Hello

[Simon V.]

Hello all

 

Decided to take some time to take part in this forum from time to time as well as Winn's forum, where many if not all have encountered me already I think.

 

Like Yoda I come from a background of hardcore study in buddhism, though I began with zen via martial arts and a kind of yoga plus qigong plus sufi philosophy I culled from a teacher in my home town, Halifax, on the east coast of Canada, which is also where Chogyam Trungpa moved his headquarters (from Colorado), finally settling in 1986, when I was 16 (and had already been practicing with the other teacher since childhood). So naturally I have picked up on Trungpa's teachings as well. In fact, I later came to focus on them very intensely. Too bad he died a year after landing. His community has been and continues to be very good for Halifax though.

 

Even after getting very seriously into Tibetan buddhism while living in Germany (for six years--I returned to Halifax a few years ago), even spending summers in France at a Tibetan settlement doing formal buddhist philosophical studies and meditation practice (I'm not rich--I financed this via teaching English)--despite all this I have never identified myself as a 'buddhist'. This has been problematic by times with the buddhists I hung around...

 

However, I have always been strongly drawn to alchemy, or just to the notion of an all-embracing concept at the core of different cultures' spiritual traditions, which I eventually found alchemy offered.

 

I believe in wide learning, but in really deeply going into a given tradition or practice. Also, for myself, I knew it was important to truly become accomplished in something or in more than one thing, before I would really be able to grasp multiple, although similar, takes on spirituality, so I have werked very hard at buddhism and the study of western alchemy, and earlier, at martial arts (which now I just 'maintain', staying in shape and practicing now and then with friends, acquaintances, doing daily qigong).

 

Finally, I like to write fiction, or art in general. I am attracted to an aesthetic or artistic perspective on spirituality, to exporing the mystery of creative intelligence in relation to 'spirituality'; but whereby discipline, thoroughness, philosophical precision, are not allowed to fall by the wayside.

 

Simon

[sean]

Yeah, hey man, why don't you just come on here and write one of the coolest introductions ever, ok?

 

Welcome Simon. Nice to see you here.

 

Sean.

[Trunk]

..when I was 16 (and had already been practicing with the other teacher since childhood)

Wow. Nice that you got an early start. I was atheist until my 2nd year in college, then had an experience and started looking.

 

I see my friends with kids who are in jr high & high school and think, "wow, if they could just learn a simple kan & li, some sort of tan tien practice to help resolve pubescent anxiety, and a little rooting - early, as they're going through puberty", it'd pay off so huge.

 

Of course I don't talk to any of my "civilian" friends about my website, etc. Too weird. Good thing there's yoga studios all over, at least. Gives people an in-road.

[Simon V.]

Wow.  Nice that you got an early start.  I was atheist until my 2nd year in college, then had an experience and started looking.

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Good in many ways, but because I started so young there was a 'taking it for granted factor' that resulted in painful learning experiences due to being naive about what is generally considered normal. Luckily I encountered Gurdjief's bullet-biting, esoteric shit-eating-grinness philosophy of 'conscious suffering'.

 

True, there are yoga studios all over, but there is also a really prevalent lack of rooting in the true depth of yoga, paricularly in the philosophy department.

 

But I agree that for many just getting in shape a great gift.

 

Simon