Pilgrim

6 minutes ago, MooNiNite said:

 

I don't think a lot of people are aware that education can be tax deducted if it applies to a small business you own.

It is a definitely cumbersome, but a person who works a regular job can create a small business related to the education they want to receive and deduct their education related expenses. 

Very good advice wish I had it years ago. Thanks.

3 minutes ago, Aetherous said:

 

I admitted my own stupidity in the first place. I just thought you were highly rude to double down on it after my own admitting of it.

 

Pretty stupid to behave that way, bud.

Was not my intention to double down on you but when the shoe fits well wearing it can be hard and if calling me stuped repeatedly makes you feel better then go ahead.

 

I paid for my ex-wifes student loans so honestly this pisses me off quite a bit and has little to do with you at all.

1 hour ago, Dynasty said:

 

This is true. 

 

But don't discount 40 + years of propaganda from the education industry complex that has effectively brainwashed at least 2 or 3 generations that without a college degree you're a waste of skin degenerate loser who will never amount to anything but a burger flipper at McDs. (plus outsourcing of jobs that don't require a degree)

 

Then was able to get the gov't into the student loan business. 

 

And continually raised tuition rates much quicker than the rate of inflation. 

 

And convinced 18 year old kids AND their parents that kids need to follow their dreams and get that liberal arts degree in sociology. 

 

We have a large population group right now starting out life with a huge debt burden.  And there are people in their 40s that I'm aware of still paying off student loans. 

 

I don't know what the answer to the student loan problem is, but whatever the education industry is doing right now is not sustainable for much longer.  And a gov't bailout of student loans will just continue the problem.  

I agree and honestly these institutions should be made to bare the burden of misleading others. Not the banks not the lending institutions that exist for the sole purpose of collecting interest on loans but the ones benefiting from over pricing education in the first place making it un-affordable and then selling a dream that quite frankly does not exist.

 

Very few who graduate ever achieve what was promised by holding some silly ass paper.

 

Go to school to learn what you love to do and what is in demand. Pay attention to the times in which you live and work hard at it live dirt poor like I did do not believe you need a Bachelors degree in Computer Science to have  a career in I.T. for example.

 

When I started I was damned good but I had two things going for me more talented people did not.

 

#1. Credit Score in the 800's.

#2. A clean background record.

 

These two things alone can help a young person succeed over others.

1 hour ago, Aetherous said:

 

You're stupid enough to complain about other people pointlessly instead of thinking about solutions to a problem that affects everyone. But good job being financially responsible.

And you reveal yourself as someone who can't stand the truth of his own irresponsibility and call others stupid?

 

Holding up a mirror take a good look.

 

Thanks when you want to learn how it will be my pleasure to teach you. 

 

Honestly anyone stupid enough to sign onto a bad loan with high interest  is a waste to educate in the first place that should have been learned by the time one finishes High School.

1 hour ago, Aetherous said:

 

I think there might be a looming economic crisis around this issue, so it becomes a bigger deal than simply being about handouts.

I like the principle of paying what one owes (and I owe a LOT - 215k and rising).

 

I think debt forgiveness only helps some people. Didn't Elizabeth Warren say that everyone would get 10k in student loan forgiveness? That doesn't solve anyone's real problems. People close to being done paying their small loans down would be happy...but that's it.

 

With income based repayment, which most people in the higher numbers are on, the total owed keeps rising despite making the monthly payments agreed upon. That's a major problem, which I personally became aware of after having graduated! ...I'm not too good with math, okay?

Anyway, if there's actually an economic crisis looming because of this issue, and if the real problem is exorbitant amounts owed...then perhaps we can have it both ways. People pay what they borrowed, and student loans no longer being an economic issue.

This could be done by eliminating the interest rates.

It can also be eliminated by working for a living and going to school at night instead of taking out loans whose terms are clearly spelled out that you will never be able to afford.

 

You work and you get the best education you can afford and you become proficient in your career.

 

No one was ever forced to sign a loan agreement for school or anything else, choices have repercussions.

 

If you can’t afford it then you have no right to take out huge loans and not repay them.

 

If the interest rate is bad you don’t take the loan.

 

Why is common sense so uncommon?

 

For instance I am in the process of buying a house right now.

 

I have done my due diligence and broken all the lenders down and found the best deal.

 

I qualify for much more house than I am buying but am not stupid to take on more than I can support and pay the loan down swiftly so interest is not as great as it would be by lingering over the full term.

2 minutes ago, Trunk said:

student debt reduction

All I have to say to this is pay for your own fucking education just like I did no one gave me handouts and to do so is a mistake.

 

How about they take a different approach and either cap what overpriced learning institutions can charge or offer an alternative like gee I don't know affordable education that the Government provides and the student pays it back out of their taxes for taking the govt loan.

 

Pretty simple really.

