Michael Sternbach

On 23.3.2022 at 4:24 AM, Draco said:

Eden In The East by Stephen Oppenheimer 

 

I started reading this book, it contains a lot of useful information - thanks!

8 hours ago, Bindi said:

 

One of the things I saw at one time was a drop of something that looked like mercury shoot from below my navel up to my diaphragm where it hit a barrier, then shoot  down to my perineum and then shoot back up to above my navel where it stayed. How does mercury which is found in chemistry relate to the subtle body? I guess that exact malleability of mercury and the exact colour etc captures the exact nature of this thing in the subtle body. Maybe this is the filtering through the subconscious mind, so things which would be found in a chemistry lab simply are the best images for things in the subtle body. 
 

One possibility is that these images are streamed through a holistic visual ‘right brain’ first and then into the linear and verbal ‘left brain’, maybe we can’t divorce ourselves from the mechanics of our brain, and everything filters through the physical set up of the brain.  So my mercury becomes a symbol of the subtle body, but it’s not incorrect because of this. 

 

 

I read bits of it that tend to make more sense regarding the subtle body over time as my own subtle body and greater understanding develops. For example a text of circa 900 puts it, "natural cyclically transformed elixir is formed when flowing mercury, embracing [lead], becomes pregnant.… I see resonances here. The Chinese external alchemists were also very obsessed with mud, and mud is exactly what blocks the yin channel which should be flowing water. They were obsessed with cooking things in cauldrons, and a cauldron is exactly what a structure in the ldt appears as, because it is the best image for the actual reality? It makes my head spin thinking about it  

Mercury stands for the all pervading ether in Alchemy, which becomes the vital force in living beings. The liquid metal known by that name isn't identical with that force, of course, but it's analogous to it.

Bear in mind, that (according to both Hermetism and Daoism), things are interconnected by chains of analogies. These analogies are not seen as merely symbolic, but tie in with the very fabric of the cosmos, which is understood to have both an internal and an external side.

Mercury as a physical substance is therefore (quint)essential in external Alchemy and can be used for producing the elixir, provided it is processed in a certain way suitable to set free the subtle force it carries.

1 hour ago, Bindi said:

Hi Michael, I’m specifically thinking of Chinese external alchemy which is putting physical substances into actual crucibles and heating them on a real stove, along with various ritual things to say or do, plus ritual and preordained time frames for when to do these things. 
 

I have long considered the possibility that inner alchemy actually came first via a realised Chinese ‘master’, around 300 CE or so, and images from his/her inner alchemy were at some point misunderstood by students of this putative master (once or twice removed) to be images of external events. When others came along who preferred to follow an inner truth, then these somewhat garbled external rituals were again re-set, this time back to internal. 
 

 

Only this begs the question why this realised 'master' introduced terms evidently taken out of chemistry (such as dantien meaning 'cinnabar field').

Interestingly, a similar debate revolves around Occidental Alchemy, with some contemporary historians insisting that this occult science actually boils down (:D) to simple laboratory processes. Notwithstanding the fact that already the earliest extant texts (from the same epoch you indicated in regard to Chinese Alchemy) are full of references to Hellenistic metaphysics and natural philosophy. A trend that continued with Medieval European and Renaissance writers on the topic frequently employing Christian as well as earlier Pagan mythological symbols.

The current trend among academic researchers to  emphasize Alchemy's external side could be seen as a counter poise to its previous one-sidedly psycho-spiritual interpretation by psychologists like Silberer and Jung.

However, according to my personal research, both views are equally adequate and complementary rather than contradictory. What seems so difficult to understand for the modern mind is that the ancient sciences were all based on a model of the cosmos that holistically integrated the physical with the metaphysical.

As an aside, I am currently working on a book about this very topic, intended for publication in the course of this year. While it focusses on the Occidental tradition, its essential thesis is fully applicable to Daoist natural philosophy and Chinese Alchemy as well.

