Apech

Hmmm how like a guru not to take his own vow.

Enough about taxes already. Can we just get back to helping each other? I think it is up to us individually. MTS charges what he charges and that's it - take it or leave it - draw your own conclusions and do what you want. I have taken the Yodisattva vow so I will say no more. Master Yoda that must be the first bad thing I've seen you say about anyone! Have you taken your own vow?

Easynow, Honestly you have obviously had a bad time. You need to give yourself the time and space to reclaim your energy. I feel that any complicated or 'powerful' practices at this time might be more confusing. I feel you should simplify - and try to avoid too much drug use and so on. If you have sorted the physical sexual problems then you just need to wait and give it time for the emotional stuff to sort itself out. Despite how it is presented to us its actually not easy to form satisfactory and harmonious sexual relations with other people. Most people have problems with this and you are not unique in that. I would still suggest you avoid any elaborate analysis of problems and work on grounding yourself and finding simple things you enjoy. If there's a Buddhist group near you you could go and do some shamata somewhere quiet and peaceful. Cheers. A. PS. nice vid/mantra to listen to: yUJucA-mrgE&feature=channel_page

Hi Jack, This place is safe enough and a good resource for learning about different practices and therapies and so on. But you need to make your mind up about what people say and what you are told because opinions differ and there is little/no moderation (thankfully) so everyone is free to express (and argue if they choose to). For what its worth - and its almost impossible to give proper advice because I don't know you or your circumstances - but I would suggest three things: 1) Try to regularize your outer life by having routines about sleeping and eating. Eat balanced meals at regular intervals, try to go to bed earlier and get up earlier and don't seek out overly stimulating situations. Become a little boring in other words. Cut out or reduce stimulants like tobacco, alcohol, drugs and coffee - don't give up at first just reduce as much as tolerable. 2) If you don't already practice - learn a simple settling meditation technique such as following the breath or just sitting formlessly - so you can learn to let your mind settle. Our minds get caught up and exhausted by the world and loose connection with our underlying nature (which is a source of renewal). Need to let thoughts, feelings and so on come and go to practice returning to base (so to speak). 3) Find something creative that you like doing and do it a bit more. Could be anything - like painting and playing music or just going for a walk in the country. I would suspect (although I don't know obviously) that your problems are not as difficult as you think and that with time you can gradually ease them. There's lots of people on here who are healers - try the Healing Circle or post specific questions on the discussion forum and you will find some well meaning and helpful replies. Best wishes. A.

Kill the inner foe Also watch the outer foe He's out to get you. (not that I'm paranoid)

Tune in to the healing circle. Give more details and there's plenty of advice from different posters on diet and remedies. A.

the scream of bag pipes swirling in the gusting wind stiff breeze lifts my kilt. (lucky I wore my thermals)

for seniors in love can act like juniors in fact - grow up! why should I?

Welcome back Ed. A.

into insight's gift comes a dead word unspoken autumn leaves in spring.

It claims a continuity with Christian thought as well. All the religions of the Book have this problem in that once you believe that the Bible is literally the word of God then it becomes carved in stone and cannot be reviewed or changed. Orthodox Jews have stricter and stricter interpretations of the divine law because of this.

I enjoyed his "Shamanistic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts" and think that he has made a contribution to moving academic opinion away from the old entrenched views (which he summarises well). And I agree with the phenomenological approach to the texts. I've done quite a bit of study of the Pyramid Texts of Unas and I think they are key. No one I have read has really got to the heart of them though. A.

Thanks Darin, I found that really interesting. What happened after this - did you manage to stabilze these experiences? A.

Pietro, My name is John but I am a borg (ha ha). I was teaching English this morning and I realised that I had an Iranian, an Iraqi, a Khurdish woman, someone from Eritrea and several others - nearly the whole of the axis of evil!!! They are so nice and well meaning that it is very hard for me to get any of the Muslim threat stuff. OK I disagree with a lot of their culture but it is not our role to lecture or disapprove. I think societies need to develop in their own ways. You can't go around the world imposing democracy for instance it has to grow from within. There is a theory about philosophy (possibly Marxist) which says that society throw up the philosophy that reflects it. So if there is a strong hierarchy in society then the philosophy is hierarchical and so on. So I would suggest that the stage at which Islamic thinking became in turned and conservative was when somehow the society had developed in this way. Whether this is to do with expansion as such I am not sure. The comparison with communism is not to say that Islam is in any way like communism in its approach or thinking, but just that Islam has replaced communism as the shiboleth of the West, the scary 'other' which threatens all that we stand for. This is the way that governments work. They control peoples minds by manipulating images of nasty foreigners - just as the Nazis did with the Jews and the idea of an international Jewish conspiracy and so on. That's not to say that there is no real threat from Al Quieda or whatever - but the way in which these organisations come into being and are allowed to flourish is significant. I agree that many communists are charming bespectacled intellectuals who want to change the world for the better. But I think if you had said that in the USA 1950 - 1990 you would have got shouted at in no uncertain terms. I assure you there are many Muslims who are equally charming. Sharia law seems to evoke some dismay in the West because of the 'barbaric' punishments - such as public flogging and the cutting off of hands. We just don't do that sort of thing - so we don't want them to either. But its not really that long ago that we did. And what were the most barbaric events of the 20 century? WW1 and WW2 presumably. We killed millions feuding over who ruled Europe - or in the case of the Japanese the Pacific basin. You just have to look at how the Japanese were portrayed after the war - as kind of alien crazy people capable of barbaric acts in concentration camps and so on. Now, on the other hand, they are colourful, funny, slightly eccentric but admirable people with their own special aesthetic.

