Trixter Streetcat

recent talk about reincarnation has made me think lately, and I have found that I have very particular ideas about it, tell me what you think. I would say that we are all the One Supreme Consciousness, living in different self imposed time, space and mind or perceptive filters (also self-imposed). that is to say, we are all I, except the conscience chose to live in my body, with my life, in my time and place, as it also chose to live (maybe simultaneously) in yours. it also (initially) blinded itself to think that "I" am only "me" and "you" are only "you". the level to which I realize I AM all this consciousness around me is determined by what "I" (my present incarnation) is willing to figure out in the given time. but you see first of all, i don't think reincarnation (supposing there is such a thing, but we will say that for karma to be worked and in the cyclic nature of things, there might be an evolution of conscience beyond a single physical manifestation) is chronologically linear. chronological time is a useful illusion. but I don't think that if I were to die and reincarnate, I would do so within chronological time, that is to say, i might not be reborn in 2010 or 2011 or even 2012, i would surely be reborn in that time, place and mind which best suits my development, so i might as well be born "right away" into the year 3299, it might even be possible that my next incarnation lived 7000 years ago. it all depends on what i have to learn for next life. some things are more easily learnt 7000 years ago. and since I am perfect and all knowing, of course, that body, time and place did exist 7000 years ago, or "already" exists 2000 years from now, for me to reincarnate in them. it doesn't change that the life beginning in 1987 was my previous incarnation. because time really doesn't exist. so what we really call reincarnation is the path of conscience from itself back to itself (or from the silence before AUM to the silence after AUM). I also think this path of consciousness from itself back to itself can be done by many roads, which is why we speak of an individual soul. you see, the path from myself to myself, can be a tour of ten-thousand lives of fun and party, or of three lives as a wiseman in the woods. these would be two parallel, possible developments for my conscience (i.e. "two souls' development"), but once I come back home, I know that all those lives and all those roads were all ME. there were just different paths that I took for my own divine enjoyment. here too, time is inexistent. which do you think is longer, ten thousand lives of fun and party, or three as a wiseman meditating in the woods? both are infinitely long but go by in less than a blink of an eye. so you might say that I, as Supreme Consciousness, have already (i.e. "in the present moment") created the whole of the universe from beginning to end. i only create the illusion of linear time and limited perception to be able to go into every individual when I felt like or needed it. which paradoxically means that your next (or previous) reincarnation might be on earth with you simultaneously, alive and conscious (though it's a long shot). you'd just have to go through with it at some other "moment". in fact, you are, already. i don't know, maybe this is a musing about time more than about reincarnation. the illusory nature of time and consciousness. i've already created this, already been all this. i am already home, too. but I'm still here, and it's for a reason, and it's probably just that I'm having fun being all that I am. the game basically consists of realizing who I am, what I'm really doing which is playing this game. in a way i already know it, i already always knew it, but i am yet to get rid of time. you get rid of the illusion of time, then you are all of this simultaneously. getting rid of time could be one way of expressing what enlightenment meant to some mesoamerican civilizations. it makes total sense. you get rid of time, you realize who you were, who you will be, who you have always been. i hope this makes sense to you.