I am writing this book because I believe that aforesaid kind of holistic perspective needs to be reestablished in modern culture in order to bridge the gap between science and religion, or materialism and spirituality. Although in a revised version, of course, that fully takes into account the vast increase in knowledge from Copernicus right up to most recent times.

In absence of such an integrated model, it is quite understandable that contemporary onlookers tend towards more of a one-sided interpretation of the ancient sciences, though. Anyway, in light of this statement:

I am just starting to get a handle on my belief system, it seems to fall somewhere between external alchemy and neidan in time ...

I suppose your views regarding what external Alchemy is all about may have shifted in the meantime?

8 hours ago, Bindi said:

 

Yin Qi was associated with semen and menstrual blood in a previous thread somewhere, on a deeper level Yin Qi was the energy that went into making semen and menstrual blood I seem to recall, I’m just curious about what you think comes from external sources that might affect this energy. I have no idea so I was just guessing really and a lot of people seem to think it revolves around semen and menstrual blood. 

 

 

I am just starting to get a handle on my belief system, it seems to fall somewhere between external alchemy and neidan in time, so what you say above has very little relation to my understanding.

Hi Bindi

What's your definition of external Alchemy?

8 hours ago, Bindi said:

 

For me there is a yin qi component in every dantian, as highly valued as the yang qi component in every dantian, and it has nothing at all to do with semen or menstrual blood even in the lower dantian. Still, I’d like to hear more about what Neidanists  believe about Yin Qi if anyone would be willing to tell me. 
 

Even better I’d like to talk to someone who recognises the terms I have come across, like Mother Father King Queen left right, but there don’t seem to be any of those, so neidanists are my next best thing. 

 

I’m interested in the history, not in learning neidan, though I thought Pregadio was generally respected in the neidan field. God knows I could be wrong of course, I reserve the right to be wrong at least once a day  

 

 

However, Immortalism in the classical sense of Alchemy (both Eastern and Western) has a modern travesty in the form of Transhumanism.

The sort of immortality implied by the latter - conceptualized by replacing the natural body by cybernetic parts or even treating human consciousness as a data set that could be uploaded to a computer (Frank Tipler) - is the epitome of a materialistic and mechanistic world view and deeply Atheist in nature.

That version is indeed mostly based on fear of death.

So again, which pill would you rather choose: blue or red?

14 minutes ago, Pak_Satrio said:

 

It's also redpilled

Let's look at the definition of this:

The terms "red pill" and "blue pill" refer to a choice between the willingness to learn a potentially unsettling or life-changing truth by taking the red pill or remaining in contented ignorance with the blue pill.

From Wikipedia

Yes, it's definitely redpilled according to this.

Any form of qi is immaterial, however, it may be bound to a physical carrier.

Immortalism is based, not on fear of death, but on love of life.

Mastery

Sleeping Beauty

Yeti

Yeppers

Che Guevara

Pistachios 😋

Take me home

This is one of my all time fave cases... It happened four years ago over an area of Italy that has a rich history of UFO sightings:

https://torino.repubblica.it/cronaca/2018/06/10/news/_ufo_e_caccia_militari_si_inseguono_nei_cieli_di_corio_-198644180/

I found no report about this remarkable incident in English, so I will provide a Google translation for those of you whose Italian is a bit rusty:

Quote

Piedmont, alarm in the skies: "UFOs and military fighters chase each other in the Canavese mountains" by FEDERICA CRAVERO

Two Eurofighter Typhoons of the Italian Air Force Report of a resident of the town of Corio to the carabinieri, other testimonies in the Lanzo valley and near the Caselle airport. The Democratic Party announces in a parliamentary question 10 JUNE 2018 PUBLISHED MORE THAN A YEAR AGO 1 MINUTES OF READING

