Michael Sternbach
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Posts posted by Michael Sternbach
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19 hours ago, awaken said:你的氣質很優雅
高尚
給我一種舒服的感覺
你是我第一個接觸到的瑞士人
我也有經常注意到你的發言
帶著寧靜的氣質和理性
讚you have a very elegant temperament
noble
make me feel comfortable
You were the first Swiss I met
I have also often noticed your speech
With serenity and rationality
Thumbs upThank you for your kind words.
I noticed your posts too. They demonstrate your passion for and profound understanding of internal alchemy and qigong and, just as importantly, your willingness to freely share your knowledge and help anyone who comes with an open mind and honest heart.
You are a real asset for this site. 🙂
Cheers!
Michael
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1 hour ago, awaken said:你們大多是美國人吧？
我知道你們在討論美國的政治
但是我對美國的政治毫無興趣
我自己的ＱＱ社群也禁止討論政治
因為我人在台灣
ＱＱ在中國大陸
討論政治是沒有結果的
即使在台灣，討論政治也非常兩極化
因此只要是我自己當管理員的地方
基本上都踢掉政治狂熱者
Are you mostly Americans?
I know you're discussing American politics
But I have no interest in American politics
My own QQ community is also forbidden to discuss politics
Because I am in Taiwan
QQ in mainland China
Talking about politics is fruitless
Even in Taiwan, discussion of politics is very polarized
So as long as it is where I am the administrator
basically kick out the political zealots
Or at least don't expressly invite them in!
And no, I'm from Switzerland, where we often view American politics with a sense of astonishment.
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On 27.3.2022 at 5:29 PM, Bhathen said:Can qigong be practiced by someone whose internal organ, e.g., gall bladder, or spleen, has been removed?
In your subtle bodies, you still have those organs, even if they were removed on the physical level. That's why people can feel pain in amputated body parts.
So I would say, yes, you can definitely practise those qigong exercises with success.
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3 hours ago, liminal_luke said:Luke's Revised Fairy Tales
both scorpion and frog are overcome with love for each other and their newfound spirit of mutual appreciation. They reach the other side and go their separate ways but never forget that beautiful moment when seeming enemies, against all odds, worked together for the common good.
I like really your alternative ending, Luke! But what do you think are the chances for things to actually unfold that way?
Here's a version of the story with yet another twist:
This is how I would expect things to turn out in case Sean steps in again eventually!
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45 minutes ago, ralis said:No matter what facade/mask one wears the worst can and will always prevail. Call me a cynic, but reality always wins.
Religious persons are usually the worst. Here in the US extreme religious radicals are working on turning this country into a theocracy. Perhaps I am falling into an error of false equivalence, but human nature prevails.
It's just like in the story of the scorpion and the frog:
A scorpion wants to cross a river but cannot swim, so it asks a frog to carry it across. The frog hesitates, afraid that the scorpion might sting it, but the scorpion promises not to, pointing out that it would drown if it killed the frog in the middle of the river. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: "I am sorry, but I couldn't resist the urge. It's in my nature."
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3 hours ago, zerostao said:when you became a Dao Bum, in that first year, you never mentioned being banned from another site?
seriously, it isn’t a concern to mods if you were or were not.
The only reason I mentioned it is I find it a little ironic that you were a banned member allowed to return and object to the very idea of allowing others to return; most of which were never even banned,
I guess that irony is lost on you.
I don't get it. What has one issue got to do with the other?
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6 hours ago, wandelaar said:Well - apparently you prefer to reason about what happened on Original Dao on the basis of your own preconceptions instead of on the basis of facts and reports of those who were actually there. Did you bother to look at the Original Dao forum to see what kind of site it was? Do you seriously think that a spiritual forum can thrive with only a few active members left?
Yes, I was looking at the forum before, even though it's been awhile. The more relevant part (if any) now would be the hidden political subforum, which I have no access to. My comment was based on Aethereous' post, though, linked in the OP:
Political discussion was always meant to be a side thing here, only for those with that interest (it was kept hidden from others who didn't have any interest in it, allowing everyone to "have their cake and eat it too")...and unfortunately, politics has dominated as the primary thing discussed here. It's like 50:1 political to cultivation discussion, so we've gone way off course. I don't believe political discussion was the reason why cultivation/spiritual discussion has halted, but it had simply become the main thing posted about here - and therefore, the forum no longer resembles what it was meant to be: a rich archive of cultivation info, where people could learn about and explore new things, and not have biased moderation against them or be censored for thinking differently. It didn't ever fully turn into that, and only barely did. So, this propaganda issue has been the final straw for me, which made me realize that I'm not interested in continuing to pay for this place.
