BigSkyDiamond

i would be interested to hear from practitioners in those paths mentioned (bold above) regarding the view that Jesus and Buddha are "magicians." My understanding is that while psychic abilities may (and often do) develop as a byproduct of this or that path, they are a byproduct and not the destination. Whereas in magic, the "psychic power" (or "supernatural" power) to control and manipulate IS the goal and destination . I had it explained to me this way some time ago: The development of psychic powers is not considered the primary goal but rather a by-product of the spiritual journey toward Nirvana. The Buddha cautioned against becoming attached to or seeking out these powers, as they can be a distraction from the ultimate goal of spiritual liberation.

no it is not just semantics. and no it is not just another word for the same thing. That would make for a good thread topic, for those who seek to (a) clarify explore understand the difference between magic and divinity, and (b) differentiate between them. just like there is a difference between big G "God" and little g "gods." It would be interesting to hear from many who may be on a variety of paths, regarding their own frames of reference. My understanding (frame of reference) is that magic is not a path to divinity. Rather it is an obstacle, barrier, impediment. Since this thread topic is "God interacting with humans" a different thread might prevent it from going too far off topic. On the other hand, anyone whose path includes God, then those views on magic are relevant to the topic. As it relates to "God interacting with humans"

pops needle in arm of chair where I sew, peaceful calm embroidering.

And from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance 2022 article, Antisemitism defined: Dehumanization, demonization, and stereotypes "A common antisemitic trope associates the Jewish people with the devil or other demonic elements."

what does it mean to demonize? de·mon·ize verb "portray as wicked and threatening" (Oxford Languages) "portray (someone or something) as evil or as worthy of contempt" (Merriam Webster) "To try to make someone or a group of people seem as if they are evil. The Nazis used racist propaganda in an attempt to demonize the Jews." (Cambridge Dictionary) source dictionaries shown for each entry above

And how is that noteworthy for you? In what way?

AI (Artifical Intelligence) is not a credible or reliable source of information. It not only has (a) built-in inaccuracy, but (b) the inaccuracy increases and grows and gets worse over time. Inaccuracies and mistakes and errors not only appear, they propagate and spread and multiply over time. When information is not available, AI invents false answers and fabricates data and sources and information including URL fabrication. For instnace, research at Columbia University shows AI cites incorrect sources 60% of the time. (Researchers ran 1,600 inquiries across 8 different platforms. ) The premium paid versons delivered incorrect information more often then their free counterparts. AI can not interpret or distinguish between what is correct or incorrect information "As of 2023, a typical AI model isn't assessing whether the information it provides is correct. Its goal when it receives a prompt is to generate what it thinks is the most likely string of words to answer that prompt. Sometimes this results in a correct answer, but sometimes it doesn’t – and the AI cannot interpret or distinguish between the two. It’s up to you to make the distinction. AI can be wrong in multiple ways: It can give the wrong answer It can omit information by mistake It can make up completely fake people, events, and articles It can mix truth and fiction AI is "just mimicking reasoning, rather than actually performing that reasoning.” Reliability is just not there with AI. In March an AI tool correctly identified prime numbers from a list 96.7% of the time. Three months later in June of the same year, the same AI platform, the same task, the same list, but only 2.7% were correctly identified. AI is simply not reliable. source article 2025 "AI search engines cite incorrect news sources at an alarming 60% rate" article 2023, University of Maryland Research Guide, "What does AI Get Wrong" article 2023, Scientific American, "Yes AI Models Can Get Worse Over Time"

Yes. a teacher recently pointed out that is what stops a lot of people from going further, from going beyond. they reach the "blissed out state of oneness" and just hang out there. Thinking that is the be-all and end-all.

