thelerner

I think listening to the wise/dharma lectures are as necessary to the path as meditation, particularly for 'energetic arts'. Technology has blessed us with podcasts of many wise people from a whole bunch of traditions. We need to find ones that connect with us, not because they agree with what we already think, but challenge us to be better people. Imo preferably from an established tradition. Left to our devices we can wander into selfishness and extremes. Particularly if we don't have friends who tell us when we're full of shit.

Didn't they add a fourth gate in modern times.. True? Necessary?? Kind??? Approved by my lawyer ????

No expert, but I wonder if boosting your testosterone would help. Lifting weights, start slow and build up to heavier. More protein, maybe meat, eggs if you're so inclined. Google it, lots of information out there of various quality on exercise, foods and supplements that will boost the sexual hormone. I bet you'll bounce back with less effort than it took to your current state but it will take some time.

No experience w/ antidepressants and the Golden Flower, other then the standard advice that if things get strange, dark, or hot.. slow down or even consider taking a break (weeks, months) from your practice. It'll still be there later when you're more centered. This is advice I had to take myself doing a practice as benign as Zhan Zhang. I was doing it facing the afternoon sun for a few weeks and during one session things got strange and hot. So I backed off.

Drink a cup water then make steel cut oats- cooked in boiled water w/ peanut butter, flax seed, a little banana and handful of blueberries. Trying to cook it just al-dente so each nugget is still a little firm. On really cold days I'll make 2 spit-in-the-eye eggs. Buttered sprouted wheat toast with a hole in the middle and egg fried there. And coffee. Breakfast is my healthiest meal of the day. Too often I go out to eat lunch w/ a friend which gets nutritionally haphazard. Dinner is usually pretty good.

Forgive us, we shouldn't be overly suspicious. Sadly there are times both unorthodox and orthodox practices get unfair treatment here. Though with time and sincerity some can be won over. Yet progress should take some work. That tends to be a universal law. Diligent Intelligent Effort = gains. Your method is listen and gain great power. That is frankly suspicious. Still, if there were people here that I respect who tried it and reported positively I'd try it. I've literally jumped off cliffs with the scant encouragement, it won't kill you. This happened on the bums 10 or 12 years ago. Kunlun by Max Christenson became big and controversial here. It had a byline one hour = 1,000 hours of another system. Which pretty much sets it up in crank territory but some senior members tried and reported good things. They admitted the adline was exaggerating but that the system was amazing. A bunch here tried it, me included. A 3 day seminar plus off seminar night time hiking the nearby deserts, some of which trying to spot UFOs. I liked it, Kunlun was a kind of spontaneous chi gung, hit the position and it got you moving. Many had good experienced, yet many would later drop it. A few had problems, too much energy. A noted member here had spiritual problems with 'visitors'. I never had too much affect though I'm glad I learned it. There were other variations that seemed less.. channeling. Anyhow, my point is.. huuh, I don't think I have a point. carry on.

One piece of advice is instead of looking for the bright shiny and foreign, look around at what's offered close by. Meditation, tai chi, sufi, yoga, martial arts.. find out what's offered relatively close to you and observe a class. Watch the teacher, talk to them after class, watch the students they are what you'll become if you choose to join. A great teacher who's close you can learn from, is worth more than a practice done far away you'd have to learn from a book. Basics are basics. Start.. you'll have a lifetime ahead of you to pick and choose, as you gain experience and fate shows you where to go.

I read somewhere not to meditate under Weeping Willow trees, that they suck in chi. Yet I do, and find them calm companions, living waterfalls of green. I've also read not to meditate between 2 and 4 pm, but I will. I cross my right knee over my left when sitting in lotus which can be a no no for men. But it feels more comfortable that way. Perhaps for someone of my low level it doesn't matter so much. Or perhaps our beliefs is what makes things so.

Me: 61 Days Won Me: 6,534 Hours lost

This is a nice medical qigong/guided meditation. Slowly (30 minutes) goes through the skeletal system piece by piece lighting and strengthening bones. If chi goes where attention goes, then this should be helpful. Plus little effort, just listen and feel.

I If you or anyone is interested here's a link- http://abardoncompanion.de/Arch-Info.html Rawn had many fascinating practices. His IHVI ADNI chant/canticle is my shower practice and quite powerful. His Center of Stillness guided meditation is both complex, difficult and rewarding. http://abardoncompanion.de/CSM-Info.html Lastly his commentaries on Franz Bardon's magic and hermetics fill in many blanks and make the system much more understandable.

At night I'll stand still for a few minutes. Helps clear my head and relax the body. A practice I haven't done in for awhile is ZZ while listening to Rawn Clark's Archaeous system. He uses a vaguely hermetic system to stack the elements on your body. Legs (and hands) are earth, stomach area water, chest air, head awareness/light. The lessons are just 15 or so minutes and make standing go by quickly. Because the hands are part of the earth I'll usually stand in a 'holding balls down' posture. The Archaeous isn't specifically for standing but I've found it compliment ZZ very well. It's also my go to for sitting by pond/lake/stream meditation. Solid Earth holds water, flexible changing water holds expanding enveloping air, above air is awareness. <added It's sorta like becoming the famous Daoist picture where symbols and cosmology make up the sitting man.

