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Hey folks! Excited to be here. Newcomer to meditation (under a year) and am exploring a lot of forums related to daoism and meditation. Big board game nerd as well. Look forward to reading everyone's thoughts!

Flax lol

I bet it’s still spooky tho!

I used to make them up ..... general stories , sometimes three a night '' And not one we have heard before '' and even had to construct them around certain things ; '' I want to hear a story with a boy, a dog, a bow and arrow, a rocket ship and ..... ummm ..... watermelon ! '' ''Okay then < thinks ..... > Once there was a boy with a pet dog called .... '' But often they were 'scary stories' - three young boys they were . Loved scary stories ... but their Mum would be ..... ''You do that , and you will be sleeping in their room tonight ... I won't be getting up to comfort them they if get scared in the middle of the night .'' Oh well, ok , it's worth it

It’s Armenian, Got no cream in, It’s the coffee got you dreamin’ It’s a fact, No coffee’s like that, This side of Mount Ararat, It’s hot In the pot what we got Drink it, drink it a lot. (modest coffee rap)

frothy coffee?

A belief is something we construct when we don't know or gnow (gnosis) through experience. Why settle for a belief when complete understanding is available?

I hate toffee. But I like coffee!

Hi everyone, I found this forum when looking for information about zifa gong. I hope to find people who have walked the path and are happy to share experience. My dad taught me zifa gong for a short time when i was a teenager. I didnt practice for about 20 years, now just got back to it. Last night, fear creeped in as i practiced because i started to have feelings my body was not familiar with. Btw, i think i passed zifa gong phase as my body now sits me down from standing position, but im not sure, i have no teachers. Theres no neigong master where i live, i dont think this can be taught online, there are too many people fake it to get money or views. It seems there are a few here who have reached higher level than where i am now. If you are practicing neigong, I hope if you would be happy to share with me about your journey and your experience. TIA

Hi Gwen. Welcome to the forum.

Hi and welcome

Probably a very good idea. I have only used black seed oil (not for cooking) on occasion. Should try the seeds too.

Nigella sativa is the way to go for me. We use it a lot in our cooking…

Thank you for asking! )) --but I wrote it for my (international expat) Russian authors group and don't have an English version. Besides, I would have to change some things now because chatbots are evolving fast and I was sort of an early beta tester... At the time one of my minor plot twists was that ChatGPT starts talking to the main protagonist with an actual voice, a capability that in reality it didn't have till sometime late in 2023. The story was written a few months earlier than that, and when ChatGPT in that story suddenly found its voice in the middle of a typed up conversation, it was a turning point hinting that the protagonist had been transported from everyday reality to a different version, a parallel or future one. It wouldn't work today though since now they're all verbal. So I'd have to substitute a different "turn of the screw" in that spot.

Please share the horror story!

All is unknowable, a mature person chooses what to belief.

I have to say that my enlightened mind enjoys it when my yes-but ego mind ... all of a sudden , out of the blue, when it can get over itself , declares simply .... ' I dont know ' . The resignation to that is a relief at times ... and even the yes but ego mind needs a holiday now and then . Acceptance then follows resignation .

Well , here is the proof ....... do you like tofu ? I used to make tofu , my GF did bean sprouts , we did a delivery run together . The last drop off point was a small health food store and the woman there always took our left over bean sprouts ... heaps of alfalfa sprouts . I asked if she ate them and she said no, her cat likes them .... not one or two , but a big handful in a bowl ! Imagine puss munching his way through a pile of stringy wet green sprouts https://articles.hepper.com/can-cats-eat-bean-sprouts/ Hmmm ... after this diversion I think I just invoked ... ' dont care mind '

