Paradoxal

1 hour ago, freeform said:

Slightly different rules for cultivators - otherwise it’s generally sound advice  

Would you be willing to go into detail on this? It's something that I'd love to learn about as someone still fairly fresh on the cultivation path.

1 hour ago, Scholar said:

There is no "internal kung fu" that works in a fight. Xu Xiadong is proving it by defeating big internal masters with no effort at all

You clearly misunderstand the significance of "internal" or "external" methods, and that is fine; it's a common misunderstanding, afterall. "External" methods are more commonly used in MMA, and these can include lifting weights, punching boards, etc. "Internal" methods simply are another tool of building ability, much like lifting weights or punching hard objects to strengthen the fists. While internal methods *can* lead to much more fulfilling things compared to fighting, they do not make a fighter without training specifically designed to produce a fighter. You can lift weights for years, but never develop the ability to punch hard or take a hard punch, let alone the strategy, visual acuity, reflexes, or conditioning required to step in a ring; internal training is much the same, it's simply a tool in the toolbox. You still require reflex training, body conditioning, and practice against a live opponent, one that will hit back and take a hit. 

I practice a system that is a mix of internal and external training, and I find it to be quite useful in a fight (and I have used it multiple times to resolve situations on the street). That said, I do not find it to *only* be useful in a fight, and that is not the point of learning a martial art in the first place. If I solely wanted to learn how to defend myself, I would carry a gun. Only around 10 hours of training required maximum, and it can get you through most sticky situations where I live. Much less time needs to be spent, and much less overall money and effort required for the classes. If I wanted to learn how to fight effectively barehanded, I would only need to learn three hand movements at max, with four leg movements at max. This is how many combat sports are taught, and it is why you don't exactly see many variations of strikes in these sports despite the wide variety of options out there. You only need to be able to attack from straight or round with both arms and legs, and be able to get in and out of range. What creates a strong fighter is an understanding of how to apply said movements, not what specific movements they subscribe to (though, a more efficient system can certainly help). 

In addition, I don't know your personal experience with fighting, but I think it worthy to mention the sheer physical fitness of anyone getting into the ring professionally. A professional fighter is going to be extremely fit; much more fit than most who are professional teachers (though, some said fighters retain that fitness even after retirement, so there are teachers who are indeed at that level still). I haven't seen the "big internal masters" being beaten, but I would question if they are kitted out to fight to begin with? Throwing a kitten into a pit with a hungry lion would hardly be a good way to judge the merits of various species of feline, no? 

When looking into it, *if* that stick was actually the method of the curse, it is important to look at the type of wood (including whether it was a branch or part of the trunk), the direction that the hairs are wrapped (clockwise, counterclockwise, mixed, what ratio, what length, etc.), and the time/day it was left there (approximately). I'm not versed in this sort of magic, but I know that those small details matter quite a bit. Since it was wrapped with your hair, you may have been the target rather than him, but again, I don't know enough to say for sure; they could have been targeting him using you as a relay.

Here's hoping you find an answer.

3 hours ago, helpfuldemon said:

Have you tried smoking pot?

Even if this was a joke, I would like to throw in that smoking pot *will* cause problems with meditation, and will literally never help someone get closer to mastery of this. It re-contaminates the system that meditation works on decontaminating, thus undoing your effort. 

11 hours ago, Jadespear said:

time isn't an illusion in the literal sense, it exists...

Something being an illusion does not mean that it does not exist. 

11 hours ago, Jadespear said:

time gives shape to everything.

That is only the way it appears on the surface. By looking a little deeper, you may see a different picture entirely.

11 hours ago, Jadespear said:

I challenge you to expand on the illusory aspect you claim, while using the knowledge you have, not what you read.

How can I describe to a blind man what it is like to see? I describe what I see myself, and yet it is taken as a fantasy! How laughable indeed! It would be worth looking into Plato's Allegory of the Cave, friend! I believe that it can describe this better than I would on a forum post, but unfortunately, that in itself is simply "what you read"! 

I think you're uncomfortable looking past the cover of the book, and that is fine. It's perfectly natural to want to stop at the brink of the unknown, and come back with the experience of coming close to it, but it is quite rewarding to take that one extra step in. As for time itself, look at dream time. Look at the differences in how we "experience" life day-to-day, as the years go by. A year for a child feels like an eternity, and yet a year for an adult feels like nothing at all! A minute of anticipation lasts much longer than ten minutes of fun, and yet funtime is much longer objectively! Some dreams can last years while only taking an hour to conjure, and some martial artists can enter a time-free state via focus. Time is something entirely irrelevant to experience, and yet we always attempt to place our experiences in time itself. 

