"About"

[Trunk]

I made a major revision to the "about" page at alchemicaltaoism.com (link). Worth posting the update to the community as general announcement, for lots of reasons. To see it, go to the site, and click on "About" in the left-hand column.

 

(For comparison, here's the original about page (link).)

 

sincerely,

Trunk

 

 

p.s. btw, I wrote this revision several weeks ago, considerably before the kunlun seminar. Unrelated to events there. It's just that I go through an editorial process with the help of a friend, plus considering wording on my own for some time, before posting to the site.

 

p.p.s. It is relavent to the Healing Love: Dangers section (link) which, ideally, would've been the first thing posted to the site. Simply didn't have enough knowledge at the time. "Community process of R&D."

[liminal_luke]

Some thoughts. I imagine it must take a little courage, especially for a cautious and conscientious guy like yourself Trunk, to put out information into the world that almost certainly will be misused. No matter how careful you are to frame the information as "students helping students," some spiritual weekend warrior will find a way to hurt himself by overdoing/misusing some of the practices you suggest. Can you see it now? "Guru Trunk said to rotate my ankle 2 hours a day, and now I've aggravated an old injury." You can advise people to listen to their own body all you like, but some people are going to project their teacher/authority issues onto you, and, sadly, no carefully written "about" section is going to stop them.

I'm guessing that you'll personally get alot out of the process of wrestling with the issues that inevitably arise from being in the public eye. Can you stand to put out your website knowing that, while on balance its clearly useful information, someone is going to read what you have to say, do something inappropriate, and blame you? Assuming that this question speaks to you, I think it's important to consider what might be the right forum for exploring the issue--through your own practices, conversations with friends, taobums, etc. The one place where I would be careful putting out any ambivalance is your website itself. As its presently written, it feels to me like some of your own self-doubt might be seeping into the "about" section in a way that dilutes its power.

Just my two cents. Take with plenty of salt to taste.

[Trunk]

Can you stand to put out your website knowing that, while on balance its clearly useful information, someone is going to read what you have to say, do something inappropriate, and blame you?

I'm not worried about being blamed. It's that I'm certain people get deeply damaged (even with diligent work to the best of their discernment and discipline) by the sexual practices. Certain. It's just a fact that it's a dangerous area, even with the best of advice.

 

Part of the purpose of the new "about" is to scare people off of the topic entirely. If someone is basically happy and healthy I think that they shouldn't mess with this stuff. It's only for people whose spiritual drive leaves them no other choice.

 

I think of someone who is married with kids. A few years of working with the sexual practices and his health starts to weaken, deep emotional problems gradually creep in, gradual some degree of sexual dysfunction. Diminishes his ability to be as good as he can be at making a living, maintaining a happy marriage, taking care of his kids. And, once f'd up, it'll be nearly impossible to find effective help.

 

..it feels to me like some of your own self-doubt might be seeping into the "about" section in a way that dilutes its power.

That's part of it, but not the half of it.

 

Here's what I wrote offline in response to your post, and in general about the topic:

~~~

 

While there is a personal statement in there, it's far from just a personal statement.

 

As a modern culture, we're very used to things working conveniently. If something doesn't work, we get someone to fix it, or take it back for a refund, or simply never buy it in the first place.

 

So-called "spiritual teachers" enter this modern market-place as entrepeneurs. Packaging and marketing. "All the tools you need to balance your energies in a weekend", "sexy, sexy, sexy". "These steps 1-2-3 and everything will be fine, safe, wonderful, spiritual, healthy, shiny". "We have it all worked out, and here it is".

 

The modern market place, and those conversations within it, have twisted our view of spiritual work. If you read any autobiography (or reliable biography by someone who was there) of a someone who became spiritually accomplished it is as difficult and harrowing as it gets. Down-right messy, awful, grit. And those are stories of the highly gifted, the Victorious Ones. How much worse for us dumb schmucks?

 

And, re: the sexual practices, that's up there as far as most difficult areas of spirituality. The fact is that it's dangerous. Lives (health, marraiges, sexuality, sanity, spiritual progress, emotions) get ruined around these practices. It's an inherently dangerous area, even with pretty good teachings.

 

Honesty is powerful. The way forward is not to out-market someone, but to get real. The broad tone of the conversation needs to change.

 

Also, ideally, the website shouldn't exist at all. There should be reliable doctors, reliable mid-level teachers connected to Authentic Lineage, and Authentic Teachers connected to same Lineage. But the culture is saturated with people posing as "teachers", that really should be beneath notice. And real teachers are extremely rare, hard to find, and hard to get to, study with. So there is this huge gap of anything remotely valuable, and I'm trying to fill one little spot of that gap ... but by truly respectable standards I shouldn't be doing anything at all, it's just that things are so awful that someone has to do something and the dynamics of cyber-community have produce this sorting out of knowledge on a student - to - student basis. We are scrappy, but still far from a really decent system.

 

It's really that dire of a situation.

 

