liminal_luke

I`d like to add a little context here by quoting from your ppf: "in short, homosexuality is evil." There´s been an uptick in organized hatred here at TTD lately, and it`s broader than just race -- some people are piling on the anti-LGBT bandwagon as well. The above quote about gay activists and the Dalai Lama, well, it`s just more of the same I`m afraid. And to answer your question, it`s just fine for people to ask the Dalai Lama anything they like. He`s free to say yes or no just like anybody else, and surely more than capable of stating his opinion.

I`m not big on prayer as it`s conventionally conceived, but to each their own I guess. Religious folk are welcome to pray pretty much wherever they like as far as I`m concerned. The one place I`d object is on my back: nobody likes to be prayed on.

I agree with Karen: intentionally connecting energetically with someone else in a sexual way without permission -- not cool. But most fantasies aren`t like that, even when they involve people we know. We can debate whether or not sexual fantasy in general is a healthy thing, but those who say nay are holding to a pretty tough standard. It`s a standard that might be appropriate for some people at a certain point in their spiritual development but, in my opinion, it`s definitely not for everyone. How about first lets concentrate on sexual ethics in the realm of actual actions? There`s plenty for most people to work with right there, before attempting to refine thoughts. If you`ve got a so-called "dirty" mind but are scrupulous about how you manage your sexual energy in regards to observable behavior with other people, then hey, that`s pretty darn good.

Maybe he`s also in favor of intermittent posting?

Continuing with the bathroom theme, my Zapchen coach recently suggested I use the bathroom as a mini spur-of-the-moment practice space. Wherever you are, whatever you`re doing, you can always take a quiet minute alone to stretch, breath, center.

Telling people they are pure light, no matter how well-intentioned the teller, can strike people the wrong way. Here`s a suggestion: rather than tell people they are pure light, treat them that way.

Here´s a youtube my new Zapchen coach put up about yawning as a way to deal with worry. Enjoy!

Can´t Say Much? Yeah, me neither.

Yawning...my Zapchen coach had me yawning three times a day for ten minutes at a go. Relaxing and calming.

Oh my, Sionnach....you do love play the provocateur, don´t you? Many folks find the outlandish dress (or lack thereof) and in-your-face kinkiness of a small subset of the gay community upsetting. An argument can be made that some of that doesn´t represent the best of gay culture. But I find it distasteful when people try to use such images to smear the gay community as a whole. It´s misleading, destructive, and, quite frankly, hateful. I could post pictures of heterosexual prostitution and swing clubs and all manner of shocking hetero lasciviousness. If we´re slinging pictures there´s plenty of that to go around. For better or worse people see those things and they don´t think that all of heterosexuality is wrong. Show pictures of the same people in a gay context and, well, homosexuality itself takes the blame. But then I think maybe that´s your point.

You came to the DaoBums wanting a fight, and you´ve found lots of them.

Maybe it´s the old foggy in me, but I´m not sure everyone needs to learn to code. Best case scenario, everyone is exposed to a wide variety of potential learning tracks and encouraged to follow their own curiosities.

You might be right. Never having quieted my mind, I wouldn´t know.

Put me down as a "yes." When the mind is quiet anger passes through the body as light through a crystal.

Whose angry?

This is something I don´t understand. I´ve been to several seminars with Max, and have practiced Yi Gung from Jenny Lamb´s self-healing dvd. I know that Max says his Kunlun is different, but I´m not at all clear on what that difference is. The teachers do have a different focus. At first glance anyways, Sifu Jenny is much more focused on physical health. Her dvd contains before and after practices that, to me, give the practice a physical-health improving quality. Max includes several other practices in his Kunlun system, most notably Red Phoenix. If Kunlun is done in conjunction with Red Phoenix it likely has different effects than just Kunlun alone. So...the adjunct practices that go along with Kunlun/Yi Gung are different -- I can see that. But as far as the basic the Kunlun practice itself goes, I don´t see what the difference is. Am I missing something? Thanks.

I find it enhances the TaoBums experience to imagine that some people have done things I haven´t and know things I don´t. Otherwise, I might as well just be talking to myself.

People can really mess themselves up reading spiritual philosophy. There´s all this stuff out there about love and compassion and all the other groovy mindstates that supposedly come on the way to ultimate enlightenment. And it might be true, too, but for many people it´s deceptive: they use it as an excuse to avoid all their emotional crap. Spiritual people are always loving so I will be too. But then they don´t do the work, and the work is what drives the whole process. You can´t get to love by pretending you don´t also feel angry. No, no, no, no, no...you get to love when you stop pretending you´re not angry.

Those inclined towards fear will find abundant justification for the sentiment if Trump OR Clinton wins.

The day you were born is the day God decided that the world could not exist without you. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov

Yes! The big question I´d ask is "do I want to be a doctor"? Do I have a passion for helping people with their physical health? Also, am I the kind of person who would thrive having his own business? (Most people aren´t.) Or, if not, how woud I make use of my degree? If you have a passion for physical healing and could see yourself enjoying the day to day of working for yourself in a clinic, then I´d stay where you are. The program you´re in now won´t be the end of your studies but just the beginning. After you graduate you can continue to flesh it out with continued education. You will have a foundation and will be able to tweak your practice in any number of directions depending on your interests and talents.

I´ve achieved consciousness of a sort. Whether or not it´s super is debatable, but it beats unconsciousness.

Love, compassion, kindness -- these are the bedrock emotional vibrations of the spirit, qualities close to the essence of who we are. These are the good vibes that remain once all the crap and blockages and psychic trauma has been stripped away over hard years of cultivation. Hate is just a pothole on the way to immortality.

I admire a woman who doesn´t let death stand in the way of political ambition.

Thanks Silent Thunder. If I get my Blendtec fixed I´ll give this a try. I read that it will blend avocado pits before but never tried it.