1 minute ago, Nungali said:

Wanker has similar meanings and overtones to American pejoratives like jerk or jerk-off.^[4] More generally, wanker can carry suggestions of egotistical and self-indulgent behaviour and this is the dominant meaning in Australia and New Zealand.^[5]

So THAT's what "Wanko Soba" is named for!

Is it not entertaining to see people take a simple theory personally?

I don't know if your theory is correct, @dmattwads, but I find the gut response of many to be quite an amusing example of lack of self awareness. That said, I don't think it's *just* kidney jing deficiency that causes it. It's likely a combination of factors, and not all "trolls" do so for the same reason. Nungali, for instance, "trolls" in a helpful way. He makes fun of others in an attempt to let them see the folly of their ways, almost like a mischievous fae. This sort of thing is often referred to as "trolling", but I very much doubt it is what you are referring to as "trolling". Why not use a more specific definition of the behavior you're referring to?

I have read that White tiger has a habit of bringing out hard-to-control anger when clearing the meridians, but I do not know if it is true or not. It would be something I suggest looking into if you're looking at picking it up.

2 hours ago, dmattwads said:

Why is it that differing view are seen so often as wrong rather than simply an alternative perspective about basically the same thing?

This is because humans are specialized in exclusion. We exclude things that we are not familiar with because they are potential risks. This is how we survived before we were "civilized", and it is also what leads to the tribal mentality. It's simple to see this trait in pretty much every other animal out there as well; if it's not taught to be accepting of something, it will view it with suspicion. If you don't know what a plant is, would you eat it? What if your parents raised you with that plant in your diet? It's that sort of thing.

As said trait applies to spirituality and ideas, along with more physical aspects of life, even the most pure ideologies would eventually develop sections that believe it to be the only thing out there. Now, it can be taught that everyone has a valid opinion, but one person who believes that their opinion is the only valid opinion can easily ruin that. Such a development easily happens when the teachings are taught by those who do not understand them, such as many of the current and past church officials (Look at how it was taught during the middle ages, and compare it what the book actually says). In cases such as these, said people use the "My view is the only right view!" as a power move, to keep them at the top and others below them.

Nonetheless, I find it easiest to view this as part of a cycle. A "religion" is born when one "enlightened" individual (not exactly a buddha per se, but more like someone with some insight into what's beyond) decides to teach disciples, and those disciples decide to teach the message to others. Eventually, the teachings spread outside of what was originally taught, and those teaching no longer understand the teachings. Once this happens, corruption strikes, and the downfall of the religion begins. During the downfall of a religion, a new individual is born and starts a new religion, which continues the cycle. If we view the different bits of Christianity (Roman Catholic, Calvinist, Lutheran, Protestant, etc.), Judaism, Islam, and the Pagan religions of the Romans and Greeks, and look at the overall history, we begin to see something of a pattern. When a religion falls, it doesn't always disappear, but its ability to recruit and the peoples' trust in it lowers. 

That's my take on it, anyway. I'd love to hear other peoples' opinions as well, as this is something I've been concerned about as well!

If you are questioning where qi comes from, I would say that it's not from this particular plane of existence, and thus would not be subject to our laws of physics. When approaching this subject, it would be more appropriate to use eastern science (think yin/yang as a measuring stick) compared to western science (think a device as a measuring stick). This isn't something I've gone too in-depth in myself, but all the explanations for qi that I have heard from people trying to make it understandable from a western scientific perspective were easily debunked. 

As for the idea that qi is plasma, the biggest issue I have with it is that plasma does not have a way to create all of the same phenomena that qi can create (the biggest one I can think of is body reinforcement, which I can't see a good way to accomplish with plasma as I understand it). That said, it would be rather nice if western science eventually reached an understanding of qi, but I don't think that will happen for as long as our measuring sticks are physical in nature. 

6 minutes ago, old3bob said:

what are your  motives and or reasons for the things you speak of doing to contact "higher forces".

I found these things out by experimenting with what works best for me. Some were inspired by other rules I've heard of, but I personally tested what worked and what didn't. My initial motive in contacting said beings was a combination of curiosity and malice, as I did not like the idea of there being anything that could affect me without me seeing it. In addition to said motives, curiosity about who I am, what this world is, and why we're here were also certainly motivating midway through. Now, it's mostly a relationship of teacher and student, where I learn what I can from who I can. 

2 hours ago, old3bob said:

ok, but what is your motive or reason for reception and as related to purity, if you don't mind me asking?

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. Could you rephrase that? 