~~~

 

Read the references in the "Dangers" section carefully. What I have to say, what SeanDenty said here at TTBs, what David Shen Verdesi says on his site.

[Trunk]

On the other hand...

As its presently written, it feels to me like some of your own self-doubt might be seeping into the "about" section in a way that dilutes its power.

Could be that I am presently too close to this to see the forest for the trees. I appreciate your honest feedback, and will also re-review this after a month or so - and see if my writing wasn't unnecesarily extreme.

[sunshine]

Part of the purpose of the new "about" is to scare people off of the topic entirely. If someone is basically happy and healthy I think that they shouldn't mess with this stuff. It's only for people whose spiritual drive leaves them no other choice.

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... I wonder. I f you feel that strongly about it why don'T just state it in a short precise way, like:

 

"The information you are about to read is mainly meant for information purpose. Experience of the many I have been interacting with over the last (?) years has shown that most of the practices can not be safely approached on your own, and to find an accomplished teacher who can guide you threw those is extremely rare to find. Be warned that putting ones hand upon those practices can and in most cases will severely damage your health in the long run, even though you might believe to see immediate benefits."

 

what do you think?

 

 

Harry

[Trunk]

...why don'T just state it in a short precise way, like:

 

"..."

 

what do you think?

Concise is good.

And that was a decent swing at it.

 

I'm clearly going through some emotional stuff lately, and it shows up in my writing (duh). I've been singing a lot, which is a wonderful process. I gravitate towards deep, somber songs - and when I do it enough I end up crying (which is pretty rare for me). It's gotten to where I'm wearing sunglasses more than usual. A number of other parts of my process are converging to make this an emotionally transformative time for me, in a good way I think, but there is turbulence and I'm not buckling my seat-belt.

 

Some of the best writing, I think, boils down very concisely. A short paragraph, three at the most. It takes a lot of work and time, often, to get to that point. Could be that I condense the "about" somewhere in the coming months.

[rain]

Concise is good.

And that was a decent swing at it.

 

I'm clearly going through some emotional stuff lately, and it shows up in my writing (duh). I've been singing a lot, which is a wonderful process. I gravitate towards deep, somber songs - and when I do it enough I end up crying (which is pretty rare for me). It's gotten to where I'm wearing sunglasses more than usual. A number of other parts of my process are converging to make this an emotionally transformative time for me, in a good way I think, but there is turbulence and I'm not buckling my seat-belt.

 

Some of the best writing, I think, boils down very concisely. A short paragraph, three at the most. It takes a lot of work and time, often, to get to that point. Could be that I condense the "about" somewhere in the coming months.

 

I see genuine, generous, brave and decent. what's wrong with that?

[Ian]

I think the new version is good. I don't think the site is going to make people start practising: it simply doesn't have the tone of persuasion. It think it is, as you intend, a correction to what people are already doing.

Carry on.

[liminal_luke]

I think alchemicaltaoism.com is a wonderful contribution. And I, for one, have personally gotten alot out of it. Regardless of what form the "about" section takes, I've no doubt that students will continue to find useful and inspiring information there.

 

Trunk--"So-called "spiritual teachers" enter this modern market-place as entrepeneurs. Packaging and marketing. "All the tools you need to balance your energies in a weekend", "sexy, sexy, sexy". "These steps 1-2-3 and everything will be fine, safe, wonderful, spiritual, healthy, shiny". "We have it all worked out, and here it is".

 

Don't we know it! The spiritual marketplace (as I've experienced quite recently, ahum) is full of self-inflated opportunists more interested in money and admiration than being genuinely helpful to students. Many of these "spiritual teachers" do indeed have interesting pieces of the puzzle but their ego needs make it challenging for students to really get at the true gold of the teachings. The world is full of self righteous "spiritual" posers, and what is so refreshing about alchemicaltaoism.com is that it isn't like that. Instead, alchemicaltaosim.com is delightfully humble, and free of marketing hype.

 

Trunk (from the about)--"As for myself, I feel that I get glimpses into some profound parts of the path, but I've not achieved what I'd consider Basic Stability - and that's a challenge for me on every level. I know a little bit, but I've a lot more confusion and under-development than I'd like (if you know me personally, you'll know that I'm not just making humble talk). I've been around for a while, I write clearly, and online that too-easily gets mistaken for "jade bones" or something."

