oak

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Posts posted by oak

  2. Posted

    11 minutes ago, Zoya said:

    I gotta ask because I'm curious, but can anyone develop Siddhis or is this something that only people following a very specific tradition/faith/belief can actually do?

     

     

     

    Chapter 3 of the yoga sutras of Patanjali is all about this matter. You will find it easely online.

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  6. Posted

    18 minutes ago, C T said:

     

    Did you enjoy it? Any noticeable difference in taste? 

     

    Where I am, both red and yellow-fleshed watermelons are readily available, but I think the red is more popular. 

     

    Yes, and no noticeable difference in taste. My interprrtaion of it is that it was a genetically modified watermelon and I should have been warned before buying it. Are you telling me it is a natural thing?

  7. Posted

    19 hours ago, Apech said:

     

    It's like when you go to the supermarket and buy packaged food with a lovely illustration of a meal on the front - and when you get home inside is a plastic tray with some frozen gloop in it.  You go back to the shop and insist on seeing the manager.  You point at the picture and the gloop - the manager says : ' Dear Sir/Madam (or variously gendered shopper) it says 'serving suggestion' under the picture.  The picture is what a meal could be in an ideal world and not what is in the box.  Since you have opened the box there will no refund.'

     

     

     

    Even items without any label at all can be full of surprises. I remember buying a watermelon and when I got home and opened it, yeah it was juicy and tasty but yellow inside...it took a while for my brain to process that, if it did at all.

    • Haha 3

  11. Posted

    5 hours ago, Daniel said:

     

    My very amatuer opinion is that there are trends demonstrated in nature that can act as signals for predicting what sort of actions and choices are in harmony with the dao.  Observing cause and effect, action-reaction, in a person's life, and reflecting on the patterns observed in nature gives feedback on which choices and actions are in hamony and which are not. With practice and patience the signals are interpretted automatically and effortlessly resulting in life choices which are naturally in harmony with the dao.

     

     

    The great Baruch Spinoza created a whole philosophical system based on that, just in case you wish to check him out someday.

     

    • Like 2

  12. Posted · Edited by oak

    8 hours ago, Mig said:

    I keep reading in different texts to follow nature, emulate water and be connected to nature and I am wondering did they think or do they still think nature is all good. When you look at nature, there is always something going on, not for the best for humans but to survive as nature is not clement. So why don't they mention the bad side of nature, the cruelty of nature and the disasters we see every day and in the wilderness nature has no benevolence (DDJ Ch 5). Why is so important to obtain the Dao if Dao is related to nature? Just wondering and you can probably can help me to understand better the idea behind "nature"

     

    Thanks

     

    Would anything in nature feel or sense things as you do? Humans indeed are the most disgraced creatures in nature being caught in the prison of psychological time. What would our view of nature be if we were freed of that, if we emptied our minds like the DDJ suggests? Did Lao-Tzu see or feel things as others around him did?

    20

    What's the difference between yes and no?

    What's the difference between beautiful and ugly?

    Must one dread what others dread?

    Oh barbarity! Will it never end?


    Other people are joyous, like on the feast of the ox,

    Like on the way up to the terrace in the spring.

    I alone am inert, giving no sign,

    Like a newborn baby who has not learned to smile.

    I am wearied, as if I lacked a home to go to.


    Other people have more than they need,

    I alone seem wanting.

    I have the mind of a fool,

    Understanding nothing.


    The common people see clearly,

    I alone am held in the dark.

    The common people are sharp,

    Only I am clumsy,

    Like drifting on the waves of the sea,

    Without direction.


    Other people are occupied,

    I alone am unwilling, like the outcast.

    I alone am different from the others,

    Because I am nourished by the great mother.

     

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  14. Posted

    4 hours ago, Michael Sternbach said:

     

    However, this kind of interpretation raises the question in what way the knowledge of good and evil would make Man more God-like -- when at the same time it led to the Fall from Grace and the loss of immortality. 

     

    Please share your thoughts on this.

     

     

    What matters to me the most is understanding the wisdom or teaching contained in a particular biblical story. Being so I think it's very profitable to try to understand or interpret it as if it was a greek myth for example. If I ask myself when and why this happened to me, when did I start hiding my nakedness and learn to be deceitful towards my creators (parents) and ended up becoming like them (knowing both good and evil) ? 

    Thst's how I take something useful from a biblical story to my personal growth.

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  16. Posted

    9 minutes ago, galen_burnett said:

    but i don’t see how a knowledge of the internal-organs and bones and muscles etc. is going to diagnose this problem for me. i’ve already spoken with many people who have loads of that knowledge and they were completely unable to do anything for me.

     

    Already told you that I don't have any problem if you want to have it your way and have faith in your system. I do understand your pain and was making suggestions in order to try to help you and with the best intentions. 

    This will be my last post on this thread.

    Best of luck.

     

     

    • Like 1

  17. Posted

    9 minutes ago, galen_burnett said:

    don’t really understand the first sentence. and ‘learning about my body’ is what i’m doing all the time in trying to fix this problem i reckon. well, yes i think it’s energetic and thence is completely messing me up on sorts of levels, including anatomical and physiological

     

    I meant learning some plain western anatomy and physiology...and what's not energetic anyway?

  18. Posted

    14 minutes ago, galen_burnett said:

    they didn’t think the scoliosis was necessarily causing the back-problem, you see, just that there was a chance that by sorting out some perceived postural misalignments—with physio—i could both sort out the back-pain and the insignificant scoliosis to boot. i’m pretty sure it’s an energetic problem, which is why i’m putting stock in nei gong.