5 minutes ago, dwai said:

Yes there are two kinds of knowledge  

The transactional knowledge of the transactional reality -- that's stuff one can learn in schools, colleges, by experience etc. In the Vedantic tradition we call this "paroksha" jnana. This includes scriptural knowledge as well. 

There is another kind of knowledge, which is of the absolute reality -- this we call aparoksha jnana -- This can only be known in an instant, via a flash of direct apperception (some teachers might say, a flash of intuition). The Zen tradition would call it "Satori". 

You have just immensely helped me by saying this. I've never really known what to call it, but I now have a name for it. "Satori"? Do you know of other systems that have names for this as well?

11 hours ago, EFreethought said:

For some reason, the formatting in my reply to Paradoxal was messed up. To repeat: How do you contact these beings? Do you do it through some form of meditation/astral projection? Or does it happen spontaneously? Or some combination?

I'm still unable to do a full astral projection (as in completely leaving the body), but it does depend. Sometimes, I will do a mental projection (which is where I have somewhat split consciousness, as in I still have awareness of my body, but I can see, hear, and feel things in the astral), sometimes they decide to visit me and I feel a presence of sorts, which I then check via mental projection, and sometimes I call out to them by mentally saying their name with intention to call out to them. The most common way I interact now is the latter, but that only gets do-able once you are able to completely empty your mind of thoughts and keep it that way. I find that if your mind isn't completely empty, it's extremely hard to tell the difference between stray thoughts and the responses of said beings. Sometimes, I have to repeat questions multiple times to get a reliable answer. 

9 hours ago, old3bob said:

the more concentrated the honesty, sincerity and need of the signal sent then the more likely that signal will be answered...for the law of the universe works to reach out to the hand that reaches for it. (then again there is that saying,  "be careful what you ask for" and also "to whom much is given much is expected".  

Tying in, I find the things that improve my receptiveness to such messages include "purity", as in not being sexually active for a time, having a full amount of qi, and having entirely unaffected consciousness (no caffeine, no alcohol, no drugs). Sometimes though, I will get either a garbled answer or a simple "I'm not allowed to tell you that yet".

2 minutes ago, dmattwads said:

From a TCM POV schizophrenia is treatable but it's not easy, and does not resolve quickly. It also takes a lot of treatments.

Then it would likely be best for him to go get some TCM treatment, as western medicine does not possess a permanent cure (if I am understanding you correctly to mean that it has a cure!).

1 hour ago, dmattwads said:

I would be interested to hear your take on demons and demonic possession?

I've had a few run-ins with demons and demonic possession, but none of them were similar to what you'd see in the movies. At most, I've seen people lose memories of events, have someone else controlling their body, and/or going animalistic. Usually, however, what ends up happening is said victims hear sounds following them (such as footsteps, dragging chains, breathing, etc.), they develop unusual interests (One such person was possessed by an incubus; they heard dragging chains behind them at random, developed an unusual sex drive, and was always tired), or have general fatigue. I've never come across one that starts levitating or something of that sort, though I won't dismiss the possibility. The difference between possession and mental illness lies in the level of energetics involved; usually, it's easy to tell at a glance based on the feel of the person involved. It's similar to the feeling when you meet a highly developed person, except inverse. 

58 minutes ago, helpfuldemon said:

Ive since battled schizophrenia and feel demonically possessed.  

Running into my previous statement, there's a difference between being possessed and being mentally ill. Your energy feels like that of schizophrenia, though, of course, I can't give you an official diagnosis. I would seriously suggest looking into methods of correcting or compensating for your system as compared to potential exorcisms. That said, if you are possessed, it would not surprise me given the interests you've shown, but I feel like the root of your issue lies elsewhere. 

Another important thing to note is that as much as I dislike psychiatric medicines, they do provide a perfect bandaid for some issues that are hard to fully fix. I'm not qualified to help you with this, but what I'm saying is from experience with others who had schizophrenia, combined with my own experiences with the US mental health system. I don't know enough about TCM to know if it can help you better than western medicine, but I would suggest looking for potential solutions before focusing on the demonic aspect. 

5 minutes ago, dmattwads said:

Very interesting. In your opinion (since you say you met the Christian God) would you say the Christian God is synonymous with the Jewish God or not? 

They're nearly indistinguishable, but it's been pointed out to me that *technically* the Christian god and the Islam god are both split-offs of the Jewish god, in that they were originally one being until their followers' combined delusions ended up splitting them. 

7 minutes ago, dmattwads said:

What would you say the general feel of the Christian God was?

