liminal_luke

Inner alchemy is fascinating. I´m interested in it myself and if other Bums share my interest, I certainly don´t blame them. This forum attracts a wide variety of people in all different places in their lives. The Bums who in my view are farthest down the spiritual path share something in common: they aren´t especially bothered by the idea of death. I don´t pretend to belong to this rarified group. Me, I´d like to push death off for as long as possible and if I can push it off, well, forever, so much the better. The ultimate goal of inner alchemy, in my understanding, is immortality. Sounds good to me. There is one thing that bugs me, however. How come there are so many masters here on the forum? How come so many experts? It´s a little hard to believe that this place is quite so overrun with spiritual adepts as posts would lead a person to think. Now don´t get me wrong: I know there many genuinely knowledgable people here and I appreciate their sharing. It´s just that sometimes I yearn for the laid back companionship of ordinary spiritual Joes like me who don´t have any superpowers and aren´t about to attain any anytime soon.

If I had kids here´s what I´d teach them: education first, job second, healthy relationships third, basic conventional happiness fourth....and then maybe...once they´d really nailed all those things ... enlightenment. Would I be a western-style parent or what?

Consider hormesis. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18162444

OK, let´s say you´re asked to do something nonsensical as part of your job. You´ve considered Windwalkers suggestion of finding other employment and determined that´s not the right course of action for you at the moment. I´d start thinking of this seemingly futile task in another way. It may be futile in terms of the stated objectives of the job, but it´s not futile for you because doing it is part of what allows you to keep this job that you´ve decided you want to keep. Everytime you do this task you are taking care of yourself, earning money that allows you to do what you want in life and not be dependent upon others. By doing this task you are showing maturity, recognizing that not everything makes sense in life and part of taking care of ourselves as adults is doing things that don´t make sense. You are not abusing yourself by doing this task. You are taking care of yourself and meeting your own objectives of having a job and making money.

How important is it to be right about things anyway? The older I get the less stock I place in having correct views. Of course some people have to be right about things because it´s part of their job. And some people like to think about things because it brings them intellectual pleasure -- like a hobby. This is all well and good. In general, though, being right is overrated. There´s one area of life where being right -- or thinking you are -- can really mess a person up and that is marriage. Who wants to be married to someone whose always right? Is it important to be right for spiritual growth? I don´t think so. A person could just as profitably chose to develop humility or kindness or simply rest in the awareness of being itself. These are my views and I´m convinced they are true. If you disagree, I´m happy to argue the point with you all day because I need a distraction from simply feeling my body and my breath, a distraction from going outside and feeling the warmth of sun on my face. There´s nothing I love more than arguing endlessly with people I don´t really know on the internet.

I´ve gone to workshops with Michael Winn. Sometimes people are really good at one thing and phenomenally bad at something else. If you look at what they are bad at, it´s hard to believe that there´s this other skillful part. I believe this is the case with Michael Winn. He knows his stuff and can teach. You just wouldn´t know it from watching him stand or move.

I like this explanation, https://ichingdao.org/en/bone-breathing-2/

Yes, that´s it exactly. I´m a big fan of your both/same time philosophy.

Perhaps effort and effortlessness are not ultimately so opposed. Like the primordial forces of yin and yang, they can interpenetrate, give rise to each other in a natural rhythm. Weaving intentionality and surrender together in a single braid, we arrive at...´(well, honestly I don´t know where this goes but I´d like to get there.)

Something interesting is happening here. A thread that was started for the purpose of disparaging one person´s practice claims has turned into a thread focusing on disparaging the original disparager.

Quote from an Esther Perel podcast (Where should we begin?) A part of why sometimes, a woman likes the bad boys -- to be very very clear -- it´s not because she likes the man to be a predator. But it´s because the bad boy, as you describe, knows how to take care of himself perfectly well, thank you. And so he frees her from having to feel responsible for him, from having to worry about him, from having to experience his anxiety, and so since he can let go and is in his pleausre it frees her up to be in her pleasure.

Junior Marcus, When first dining at the qi gong buffet, it´s tempting to pick up a little of many dishes. I´d resist this temptation. Better, I think, to pick one thing and practice that one thing with dedication. Here are my reasons... (1) As a personal experiment, you´ll probably want to understand how a practice effects you. Say you´re doing 7 different things and your health improves. Which of your various practices is responsible for the change? It will be difficult to know with any certainty. (2) Every practice will create changes in your energetic body, and in some cases these changes are not harmonious with each other. It´s a little like trying to listen to a song on the radio and tuning into seven different frequencies at the same time. (3) Something magical happens with singular dedication. Practitioners who pick one thing just seem to get farther. Can I woo-woo out on you for a second? My personal belief is that a lot of the oomph that comes from a practice is due to unseen support from the spirit realm. Perhaps this is the power of lineage. Say you decide to pick stillness-movement as your practice. I believe there´s crucial support available from the spirits of master practitioners of that system who have passed on. These spirits are more likely to lend a hand if they see you´ve put all your practice eggs in their qi gong basket. I can´t prove this but it´s what I believe. I think we intuitively understand the power of doing one thing with intensive dedication, even if we often ignore this intuition (myself included). Try this thought experiment. Picture in your mind a master practitioner who has practiced hours a day for years and gained significant understanding and ability. Is this person more likely to be someone who does seven different things from different systems or just one?