So I thinks it's fair to say that political debate was thriving in comparison to spiritual discussion.
QuoteHowever I trust that my description of what happened to Original Dao will be of use to some others who are more interested in finding out the truth than in waging ideological wars.
I am not at war with anyone.
The OP asked for members' views, so I shared mine regarding what I think is likely to happen if we invite OD participants back in en bloc. And this was based on my intimate knowledge of what happened on this forum in the past, both in the limelight and backstage. Also, I am quite familiar with many of the (former) long-term posters here.
That's all.
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40 minutes ago, wandelaar said:But that isn't what happened. There was some discussion before the owner decided to close the site as to how to revitalize the forum. And at that point some members proposed to allow politics in the public part of the forum, others including me disagreed as this was not how the site was supposed to operate. After much thought the owner decided that he would rather close the site than allow politics on the public spiritual part of the forum. So the public spiritual part of the forum died of its own accord, it wasn't killed by the hidden political subforum. Indeed at the end some members tried to politicize the forum but didn't succeed. But the public spiritual part of the forum at that point was almost dead already. - My own guess is that Original Dao simply wasn't big enough to continually generate interesting spiritual discussions: with only a few people around you eventually reach a point where everything has been said.
How can everything be ever said about matters of spirituality and cultivation for people who genuinely care for those things?
This only underlines that such topics were not the primary interest of the majority of members to begin with. It's quite telling that the political part was thriving, while the spiritual part was starving to death!
Well, if you guys want to see that kind of shift in emphasis happen here on TDB again, go ahead... Inviting them all back in is a sure way to go!
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Not all of the members that left back then were banned, quite a few did so of their own accord. The latter are free to return anytime they choose to. Personally, I actually wouldn't mind to see a few of them back here.
But sending them all something like a general and official invitation seems quite reckless to me. It's like handing them a carte blanche to bring the controversy that wrecked their own forum here. At any rate, some of them will take it that way!
And no, you won't be able to confine the spirit you summoned to a subforum. Quite likely, you will be prompted to increase the monitoring and the topic lockdowns, the warnings and the bans, perhaps even to the level those things were at when I joined staff for a little while. And ironically, such a course of action will itself incite further controversy. In other words, you will be approximating in spirit what you are opposing... Spiritual principles 101, really.
It was exactly for that reason that I was critical of Sean's decision to limit free expression on TDB and 'clean up' the board (and freely spoke my mind regarding the issue
). On the other hand, the board had effectively been managed by some kind of right-wing oligarchy for several years at the time and things just couldn't continue that way.
At any rate, in retrospect, Sean's sweeping action had the advantage that it did depoliticize the forum. Fortunately, its focus shifted back to its original purpose: simply providing a platform for philosophically and spiritually oriented 'discussions on the way'.
So I too agree with those members who think it would be wise not to temper with that and keep things the way they are right now.
As they say in IT:
Never touch a running system!
Peace,
Michael
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1 minute ago, awaken said:我覺得不太可能，因為這是少數動物，龍爭虎鬥，龍騰虎躍，龍虎之爭那是非常典型的，而且中國傳統有舞龍舞獅，卻沒有舞老虎，中國廟門口都是獅子的，從來沒有老虎的，因為獅子是雕塑，不像虎是文字，容易被代替掉。
關於埃及夏朝論，這個請你參考中國專業學者劉光保的研究。
I don't think it's possible, because it is a minority of animals, dragons fighting tigers, dragons leaping, dragons and tigers are very typical, and there are dragon and lion dances in Chinese tradition, but there is no tiger dance, Chinese temple entrances are all lions, never tigers , because lions are sculptures, unlike tigers, which are words and can easily be replaced.
That's rather curious indeed!
1 minute ago, awaken said:Regarding the theory of the Xia Dynasty in Egypt, please refer to the research of Liu Guangbao, a Chinese professional scholar.
