Yasjua

Well, dude. What he's doing is wrong. The effect of "breaking you in" sexually is that he would "penetrate" biological and psychological circuits that people outside ourselves don't usually have access to. The mix of confusion, humiliation, doubt, pleasure, shock, and pain from the experience would create vulnerable fissures in your psyche. From there, the hard programming of your unconscious systems, probably associated with the deep limbic system, would be accessible to tinker with. That said, very few, if any people, can manipulate or influence those hard-programmed and irrational patterns of thought and behavior that are rooted in your innermost psyche and get predictable results, because the patterns have to replicate and interlock with the soft-programming of your ego and your personality. The job of your personality/ego is to rationally analyze what is going on here on the surface, and to make wise decisions that will protect your brain/body from the presence of a psychological pathogen. In this case, the old man. So if you can muster some self-confidence here, and look at what has been presented to you, you will see that there is an old man asking you to suck him off (or whatever he's asking) in exchange for esoteric knowledge and transformation. This old man is not a master of anything but manipulation. Certain sinister persons have a keen eye for persons absorbed in the archetypal 'lost soul' journey. There's nothing wrong with where you're at, but you're very thirsty for something, and susceptible to grasping at offerings like the one this pervert is making. I think you are not in need of guidance from without. Give life time to unfold you at its own graceful pace. Listen to your inner guidance, and if you want to surrender to someone, do so with someone you truly trust.

Sorry dudes. This is a satire piece written by a satire journalist. Nothing of the sort happened or is happening. Can we move this to Off Topic now?

I remember now. Thank you.

Where does he say that? Quote? Context?

I have unruly, crazy, tangled hair. I'm also balding pretty quickly, which makes for some awkward hair days. In any case, an old lady friend of mine pointed out recently, "Your hair is getting long. You get crazy when your hair gets long." For whatever reason, it's true. My demeanor changes pretty noticably once my hair is long enough to begin "behaving wildly." I find that people also treat me differently when I shave my head. They'll start calling me "sir" and showing more respect toward me. It's quite strange. But I think I get laid more with more hair, so I have no choice in the matter. I'm very horny.

Second question: If you cannot feel your meridians, but believe they exist, why? On what basis do you acknowledge their existence?

In Zen there's this important concept of the three-fold path. We begin by living ordinary lives. Our childhood consciousness is susceptible to every and any influence, biological or social, and we construct the worldview that we construct - no other way to put it. Then we enter the void, so to speak. Mountains are no longer mountains. This is where most Zen students will get stuck, and it's the job of the master to slap them out of their trance. They return to the marketplace. Mountains are mountains again. The above quote is from Nisargadatta Maharaj. The path I followed was laid out by him, and it's an extreme path that immediately demands total and unfettered commitment to the dissolution of your false mind. Everything has to go, all at once. For whatever reason, that made sense to me, and I followed that path. Deep I went. And I used the LoA as a sort of reassurance that things would basically just work out, and my god, they certaintly did. I was a fucking magnet for blessings. I did 1/1000th of what ordinary people do to maintain their sense of security and structure in their lives and received just as much if not more of it than anyone around me. And then... I started coming out. I was up to my neck in the void, and I kid you not, my next task was to just completely surrender. Simple as that. I was synchronistically given $1500 dollars and basically told to jump off the cliff of convention forever. In concrete terms that meant to put a backpack on my back and fuck off into the void, with no structure or life path ahead of me or behind me anymore. Just to live in endless bliss. lol... I failed. And that's when I started wading back into the conventional world. That first quote... it says the realized man does not need the powers he is given, and does not rely on the Universe to take care of things for him. The powers of personality, as he says, are perfectly adequate for dealing with life, and anything beyond that is not sought after. Only in extreme or emergency situations are those forces of spirit called upon. Your situation is extreme, mate. There's no questioning that. You're going through a hell of a mental and energetic transformation. At least it sounds that way. So by all means, call upon, test, and use those powers. But ultimately, they won't give you what you're looking for. You are ultimately the destination of your journey. And that won't make any sense until it's concretely obvious that you're fine the way you are and that nothing need change, within or without. I listened to one of Andrew Nugent-Head's commentarys on the Tao Te Ching. Apparently Lao Tzu took this pretty controversial stance for his era. He basically said, "the Heavens don't determine my destiny. I determine my destiny." BAM. That's the bullet that vaporizes all superstition and merges Heaven and Earth in Man. Life is profoundly, ordinarily, simple and satisfying on the level of pure convention - somehow! Don't ask me how that works out, but the return journey from near total ego-annihilation to conventional life has, for me, actually been pretty great. I have no doubt that I could access extraordinary states of consciousness and their accompanying powers, but I really don't need them. It's perfectly adequate for me to have working legs, a voice to communicate my needs with, and the ability to relate to and move through the world with the billions of others who are here. Good luck again on your journey

That's okay. He doesn't need fixing.

