thelerner

As a fellow insomniac I'd recommend easing up on practice or not doing them close to bed time. They could be energizing or sparking so much inner awareness that you can't get into the dull fuzziness needed to fall sleep.

What I'm working on is God as everything. Real big, all the nouns and beyond time and space. That we can (maybe) get a grasp of this looking at things closely, ala William Blake's To see a World in a Grain of Sand. And a Heaven in a Wild Flower. Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand. A mystical interpretation of the most common Jewish prayer is The breath/presence of God is everywhere, His mystery suffuses everything, Wow.. (bread, grape, wine, rainbow, bathroom break..) A prayer said dozens of times a day, reminding us to look closer for the sacred. I'm not too successful. Sadly I'm a material man living in a decadent world.

An old scout master taught me how to find the Pleiades, w/ naked eye and binoculars. How a fuzzy, easy to miss object, became large, bright and star filled thru good binoculars. The better the eye and darker the sky, the more you see into it. Along with the legends, its nice to see and understand this 'open cluster' in the sky. It's no wonder our ancestors were fascinated by it. https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/how-can-i-see-the-pleiades-star-cluster/ "..The Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, is the most well-known star cluster in the night sky. It’s what’s known as an ‘open cluster’, which is a group of stars that form from the same huge cloud of dust and gas. As the cloud collapses under gravity, temperatures rise and stars begin to take shape, becoming loosely bound by their mutual gravitational attraction. The Pleiades contains some 3,000 stars, all less than 100 million years old, making them mere babies compared to our Sun’s 4.6 billion years. The cluster’s name possibly comes from the Ancient Greek word plein, meaning ‘to sail’, because the first appearance of the cluster in the dawn sky each year heralded the start of the sailing season. It’s thought that the name Pleiades was later used in Greek mythology for the seven daughters of the titan Atlas and the sea nymph Pleione. In the night sky, the Pleiades sits within the constellation of Taurus. It’s actually possible to see up to 14 of the stars with the naked eye in areas with no light pollution.."

I'm in the 'Don't blame God for the acts of man' camp. I tend to see the bible as a poor source for understanding the deity. Though some have used it as springboard to delve into deeper and more mystical understandings others are stuck in a quagmire of bronze age myths and legends.

There's a style of meditation called Metta. Loving kindness heart meditation. Where you feel love and spread it out. You can find many guided meditations on the internet, particularly Youtube. Not that it has to be a guided meditation. Ajahn Brahms has some deep writings on the subject https://mettarefuge.wordpress.com/2010/01/08/ajahn-brahmavamso-teaches-loving-kindness/ and a couple of audios and youtubes. Here's a link to a guided one https://bswa.org/teaching/guided-metta-meditation-by-ajahn-brahm-2/ It's worth reading his essays on it.

I'm a fellow sufferer. Sleeping with a wedge pillow, ie head higher, helped. Raising the head of the bed might work too. Club soda w/ lime, due to its bicarbonate helped. Nothing really kept it at bay for very long. When it flares up I'll chop a oemprazole (Prilosec) in half and take half pills for a few days (or longer). sugar and alcohol are triggers.

There was a group in Chicago that had full moon meditations. Couple cycles of 45 minutes meditation then 45 minutes dancing. Quite a refreshing way to spend an evening. Taoishly the moon is yin, yet the full moon is yang so its a night of mixed energy. Judaism in on a lunar calendar, with special occasions and holiday on new and old moons, I believe Islam is similar. The Chinese have a traditional lunisolar calendar. They all use leap months, or year to keep ontrack with Gregorian solar calendar. Most traditions have special customs and names for each full moon. Native tribes having the most interesting and practical names. Some very old herbal potion books they'd have instructions on making tonics by the full moon and straining them by the light of the next full moon.

Here's a definitive site for awesome flowers. From Hookers Lips to Ballerinas. https://www.boredpanda.com/flowers-look-like-animals-people-monkeys-orchids-pareidolia/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic While some objects are guided by our imagination, I can't help thinking some of the bird shapes might be evolutionarily helpful to the plant. And then there's Georgia O'keefe who swore up and down her flowers were not erotic or sexual. Georgia O'Keeffe, Red Canna, 1924

The YodHehVavHeh , reminds me of one of favorite pieces of kotodama, canticle really. From Rawn Clark YHVH practice, somewhat based on the Hermeticist Franz Bardon's work. There are 6 levels of the chant, plus a healing method. Simple but it get increasingly complicated. Here they are if anyone cares to try it- http://abardoncompanion.de/IHVH-Info.html

In the modern world an open heart can be a painful vulnerable thing. It is a scarred and callused organ. Maybe shutting out the world for a bit, or at least the news and doing things that cultivate love, kindness to others and oneself.. helps heal it.

