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Sri Matre Namaha and Namo Amitabha Buddhaya, Hello everyone, Just passing through. I was informed of a few deaths and saw that I was mentioned a number of times since my departure for a couple years. I was reminded of my mortality many times in my pilgrimage the last year, and immediately after while repairing relationships since then after some shifts. Here I am sharing a few insights I wanted to share that re-contextualizes past conflicts here and has vastly improved my life. 1. I was diagnosed last year shortly after turning 41 that I have Autism and ADHD--otherwise known as AuDHD. This means I am tone deaf and sound a lot angrier or more argumentative than I need to be without realizing how it would be perceived by others. My info dumping is a feature of neurodivergence, and this can be seen as being disingenuous by others, even if I and many people like me believe that clarity will help free people from wrongful assumptions and mischaracterizing my intentions. My hyperreactivity also comes from rejection sensitivity dysphoria, or RSD, a feature of ADHD. Many times I would perceive some remarks from people as a personal attack and overreact. It is better to assume good intentions and take the loss before getting into an argument since nobody wins. 2. Cultivation absolutely affects my condition for better or for worse. The right cultivation with qi, diet, and spiritual balance (separate from energy work) can moderate the physiological and neurological differences in my body. The wrong cultivation can make them worse, especially when bringing excess energy to my head. It is not my business if people want to do practices that can harm them, as they are not my students and I am not an expert, I am just a specialist at best. I don't get paid to argue and I don't teach for free. 3. Anyone and everyone can eventually be better when we yield that responsibility back to them and God/Dao/the Universe I lost many friends, including TDB member Nature Beeing or Beeing Nature, also known as Natursein on YouTube, who passed several months ago of Liver Cirrhosis around April or May as his partner informed me via WhatsApp. Some of those relationships were healed just before these people died, and some never got that resolution. As I can't wait for others to come around, it is on me to work on myself and be better instead of waiting for them to come around as a prerequisite to improving myself or reconciling. 4. Neurodivergence does make me more sensitive to energy and spirits Before my diagnosis, I noticed things in nature that I didn’t realize others couldn’t perceive. After my diagnosis, my therapist told me it’s common for us to see things and because I see better when relaxed and peaceful while when stressed I don’t perceive anything easily, I realized neurodivergence is a unique operating system, As such, I read oracles better, can notice energy quickly, and as there are several levels of third eye opening, I can sense the other side a bit better, but still need more refinement since it could be a lot more given the new responsibilities given to me by new teachers whom I have met. Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. I will stay around for a week or so to answer any questions if people had any related to my practices or me. Otherwise, you can visit my new site at innerexpeditions.squarespace.com. Thank you everyone. Sri Matre Namaha and Namo Amitabha Buddhaya.

Screencap from “The Pink Purloiner” episode of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Watch out for nutrition science: ... The stand out example for me is nutrition science. A lot of the big, obvious effects have been picked through and now so much of it is simmering in noise with strong incentives to find various different things by getting significance. Alcohol/chocolate/coffee does, doesn’t, does, doesn’t, does, doesn’t cause increased mortality. I don’t know how we could expect that discipline to turn around. There is good work being done there here and there, but so much of it is GIGO. I have a paper in the works trying to sort out how we can know if a field is producing knowledge or just chasing ghosts . . . (Joe Bak-Coleman, collective behavior scientist at the University of Washington) ... Regarding nutrition science: yeah, this is another field where there’s endless crap being hyped. Also related areas in health science such as that stupid cold-shower study or all the crappy sleep research. I don’t have any sense of an escape route for all this. On one hand, nutrition, health behavior, exercise, sleep, etc., are hugely important and worth scientific study. On the other hand, these fields are so rotten, with really incompetent or unethical people deeply embedded within the system of academic publication and news media promotion, that sometimes it just seems entirely hopeless. (blog "Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science", today's entry by Andrew Gelman, professor of statistics and political science at Columbia University)

It was about our views on science, scientists and scientism Then there was a comment about 'life sciences ' . Then we were told there is 'no such thing as a scientist ' . Then a shifting terms claim about science being this ... no that ... no actually its ... ( what was it now ? unpopoular .... not nice ... not currently 'politically correct ' ... or something ? ) . Then a diversion into a claim from science journalism . Then there was a complaint or something like that about the thread not commenting only on life sciences ( even though the title said different ) . Then Luke came in to kick it in the shins ( not his brother this time ) . Then an indulgent poem that smacked of discordian interpretation of the 'philosophy' of Hassan i Sabbah ( 'nothing is true , all is permissible ' ) by a smug cat . Then some info about frying an unborn baby with microwaves . Then ...... cats . Thats what the internet does .... eventually , its all about cats . Then I came back and said ... say ... Science is a good approach , especially for all you post alternative nut jobs that give more reality to your own internal fantasies . Scientists are good and bad , like most groups of people ... except for those 'save the planet' environmental scientists ... they are 'cool ' ( like ultrasound is 'cool' ... apparently , but I dont why ) . and scientism ? Well, that just sucks and one will realize why , if they can tell the difference between the three terms . And now I depart the thread to avoid the upcoming disdainful stares and comments ..... .

a Basket case

In order to perfect your meditation it is very important to not stop thinking.

Hi Good to hear from you. I am still alive too ... for some reason ( although the 'close calls' seem to have gone away lately ) . You have come through a lot ( including what happened during covid, volcano eruptions , life 'difficulties' .... etc . I am glad to hear you 'held the course' and now do what you were trying to achieve many years back , got over the setbacks and hurdles , learnt how to deal with and work with your 'special talents' ... in short ; followed the path of your True Will . .

