flowing hands Posted June 21, 2012 I have been on several Taoist Forums, but my experience of them is anything but what I would call Taoist. Here is a list of ones that I have been on: The Tea House 2.0 The Dao is open Taoist forums.com The Tea house is an interesting one; I have been temporarily locked out of this for speaking my opinion on the admin I do believe, because no one has informed me from the site. The Admin appears to be a very controlling and dominating person who has insisted that I personally say and think what they want me to. Any questioning or insults are banned but the admin can make underhand ones themselves and that is ok, of course.... I strongly suspect that challenging opinions are not welcome on this site and ultimate control is being used...it reminded me of the story of George Orwell 1984! The Dao is open: is not.. to me anyway. I tried to join several times and failed and e-mailed the site owner and have never received a reply to any of my emails. I must be a very difficult person!? Taoist forum.com doesn't seem to have many members and every post one puts up is scrutinized by the owner, before it is allowed. So is the Dao open on Taoist discussion forums or is it really Big Brother who controls us all while we think we have freedom of speech? Or is it just another form of control where people actually can't express their opinions without being banished, whether those opinions are valid, truthful or not? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mokona Posted June 21, 2012 I have been on several Taoist Forums, but my experience of them is anything but what I would call Taoist. Here is a list of ones that I have been on: The Tea House 2.0 The Dao is open Taoist forums.com The Tea house is an interesting one; I have been temporarily locked out of this for speaking my opinion on the admin I do believe, because no one has informed me from the site. The Admin appears to be a very controlling and dominating person who has insisted that I personally say and think what they want me to. Any questioning or insults are banned but the admin can make underhand ones themselves and that is ok, of course.... I strongly suspect that challenging opinions are not welcome on this site and ultimate control is being used...it reminded me of the story of George Orwell 1984! The Dao is open: is not.. to me anyway. I tried to join several times and failed and e-mailed the site owner and have never received a reply to any of my emails. I must be a very difficult person!? Taoist forum.com doesn't seem to have many members and every post one puts up is scrutinized by the owner, before it is allowed. So is the Dao open on Taoist discussion forums or is it really Big Brother who controls us all while we think we have freedom of speech? Or is it just another form of control where people actually can't express their opinions without being banished, whether those opinions are valid, truthful or not? Your funny dude, It's the interwebz, if you don't like a site, just leave it. Hell - make your own! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jetsun Posted June 21, 2012 There are some forums which are completely open and unmoderated, but they attract some very messed up people so I wouldn't recommend spending too much time on them if you want to avoid negative influences. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zerostao Posted June 21, 2012 i am grateful to The Tao Bums myself. it keeps giving and giving. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jeff Posted June 21, 2012 There are some forums which are completely open and unmoderated, but they attract some very messed up people so I wouldn't recommend spending too much time on them if you want to avoid negative influences. I also appreciate and enjoy TaoBums... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Informer Posted June 21, 2012 Yah, I like there isn't a bunch of censoring here. Sometimes mod need to step in to keep thing from get too personal and spare feelings, but they try to intervene before it comes to anything becomes too personal fme. Free to talk about your idea and experience, and others free to comment in a respectful manner even if our views don't necessarily coincide with mods or admin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted June 21, 2012 I have been on several Taoist Forums, ... Well, I'm glad you are still on this one. Life would be very dull if everyone thought as I do. Yeah, I like TaoBums too! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stosh Posted June 22, 2012 When Flowing hands ,Vmarco, Twinner etc are otherwheres .. Heck,, I just miss em. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manitou Posted June 22, 2012 Flowing Hands - I owe you an apology, I suspect. I did say a few things to you that weren't the kindest previously on another thread. Please forgive me. Your presence here is wonderful; please stick around. I seem to be going through something with TTB's where I just feel like I have nothing to say. About anything. Hopefully it'll pass soon - I miss the conversations. One possible explanation is that of my own volition a couple months ago I took myself off Prozac, which I'd taken for over 20 years for my PTSD. Holy crap. Talk about tearing off old scabs from old wounds. It helps to explain my erratic behavior in the recent past - my bicoastal behavior, in fact. Nice to be back in Ohio. I miss all the Bums. I hope I can get back onboard soon. At the present time I'm recovering from being an Unmitigated Bitch due to the lack of the drug. I really had no idea it "worked" as well as it did - it sort of enabled me to get through the things I felt I needed to do in life. But now I want the bare bones - and they aren't particularly pleasant. But the streak of anger that I've felt crawling up my backbone daily seems to be abating a bit. Geez. As much inner work as I've done over the years - through the 12 steps, through all the psychiatric counselling and self-help reading - you think there'd be an end to it. But apparently there's not - or at least until I'm flatlined on a gurney. And then the inner work will just continue in a different dimension, I suppose. The best I've been able to do lately on TTB's is to periodically PM Marbles and tell him about the new frog in my pond..... But on another level, the connection to the Bums is so very important to me. I've never been one to collect friends - ever. This online community is a lifeline to me. Again, Flo - glad you're here. