old3bob

that is true, btw our oven came with Wi-Fi capability which we sure didn't need or want, imagine someone putting the wrong settings in remotely and burning up whatever is in the oven! And if you can't operate it without certain software or wi-fi then you could be SOL when it comes time to use it.

its amazing how many of us take modern conveniences for granted; electricity being a major one along with water on tap, heat from the furnace, AC, handy phones, pc's, vehicles to drive around in, grocery stores, etc.., imagine if we all had to go back to the early 1800's without such....

I like thin crust with reduced cheese now since I don't need all the carbs and fat from a super deep dish; btw. the company that sells fresh take home and cook it yourself pizza is my favorite, more so with its 20% discount for vets!

I was trying to find the cat thread started by Taomeow to post there but didn't...anyway I came across some health tips for cats that some people may be interested in, there is an advertisement angle to it but the info sounds pretty good concerning dubious big name cat food suppliers that put only god know what into their cat food being that there is little or no regulations for same! For instance pet foods with all sorts of fillers and grains that are not good or detrimental to your cats health. The vets name and cat food product is from Dr. Marty which can easily be found with a web search. And I'm pretty sure there are other vets that are in agreement with his warnings about all the fillers in cat and dog food since they are supposed to be mostly be eating like carnivores.

exactly, and which has been going on all over. There are also huge corporations pushing for a lot of good land and even wilderness to have giant industrial sites put in those areas which would then take maybe thousands+ years for the land to regenerate once stripped! Luke and Learner, you are right about making the incremental moves you mentioned, since few people can go back to living off any lands that might support them. Even many of those who are off grid still have all sorts of helpful modern equipment like chainsaws, snowmobiles, various tools, supplies from town, solar power, etc... I lived for about a year and a half in a shack out in the woods without electricity, running water, natural gas or propane for heating or cooking. It was not easy (especially in the winter with only an axe for chopping firewood) but I was younger, stronger and simpler back then (and dumber in some ways) ! Getting an occasional hot shower in town at a friends house was a delightful luxury!

my old cat brought its rabbit kill home to share with me, so I made well cooked rabbit stew out of it.

I'm commenting more on the subject and not meaning against you personally. Anyway I'd also say transcendence is non-evolutionary _______ and beyond the fray, but evolution is not beyond the fray and some masters (of transcended realization) work with that, thus not in denial of it as we sometimes hear...

no offense meant Maddie but your pictures kind of remind me of the song "Bette Davis eyes"...

Umm, that still sounds like a form of distinguishing, although not violent as much of what is happening in the world. Another form of distinguishing is in speaking or thinking in a philosophically condescending way, for instance, "everyone is a Buddha they just don't know it yet", or "everyone is the Self they just don't know it yet", etc. x100. So I'd observe that as long as we are part of (or identified with) a dualistic world of divided beingness (and mind sets) we are not and can not be above or beyond good and evil, for only at the Source (and a few steps after?) that is beyond any duality and all of its permutations can we truly declare that there is not good and evil in action, otherwise to me that saying is more or less wishful & half-baked or quasi-intellectual thinking that holds no water. (also when impressionistically or foolishly misapplied can be dangerous )

Sounds very serious there! Speaking of horses, there were once a lot more wild horses in the American west that one could go out and see but many have been rounded up over the years and either trained and then adopted by horse people or killed by government agencies. Part of the reason was because of pressure from cattle and sheep owners who did not want any competition from wild horses eating up grazing food that they wanted for their stock, another was the horses populations in some areas was also getting out of hand. (and granted some measures had to be taken since the lands they were in could only support so many of them until they were badly impacted health wise from lack of natural resources, although mankind tends to over-kill in such cases.

