Levitation and possibly flight?

[Nungali]

2 hours ago, dwai said:

 

Is it a sign of times, that Daobums has degenerated to this extent? I can remember a time when visiting here was actually an uplifting experience. Now it seems to be filled with rancor and nastiness. The lumpen elements have free reign... 

 

 

 

Degenerated to what  extent ?     Like you   hitting posts supporting fake cult leader bad stage magicians   paedophiles  with 'likes' .

 

 

[moment]

8 hours ago, dwai said:

 

Is it a sign of times, that Daobums has degenerated to this extent? I can remember a time when visiting here was actually an uplifting experience. Now it seems to be filled with rancor and nastiness. The lumpen elements have free reign... 

 

 

Okay, Do you have any ideas?

Edited February 4, 2020 by moment

[SirPalomides]

Wow @GSmaster you’re still quivering about what I said. That’s a few more minutes you spent crying about an Internet argument when you could be soaring through the Caucasus or perusing the library of Atlantis or something. But we losers down here are certainly very impressed with your woah totally rad grim reaper avatar fitting for a 12-year-old and your “mwahaha, puny mortals routine” showing a desperate need for validation and attention. Oh and spoiler alert 

Spoiler

No one wants to join your Wizarding World of Bullshit tweenie sorcery “actually let’s play Warcraft all night until mom yells downstairs” non-existent disciples, so you can stop withdrawing invitations to it that no one is desperate enough to take you up on anyway

 

[SirPalomides]

3 minutes ago, GSmaster said:

 

Not only you are mentally Ill, you also have cretinism.

 

 

I can do whatever I want, especially with downs, who bark at the school / disciples.

When dogs bark at me, I just walk on by. Only a cretin stops to argue with them. If you want to make this wizard master routine work, you need a thicker skin. Also, get an avatar that doesn’t make you look like a 12 year old boy.

 

In the meantime, Gendao welcomes you to the butthurt manchild club- you two have fun together! 

[dwai]

11 hours ago, moment said:

Okay, Do you have any ideas?

Yes. Simple...encourage a model of discourse such that people are civil to each other, in spite of differences of opinions. This is the reason the trouble-makers have been banned from here before. For those who can't self regulate, a public voting system should ensure whether they should lose their posting privileges for specific period of time. 

 

I don't think banning is a good solution -- but too many people hide behind their internet aliases and think it gives them the freedom to be asshats... Implementing a system where negative points will result in their posting privileges auto-suspending for 7 days etc might be far more productive. 

 

[liminal_luke]

7 minutes ago, dwai said:

Yes. Simple...encourage a model of discourse such that people are civil to each other, in spite of differences of opinions. This is the reason the trouble-makers have been banned from here before. For those who can't self regulate, a public voting system should ensure whether they should lose their posting privileges for specific period of time. 

 

I don't think banning is a good solution -- but too many people hide behind their internet aliases and think it gives them the freedom to be asshats... Implementing a system where negative points will result in their posting privileges auto-suspending for 7 days etc might be far more productive. 

 

 

Hi Dwai,

 

I agree that there´s an awful lot of rancor and nastiness here.  And yet, even now, there are shards of brilliant light: Small Fur´s discussion of "Cultivating the Golden Seed"; Silent Thunders "What Remains" thread.  i personally expose myself to more of the nastiness than is strictly necessary because I keep clicking here on Levitation to watch the ongoing shenanigans.  

 

It´s possible your auto-suspending idea could work, but I´d be hesitant to implement it for a few reasons.  Occasionally there are members with unpopular views who don´t deserve to be shut out just because their ideas don´t accord with current norms.  Imagine if someone who spoke out about Trump (either in favor or against) was voted out by a coalition of members from the other side?

 

Also, I think conversation suffers when people focus too heavily on being "liked."  This is a problem even with the like button, and I think it would be compounded with a don´t like button.  It´s easy to fall into the notion that my value as a Bum corresponds to the number of likes my posts get.  It´s easy to write posts in order to collect social capital, to be liked, rather than to communicate.  Every time someone likes a post of mine, I get a little neurochemical ding in my brain that is highly rewarding.  (So PLEASE! -- like my posts.) 

 

I´d favor going back to the "no insult" rule.  Ultimately though, I don´t think there´s any good way to weed out the incivility.  Perhaps it´s best to just walk around.  