DreamBliss, I think you're on an inspired and growthful path, and I'm quite comfortable with everything you've shared here. I think you're right in affirming your independence from others' perspectives. I'm very happy for you. Keep going and know that my love is in service to you from afar. Also, I think you're absolutely correct in your assessment - if a concept shackles your mind and you're committed to being free, then you must let it go. And if the masses gather at your door and protest, sleep peacefully through it. They are only protesting their own freedom. When you wake up from your nap you can direct them to their own soveriegnty, which has nothing to do with you. Similarly, your life and your decisions have nothing to do with them, and their overzealous involvement in the management of your beliefs just shows how disconnected they are from their own soveriegnty. IME, a sovereign being does not worry what other people are thinking and believing. You are free to manage and organize the content of your consciousness as you want. This is the basic premise of LoA and a good scientist, which I think you are, will not waste his or her time theorizing about what will happen when he puts on a particular lens. He will put the lens on and study what happens. The state that you are exploring is precisely that. Some people might not approve of how you're going about freeing yourself, but that's up to you whether to empathize with that. I take it as a lack of respect when someone is going out of their way to disapprove of me. What I know is that I respect myself completely and so I have no need to convince another person to respect me. They can feel however they want. I give them that freedom. I believe in the LoA and used it a lot. I don't use it anymore because I don't really have a use for it. It taught me things, many of which I'm a little unclear about, but it definitely taught me. I'm now very comfortable with my beliefs and find that they harmonize remarkably well with my society, my era, my peers, and my genetic and neurological proclivities. They are also effective at actively deconstructing thought forms that limit or disturb my consciousness. To use a metaphor: it's kind of as if certain thoughts that enter your consciousness act like allergens. Often these come from other people. They trigger inflammation and autoimmune responses and create symptoms of sickness. When we first start this process of mind refinment, we expose ourselves to these allergens by engaging controversial issues with others. In this way we develop, more or less subconsciously, the patterns and structures of information that establish the groundwork for our emerging wellness. Now my knowledge of myself and of the world is strong enough that most "allergens" are chemically deconstructed into benign substances and have no negative effect when they enter my system. I find I am happy even when I disagree with someone. My relationships rarely escalate into conflict and I have no emotional problem whatsoever with society. I have morals and I have opinions - I'm happy Keystone was vetoed for example, but the way things are does not infiltrate and inflame my heart region. I just wanted to share some of my own experience. I think in time you will no longer need Abraham's teachings, as you will have become them through becoming yourself. And it will probably not look like what you think it will look like. At least in my case, I have become profoundly ordinary in my thoughts and intentions and interests. I have no special divine connection or anything. I just love myself and think in a systematic way that ensures my harmony and contentedness amidst life's mutations. You're exploring and experimenting with the liberty and sovereignty of your mind - LoA is a vessel for that and can be astonishing in its efficacy. You can continue breaking through any barrier that you want. Have you read Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman? This man taught me to love and respect myself in the way you are talking about. He taught me to smile and revel in myself, to need nothing. I can just say, keep going friend. You are the one on your path. Portland is a powerful city. I hope you have a good time there. Much love, Yasjua

I think looking reality directly in the face is just looking at the content or reflection of our nervous system (+endocrine, digestive, reproductive, etc). I understand that Big Bang is a pretty strong hypothesis when the physics is understood - I will never understand, so I have no idea. You said earlier that you don't believe in empiricism, so we might just differ there. I personally am totally in love with science and think it gets to the essence of reality in a very poetic and beautiful way. Anyway, you know, our eyeballs are literally an outgrowth of the frontal cortex of the brain. What you see is what your brain wants you to see, which is an Earth with pretty girls and/or pretty boys to rub your genitals on, yummy red and green things to put in your mouth, and a slew of emotionally charged situations to keep you excited and involved so that you will never literally die of boredom. The brain's circuitry also creates the illusion of time because it stores (memory) data (events) in pockets or semi-linear sequences. Then there's all that extra stuff our brains have time for like becoming immortal or realizing the True Self or finding your inner turtle. I think it's only natural to emerge consciously out of an eternal universe and have some pretty interesting questions come up as you try to catch up with what has happened over the past several billion millennia.

Except totally unlike Dow Jones

lol^lol that is funny.