Don't know about any kind of holy grail, super powered lost word, but I do know the study of kotodama, sacred sounds is worthwhile. Most cultures have a version. Sometimes partly hidden in chants and songs, or infront of us, like Ma, mom, ohhmn. Personally I dig Abulafiah's Kabbalah as popularized in Ecstatic Kabbalah. Shinto chanting is also fascinating.

Instead of the concept Perfect Self, I like the term Complete Human Being. There's a roundness to it. Birth, death. Highs, lows. Happiness, sorrow. Sex, Celibacy. Peace at the core. Accepting, rolling with the world. What aspects of myself, do I need to work on, to be more Complete? no stereotype.. what do I need to roll better.. to momentarily perfect my morning oatmeal.

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nahh, I don't think they'll be dropping slips of paper with that advice on war zones. I think its best affect is on thoughtful readers who come to understand that the roots of their aggressiveness lie in restlessness; little irritations, that they are the 'grit' that the match of violence is struck against. That's us personally. Gaining enough awareness and inner peace to control and lessen our worst instincts. The big problems, war crimes, general crimes, require big, indepth, long intensive solutions. From citizen to war criminal there's alot of dominoes being pushed over. To prevent the soldier massacre requires better recruitment, better training, better support, clear goals, rule of engagement and punishments and rewards for following them correctly. Ending the kid's violence begins before he was born. Better social safety net to keep kids out of desperation. Parental education, outreach.. etc., Social network to educate the kid and make sure he has a meal. Within the layers of needed help, Sadhguru's advice is excellent because the social services have a high burnout rate. One of the Aikido students we had joined because they were guidance counselors and hoped Aikido, as a less violent martial art, would help them deal with parents and situations where they wanted to punch people out. I think it did.

I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this yet, Goodrx the app is an excellent resource to find the lowest drug cost. In many cases its dramatic. Strangely enough there are cases when its dramatically lower then the Insurance Rate. You literally have to remind the pharmacy not to go through your health insurance company. There's a new service that might be even better. Costplusdrugsrx.com by Mark Cuban allegedly makes 15% profit on each prescription, often wildly less than big box pharmacies. I haven't used it yet, but it looks promising.

Been there. Called it Melancholy periods. Weeks of feeling dull and listless, depression-light. Covid has made things worse and limits possibilities, but for me, the solution was joining groups and showing up. That's half of life's battle, showing up. In College it was a service fraternity, afterwards a martial art, but it could have been any group that met weekly. The way out took momentum. Going whether I felt like it or not. It helped that the martial art had few members and there was pressure to show up, participate and eventually teach, to keep it alive. Force yourself enough, with reminders and preparation, and it becomes habit and you end up looking forward to going, and reap the rewards. addon> course this lift yourself up by bootstraps can work with melancholy, but for full on depression, not so much. Having a professional to talk to can be lifesaving. The brain itself can get out of whack and the right medicine can be miraculous.

imo It's not about knowing, or being 'right'. It's about passion and resonating. It's important to find something you can believe in and be passionate about. For some its religion, finding a niche, sometimes a re-evaluation of what they grew up with, but seen with new eyes or with a new dynamic modern leader. Or the passion goes into a hobby. From art to martial arts to nearly anything that has depth. Take time to see what's offered around you. What might peak your interest. Be open. Give things an honest try. For me, the God stuff is mostly about noise and silence. Trying to get quieter and quieter, so I can hear the universe better. Or listening to silence after sacred sounds. Course sacred is what we make sacred, still some sounds resonate. So does some wisdom. When you find that resonance, go deeper. I think we better when we have a prayer or chant.. even if its just so we can listen deeper to the silence after.

