, I decided to take my shoes off on the trail, and I've been barefoot hiking ever since. I found myself climbing on urban features before I heard of parkour. I went from serious fear of injury to doing stunts and riding a motorcycle, in a couple years. I started breakdancing, at 35. I got in front of the camera for the first time at 37, and started making videos about facing my fears.

 

None of these practices even seemed possible to me, just a few years earlier, but once I started letting my body express itself in the ways it wanted to, it led me into all these new directions and more.

i have enjoyed watching a few of your videos thanks for sharing.

it was only the last year i actually heard of parkour,but i was researching qing gong.

anyways i always did alot of running and jumping, from tree to tree or rock to rock,walking backwards with eyes closed along the rail of the railroad tracks.

when i would slip into the town , i would go rooftop to rooftop. usually i made it ,ok, and i never dropped more than 20', that was about my limit.

most often rather than running flat out , i was in "skipping along" pace.i didnt look at it so much as an obstacle course ,but more of everything is a playground. interestingly, you started about the time i backed away from it.at 34, no more all night under the lights basketball in the park or "parkour" . i still do some qing gong basics exercises.

i also feel it was the physical first ,(kung fu, tai chi)that started my evolution. so, it was all playful for me this tao. but i gradually forgot about my tai chi and kung fu practices.

 

then on or about october 13 2008, my realities were under going rapid change.

without going into all the details, i will just say ,my entire world was turned upside down,twisted, everything i had worked for up to that point was basically

lost. i didnt really worry about losing the material things, but also my health was failing to the point , i really didnt think i was gonna last much longer.

all of my medical insurance, my doctors, their medicines, none of this was helping and my situation was getting more desperate. strangely it was crossing paths with an old adversary that turned the tide. he commented how really bad i looked and if i was doing any of the chinese breathing exercises? was i still into herbs?

 

so began the next phase of my evolution. researching about the different qigongs and herbs that would help me with my health situation . no more western doctors or medicines for me.

maybe i have not returned to parkour(yet), but i do feel stronger than ever, more flexible than ever, more confident than ever. my evolutionary process has me at this time living a baguazhang lifestyle. these are the good times, the good ol' days.

it is taoist knowledge and practice that has restored my health and peace of mind.

 

this winter i have spent many hours on TTB , what a great fantastic experience.

i am about to take a break, perhaps until next winter. but i have been given plenty to chew on and to digest until then.

 

i feel a comradery here that i have not felt since my air force days. i thank each and every bum here for all you have shared. i do have my kung fu and bagua bros here, but to be in the company of tao bums is a great priviledge.

[devoid]

Interesting discussion zerostao,

 

It reminds a bit of the How did you get here? thread started by manitou.

 

I wouldn't say I had a calling as such - I stumbled upon it by accident and suddenly all my implicit first childhood memories and earliest recallable understanding of things now had a name.

 

I guess I feel very much that I am here because as a consequence of the tao rather than because of a calling. In other words, I think I always had the tao in me, but just didn't really know what to call it or how to explore it further.

 

Internal cultivation has been my path to reconnecting with the tao - only later did I get interested in looking more into philosophical taoism - on that note, I enjoy our discussions on that topic very much

[manitou]

Zero and everyone else - I too have spent a lot of winter hours on TTB's. But spring is coming - there is art to be painted, music to be played. I probably won't be around as much either - but I sure identify with your feelings of comradarie on this site. I'm not one who goes through life toting a lot of friends along - but the ones I make I like to keep. And it seems like we talk soul to soul here.

 

Please know that every single one of you is in my heart.

[Otis]

anyways i always did alot of running and jumping, from tree to tree or rock to rock,walking backwards with eyes closed along the rail of the railroad tracks.

when i would slip into the town , i would go rooftop to rooftop. usually i made it ,ok, and i never dropped more than 20', that was about my limit.

most often rather than running flat out , i was in "skipping along" pace.i didnt look at it so much as an obstacle course ,but more of everything is a playground.

Yes, that is very much how I approach parkour, (not trying to emulate what I see in youtube videos), but just finding my playful relationship with the physical environment.

 

Glad to hear that your health is turning back around again, Zerostao! Keep it up!

[Otis]

we should periodically test the limits of our capacities and capabilities. Things change. We change.

Agreed! A limit assumed is a trap I put myself into.

[Otis]

Zero and everyone else - I too have spent a lot of winter hours on TTB's. But spring is coming - there is art to be painted, music to be played. I probably won't be around as much either - but I sure identify with your feelings of comradarie on this site. I'm not one who goes through life toting a lot of friends along - but the ones I make I like to keep. And it seems like we talk soul to soul here.

 

Please know that every single one of you is in my heart.

[manitou]

 

Otis - on one of my trips to Ventura CA I'm going to look you up on Rodeo Dr. and come give you a big hug - particularly if you've got a pink wig on and rollerskates.

