rideforever

I found that first video quite confusing actually, I think the problem is he is highly trained which disguises things, but nevertheless in my gut it's telling me something is wrong and from time to time there are clear errors in his movement, and it's quite painful to watch. The man that windwalker posted has much better power transfer however he suffers from being a fool, he has a silly smile on his face the whole time, as if smiling 24/7 corresponds to the 4 seasons ? Unintelligent. And this lack of intelligence carries over to his drama reeling, each cycle being a "look at me" twerk. Its all a bit silly. Nevertheless he at least has trained power transfer through the body. I think this twerk your lower half, then top half follows, is a total nonsense and I can't see why anyone would train in this way. It's actually quite painful to watch and inevitably leads to poor integration. Boring as I might sound, I very much like the Mike Stigman videos on youtube where he begins by testing the force and integration from the arm through the dantien to the ground .... that is how he starts, so that you are front and centre on the entire purpose of the practice. And i have another silk reeling and laojia DVD here from a well known long time teacher, and it is far inferior to Mike Stigman, which is scarry. Jan Silberstoff had won several Polish Tai Chi Gold Medals before going over to Chen Xiaowang in China and was laughed at by Xiaowang, and being told he could either go back to the West and make lots of money, or train with him starting again from the beginning.

I think you are right, I think he is a highly trained disaster. He seems to have trained himself incorrectly over many years. I believe the reason why he does the jerky thing at the beginning of each cycle is that his dantien is not actually connected into the earth through the kwa. It's possible that his arms are somewhat connected to the dantien, but because of the aforementioned issue the arms are distant from the legs and ground. Quite strange to see. His forms and pushing hands are the same if you check other videos. That's my take anyway. The Chen New Road has more silk reeling however the silk reeling is still .... real.

Some ideas : Often a human being seeks to understand himself and life will do so by controlling something else. This is very primitive and is similar to when a 2 year old child throws his food on the floor because it is the only way he can exert power. Killing other people, or shaving your own head, bombing people, and so on is in this category and most killing is done for these reasons, as a way for an immature person to exert some kind of power. The people who commit such acts are quite unconscious and so can easily drift into a fully unconscious unravelling where anything can happen. Often what is sacrificed is you yourself, and most humans are doing it. But our bodies are learning tools, and they keep us alive even as we do quite stupid things. Circumcision : possibly was to prevent masturbation (loss of primary sexual energy) or clenliness, degenerated into shame ritual or hazzing, today is a form of paedophilia as the rabbis have to suck the penis to "make the blood flow". No, it's not a joke, there is currently a big issue in NY about it, with rabbis being taken to court, and then the Jewish community quietly hushing it up. Still ongoing. Baptism is good I would say, washing plus contact with Holy Water, pretty straightforward a 2nd birth. Yes the water may actually be sacred. I have seen the persistence hunters of the massi mara, they bless the antelope before killing it. They comprehend that they are destroying something of value, are grateful for it, and attempt to be worthy of it. Which is the correct attitude. If you kill a man, you must attempt to live for two men, to replace the contribution of the one you have taken. This is the natural and true way. Fruit is given, and if that is all you eat then you need not do anything. This is the original design as both the tree and the human get benefits, in a mutual reciprochal maintenance. Communion (Eucharist) ... was a blood-brothers type ceremony that Jesus of Nazareth performed with his close students. Knowing that he was going to die he wanted to maintain contact with his students after his death so that he could keep teaching them. He dripped some blood into a cup, and I believe chipped off part of a bone (shoulder blade perhaps) and this was ground up, and the students consumed this and were then taught for several years after he died. I suppose humans might make a big story about their rituals, but it's almost always to cover up indulging in their low ness. The animals on this planet are very vulnerable, you can walk up to a cow and cut its head off. It will barely know what is happening, as we have domesticated them to be stupid. It's quite disgusting, and represents the terrifyingly low nature of human "consciousness". Humans approach animals, other people, and themselves in the same way.