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChiDragon Posted June 22, 2012 I have been on several Taoist Forums, but my experience of them is anything but what I would call Taoist. Here is a list of ones that I have been on: The Dao is open The Dao is open: is not.. to me anyway. I tried to join several times and failed and e-mailed the site owner and have never received a reply to any of my emails. I must be a very difficult person!? So is the Dao open on Taoist discussion forums or is it really Big Brother who controls us all while we think we have freedom of speech? Or is it just another form of control where people actually can't express their opinions without being banished, whether those opinions are valid, truthful or not? You may have a great deal of freedom in speech over there. You can say anything you like or even curse somebody out with great insults and it was OK. However, if you say something they don't want to hear, they just curse back at you with the worse language that was ever existed. There are only six to seven member left in the forum just to discuss the things that they like. Otherwise, all the outsiders are closed out. There are some old members sometimes still sneak in to take a peek to see what was going on. My advice to you is DON'T GO there and stay out..... Now, "Dao is Open" is Closed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted June 22, 2012 The best I've been able to do lately on TTB's is to periodically PM Marbles and tell him about the new frog in my pond..... Yes, you did that and you didn't bitch once. I'm proud of you! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aaron Posted June 22, 2012 (edited) I have to agree with Chi, Dao is Open is really not the greatest place to discuss the Tao. There are only a handful of active members and they tend to be broken up into cliques that ostracize and criticize new members. That's not to say they don't have a few members who can talk about it, but for most of them, their practice seems to fall short of their ideals (but then again, isn't that the case for most of us?) It was the first forum I joined way back when, but I left shortly after finding this one. I found DIO to be a very negative place to talk about Daoism. As far as the Tea House goes, being banned is a right of passage for most of us. I know more people who've been banned from that place than are members, LITERALLY. It's a very Orwellian site and not for those who question authority or like to bring up the fact it's backed by one of the largest cults in Tiawan. My suggestion, don't worry so much about forums. Worry about your own practice and try to meet people in the real world that are Taoists. That's where it's at. Aaron Edited June 23, 2012 by Twinner Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Taomeow Posted June 23, 2012 I seem to be going through something with TTB's where I just feel like I have nothing to say. About anything. Hopefully it'll pass soon - I miss the conversations. I think I may have something to offer -- have you seen Awake, a TV series whose main protagonist is an LAPD detective with severe PTSD who starts experiencing life in an unbelievable mysterious fashion? Sounds like your type, right? If you've seen it, I'd like to hear your opinion. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manitou Posted June 24, 2012 (edited) I think I may have something to offer -- have you seen Awake, a TV series whose main protagonist is an LAPD detective with severe PTSD who starts experiencing life in an unbelievable mysterious fashion? Sounds like your type, right? If you've seen it, I'd like to hear your opinion. Omigod, somebody must be following me around with a camera..... I'll check it out for sure. Thanks for mentioning it, Taomeow - The thing I relate to is the rigid left brained structure which is developed over many years of detective work - until it breaks down and the marbles drop out. But it appears that the previously dormant right brain takes over where the left one left off. I honestly think there's something to this....but the need to uncover, uncover, uncover still remains, only the tendency is put to use (in the protagonists' case) in the metaphysical or paranormal plane. I'll watch it for sure - perhaps only once, since anything coppish still evokes a visceral reaction in me. And, funnily enough - that was my Agency. Post edit: I did watch the trailers online (is the show still on? seems like it was cancelled?). the similarity continues: his onset of separate realities was precipitated by an auto accident. My spontaneous kundalini awakening was as the result of an auto accident as well The separate reality I live in is much more subtle than those he experienced - more of a subtle overview, a 'bending the light' sort of thing that we can see if Intent is put into play. I don't know about the actual physical separate realities he's living in - although don Juan Mateus and Castaneda were living and operating in separate