 

But as we rightly try to steer clear from self-congratulatory commercialism, I think it's important not to swing too far into the other extreme of over-humility. The above section, while it may be true, struck me as a tad too apologetic. It would be ashame if someone read this and concluded that the author wasn't sufficiently evolved, and stopped reading or discounted the ideas presented later on in the site.

 

Trunk--"Also, ideally, the website shouldn't exist at all."

 

I'm not so sure about this. Enlightened teachers are great and all, but in my "perfect world" there will always be a place for imperfect people humbly but unabashedly putting their imperfect suggestions and teachings out into the world. Isn't that what taobums (and perhaps alchemicaltaoism.com) is all about?

Edited October 2, 2007 by liminal_luke

[sunshine]

Concise is good.

 

Thankx man for sharing about your current phase of life. I am with you in there, if I am allowed to. My statement hopefully did not came across as criticism. I have told you in the past that I think your contribution is amazing. Just thought that we sometimes tend to dance around the things we actually would like to address more straight forward (that was the impression I got from your futher explanations in your first response to liminal_luke)...

 

keep your pecker up

 

 

Harry

[Yoda]

Trunk,

 

If Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed couldn't manifest much basic stability in their personal lives, then maybe it should be down the list for the rest of us too.

 

You've jumped into the middle of a totally fucking crazy situation and have done an incredible job of organizing, code breaking, and translating. It's miraculous that a 16 year old can now google their way over to taobums and alchemicaltaoism and save themselves 20 years of hodgpodging. You are a mighty Bodhisattva so wear your battlescars with pride! I'm sure you've given valuable help to dozens and likely many more than that with your site.

 

On another subject, I know that you are trying to keep personal and lineage bias out of your site, but I think it could be very instructive and helpful to include write ups of your personal experiences with Mark, Max, deity meditation, specific mantras, practices, etc.

 

I'd think you could write about such things in a way that the reader wouldn't feel that you are trying to convert them, but rather offer a valuable perspective of what it's like to follow certain teachings and practices, etc. Which could be increasingly helpful as time goes on.

 

Yoda

[joeblast]

Trunk, its well written and your concerns come across as honest and forthright. This isnt a utopia, and every bit of proper knowledge is a godsend. The info there has been helpful and you have my gratitude

[Trunk]

I see genuine, generous, brave and decent. what's wrong with that?

Thank you.

That helps.

 

I think the new version is good. I don't think the site is going to make people start practising..

*whew!*

 

keep your pecker up

That's a keeper!

 

It would be a shame if someone read this and concluded that the author wasn't sufficiently evolved, and stopped reading ...

I'm hoping that starting with some really honest self-denegration will corner an entirely untapped market niche! Actually, I think I'm in really good company with people who've written texts that start with "I'm way out of my depth, hope this helps". The paragraph about myself I prefer this way, for many reasons.

 

It's miraculous that a 16 year old can now google their way over to taobums and alchemicaltaoism and save themselves 20 years of hodgpodging.

Agreed. Straight up. And you got the number right.

 

include write ups of your personal experiences with Mark, Max, deity meditation, specific mantras, practices, etc.

A Kuan Yin article is all noted out, will address sound, also some dynamics of study with Guru, Lineage - more generally about Enlightened Cause. And it will be written in a way that the principles are clear across sectarian lines. Also Kuan Yin has broad appeal within all of the eastern religions, and across the gender lines. I won't comment on specific teachers.

 

... your concerns come across as honest and forthright. This isnt a utopia, and every bit of proper knowledge ...

Thanks, and agreed.

 

~~~

I'll let the new "about" sit away for a while, and probably take a fresh look at it in a month or more - maybe make some fine tunings, partly based on comments here and on fresh perspective and energy. I think it's in the basic right direction though.

 

After some days of not looking at it, you know what's most vivid in my mind? The pictures. I really like those pictures, and I think that they say so much about "state of the art". Memorable, fun, worth a thousand.

 

It was important for me personally to make the new "about" a public statement. And I appreciate the feedback. Community is cool.

 

love,

Trunk

 

We'll get there.

[sunshine]

H: >>keep your pecker up<<

 

T: That's a keeper!

 

 

Honestly, I did not know about that... :

 

"pecker n. A common misconception is that, to Brits, your pecker is your chin - hence the phrase "keep your pecker up". Sorry folks, but over here pecker means exactly the same thing as it does in the US. The phrase "keep your pecker up" is derived, I am told, from a time when pecker was simply a reference to a bird's beak and encouraged keeping your head held high. I understand that the word became a euphamism for "penis" after the poet Catullus used it to refer to his love Lesbia's pet sparrow in a rather suggestive poem which drew some fairly blatant parallels."

 

 

And YESSSS: The pictures are GREAT

 

Harry

Edited October 5, 2007 by sunshine