British people, especially the middle class, are weak. They have stopped working and stopped paying with any effort. The degeneration has made them weak inside. The question is what can you act upon. David Icke, what good is anything he says to you ? Some right, some wrong, but so what ? Half an hour wasted. What can you do to help yourself ? Now ? One thing I am sure about is stop being a lazy slob. Expect to pay for every meal you eat, pay life with your effort and be worthy. Contribute in one form or another, every day. If you expect that then nothing can be taken from you, because you are generative. But if you only wish is to organise more slobbery, more consumerism .... then your suffering is guaranteed. Even qigong, prayer, meditation, devotion and so on .... is a payment, an effort. And always there are beings on this planet that you can help. So, help them. Give something to the world today, and stop trying to organise comfort so that you can doze on the sofa. Then you will not fear. Fear that something will be taken from you comes from you taking something from them, by no longer paying your dues.

Something very strange has happened to mankind. They wish always to be happy, or calm. But this is profoundly unnatural. Next comes a fear of sex, or action. Once they repress these things then they get Angry. And then talk of how to get rid of Anger. But if you go back to the beginning, why did you suppress yourself ? Well, maybe there is a reason, maybe it involves redirecting your energy into the development of spirituality or higher intelligence - but at the same time it is damaging for your naturalness. Humans, exploring their new intelligence are making a bit of a mess, but I suppose that is to be expected and forigveable. Nevertheless, understanding this picture leads one once again to action.

Rule #1 : F*** Them Rule #2 : Everyone can kiss my a** What to say, this seems to be the perennial human condition of living in a world where idiots are in the majority, and have every right to be idiots. I remember once I was working in a small company (programming) and every morning the "guys" would arrive (almost 2 hrs after me) and say "Maaaaaate, last night was epic, we got totally f***ked up" and so on. I was quite lost in this conversation and kept my head down. But then one morning after a rather epic swim pool, I thought .... okay, let's just roll with this. It's more like Pirate language, "Yeaaah, maaaaaaate, isn't it juuuuust" ... it's like a sort of neanderthal headbutt language, a good morning headbutt just to make sure everyone is sound, then ... we can get down to business. And with many people, chipping in, rolling up sleeves, swearing, and so on .... goes a long way. Forget about that nicey nicey BS, that's for panzies. And maybe they have a point. In the end, are you going to be someone who is going to help us row this stupid boat, or aren't you. Your fancy ideas are not worth much here. So there is a sanity and logic and reason for pirate behaviour after all. Why bother being a misanthrope, just get laid. Then later when nobody can see you, be epicly devoted to your tradition and make serious f****ing progress. No, nobody will understand. That's fine, just you and the teacher and the path and remember Rule#1. And the, remember Rule #2. Who has time to care about everyone anyway, nobody did before, in previous generations. It seems more like a group wanking than anything else. Why care? Just get on with you. All that child born pure stuff can be stuffed where the sun don't shine too. Better to find a good teacher and follow the path, deeply, be a warrior, but don't anyone in the daytime, just be a pirate. Pirate by day, warrior by night. Also the kissey kissey office stuff is not respected nearly as much as being a Pirate, Pirates have a sense of humour and it goes a long way. Also stop being a vegetarian. Vegetables have feelings too you know. That's why they grow thorns and secrete poisons. Yeah, lettuces do not want to be eaten .... by vegetarians or anyone else. You need a higher logic here. Yeah meat is not so good (although I have 8 Vennision and Cranberry sausages specially for Xmas in my fridge). But a higher intelligence is something like this .... we all have to eat, everyone eats everyone, so be worthy of it. Eat after you contribute, to life. Contribute big, eat well. Contribute nothing then go hungry. If you eat something or someone, be worthy of it by contributing to life. That's a higher idea. Also don't go looking to convince the idiots, let them be what they are ... don't gravitate towards them like you want another beating. Hang out with your own kind. Good ideas are only good if they take into account the stupidity of everyone else, otherwise they are not good. Many wise people have stressed themselves out and written sad songs about this world and so on ... but they become too detached from life. If you are really that smart find a solution, like helping the morons, at least the morons who want help. Otherwise don't worry. And also we were all morons once upon a time, and might still be today, not sure, the territory between genius and moron is a grey area.