[zerostao]

"make the most of yourself because that is all there is of you"

Emerson

" all our progress is an unfolding, like a vegetable bud. you first have an instinct,

then an opinion, then a knowledge as a plant has a root ,bud, fruit.

trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason."

[zerostao]

just when i think to myself , WOW what a wonderful great day in the Tao this is/was.

then another one comes right along and tops it

i just wanna take a moment and wish each of you Bums a wonderful day with the Tao

[Marblehead]

just when i think to myself , WOW what a wonderful great day in the Tao this is/was.

then another one comes right along and tops it

i just wanna take a moment and wish each of you Bums a wonderful day with the Tao

 

Thanks. Today has been a lazy day for me and I don't expect to be changing that for the rest of the day.

[zerostao]

none of us are without our higher qualities of selfhood. many of us decline to

accept the pull of higher spiritual aspirations. they are buried deeply under willfulness, desires, pride, and artificial intellect.

answering the call of our higher inner qualities is to open up what is hidden within.

[manitou]

none of us are without our higher qualities of selfhood. many of us decline to

accept the pull of higher spiritual aspirations. they are buried deeply under willfulness, desires, pride, and artificial intellect.

answering the call of our higher inner qualities is to open up what is hidden within.

 

 

Whoa. I love this. Particularly the artificial intellect part. I hear the men separating from the boys.

[zerostao]

when an artist (or anyone) achieves an ontological experience, his creative activities have bloomed like a (golden)flower. (when i say ontological i am referring to a study of nature, reality, existence)

i feel the educator and the scientist(or anyone)(leaders??) also may look at this type of experience as a source of strength. the primordial source as a fountain of inspiration.

lao tzu spoke of "losing and losing" this is self-realization and not a rejection.

sometimes i consider to withdraw even further away from society but as long as i have left burden, anxiety, and fear behind and have attained an inner serenity (higher and more integrated level of consciousness) then i can live a joyous and active participation in society. maybe my present level will still keep me out of the larger cities? "as for where one stays , one values the propper place" i empty my cup each morning and begin anew.

 

"to attain knowledge means to increase every day". life and daily activities are not left behind but does have a new realization. to lose the burdens, anxiety, and fear is not nihilistically to reject reality. it is merely casting aside the negative side

of life. it is a fulfillment of the positive in dealing with these affairs of the world.

 

"as for where one stays , one values the propper place

for the mind, one values its profundity

for the friend, one values their kindness

for words, one values sincerity

for affairs , one values ability

for action, one values timeliness."

imo it is these qualities that lead to the inner serenity.

in self-cultivation one never deviates from the neccessities of practical life.

[manitou]

when an artist (or anyone) achieves an ontological experience, his creative activities have bloomed like a (golden)flower. (when i say ontological i am referring to a study of nature, reality, existence)

i feel the educator and the scientist(or anyone)(leaders??) also may look at this type of experience as a source of strength. the primordial source as a fountain of inspiration.

lao tzu spoke of "losing and losing" this is self-realization and not a rejection.

sometimes i consider to withdraw even further away from society but as long as i have left burden, anxiety, and fear behind and have attained an inner serenity (higher and more integrated level of consciousness) then i can live a joyous and active participation in society. maybe my present level will still keep me out of the larger cities? "as for where one stays , one values the propper place" i empty my cup each morning and begin anew.

 

"to attain knowledge means to increase every day". life and daily activities are not left behind but does have a new realization. to lose the burdens, anxiety, and fear is not nihilistically to reject reality. it is merely casting aside the negative side

of life. it is a fulfillment of the positive in dealing with these affairs of the world.

 

"as for where one stays , one values the propper place

for the mind, one values its profundity

for the friend, one values their kindness

for words, one values sincerity

for affairs , one values ability

for action, one values timeliness."

imo it is these qualities that lead to the inner serenity.

in self-cultivation one never deviates from the neccessities of practical life.

 

This is wonderful and insightful, Zero.

 

The artist. Wow. The Creator. There are different types of artists; there are left brain artists and right brain artists. I was always a left brain artist, going for perfection and exact duplication of what I was seeing. That was then. Today my art starts usually with a squiggle that I honor and use as a basis for whatever jumps out of the canvas at me. It's completely right brain. The two can be merged easily if we need to.

 

No, I don't see doing the work to develop a positive attitude as rejecting reality either. It's merely changing our reality.

[zerostao]

"It's merely changing our reality"

yes manitou,

and welcome back btw

[manitou]

"It's merely changing our reality"

yes manitou,

and welcome back btw

Thank you, Zero - I've been hanging out in the Riding the Ox thread in General Discussion. I was hoping you'd stop by -

It's nice to be up and running again, albeit in a solo mode. Boy, did this separation catch me off guard - just like that song by Robbie Robinson - Sometimes a wind just comes along...and blows you sideways...

[Fū Yue]

The random urge to artistry is my favorite number, when the dao comes a-dialin away!

 

Sketching away on some whimsy is a great way to end the day.