I was trying to find the cat thread started by Taomeow to post there but didn't...anyway I came across some health tips for cats that some people may be interested in, there is an advertisement angle to it but the info sounds pretty good concerning dubious big name cat food suppliers that put only god know what into their cat food being that there is little or no regulations for same! For instance pet foods with all sorts of fillers and grains that are not good or detrimental to your cats health. The vets name and cat food product is from Dr. Marty which can easily be found with a web search. And I'm pretty sure there are other vets that are in agreement with his warnings about all the fillers in cat and dog food since they are supposed to be mostly be eating like carnivores.

many cats will know in a second or two if you are cat person or not...

even domesticated cats that get outside a lot retain a certain amount of wildness and hunting traits, as in clearing out all the free roaming mice and some other critters. (including over populated rabbits which we had some of) I remember seeing something on TV years ago where parts of Australia had major rabbit over-population? Then again too many cats may kill to many critters...

Btw, we had a very good cat for 14 years but he got some type of cancer in his right shoulder and leg. A vet said he could could cut it out but that the cat would then be very crippled. We decided not to do that to him since he spent a lot time outdoors doing cat stuff and him needing all four legs to do so. Well he did not suffer too much from the cancer while still with us and continued his outdoor activities for more than year until one day he did not come home. We figured he fought his last battle with a feral cat or fox that got the better of him. I hate to think that back then we may have helped bring on the cancer since we were feeding him big name cat food!

There is a difference between the "bad" that many of us get may get involved with or commit as basically normal human beings with varying degrees of conscience but at least we have that; such is not to be confused with or lumped in with the evil that demonic forces are committing that have zero conscience as we know it, they laugh in evil glee and take any advantage they can get over human beings that fall for such a misunderstanding! A really evil thing is when a human being has lost their human conscience and have willingly joined with that demonic nature. Only advanced masters should and can truly deal with such demonic forces one on one while and granted the rest of us can take well known protective measures, I'd say for anyone else to walk around saying there is no difference between good and evil is espousing a dangerous quasi-intellectual reality...btw. hungry and malicious evil is not picky about what souls it can steal, enthrall, torment and harm!!

ok, I agree "Buddha nature" is the same across the board but souls are definitely not, (and lets not forget that apparently some sects of Buddhism do not accept the teaching of Buddha nature) Btw. I'd say if you find yourself in awe of evil other than in an horrific way then someone like 45 could use you.

If we are breaking the hell out of dharma should we expect the same respect and reactions as those who are not? And if we have to check a wishy-washy meter for an answer to that question- good luck.

"Bad moon a-rising" literally....