Just noticed something a little strange with 5 Animal Frolics : there is an emphasis on expressing positive emotion with each movement, but in my view a taoist perspective must be to unite with both positive and negative emotion : for instance anger&kindness in the Wood Element, otherwise you are forsaking one side. This I have found to be very effective, doing 1/3 negative 2/3 positive emotion for each movement. It is a habit for humans to do practice ... whilst just damaging them enough ... so they do not work. Breathing practices are in my view extremely damaging as the natural breath in the belly is the means for learning to surrender and become natural, if you do anything with breath except naturalness it can have very negative long term consequences. I suppose that if I was doing a qigong with breathing I might just not do the breathing part. Some teachers / traditions are very proud that their qigong requires not understanding whatsoever and it still works. Okay, works for what ? If it makes you healthy that's fine, but I can't see how you can return to the Source if you don't have any understanding or interest in what you are doing, and it's a strange thing to be proud of ... not understanding. One way that a qigong can return you to the source is for instance with the 5 Elements practice, you basically return to the 5 Elements levels of Creation through your practice and then from their return to Yin-Yang then the Source then the Abyss, in that order, unwinding the wheel. Abyss > Source > Yin-Yang > 5 Elements > 10,000 things 0 > 1 > 2 > 5 > 10,000 We are trying to re-merge with the Source at an appropriate point on its chain of creation, if we enter through the 5 Animals negative&positive emotions we can meet the chain of the Source at a place that is convenient for us, the 5<10,000 intersection, and from there work backwards to the root. In order to do this it is very useful to become one with the natural breathing, hence the need not to practice non-natural breathing modifications. Breathing is very closely tied to the vital force at the 1>2 intersection, don't mess it up. Wuji Gong is an unwinding gong I know of that also could take you to the Source if used properly. Anyway it seems to me that only certain qigongs used in a particular way will be effective to return to the Source, others might be good for health, others might be unhelpful.

I assume from this that you are the author of this website ? Is that not the case ?

Yes, you are saying "my body" and "my vital spirit".You do not say ME.Therefore your position has not changed and there is a lack of integration in the parts of you developed. At least according to what you write, which might not accurately reflect what is inside you now.

So you are a student of Robert Earl Burton ? I just had a quick look at C6, and it seems all the "signs of verification" are things identified as if outside, which I find strange, it seems to indicate that the observer has not changed, only his surroundings that he identifies as being correspondent to what is desired and then he stops. Also in C3/4 this appears to be a translation of the GF ???? ... but does it include your interpretations. For instance the light into the eyes is interpreted by some to mean something about "feeling your heart", where I understand it to be literal, meaning you actually work with the visual light. This isn't relevant, but I was alarmed to read some people who left Burton and revealed that he likes to suck off the young men at his centre which he thinks is spiritual. ?

Recently I have been contesting every single piece of negativity that arises in my mind. Judgements, cynicism, many things, many types of negativity. And I will not let it stand, I stand up in my mind and I say :"no it's not like that, we can walk in the shoes of that person, and we can understand and we can understand and we can have compassion". And actually consciously challenge this negativity in the head. And it changes everything inside you, all that negativity is a constant poison, a constant lack of trust. Partly due to some illnesses and partly due to a feeling of surrender have I felt it necessary to try and do this. And it works, and it is right. I believe now that the idea that having negativity in your head is normal ... is incorrect. It is a wrong idea. And in society, with so many people being negative all the time, we might expect that that is ... the way to be. But perhaps it is not the way to be at all, and we can be quite different and fairly easily as long as we get rid of that picture. We are given a picture of life that is perhaps quite miserable and fearful, and full of wrong ideas and wrong habits ... that others are doing. And then we do them. Actually not because we have to but because we choose to do them to ourselves. We choose to allow negativity to roll on in the head. It is a choice based on expecting everyone to have that and do nothing. It's quite strange, as if society has forgotten that it can be pleasant .... it has forgotten to remember. Strange thing. Human society right now has got this idea to maintain negativity inside its head as normal, and this is a terrifying trap, trapping the entire species in a low frequency of consciousness where there is always much running around but never escape. This image must be burnt down and the image of the Real Man, something more regal, take its place, so that we once again can remember. Humans follow these images, many lives are wasted. Fill your eyes with images of the Real Man, and correct all negativity the moment it arises with the calm and sane voice of the conscious being.

