Desmonddf

If the Dao is everything, then it IS care, and it ALSO IS not caring. There is no Yin and Yang. There is no care and abbandonment. It is transcendent - both caring and uncaring. It isn't logical and it isn't supposed to make sense. Making sense is something limited - a product of the mind and its illusion of being able to reduce Reality to Knowledge (see that you're assuming that, if something IS, then it can be known - that the Mind is bigger than Reality).

Any displaced bones in your body will affect it whole. You might have a scoliosis in the middle burner, but that doesn't mean it isn't affecting the rest. Your muscles will compensate this by becoming more proeminent on one side and so on. I would say this means you're holding into an unconscious trauma and/or pysichic complex. That or you have a problem with your constitution (genetic markings). In both cases what you need is either to start treatment with a competent professional (for instance, a chiropratic) and/or train postures and exercises which will organicaly straighten your spine. The full-lotus position might help a lot, but if you can't do it properly then start by finding the correct mindset and slowly build your path towards it.

Everything from your belly button bellow. The Triple Burner is a way of dividing the body into three parts and a meridian that deals with the harmony of these parts as a whole. The upper burner is located from the diaphragm and above, the Middle Burner is located between the diaphragm and the belly button, and the lower burner is located from the Belly Button and bellow.

I've taken a course on the Earth's interior on HarvardX (an EdX online class, you can find it here: https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-to-deep-earth-science), and the methods they have to measure and determine what the interior of the earth is like are pretty solid. That said, you'll need quite a bit of data from a lot of seismographs in order to reach that conclusion. It isn't impossible to reach by ourselves, but you'll need to invest some money on it. Another way to do it is to get samples from volcanoes and analyse what they are (physio-chemicaly) and then try to recreate that sort of rock in the lab. It has also been done with quite a bit of success, and as long as you have a few milions to spend on a diamond anvil (like que one shown in the video), you should be able to produce that kind of rock. Also, I'm pretty sure the Hollow Earth theory crumbles on itself once we measure the crust's size and look to see if the crust would be able to hold its own structure given a strong gravitational pull. Just like how a spherical building would collapse on itself if it was hollow and there was a force pulling it inwards. That's not to mention that all lava and magma would need to exist in-between the layers of the crust, so it would be really difficult for that to work (not only you would have a spherical structure being pulled inwards, it would even have liquid in the middle of it, making the parts mobile). I was quite amazed to know that the earth's mantle isn't magma or liquid, but actually solid - and becomes liquid only once it reaches a pocket of empty space in which it can leak through the crust (a volcano). That's the guist of it. People don't need to see something to know how it is. We can't see electricity (no, lightning is not electricity, it is made of gases being ionized by the electric current), and it still can be measured. The same is valid for radio waves, television waves and so on. You can't see them, but they're there. The same with the earth's interior.

Qi is generated in a complex process through the body, and it ends up storing in the Dantien. The process of transforming Jing into Qi happens in the Lower Burner (not in the Dantien, but on the whole lower part of the body). Not working there because you have a difficult time won't give you results. That said, generating Yang is only good for helping one to access the Way. Once you have accessed the Way you need to do the reverse path, or you'll die soon (since you have transformed Jing -lifespan- into consciousness).

A daoist can be filthy rich, and still follow the Dao. A daoist can be filthy poor, and still follow the Dao. The Dao starts with following nature. Those who follow nature will be subjected to its cycles. Richness and poverty are also a cycle, and learning to identify those cycles and choose which way to follow is part of daoism. If your personal Dao is one of poverty, then you'll always choose to remain in the poverty part of the cycles in your life, going away when prosperity manifests, while if your personal Dao is one of richness, then you'll always choose to remain in the richness part of the cycles in your life, going away when prosperity stops manifesting. If you get attached to your job, family or the fear of losing things, of not being able to provide to your family or to fail at some kind of social construct, then you cannot follow any cycle. You'll forever be fighting against the Dao. Dao is change. If you intend on "fight on" and justify that as "I can't give myself this luxury!" then you won't indeed be able to follow the Dao. Dettachment isn't more difficult for those who have more, it is more difficult for those who have less. Are you willing to go through hunger and pain in order to follow a spiritual path? If not, then you either won't be able to follow the Dao or will need to have a great deal of internal development before following it (to the point where you can predict and affect the cycles around you).

