the dao of time

[tendou]

 

Life and death.

 

60 year normal cycle.

[Marblehead]

Life and death.

 

60 year normal cycle.

Apparently I'm abnormal.

[Brian]

Apparently I'm abnormal.

[cold]

Congrats Mh!

 

I aspire to achieve that specific distinction, as I am abnormal in many other areas.

 

It just comes naturally to some of us. 

[silent thunder]

Apparently I'm abnormal.

Abby!

[Marblehead]

Abby!

Abby Road?

[Brian]

Abby Road?

Abby Normal!

[zerostao]

 

 

[Marblehead]

You won't find me in the environment of the third picture.

[Taomeow]

60 years is indeed a cycle in Chinese cyclical timekeeping, but not the human life span, of course, and certainly not a cycle of life and death. 

 

It's merely the cycle the Ten Heavenly Stems and the Twelve Earthly branches take to return to the initial configuration and start the transitions of the heavenly qi interacting with the earthly qi from a locally (sic) similar (though never identical) point in "time"

 

-- which ("time" that is) of course is completely superfluous in this system, since it stands for a particular configuration of qi and is only meaningful as a label used for convenience (much like you might label a drawer "wires and cables" and a jar, "basmati rice" -- so you know what's there.  But having or not having the label does not affect the contents of the drawer or the jar in the least).  The real meaningful picture requires a much more detailed assessment of this configuration than a time-label like "end of the 3rd lunar month" or "the year of the Metal Rat" or "the hour of the Monkey."  To say nothing of the Gregorian labels for time that actually mean nothing at all in terms of what patterns and configuration of the energies of the world they stand for.  All we have is Zhuangzi's "three in the morning," but don't let me digress further, or rather, farther.

 

The human life span, a function of many factors (not just biology), is rather debatable, but leading geneticists tend to believe that "normal" is 120, with a few examples (open to refutation or else presented to the public as such) of much longer spans and a few well-documented proven ones of slightly longer ones.  Our DNA is designed to give us 120 under average normal conditions, more than that under certain special conditions (e.g. if we manage to engage our telomerase in adding telomeres to normal cells instead of cancer cells, or if we boost our superoxide dismutase by, e.g., going on a diet that either supplies dietary SOD -- that would be organ meats, e.g. -- or else curbs the overexpression of SOD reductase -- that's likely to have to be grain free.  And so on.) 

 

But that's what we can pull off under "normal natural" conditions.  Outside those parameters and configurations, it starts shrinking of course, like anything that you design for specific conditions of optimal functioning and then run under entirely different conditions.

[zerostao]

i like jeon woochi's flute of prophecy experience in Taoist Wizard (based on a korean folk tale)

as a good example of how a taoist could 'play' with "time"

Edited September 3, 2016 by zerostao

[tendou]

Actually it was two separate statement. I just don't want to write long. Life and death is the context of time for most, As a human being. The most effective and practical as a layperson. As a mortal. As most poster in this thread are human I think it's a good context for most.

 

 

60 years normal cycle is just something that two Chinese person told me about. A better word would be block. 60 years block. Let us not make this mystical or arcane or scientific than it should be. think like someone who don't cultivate or don't believe in reincarnation or immortality. Someone who is not smart. Someone is born, work, get married have children and lives for 60 years and died.

No deeper meaning to it.

 

So mh is already on his one block. Some not even 1 over 60 of his block. Some get 1.3 some get 2 block. Etc.

 

 

And it's not only Chinese, there are other cultures that subscribe to this 60 years age, or life block. Doesn't mean they drop dead after 60 lunar years thought.

[Taomeow]

I happen to know what this block is and how it is constructed.  Of course failing to interest you in that is not the fault of its sublime design, nor mine.  Perhaps just a lack of exposure.  I am sure that you would be in as much awe if you were to learn what it's all about as I was when I first ran into classical Xuan Kong (spacetime) feng shui which spelled it out for me.

 

This block of 60 (which of course I use every time when charting a bazi reading) has as much relevance for the human life span as the blocks of 12 and 10, of 32 and 64, of 72 and 108, of 20 and 20,000, and so on, and nothing whatsoever to do with urban or rural legends.  We are dealing with energies of the world when we refer to the block of 60.  Not with what a peasant put to backbreaking work in the rice field has reasonably come to believe about his life expectancy. 

[tendou]

Well that's the right word. Peasants understanding. That's what's I'm talking about before.

 

Now this is very interesting though I don't have any basic. And lack of material, instruction and Chinese language proficiency. If you make a thread about this with some relatively easy to understand example for the uninitiated maybe some will find it interesting. Especially with example on how it can be applied personally. Of course there maybe limit to that.

 

Bazi chart is always interesting too

[Marblehead]

60 years is indeed a cycle in Chinese cyclical timekeeping, but not the human life span, of course, and certainly not a cycle of life and death. 

 

Does that mean I'm not abnormal?

[tendou]

Jokes aside in current time it's pretty normal to live more than 60 years especially those who are living in first world country or developed nation.

 

So gently speaking you're a special person but

[Marblehead]

So gently speaking you're a special person but ...

you do have your flaws.

[Taomeow]

Does that mean I'm not abnormal?

 

I don't have enough information one way or the other.  

 

If you mean the fact that you're older than 60 and alive, that's pretty normal, and I happen to believe that any death and/or loss of health before the age of 120 is what's abnormal. 

 

An inspiring French woman, Jeanne Louise Calment ( 21 February 1875 – 4 August 1997), took up fencing at the age of 85, continued to ride her bicycle till her 100th birthday, and lived on her own till she was 110.  I think that's pretty normal for a woman who drinks port wine every day and eats a kilogram of chocolate every week for most of her 122 years of life.  However, my taoist teacher's teacher Zhang Hedao lived among mortals till the age of 119, and his other teacher, Wang Zhaoming, is still alive at 118, even though they did nothing of the kind.  I don't particularly care for chocolate or port wine, so I lean toward the taoist option.  But to each their own.

[Marblehead]

Yes, I read about Jeanne recently.  Commendable!  I do the chocolate but switch the Port for Lambrusco.

 

Unofficial count of centenarians in the USA in 2010 was 53,364.

[Taomeow]

Yes, I read about Jeanne recently.  Commendable!  I do the chocolate but switch the Port for Lambrusco.

 

Unofficial count of centenarians in the USA in 2010 was 53,364.

 

For fluid time management, I favor cognac.  Everything else has its time and place, and at other times is out of place.  Cognac, however, shines in the morning coffee (just a teaspoon, no more) and is the answer to the late-at-night question -- "what can I have a sip of now that it's too late for coffee and even tea," it cures colds and warms up conversations, and can't be overdone -- there's no cognac alcoholics, except maybe among the wealthiest 1%, most of whom are not sophisticated enough for that even if they can afford it.    

[zerostao]