Can you be specific about what you did, your results, and conclusions ?

Awareness is the State of Awareness which is a pure state of self-recognition, meaning a high order of intelligence that comprehends the inner structure of the being. It is not native to Earth and has to be brought in from outside or transmitted from light to light (being to being). In rare cases the devotion of a seeker will invoke grace from outside, that seeker then may become a teacher. What is transmitted is a high energetic state and high intelligence. But such a state is also not needed for a human to be "holy", people like Steiner / Montessori point to a more natural awakened state, the real human (divine human). Such people are simply real and human and don't need all the fancy inner stuff. An ordinary human : their identity and sense of things is in fact simply part of the great-spirit that is borrowed. On the death of the body that spirit pours back to mix completely with the ocean of spirit and nothing that was that person really remains. Which is not a problem. In a "holy" being a crystalisation has occurred to the spirit during its time in the human body, and when the body breaks the spirit returns to the ocean but it remains together as a being, it does not dissolve in the ocean. It is for this reason it is "immortal" meaning it's independent structure will not dissolve when it returns to the ocean, because it is fused together. Because of this integrity and fusion it reflects a higher degree of existence and has access to higher states that are pure. That is my understanding of things. Nevertheless due to the complex nature of a human being and the lack of high quality spirituality on earth, it is difficult to know if within most humans is something, or is nothing.

I have made detailed criticism of the Cave and of Plato's love of his social position and grand-standing. Do you have something specific to add, of your own, or some examples from Plato's teachings ?

Really = what exactly did you get out of it and how ?

Well ... how can Awareness be there if the being is not aware ? No, it cannot be there. This is why neti neti approach does not work, because the idea that you are sort of clearing off the dust to reveal the shiny mirror is wrong. If the mirror is so easily covered over with dust, what is the point of having a mirror ? So this is all wrong. Being Awareness means by definition that you are not coverable in dust. It is incorruptible. So clearly it is not present in ordinary people and must be developed. Then the next question is, but aren't we simply becoming ourselves ? And ourselves is ourselves so is already there, right ? Not really. Imagine if you enrol in medical college and study 5 years to become a surgeon. The you are a surgeon, the surgeon is you, right. Was it already there ? No, it was not, it had to be developed. Your surgeon-ness had to be developed .... of course it is you, it is a possibility for you if you have the talent, but might or might not be developed. And this is why people spend decades on meditation trying to neti neti themselves and it often doesn't work. In fact what works is to have the state of Awareness transmitted to you by a teacher in that state ... how ? Well just hang around for a while and feel him, inside you. Often at the same time people are doing neti neti but it's irrelevant. 1. The state is energetically transmitted, 2. then recognized within from directions by the teacher (I feel Awareness in me), 3. then it is developed (I abide in this new Awareness). Another way of understanding is that the corrupt cannot clean themselves as they have only dirty water. Even if they could remove the dirt, it still does not mean that Awareness is there, because a box cleaned of dust is still not filled with god. Pouring gold into the box automatically removes the dust permanently. ---- Something else is that we are very complicated beings with many parts : some people can be healthy holy real humans, others holy by being awakened heart, others have Awareness, others Consciousness, and so on. And it is not so easy to diagnose what another person is, could be many things going on inside. And it is also true that with the correct guidance you can feel your truth immediately, but it will pass quickly unless it takes root. There are a small number of people who on meeting a guru can pop into awareness probably because they were very close in a previous life.