Meh. It's what my personal experience tells me. Unless you're very skinny (hunger) or has a case of diarrhea (poop), you will get erect instead of go for food or the bathroom

You should know that's bullshit when you read the "alpha" and "beta" things. Not even the creator of the term uses it anymore, as his research proved that there is no such thing as "alphas" and "betas" in nature. Look deeper and try to find this claim on its source. Name these "evolutionary psychologists" and look for the paper where they explain why they reached this conclusion. What I can say to you is that most women do not want someone to be a provider. Women who want providers in their lives indeed seek adventure out of their homes, because home is a very boring and un-adventurous place to be. Adventure and excitement are needed for humans, be they male or female, and living closed in a house all day long, without anything exciting to do, indeed makes one go slightly crazy (enough to dream of having a "strong stalion" (or "bull" if you're into cuckholding) to give way to their fantasies. What happens usually is for people who aren't into monogamy to feel suffocated and uninterested into having sex with only a single person, and when you mix an unexciting life with someone who isn't into monogamy, then you have yourself someone who will cheat on their partner very easily. Most humans don't have an attraction to monogamy. We are beings who usually like a non-monogamous lifestyle, but we force ourselves to a monogamous state by convention and convenience (it is MUCH more advantageous to a sedentary lifestyle if you're monogamous). So, just build your relationships upon knowing these basic principles: 1 - Always do exciting things with your partner. 2 - Never stop your partner from doing things which are exciting to her/him. 3 - Unhibit yourself and be prepared to take on a non-monogamous lifestyle eventually, even if you never do it (it will take a lot of stress out of your back). 4 - Be sincere with your partner and yourself. Ask for sincerity as well. It will hurt a LOT if she/him say "I'm into someone else" (especially if it ISN'T exclusively in a sexual way) but that's only as much as you haven't accept the 3º item above. Most women will have 1~2 affairs in their lives. Almost all of them will dream about having an affair, especially when the relationship goes south. Are you up for real-life relationships with other people, or do you want do live in an imaginary bubble people put on your head ? Evolutionarily speaking, relationships are meant to last for 2yrs or so. That's the time nature give us to make the woman pregnant with your child (and it is needed indeed if you're a hunter-gatherer - women don't get pregnant easily in nature). All the pheromonic and biochemical triggers in your brain will go off if she's not pregnant after this much time. They will re-activate once if she is indeed pregnant with your child (you can tell by smell if the child is yours, you just need to become sensitive enough about your own pheromones and hers), and will deactivate again after the child has grown to a certain age (being old enough for the pair not needing to look after it). Do you know what keeps two people togheter when those biochemical triggers go off? 1 - You like the other person's presence and is a good friend. 2 - The two of you are better togheter than being by yourselves. Now, those triggers may (and probably WILL) trigger again, be between the two of you or/and with other people. Humans are beings which look for partners not through the lens of society, but through the lens of a mix of Oxytocin, Serotonin and other neurotransmiters. You'll just feel love, sexual attraction and others, as long as someone triggers those on your brain. As much as you know yourself, is as much as you'll be able to spiritually guide the processes inside your body and decide to either go with them or avoid them. It's like fasting, or abstaining of alchohol or other drugs. Indeed, those neurotransmiters are the ones responsible for making people enjoy drugs in the first place. If your partner knows herself and is capable of spiritually overcome the bodily impulses she will feel, then monogamy and even celibacy will be possible. If not, then brace yourself for how the human body works: Horniness reign supreme, even above hunger or the need to poop.