Would you have a link to share?
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On 21.4.2022 at 6:41 AM, awaken said:https://zaitiyu.com/basketball/198079.html
請參考這篇甲骨文的考據文章
Please refer to this oracle bone inscription textual article
On 21.4.2022 at 6:43 AM, awaken said:丹道當中龍虎是一定要提到的
四神獸就是青龍，白虎，朱雀，玄武
從這篇甲骨文的考證資料，我們可以知道，虎的甲骨文其實是獅
Dragon and tiger must be mentioned in Dan Dao
The four mythical beasts are Qinglong, White Tiger, Suzaku, and Xuanwu
From the textual research of this oracle bone inscription, we can know that the oracle bone inscription of a tiger is actually a lion.
丹道的來源是來自於古埃及，古埃及就是夏朝。
The source of Dan Dao comes from ancient Egypt, which is the Xia Dynasty.
Perhaps the depicted animal could be a liger or a tigron?
As the article says, these animals are similar to each other. In fact so similar that they can mate and produce hybrid offspring!
On a more serious note, are you suggesting that Daoist Alchemy had its origin in Ancient Egypt?
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1 hour ago, Apech said:Generally speaking I take the view that attributing the skills people had in those days to work stone to mechanical devices and so on just devalues them. I think we can take it as given that cultures that worked stone over generations developed skills that are now forgotten and seem miraculous - there is no need to think in terms of modern tools just because we can't explain everything they did.
They may not have had our modern type of tools, but they did have some kind of technology no less advanced - if indeed not more so.
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4 hours ago, Nungali said:... don't you mean ' aristocat ' ?
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1 hour ago, Nungali said:because most 'ancestry dna' type results are BS !
All these VERY obvious looking Aboriginal people here went for it and got results from all over the place with 0 aboriginal dna present .
The thought did occur to me... 🤔
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4 hours ago, silent thunder said:Variations in individual sperm and eggs result in a roll of the dice as to how much of each influence is expressed in any given individual.
Which means that, in a manner of speaking, the ethnic cards are being reshuffled with each conception.
Interesting!
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I learnt that one of my earliest ancestors was this...
Please say hi to aunt Amy!
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3 hours ago, silent thunder said:Wow that's fascinating isn't it? Have you considered doing your own?
They can vary quite a bit from sibling to sibling.
How is that possible, though? 🤔 Given that "full" siblings stem from the exact same lineage!
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On 17.4.2022 at 1:01 AM, Earl Grey said:
One guy in another system, Kyoukushin, attempted to fight and all the bouncing and dancing they posit as footwork only led to them being demolished because it was fighting, not ballroom or hip hop at the club.Friendly spar begins, the guy lays down the rules of where it’s okay to hit and if kicks are allowed…and then goes into a frenzy and ignores the rules while also hitting hard enough to leave major bruises. Finally, my teacher said to stop playing by his rules because he’s not even following them and just to go empty instead.
He ends up with a jab to the teeth, palm to the throat, and knuckle to his solar plexus because he left himself open and didn’t understand why we would hit his biceps until they went dead on him… and we didn’t even know how we hit him, we just emptied and let the fight instincts kick in.
Finally, returning for one more bout, timer goes off, he tries to bounce around again for ten seconds to intimidate as he had in earlier rounds. Not a second had passed before he was thrown to the wall because fighting or friendly spar, dancing isn’t going to control or harm the opponent.
And yes: we did document a lot of this on video. But it was better to have personal testimony so he could explain how people half his size hit harder than they appear to hit on video. 😁
In my early martial arts days, I was (to some degree) alternating between Kyokushin and Shotokan.
It was kind of funny... In Kyokushin class, I was cautioned not to bust anyone in the nose (those folks did tend to leave themselves open in that area, as their rules didn't allow punches to the face, and with kicks, you generally have a little more time for bringing your guard up).
Wheras in Shotokan class, I remember being reprimanded for covering my opponent with a barrage of body punches - rather than going for the one "killing shot" at the right moment.
Different
strikesstrokes for different folks!But I surely took something away with me from both martial art styles, plus from a bunch of others over the years - any creative martial artist seeking to express their full potential should be open to that kind of learning from multiple sources!