It seems from what you said, your goal is to be like Plato and "understand nothing". This is really insincere and a misuse of intelligence ... underneath probably it feels really clever to say something like this. Do you seek truth and exploration or ... entertainment ? There is a famous story that Plato giving one of his grand speeches to the right and famous philosophers decided that he himself would define a Man, to finally give a definition of Man. He announced that a Man could be defined as a "featherless biped". Diogenese of Sinope, a rebel philosopher, heard this rubbish and bought a dead chicken from the butcher, plucked all the feathers from it and walked into the Symposium and put it ontop of Plato's podium .... here is your "Man". Later Plato changed the definition to "featherless biped with fingernails" ... something like that I forget exactly. What it shows was that Plato was very much concerned with retaining his social status as Great Philosopher , and using philosophy as a means to entertain the crowd with pithy statements .... like the Cave. Which although completely stupid wrong and leading nowhere, nevertheless got the applause, and the whole crowd could then go home feeling that they had done something useful, although they were all completely brainless. Nobody was going to stake his comfortable life on anything at all. Except Diogenese of Sinope. Later Socrates staked his life on something, and lost his life. For what ? To save face in front of the crowd of morons? This is also stupid. Not risking your life is stupid. And giving your life for the donkeys in the crowd is stupid. To become intelligent is to begin to exercise a new muscle, and come up with personal ideas, we can't just cling on to Plato's legs and think that's going to make us intelligent. It is a work to be done.

I will put some answers below, gradually, but will not cross examine with yours if that's okay. 0. On thought free awareness ? Awareness is a positive existential state and does not need to be thought free. But as uncontrolled negative thoughts are so damaging to humans they think only in terms of the cessation of thoughts ... and because of this fundamentally misunderstand their situation. It is in fact the establishment of Awareness (as a newly awakened centre) that causes the cessation of thoughts, and not the cessation of thoughts that uncovers Awareness already existing. 1. What is the means through which one knows one is in thought-free-awareness ? Our intelligence can detect we are in Awareness, and if we turn on the TV that we are lost in the world mind. What is the means ? Well when we "feel our heart" (meaning deep inside) ... how do we know ? When I see a lamp-post I recognize it. When I feel the centre of the heart I also recognize it. Is it the same ? No. One is an external recognition of object, the second is the inner-feeling-recognition of a subjective part of our soul ... 2 different channels of recognition using different beams of attention. One tuned to recognizing external objects, one the parts of the subject. 2. What is the means through which thought-free-awareness is lost ? Could say that you start to think and then drift into subconsciuos thoughts then you lose it, but this is a negative description. Truth is unless you wish to be established in Awareness, understand it and see it as yourself, you won't "hold it". Amongst other things this requires maturity and life experience, and the contrast of suffering, to understand the value of Awareness. 3. What is the origin of intelligence ? Will have to revisit this one. 4. What is the relationship between thought-free-awareness and the physical body and what is the meaning and implication of all experiencers seemingly have a physical body ? The implication is that the physical body is an essential part of Awareness and it is no mistake that awakened beings weren't phantasms but bodied beings. The physical body is the means for awakening, through a long chain of complex events and things happening. Once Awakening happens a new body is created, the halo is a visual manifestation of the higher body, which eventually grows from being just around the head. The sound OM is a description of a sound that occurs in the headspace once Awareness is present, it is the vibration of the new body (halo) that is the body of the Awareness. Awareness and all awakening is actually the splitting of the great soul, and the formation of a semi-independent intelligence. 5. Is thought-free-awareness localized to a certain area of the body ? Yes in the head. If I chop your legs off you will still have Awareness, but if I chop the head off then not. "Awareness" is at the front, "Consciousness" at the back (the halo). It is common to see enlightenment teachers like Mooji motioning their hands to "behind the head" to indicate what they feel, however they refrain from identifying locations as they are simply stealing the conceptual ideas left by Shankacharya etc.. and don't have the intelligence or conviction to come up with anything new. Although clearly they feel something different, they feel the location of Consciousness at the back of their head. 6. Do objects actually exist ? What does it mean when one person describes an "object" ? I believe the answer might be that we use the word "Object" to denote a primitive or embryonic type of recognition from a fragmented mind and doesn't have the feeling of connectedness with it. And this is what most humans are experiencing as their mind-recogntion is embryonic primitive and fragmented and also in bad faith. 7. ... and , how does one 'shift attention' when having ' pure thought-free awareness,' ? Shift attention how ? From objects to Awareness ? This is awakening ... energetic cultivation and integration of the centre of Awareness normally through transmission from teacher ... plus self-recognition will combust the centre into Awarnesss, keep on doing it and it becomes permanent. Or from Consciousness to Awareness ? Multiple centres can be awakened, the heart, dantien, Consciousness, and the inner-feeling-recognition can feel them all simultaneously or jump from one to another to abide in. Or from Awareness to external Objects ? This is the integration of the external world with your state of Awareness ... it is complex and most teachers can't be bothered and live in an Awareness path and discard their outer life. Walking meditation (zen style) and something like tai chi whilst maintaining Awareness can eventually integrate all together. Go slow.