By a TCM perspective: Qi becomes Jing after circulating in the body. It first circulates as Ying Qi in the Xue (togheter with the physical blood), from the Blood it goes to the Channels, and from the Channels it arrives in the Eight Extraordinary Vessels as post-natal Jing. There it is stored and used in place of pre-natal Jing when we need it, increasing longevity (although that's not enough to increase one's lifespan). Wei Qi (yang qi) does not circulate much inside the body (it tends to go to the outside) and does not become post-heaven Jing. Only Ying Qi does so. I do not know of a description of post-natal Jing creating marrow, but pre-natal Jing is said to indeed be the source of all forms of marrow, including the nervous system and the brain (sea of marrow). Through the marrow physical blood is produced, and it connects with the spiritual blood (Xue) which is produced in the heart... and then with ying qi once it is produced in the kidneys.

Five directions are the basys, if I'm not mistaken.

Mostly high level, I would say. At least they discuss the Dao and apply TCM with quite amazing profundities - or at least amazing for me, that is. That say, this hasn't been passed directly, so I may need to review it. Probably he's going to go something like "forget that and go back to your daily practice".

Do spirits count ?

I've seen some very thorny topics recently. So I'm here to remind everyone of these passages of the Dao de Jing: Chapter One: The Dao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Dao. The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name. (Conceived of as) having no name, it is the Originator of heaven and earth; (conceived of as) having a name, it is the Mother of all things. Always without desire we must be found, If its deep mystery we would sound; But if desire always within us be, Its outer fringe is all that we shall see. Under these two aspects, it is really the same; but as development takes place, it receives the different names. Together we call them the Mystery. Where the Mystery is the deepest is the gate of all that is subtle and wonderful. Chapter Twenty: (Being different from ordinary men) When we renounce learning we have no troubles. The (ready) 'yes,' and (flattering) 'yea;' Small is the difference they display. But mark their issues, good and ill; What space the gulf between shall fill? What all men fear is indeed to be feared; but how wide and without end is the range of questions (asking to be discussed)! The multitude of men look satisfied and pleased; as if enjoying a full banquet, as if mounted on a tower in spring. I alone seem listless and still, my desires having as yet given no indication of their presence. I am like an infant which has not yet smiled. I look dejected and forlorn, as if I had no home to go to. The multitude of men all have enough and to spare. I alone seem to have lost everything. My mind is that of a stupid man; I am in a state of chaos. Ordinary men look bright and intelligent, while I alone seem to be benighted. They look full of discrimination, while I alone am dull and confused. I seem to be carried about as on the sea, drifting as if I had nowhere to rest. All men have their spheres of action, while I alone seem dull and incapable, like a rude borderer. (Thus) I alone am different from other men, but I value the nursing-mother (the Dao). Chapter Twenty-Five: (Representations of the mystery) There was something undefined and complete, coming into existence before Heaven and Earth. How still it was and formless, standing alone, and undergoing no change, reaching everywhere and in no danger (of being exhausted)! It may be regarded as the Mother of all things. I do not know its name, and I give it the designation of the Dao (the Way or Course). Making an effort (further) to give it a name I call it The Great. Great, it passes on (in constant flow). Passing on, it becomes remote. Having become remote, it returns. Therefore the Dao is great; Heaven is great; Earth is great; and the (sage) king is also great. In the universe there are four that are great, and the (sage) king is one of them. Man takes his law from the Earth; the Earth takes its law from Heaven; Heaven takes its law from the Dao. The law of the Dao is its being what it is. Chapter Fifty-Two: (Returning to the source) (The Dao) which originated all under the sky is to be considered as the mother of them all. When the mother is found, we know what her children should be. When one knows that he is his mother's child, and proceeds to guard (the qualities of) the mother that belong to him, to the end of his life he will be free from all peril. Let him keep his mouth closed, and shut up the portals (of his nostrils), and all his life he will be exempt from laborious exertion. Let him keep his mouth open, and (spend his breath) in the promotion of his affairs, and all his life there will be no safety for him. The perception of what is small is (the secret of clear- sightedness; the guarding of what is soft and tender is (the secret of) strength. Who uses well his light, Reverting to its (source so) bright, Will from his body ward all blight, And hides the unchanging from men's sight. Chapter Fifty-Nine: (Guarding the Dao) For regulating the human (in our constitution) and rendering the (proper) service to the heavenly, there is nothing like moderation. It is only by this moderation that there is effected an early return (to man's normal state). That early return is what I call the repeated accumulation of the attributes (of the Dao). With that repeated accumulation of those attributes, there comes the subjugation (of every obstacle to such return). Of this subjugation we know not what shall be the limit; and when one knows not what the limit shall be, he may be the ruler of a state. He who possesses the mother of the state may continue long. His case is like that (of the plant) of which we say that its roots are deep and its flower stalks firm: - this is the way to secure that its enduring life shall long be seen. Let's please not forget that daoism steams from early matriarchal-centered shamanic practices. It is highly matriarchal and female-worshiping in its nature. The overly-reliance in male symbolism and value is a "recent" perversion of the original meanings and ideas, based largely on false-fire (deficiency of Yin in the hearts of society leading to overly expression of Yang and ruin). There is a reason why no modern Chinese state (since Shang) has been able to endure a complete cycle (540, or 9*60 years) of existence. The only dynasty able to do so was the Shang Dynasty, a prophecy-centered dynasty with "high" female influence (being obedient to the Heaven is a pretty female/yin act, as the Heavens are Yang to any dinasty). So, let's value the feminine and the Yin a little more. Male and yang-centered Pride easily crumbles on our modern society, because it is a false-fire. It seems big and imposing, but it is frail as a small flame in a big storm. It shall become real and harmonious once we stop looking at Yin as our enemy (false-fire does consume Yin) and start looking at it as our Mother. Only by accepting the women inside can a men become really powerful and strong - rightfully masculine, sacredly masculine. But the mascunility which steams from this is of a very different nature from the so called "toxic masculinity" we see these days. It is a masculinity which nourishes and strenghtens the feminine, while also being nourished and strenghtened by it. Is the man which makes its spouse prideful and happy to be a woman, and the woman which makes the husband prideful and happy to be a men. It is the female side of the men which make them happy to be men, and the masculine side which make the men happy to have a female side! I guess I've said enough Source: https://ctext.org/dao-de-jing/ens