I'm no senior, respectfully, imo, it's all connected and they compliment each other. Plus somethings don't take up much time. For me, when I'm in the shower, I chant. Sacred meanings but also a unique of vibrations that echoes out and echoes within. Kotodama- sacred sounds. Speaking of showers if you want to go body cultivation- cold showers. Release many good chemicals/hormones and build your will power. Start slow.. from warm to a minute or so of cold, and build up to a few minutes. Sitting is re-resetting, in that it is a form of deep relaxation, it's a body cultivation. Instead of looking at it as spiritual it can be viewed as psychological. Sitting quietly, you watch your mind. It can be hard, the noise, the thoughts that seem other. Control of mind is control of body.. somewhat. Cooking.. also excellent cultivation and what I'm doing now. So please excuse me. Wild rice w/Chicken soup won't cook itself https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/wild-rice-and-orzo-chicken-soup/

Wishes to all for a great 2024. What practices, hobbies and routines will you be carrying on in 2024, that make your life better? I think I'll keep up the cold showers. For meditation try out more open eye, or rather half eye meditation til they close naturally while keeping a very quiet breath. I want to focus on a few base things. To do list- Keep up the kayaking, at least weekly and join an active group. See more concerts. Exercise and lose some weight, pick a program and be consistent. Learn to program.

As I get older I tend to think The only sin is hurting others unnecessarily. And it's almost always unnecessary **. The rest is self hurt or cultural taboos, imo. **Could be expanded to not hurting society, but society is still people. Might add not hurting the environment.

You have a good moving practice 8 brocades. Now look into sitting practice.. energetic focus or still. Perhaps a sound focus, mantra.. chant.. Hardest of all is making everything a practice.

I'm a firm believer that a quiet mind is the essential first step in any meditative regime and that emptiness, non directed or just sitting meditation practice is the best way to get there. I don't think that it is the end. Or maybe it is, but I do see a real need for a mountain of stuff and techniques inbetween. When I do emptiness meditation, counting my breaths, or observing my mind, there is emptiness(except for small monkeys) but no sense of bliss or emotional content whatsoever. It gets boring. I guess thats the point ofcourse. But I get the feeling I need to do some of the inner smile work, so that an echo of it lasts through the emptiness. To have something pleasant in the background. Thoughts? How has your emptiness meditation evolved over the years? Peace Michael

Maybe not qi, but flow, a close relative, might make a difference. Starting the cutting motion from your center, transmitting the force through your arm, whole body flowing back and forth as you cut.

My wife reads alot of the classics. Deep classics, like Euclid, Shakespeare, Plato, Aristotle, Kant.. Me, not so much, in many ways she married a Neanderthal or on good days a Bonobo. Years ago I took a speed reading course. I was able to read WaP in about 35 minutes. As I recall there was a war in it, than it ended. That about sums it up.

My cousin's been laid up with a lung problem for a few months. He's doing better and got himself a Quest 3. He's been playing Dungeons Of Eternity, so I got a copy and joined him in cyberspace. It was alot of fun. I was lucky to play with him as a newbie since some things were not easy to find out on my own. The game uses the media very well, turning the world into a DnD style dungeon. I look forward to gaining some competence in it and playing with others. If any of you have copies, I'm thelerner , just look for the character with the Dao Bums T-shirt fumbling desperately for a healing potion.

Maybe we can get people meeting up and playing games together during the lockdown. I'm a Mac user. Got Steam. Intimidated by Valve's Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2. My kids are experts at them though. It'd be fun to learn with other newbs who don't mind an older slower player. I grew with simple top down games. I remember being in awe of Space Invaders and Galaxian. My fingers and brain don't react as well to 3D. Any Steam games recommended? Also an Ocular Quest II VR user. I love it, remarkable technology. I play Drop Dead and Arizona Sunshine, two zombie games that are multi-player. Be fun to hook up with another player. How about you guys. What's your system, what do you play?

When it comes to meditation- Taoist, Buddhist, etc.. the most important thing is focus. Staying focused and not getting thrown off track, caught up in trivialities or ego.

<edit> <didn't fully get Cobie quote>I've played both sides of the game. I've found, like Elwood P. Dowd said '“In this world … you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant.” Obviously for some things, maybe most in the tic toc world you want to know the 'truth'. Though most often it's a truth, not thee truth. Right or wrong too many cling to It as a gospel. They become isms, willing to die or kill for their 'truth' or less dramatically waste time on forums defending their truth. OUTRAGED by other opinions. Seems juvenal. (not that my worst self hasn't engaged in its fair share) I hold the truths, my truths, loosely, at least when I'm smart. There are not-truths I also hold, again loosely and they give me great pleasure and improve my life. Often ultra-rationalists turn dogmatic and don't age well.

I'm close to Kakapo's understanding but a little different. Spiritual hygiene to me is not filling your head with nonsense, real or not. Truth is less important to me, if a lie moves my progress along. I get that from my Aikido sensei, who'd say Everything I teach you is a lie, but a necessary one. The Speech "..Just because something isn't true that's no reason you can't believe in it. Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe the most. That good always triumphs over evil. Honor, courage and virtue mean everything. That money and power. Power and money mean nothing." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1-KbmIagFw I'm a believer in the power of Karma yoga. Doesn't take traveling the world or doing great or mystical things. It's giving your time to help others. It benefits them, helps us manage our ego and see the world with better perspective.

Seems like the guy was more Middle-Eastern than Western, like myself. I've never seen Jesus in a cowboy hat.. except for that one time in El Paso.