BananaMonkey

In my understanding, the whole concept of time as being linear is an illusion.Even in modern physics that notion is getting more and more common these days. There's loads of scientific experiments on this. You can read more about then in The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot and in The Source Field Investigations by David Wilcock. Both absolute page-turners and great for broadening one's horizon.

 

From my spiritual point of view, time only exists on this level of reality to enable us to experience things one after the other. This seems to be a kind of catalyst for the evolution of the soul. Once you imagine living in a reality without time, where everything happens in one limitless moment, you simply couldn't encounter certain obstacles and difficulties that make you go beyond yourself. To me, this seems to be a crucial element of spiritual development.

Man, it's smoky in here today... But the music is great, I love disco!

Welcome on board!

 

I'm looking forward to what you have to share.

I starting writing this as a reply to 4bsolute's thread on Correct Taoist Ways of Drinking in the healing circle forum and since the original posts were rather long, I thought I'd just add what else I know from reading and own experience. There's quite a bit of helpful info in it, so here we go:

Contents:

1. What to drink

2. How to drink

3. When to drink

4. Overwiew: Digestion time for different food types

1. What to drink

First off, pretty much all the liquids I drink (when not travelling) are based on distilled water. I read a few books on the subject and heard loads of testimony from people who benefited greatly from the practice. In a nutshell, the main advantage over tap or bottled water is that it contains no anorganic minerals, which the body cannot use and therefore has to use energy to eliminate. If the load of inorganic minerals is too high, calcified deposits will form on the joints and nerves, causing various kinds of trouble. Organic minerals on the other hand have been taken up from the soil and converted into biologically usable material by microorganisms in cooperation with plants. This is done by changing their charge and building them into organic molecules.

Another important point about distilled water is that the distillation virtually filters all known impurities such as herbicide residue, chemicals and pharmaceuticals as well as hormones that are found in regular tap water. Once all this stuff is removed, the water has a strong negative charge and pulls out all the positively charged molecules of unwanted material out of the body. This can lead to dramatic detox symptons in the first days and weeks of drinking distilled water, especially if large quantities are consumed.

I use a Megahome (Taiwanese brand) distiller that distills 4 litres in about 4 hours if it's filled with hot tap water. If you put in cold water, it obviously needs more time to bring it to a boil. I usually fill the machine once at night and twice a day, as I'm not the only person in the household. I myself usually drink at least 5 litres of the water as I've always been a thirsty person.

I use the water for plain drinking at room temperature, tea, smoothies, soaking dried fruit etc. When consumed by itself, the water is really smooth and has no taste, as opposed to tap water. Tea and coffee are said to be far more aromatic.

I recommed the very concise book "The Choice Is Clear" by Dr. Allen E. Banik and the many videos featuring Andrew Norton Webber on youtube for further info.

The maybe even better choice would be fresh spring water, as it's usually low in anorganic minerals and it is structured energetically. Spring water is just somewhat hard to get in large quantities if you live in a big city. Since I understand that this whole energetic structure business may sound too far-out for some, I'll just hint at structuring water: It can also be done using crystals, for example when using distilled water, there's loads of info on this online. Check out Masaru Emoto's work for a good introduction to the incredible science behind the structures of water.

2. How to drink

Those familiar with Chinese culture will know that the Chinese often drink warm water, although the influence of Western habits leads to a strongly increasing popularity of ice-cold softdrinks etc. According to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), cold drinks affect digestion and the associated organds negatively, which leads to various unbalaces. When consumed with food, according to the TCM view, cold water especially strains the spleen. In Western science, we know that the enzymes involved in digestion need a certain temperature to work, which would obviously be affected by cold beverages.

Another often overlooked part of drinking is the speed at which you down your liquids. Gandhi said: “Chew your drink and drink your food”, advising people to drink slowly and masticate food thoroughly. Among the advantages of drinking slowly over guzzling water down is not stretching your stomach suddenly. In its empty state, the stomach contracts to the size of a fist. In an extremely trained human, it can accommodate up to four litres of food or water, but a fast expansion can lead to bloating and overstretching the membranes. Another reason to drink even room-temperature water slowly is that it's still about 20 degrees celsius cooler than the inside of your stomach and can be pre-warmed in your mouth before it hits your stomach, making its absorption easier.

3. When to drink

In addition to being picky about what I drink, my timing also tends to be fussy. When I wake up, I drink at least a litre of distilled water. Then I wait at least half an hour before I eat, if I'm not yet hungry longer. That would usually be a load of fruit, varieties depending on the season. I give fruit half an hour to digest, If it's a smoothie more like an hour, as it's more or less diluted.

The next time I drink a larger amount is before lunch, again about a litre at least 20-30 mins before I eat. For lunch I mostly eat cooked carbs like brown rice, millet, potatoes or legumes like chichpeas or beans, always with a lot of veggies. This needs two hours to digest.

During the afternoon, after digesting lunch for at least two hours and drinking another litre or so I may get hungry again. In that case I usually eat some fruit with no drinking for 30 mins.