The description made to the carabinieri of what happened Wednesday evening in the Piedmontese skies is surreal. In fact, around 11 pm, an "unidentified flying object emanating a strong glow that, after flying over the town of Corio, suddenly departed at the sight of two probably military aircraft". Now, what was the hypothetical "ufo" that gave off a strong glow is not possible to reconstruct. On the presence of the two fighters, however, although there are no passages in the Turin airspace of military aircraft, there are numerous testimonies collected in the Lanzo valleys: people who say they heard the roar of the engines and also saw the red color of the reactors which stood out in the darkness of the night, while a citizen of San Francesco al Campo speculates that the two planes left Caselle, having heard that noise at an anomalous hour. Just to clarify the mystery, the deputy Pd Francesca Bonomo and the senator Pd Mauro Marino announced a parliamentary question.

Well, no need to 'seek' the Egyptian pyramids, I'd say.

They're hard to overlook!

Hi Iliketurtles

I like your topic! 

This is from BBC:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59405585.amp

Quoting:

The Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group will "detect, identify and attribute objects of interest in [special use airspace]", Deputy Defence Secretary Kathleen Hicks said in a memo to senior Pentagon leadership on Tuesday.

Well, good luck with that! It seems to me that those E.T.s are just toying with our Terrestrian type of air craft.

Keanu

Fantastic! Now we know why those happy fellas are living in mushrooms!

Could they actually be elves? 🤔

1 hour ago, Apech said:

 

Nungas,

 

I say you dissed Sweatman and now must eat geological dirt (with iridium and carbon spheroids) and wash it down with meltwater A.

 

This is the way of science - follow it.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

G. Hancock.

 

 

Nungas,

This will be GOOD for you!

RJ Boyd: "Trace Elements in Coal from Collinsville, Bowen Basin, Australia – In-Ground Mode of Occurrence and Behaviour During Utilization"

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/1417/2/02whole.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiI_beSj6L1AhU57rsIHWp-BVgQFnoECAMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1myEvP2TyWWXqNXs4QYvij

In my understanding, it's more about formlessness than about emptiness. Being able to flow with outer and inner occurrences.

15 hours ago, questionmark said:

Thanks for that hint, @Trunk! With those keywords I might have found someone, with whom I'd feel comfortable with. Although it might take me a while to get there!

 

This

and this

made me wonder, if there can be also harm in seeing a practitioneer, who might - get you wrong or treat the wrong acupuncture points... If the method has the possibility do good, it also has the possibility to do harm, of course.

TCM (and homeopathy, for that matter) are nowhere as invasive as conventional Western medicine. I wouldn't rule out the possibility of adverse effects, though.

15 hours ago, questionmark said:

If the diagnosis would be a "kidney weakness on both sides" and "heart being out of balance / energy", - is that sufficient?

 

He said he would go for the general meridian (on the back - Du  meridian) and the bladder meridian first. If that wouldnt help, he'd go for the kidneys and heart more directly. He couldn't tell me the numbers of the meridians, as he learned the points by their chinese names (...)

 

 

He also said, the wouldn't needle more than the chosen points, because If he did, I might not come back.

 

 

Is there some inital aggravation like in homeopathy common?

Yes, it happens.

15 hours ago, questionmark said:

 

Is the phantom needle phenomenon a common one? Does it say anything if and how the needling worked?

 

He didn't use plastic tubes to insert the needles, but checked the skin for how deep the needles should go.

 

Of course it's weird to cast doubt about someones expertise who is in the field for several decades. (I know.)

Just don't know if I feel fit for the follow up acupuncture session as previously arranged last time and whether that might kick me outta balance even more. Or whether I should wait (a few weeks) and take the time to see the one with the japanese style?

Thoughts?

 

If you feel a marked degree of discomfort after the initial treatment, communicate about with your practitioner. It may take a while to ascertain whether or not a treatment is beneficial for you. If you jump from one therapist to another, chances are that nothing of value will develop.

Chatty blue deer

Happy New Year! 😊