 

Education

 

Healthcare 

 

Insurance

 

Housing are all way out of control and way, way overpriced.

On 7/11/2019 at 10:24 AM, Stosh said:

As I read it , they show excellent correlation between the sunspots and the isotopes , but the correlation looks weaker for global temperatures. If there is a problem with lots of CO2 , I think its in 'acidification' of ocean water. A theory proposed about the sun activity , it hat it has a greater effect than just that of decreased insolation , there is also a change in atmospheric albedo. So a spike in co2 might mitigate some of the effects , or exacerbate them. Dunno , but what we should all see is that there are natural changes and cycles , that change is constant , that the earth moderates itself ,and life plays a part in that. 

We haven't got the science nailed down , so to me -it makes sense to do some things like reforestation , terra-optimizing, cleaning up the mess and so forth,  which generate ecological benefit,  regardless of whether its going to shift the climatic cycles.  It doesn't have to be painful at all , there just needs to be political responsiveness. 

 

And with this the entire thread and all the arguments political and otherwise can be put to bed.  

 

Well said Stosh.

22 hours ago, Lost in Translation said:

Wake me up when Orlando is actually under water or when the ice caps actually disappear. Until then I got better things to do.

Wouldn't take much for O Town where most people live today was swamp.

 

I grew up out by Econlockhatchee Trail and Lake Underhill Road ( If you Know where that is in a Subdivision called Deerwood close to the Rio Pinar Golf Club and Pepper Tree) in the early 70's. Then later in Kissimmee as Orlando became too busy it is remarkable for me to visit either area now and I wonder

 

#1. Who in their right mind would choose such a congested traffic nightmare that makes Pittsburgh look calm by comparison. I mean seriously you can not go from one traffic light to the next without having to stop and there are too many traffic lights. Heck one evening just about two years ago now it took 45 minutes to drive 7 miles and that is unpardonable in my book.

 

#2. When I do visit and see where housing and buildings have been built I think my God that used to be swamp or a pasture and woods and laugh about the old saying about getting suckered into buying Florida swamp land.

 

Well ol Walt did and BTW all true Floridians know he was frozen and placed into suspended animation somewhere in the numerous tunnels at the park. I reckon with all the Billions they have raked in and continue doing so they already have the science to bring him back but he probably told them to wait until a much later time.

 

 

 

On 7/15/2019 at 9:38 AM, dwai said:

 

.

Aw man... Bummer...  I was just circling back around to it would you PM me the Link. Thanks.

11 hours ago, neti neti said:

I prefer the more neutral yet dignified term, flesh suit. 

Edited 1 hour ago by neti neti

Well let’s see I forget what color pill does what but after taking a nap and in the dream eating ribs like a wolf and waking up chewing in my sleep I am avoiding the asshole with the pill that leads to slop in a can.

 

Gotta get ribs tonight looking at pictures of meat has awakened the inner cave man!!

😊

first tentative steps

these are the voyages of 

bums in inner space

3 hours ago, neti neti said:

 

Hey! Meat body sounds a bit degrading for such a bleeding edge self-healing crap-producing sack of skeleton.

 

I prefer the more neutral yet dignified term, flesh suit. 

If you say so but I ain’t wearing any of it!

3 hours ago, C T said:

 

 

What was inferred was not that the body's a nasty crap receptacle, but a mere vehicle with limitations, and to not over-reach with expectations while holding to an awareness of when to let go of associated dependencies. Because of these limitations, transcendence or malleability at the physical level has its own apparent frustrations. 

I prefer mostly bag of water filled with piss and shit or meat body if you must,  but must confess the nasty crap receptacle is kind of funny too. 

3 hours ago, joeblast said:

I'm lazy and enjoy my food too much, but I achieved minute and a half averages before.  Its got more to do with the work you put in as opposed to the little refinements that show their max efficacy after the fundamentals are roted into the muscle memory.

 

That's the whole point of eliminating the airflow-signal to the olfactory nerve and rolling the inhales and exhales into one another, is that it conveys that exact same sense that happens momentarily from those little energy-peaks during meditation where its comfortable to sit with the excess until it burns off a bit and you have to breathe again.  Its really all about the signals generated and the energy consumed by the generation of those signals.  Once that additional energy is there as a matter of regularity and its built upon, that's what forms the basis for samhadi - so those energy boosts and such are signposts along the way, its the sparks off a flint before the fire gets going.

 

Once the endocrine system is fully primed and gung is built and samhadi happens regularly, how can one not be happy - but that really winds up also manifesting the childlike wonder at everything too, where one can look at most things and winds up deriving simple pleasure from their sheer existence.  That becomes more of an ongoing state instead of something that happens momentarily, which eventually gives rise to a contentment.

 

I dont really see it as useful to think of it as limited, shallow, effortful, or unsatisfactory - instead I see it as merely signposts on the way, and all attendant phenomena are experiences to be had and recognized, transcended positively as opposed to thinking the body is a nasty bag of crap that just helps us get from point a to point b.