Problem is the allegory describes the cause and solution to a major human problem, and it appears to be incorrect on both counts. But yes laughing is good. It is good to actually fix your problems also.

I am sorry this is a little long. The allegory of the cave is wrong, in my opinion. It's common for teachers / thinkers to blame everyone for being more stupid than "me". But in fact there is a very good reason the cave dwellers don't see truth. ( And one should not forget that often the teacher / thinker also does not see the truth ... and the story he tells, the allegory, is the story he tells himself ... and has not worked for him. ) Why can't people see reality ? Just wake up ! .... this doesn't work. Many teachers taught for decades and shouted at everyone to just wake up ... only to realise after decades that nobody understood them. And in fact the teachers did not understand the process of their own transformation, and so could help much and resorted to shouting. In the allegory it says that the soul is trapped in the cave, but this is not true. How can a soul be trapped ? To be a soul is to be untrapped. Therefore it is not the soul that is trapped, but only the potential for a soul. Like an acorn is the potential of a tree. In fact it may be more accurate to say that the world spirit is trapped in a number of bodies and only with care will the bodies effect the crystalization of the world spirit into individual beings, which are unique independent intelligences. The world spirit obviously doesn't need any help to be the world spirit, so the only thing that can change is the formation of something new. And so it is not wonder that people don't just leave the cave ... because they are not souls yet. And no amount of screaming at them can work. Existence is not entirely stupid. All the experiences here, family, pain, the seasons ... are there to cultivate you into souls. All required, it is through human life that you learn things, and only from those things will you turn to the Light. So one must engage with life. Now the problem is corruption. As the humans gain a tiny bit of intelligence in their journeys, they start to do many unsound things. They kill each other. They use their intelligence for exploitation. They lie to each other. Like foolish monkeys who have learnt a tiny thing and run with it. But what is most confusing is that they start telling everyone what to do, with their 2 new brain cells. And many speakers / philosophers are in this category. They adore to tell everyone what to do. Especially young people that are vulnerable to being especially f****ed up by listening to new ideas that lead them astray and whole generations lost. The "modern" world, mentalised and virtualised as it is ... removes people from the kinds of challenges that cause them to grow. It is a world designed to be fake. Education is often a question of being taught to be fake just like the rest of us .... anything else makes everyone feel their shame. But they are not very intelligent so even if you do feel shame it is not really feeling true shame, because humans are just not intelligent, we are chimpanzee +, that's all. That's why many people who have led others astray die smiling and can be sigh forgiven. Deeper currents : to awaken as an individual intelligence is a extremely jarring and painful shocking experience, like suddenly realising you exist. And chimpanzee+ is deeply afraid of such things, terrified, and rightly so. Humans are simply at a painful point in the development of beings, at this point they can easily and readily misbehave and destroy each other, and they do. Why does life allow this ? One reason may be that life wishes to create truly free beings, and so it does not assist people much, unless they truly ask. Life does not want mollicoddled fools. Another reason is that as you suffer, life suffers, so it knows your pain. And in the end, physical death is a great mercy to all people, so one can truly comfort oneself that it will be over one day. Hatred of sexuality, power, strength, goodness, love, and truth .... is deeply ingrained in human society and comes with roses. Compassion, oneness, selfishness ... and so on ... such words mask the deep hatred of anything Real inside you. So, Plato is just another unhelpful big mouth, and the truth is quite different. Comprehending the difficult nature of this passage, one can us an approach that is suitable. Perhaps an approach that combines wishing to know the truth of oneself, with rapid and unsmug work for advancement, demanding little else of life, might be suitable for the season that we find ourselves in.