okay, so everyday I speak to different people and everyone has a different theory for what is going to happen in 2012. polar shifts, solar flares, alien invasion, great devastating wars, global shift of consciousness... whatever. if any of this happens, three choices, we die, we fight what we can, if we can, for however long as we can, or we change forever into godlike, timeless beings. que sera, sera. still, 2012, god! I'm just trying to understand this. 2012 is a date that was chosen because it's the end of the mayan calendar. the mayans NEVER referred to december 21st 2012 as the END OF THE WORLD. there is no historical data for this. some insist that the tongue sticking out of the sun in the calendar refers to those solar flares you were talking about. no historical data for this either. all that the mayans said was that the long count ended then, which merely means that the calendar is reset to baktun 13.0.0.0.0 (not sure about that last date). a theoretical "end of the world" proposed by the mayas was something like baktun 13.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0 or something of the like (again, that date is not reliable info) which was like a few million years from now. I agree, the poles are shifting. although i find it hard to believe that having shifted for a couple of degrees every now and then, they would suddenly shift 90 degrees in the space of three years. now that would very certainly fuck us all up. who knows what the earth would even look like after that. i think planetary occurrences happen in planetary time. which makes it impossible for me to imagine a 90 degree pole shift in three years. maybe i just don't understand the principle, if it is somehow physically possible, I would like someone to explain that for me. I also agree, humankind is fucking up its own earth, and there needs to be a radical shift in consciousness to prevent this. still, if all of this were true, it would have NOTHING TO DO with 2012. 2012 is a mere calendaric landmark. it is the end of a cycle, and in THAT sense, an important moment. mayans understood cycles, and naturally with a new cycle come various changes. not necessarily the end of the world. IMHO and from what I have researched, according to the mayans, hopefully (and if we play it right), it would mark the end of the gregorian calendar and return of the 13 month lunar calendar into our lives, eventually bringing us back to the mayan 13:20 count. living in 13:20 frequency would make us understand time differently and gradually become 4th dimensional beings, no longer attached to 3rd dimensional (materialistic) concepts, but finally 4th dimensional (time) concepts. in that sense it would be the end of TIME as we know it, not the end of the world. i am more positive in general than the others and consider it dangerous and counterproductive to think great wars will come then (we might get what we ask for). 2012 is about TIME. new cycles, new understanding of time. if you're interested you can check out this site: http://www.tortuga.com/_NewCss/index.html there are free pdf's to be downloaded about the "Law of Time". I find these particularly interesting. all about lunar calendars and the 13:20 frequency, and their possible effects on human conscience. very interesting stuff. i agree with the many who dislike doomsday predictions. "Nobody knows when the end times will come." I might just stay home and smoke reefers till the shit hits the fan if I thought that. It would also induce mass (probably unjustified) panic everywhere if we promoted those ideas. I think that if a lot of people are going to die, they're going to be starved to death by first-world governments. but hey, this is all just the conspiracy theorist in me. trixter

you I know what you mean... maybe it's a shamanistic whatchamacallit.... sort of like a part of yourself that shows characteristics (real or symbolic) of a "totemic" animal... i do believe our personality, mental make up or whatever can contain bits that you would consider "archetypic" or maybe just mostly suppressed in most people. some cultures might call it a guardian spirit or angel. this is spirit is none other than your(higher)self. and though the "lion" figure might just be a lens, it might be a very real and useful one in your development. explore the real and symbolic traits of the lion (courage, strength, royalty, fierceness etc... ad infinitum) and maybe work with it to develop yourself in any way that seems positive. i've always felt like I'm a turtle. i've been told several times i seem "reptilian". though i'd also like to think there's something of a bird in me. some people will also seem more fish, reptilian, feline, even downright horse, or bird like. there's an animal in each and every one of us. there's a monkey in each and every one of us. we are animals. there's a reason they call it "the reptilian brain". there must be traces left, south american shamanism is totally based on that. right on!

mal, you have to look at what happens to the plant when you feed it what. feeding on nitrogen, the stalk and leaves will grow. feeding on potassium and phosphorus though, the "flower part" will grow. basically you have to look really closely at a "bud" (the weed has to be a minimum quality, and forget about it if it has been compressed). you'll see it's made of a lot of little tear-shaped sort of "bags" (flowers), and these are all covered with leaves and held on stalks. some of those bags have developed seeds in them. all the seeds, as well as every trace of leaf or stalk have to go. basically the correct, traditional use of pot in mexico rests on the fact that next time you're rolling a spliff (which i don't recommend anyone to), you have to take a lot of time and patience to separate the little tear-shaped little bags from every trace of leaf or stalk. you end up throwing away (what looks like) a lot of weed, but it's only leaves and stalk. what you're left with is a lot of little drop shaped flowers. basically, nitrogen will make you high anyway you take it in. it will also inevitably make you groggy and tired afterwards (i.e. the late sleepy after effect of pot). what this method does is you not only get 5x higher because you're smoking a same-sized spliff of pure flower, you also tend not to get that sleepy, groggy after effect of weed you always get. that's not an intended effect of weed, that's just because people smoke the nitrogen in it. granted, it's only really worth doing in a place where you get a LOT of produce. like mexico. if you're getting hydro stuff there's not really a point to picking and choosing. you're probably already paying too much for it anyway. wow. suddenly feel like i'm on yahooka again. hope it's ok to talk about this here. for the record, weed will slow you down, and is not recommended. but for us incurables out there, better to know the MO, i think. so there it is.