     

    Ultimately it's your problem and you should deal with it the way you think you should. Be open to suggestions though and consider learning more about your body. An energetic problem will have an expression in your anatomy and physiology.

    Again wishing you the best and good work mate.

  19. Posted

    6 minutes ago, galen_burnett said:

    basically no-one found anything the matter with the bones, beyond a few degrees of scoliosis which they deemed insignificant, so they just referred me to physiotherapy.

     

    There is nothing wrong with mild scoliosis if not, like in your case accompanied by severe pain which can be a nerve, or tendon, or ligament, or fascial problem. So, they referring you to physiotherapy having much better ways to deal with those seems very odd to me.

     

    Really wish you find the solution to your problem and please let us know when you do.

  22. Posted

    18 hours ago, galen_burnett said:

    I’ve had it for the best part of 10 years. Tried lots of stuff from psychotherapy through to various physio exercises and even to Wim Hof, diet and fasting etc. Nothing’s ever helped in the slightest besides a single yoga stretch that eases the upper back a bit. 

     

    Hi galen_burnett

    I will tell you about my experience with back pain in order to try to help you.

    Being a sports massage therapist as well as a qigong and tai chi practicioner gives me many tools to assess as well as treat the injuries that sometimes I have to deal with. Sometimes however, even tough my self-diagnose is absolutely right I am not able to help myself, its just not physically possible. That is when I resort to an osteopath. I'm absolutely sure that they will assess me properly as well as manipulate my body effectively in order to treat the problem. Last year for example a nerve got trapped on my cervical spine, excruciating pain. After self assessment tried in vain the existing physiotherapy exercises to help my problem. The doctor of course put me on anti-inflammatory medication that of course as I knew wouldn't help me for long...it would follow the NHS physiotherapy appointment that would take weeks to happen, so, I've booked an appointment with my osteopath that confirmed my self-diagnosis and treated me accordingly. Yes it took me three sessions and a few pounds ( he actually charges less than I do for a session 😀 ) but it was the wise decision and saved months of avoidable pain.

    Hope it helps.

    Best 

     

     

    • Like 1

  23. Posted

    15 minutes ago, Taomeow said:

     

    I couldn't help myself.  I went to the I Ching to ask this:
    "A member of the forum divines: 'What would the I Ching give back to you if you were to attack it intellectually?'  Please give me an image."

     

    HEXAGRAM 33-- RETREAT

    Other titles: The Symbol of Retirement, Yielding, Withdrawal, Retiring, Strategic Withdrawal, Inaccessibility, Disassociation from Inferior Forces.

     

    Judgment

    Legge: Retreat means successful progress. Advantage comes from firm correctness and attention to details.

     

    Wilhelm/Baynes: Retreat . Success. In what is small, perseverance furthers.

     

    Blofeld: Yielding. Success! Persistence in small things wins advantage. 

     

    Liu: Retreat. Success. To persist in small matters is of benefit.

     

    Ritsema/Sabbadini: Retiring, Growing. The small: Harvesting Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of conflict and consequent seclusion. It emphasizes that withdrawing from the affairs at hand to conceal yourself in obscurity is the adequate way to handle it.]

     

    And so on.  The changing lines I got with this (not quoting them here) I interpreted as a general consensus that it would be a very useful undertaking for the great person, but perilous if attempted by learned idiots.  

     

    Loved it. Thanks Taomeow 🥰

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

    21 minutes ago, Apech said:

     

     

    I belong to a generation - assuming that this generation includes others besides me - that lost its faith in the gods of the old religions as well as in the gods of modern nonreligions. I reject Jehova as I reject humanity.
     

    Fernando Pessoa

     

    That's beyond unpopular for its time and place 😄

    Pessoa was a fascinating ultracomplex figure put on earth to deliver many different messages.

    The keeper of sheep by Alberto Caeiro, one of his heteronyms, is a book I love. I think of it as the portuguese daodejing. According to the legend it was channeled which must be in part truth.

  25. Posted · Edited by oak

    10 hours ago, Apech said:

     

    I live now in a Catholic country - having been born in a Protestant one - and I am learning to relate to the level of 'mystery' still preserved in Catholicism - particularly around the Virgin Mary.  There's a lot of heart in it and an acceptance that there are 'things' beyond the mundane in the Saints and so on.  

     

    Being a Portuguese citizen and having received the catholic baptism as a child makes me having to comment on this. It

    has been quite an interesting thread in which I'm not participating much due to lack of time. Thanks for having started the riot, Apech.

    Don't agree at all that modern Portuguese people are practicing catholics at all. The supersticious part of the population however resort to "catholic magic" when in need, like for example reciting the prayer of a specific saint or going to Fatima ( the place where the Virgin Mary seems to have appeared to three children) hoping for a miracle. Unfortunately the catholic church never did much directly to make people grow in their faith. You will find the old lady in church very knowing of the rituals to invoke the protection of a multitude of saints but when asked what Jesus said regarding this or that matter, totally unaware of the religion she should be practicing. And... let's follow the Pope because he knows better than us. If the Pope says the vaccine is good let's all have it or if he says condoms are bad even if they save lives, he knows best.

    Mysteries are real and to be accepted, but when turned into a big money making industry... lets sell millions of candles and rosaries plus the payment of promisses, etc.

    The catholic church however gives opportunity for people to grow in it, just not directly. Catholic Bibles have beautiful, revealing comments in them and the catholic church not having a fundamentalist view of the Bible, sugesting its esotericism and an approach of faith instead of an intellectual one gives an opportunity for those who want to make a serious investment to grow in wisdom...eh eh...just like the I Ching. What would the I Ching give back to you if you were to attack it intellectualy?

    But I digress...

    Time for bed.

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