yes. BINGO. shorthand for me as a reminder is "distraction." the other shorthand for me to stay on track is "parlor tricks" as a reminder that i don't need to develop or use "supernatural" abilities. the admonition (for me, not directing it at anyone else) is that distractions and diversions not only pull me away from the "real goal" (as noted in post above) but they become barriers and obstacles in ever getting there. the BigSky in my screen name is the remidner for me to be the sky, rest in that simple awareness, and let the clouds just drift by. i don't need to chase them. qigong practice for me is a valuable part of my daily life because it helps put me in that state of no-time and just awareness. It allows me to cultivate stillness. I am not familiar with the specific qigong that is the topic of this thread.

people holding different views is not a problem. getting upset about people holding different views IS a problem.

if someone sees everything through the lens of politics, or professional sports or is a workaholic, or has any other "interest" that consumes them to such a degree that it causes upset, contention, friction in their daily life then it has taken over their life. An earlier post indicates the belief that "politics affects everybody and everything." Well no actually it doesn't. But that is the view of those who are consumed by it.

just as divinity has no gender, so too divinity has no politics. same for enlightenment, awakening. They are not predicated upon politics. a person can live their life with no involvement (no interest in, no participation in) for instance professional sports, bonsai cultivation, or wine tasting. Those hobbies can and are totally off the radar for many many many people. Those specific hobbies are not a requirement for daily life, for contentment, for self development, or for walking a path of religion and spirituality. So too for the hobby of politics. A person can live their life with no involvement, interest, or participation in poltics. If it is however a prominent element in a person's life that causes disturbance, friction, contention, or upset for them, then what becomes relevant is how their chosen path of religious-spiritual practice has them deal with whatever it is they find upsetting in their daily life.

not seeing any updates yet elsewhere.

Facebook account is also gone.

The obvious solution seems to be for this relgion-and-spirituality-focused forum, to simply have a "no politics" rule. No discussion of politics period. full stop. no political rants. of any variety either Left or Right. flip side same coin.

no. that is not what substance abuse is. Substance abuse and addiction are not determined by religion or society or geography or culture or ethnicity or government or laws or acclimation. It is determined by medical and healthcare profession. That's why research and findings from medical community are more credible than personal opinion or groups that favor and promote the use of psychotropics. it is relevant to the thread topic which is marijuana, hinduism, india. There is a correlation between the substance abuse problem in India and the use of psychotropic substances as part of the culture and religious practice in India. They are very much related and on topic for the opening post.

maybe a good place to start is to actually know what substance abuse and addiction actually are. so they are not conflated or confused with "worship" or "what the government says to do" addiction and substance abuse are the same whether they occur in India or somewhere else in the world. Just like the flu is the same or cancer is the same anywhere in the world. Because human antatomy and physiology and disease and illness appear in and affect human bodies regardless of the country where those human bodies happen to be residing.

What am I listening too? Dr. Ming Pang discusses qi in Chinese, with English subtitles. He is the founder of Zhineng qigong which is the qigong form I currently practice. He is a medical doctor in Western medicine and also a Doctor of Oriental Medicine who founded clinics in China that were "medicine-less hospital" treating patients with a variety of different diseases and illness. The Zhineng form of qigong was taught to the patients, it activates the self-healing inherent in each of us, the clinics treated over 400,000 people with a 95% success rate, across 180 different diseases treated. In addition to the hospital section where patients were treated, there was also a teaching section (the people who healed often wanted to be trained to become teachers), and a research section documenting the scientific clinical results of treatment. The Huaxia center opened in 1988 and was closed by the government in 2001. Thousands of teachers trained while it was open, and now Zhineng is taught and practiced all over the world. www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4NvN1htYhU&list=PLrasN-9zgUGuvpb763-GNcteP0izjUstv&index=4

"Cannabis, heroin, and Indian-produced pharmaceutical drugs are the most frequently abused drugs in India. Cannabis products, often called charas, bhang, or ganja, are abused throughout the country because it has attained some amount of religious sanctity because of its association with some Hindu deities. The epidemic of substance abuse in young generation has assumed alarming dimensions in India." ---from this article, Substance Abuse in India Pravara Medical Review, published by the Pravar Institute of Medical Sciences in India

Divinity and magic are not the same. They differ in mindset, intention, that which is accessed, and that which is attracted. when i read "low" my understanding is that it may be referring to vibration or resonance. that might make an interesting thread topic, to provide further clarification on how magic and Divinity are not the same. just as there is a difference between God and gods, there is a difference between Divinity (God) and magic, between prayer and casting spells.