Just to name a personal preference -- I like threads which promote more than ones that detract. The most productive discussion happens when someone starts (or continues) a practice and is willing to share a positive story about it, how doing XYZ has helped them in their life. Threads telling me not to do something don´t seem nearly as useful. Do knowledgable folks have an obligation to warn others of dead-ends? I get the argument and don´t dispute it. I just prefer the positive vibes I get when reading about people excited about doing great things.

Immortality or a slice of pecan pie with a side of vanilla Hagen Daz. Such a hard decision...

Hi Junior Marcus, There are a wide number of programs you might start for physical health improvement. I like Sheng Zhen healing qigong. I¨ll post a youtube of the first few movements below. By energy arts do you mean Sifu Jenny Lamb´s yigong? That´s another good one, in my opinion, though somewhat controversial. It can be very strong and purifying, more so than some are ready for. If it was me, I wouldn´t hesitate to explore Spring Forest, Stillness-Movement, or Flying Phoenix. Although I don´t have personal experience with these systems, they´ve gotten a lot of good press here and have been around a long time. I don´t think you can go wrong with any of these three. Good luck!

I recently participated in a Bon meditation workshop online with TWR. One of the practices taught was to meditate on stillness. Your post reminds me of what TWR called the stillness of being -- a stillness that is not dependent on an absence of movement.

“Am I perfect? No. But am I striving to be a better person every day? Also no.” Anonymous

I´ve read about some widely respected teachers who recommend "meditation without slight movement" and have always been intrigued by this idea. Does movement dissipate energy that would otherwise build in stillness? I´d be interested if people have experience/knowledge to share about the benefits of meditating without even slight movement.

Four hours of focused full lotus meditation for just $20 is a great deal but not everybody has $20. I offer a more economical alternative -- one hour of nonstop meditation for $5! The meditation will occur on a chair and my mind may wander a bit, but hey, ya get what ya pay for. (no disrespect meant, voidisyinyang. If you can heal people by meditating with their image in your mind and people want to pay you for it, more power to all concerned. I´m just having a bit of fun on a hard day.)

Not to worry -- he´s coming back.

I usually have a hard time taking in and understanding your posts, Everything. But that was beautiful...

I´d like to post this poem by Lord Byron in honor of all the bums who have left (or are on sabbatical). It´s called So we´ll go no more a roving. So, we'll go no more a roving So late into the night, Though the heart be still as loving, And the moon be still as bright. For the sword outwears its sheath, And the soul wears out the breast, And the heart must pause to breathe, And love itself have rest. Though the night was made for loving, And the day returns too soon, Yet we'll go no more a roving By the light of the moon. Lord Byron (George Gordon)

While it`s true that the elements of our body are on one level indistinguishable from the stuff of the broader universe, it`s hard to imagine the OP being written by a snail or a deer. Perhaps the redwood trees think such thoughts though I don`t speak redwood (I do hope to learn!). Thinking about this question of humanity, my mind skips to the question of God: immanent or transcendent? Is divinity suffused throughout the universe or apart from it? I`ve always come down on the side of those who believe it`s both. God is somehow both as close as my breath and infinitely distant, personally connected to me and utterly indifferent. Perhaps the mystery of what it means to be human is not so different -- we´re inseparable from stardust and yet remain uniquely ourselves. This makes no sense, I know, but don´t blame me -- it´s a nonsensical universe.

I´ve no idea about the Tin Yat Dao Sect but I know Yoda from his postings way back when and was very fond of him. He came off as a genuine good guy. Yoda was (is?) that rare spiritual seeker type with a bold -- dare I say fun -- experimental streak. I enjoyed following his spiritual adventures.

My view isn`t particularly daoist, just my own experience. Whether or not it`s good to engage in political discussion depends entirely on what part of the self is doing the engaging. Are you debating from your small egoic self or your big sky self? It makes all the difference. In itself, politial discussion is neither good nor bad. Pay attention to how a given political discussion feels in your body. That`s a big clue. Do you feel shut down or opened up? Do you feel heavy or light? The answers to these questions will tell you whether you`re debating from your best and brightest self or a sniveling imposter. Politics can and should be joyful. (And that`s my political opinion on the matter.)