Pietro, I would suspect, as you kind of suggest, that the slow down in Islamic culture, or change in mind set or whatever we might call it precipitated the popularity of the philosopher's thought, rather than the other way round. I think ideas take hold in societies where the right conditions exist. Somehow the Islamic culture which blossomed in that 800 - 1100 period ran out of steam and became inward looking and conservative. Luckily for us, what they had was passed on to the West. I understand from what you say that you think that there is something specific and threatening about Islam, over and above the kind of threat held by any orthodoxy - but maybe I am misreading you. OK Islam is at a particular stage in its development and exists in some of the most troubled places in the world - and is also promoted in a certain form by some very uneducated people (e.g. Taliban), so it is now highlighted in a way that Communism used to be ... that is as the main threat to freedom, liberality and our way of life. By thinking like this a kind of wall has been built up which informs foreign policy against any form of Islamic state (e.g. Iran). This makes them more militant, more confused because of the way in which the West cynically switches support e.g. to and from Saddam Hussein depending on what he was getting up to. In other words it is an unholy mess. And individuals like you and me, and the Muslim in the street are just left wondering what the hell's going on. We are all victims of this nonsense.

OK fair enough - I am not a fan of any state religion used for social control. But I certainly got the impression here that some people are particularly anti-Islam and I think that maybe this has just become the new 'enemy' now that Communism has fallen. Governments and states have always set people against people by emphasising differences and I think that much of the fear/panic and 'otherness' is deliberately generated. In the UK I always go back to the difference between the way in which we dealt with the Irish 'troubles' - ie. calm, measured, designed to stop panic even when they were bombing mainland cities (including Manchester where I live) and the reaction to 9/11 and the London Bombings which has been designed to heighten tension and fear (IMO). I must admit I didn't know that there were Sunni Sufis but all the better for that. My friend was a member of the Nimatullah Sufi order for many years and I met Dr. Nurbhaksh the head of the order who was a great mystic and poet. Sufis who are not Muslim! That strikes me a strange - who are they?

Mamamia bum. Follows teachings of Abba, Then meets Waterloo.

I am stunned to find such an Islamophobic thread on TTBs - perhaps some of you could spend some time studying the historical contribution that Islam made to science, philosophy, medecine and Western culture generally. It is not just Sufi versus the rest. Why do you find it strange that devout Muslims would prefer to live under Sharia law? They probably look around at all the hate, crime, and violence that they see in our society and are quite frightened by it - as is any right minded person. OK Islam has its fair share of nutcases who just hate everyone except themselves - but that is about the shortcomings of human nature and not Islam. The problem is that culturally they (rather like the Orthodox Judaism) have become stuck in the Middle Ages - but then if you read Gampopa or other Tibetan Buddhism on sexual conduct you will see exactly the same thing. If some friend of yours has run into trouble with their parents because they became a Neo-pagan - then imagine the reaction of a hard line Christian family, or a strict Jewish family - whats the difference? PS Sufis are Shi'ite and other (most) Muslims are Sunni - the split occurred after the death of the prophet as to whether his relative Ali or the Imams inherited the spiritual tradition.

I feel moved to comment that fundamentalist Christian groups seem to preach hate - they hate gays, hate abortion, hate Islam, hate anyone who disagrees with them. They do not seem to read the New Testament - it all sounds like Old testament vengance. In fact you never hear 'love thy neighbour' or especially 'love thy enemy'. If they actually studied the words spoken by Jesus they would have to radically change their beliefs and behaviour. The Bush government confused everyone about Islam and gave a right wing fundamentalist agenda to foreign policy. Blocked European attempts at an entente with Iran and of course invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq was nothing to do with 9/11. After years of supporting Israel (right or wrong) against Palestine - is it any wonder that many Muslims feel persecuted and under pressure from the more extreme end of their culture? I am not religious in this sense and do not support any terrorism - I cannot understand how anyone could blow up both themselves and anyone else and think it the right thing to do. But lets not be naive - which is what the main message in this thread is - governments divide us and we should seek to unite.

Er ... yes ... its spont, more than spont, totally spont or not, depending on how you look at it. Again. I wish I understood that wish.

If we posit an organizational self at the highest (or most subtle) field energy level - then might it not be possible that by removing 'false ego' you can let through a capacity to deal with those disease entities. In other words rather than a negative of removing our conscious interference we are allowing our own healing. Now I know the capacity to do this would vary hugely from being to being but I just wondered if this idea fits with your thinking. I remember a homeopath that I used to know and a Chinese healer both saying the same thing - that ultimately we heal ourselves.

Thanks Neut that's interesting - I hope you will be able to write more in the future.

I was replying to the idea that there was no being(s) at all but just energy - by saying that the beings that are - are that energy. That's all. A.

Neut, Spot on with that analysis I think. Interested in how you use story telling as a practice - can you explain? Thnx. A.

Yes i liked Ursula K. Le Guin(e?) and the Dark Crystal. I never read fantasy any more - I don't know why. I think I have read LotR more times than is healthy for anyone.