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On 17.4.2022 at 12:06 AM, Nungali said:Shotokan ! ? Oh dear . What a history I have had with THAT mob !
But I suppose we should not go too hard on them , of course that No 1 student could have been defeated - after all Shotokan was developed as a sport style from 'karate' style primary school kids physical education programme . A very different thing from Okinawan arts that where a blend of karate ( which itself developed from Chinese Fujian white crane and incorporated 'tegumi' , a type of native 'wrestling ' - locks, throws, take downs etc ) and kobudo - weaponry .
Lesson 1 . Punching .... stomp up and down the hall punching and yelling ..... no no , dont punch like that , pull your other hand into your hip and leave it down there , and when you punch, leave that hand sticking out there in the air with your arm straight and extended .
Why 'Sensai' ?
So your guard will be down and I will be able to demonstrate 16 different ways to cream someone who punches wrong
'Evil Shotokan Master ' (
) ; " WE shall subdue the world and bring all karate under the Shotokan / JKA umbrella ! " ..... or you will not be 'recognised' as valid ' .
Rather than on styles, I tend to focus more on the individuals demonstrating them.
For instance, this is a Shotokan guy too, however, he took his art way beyond what is generally associated with this style of "Japanese sport karate":
Not only does he move better than many an Okinawan style practitioner I have seen, he's also more knowledgeable than most of them.
That said, some 'Okinawans' do excel in both regards.
How can I tell such things? Only based on my decades of personal martial arts practice and research. Then you intuitively know what to look out for in a video or other kind of presentation, thus, whether or not the presenter is legit.
And the same applies to any other field as well. There's little chance to fake the relevant, to the eye that sees. The layman will always be easily deceived.
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5 hours ago, Nungali said:Sounds good . Putting two heads together better than banging one against the wall
Or than banging our heads together! Let's save that for archaeology topics... 😅
5 hours ago, Nungali said:Indeed , and at times I have been in that situation , but as you know , the money earned in that situation can be channelled into 'what we will' . But certainly less than ideal .
I am STILL learning that .
I think, once 'the ball gets rolling' it gains momentum and other things start magically manifesting to assist one ..... or we could say 'dreams start coming true at an increasing rate ' I have experienced this .
Not only you! It's as though one 'energy release' releases another.
And some of a master magician's wonderous manifestations may simply be the result of him/her being fully attuned to their True Will, so whatever 'magick' is supposed to happen happens pretty much by itself.
Note that 'effortless action' is one of the central tenets of Daoism.
By the same token, if you ever feel you struggle too hard, it's a sure indication that you are not following the 'sacred path'.
5 hours ago, Nungali said:Just one single example :
( Oh, and I should add , no matter how much of an idiot I am , it doesnt seem to impact on this process !
)
During our hell court case , more than 2 years long , although it we trounced them , like in any long and gruelling fight , there are times when you feel pressure , stress , need a break .... Also it was not that clear then , my mind was saying ' What if we DO loose ? EVERYONE ( for some God damn reason !
) seemed to be turning against us , even some of the many people we helped over the years - except for two and saying we are going to loose , even 'friends' , soliciters , etc .
What if I loose my beautiful abode - what will I do then , where will I live , I have no money ... I will be cast out, destitute , an old street person with health problems
But then .... what the hell am I doing ! MY life has never been like that .... things have always 'manifested ' in some strange and unusual way for me . Stop being an idiot Nungers ! You know 'Big Mum' ( as my indigenous teacher calls her ) is looking out for you . So I get back to my old self and think ... so what if I loose it all, thats happened more than once and I ended up better off .
Nicely said. This is about having Faith - an important aspect especially when things don't look so good temporarily.
It seems like following your True Will doesn't necessarily keep you out of all trubs, however, it does make you come out on top!
Until then, it's wise to relax and just enjoy the ride...
5 hours ago, Nungali said:I know everyone says they are no rentals and they are crazily high amounts .... but I think I just look online and see what IS available ....