[dwai]

4 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

 

Hi Dwai,

 

I agree that there´s an awful lot of rancor and nastiness here.  And yet, even now, there are shards of brilliant light: Small Fur´s discussion of "Cultivating the Golden Seed"; Silent Thunders "What Remains" thread.  i personally expose myself to more of the nastiness than is strictly necessary because I keep clicking here on Levitation to watch the ongoing shenanigans.  

Wow! Yeah...those ARE real gems hiding in the weeds. I only get to witness the shenanigans second hand, as I have the usual suspects blocked for a while now. It is amazing how a couple of noisy individuals manage to vitiate the atmosphere for the rest of us -- what they say about rotten apples spoiling the bunch is quite apt.

 

4 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

 

It´s possible your auto-suspending idea could work, but I´d be hesitant to implement it for a few reasons.  Occasionally there are members with unpopular views who don´t deserve to be shut out just because their ideas don´t accord with current norms.  Imagine if someone who spoke out about Trump (either in favor or against) was voted out by a coalition of members from the other side?

Yeah I thought about it too. I think if someone makes a one-off post, the risk for that would be significantly lower than say someone who trolls every thread of other members. I'm not sure who's running this website now (or if anyone is, actively doing anything at all) - its a internet discussion forum, so I'm not really worried that world peace will be disrupted (or brought about) here...stakes are not that high imho.

4 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

Also, I think conversation suffers when people focus too heavily on being "liked."  This is a problem even with the like button, and I think it would be compounded with a don´t like button.  It´s easy to fall into the notion that my value as a Bum corresponds to the number of likes my posts get.  It´s easy to write posts in order to collect social capital, to be liked, rather than to communicate.  Every time someone likes a post of mine, I get a little neurochemical ding in my brain that is highly rewarding.  (So PLEASE! -- like my posts.) 

 

I´d favor going back to the "no insult" rule.  Ultimately though, I don´t think there´s any good way to weed out the incivility.  Perhaps it´s best to just walk around.  

Sometimes the incivility follows us around like stalkers  

 

[ilumairen]

 

Quote

But we losers down here are certainly very impressed with your woah totally rad grim reaper avatar fitting for a 12-year-old and your “mwahaha, puny mortals routine” showing a desperate need for validation and attention.

 

Actually, when he changed his avatar, I smiled, enlarged it (I'm on a phone on the front porch mind you), and liked that the eyes were a somewhat piercing icy blue, instead of the typical fiery red one looking to impress (seeking validation and attention) tends to goes with. 

 

And I can't help but recall spending some amount of time with the idea of how very much like ants we humans behave - following the paths laid out by those who came before us.

 

:shrug: 

 

Edited February 4, 2020 by ilumairen

[liminal_luke]

4 minutes ago, ilumairen said:

 

 

Actually, when he changed his avatar, I smiled, enlarged it (I'm on a phone on the front porch mind you), and liked that the eyes were a somewhat piercing icy blue, instead of the typical fiery red one looking to impress (seeking validation and attention) tends to goes with. 

 

 

I like the new avatar better too -- less dark, more playful, a little goofy even.  I´m still not so taken with his ideas about mental health diagnosis, but as long as I´m not going to him for psychiatric care I guess I´ll be OK.

[ilumairen]

10 minutes ago, dwai said:

Wow! Yeah...those ARE real gems hiding in the weeds. I only get to witness the shenanigans second hand, as I have the usual suspects blocked for a while now. It is amazing how a couple of noisy individuals manage to vitiate the atmosphere for the rest of us -- what they say about rotten apples spoiling the bunch is quite apt.

 

I recall spending days with the rotten apples which had fallen, in a very literal way. First come the deer, eating their fill, then come the bees and wasps and flies, eventually there are some larvae, and then only soil. At some point little sprouts for new trees arise here and there.

 

Perhaps you were a deer, and have eaten your fill? Maybe you don't like the bees and wasps?

 

In any case, at the moment, it all seems to be process to me.

 

10 minutes ago, dwai said:

Sometimes the incivility follows us around like stalkers  

 

 

I've had stalkers; online they're soo much easier to ignore. 

[silent thunder]

This thread reminds me of an old saying in our neighborhood.

 

There are two types of folks:  Those who make you smile with joy when they enter a room... and those who make you smile in relief when they leave.

 

So grateful for the pearls shared, even when wading through a bog to enjoy them.

[Starjumper]

4 hours ago, GSmaster said:

For highly spiritual beings, karma is instant, you can reap what you saw without long delay. It happens due to higher frequency and ability to stand the karmic backfire as well as higher power base.

