soaring crane

My wife and I are doing Thanksgiving this year, first time in a good fifteen years or so. Our daughter (who is half-American, the half she got from me) wants to show her new boyfriend what it's all about. So, we bought a ton of original American products online, the "real" stuff like Stouffer's stuffing, Keebler pie crust, cranberries in the can, etc. (plus a six-kilo, organic turkey from a farm nearby).

About the holiday itself, meh. I really couldn't care less beyond the family get-together aspect, but do we really need a holiday to do that? I guess I'd take it a lot more seriously if Black Friday were banned.

The 'in' crowd is pretty much everyone who shows respect for others and there arts.  Its not a hard clique to get into.  You don't have to agree, this site is about discussion and argument, but there's a line where  behavior becomes obnoxiousness and there is Mo Pai 'clique' that constantly passes over that line, imo. 

Thats very well said, and accurate, thanks!

Taking the liberty to speak for the rest of the mod staff, nobody "behind the scenes" here gives two figs about MoPai.

This might sound crazy but... money is water is kidneys is ears. If you start a rigorous, vigorous, daily routine of ear massaging, you may well find solutions to your money concerns begin to appear. I think what happens is, you become a better antenna for opportunities, you hear them knocking on the door. They're always knocking, but we don't always hear, because we're distracted.

It's worked for me in the past.

It's pretty easy (if painful) to do, but it requires dedication. I can give you some specific techniques, if you're interested.

 It´s like someone who binges and purges with food. Sometimes your stomach is full, sometimes empty, but the mental pattern underlying all this is singular.

Interesting analysis, Luke, thanks. I think that really describes the situation well :-)

Arm swinging is a great early morning practice. You can get the legs involved in it, too. I can write more details if you're interested

My first question: The tao te ching speaks of having great virtue, what is virtue and how do I become virtuous?

 

I know it seems like an elementary question but again, being born into christian family and studying philosophy has confused me on what the true path to virtue actually is. 

Hello and welcome, Pelly :-)

I'd say that's a very good question to post in this forum:

http://thedaobums.com/forum/179-daoist-discussion/

I'm 20 years old healthy male. Everything was going fine with my life until hormones started taking their role. Unfortunately the only way i found to release these urges were masturbation. So yes I'm a kissless virgin. I can't live my life normally now because a lot of masturbation has ruined my energy levels and i find it difficult to focus on the other parts of my life. From some places i heard i can lower down the urges by sublimating my sexual energy. From the help of internet i started doing some basic breathing exercises like pranayam. It helped me to some extent only.

 

It was probably on the internet where you encountered the idea that masturbation has ruined your energy levels. The reality is probably a lot more complicated than that, and specific to you and your history thus far.

At your age, it may be better to investigate the root causes of your situation, the reasons you feel attracted to this idea in the first place, and work on them.

Where I wrote that I consider celibacy to be selfish, I had the conscious, deliberate, decision to remove yourself from the stream of life, or evolution, in mind. I'm viewing it like building a cul de sac in the street plan of the global village. Dead End. No tru traffic. You kids get offa my lawn!

Or building a dam in the stream. You become the dam, a blockage in the flow. And this, in the sense of macro/microcosm, results in blockages in your flow.

Not that it affects the 7.3B members of the rest of humanity; the species will  trudge along just fine without your contribution. And not that it isn't perhaps the better decision in the big picture, it may well be, I don't know. But there are biological urges being intentionally supressed for personal, self-serving, desires, and the negative psychological effects on the individual may outweigh any perceived benefits.

The better route to take, imo, is the natural way, the way of open possibilities and of not denying yourself your true nature. 

From a walk out behind the house today :-)

^^ I think they're probably related. The coiling strands of qi like snakes travelling beteween Earth and Heaven and Earth

In your tradition celibacy for lifetime seemed to be a possible thing. That's how i got interested.

Who's tradition are you referring to?

Celibacy is selfish, as I see it.

Your post is mixing traditions

Thanks, SotG. Do you thiink the piriformis muscles and "glutes" in general can block the movement, too? How woul you go about opening that region?

I spend time sitting in "cowface" pose that I learned in Hatha yoga class, which goes to the region pretty intensively.

Hi Harley

I believe the only way to go about this is for you to create a new account, with a different screen name, based on a normal email address. Then we can merge the new account with the current one, allowing you to keep this screen name.

But wait for a reply from Dawei or Brian before taking any steps. In the meantime, just use the forums as usual :-)

I believe was quote was an honest response to a comment or question. I would never challenge his honesty.

 

And I do agree with how he views "religion".

 

But I will suggest that he was a very spiritual person.

It's from a letter that he wrote.

Those were my own translation, btw. The quotes are probably out there somewhere else in English, but rendered differently.

This may have been directed to me.  That's fine.  If not, that's fine too.

 

But I will still stand by what I said above.

What? No, I don't think it had anything to do with you, bro :-)

I would think it's something you could get behind.

„Es war natürlich eine Lüge, was Sie über meine religiösen Überzeugungen gelesen haben, eine Lüge, die systematisch wiederholt wird. Ich glaube nicht an einen persönlichen Gott und ich habe dies niemals geleugnet, sondern habe es deutlich ausgesprochen. Falls es in mir etwas gibt, das man religiös nennen könnte, so ist es eine unbegrenzte Bewunderung der Struktur der Welt, so weit sie unsere Wissenschaft enthüllen kann.“

What you've read about my religious convictions was of course a lie, a lie that has been systematically repeated. I don't believe in a personal God and have never denied this. To the contrary: I've made my view very clear. If there's anything in me that could be called "religious", it would be my limitless admiration of the structure of the world, to the extent that our sciences can reveal it.

-- Einstein

Science

 

Is the earth just another proton within a molecule?

 

Are there worlds within a molecule?

 

Micro fauna live within the soil,is this a universe of itself?

yes, yes, and yes :-)

"Ehrliche Naturwissenschaftler scheuen sich nicht zuzugeben, dass ihr Forschungen nur unvollkommenes Stückwerk und ihre Beweise immer nur vorläufig sind"

"Honest scientists are not afraid to admit that their research is always an imperfect piece of a whole, and their proofs always tentative".

-- Einstein

Hello Harley, and welcome to the forums!

You've completed the registration process, and your membership is approved. You should be able to edit your profile. If you can't figure it out, or have any other questions, you can PM me (easiest way to do that is to hover the cursor over my name and wait a second. A little menu will pop up and you can select "send message").

Alternatively, you can start a thread in the Tech forum: http://thedaobums.com/forum/14-forum-and-tech-support/

Also, please read the following, and do click the links, so you'lll better understand how things work here.

Please take the time to read the two posts pinned at the top of this Welcome page and take a look at the forum terms and rules. This covers all you need to know when getting started.

For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day.

Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you,

SC and the TDB team

Backwards walking can be a pretty powerful experience.

Tip for those who hide half their posts: Take a deep breathe and really think about what you're doing before you hit the post button. 

Also, please don't complain about others before getting your own house in order.

I thought only the thread's initiator aka OP could moderate the content. Seems I was mistaken

Yep - a nice introduction to this is Bruce Frantzis' 'Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body'. It is an introductory book, but I liked some of the practices so much I now incorporate some of his stuff into my daily practice.

I was going to recommend that book at first, but changed my mind because it has soooo much more info than Dan is looking for, but I do think it's one of those books that should be be in everyone's collection at some point.

That's a really good question because those are important techniques that get overlooked. Possibly because they appear too simple to be effective?