liminal_luke

Try this: ACTIVE LOVE — THE TOOLS

Charismatic psychiatrist Phil Stutz, the subject of a recent documentary on Netflix, teaches his patients how to use a "tool" he calls Active Love. ACTIVE LOVE — THE TOOLS. In brief, the tool involves sending feelings of love to people who have mistreated you or made you angry. As you might imagine, I don´t use this one very much. When people make me angry, I prefer to think of them breaking their legs or getting lost in a blizzard without a warm jacket. Phil would probably tell me that my negative fantasies of revenge keep me stuck. As hard as it is to send love to "bad" people, it´s precisely this counterintuitive move that could free me. May All People Be Happy (especially those who don´t deserve it).

You raise a great point old3bob but May All Beings Be Happy Except The Evil Ones doesn´t trip off the tongue.

.... on second thought, I´m pulling a Cobie

I used to work as a massage therapist, and I can tell you that no massage client wants to be told to relax. Nor do anxious people respond well when friends advise calming down. The depressed brush off suggestions that they just cheer up. So am I surprised that as a kid you didn´t take well to the whole "be grateful" spiel? I am not. No kid would. And yet I feel confident that, in your own way, you´ll find yourself coming around to something akin to gratitude. Maybe you already have. You might not call it gratitude, of course. Perhaps you´ll never be someone who wants to go round the Thanksgiving table (if you live in the US) and wax eloquent about the joys of family and mashed potatoes. Maybe your version of gratitude will be a subtle smile you keep to yourself. Just as well -- it´s better that way anyways.

Women who make spicy tacos are taqueras not taijiquanistas. There´s a difference, though I wouldn´t want to meet either in a dark alley.

I´m losing the thread of the conversation. Did you get in trouble with Cobie for posting AI? And now you´re pointing out that there´s a double standard because I´m getting away with it? I´d feel bad for you except I can´t think of anybody less likely than you, Nungali, to expend a lot of emotional energy worrying about another Bum´s opinion, negative or positive. At least that´s my impression of you. If I´m wrong and you´re secretly crying alone in a bathroom stall, let me know.

I find AI useful (though imperfect) and have thus far shared AI quotes in two posts. What´s important to me is that AI quotes are clearly marked as such, so there´s no confusion between human and machine. In this case, AI was able to call up and summarize material that I learned in a Jewish mysticism class thirty years ago in a way that I would of struggled to do on my own.

"A dynamic process going both ways" sounds great to me. To me this is reminescent of the kabbalistic interpretation of Ezekiel 1:14 -- and the creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning -- and I wonder if perhaps mystical Judiasm and Taoism are eluding to the same phenomenon. Much is made of this dual process of running and returning. If it´s of interest, here´s what Gemini had to say about it... ................................................................................................................................................................................................ The verse Ezekiel 1:14, "And the creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning," is a pivotal and highly-debated passage in Jewish mysticism, particularly within the Kabbalah. It describes the movement of the Chayot HaKodesh (Holy Living Creatures) that support the Divine throne. Kabbalistic interpretations delve into the nature of these movements, connecting them to fundamental concepts of creation, divine emanation, and the human soul. The Dynamic Nature of the Divine At its core, the Kabbalistic interpretation of this verse sees the "running and returning" as a representation of the dynamic and cyclical nature of the divine flow. Running (Ratzo): This is understood as a movement of intense, outward expansion. It signifies the divine emanation—the impulse for creation to extend itself from the infinite, unknowable God (Ein Sof) into the finite world. It's a movement of longing and passion, a desire to unite with the divine source. Returning (Shuv): This is the counter-movement, an inward contraction or withdrawal. It represents the self-limitation of the divine to allow for the existence of creation. It is the return to the source, the act of humility and self-nullification that is necessary to prevent the created world from being overwhelmed by the divine light. This dual motion of Ratzo v'Shuv (running and returning) is not just a one-time event but a continuous, pulsating rhythm that sustains all of existence. It is the breath of God, the constant interplay between expansion and contraction that maintains the balance of the universe. Connection to the Sefirot Kabbalists link this concept to the structure of the Sefirot, the ten divine emanations through which God interacts with the world. Ratzo is associated with the downward flow of the Sefirot from Keter (Crown) to Malkhut (Kingdom), the process by which divine will manifests in the physical world. It's a movement from potential to actual, from spiritual to material. Shuv corresponds to the upward movement, the desire of creation to return to its source. It is the spiritual work of humanity to elevate the physical world back to its divine origin, a concept often connected to the idea of tikkun (repair). The creatures "running and returning" are thus seen as personifications of these two fundamental forces that animate the entire cosmic structure of the Sefirot. The Flash of Lightning The phrase "as the appearance of a flash of lightning" is equally significant. A lightning flash is instantaneous and represents a sudden, intense burst of light. Supernal Intellect: In Kabbalah, lightning is often a metaphor for Chochmah (Wisdom), the second Sefirah. Chochmah is the point of initial conception, a flash of insight that is pure potential before it is structured into Binah (Understanding). The instantaneous nature of the lightning flash suggests that the entire process of Ratzo v'Shuv happens in an instant, transcending time as we know it. Divine Revelation: It also represents the nature of divine revelation. The insight is blinding and overwhelming, a moment of direct, unfiltered connection to the divine. The creature's movement is not a plodding journey but a flash of pure, unmediated consciousness. The Human Soul and Mystical Experience Beyond the cosmic interpretation, Kabbalists also apply this verse to the human soul and the mystical experience. The Soul's Longing: The human soul is seen as a spark of the divine that longs to "run" back to its source. This is the yearning for devekut (cleaving to God), the desire to transcend the limitations of the physical world. The Fear of Annihilation: The "returning" represents the simultaneous fear of being utterly consumed by the divine light. To truly "run" and merge with the divine would mean the annihilation of one's individual self. The "return" is the act of maintaining one's identity while still being connected to the source. The Mystic's Journey: The mystical journey is thus a constant dance of Ratzo v'Shuv. The mystic "runs" towards God in moments of ecstatic prayer and meditation, experiencing a powerful connection. Then, they must "return" to their physical reality, bringing that divine insight back into the world to perform good deeds and elevate the mundane. In summary, the Kabbalistic interpretation of Ezekiel 1:14 transforms a seemingly simple description of movement into a profound teaching about the nature of God, the structure of the universe, and the spiritual journey of the human soul. It is a verse that encapsulates the dynamic interplay of divine emanation and contraction, a constant rhythm that sustains all of reality.