Answering to mikaelz request, I once met a mexican healer who is truly the most enlightened person I have ever met, who had definitely gone beyond duality and had pure, unrefined love and compassion for every human being he encountered. he said the best, most direct to learn was to learn from nature herself, given that plants, unlike men, are not seeking to gain anything from you or manipulate you into believing anything. he was a mushroom priest, and I don't think he ever gave us any other "practice" or "exercises" than listening to what the mushroom had to say and living your life with conscience, and without harming anything or anyone. as to his own development, he was a healer and a great martial artist, so I'm sure he did his own share of studying and practice before becoming what he became. in addition to being the most amazing shroomhead I've ever met, he was also an incurable pot-head, which he said was the "plant of sensitivity" when correctly smoked (this means you have to take away everything that grows from nitrogen and smoke everything that grows from potassium and phosphorus). he had a saying in spanish that would roughly translate to "if you want to be healthy and strong, smoke weed, all day long". he was pretty awesome and quite a character. he was also a fully developed human being, keeper of the ancient tradition, and in charge of handing out "conscience" to other people. he did so through a bowl of purple mushroom stew. and through example, basically. mushrooms do not create long term damage in the brain. according to mac, the healer, they create chemical reactions which are interpreted by the brain as deadly poisoning, and the brain acts accordingly, sending you off into some really profound bardo states that make you think of all your choices and your life and what you did right and wrong so that when you come back, you really tend to change your attitude. working for improvement after the trip is, of course your own responsibility, given that nature has spoken. I do believe CERTAIN drugs to have been placed there by god or the higher intelligence of your choice for the guidance of human beings, as timeless, natural recipients of the dharma. then again, I wouldn't call them drugs. most of them are plants, mushrooms, cactii... LSD is the only synthetic one, but it comes from a mushroom too. you tend to think "hey, if it's there, it must be for a reason". and when you take the mushroom, sometimes you remember what the truth really is, and you remember that the truth is always ever-so-simple... i went into the spiritual path after my first mushroom trip when I was seventeen. It still took me four years to begin meditating, and when I did so, it was more like an offshoot of the whole quest. I do believe sacred substances can and will change someone's perception of the universe and their own lives. but i do think that the self-improvement comes from sustained conscious effort on your own part. a mushroom trip by itself will rarely change your attitude lastingly altogether (unless you got really badly scolded). but it will open the doors to things you would have otherwise never imagined, ergo, never pursued. to be honest, before mushrooms i didn't know what god was, therefore did not believe in it. after my first trip, what "god was" was so clear that I realized i always knew god, and to say that it didn't exist was denying your own "being here". I'd probably still think god was a man in a cloud had i not eaten mushrooms. afterwards, i understood god was pretty much everything, from the essence of things to the harmony that binds them. so that's the difference between your man-made, christian concept of god, and the nature-made, natural concept of god. basically, one makes much more sense than the other. that's why i'd say, granted, substances by themselves will not get you enlightened. i'd rather consider them "supervisors" or "natural teachers" in your own work towards the ultimate destination. people lacking gurus will find great council there. meditation is, on the other hand, an active, consciousness expanding effort. but they dont fall into the same category, therefore, it is useless to compare them. I do resent claims that drugs will mess with your brain. they will, but only for eight hours. every after effect that will remain will be fruit of the neural connections you will have made on the course of your trip. and in that sense, "drugs" do alter your consciousness, and always (however painful it might seem) for the better. i think sacred plants + personal, sustained effort towards self-improvement WILL equal enlightenment, whether you add meditation or not. but in the end, if you have the tools, why not use them? good thread. trixter.

i have a question... i'm particularly interested in how you tied martial arts and literature from a taoist perspective. you think you could give us a little brief on these two subjects and how you made them relate in your course? maybe i'll start a thread about it. but it just seemed awesome that you would tie the two together. thoughts, anyone? trixter.

he's definitely got something wrong... self treatment is one of the central "inner work" practices of reiki. it is the only way of being healthy and wholesome enough yourself to be able to channel a considerable amount of energy. it's true that simply channeling onto someone/something else will already provide energy for the healer, but this is not enough (unless, I guess, you're treating people all the time). in addition, genuine reiki will surely be taught with a bunch of traditional self-purification mantras, meditations, and an entire host of techniques to channel reiki unto yourself, your karma, YOUR development, and eventually, others. you see, this is what makes me so sad about reiki. people become masters in a weekend course, you compress a dozen quickie techniques to use the energy, hand out the initiation and voila! reiki master. I mean, I agree that it can be done by anyone and improved by practice, but many times it just isn't taught for what it really is: the quintessential and primordial hands-on healing technique of the ancient knowledge of all civilizations. rediscovered and "put together" mostly by a japanese guru and his japanese disciples, and then mangled beyond recognition by the "new age" movement, yes, but if you can find the right school or teacher (always essential), a really timeless practice. just tell him he can just put his hands on himself and channel it into himself, temples, heart, dantian... hopefully it'll rock his world. cheers, streetcat

this is taken from the stoicism thread. can someone expound on the concept of reputation in taoist terms? thank you streetcat oh... and "honour", while we're at it...?