Before Dinner I also drink a litre. My dinner usually is a massive salad with fat like avocado, various good cold-pressed non-filtered oils or a sauce based on soaked nuts or seeds blended with water or tomatoes or sour, juicy fruit like oranges. The vitamin C of sour fruit is said to aid in the digestion of protein. The advantage of eating fat at night is that it provides the body with a steady stream on energy for the whole night, whereas carbs run out sooner. In that case, the body would have to switch into gluconeogenesis, burning glucogenic aminoacids or other material. In addition, the insulin that's released during and after ingestion of carbs interferes with melatonin and can affect your sleep.

After dinner, which I usually finish between 7 pm and 7:30, I don't really drink for at least four hours because fats and protein need the longest time to digest. But I will always have a glass jar with water handy at night, so that I sometimes drink another litre at night.

And then the whole thing starts again

4. Overwiew: Digestion time for different food types

First off, I you have never about trophology or food-combining, be sure to read up on this as it's crucial for good digestion and efficient use of nutrients. With that in mind, here's some general info on the time it takes various foods to be broken down in the stomach and pass into the large intestine. Once they're out of your stomach, you won't dilute the digestive enzymes by drinking. These figures may not be extremly accurate, but they're provided as a sort of rough guideline.

Fruit: 30 mins

Vegetables: 1-2 hours

Grains: 1-2 hours

Beans: 1-2 hours

Meat and Fish: At least 3-4 hours

Olives and avocados: 2 hours

Oil: 3-4 hours

Keep in mind that adding oil slows down the digestion of other foods as it coats them and has to be broken down first. That's why I usually eat salads with oil only as the last meal of the day.

This ended up being a bit long-winded, hope people can make some use of the info...

My understanding is that there is deeper meaning here : whether we think it is Zhou dreaming of a butterfly , or a butterfly dreaming of Zhou ?

 

認周以為非蝶，是未能忘我也。 ( Think that it is Zhou dreaming of a butterfly are those who stick to their ego/ selves)

執蝶以為非周，未能忘物也。 ( Insist that it is a butterfly dreaming of Zhou , not Zhou having a dream, are those who entangled by things)

 

In either case, the commentary thinks that it is one-sided.

 

Yesterday I talked to my professor (I study Sinology, his specialty is Chinese languange and literature with a keen interest in Daoism and Buddhism) about this. His explanation was pretty much what exorcist_1699 suggested, so the trophy goes to him

 

Anyway, thanks for all the contributions!

Man, this sounds epic! What kind of meditation leads you to this experience? Do you also have physical sensations in your Third Eye area? Do you see people's auras when not meditating or other "supernatural" things?

 

In Daoism, the Third Eye is associated with the third Dantian/Tan t'ien. There are three Dantian in the body and they are energy centers responsible for sublimation of the Three Treasures Jing, Qi/Chi and Shen.

 

The first Dantian is located slightly below the navel and refines Jing, the vital essence of your body/your sexual energy into Qi.

 

The second is behind the solar plexus and refines Qi, the energy of breath/life force into Shen, the mind/consciousness/spirit energy.

 

The third is behind the forehead and is responsible for "refining Shen and reverting into Emptiness", i.e. reconnection with the Cosmos.

 

As far as I know (mostly booksmart on this, tbh), if your have strong sensations in the third eye area during meditation, it should be a sign of having opened it to a certain extent. In general, that is a good sign, because in most people these days, the Third Eye is completely shut and they are cut off from their intuition/connection with the Universe. Also, the physical organ most strongly associated with the third eye, the pineal gland, is calcified to the extent of being a chunk of calcified material and thus obviously useless in its present state. So you at least are somewhat ahead of the vast majority of people in this respect

Hey all,

 

I'm interested in Chinese vids of qualified people like masters or scholars talking about Daoism. Since I also practice Chan/Zen,

 

Hope this clarifies my maybe slightly ambiguous wording

You still have to prove to me that aliens exist.

 

If I may suggest: Just watch a few videos with an open mind and see if the information makes any sense to you. If it does, who cares if Darryl Anka is channeling a being that many consider an "alien"?

There is a great youtube channel of Alan Watts lectures (audio only), it also features a lot of material on Daoism. I usually download them using the firefox add-on youtube mp3 podcaster and listen to them on my mp3 playerhttp://www.youtube.com/user/AlanWattsLectures

 

And the website of publisher Golden Elixir press offers some free materials on academic studies of Daoism:

http://www.goldenelixir.com/index.html

 

The British website Tao Directory has loads of information and free articles by well-known authors and masters such as Dan Reid, Michael Winn and many others

http://www.taodirectory.co.uk/

Hey all,

 

I'm interested in Chinese vids of qualified people like masters or scholars talking about Daoism. Since I also practice Chan/Zen, I watched a few vids by the eminent Taiwanese monk Sheng Yen 聖嚴. They were very helpful and are great to learn buddhist terminology in modern Chinese. So that's kind of what I'm looking for. Peace!