I like others' posts when their words really strike a chord with me. If there were a dislike button I would never use it. Frankly, I have never seen a post on this forum that genuinely deserves a "dislike." People are being authentic, sharing knowledge, asking genuine questions, and solving problems together - what is there not to like!? I have definitely felt things like, "Gosh, that's a long rant from a potentially mentally ill person," or "That person didn't put any thought into what they said," but never "I just really dislike that." Besides, I've been the mentally ill or thoughtless or distasteful person, and what I needed was support, not a "dislike" for not conforming to another's perception of good. I think I have seen some bickering between members that has been disagreeable, but that's because people have different opinions, and sometimes feel strongly about things, and I don't think one person should get a bunch of likes for being on the "right side" while the other gets "dislikes" for being on the "wrong" of the argument, since there fucking isn't one. ... That said, if we replaced the "star system" with an actual Star System, that'd be cool. We could have like, an Andromeda clique and an Alpha Centauri gang, and a 16-Cygni crew. You could still judge people 1 through 5, but instead of seeing the 1-5 system on your own profile you'd only see that you belong to one of five star systems, of which only admins would know the corresponding rating. But then you could check TaoMeow's profile to see what a "5" looks like and spend your whole life trying to join her star system. lol

I think faith is something people cultivate through action and perseverance of character to ascertain the validity of their relationship to a higher power or a higher knowledge. I have seen faith work wonders in my life by exposing me to experiences that are outside of my mind's comfort zone. Faith in this view is not an illusion of mind, but the antithesis of mind and illusion. My current point of view, however, is that there is no mind (or faith) except in relationship to a phenomenological subject that emerges as the center-point of a self-contemplating, wish-fulfilling brain-body-psyche system. I am aware in my own life of the ghost of a prior psychological subject imprinted on my memory and on my circuits, but I do not see one operating as a real entity in my actual life anymore. I see urges and systems of imprinting that condition behavior - reproductive and digestive urges, hormonal and psycho-nervous circuits that create and condition perception and activity. Somehow the absence of this character (or rather its reification through thought and belief) is intimately connected with the absence of mind. So is faith an illusion? I don't know. I think mind is an illusion that pertains to the operation of the subjective entity. I believe faith always has something to do with that subjective entity and its relationship to something, whether that be a God, or a concept, or a teaching, or anything else. I think questioning its reality or unreality is the wrong approach. The question should be regarding its efficacy. If faith does something, either for you or someone else - if it helps you live your life more fully, experience new realities and thoughts, get through a difficult time in life, then faith is "real" enough and I say, faith away, my friend. On the other hand, if you "have faith" like some people I know, and use faith to insulate yourself from the realities you're refusing to face, then Fuck your faith. What I think is that you should love yourself and not rely on faith, particularly in something or someone else, to get you somewhere or get you through something, but not everyone is going to love and truly respect themselves on such a high level as to not need various external crutches and modes and functions of consciousness that make them feel safe or 'okay.'

I just joined August or something, and I started off with 5 stars - presumably like everyone else. I think I noticed that dawei had last visited my profile (this was a month or two ago) and I suddenly had 1 star, so in my mind I thought dawei had rated me poorly. Whether that's the case or not is not my business, as I'm not here to please anyone or particularly to make friends, but it did create a [?] in my mind: what did I do to dawei? I guess I should avoid that guy. Later (as in today), I find out that he's a fantastic administrator and is making positive changes to the site's code at my own and others' requests. And of course, I don't know who rated me. The anonymity of the star system can result in inaccurate presumptions among members. Furthermore, if someone dislikes you and rates you poorly, and 10 people like you and don't rate you at all, what does it all mean? I'm glad it's gone, personally. Opinionating on your comrades, especially passive-aggressively through anonymity, just doesn't smell of Dao to me.