What was that guy's name again ? ( have to look it up ) ... Ah yes ; Schwaller de Lubicz ... boy ! Wading through his stuff ! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._A._Schwaller_de_Lubicz

Hello EG. I figured you were still alive since you were posting on Reddit. Good luck in your endeavors and hopefully your practices continue to bear fruit (for the benefit of all beings)

That's true, but people are expected to have similar ingredients and capacities in order to follow a recipe. If beef bourguignon the proper dish for a mountain hermit or a single parent working two jobs? Maybe, if they're interested in fancy French cooking, maybe not if there about to starve. But that's one problem. The main goal of a the teachings, in my current opinion, is to awaken people's inner connection to the Dao. But the preservation of lineages may cut at cross-purposes to empowering individuals. This is why they often go dry and why a lot of people take to the hills. Interesting question as to whether there are even any neidan lineages. every lineage claims they have an unbroken oral tradition, but that usually relies on the oral tradition that supports the oral tradition. I think there is definitely some truth to that. But the more one cultivates the acquired mind/body with you wei methods, it may become more difficult to cultivate wu wei later on. Of course, some methods use you wei to open the door to wu wei-- I see standing like this. You adopt a structure so that you can relax. Some people go in the opposite direction: all methods, no principles. The fundamental question that will drive the entire practice is whether we need to acquire something or not. The DDJ is pretty clear--- we gain the greater through dropping the lesser. (DDJ 48). Huang Yuanji says: If it is permeates everywhere, it is right here and now. How does that inform one's approach?

Yes of course, most people need to start with a method. But many methods are not necessary, and a lot of folks I’ve seen tend to get caught up in acquiring methods. One good method/system is sufficient to understand, but most don’t have the patience to stick with one. It’s better to dig one deep well instead of a thousand shallow ones

Good to hear back from you Earl Grey. I hope you don't stop expressing your concerns about practices. When I joined the TDB you were the one to advice me on looking into Qi deviation and sickness. It led me into reading and learning more about qigong, eventually quitting the practice.

Very nice to hear from you @Earl Grey! I appreciate you sharing your experiences and insights and I wish you continued growth and success on your path. See you around, for a while! Best, steve

If there is proper diagnosis and early intervention with the right treatment plan, neurodivergence can be manageable and we can be easy-going. As I grew up in an abusive family and developed many traumas, my neurodivergence gives deeper wounding to an already sensitive nervous system that registers sound, light, and touch more intensely than neurotypical people. Thus, it makes me more on edge and combative due to one trauma of being unworthy and often taken advantage of, by both teachers who financially manipulated me and students who devalued me. I don’t lament my suffering and struggle now, as I see my suffering as a gift and this body as an even greater gift to burn off karma and recognize many people do not have awareness, support, resources, teachers, or drive to better themselves. So it makes me more patient and accepting of some of the posts that some have made that used to irritate me for years here. Let people go where they want and I will remain in my own lane. I will try to disengage if anyone does try to provoke me during this brief stopover, and if moderation doesn’t seem proportionate to what I hypothetically may encounter, I will just bite my tongue and return to creating content for my site and podcast, along with raising capital from investors for appropriate equipment.

Good to hear from you, Earl Gray. I still remember some details from the Akasic reading you give me several years back which I found very helpful. It sounds like you are doing well. So glad. (Incidently, you are not the only neurodivergent Bum that has gotten into repeated skirmishes with the mod team. I suspect this happens a lot. Leadership here seems to value people who can easily let things go and happily disengage. I´m no expert, but believe that this kind of easy-going attitude is not associated with neurodivergence.)

I believe that when we understand a method, we understand the principle behind. Working with the principle ( mechanism), methods can be simplified. I also do not believe that we can start from the principle, years of teaching at uni has taught me that an absolute majority of people need methods first.

A system should be able to lift a broad spectrum of people to a higher level. Some systems try to be ChanWuYi, which means it grows. Too narrow, and fewer will have use of it. Too broad, and the practitioner will have problem with progressing beyond the fundamentals. I believe that many teachers have read a text and then tried to reverse engineer it, using methods they already know. They have no lineage keys to that specific text, but might be very efficient in developing something else. Only if they try to fit it in with everything else. I see this in chinese traditions, where the correllation charts become cumbersome and overwhealming, often correlating processes that are, in reality, not really close to each other. Some systematization is useful.

Look, now he’s dyed his hair (probably so Nungali can’t find him) but the grumpy look gives him away.

Thank you Mark for the helpful hints. Sometimes, I do not understand all that was written in the post. But, I come back to it a few times and it helps. Thank again. Hope the dance is an enjoyable one.

A Bastet case, I have become reading sonnets, having fun The port is good, so they declare in Portugal, some cat is there who sweeps a tail across the rug and makes a toy of some poor bug photo Jon Bodsworth

Yes. See the case of the man living a normal life with 90% of his brain missing. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-thursday-edition-1.3679117/scientists-research-man-missing-90-of-his-brain-who-leads-a-normal-life-1.3679125 I read about this man in a Dutch book, alas not available in English. The title says “My brain does not think. I am the one that is thinking. The picture reminds me of The Chariot, Tarot card, which probably was based on the chariot allegory by Socrates. But in the tarot card there’s no control yet, there are no reigns.

Stock market contrarians will tell you that by the time ordinary people on the street are saying to invest in X, it´s time to get out. Opinions are like that too: if everybody believes it, it´s probably no longer true.

The Lovers I was always afraid of the next card the psychic would turn over for us— Forgive me for not knowing how we were every card in the deck. --Timothy Liu

Thanks I miss him. We had six cats but only one left

I had a cat that looked just like that - he died a couple of weeks ago.

What’s this thread about, again? lol (already multiple splits from original)