Your personal experience has led you to avoid bathtub yoga, but how do you feel about public discussion of nonduality? I suspect the later also falls into the avoid category. While perhaps not as physically treacherous as underwater halasana aka, such talk might be socially ill-advised. Still, I can´t resist asking: is nondual realization in the way it´s generally spoken of here a part of the Taoist path? Or does Taoist practice head in an entirely different direction? Feel free to leave this one unanswered if your feline nature suggests that´s best.

This is the kind of thing that has made TDB into a success when so many other spiritual forums have faded into obscurity. I never imagined when I got up this morning that I´d be contemplating the pros and cons of doing plow pose in the bathtub.

Modern life is full of hazards, not the least of which is the hazard of overworry and paranoia. There´s a balance point between sensible caution and stressing oneself out about impending catastrophe. On the one hand, beginner skiers should avoid pointing their skis down black diamond runs. On the other, we all need to go to the bathroom. Live dangerously, I say. Take a shower, water a plant. Don´t let the horrors of life, real or imagined, ruin your day.

I´d like to stick up for the power of words, those pesky amalgamations of letters so often maligned in spiritual circles. Words can indeed convey the feeling of "wind against my body" in such a way that another person understands and feels, at least to some imperfect extent, your experience. There are a few tricks to using words in this way -- metaphor, image, syntactic symbolism, the aural music of language. You can´t just say "it was windy" and hope for the best. A true word artist can structure a sentence so that the various phrases mirror the experience of being out in the wind vividly.

The stages one moves through on the way to enlightenment: monday, tuesday, wednesday...

Everything I do is a complication of simplicity. Some call it "unenlightened action" but I prefer to think of it as "my journey."

This. The desire to make a good living and the effort required to do so are not separate from the stillness and silence of source.

Glad to hear it. I´m not much of a texter but don´t want to be rude. Letting unwanted calls go to voicemail sounds like the perfect solution to me. I also think that people shouldn´t feel obligated to answer the door every time someone knocks, although, for me, that programming is hard to undo.

Like many Generation Z people, I´m no stranger to social anxiety, so I get why it might be uncomfortable to have people stop by unannounced. But I want to live in a world where my social anxiety is challenged rather than catered to. We´re human and we need other people. If someone is my friend, they´re welcome to knock on my door any time.

I keep reading on MSN that younger people (generation Z) think it´s rude to call a friend out of the blue without texting first. Could this possibly be true? I´m likely very out of touch but this seems to me like a very Strange Thing.

The self-referential geometric recursion that can be named is not the real self-referential geometric recursion.

You know you´re doing something right when your friends and defenders are considered guilty by association.

... edited out because I have good sense or lack courage -- you decide.

suns and daughters

Read this thread paying careful attention to your embodied experience: how do the various posts make you feel? I think you´ll find the answer to your question.