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/shengyenfilm

Welcome to the fray

 

As a general introduction to many aspects and practices of Daoism, I highly recommend The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity by Daniel Reid. He holds a BA in East Asian studies and an MA in Chinese Language and Civilization and has been living in Taiwan and Mainland China for decades. The book will provide you with a good overview of the basics of nutrition, sexual practices, breath work, meditation (the last three being parts of neigong) and a load of helpful information and practical advice on all kinds of health and lifestyle questions.

Also, EU get your filthy hands off our British Cucumbers !!!

 

Dammit, I need to stop thinking of naughty stuff when I read harmless forum posts on politics...

 

But you have to admit that the wording "our British cucumbers" is somewhat peculiar, isn't it? If I'd say the same thing in German ("Finger weg von unseren deutschen Gurken!") people would find it comical, too.

 

 

On topic: Since we're discussing the channel Bashar next door, this video fits nicely:

You are your government!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkgF6L5MzlQ

I dont know what taoism got to do with aliens. I'm an opened bloke though.

 

Bashar is the new Laozi.

What I like about Bashar is the clarity of the information he delivers, and his sense of humour ! He never pauses or hesitates, its delivered effortlessly.

 

So true, the audience often bursts into laughter at the live sessions. I really want to attend one (or twelve) of these when I get the chance!

 

It's incredible how simple and elegant many things are in his words, when it would take a top scientist ages to explain to same thing and it's still only a partial explanations plus usually not the least bit funny. I guess profound comedians are hard to find and funny philosophers probably even more so.

Yep, that should be it!

Thanks!

I was aware of his name being Zhuang Zhou (independently of wether or not this person actually wrote the Zhuangzi) and that 蝶 means butterfly, though

 

My problem is getting the grammar, so if you could explain how you came to your translation of the sentences, that would be greatly appreciated!

 

Peace!

Hello everybody

How does Bashar differ from the other channelers.

It's all very foreign to me how are they able to communicate with the higher beings

 

If I'm not mixing things up, the first video gentlewind posted contains some info on this.

 

In a nutshell, the entity Bashar is supposed to be a future incarnation of Darryl Ankar, so there is a special bond between them. Ankar also agreed to channel Bashar before he incarnated. Then, sometime in the 80s, Ankar had a UFO sighting which triggered the "contact". This type of arrangement/agreement made between incarnations is a common theme in many spiritual books/teachings. Hope this helps.

I study sinology and use a Zhuangzi translation by Victor H. Mair along with the original for reference purposes. That's also the version my professor (an expert on Daoism) recommended. It also has a well-researched and very hepful introduction. Mair also wrote an acclaimed Dao De Jing translation, which I haven't read yet, but since I can attest to the quality of his work on Zhuangzi, his Dao De Jing work should be excellent, too. As to his qualification, he's professor of Chinese language and literature at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Peace!

Yay!

 

I've been following Bashar for about two years now and am constantly amazed by his insight, sense of humour, and elegance of the message. Actually, I considered starting a thread about him myself

 

Here's another one I like about the Three Aspects of You:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR7HEGojnlk

 

Has anyone paid for and watched the longer videos on bashar.org? I considered doing it but would like some more info first.

Hail all masters and students of classical/literary Chinese!

 

I'm in the process of translating a 13th century Zhuangzi commentary and need help with a few sentences. What I'm currently working on is a treatise on the famous butterfly dream and the problematic passage runs thusly:

 

認周以為非蝶，是未能忘我也。

執蝶以為非周，未能忘物也。

 

I'm confused about who's the subject here and what 認 and 執 refer to: 周/蝶 or the fact that they don't think they are 周/蝶?

 

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Peace out!

Yep, it does make sense, thanks for elaborating. Actually I recently had a few experiences myself where I was f.e. discussing nutrition with friends and realized that I sometimes said things "just to be right" and not for the sake of mutual evolution (for lack of a better term). In general I feel like I am already moving in the very direction you pointed out, maybe because I've been practising Zen for a while and have become more aware of my thoughts, words and actions.

 

Good luck letting go of these nasty opinions, everybody

 

not to mention some “off-topic” practices I also find interesting (such as No-Fap for Jing energy and other benefits).

 

LOL that made me laugh heartily Thanks and welcome, fellow newcomer!

Anyone who quotes Wittgenstein gets my vote.

 

Yeah, makes me wonder how WittgenTzu came to these realisations.

 

And how do you avoid having opinions, Apech? Having them seems like a very basic human characteristic, because we always want to now if something is "on our side" or not. What you say does make a lot of sense, though. Once people overcome the need to be right, they surely have risen above their ego to a certain extent.

Well, sometimes I feel like throwing up on the system, but I've come to the realization that it's all just a reflection of our current human condition evolving and my own in particular. So it's kind of what HarmoniousUniverse and Stosh said. On the other hand, the OP may not exactly be serious about this post

Do you mean arms like humans have? Can you describe them a bit more? I guess the circle is somewhat common with meditators but I've never heard of one that has arms...