I can see this thread being of value to some future lost soul like myself, so I'm going to continue documenting some of my research and impressions here. I also invite anyone reading this months or years down the road to contact me if you need someone to talk to, or would like additional references, as I'll probably be more educated on the subject by then. For any future acupuncturists, here are some of the resources I've come across indicating that the three Universities I mentioned earlier in the thread (NCNM, THSU, Daoist Traditions) may be of particular value to those interested in studying the classics (and hence achieving a more authentic and effective understanding of Chinese medicine). NCNM For starters, anyone doing research on this topic will come across Heiner Fruehauf's work. Heiner founded NCNM's CCM program in Portland and has dedicated his life to scholarly and clinical preservation of classical chinese medicine. He and Laurie Reagan (Dean of the program and Qi gong teacher at NCNM) run a radio show on Chinese medicine called "True Nature Radio." You may want to give them a listen to feel out their energy and see what they have to say on the topic. Heiner's website on CCM is http://www.classicalchinesemedicine.org/ . My personal impressions of this school are that it is probably the most thorough and holistic education you can receive in the United States in Chinese medicine - on paper. I explained why that is in a previous post (Qi gong emphasis, mountain retreats, study of CM in Chinese, sinology, elective courses on I Ching, herbal meditation sessions, heavy emphasis on cosmology and symbolism and classics, and a special 'rare book room' that houses some very old and very rare books on CM). I have not attended this school and am not aware of the quality of teaching at the school. I did shadow groups of 3rd and 4th year students in the clinic on three separate occasions. I met with two groups of ND/CCM dual-major students and one group of CCM only, and I met three different teacher/practitioners. My impressions were that of severe burnout from the dual-major students. They looked healthy but felt depleted. These programs are very intensive and time-consuming, and they openly admitted to being tired of being at school - these are the words of 12/12 students I met. I also got the impression when talking to them (both CCM-only and dual-majors) about CM that they really don't have a grasp on what it is, what it can do, or how it works, particularly at the level of depth the classics are supposed to get you to. I may have been expecting too much from 3rd and 4th year students, but I was disappointed and turned off from the school by some of these factors. A more realistic assessment of this situation is that students of any medicine, whether that be Chinese, Naturopathic, or Western, have very little clinical experience, and I've heard over and over by this point that you don't leave CM school feeling like a master (although you obtain a Master's). Instead, you go into the clinical world ready to start learning about the medicine, and continue learning for basically the rest of your life. That said, I think NCNM does everything they can to train practitioners with extraordinary philosophical knowledge of the medicine, a broad, deep, and powerful vocabulary to draw on in their clinical thinking, and a strong degree of psychological and energetic cultivation that is needed to practice energy medicine. Note that NCNM is divided into two separate but interconnected programs - Naturopathic medicine (which comprises about 90% of the student body) and Classical Chinese medicine. There is a totally different vibe to the programs as Naturopathic medicine is allopathic and heavily science-oriented. Daoist Traditions At the following link you'll find Andrew Nugent-Head's personal nod of approval to Daoist Traditions, a small University run out of Asheville. Andrew has presumably relocated to Asheville from China, due to the spread and intensification of smog. His videos on Youtube are very informative concerning the difference between classical and traditional CM approaches. http://www.traditionalstudies.org/where-should-i-go-to-chinese-medicine-school-which-is-the-best-school/ I just got off the phone with the admissions director at DT and had a very warm, personal, and detailed conversation with her (about 1 1/2 hours) about extra meridian systems and Jeffrey Yuen's approach. From our conversation, I gather that this is probably the most esoteric model of CM education in the United States. In additional to the core TCM classes, which everyone has to take regardless of your school, there are classes that focus specifically on sinew, Luo (blood) and Jing (Essence) meridians. I believe many TCM schools teach these, but probably don't dedicate as much time to really understanding them - and yes, there is a lot of depth here, that some schools just won't ever get into. The Eight Extraordinary ("Extra") vessels, for example, were regarded by some old practitioners as off-limits or unethical, because they influence Jing and hence the flow of destiny itself. In addition, Jeffrey teaches a whole bunch of seminars throughout the year (http://daoisttraditions.com/Events.html) which address some funky metaphysical and alchemical topics, as well as less esoteric topics like Neuropsychology and and the use of stones in CM. I posted links to the curricula of the other two schools in a previous thread, and I apologize for the disorganization of information, but here it is for Daoist Traditions: http://daoisttraditions.com/documents/2015Catalog.pdf - course description starts around page 40. Texas Health and Science University Note: somehow a bunch of my own opinions got mixed into this area. I don't know if I feel like editing it, so you'll just deal with some 'me' here. This is probably the least esoteric of the three schools. It is also the most Chinese, which may or may not be a good thing depending on who you are. What I mean is that this school is run by Chinese, taught by Chinese, administrated largely by Chinese, and draws a lot more Chinese students - this has a different ethos than a school run by a bunch of white people. I'm being pretty objective here - if you study the past 70 years of Chinese history you can see that Chinese people are just different, especially if they're old and grew up with the afflictions and difficulties that have shaped that country and its consciousness. This is also the shortest program (3 1/3 years, as opposed to 