Perhaps the experts out there can shed light on this. With single handed reeling it's pretty straight forward because the ground is transferred to the hand/elbow/shoulder through the dantien. But with two handed reeling you have arms going in 2 directions requiring 2 energies ... for instance upwards on the left and inwards on the right. So my questions are: 1. Is that correct about the dantien transmitting two energies simultaneously ? 2. What is the connection between ground / dantien / arm .... is there a double source of the energy, first from the earth, then from the dantien-well, or is it all coming from the dantien or earth ? Cheers

Does anyone have a suggestion for a DVD or book that teaches how to enable the Dantien to control the body. My understanding is that this is the result of Tai Chi practice, and I would like step by step inner exercises that result in this. Thanks

Has anyone actually achieve anything with alchemy, at all ? I can say that practising a basic fire & water type of qigong, it does seem to dislodge blockages but in a disturbing way, and I prefer the violet flame that I use for similar things .... in fact I use it to dissolve any invading energies, especially at the time of the full moon when they are around, like now. But in general dislodge blockages violently is not very good and can be conterproductive and is not my best way to do so because it fundamentally comes from a violent mind. Another more interesting type of experience is .... I was returning home on the bicycle on the seafront against high winds right in my fact, huge force was needed to keep moving. Anyway, I was feeling defeated and sad, but then I felt to meet that energy of negativity directly reconciling it with my honest will. And then I felt like I slid into a channel of energy that was outside of the struggle, a clear space, no suffering. That was a 4th Way type of experience. Other types of alchemy that I feel are valuable if not essential, are meeting every moment of life with real presence and doing a good job, and retaining a sense of yourself. Rather than drifting. This requires some effort-will-hope, and is a kind of alchemy, a meeting of life as it flows towards you. And it makes you feel real, and from that you can do things. As for the energy alchemy that various "taoisits" are doing .... I remain unconvinced. Often teachers seem only to be collecting energies or "levels", which is not spiritual in my opinion. Is the heart-soul-earth in people who wish for "energies" ? And what will you do with "energies" ? If someone chops wood every day and becomes strong, then that is great, that has purpose. But energy for energy's sake ? It can be useful to become sensitive to what is beyond the body, that's valuable. I sense that many alchemy taoist practices work for reasons that they don't realise, all this yellow red pill elixir cinnabar stuff ... could be much simplified. Additionally, alchemy instructions are very complicated and unclear, just look at this discussion. This is not good as we are not very intelligent as a species. Better to go for something simpler that is achievable - although everything is worth a shot. It is also clear to me that many practitioners of alchemy and taoist techniques are themselves-identity- not changing one bit, they just want a fur coat made of energy, or some story in their head that is exotic .... but they don't really want to change. Perhaps it could be a first step ? The book Wuji and the Secret of Immortality I believe gives the basic instructions of the enlightenment of the Taoist path and is very do-able, you won't find better. Why do I think this ? Because I recognize the inner work of the instructions as being quite identical to those given by an awakened Zen priest who although teaching in completely different way gives instructions that are virtually identical in their practice, and yes I practice them although Taoist immortality is not my main goal right now, and yes it does go deep. Many people don't want the answer, however.

Quite an interesting guy

If you have no real challenges in life and no-one to teach you how to respond to these challenges, then life becomes meaningless. Then you might consider it to be a "simulation", because everything that is real about it has been hidden from you.