Take Back Your Power: Let Go of Blame and Focus on the Lesson, By Christine Rodriguez “When you blame others, you give up your power to change.” ~Robert Anthony Blame is seductive because it makes us right and them wrong. For a moment, it feels good to say, “It was their fault,” but in the long run holding on to blame only hurts us and does absolutely nothing to help our evolution. In fact, it keeps us stuck. But, I get it. When we feel wronged, upset, and angry, that person is the only one to blame. I understand that some things are so egregious and so unforgivable that it seems impossible to not default to blame. It’s almost instinctual. We are hard wired to blame. But I have come to learn the hard way that when we blame others, we avoid seeing the truth about ourselves. When we focus on what someone else did wrong, we’re not able to see our part and learn about what we need to do differently going forward. A while ago, I was in a toxic relationship that brought out the worst in me. I felt like I was the most incompetent and unlovable human being on this planet. My self-esteem was nonexistent. I gave far too much of myself in the name of love, without ever checking in with my heart or my body to feel whether this journey was serving me. Ultimately, as I abandoned myself, the relationship abandoned me: She cheated on me. After giving endlessly to this relationship, that was my payback. And just to add a cherry on top, she stole from me. I didn’t recognize myself. I was stripped of many things. I lost my ability to trust myself and others. I lost the ideals I’d once had about love. I lost respect for myself. I ignored my intuition. I forgot to honor the sacredness and preciousness of my heart. I lost my confidence. I lost my innocence. For a minute, I thought I had lost my soul. I felt completely empty. I remember that the blame, the anger, and the frustration were blinding. Every word I spoke and every thought that crossed my mind had one theme: I was the victim and she was wrong. I would happily share my story endlessly, and I made myself right every single time—and boy did it feel good to badmouth her over and over again. But when the dust settled a bit and I was able to step back from my anger-filled stupor, I realized that I was tired of this story. I was done with it. I was ready to do some healing because the burden of carrying blame and anger was weighing me down. It was heavy. What had happened no longer mattered; my desire to heal was greater than my desire to hold on to this story. With my journal in hand, some lavender in the air, and tears streaming down my face, I took three deep breaths, summoned the energy of blame, and for the first time I asked myself: “How did I contribute to this? What do I need to learn from this?” I then said, “Universe, I am ready to release this story. Show me the way.” My mind was screaming, “What! How dare you ask this question?” But my heart was proud of this because it was a moment of deep truth. This was a teachable moment for me. I stayed with the feeling as I closed my eyes and allowed the anger to consume me. And in that tornado of anger inside of me, I finally received insight. Once the storm inside me passed, I realized that I had never once spoke my truth in that relationship. I ignored every single red flag from the beginning. I had this notion that I could save people from themselves. I was arrogant in thinking that my love would heal anyone. I wanted to fix the world. I wanted to fix her. I abandoned myself. Then I asked, “But how can life do this to me when I was so giving, so genuine, and so authentic with my love?” The insight that came from that question was, “That’s not love, that’s self-abuse. It is not your job to save anyone.” And the lessons kept pouring in: From a spiritual perspective, and on a soul level, I know that it is beautiful to love everyone, but in this physical plane, we must pay attention to how people are showing up for us. We can’t ignore mistreatment or unhealthy behaviors in the name of love. We can love from afar, we can love from the other end of the world, but that doesn’t mean that we need to stay in a relationship with anyone who is on a very different path or with someone who is clearly living a highly toxic life. This blame that I was carrying came back to me tenfold. I was really just angry with myself for allowing something outside of me to have so much power over me, and for allowing something outside of me to override my own intuition and feelings. These realizations laid a foundation for my healing. From that moment, I became more conscious in my interactions. My boundaries strengthened and my relationship with myself began to flourish. I still had, and will forever have, a lot of work to do, but the minute I was willing to release blame I recharged my energy and took back my power. I realized that I do not want to be the passive observer in my life. I want to be as conscious as possible. In this moment of truth, I also learned that self-love is realizing that our bodies and our health are sacred, and holding on to blame destroys us on a physical, spiritual, and emotional level. The biggest epiphany I had is that we all came here to learn lessons, and some of the lessons will seem unfair, and occasionally way worse than what I share here. But I learned to surrender to this belief—the belief that my soul came here to learn lessons and that, if I can become the happy and willing student, there is so much wisdom to be gained from these moments of darkness. After feeling anger and blame for a while, most of us, myself included, just want to find some way to escape the pain, but if we simply ignore our feelings, we also shut down the message. I understand that this is one of the hardest things we as humans can do, but I promise you that there are treasures inside of you waiting to be uncovered during each moment of darkness. I realize that every instance of hurt warrants a different degree of blame, and the anger will vary. Some lessons will undoubtedly be much harder than others. But in the end, if we’re willing to surrender to these lessons and love ourselves through the most painful abuse and injustice, we will rise as warriors. We will rise as light workers. We will rise as healers. We will be the light in someone’s dark world. We will gain insight. We will have a chance to do it over in a different way. It’s time to take your power back. Begin today, pick any moment of darkness in your world, and start with this question: What do I need to learn from this? Breathe and just listen. Your body knows the answers.

Thanks for sharing your descriptive and personal reflections Bindi! Btw. in your studies what teachings have you come across for the end game of the casual or evolving soul body? (while teachings on the Self say it never has and never does evolve for then it could it also devolve...)

Yep, been a long time since I read that one...

so we can say cats have Buddha nature or Taoist nature....

consider substituting the somewhat mechanical sounding word "transmission" with Grace and try going from there...

well said, I'd comment on this paragraph, "It seems equally impossible to know whether or not a lineage or any member of it is enlightened either; and when we claim another is enlightened or not, we present ourself as a qualified observer and arbiter capable of assessing such" I'd say it is possible but not by "normal" means with or per the problems you mention, but by esoteric/mystical means, for the Self knows the Self by the Self which may sound like circular mumbo jumbo but it is not... (and such being intimate would not be made into a public spectacle)