4), and is the only school of the three that doesn't have a major emphasis on personal cultivation built into the coursework. What it does have, is an excellent business school adjunct - you might not be as 'cultivated' when you get out of this program, but if you take the MBA courses, you'll have an extra degree and will have an advantage in starting a successful clinic. This is important because statistically only 25% of trained acupuncturists manage to stay in practice for more than 5 years. What this means it that acupuncturists are either not in high enough demand, or that acupuncturists are graduating with little to no idea of how to run a business). I would personally prefer to run a successful business and support myself than have all the esoteric Chinese knowledge in the world, so I'm going with this one, and hope to develop my understanding of CM's true depth later in life. Regarding the lack of emphasis on Qi Gong, this means that you have to go out and find your own martial arts/qi gong/inner alchemy work to transmute your own energy if that's what you're interested in. I have had very real and very immediate results in acupuncture that I attribute in part to a practitioner's good energy, and downright shit sessions coming from unhealthy, uncultivated, or emotionally wonky types of practitioners. So do your cultivation, kids! I also think they are far less interested in the psycho-spiritual side of CM that CCM gets into. If you're a psycho-spiritual kind of person, know that you want to work on that level, and feel personally drawn to heal (yourself and others) on that dimension, go for the esoteric schools. They will teach this, and they will teach it in much more depth. I personally made some decisions and learned some things and had some experiences that have negated my interest in this. I think life is plenty rich on the surface and don't have a particular affinity with super deep spiritual metaphysics or esoteric ontology. I think those dimensions (superconsciousness and unconsciousness) are accessed due in part to high activity in the limbic system and the activation of certain circuits in the central nervous system. I'd prefer my CNS and limbic system chill out and not open gateways into the beyond anymore (diverges too much from the general Earthling's consciousness and makes me feel like a weirdo. Also makes me superstitious and super-sensitive to 'energy' and my ego gets all spiritual and grandiose and whatnot, none of which I'm all that interested in cultivating anymore). CM still has a lot to offer in terms of helping people function better, heal on a physical and emotional level, and generally be happier and healthier in life. As someone put it to me, the 12 primary meridians, which is what TCM practitioners generally focus on, relate to your everyday ordinary functional consciousness. i.e. I wake up, drink my coffee, take a shower, head out the door, interact with colleagues, pay my bills, go for a bike ride, indulge in a hobby or movie, make love, go to sleep, repeat. If there are disturbances on this level - lets say you get really upset with your colleagues, or can't deal with your kids, or have chronic pain, or are fatigued and can't function well - TCM and particularly the 12 primary meridians help with this.* Note that this is a simplification. On the other hand, if you're coming from a childhood of parental abuse, or have repressed rape trauma, or were born under some terrible ominous stellar constellation and simply "don't fit in" with this world, and you can't hold down a job, and everyone hates you, and your psyche is all fucked up for different reasons, then maybe CCM can help by altering the flow of Qi on a deeper level than TCM does. I don't know. When I was looking for this in practitioners as a broken young man myself, I couldn't really find anyone. But like I said, I've cleared this stuff out of my consciousness over the years and veered away from this stuff, and don't really want to deal with that level anymore. I had a long run-in with that dimension for 6 years and I'm happy to be personally done with it - and being pretty fresh out of it, I don't want to particularly deal with others who are in it. I'm certain that while it's all very real, it's also completely generated in the brain and subsists on nothing but faulty circuits of thought and energy. I also think that all perceptions subsist on these circuits of perception that are conditioned by neural circuits, hormones, digestive and reproductive urges, and other physical systems, so what that means (to me) is that it doesn't matter what you believe (spiritualist, materialist, anarchist, pragmatist, etc.) - I genuinely don't give a damn, everyone's perceptions are a-okay, so long as they're functional and non-harmful. THSU seems to work in just about everything from the CCM curricula of NCNM and DT, but with a lot less emphasis on the esoteric or non-TCM aspects of that stuff. They do teach Shang Han Lun, Golden Chamber and Four Streams of Scholars, (I don't particularly know what any of that means, but apparently they're classics). I believe they teach all the extra meridians, but I have no idea yet how much detail they'll go into. I'm quite certain they don't teach the cosmology and symbolism in depth, or the Ling Shu, which is really what, as I understand, acupuncturists should study to understand the original spiritual depths of this medicine. I'm still trying to get in touch with someone there who will talk in detail about this. I will update this section when I have more information. I will say for now that the Dean was not all that interested in talking to me (although he did briefly deny the corruption of TCM, claiming that it is several thousand years old, but then went on to say something about how "Modern Chinese medicine is broken"). I had to dig deep to find some student reviews at THSU, but they all came out positive. Students described their experiences as authentic. They say they learned "real Chinese medicine," and not merely western medicine that uses TCM principles to accomplish its goals, and that the professors are very caring. Going through Google reviews, multiple yelp links, clicking on hidden reviews, and checking city-data's forum will all yield some reviews from students who praised the university. There's also this: http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/schools/texastcm.php Check back for updates. I will continue editing as I collect more information and get a chance to re-read what I've wrote. Yasjua