 

Well said and nicely explained.

25 minutes ago, Stosh said:

This is just so incredibly reasonable I am looking for the reason why it hasn't replaced everything else yet.

It potentially produces enough energy to remove CO2 from the atmosphere to make substitute fossil fuel , which would be carbon neutral. 

Follow the money trail. Right now from what I understand multiple small reactors spread out rather than huge plants are the way things are going now.

8 hours ago, MuadDib said:

Thank you very much for your kind suggestions. I will try to fit these practices into my daily schedule. If some progress is made, I will share them here. 

 

Looking over some earlier replies, I sense that I might have conveyed the idea that I draw in a big breath, empty the lungs and try to hold it for as long as possible to get the *high* feeling. 

 

The process is more like I sit/lie down for relaxation/meditation, after a while the breath and mind calms down, I pause for a few seconds with empty lungs and experience energy moving around the body for a few seconds - until I have to breathe again. I like how it feels so I wish to stay in that state, however this results in a less calm breath next time so upsets the process. I share this just as a clarification, those who kindly gave advices do not need to repeat them 😊

 

As a side note, I find that it is much easier to enter this happy, blissful state when I am (water) fasting. Sitting for meditation, doing some basic yoga or zhan zhuang feels much more powerful and effective if I am fasting.

 

So if the body is more hollow (empty stomach/gut, empty lungs) it becomes easier to feel and work with energy?

 

Thanks.

 

The reason why fasting helps is less Prana and nerve energy is being used for digestion.  

 

Right now you are working with a more  body type energy that comes from food, air, water not the raw source but that which has already been processed and modified for body life use. 

 

This is good. In time you will learn by working your way backwards to entertain the raw source.

 

Later it becomes less about the body and more about real stillness,  but that takes a while for most,  you are on the right track.

Neti Neti gave a great experiential answer. It all depends on the practice and the tradition.

 

I also think allot of instruction has been misinterpreted as holding the breath.

 

Here are some examples.

 

In Kriya which is a Vedic and Tantric  system of techniques and technologies of light and energy combined we take brief pauses but that is not the same as holding the breath eventually when the mind gets still enough as it were, then the energy flows and takes over then there is no need to breathe for whatever period of time it lasts.

 

Even in the Tibetan practices of Tummo there is one thing that holds sway above all else.

 

The mind must become of a certain quality of stillness for the energies to flow then the breathe suspension required for it to be effective does so on its own.

 

One of the simplest most effective means of stilling the mind is zazen sitting Zen.

 

Overall though you are coming to it in your way which is more mechanical and is a great realization on its own.

 

My advice is to follow the more mechanical way that DWAI has generously given.

 

I also seriously advice you to practice the 9 breaths of purification otherwise the energetics that will develop one day might harm you.

 

What you are experiencing now is the tip of an iceberg.

 

You can still the mind by stilling the breath but when the energy stills the mind a whole new reservoir of energy opens and floods in And is the time when more advanced techniques become alive not mere exercises.

Wringing out my socks

Zounds but mine feet doth stinkith

Got to soap the toes

So are you asking if ecstasy as introduced by teachers a gateway to the rainbow body experience? 

 

If so I do not know but would like to.

1 hour ago, ralis said:

Ecstasy may be a way to best describe this phenomenon? Are states of ecstasy as introduced by teachers a gateway to rainbow body experience?

Which phenomenon are you referring to? 

9 minutes ago, ralis said:

 

This phenomenon is beyond any intentional practice or kriya. 

Yes it is.

7 minutes ago, ralis said:

It was either Einstein or David Bohm that postulated that matter is compressed/condensed light. Nothing esoteric about that. 

What is your take on this topic? What are your thoughts about body of light and the whole direction towards it? and what is to follow? I am sure you comprehend the mechanics of it, that is to say how it all works.

 

Thanks.

7 minutes ago, ralis said:

A good friend of mine witnessed a phenomenon while working as a computer scientist in Iran where followers of a Sufi sect would walk into the light when a certain evolutionary stage was reached. To be precise, vanish into the light or in light. He has since passed on so I am unable to ask him again. 

 

I am almost certain that Dzogchen and Sufism have the same root. 

It would not be surprising Sufi practices also found its way into the higher Kriyas.

Guru Yoga is a great practice.

 

In simple terms you connect energetically with an advanced being.

 

Tapihritsa is a favorite of mine.

 

Mantra and energetic connections are used.

 

The 1st purpose is to purify the body speech and mind.

 

The 2nd purpose it receive essentially what is a firmware and software upgrade from an advanced being who has already arrived.

 

You can learn here https://www.ligminchalearning.com/starting-a-meditation-practice/

 

and  here is a video of Guru Yoga a guided practice you may enjoy.