EXACTLY. just plain no discussion of politics. Period. Full stop. easy peasy.

my experience has been that for practices such as Zen, the use of psychoactive substances is (a) advised against, and (b) an obstacle and barrier to spiritual development. my experience has also been that the behavior of those seeking to justify use of psychoactives are often times seeking to justify their own addictions. it's along the lines of someone saying "my uncle Fergus lived to be 85 and he smoked a pack a day and drank whiskey every night and worked on the farm his whole life" therefore tobacco and alcohol are not harmful. walk into any bar and ask who here has a problem with alcohol, and no hands go up. same for those who claim psychoactive substances are not only "not a danger" but as post above claims, they are even GOOD for you they are medicine for healing. Typically, those seeking to justify the use of psychoactive substances and justify their own addiction, are not under the care and treatment of a Doctor of Oriental Medicine. Tying this into TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) and the Tao Te Ching and the thread topic, the underlying purpose and practice and prescription is to restore balance and harmony. Psychoactive substances disrupt rather than restore balance.

This came up in another thread and was going off topic. So I am pursuing it further in this new thread. The first part of Verse 42 in the Tao Te Ching has always been one of my favorites. And over the years (OK, decades) i continue to try and decipher understand make sense of what the One and the Two and the Three and the Ten Thousand things are. Please chime in on any of these questions, based on your own understanding and frame of reference: What is the difference between the Tao and the One What do they represent What does the Two represent What does the Three represent what does the Ten Thousand things represent. For the Tao (top of the chain) what for you are its characteristics [for instance unborn, unformed, unchanging, always was, always will be, no beginning, no end] Any translation is fine, I'm not attached to any particular translation. For reference here is a sample translation verse 42. The Tao gives birth to the One. The One gives birth to the Two. The Two give birth to the Three. The Three give birth to the ten thousand things. --- from verse 42, Tao Te Ching ( I will go ahead and post Cobie's response from the other thread, thank you Cobie)

what a great topic. And source of future reading material, too. Books i read over and over: The fifteen volumes of Likutei Moharan (about 450 pages each book). Have read through six times, currently on seventh reading. Includes Hebrew and English. I read the English and refer to the Hebrew. The core five volumes in the Althar the Crystal Dragon set (slim paperbacks), and the associated seven volumes on putting it into practice. These are books i read straight through and then read straight through again, this is continuous. I am on the seventh time reading through them all. Sometimes i read them in reverse order. Human author Joachim Wolffram, material provided by various beings in non-physical form, primarily by Althar. if we are going to include books of prayer then these also. They fall in the category of read 100+ times and stopped counting. Book of Tehillim Fiftieth Gate, seven volumes of prayer by Rav Noson Sternhartz. Based on the lessons of Likutei Moharan Current favorite authors, in the category of "i will read anything they write" so currently reading my way through their complete works Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn (books include Dropping Ashes on the Buddha, Wanting Enlightenment is a Big Mistake, Ten Steps, Compass of Zen, Only Don't Know and others) Chinese Qi Gong Master Luke Chan, practices and teaches Zhineng qigong (that is one of the forms of qigong I practice with him as teacher), his books on the Tao Te Ching and Zhineng qigong include 101 Miracles of Natural Healing, 101 Lessons of Tao, Zhineng Chilel Qigong, Secrets of the Tai Chi Circle, Eight Secrets of Tao Te Ching, Dao of Chinese.

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