From Andrew: Where should I go to Chinese Medicine school? Which is the best school? November 14, 2013 By Andrew Nugent-Head Questions I receive with a great deal of frequency are “Where should I go to Chinese medicine school?”, “What is the best Chinese Medicine School?” and “Can you recommend a Chinese medicine school?” I personally believe that the education required and subsequent license earned are cover charges that must be paid before one can go more deeply into the medicine. Becoming licensed is absolutely imperative, and the foundation knowledge gained in even the least inspired program is critical when finally finding an opportunity for real learning. Contrary to popular belief, no experienced practitioner wants to take on a student who is a blank slate. A blank slate means there is no proof of commitment and no guarantee the student will remain in this medicine. Experienced practitioners simply do not have the time to gamble on someone who claims they want to practice this medicine but disdains the current paradigm. However, if someone has gone through the effort of obtaining a degree; made great efforts to educate themselves during their program and after being licensed through reading, seminars and private internships; and through all of this remained positive and not cynical despite what everyone who has gone through the system is aware of is worth considering as a student. This is known as 孺子可教 ‘Ru Zi Ke Jiao’ in Chinese, which refers to a story of a young man who remains helpful despite repeated attempts to bring out his frustration or anger. School in the current paradigm of Chinese medicine in the United States, Europe or China is often a frustrating and anger creating experience. The quality of the education of Chinese medicine in the United States is greatly affected by those who came to it thirty years ago and the priorities of those people over these past thirty years. Some have made great attempts to create a unique educational experience but are hampered by the course requirements they are forced to include to be a licensed institution; others are focused on the very lucrative income a school which offers student financial aid can make. The former also often have difficulty finding gifted teachers at the prices they can afford to pay; the latter actively seek to hire faculty who are only to happy for these wages due to the lack of patients in their own clinical practice. Both of these situations have been shaped by governing bodies and regulatory commissions more concerned with how the outside public views and accepts Chinese medicine than the actual training given inside the field. Studying in China is a more and more common choice for dedicated students. Having lived in China my entire adult life and watched westerners come and go, I cannot say that an education had here is any better than an education in the west. A student who continues actively striving to immerse themselves in the medicine here despite the physical and emotional trials life in China bring will certainly be further ahead than their contemporaries back home; but most either do not show that initiative or have it ground out of them by the difficulties here, leaving with less than they may have found at home despite having a better resume on paper. But if a student can remain positive, sidestep the western medical brainwashing that is part of the medicine here, avoid being arrogant for having been in China, and made a concerted effort to learn to read, write and speak Chinese fluently, the higher cover charge this country requires does equate to a better learning platform down the road. But that degree earned still only represents the right to begin learning, not proof of skill already obtained. East or West, the sooner this is realized and accepted, the closer one is to孺子可教 ‘Ru Zi Ke Jiao’ when the time does come or the opportunity presents itself. With that said, I would first weigh whether any school I was considering was for profit or not for profit, and then weigh that with the following: does the college have well respected faculty members on permanent staff? Do they go to efforts to bring in and host the influential practitioners of our time? How busy is their student clinic? To enroll in a school without having gone to many treatments in their clinic to see the style of practice while chatting up the students on how they like the program shows little commitment by the individual in question. Should none of these turn up an obvious location, then I would paradoxically choose the least rigorous or least expensive college, using the extra-curricular time and extra income afforded to create a self education outside of the school. As I first said, there is no perfect school, so it is up to the individual to weigh the pros and cons, think out of the box and create the best possible learning experience during those 3-4 student years while remaining positive about what they are learning in class. Sadly, many students seem passive about their learning, thinking they deserve to be fed knowledge sitting in a classroom instead of actively striving to immerse themselves in the medicine through all means possible. All of this is of course just my personal opinion. It is not based on any research done, nor do I care to do that research and learn about every institution currently licensed. But as a life long student of this medicine, I have experienced a bit of everything I have just mentioned–I learned in mentor relationships with old practitioners, spending years proving I was worth teaching before actually being taught real substance. I flew back and forth between China and a college in the United States for 3 years to obtain my MSOM and licensure and created an irreplaceable educational experience for myself despite having been in the field longer than every faculty member there but one. I have interned in the most famous hospitals in Beijing not for months but for years, seeing the course this medicine has officially taken that is so different from the education I obtained in the very same city. I am currently finishing a full time 3 year doctoral program in Hangzhou, creating a wonderful experience while those around me complain of the education offered. As a seminar organizer and presenter, I have visited no small amount of schools over the past 20 years, interfacing with their administrations, teachers, graduates and students. So while it is only opinion, it is based on quite a bit of exposure. And there are and always will be exceptions. Of all the colleges I have visited and administrations I have met, one president does truly stand out as remaining dedicated to her students, their education and the field itself. Dr. Cissy Majebe of Daoist Traditions is obviously not just committed to teaching and practicing good medicine, but also to ensuring her graduates understand that they are now in service to the greater good. As a not for profit, that is something ATS feels is critical to the growth and success of our field as a clinically authentic medicine. This is not a vocation to be chosen at a Career Fair based on projected income, but a calling to help the sick and care for the suffering. Andrew Nugent-Head November 12th, 2013 Hangzhou