hello bums, I have a question. is tonglin breathing an actual healing practice or is it simply a practice of compassion? any difference according to you? thank you for replies.

thank you for that. I guess my actual question is, will it heal the others?

though this guy could be a twisted serial rapist, my guess is, if you teach your practice, have a fling with a female practitioner (are there rules against this?), then break the forementioned practitioner's heart, chances are you'll end up with "reports of inappropriate correspondence with female practitioners". that said, it would be good to know (but none of our business) what exactly he did to those female practitioners. i have the "handbook for the urban warrior" and actually like it pretty much. good advice, practices, good presentation and a wide plethora of subjects, a good, entertaining and edifying read, in my opinion. though he may not be a genuine taoist master, he knows his subject and seems to enjoy sharing. that's more than what you can say about most "teachers". no waste of time in buying the book, or at least skimming through it in your local barnes & noble. if your practice is advanced you'll probably already know what he has to share, and though it's a fun read, you may not learn much. lots of advice on modern taoist living, stuff you won't find elsewhere. so, yeah, I like it.

hello bums, i was wondering if any of you have ever heard of the "five excellencies" in a taoist context. i first heard about them in the barefoot doctor's "handbook for the urban warrior". i purchased this book a while ago and I actually found it to be a pretty good overall description of the basic taoist exercises i.e. microcosmic orbit, three tantiens, grounding, posture, keeping the ba hui raised and "shiny" etc... I haven't heard anyone talking about either the author or the book in this forum so I'm guessing he's not "big" or "known" in "taoist circles", but the information in the book is good and relevant and well presented, so I am kind of fond of it. he speaks of the "five excellencies" as the five arts or areas in which a (taoist) person should succeed in order to be considered an "accomplished" being. barefoot doctor presents it as the taoist "career". these five excellencies are, according to him, the five "m"s, martial, medical, magical or meditative, musical and mesmerizing. in other words, an "accomplished" man (I'm not talking about enlightenment here, I'm talking about a set of skills, occupations and/or abilities to develop), would be proficient in martial arts, a healer, with knowledge of the mystical and/or occult, able to entertain, through music or otherwise, and able to communicate beautifully and efficiently (poet, singer, teacher, etc...) later research proved me that several people are considered "masters of the five excellencies", such as Lama Zurdwang or Cheng Man-Ch'ing, though the five excellencies differ (painting, poetry, martial arts, philosophy and medicine in some cases; chinese medicine, poetry, calligraphy, painting and Tai Chi in others). in other interviews, the barefoot doctor himself changes the five excellencies to martial arts, medicine, meditation, composition skills and presentation skills. I was wondering what you guys thought about the five excellencies, whether you knew anything else about the subject or had resources to share for further research. what do you think are the five excellencies? what set of skills and/or occupations do you think make a human being "whole"? in my opinion, a human being wanting to develop a set of wholesome skills would need a physical activity, to keep the body strong and healthy, which could be a sport, yoga or a martial art. he/she should develop a martial art to protect himself, others and whatever is precious to him/her. he/she should develop internal energy basically for the same aforementioned reasons. he/she should be on an "advanced" (interpret as you may) spiritual quest. he/she should be fun and pleasant to be around, hence the need to develop any sort of entertaining/performance skill; the social aspect, be it music, circus, acting etc... to me, very importantly, it should be a person capable of perceiving and creating beauty, therefore the need to develop an artistic skill of any sort (poetry or words in general are my favorite), which in the end, is also a way of teaching and communicating on a very subtle level. healing is important as well, since it is basically removing suffering, and helping others on their spiritual path, be it through spiritual practice or any healing art. in that sense, mine would be kung fu/tai chi, reiki, meditation, juggling, and last but not least, writing, though i do not consider myself any more than a beginner (not exactly the right word, apprentice, perhaps?) in each of these disciplines, and would certainly like to add/develop them, and many more, throughout my life. I guess any rational being, especially the greeks, would add mathematics to all that. but I'm no good at math . I do like science though, it interests me when well explained. how about you? what are yours, how far along are you? and also, what do you know about the actual, "historical" five excellencies? thank you for your replies, and a very nice trip to you all...

hello bums, I have recently purchased the Kunlun book off the internet and am expecting to get it in a couple of weeks or so. first off, I understand there needs to be an energy transmission from a qualified teacher, but since I live in Mexico it will be difficult for me to attend any seminars at least for the time being. is the book sufficient to start off at least into an initial practice? how should i go about this? secondly, my current regular practice consists of reiki, several sorts of meditation, kung fu, reciting mantra, and I will also be imminently introduced to tai-chi. are any of these practices contraindicated when practicing kunlun? I understand kundalini yoga is. could anyone expound on what one should NOT do when practicing kunlun? I'd hate to get one of those "awakening syndromes", which sound annoying and hard to cure without an expert in the subject. I guess that's it. thank you for responses. streetcat.