... a 'Lodge' / defunct 'bed and breakfast ' .... up on the mountain ..... at THAT price ? Must be mistake . So me and friend go to check it out . WOW ! Amazing place , I peek through a window " Thats MY room right there. " We ring up .... Oh, MANY people are on the queue for that , but we somehow get to visit the owner , we click, they decide to bump us in ahead of any others . I wont detail how good it was as the main thing is ; one day I drove PAST it , all other times I would drive out, one way to the local town , or drive out , the other way, to see some friends . But this day I went from town to friends , drove past the house and .... wait a minute ! Drive back and do it again .
Then it hit me ! This is the place I drove past on my visit to the area before I moved here 30 years ago and I noticed it, stopped and admired it and thought 'What a fantastic place ... and it just resonates with me, like I belong here . Oh what I would give to be able to live in a place like that .... even temporarily , but that seems impossible . I was living in my 'dream house'
That's awesome.
5 hours ago, Nungali said:And that isnt the only thing like that , that happened , there has been many of them . Some times , to a seemingly trivial and material level : the motorcycle ( old retro version ) , I realised after I bought it , is exactly the same sort of motorcycle I dreamed about having as a teen ... I forgot all about that , but now somehow I have one .
Isn't it amazing how our visions and dreams tend to come true by themselves when the time is ripe? Even though it can take decades sometimes...
Which raises the question: Did we unconsciously create those things by ourselves? Or rather, did we foresee what was always meant to happen anyway by an act of precognition? In many cases, it's not easy to differentiate between the two. Maybe what we are generally dealing with is more of a mixture of both: a vision of a potential future reinforced by our 'affirmation'.
5 hours ago, Nungali said:( and the reason for that is , I never really needed money before, but I sure thought it might be handy and fun to have some !
) At the beginning of our court case , they also threatened to take everything I had ... but after investigation they realised I had nothing personally owned ( worth anything to them ) so I was declared a 'man of straw' - a legal term which means basically 'forget it, he's a bum, not worth the trouble of shaking him upside down, only a few cents will fall out ) . The after the case and we won, and after the appeal and we won .. and after it was all finished and settled THEN I got, totally out the blue a multi hundred thousand dollar inheritance . - that now, they cant touch !
Who is working this all out ? !
Good question!
Your as well as my own experiences suggest that on this kind of path one is actually in resonance with the Divine Will. Even though the latter indeed seems to coincide with one's own True Will, the sensation one gets is often one of following the way rather than leading it oneself.
5 hours ago, Nungali said:Many have wondered why 'someone like me ' , never responsible , planning, or saving , ended up where I am .
And also interesting is that I did all this stuff , not for any 'karmic reward ' ... it just happened , or I was drawn towards it for other reasons ; things like working with refugee relocation, nursing the elderly , cooking nurturing and feeding people , one could even say being a tarot reader all those years , or time spent as a masseur . I was never interested in charging for it though .
There is definitely an altruistic side to grumpy old Nungers!
There's an old saying: "The smile you send out returns to you." This is certainly true.
5 hours ago, Nungali said:And that leads me to another factor ; past life 'accoutrement ' , what we bring with us , I am supposing some experience (or karma ) along these lines already ..... I think it might be a bit hard to get to this stage of realisation or 'fluking' (
) in one life time . What I mean by this is ... if someone is a BRILLIANT carpenter , they might have carpentry experience before this life ?
I agree, and that might explain why among the three key factors of success I mentioned above, talent outweighs experience.
5 hours ago, Nungali said:hang on a minute ! That sounds like what is happening to me !
Surely I am not man of virtue !
Perhaps Heaven, the Dao, or whatever term you like to use here, has a different definition of 'virtue' than your orthodox Protestant neighbour...
For that matter (and with the reservation that I am not a sinologist familiar with Chuang-tzu's text in its original version), what's typically translated as 'virtue' from the Chinese classics often doesn't refer to something of a moral nature, but rather means 'power' - which BTW is in keeping with the original meaning of 'virtue', as in a medicinal plant's virtue to soothe your throat etc. So Chuang-tzu's 'man of virtue' might in fact designate someone endowed with 'magical' power, i.e., chi, mojo, The Force, and so forth.
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On 15.4.2022 at 4:51 AM, Nungali said:Went to local shop today ; 'Good' Friday. I heard shop guy reminding younger assistant ; 'Remember today is Good Friday , we can not sell alcohol today, its illegal ."