 

Most of the spiritual beings do not generate karma from their actions as they follow ethics and do not lack awareness.

 

We can agree on this, but I don't see karma as only embodying the negative.  I also follow a concept of positive karma, in which case those last that you mentioned are experiencing positive karma.

 

Quote

We can agree that being in public limelight like he did is an ugly burden to spiritual practice, as you are tainted by attention of millions of people with low frequencies.

 

Concerning the claims of fake materializations:  This is to address the misinformation that video demonstrations of Sai Baba materializing objects are fake and show botched sleigh of hand.

 

What was happening was that he actually was materializing objects, but ethics demanded that he do it in such a way to create doubt in those who either did not deserve to see a miracle, or who wanted to believe that he was fake.  He was giving those who wanted him to be a fake exactly what they wanted, which is the ethical thing to do.  Also as some here are aware of, real masters will not do obvious demonstrations of miracles to a group that includes the casually interested, those without pure hearts, or those who are hostile.  You will notice that his supposed sleigh of hand tricks are done so poorly that it's clear he was doing his best to provide doubters with what they need.

 

In fact there is a rare old video of him producing a pile of vibhuti.  He commonly produced rather large amounts of vibhuti for public ceremonies, way more than he could possibly have stored up his sleeve.

 

Here is one example of a claimed sleigh of hand.  Once Sai Baba gave a Rolex watch to someone in a big gathering, and he reached under his seat cushion to bring it out.  Well, Rolex watches have serial numbers, so the new owner of the watch and his friends traced the watch via its serial number and found it came from a jewelry store in a city rather far from where Sai Baba had been at the time.  They went to the shop and asked the store owner about it.  The store owner told them that Sai Baba had come into the store and bought that watch, and the important thing is that he was in the store buying the watch at exactly the same time as he was giving it away in his gathering.  This means that he was bi-locating, which is a popular thing for Hindu saints and avatars to do.

 

I have talked with three different people who had personal interviews with Sai Baba, and in those private meetings, when he materializes an object, he holds his hand, palm up, right in front of their face. He then makes small circling motions with his hand, and the ring or whatever appears in the middle of his palm and changes from a shadow to a solid in about two seconds.  In the case of rings, if it does not fit correctly on the first try, he is able to change the size of the ring by blowing through it.

 

In the video that shows him producing the golden egg from his mouth, it is clear that he regurgitates something that then goes into the cloth, which he could have changed the size of after it was in his hand.  The idea that he did not open his mouth is simply a suggestion the video makers claimed, which people of low caliber believe without carefully looking at the evidence.

 

-------------------------------

 

Concerning the pedophile accusations:  There is a common, well known, phenomenon in India where popular Hindu teachers are systematically maligned and denigrated/slandered by the English language media (and in collusion by western media as well). This phenomenon is termed “Hinduphobia” in India. As to why it happens, that is a complex story of Christian and Islamic conversion efforts in India, funded by Christian and Saudi sources. 

 

 

Edited February 4, 2020 by Starjumper

[shazlor]

@dwai It is truly a shame the slide this forum has taken over the past year or so to its current state of continually shitting the bed, to the outside observer.

 

As there is no moderation, one small change that could help is removing the 'laughing' emoticon response. Apart from a thread such as the 'what are you laughing at today' this function serves no purpose other than for snide little kick-the-shins and pile-ons, with no real possibility for a return 'confrontation' to hammer the issues straight as a reasoned and typed kick-in-the-shins would. As the months roll on one can plainly see the effect this has fostered in the general attitude of thedaobums members towards one another.

 

Cheerio!

[silent thunder]

This kamma talk brings to mind a paradigm shifting insight from several years ago.

A moment when an old, old long known teaching transformed from an intellectualI object, to a full blown living realization of potent clarity with a few words from an offhand conversation, i was only mildly listening to...

 

It was a comment made in passing, from the backseat of my truck, by a participant at a Wang Li Ping retreat.  We'd just left dinner and were heading back to the hotel.  I was blissed out and sated from my one meal of the day and was more tuning into the body than the conversation, but tuned back in to catch this bit...

 

The subject was the founding of a great school and all various aspects of it, and all the potential good it would do and how it would build great merit and the person speaking was confused when another local master declined to endorse, or get involved with the project, despite it garnering what seemed like obvious merit.

 

"Some Masters seek to generate no kamma, either good or bad."

 

woof!  everyone paused, considering.

then...