For Orion: Where did you learn TCM? Would you have done it differently, knowing what you know? How long did it take you to absorb CCM and synthesize it into your practice style?

I'm interested in watching films about the Cultural Revolution (pre, during, post) in China. They can be documentaries or semi-fictional stories. Any perspective on that era would be good. Thank you.

Thanks Sean! Guess where I am right now? Berkeley! LOL

I don't know how I missed this in November when you posted it. Thank you for sharing this incredible lecture.

IBR is convenient, but I think it's wishful thinking to say that the different between 52,000 and 88,000 is not a big deal. $34,000 is a lot of money, and the reality is that the larger your debt, the bigger and faster and more aggressively your interest accrues. Plus, if you end up doing well for yourself, you won't necessarily qualify for IBR anymore, and your $1200 monthly payments might start to hurt. That's all speculative. Like I said, I'm a moron when it comes to finances.

I'd say you lived in a different Portland than I did, lim. I'm not even three decades old, so that accounts for some major differences in our experiences, and your peer groups have probably had more time to get their heads on straight. Also, the fact that you made it through 30 years of that weather tells me we're just not wired the same biologically. I can't live under a cloud for that long. It really gets to me. Don't get me wrong, I fell in love with Portland, and I fell in love in Portland several times, and I met, by far, my most interesting and beautiful friends there. But, the general energy of the place started to bother me last year. Most recently, gentrification and the booming tech industry there have changed the city's ethos quite noticeably. It's no longer a Pureland for weirdos, which is sad, but I don't really care. It wouldn't suit me there anymore anyway. In my experience, the people in their 20's and early 30's there are lost souls with kinked belief systems that haven't quite found resonance with reality yet. It can be great there, but I think it has a hard time attaining and maintaining a cultural balance that works for it. Its infrastructure is terribly wonky, capitalist principles are on the rise there, and unfortunately the show Portlandia branded the damn city, basically sealing its destiny as an eternal parody of itself. Now Austin... there's a nice city. Plenty of weirdness, but people are genuinely grounded, and ridiculously friendly. This is all subjective bullshit. What it comes down to the individual bio-programming and everyone's going to have a different experience.

