Apech

Bollywood! That caught me by surprise. None of those dancing gilrs are wearing cowboy hats!!

If its a soap opera then we have to have the following: 1) Someone in hospital with amnesia who has forgotten that their long lost brother is actually a serial killer and arsonist who burned down their parents home many years ago. 2) A girl who kissed a boy but doesn't know if he really fancies her or was doing it because he felt sorry for her after her dog died and has to think of a way to find out how he really feels. 3) A policeman who thinks he might be gay. 4) A rich woman with a poodle and a long haired cat who lives in a mansion with a weedy son who spends all day on the internet at TTBs. I think that will do for a start. ... just need a story line.

Well you can keep your men in cowboy hats ... I'm sticking with my beautiful lady and some guys standing on a wall for no obvious reason:

Seems to me that Buddhist ideas are so well ingrained with people interested in meditation or for that matter Taoism that it is very difficult to think or present ideas without making reference to them. For instance if you talk about self then you are almost obliged to address the idea of no-self as well. Many people seem very convinced by Buddhist attitudes towards reality and so on ... because of course they are very powerful idea(s) ... Even when you come to talk about things as being real there's a hesitation as if to say 'don't you mean illusory?' ... I'm not saying this is a bad thing ... just making the observation that there are other views and that the Taoist Discussion forum acknowledges this ... I don't see why Buddhism cannot survive quite happily in the 'general' part ... unless people are wanting to go through sutras in detail as with the TTC sub. that is.

You are the living proof. +1 for your post 11 above by the way.

It's well known that women in general only date Zen masters. This is a fact. What do you think Sloppy?

Fiddle where you please ... don't you think the singer is stunning??

Ok ... enough of the happy stuff lets have dark, strange, arty and sad ... oh ... ok then ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuq0VYEf4nc and why not?

Bing Crosby! Marbles have I ever mention that: it would go with your hair ... if you had any that is. Dorothy Lamour was quite a babe really.

Sexual reproduction .. down under? OK I see the connection. When did the policy on swearing change? F***ed if I know!

When I was a kid I lived for a bit in the states and I remember this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYFgfHB0_L0 I was very, very young. So country music is in my soul after all .

What do I know I'm a Brit ... its all folk music to me.

This is as about as country as I get http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fcBEGjK3cM

How about not?

Why?

Hermes is the Greek god of wisdom seen as a winged messenger and known as Mercury by the Romans. Thoth (Djehuti in Egyptian) is the Egyptian god of wisdom inventor of writing, mathematics, medicine and so on. Usually portrayed as having the head of an ibis or baboon and linked to the moon. His centre of worship was in Khemenu in middle Egypt. One of his titles was 'three times great' ... this is also echoed in in the name of the Hermetic writer Hermes Trismegistos (Hermes the thrice great) who wrote the Emerald Tablet amongst other things.

Welcome to TTBs - enjoy your time here. A.

Never heard of Cox's Orange Pippin ... tis an apple!!!!

"Opposition is true friendship" William Blake (Marriage of Heaven and Hell)

Hi, I wanted to answer your poll but found that I didn't really fit any of the categories ... some of the terms I didn't recognize either ... maybe you should put 'other' ... which although it is not very informative would tell you how many people responding wanted a new category. A.

Hi Stig, That was a very long post! I read it but can't remember every point you made ... but you are clearly passionate about this subject. I agree that self moderation is the ideal and I can't imagine anyone disagreeing with that statement. No-one on here anyway. Obviously this is why we often offer the reported poster an opportunity to self-edit and very rarely edit anything anyway - even if it is thought to break the 'rules'. I don't agree with the generally accepted (?) notion that TTBs has got more negative, childish or bad tempered ... or whatever ... I see the opposite. It seems to me there is a general growing acceptance that the 'no insult' and respect the other poster approach is helpful and constructive to good debate and not the other way around. Within this I, like Mal don't want to see the passion die ... so strong language as such has never been an no no ... just insults. If there is to be self-moderation then presumably people posting would need their own personal ethos against which they judged their own post. Rather in the way you might distinguish ethics (a personal belief system or set of values) form morals (values imposed by society). One thing I don't understand then is what actually happens if a member of this community refuses to respect others and maybe indulges in a bit of trolling. What is the sanction? How would the community exclude this person ... or take whatever action without moderators? If I have missed the point , forgive me.

I know its not very helpful but I can relate to everything you have said. I have had similar experiences/observations. I would also add that the matter which the light interacts with is something like structured voidity (if this makes any sense).

Sorry to others who mean this sincerely but a blank mind is not the goal.