I would say that it felt rather powerful, and certainly full of "light", but it felt like it was a facade. If I were to compare it to something physical, it's like a person pretending to shine with light while paying someone to always shine a spotlight on them from afar. I'm not sure if gods work the same way as us in terms of mental functions, but it almost gave off a narcissistic feeling, like it thought it was more than it actually was. It certainly was more powerful than most humans, but that power felt off for some reason (my personal theory is that said feeling was from the way its followers affected it, as gods and their followers are intrinsically linked). It did give me truthful answers to my questions, and felt rather genuine in its desire to help humans, but it still struck me as odd.

I have just realized that I had failed to mention one other deity that I've technically interacted with, but said deity was one of chaos. I don't know its name, but one of my friends has a habit of getting possessed by it. Not really much to say about this one, other than the fact that it's quite annoying when it possesses my friend. I've included this for the sake of a truthful response, but I honestly don't think there's much I can really say about this one.

40 minutes ago, dmattwads said:

May I ask how this came to pass initially? Who contacted you? What did they say? ect...

I believe I covered this in a previous thread with you, but it was Archangel Michael. Completely shattered my worldview at the time, and I would like to think it led me to change for the better.

As for the gods that contacted me, my patron is one from a well-known pantheon, but I've been forbidden to give its identity out by said god for whatever reason. I met my patron through work with a guide spirit, though it seems that its been helping me without my knowledge from before I became spiritually aware. I speak with my patron from time to time whenever I have serious questions that can't be answered in normal ways, but we do not chat much. The other ones that I have contact with and have discussed this to some length were the Christian god, and a local Japanese deity that never gave me his name. The Japanese deity resided in Asakusa, near Sensoji Temple (I'm unsure whether he was residing *in* the temple or not, as he never specified); this one looked like an elderly man dressed in Han Dynasty-era scholarly clothes. I'm not even sure on his location of origin, but he had a certain presence that I've only seen from rather powerful gods (specifically, the others were my patron deity and the Christian god). This particular deity helped me with a detox of some particularly bad energy and provided me pointers on better practices to engage in. 

I have interacted with one other god, but that particular god was not friendly; it was one that took a penchant to controlling humans, messing with memories, etc. It was not a high level god, as the others I mentioned were, and it was one that could be overpowered by powerful humans or groups of mages. Said god dwelled in a large, glowing-white library in the astral, with many spirits around it serving it and gathering information; the spirits were usually human in shape, and acted as if they were in an automated "company" of sorts, though it was much more "robotic"-feeling in their actions, almost as if they were just dolls without minds. It had an asura-like appearance, with bull-like horns sprouting out of its forehead, four arms, and a large bushy mane around its ape-like face. It appeared in formal attire, and appeared to be very muscular (though, it wasn't physical, so I suppose this is just the shape its spirit chose to take?). I met it in an area that appeared like a fancy office of sorts, but again, this was the astral, so things certainly were not as stable in appearance or function as the physical. The general modus operandi of this particular one was to lead a group of puppets to gather and preserve information, and it was extremely protective of its puppets in an odd way; it did not care if any of them were lost, but it refused to give them away or let their former minds take over their bodies once more. I am not aware of this particular deity had a name, but if it did, it was probably not very famous in the human world.

3 minutes ago, dmattwads said:

This is an interesting theory. What do you base it upon?

Directly from the gods I have contact with, though, I realize the health of a skeptical look at this sort of source. 

I started my path due to the interference of those of divine origin, so I've naturally been quite interested in figuring out how such beings tick and have spent quite a lot of time looking for answers in this particular subject.

8 minutes ago, old3bob said:

I'd add that some gods and certain beings are born/emanated  that way and remain that way throughout the cosmic cycle thus never go through the valid processes you've mentioned.   I'm no expert on the subject and only have limited experiences but know enough that some of the beings are compassionate and tolerant towards humans while others are are keenly stern and sharp as a razor and "do not suffer fools gladly" if at all...and then there is Lord Yama

Yes, one of the most common ways for gods to be born is via human invention. Technically speaking, if one person even believes in the concept of a god, said god comes into existence. However, in most cases, such a god would be as fragile as a dried leaf in the wind. One major exception to this would be when religions branch off into different sections, and their believers end up accidentally "splitting" a god. Such a process creates two weaker deities from one stronger deity, and each one of these new deities retains much of the personality of the old. Depending on how the process unfolds, it could replace the original, split its duties, or even create two near-duplicate entities that fight for supremacy. If you want to see how such a process could happen, look at Judaism, Christianity, and Islam for an example. The dogma changes brought on by human arrogance and greed within these religions ended up creating different deities from one root entity, and vastly weakened said entity's influence. 

3 hours ago, old3bob said:

many dismiss gods (and angles) as superstition or as unimportant...but without them us humans who dismiss them as unimportant or deny them altogether would not exist.  How about that catch...