 

"Good karma generates response and connection in the wheel of Samsara just as surely as does bad."

and viola!  I finally got it.

chains of gold or chains of lead...   I'd heard it and read it countless times... but only ever in mind.

not in heartmind... not in presence... only thought.

 

We were waiting to turn left, into the hotel.  and the flash of that realization went off and in that moment I recall the rush of intense revealed energetic insight.  The physical body cascade, the piercing mental clarity and calm... the near tuning out of local reality.

 

In that realization, looking at the hotel... the last week of experience expanded outwardly, within me and I suddenly 'saw' and could 'palpably feel' the causative impact being generated in the lives of the 23 people and two instructors at our simple retreat, by this one teacher, in this one non-descript hotel in a major city.  The reality of kamma was far more than the ramifications of cause and effect, it was the living, co-arising utterly intralinked life flowing through my own local process and the entirety of reality.

 

Utter neutrality.  Causation, reaction among the Co-Arising Conditions.  Aggregate.  Perceptual lensing.  Assumptions. Projections.  Emotional inter-influencing...  Exponential intra-connection... Indra's Net...

 

The web of energetic connections that spiraled out into all the lives affected by just the two dozen folks at our little retreat was utterly overwhelming to my local mind.  We sat there a few moments longer than necessary while the simple truth of that reality resonated through my physical body, my mind, before I could drive again.

 

That insight resulted in utterly dissolving my former paradigm of 'assuming one of the prime purposes of life was to make things better'.

 

better for whom?  For years I'd been willing to push certain agendas I was certain were good for everyone... but this moment.

 

It prompted a shift in my life as profound as it would prove challenging.  For quite some years, my suspicion, unspoken, unrealized had been that for me to assume I know the correct and right course of action of life was vaporous projectionism.

 

In that moment, I no longer understood chains of gold or chains of lead, I was living it.

 

We are all of us, wittingly or not... Gardeners.

 

Each action, word and thought,

a seed planted in the soil of all of those we affect.

 

Good, bad... who sees the end?

 

The question more and more is... not what seeds to plant...

 

but if all these seeds need planting?

 

 

just my musings, not claiming anything, or trying to convince...

but wanted to share a potent moment.

 

Edited February 4, 2020 by silent thunder
clarify

[Nungali]

5 hours ago, dwai said:

Yes. Simple...encourage a model of discourse such that people are civil to each other, in spite of differences of opinions. This is the reason the trouble-makers have been banned from here before. For those who can't self regulate, a public voting system should ensure whether they should lose their posting privileges for specific period of time. 

 

I don't think banning is a good solution -- but too many people hide behind their internet aliases and think it gives them the freedom to be asshats... Implementing a system where negative points will result in their posting privileges auto-suspending for 7 days etc might be far more productive. 

 

 

 

 Like the Chinese 'social credit' system     

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit_System

[Nungali]

5 hours ago, GSmaster said:

 

Most of people who support your other posts, are gendao, 3bob, neti neti, nice company you have, why not make your own forum and move there alltogether?

 

 

Again ?    That already happened once .

 

https://originaldao.com/index.php

[ralis]

1 hour ago, shazlor said:

@dwai It is truly a shame the slide this forum has taken over the past year or so to its current state of continually shitting the bed, to the outside observer.

 

As there is no moderation, one small change that could help is removing the 'laughing' emoticon response. Apart from a thread such as the 'what are you laughing at today' this function serves no purpose other than for snide little kick-the-shins and pile-ons, with no real possibility for a return 'confrontation' to hammer the issues straight as a reasoned and typed kick-in-the-shins would. As the months roll on one can plainly see the effect this has fostered in the general attitude of thedaobums members towards one another.

 

Cheerio!

 

The problem is there are twelve year olds that come on here that have no idea what they want, have no critical thinking skills and want a daddy to hold onto! E.g. this thread is an example 

of what I am talking about. The OP would be better served by, self examination which entails honestly questioning ones belief systems, joining a monastic order, therapy or consulting with the local priest. The OP had no interest in discussion, but trolling his own agenda!

 

I am not interested in being ones father confessor and I am absolutely certain there are others here whom have no interest in this position either. In certain cases the laughing emoji is apropos which means lighten up!

[ralis]

34 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

 

Again ?    That already happened once .

 

https://originaldao.com/index.php

 

I visited that forum awhile back and it is the same old love fest of mostly right wing Trumpsters that left this forum last year. Aetherous started that forum. Good riddance!!!!