hey bums, to tell you the truth, I haven't even begun studying tai chi full on, just very basic basics. but I was also interested in learning something a bit more straightforward like brazilian jiu jitsu. any experienced martial artists who might have any thoughts into how this combination might work? cheerio.

fightingarts.com YMAA.com and martialdevelopment.com are the only ones I've found with any (little) useful information in them. maybe you know some that might be helpful, I'm looking particularly for sites dealing with the spiritual aspects of martial arts, and maybe some simple, useful, general advice that can come handy. any takers?

hey bums, i recently received the Kunlun book by post, and am looking forward to beginning practice. I do however, have some questions, and probably many more to come that I will post on this thread. as I understand, level one (which seems pretty simple) must be practiced for at least 6 months before going ahead. I understand one must be celibate for at least 100 days. firstly, what would happen if I wasn't celibate? would this have a terrible effect on the practice? secondly, I see there is a chapter on semen retention using the old hui-yin pressure point at the moment of orgasm. is this (by unanimous opinion) safe? any energetic or sexual problems that may ensue from that practice? so, as i'll be going ahead with level one right away, I guess we can skip 2 and 3 level questions. now, from chapter 11 onwards, there is a bunch of chapters with complementary practices. when is a good time to start these practices (Jongs, Maoshan traveling hands and secret of the golden flower, five elements, Red Sun, travelling the peaks of Mt Kunlun etc...)? are these practices supposed to begin at level 1, or should I focus on the main practice and leave these for the other levels? I guess that's all for now. thanks for your replies. streetcat.

I'd say, because they recently discovered LSD and mushrooms were brought back from the mountains. I think that played a massive role in the general, public consciousness expansion. after that people started researching. my 2 cents.

I have a new question. is it seriously contraindicated to do kunlun L1 more than once a day? I've been having a hard time staying in position for long, which I fear might be hindering the process. I've done it once already this morning. would it be too bad to do it again this evening? thank you for replies...

yeah... I'd agree with most of it.

that was a good story. scotty, thanks you for your comments, you've been very helpful. i will not hesitate to ask more questions in the future

thank you joeblast for the advice and information, those jongs do look pretty interesting, i think i'll start with i-jong and add the other 5 later on. i'm interested in i-jong for the martial arts benefits, do you know anything about this? also, what's the deal with the closedown? what's it for, what does it do and what would be the effect of skipping it? i started the kunlun L1 today. Not the full hour, just like twenty-minutes half-an-hour just to see what it was about. the shaking began almost right away but i felt silly and thought it was imply an offshoot of the position. I spiralled from the thigh for a while (clockwise? counterclockwise? both?) and since I wasn't feeling anything I stopped after a while. afterwards, while closing down, i did feel a very mild tingling feeling in the belly and a very faint sensation in the crown area, which I checked from the book were expected sensations after the set. i think those were the first signs. i liked it, will try it again tomorrow for the full hour, maybe with i-jong to prepare. any additional advice, anyone?

I say give them a taste. everyone who ever mocked reiki (which is a very mockable practice since all the "new age" stuff started becoming popular and a lot of phonies started doing it), or who said they "didn't believe in it" practically passed out after I transferred some to them. afterwards they may say they still don't believe. they still got pale though...

ok, so that officially puts the huiyin technique out of the question. would there be similar problems if, say, I was to retain ejaculation using the mula bandha constriction at the point of orgasm, thus having sex while retaining seed? is there the same risk of "congestion" if i simply have sex without ejaculating? don't think i'll remain celibate though

Ya Mu, that "cloaking" technique is very interesting. where does it come from? can you develop on what it does exactly to the energy field and results? why is it useful when walking up to someone? thanks

who knows what the dark night really is. in my opinion it has nothing to do with energy work, grounding etc... because in most cases of spiritual progress it is unavoidable. something like jesus being tempted in the desert etc... in my opinion, it seems like something God inflicts on the seeker to test his willpower (the story of Job in the bible also seems kind of dark night-ish), to provoke resistence and make him further wish "enlightenment" (because what would be the point, if the road to enlightenment was smooth and easy?). read The Dark Night of the Soul by ST John of the Cross, which is a poem and an essay that deals exclusively with this subject. and if you're going through it, just hold tight. whatever comes down, must come up again...