Me ; " It is ? " ... Apparently so . I could have bought it yesterday and got shit faced today
But no BUYING it today .... as if people didnt have a stash ready .
No , no drinking alcohol , its Easter .... instead you should be eating a chocolate egg that came from a rabbit .
It's just to make sure that the Easter bunny stays sober!
Happy Easter,
BunsBums!-
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Thanks for your elaborate comments, Nungers. I read them with interest.
Based on what you shared and my personal experience, perhaps we can try and establish - one piece at a time - some general principles now.
First of all, it should be clear that your True Will pertains to something you LIKE to do. And as it comes to you easy and you have passion for it, you will most likely be successful with it.
I read somewhere that the three prerequisites of (economic) success are passion, talent, and experience - in this particular order. That makes good sense. For instance, you could be talented all you want, if you have no real passion for your subject, you won't have the impetus that it probably takes to achieve something noteworthy.
It goes without saying that economic success isn't all that matters, though. For some of us it's more important than for others, which has to do with our general circumstances and not least what else we want to do in their life - if it's my True Will to found a private space travel agency, no doubt I am going to need a bunch of money for that.
But it's safe to say that, one way or another, most of us need to have some degree of economic success in order to support ourselves and perhaps our family and pets.
You mentioned the kind of activity one likes so much that one were actually ready to pay for doing it. Surely that would be a strong indicator for it to be in line with one's True Will (especially in case of an Australian!
). Obviously, a lot of people are indeed investing substantial amounts into some activity they enjoy doing (such as a costly hobby) without ever getting a cent out of it in return. They may in fact be doing some rather unattractive work just in order to sustain that thing they truly like. That seems less than ideal, though.
Basically, following your True Will - which is your true vocation - you wouldn't need to be concerned about supporting yourself. Just doing what you came here to do, you should be taken care of by Divine Providence. Whether this manifests itself as a direct result of your favourite activity or in some other way. For that to happen, I suppose that your activity should benefit others/the whole in some way, though. If all you do is sitting at home and playing video games, that's probably not going to cut it!
Chuang-tzu, Chapter 12:
QuoteConversation between Yuan Feng and Chun Mang:
"May I ask about the man of Virtue?"
"The man of Virtue rests without thought, moves without plan. He has no use for right and wrong, beautiful and ugly. To share profit with all things within the four seas is his happiness; to look after their needs is his peace. Sad-faced, he's like a little child who has lost his mother. Bewildered, he's like a traveler who has lost his way. He has more than enough wealth and goods, but he doesn't know where they come from. He gets all he needs to eat and drink, but he doesn't know how he gets it. This is called the manner of the man of Virtue."
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2 hours ago, Nungali said:Often when people try to mask their identity , they cant help slipping a mistake in or doing something stupid due to lack of imagination , like inventing a name that was like their last one , or a name that starts with the same letter as their old name ...
Eh, Mr. G . .
I don't really care who this dude is, actually.
2 hours ago, Nungali said:Anyway , to press on with our subject (amidst jeers, catcalls, the outraged , and ' those upset due to past disciplinary actions ' ) I will venture to ask a question that was stimulated by the above interaction .
How would we know or identify what our True Will is ?
Brilliant question!
Have a go at answering it, please...
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Differences between dualism and non-dualism
in General Discussion
Posted · Edited by Michael Sternbach
The way I look at cultivation, it aims both at the Universal and the Individual. This may sound like a form of dualism, but it really isn't. For the All resides in each of Its creations, from atoms to galaxies, at their very centre - and always in Its Entirety! (Otherwise it could hardly be called the All, could it?
.) - In Indra's Net, every pearl mirrors all others.
Atman is Brahman, say the Hindus. God is a circle that has its centre everywhere and its circumference nowhere, says Nicholas of Cusa. The great mystics of all times and places essentially shared the same experience.
Cultivation is naught but putting metaphysical theory into practice. A sound form of practice doesn't require Individuality to be dissolved in Infinite Spirit - not permanently, at any rate! It does expand the conscious self's awareness, thereby awakening it to its Divine nature, which emanates from its very core. For every movement outwards, there is an equal and opposite movement inwards.
Paradoxically, the more the practitioner embraces the Universal Spirit, the more complete an Individual he/she therefore becomes. For, in truth, the two are not-two.