[moment]

2 hours ago, shazlor said:

@dwai It is truly a shame the slide this forum has taken over the past year or so to its current state of continually shitting the bed, to the outside observer.

 

As there is no moderation, one small change that could help is removing the 'laughing' emoticon response. Apart from a thread such as the 'what are you laughing at today' this function serves no purpose other than for snide little kick-the-shins and pile-ons, with no real possibility for a return 'confrontation' to hammer the issues straight as a reasoned and typed kick-in-the-shins would. As the months roll on one can plainly see the effect this has fostered in the general attitude of thedaobums members towards one another.

 

Cheerio!

The laughing emoticon is the least of any problems on TDB.

[dwai]

11 minutes ago, moment said:

The laughing emoticon is the least of any problems on TDB.

I think we are in need of a *facepalm* emoticon  

 

PS. I'm not making fun of anyone's perspective. I think for those who are energetically sensitive, a 'laugh' can be a taunt, which is what @shazlor is alluding to iinm. But do I think we need to do away with the laugh emoticon? I don't think so. Maybe a more benign emoticon would be good (like  )  

Edited February 4, 2020 by dwai

[liminal_luke]

The laughing icon is no funny matter.  @shazlor rightly points out that it´s often used to express contempt.  I wish people would use words instead when they disagree, because how do you respond to a derisive chuckle? If you object to being laughed it, you´ll probaby just be laughed at some more.  

 

Sometimes I´ll think a post is funny and use the laugh icon to let someone know I appreciate their humor.  On more than one occasion I´ve wondered if my message got through correctly: did the poster know that their post amused me in a positive way or did they think I was making fun? 

[Rocky Lionmouth]

On 2020-02-02 at 10:25 AM, GSmaster said:

- You have butt in without checking the previous discussion, playing a role of a hero chasing the enemies while others try to unite, you are acting blindly. While it may give you some internet glory points in your little circle.

 

Your inconveniencing was unintended, your belittling tone unnecessary and your vicious reaction uncalled for. 

I don’t care for glory or being a hero and i’m downright uninterested in your thoughts on anything, even less so if they regard me.

 

I was not playing. Should you want to discuss this any further you are welcome to levitate in and knock on my door and we’ll take it from there flyboy.

 

[silent thunder]

*looks around*

 

hey... what the...?

 

where'd everyone get off to...? 

 

*looks up*

 

oh there you all are!

what the &%#*?!

how'd you get up there?!?!

 

Spoiler

 

 ||

 ||

 ||

\/

 

 

 

 

[liminal_luke]

36 minutes ago, Starjumper said:

 

The good thing about it is you can let someone know you think they're an idiot without getting into the burden of a back and forth 'debate'. which is often a useless waste of time and energy, when dealing with forum idiots.

 

That´s just it though.  Maybe it´s a style thing, but I don´t see the point in telling people that they´re idiots.  It´s always a bother for the idiot in question.  If you called me an idiot -- and you might -- am I likely to consider your opinion and change my idiotic ways?  That never happens.  Idiots get angry when you point out their shortcoming; they don´t reform. Does it give pleasure calling others idiots?  There might be some fleeting low-grade satisfaction asserting superiority, but why bother when there are so many better ways to feel good?  I´d rather look at a sunset, read a poem, or eat a taco.  

 

OK; here´s my idiot plan.  I¨m going to eat a carne asada taco everytime I read a post written by an idiot.  Rather than use the laugh button, I´ll post weekly selfies in my PPD documenting my weight gain.  Laugh if you must.

 

 

[ralis]

17 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

 

That´s just it though.  Maybe it´s a style thing, but I don´t see the point in telling people that they´re idiots.  It´s always a bother for the idiot in question.  If you called me an idiot -- and you might -- am I likely to consider your opinion and change my idiotic ways?  That never happens.  Idiots get angry when you point out their shortcoming; they don´t reform. Does it give pleasure calling others idiots?  There might be some fleeting low-grade satisfaction asserting superiority, but why bother when there are so many better ways to feel good?  I´d rather look at a sunset, read a poem, or eat a taco.  

 

OK; here´s my idiot plan.  I¨m going to eat a carne asada taco everytime I read a post written by an idiot.  Rather than use the laugh button, I´ll post weekly selfies in my PPD documenting my weight gain.  Laugh if you must.

 

 

When the OP starts a thread such as this then there will humorous feedback and intense criticism! The OP obviously is relying on rumor.