Larry Niven the sci fy writer wrote a book which involved the Cargo Cult phenomena, Dream Park. It was pretty good. I visited Cargo Cult, way back in 2013 and know John Frum. It was a blast. 2013 Art Theme: Cargo Cult Theme by Larry Harvey, text by Larry Harvey and Stuart Mangrum, illustration by D.A. of Black Rock (aka Dominic Tinio) “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” – Arthur C. Clarke Who is John Frum? He is known to us by many names, this Visitor from Elsewhere, dispenser of endless abundance and wielder of mysterious technologies: John Frum, Quetzalcoatl, Osiris, “Bob.” His cargo is splendid, his generosity boundless, his motives beyond our understanding. But across the ages and around the world, the stories all agree: one day he will return, bearing great gifts. Our theme this year asks three related questions; who is John Frum, where is he really from, and where, on spaceship Earth, are we all going? The fascinating lesson of the Cargo Cult phenomena is how history becomes legend. As events fade, they're colored by hopes and resentments or are never correctly understood in the first place. Who's to say the imagined past is not more useful than the actual. Maybe we're living in the imagined past, right now.

bump. was reminded of this thread recently. it's pretty good, well worth slogging through.

Should filling the Dan Tien be considered an important mile stone before an esoteric practitioner can move on to other practices. Do we 'fill up' the Dan Tien just by deep full breathing and putting attention there? Does reverse breathing help the process? Is it necessary? What are the markers of progress and are visualizations a help or hindrance? I think it is vital and too often forgotten in the rush to learn more complicated practices. I think reverse breathing can help the process, and there are 'light' versions of it; a mental feeling of contraction of chi w/ a slight tightening of the butt, instead of the usual reversal of stomach movement during breath. I like visualizations, but I'm trying not to use them much these days. <edit> 9/6/14 the thread is on 26 pages and going strong. At some point I'd like to create a Best of.. this thread. Collect what I feel are the most important comments and condense them into a single cohesive post. Then put it on top to make it easier to find. For some of these long, juicy, useful threads, it might be a cool idea for a OP writer to do this. Create a summary of the best thoughts, in one place so they're easier.

I get the feeling this is highly studied by communist party leaders. As a personal code, its got benefits, but as a strategy of ruling people it can turn Orwellian.

There must be.. 50 ways. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEvimAmm7o4 addon> I read the book 'Life 102, What to do when your guru sues you'. The author, Peter McWilliams, a smart guy got sucked into a cult, and the difficulty getting out. Cults and marketing, prey on our elitist instincts- that we are the few exceptional ones who will really understand this. The smarter you are the better you might be at rationalizing bull shit. We all need friends honest enough to tell us when we're going astray, and the wisdom to believe them.

Any book that influences our lives, is worthy to write commentary about. Let the purists read elsewhere. And kudos to those discussing the DDJ on group interpretive threads.

I too was wondering what I may have said. I assume it was quite awhile ago. added (unless it was about the practice that must Not Be Named..for fear of vast wasteland of redundant pages) I haven't been active much. I haven't been to the Original Dao in a long time, not sure I've ever even posted there. My past is a mystery, even to me. Anyhow, it's a loss. Running and modding a site is work, sometimes anxious heart rending work. My compliments to Zhangzhi for keeping it going for so long, all sites tend to be uphill battles. I'd love to start skimming the Original Dao site while its still up. I'm sure there's much gold there, as the OD admin said politics made it darker. Many of the TB members who migrated there were excellent, eccentric, problematic at times, but they had heart and knowledge. I'm not a mod but personally I wouldn't mind them coming back to the site. I'd certainly ask them to acknowledge that politics, clingy one sided, insulting politics are poisonous. Sometimes you gotta say, what you gotta say, but WE'RE NOT A POLITICAL SITE- RIGHT OR LEFT OR WRONG. If you have to say something political, spit it out, and leave it lying there like turd, don't defend or keeping going back to educate others. This is not the place to 'OWN' anybody. At our best we're an eclectic philosophy site, who's member shoot the shit and respect each other. Been watching the series- Godless on Netflix. Lately my verbage is filled w/ old West cliches. apologies, now git you doggies.

I forget who said it, maybe Michael McAllister of InfiniteSmile podcasts. That dis-illusionment w/ your teacher was part of the game. A widespread phenomena. He experienced it from both sides. I think his advice was if the teaching is worthwhile, move through it, suck it up, you'll develop a mechanism to get past it. In time you'll get back into the groove.