My research so far has yielded three universities in the states that root themselves in the classics. NCNM (Portland, OR) seems to have the most comprehensive program, due to their heavy emphasis not only on classical texts, but on lineage apprenticeship and sinology (the actual etiology of Chinese characters, and symbols, and their relationship to genuine Chinese medical thinking). They also have elective courses in I Ching, heavily emphasize their Qi Gong for all four years, go on multiple mountain and oceanside retreats, and include group meditations on all the herbs as part of their herbal medicine component (you touch, smell, brew, taste, and ingest different herbs and formulas and sit in meditation as they take effect). Unfortunately, it's also the most expensive program in the states, coming in at a whopping $88,000 of loans. Daoist Traditions (Asheville, NC) seems to also heavily root in the classics. Jeffrey Yuen, a Daoist priest, is the lineage holder here. This seems to be a pretty small-scale operation, and there really isn't that much information available on the website about the school's philosophy or ethos. Asheville is not a big town, so I understand there are probably going to be fewer students, residents, and patients here than in other cities. This program costs about $67,000 for four years. Texas Health and Science University (Austin, TX) is the third I've found. Their catalog begins by emphasizing that their University is one of the few in the West that so heavily draws on the classics. All of their core faculty were trained in Chinese universities. Their program also uniquely offers concurrent degrees in Chinese medicine in the United States and from Zhejiang Chinese Medical University in China. They also offer a dual major in Chinese medicine and MBA in Healthcare Administration. I find this highly practical as the chief complaint of many graduates of Chinese medicine programs in the U.S. is that there really aren't "jobs" for acupuncturists, and people who go into these kinds of fields generally lack a strong business sense, hence the abysmally high attrition rate of trained acupuncturists away from professional practice in their field. All that said, THSU still claims to teach TCM*, not CCM*. They also lack the strong Qi Gong program that the other two schools seem to have. This program costs about $52,000 over 3 1/2 years, or $62,000 for a concurrent MBA/dual-degree in China (one or the other; not both). **At the risk of compromising my objectivity so far, I want to add here that I think "CCM" is a form of branding that, while significant in what it represents, by no means monopolizes the teachings and pedagogical form of pre-modern chinese medicine. NCNM's course catalog can be found here: http://www.ncnm.edu/images/Publications/coursecatalog/2014-15_NCNM_CourseCatalog.pdf - CCM starts on page 55 THSU's courage catalog can be found here: http://thsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/MS-in-AOM-Tuition.pdf Now for some more subjective stuff. I'm leaning toward THSU for several reasons. The program is more affordable, seems to be pretty down to Earth in its approach to training successful pracititoners, respects the classics (although it may lack the comprehensive and pedagogical character of the other two schools), and significantly, for me at least, offers a concurrent MBA-H - I know damn well how incompetent and ignorant I am regarding the business and financial side of life, and I feel that this will help balance and round out my pragmatist sensibilities, which I find highly valuable, but sadly underdeveloped in this life. NCNM is my second choice, but frankly, I despise the city of Portland for its 9 months continual rain and for the totally ungrounded, etheric, vapid and impractical population of 'spiritual people' it attracts to itself. I have no doubt it's among the best programs in the states, but I didn't much like their facilities (an old unkempt elementary school), or the fact that they're charging an exorbitant amount of money to learn fringe medicine. I also hear their business classes teach very little in regards to opening and running a successful clinic. Daoist Traditions is not even really on my map. I didn't like Asheville enough to live there. Edited - Typing error

I'm inclined to disagree with words on this fine and subtle matter. They tend to reify false concepts, including a thing called "transcendence" and an "ego" that gets transcended. The fact of the matter is that there is no ego and as such there is certainly nothing wrong with being healthy and functional. Too many spiritual people get inflated with words, particularly antiquated and foreign words, but have a very serious desire to be recognized and loved and respected from the outside in. They use stupid esoteric concepts to attract energy from others that will fulfill their inner lack. This tends not to work and there's some excellent literature written on this topic of "spiritual bypassing." In reality, an unhealthy ego is not mutually compatible with enlightenment or anything of the sort. Maybe in a few rare beings who just snap from all their unhealthiness (see Eckhart Tolle's story), but for most people, the search for transcendence in conjunction with ego fragmentation just results in spiritual grandiosity and a very powerful delusion about self and truth and all that other jazz. I personally don't believe in an ego at all, but it has nothing to do with spirituality. There just isn't one and never was. I think there's egotistical behavior, but no ego. What people call the false or little self, I think is just the way they see themselves: false and little, and they're convinced that everyone has one and that it needs to be destroyed or some shit. And I certainly don't think there is a SELF or any other shitty Vedantic or Jungian God-personality that is beyond all the others. Here's what I'll say on subpersonalities. If they are looking for respect, love, truth, freedom, romance, or recognition from without, you are suffering the very real delusion that those things are outside yourself, and I'd do some serious and dramatic affirmation as to your own respect for yourself and love for yourself and your own freedom. As long as you are looking for things from without that are part and parcel of your being, you will suffer and act in ways that are demeaning to yourself and generate a feedback loop of low self-esteem, delusion, slavery, and emotional confusion. You should know beyond doubt, that your self-respect, self-love, freedom, and sovereignty are completely and utterly greater and beyond what anyone anywhere could ever give to you or take away from you. I am sovereign. My respect for myself cannot be taken away or lessened by anyone or anything. KNOW that. Have no delusions as to your value, which is infinite and irretractable. Lying, cheating, manipulating, transactional relationships, and seeking of all sorts are generally efforts to attain your inherent qualities from without. "I will be loved if I look good and have a nice personality and say the right things at the right time." "I will compromise my health and needs and integrity and truth so that you will give me respect." "I will study and practice and meditate and then I will know the truth that Sri WakaWaka has attained." All false. These qualities are already within you. You love yourself more than anything in the world, but you pretend that you don't have enough love, so you try "fall in love" or something (just an example). These are irretractable and permanent qualities of being and pertain intimately to proper discernment of yourself. Romance is what comes when this unfettered self-respect, discernment, and love operate in the world. The whole world becomes your lover. I don't work with subpersonalities or anything, but I would think they pertain to these basic needs and subsist on false discernment.