realities all the time. Maybe you or someone else would know more about that type of separate reality? Mine aren't that well defined as his. Maybe as my own up-tightness and residual rigid and structural thinking diminish the separate realities will become more real-ized. Edited June 24, 2012 by manitou Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Birch Posted June 25, 2012 Would it help if I suggested all realities are slightly different depending on where you're experiencing them from/in? I'm not even sure there's a 'left/right' brain separation that that's so clean cut. We call it that ( like we call paths left and right) but at some point IME there is a world to be etched on top of the real one or in tangled interaction with the real one. That real one is mystical, frogs in ponds stuff. TaoMeow knows her brain chem :-). Congrats for dumping the Prozac. I don't have much experience with that but I was a very short-term Paxil user and it was 'Castaneda'-ish in terms of withdrawal. But if you've been through Kundalini, IMO you can handle this too:-) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dawei Posted June 25, 2012 FH... you're as close to acceptance as you'll ever be. Dao Is Open is for open minds but you'll likely not change any thinking there. Tao House is for lost souls... too lost for saving. Tao Bum... I'll bite my lip and we'll see as responses are already telling... but you are probably in the most right place. IMO, what people want, even they are into deep practice, is PROOF of your claim. This may require either physical, energetic, spiritual, or dao level experience; You have to figure what each person wants. I have heard and 'felt' your ideas and so accept them on an energetic and spiritual level. I don't claim a dao level since I am not so sure exactly anyone knows this except maybe someone like you... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manitou Posted June 25, 2012 Congrats for dumping the Prozac. Thanks, K. The emotions are so on edge I even cried during Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter today. It was just so much fun it actually did make me cry... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted June 25, 2012 I love the way you guys took this thread totally off topic. Hehehe. But Y'all are doing good. Keep it up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stosh Posted June 25, 2012 My suggestion, don't worry so much about forums. Worry about your own practice and try to meet people in the real world that are Taoists. That's where it's at. Aaron I Never met anybody who made that claim. EVER. Stosh Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manitou Posted June 25, 2012 (edited) Marbles, you sweet old thing - you're like a nun with a ruler when it comes to staying on topic. It doesn't seem like this thread has a topic at all, which is what makes it the best Tao thread EVER!! Edited June 25, 2012 by manitou Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted June 25, 2012 Marbles, you sweet old thing - you're like a nun with a ruler when it comes to staying on topic. It doesn't seem like this thread has a topic at all, which is what makes it the best Tao thread EVER!! Hehehe. But you are right. Talking about just the negative aspects of anything is counter-productive. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Birch Posted June 25, 2012 I read a nice thing the other day about power just being the ability to get people to do things that you want them to do. You can do it in ways that force people, threaten them with punishment, make them fear loss. You can do it in ways that influence people, encourage them, open them up to things they will enjoy, that they find interesting. And then today, someone sent me a video of a strange 'shamaness' that pretty much said similar, although she had a bit of the Mr MH trickstery to her. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Birch Posted June 25, 2012 Thanks, K. The emotions are so on edge I even cried during Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter today. It was just so much fun it actually did make me cry... Haven't seen it, although it sounds muy tempting;-) Yes, my small experience with withdrawal from so-called 'anti-depressants' was highly depressing. The companies that make them should sell after-care, or damn well give it away for free, given their profits off the top of people's suffering. I reckon being conscious of it and what's (potentially) involved can take you a long way but I also reckon there are probably good things to eat and do to take care of yourself. Hopefully some other TTB's will have relevant (and adapted) suggestions, given it's only a temporary thing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manitou Posted June 25, 2012 (edited) I read a nice thing the other day about power just being the ability to get people to do things that you want them to do. You can do it in ways that force people, threaten them with punishment, make them fear loss. You can do it in ways that influence people, encourage them, open them up to things they will enjoy, that they find interesting. Without actively taking political sides, it's becoming increasingly apparent that power is knowing what people want to hear and delivering the words that fit the bill. What incredible times we're living in, K. The unenlightened power that sways the folks in this midwest part of the country is a real eye-opener for me...especially having been born and raised in California... Edited June 25, 2012 by manitou Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted June 26, 2012 ... although she had a bit of the Mr MH trickstery to her. I saw that. Hehehe. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
