liminal_luke

Surya, Best wishes for you and your dad and your entire family. I think it says something good about you that you were willing to reach out and be in touch. LL

I don´t fancy myself a reader of "past lives" but it´s easy to imagine you as a swaggering sailor out of Moby Dick.

If it´s any consolation, I miss the Current Events section too. (Though, to be honest, I did suggest it be abolished and thus cannot complain.)

Standing without expectations or demands on myself (or others) sounds great. Actually, doing anything that way would be wonderful, but standing is probably a good place to start. Harder than it sounds, at least for me.

Nothing if not helpful.

Born to Run made such a big splash that it´s now spawned professional detractors. Health guru Mark Sisson recently came out his latest cheekily named tome, Born to Walk, in which he argues that walking, not running, is the locomotive motion of choice. Surely "Born to Crawl" can´t be far behind.

double post

The subject of this thread is beyond me (so please excuse the interruption), but I´m grateful that my abilities in English, such as they are, have not turned me into the queen of England or Noam Chomsky.

Welcome back. I often think the Golden Era of Taobums is behind us, but reading about bears and Egyptian magic, I´m not sure if things have changed at all.

I also got a reading from Eric about some health issues I was having. He struck me as a nice guy, well-intentioned, and knowledgable about ayurveda and the body in general. I will say, however, that his psychic take on what was going on for me did not match up with diagnostic lab work I received a few days after my reading.

Ursinically speaking, it sounds like Portugal is a pretty barren country.

For whatever reason, this forum occasionally attracts people with psychiatric issues. The best we can do, imo, is encourage such people to get medical care. I suspect few heed this advice but it´s better than feeding delusional thinking with endless engagement. This is the way I see it anyways. Your advice to seek professional help was, in my opinion, spot on.

Agreed. I see a lot of the same red flags you do (even if I occasionally ignore them ).

For better or worse, my approach has been less rigorous and pure. It´s a style that suits me, though my progress is no doubt more meandering than it might have been otherwise. Much respect for your perspective.

I think much depends on the nature of the student / teacher relationship. These relationships can be very deep, familial even, as when a student commits to a particular path that the teacher exemplifies and represents. There can be an emotional bond on both sides that is central to the teaching endeavor. In this case, I think you´re spot-on that it´s crucial to consider the character of the teacher. But there are many teachers who we can learn bits and pieces from who maybe we don´t like in some ways. Like many others, I find Damo Mitchell´s cigar smoking bro-culture ways a little off-putting. I´m not tempted to join his academy. As for Max, one would be wise to take some of his stories with a mine full of salt. Neither of these teachers will ever be anything like a heart-guru for me. But, for all their imperfections, I believe both of them have valuable things to share. When I can, I try to take what feels worthwhile -- without going all-in on the fake Tibetan spiritual trappings, imported Habanos, and promises of everlasting life.