This chart is wrong. Most chimpanzees and other monkeys also eat insects, and even small animals. Not such a thing as "designed to eat fruits" - even because we need to eat a LOT of varied fruits and nuts for that to work. Do you really think a vietnamese hunter-gatherer had acess to hazelnuts and macadamia nuts ? The most common diet if you live in a forest in a hunter-gatherer style of life (for instance, if you're a native with little to no contact with the civilized societies) is based on roots, leaves, fruits and "anything with meat you can find" in terms of meats, including, in many cases, insects, amphybians (like frogs), birds and small mammals. As long as there is food to be eaten and hunger to be felt, humans eat. In terms of Qi, it follows the flow of Xue. There is no Yang without Yin. There is no Qi without Xue, be it the "spiritual blood" or the "physiological blood". Indeed, we even have an aspect of disease which is a lack of yin leading to weakness with false-deficiency. The person's pulse becomes slow like when they have an Yang deficiency, but it is because there is no yin to be caried around by the Qi. Eating only fruits and nuts will give you excess earth in your organism, as those are usually sweet and humid. You'll basically become weak, fat and sweat like a pig. Of course, most people doing those kinds of diets will be also doing lots of physical exercise and, therefore, you won't notice that. But try and make a frugivorous diet without exercise. You'll find that it is almost the same as eating only bread.

I wouldn't say a single thing (even "meat" includes a lot of items to talk about), but surely it can be arranged. The diet would be quite restrictive, but it is indeed possible to have an adequate MTC diet without depending on meat.