Angles are an extremely important part of geometry!

...Jokes aside, there's a certain level of development people need to be at in order to even perceive the divine in most situations. The first time I saw an angel was while I was asleep, and I still can't truly see them with my physical eyes (but I can summon them and feel their presence when they decide to drop in). As for the divine, they're at a higher level so it's even harder to sense. Of the gods I've interacted with, two of them made themselves known purposefully with an offer of help, one of them I reached through a mutual connection, and one of which was the one that likes to claim there are no others, and I met him through a series of coincidences. I wasn't capable of seeing any of them with my physical sight, and was only able to see them through projections, but I have taken the time to confirm the things they have said and claimed to have done, and have found them to be true. 

As for the idea that humans can't exist without the divine, I would say it's much more complex than that. A pyramid is built from the ground up, and likewise, higher spiritual beings generally got their foundations from lower spiritual beings. Some gods were created from human delusion, others are former humans, and even more were created as divergences in thought came about. This world is indeed something of a playground for higher beings, but that's only due to the fact that they have gone past our current level. A world-class tennis player could certainly play with beginners, and would certainly smash them, but said world-class most likely started as a beginner in the first place. Likewise, without the world-class athletes to inspire those outside of the game, much less beginners would even attempt to get better at the sport. The same can be said of the relationship between the divine and the baser classes. 

I started learning martial arts for two reasons: I wanted to learn more about using internal energy, and I wanted to learn how to protect myself without using weapons or magic. After starting in Traditional Wing Chun, the first three or so years were completely physical only. Sifu would actively deny that chi was more than breathing, and would purposefully steer us to only focus on learning how to fight and defend ourselves efficiently. I kept with it, as I've had to use self-defense stuff we'd been taught already, and knew that it worked well. Eventually, Sifu invited me to a neigong seminar, which is when he started acknowledging the more internal aspects of our system. Now, as I've done a bit more research, I see TWC as an interesting combination of a health-boosting qigong system and a pragmatic combat martial art. Yes, there are internal aspects. Yes, there are external aspects. Some things are kept from lower level practitioners due to their current development level (which includes your mental state!), and some things are truly as simple as they say. If you were to look through my posts on this forum, I think it would be pretty easy to see that I'm fairly new to this rodeo still, so I've clearly not learned all there is in the art I actively practice; but I still learn things from every class I take, and I practice outside of class often to help reinforce the things I learn.

As for MMA, I think it is important to remember the meaning of "MMA". "Mixed Martial Arts" is what it stands for. It's supposed to be a melting pot of various systems, and I think that's a beautiful thing, but if you start learning MMA without having a foundation in a single martial art, you won't get very far. The thing that sets professional fighters apart is their sheer athleticism, as well as their consistency, rather than their technique (though, oftentimes, their technique is still quite decent!). I recall a retired professional wrestler coming into class one day, and showing us his "warmup" routine. None of the advanced students could even get halfway through it! It was quite simple too, as he went from a squat to a bridge to a handstand and back to a squat (like a flip, almost), but the entire movement took him around five minutes to complete one rep. He took a simple exercise and did it extremely slow, which made it extremely challenging. 

Sifu has always told us "An amateur will learn a technique until he can do it right, but a professional will learn a technique until he can do it right at any time, at all times, no matter the situation."

6 hours ago, helpfuldemon said:

Everything is bound to time, what do you suggest isnt?

Nothing is bound to time, as time itself is an illusion. What we experience as "time" is just a construct of the realm we are currently in, and as soon as one leaves said realm, time becomes a nonfactor. It's why various experiences completely ignore the concept of time.

6 hours ago, dmattwads said:

Then why do you dismiss God out of hand? And what causes you to think there are any immortals then? What do you base this belief on?

"Gods" are different in nature compared to "immortals". Their source is different. If I had to try to put it into words, which is quite an impossible task, I would compare immortals to highly evolved animals, whereas gods are more like highly evolved plants? Naturally, it is not meant literally, but their root nature is entirely different. 

Anything that is different compared to the standard will be targeted, so it is better to remain in obscurity. Those attuned to the dao will be satisfied being water sitting in puddles, rather than water gushing out of fountains. 

2 minutes ago, Nungali said:

I ended up quitting as people wanted mundane results ; predictions about money sex power love and holidays and NOT the really valuable advice  and systems tarot contains .

That's not surprising, but it is saddening in a way.

As a college student, though, this does give me some hope of income, so I appreciate you bringing up the possibility of using tarot as a profession. I'd probably end up doing most of it online, but perhaps it could work for me.