Basically that there is not 'a self' ..... normally . We run on all sorts of 'drives' , influences , conditioning, programs. I have a long history studying cultural anthropology , comparative religion and western ritual magic .... and some experience 'in the field ' . Mostly it is based on the Hierarchy of Spirits model and modified by the principle mentioned above with finding the internal structure 'instructions' within the arrangement and structure of the initiatory organisation * ( and modified by my own and others relevant research and findings ) . To simplify it, it can be seen as basic magical practice / realization . One way to explain it simply is to put the psyche on the Tree of Life ( note, not the body ... that does not really work and was one of those HGD 'innovations' . ) basically the Magician is , or should be training to become , the King of the psyche ( the Kingdom ) First you have a Kingdom - the psyche . Upon that you must start with building a firm foundation ( in all sorts of ways ! ) . A King must have majesty and victory ( or he is 'overthrone' ) ... these titles also relate to the mind and emotions ; the 'sciences ' ( hermetic and others ) and 'nezach' also being 'love' . beauty of spirit and heart ... the 'lion / Sun force' and the 'ego' at the center ( some might say 'the King himself' ) . power and mercy or severity and mercy are the 'left and right arms' of the King eg. '' 12. Remember that unbalanced force is evil; that unbalanced severity is but cruelty and oppression; but that also unbalanced mercy is but weakness which would allow and abet Evil.'' then above the abyss ( Daath ) the King should have understanding , especially the understanding of how the 'world and nature works' and the understanding of the repercussions of his own decisions and actions , going out into that world of nature and interacting and effecting its forces and those forces affecting him . Then wisdom develops , which is the 'if and when ' of such actions , with the considerations of the previous understandings ... then one may come to place the magicians crown upon the head In hermetics the prime directive ( as it was said to be inscribed on the archway into the divine rites 'arena' ) ' Man , know thyself ' , to me this includes all the above ( as well as the anthropology - the study of Man , and the other subjects I studied ; religion , psychology etc . ) - there is a 'hermetic planetary descent incarnation concept' ; as if, when one incarnates , we come 'in' via the planetary hierarchy and 'land' on earth . On the way we pick up the positive and negative aspects of the planetary energies and during our life we are to work on them , refine them and balance them . Each sphere on the Tree of Life can be related to a planet with these energies as well . But that is just the 'template ' , as we know the planets move around and create different angular relationships , bring forth or suppressing various positive and negative aspects - hence the natal horoscope , which gives us a more individually defined path and 'map' of the development required . There is more ... like other systems such as exo-psychology and methods and practices .... but I will leave it here at the moment , ... the hierarchy ... without a hierarchy or a King ..... we can end up a real mess - disturbed psychologically , perhaps not realizing our goals and purpose here (in this incarnation ) ... or actually ... just 'normal ' ( and yes that is a problem ... that becomes apparent when you also study history and current affairs .... we are a bit of a mess ! - if not a rampaging murderous destructive maniac .... collectively ) . * - a difficult reference to cite as it is knowledge 'under oath' and the public documents do not show that specific instruction.... however a question to AI shows ; '' ... provides the foundational framework for the order's governance, which members are expected to study and understand to better govern their own lives .... ''

For most humans, rebirth is an inevitable reality, happy or not; it matters not. Reincarnation, the circle of samsara, is a well-studied mechanism over thousands of years that forces you to reincarnate. It does not guarantee progress, but it is built with evolution in mind. What you cannot learn in a single lifetime can be mastered in hundreds or thousands. Accidents happen all the time. The only question is that, while being the same soul, a new life might shape to be an entirely different personality. If you don't make it to cultivation in a current lifetime, there are even fewer chances to do so in subsequent lifetimes. For me, it was like a destiny, a higher power guiding from the first moments of life. I could not even resist or choose in this matter, although I was given the choice. Think of a train with an established path; it will be difficult, if not impossible, to stop it. The momentum building up through multiple reincarnations, walking in the same direction (cultivation), is unstoppable. An advanced practitioner could also pry open the human mind and dig into their past lives. I used to be asked to scan whether a person had engaged in any magical cultivation in their past lives. As for entities that feed on humans, they get more when you are alive; humans are like powerful batteries that have no awareness or control over their astral and mental energy vessels. You will not even know if they are feeding on you, not be able to defend oneself and can easily associate the distress caused by entities with some mental ailment or behavior disorder, or simply a lack of energy and willpower. When you are dead, you remain in bardo space (in between lives) as long as you do not run out of energy. Once you run out of all energy, your soul will be sucked back into the elevator of souls. Waiting to get dragged back on earth with a chain hook, during some sexual encounter between a man and a woman.

That's exactly what I thought too.

No, death is not suffering. The suffering comes for those who are alive when someone they know dies. For the one who died, it is a massive purge, a release, beneficial as it heals the damage acquired over the lifetime. It is also, for most people, an eternal rest. But for those deeply on the cultivation path, death is not an end. It is possible that in next life you will awaken inside a new body. The thrill of living again is indescribable. Cultivation of self is not an egoistic goal; by becoming more advanced, you become more valuable to the system, and it will find a better use for you. On the other hand, useless chips that have no practical use or value can easily get recycled. Planet prints trillions of new souls every year using all kind of random rubbish as a base. Enjoying life and connections in it is fine, but it is important to make meaningful progress. The opportunity to step on a path of evolution is hard to come by, and it can shape future for hundreds of upcoming lifetimes. The thing is --- it is possible to imbue objects with energy (Qi), and it is possible to compress energy. Energy is a force that can do work, so it would also be possible to program it. It is possible to find an object with inherent qualities yin/yang/element acting as a carrier for the energy, that would also contain and deliver an energy to a particular function or organ internally. So, with the above everything is possible. On other hand, that might be extremely expensive and impossible to obtain. Similarly, very few people on the planet are in the possesion of a genuine magic artefact. Everything takes time, work, energy, highly advanced things also take a lot of investment, I am talking about tens of thousands of hours of difficult training and learning. Now for the most people out there, they are not really willing to put even an ounce of effort into cultivation.

Also, our distorted mental habits that keep pulling us away into other things, and often interferes in various ways. Tseng Lao-weng quote is interesting because this seems like a different approach than the narrower views often bandied about.

This is the most poignant to me. The truth is always present, right under our noses, yet we don't see it because we are looking for the wrong things.

It’s a good idea to keep coming back to this