Apech

There's ebb and flow, wax and wane . Looking at an old thread on here and amazed a how few people who were very active back then still post.

Turtle was the only one I recognised.

BUT he wasn't turtle in those days he was .... shhhhh he has a secret name!

Ah to sit in a peaceful flowery garden and not have to worry about the meaning of whatever it was ... I've forgotten .... wake me up when you bring the green tea round there's a good chap.

Dear Fellow Bums,

This is my moderation resignation open letter.

I've decided that my moderation activity has come to end of its natural life. I don't think anyone should do it for ever and its time for me to stop.

Firstly thanks to Sean for creating this place and Mal for inviting me on to the moderation team and Cat for suggesting me. Thanks to the rest of Mod Team gang and to everyone else on here.

I want to say a couple of things about TBs and about moderation.

To anyone who still thinks there is some kind of inner conspiracy around controlling the board, favouring some teachers over others … or whatever it is you think is going on … forget it. There's nothing like that here. TBs is exactly what it seems to be and all the better of that. The mod team are just a bunch of volunteers who agreed to help Sean make the place a bit more civil than it was becoming.

I've always thought TBs is a great place because there is no one dogma or preferred set of teachings here. It is only loosely Taoist after all. People come from different backgrounds and bring different knowledge and experience and it all goes into the mixing pot to create something unique.

TBs has a life of its of its own. Sometimes quiet, sometimes sunny, sometimes stormy. In fact it seems to go through cycles. Even near melt down. But always comes out the other side intact. It reflects the people on here … individualistic seekers (?).

There are some (you know who you are) who try to hijack, troll, or deflect the board into whatever obsession you have or whatever game you are playing. It doesn't really work. At worst its a pain in the neck and at best its a joke. I suggest … give it up … you only survive because the moderation is deliberately light touch.

I would like to see TBs developed in some way to encourage more teachers to come on here … to allow more person to person interaction and probably in ways I haven't thought of. Not because I want to mess it up but because I know that change is inherent in life and if you stay the same then eventually the world passes on and things fall away and die. That's a Taoist thought I think.

If anyone is thinking they would like to join the mod team I would encourage you to do so. But you should know that its mostly a tricky and unrewarding task. It changes your TB experience and certainly doesn't make you the most popular guy in town. But it would be good to get more people involved, specially if you have techie knowledge.

Cheers anyway … and good luck.

Apech.

@OP

That's a very interesting observation. It might explain the marked difference in how the dharma seems to develop in westerners compared to easterners. It is really easy to see how happy, friendly and open the Tibetans and others are compared with the rather withdrawn, worried and self negating westerners.

There's more and more of this kind of thing going on specially in US and UK.

What exists outside of belief is the pure, unfiltered, unaltered, real truth.

 

I guess I chose that definition of God because as Christian I put God in a box, or rather a book called the Bible. It was my attempt to free God. But I screwed up Here is my current definition:

 

I believe in God,

As the Source existing,

In whole or in any part,

Outside mankind's beliefs,

Or inside mankind's beliefs,

Or as any combination of the two.

 

I'll think about the rest of what you said.

- DreamBliss

I think that in 'improving' your concepts as expressed is the point of the whole thing. Beliefs are a way of expressing understanding but should not be clung on to if challenged. If they fall apart under challenge then they are not worth much anyway.

Is it really? I mean sure, I hit some big dude, he lays me out on the floor, that's certainly cause and effect, but its not karma as I understand it. Karma would be something like I was a violent person in a past life and I hit a lot of people, so now I hit this big guy in this life and get my block knocked off

 

Karma is supposed to something like a bunch of issues you've been carrying around with you from previous lives that you have to work out. So naturally to believe in karma you have to believe in reincarnation, which is one of mankind's beliefs about the afterlife. So if there is no reincarnation, there is no karma.

- DreamBliss

Karma means action. So really what they are talking about is action and results. So if you understand that nothing happens in a vacuum then its easy to accept that whatever you do has an effect. This is a good rule for governing your ethical decisions. So you can see that it matters whether you make positive decisions and not negative ones. But it doesn't matter because some god sitting on high says it matters ... which I think is a false kind fo morality ... it matters because of the outcome or possible outcomes.

Its true that the effect is not usually or always immediate. For the result to arise the right conditions need to exists, just like if you plant a seed you don't get a plant straight away you have to wait for rain, sunlight, the right temperature and conditions for the seed to mature. So the result may not immediately affect you but the idea is that sooner or later there will be some result and to bear this in mind when making decisions.

Buddhists do not believe in reincarnation as such ... but in rebirth .... this is slightly different in that they would say that what continues after death is a mind stream ... that is some continuation in energy/consciousness and not an eternal soul. The thought that there is some kind of continuation after death is practically universal, even Neanderthal man left grave goods suggesting they thought that there was an afterlife. This doesn't mean its true of course ... but does mean it is natural for mankind to think it so.

If you recognise this man ... well you've some explaining to do!

I'm not getting email notifications either

I checked your settings and they seem right.

Something is screwed that's for sure.

Gat to be a Sean level thing.

interesting phrase

is desire ever realistic?

...

 

I'm starting to believe that the afterlife I will experience when my time in this form is over will be exactly whatever I believe it will be, so I am choosing to be free to experience all afterlives, those based on humanity's beliefs and those which exist outside them.

 

I'm also trying to focus on the God who exists outside of all humanity's belief when I pray.

 

I believe our beliefs are chains which bind us or allow us to be controlled and I choose to be free.

 

....

You think that the afterlife will be whatever you believe it to be and yet if you achieve your aim you will have no beliefs .. so what then?

What is this God that you believe in? existing outside of everyone else's belief? What is that? Why do you believe in it?

Redefine be-lief as 'love to be' ... e.g. I love to be free = I believe in freedom. You posit something of value (a state of freedom) for yourself which you feel you do not already have ... you work towards it ... this is belief. Perhaps you believe you can understand your self or life itself ... you work towards understanding = you believe in understanding ... and so on.

Arm... Extend.. Tea.

Lovely lovely tea.

The cup that cheers but does not inebriate.Cheers.

:-)

You can be mum, GP. Tips.

Can I have a biscuit ... oh go on!

I love science too ... and I enjoy watching/listening to cutting edge physicists talk about their work. But I still come away with the conclusion that although science portrays itself as pure empiricism ... as if it is genuinely open enquiry ... all scientists carry a paradigm of an objective reality which can be put on the workbench (so to speak) dissected and understood which does not properly include consciousness (substitute word of choice) in the equation.

Did you do this and did it work?

Just in case anyone (including Aaron) actually reads this post let me say this: I moved that thread by Lao Tzu to the Pit because it contained what Seth has called a defamatory statement. It is against the rules on here to make ad hominem attacks on anyone, anyone at all ... everyone knows that really cos we've been here so many times before. That includes imputing a motivation on what they do without proof or substantiation of any kind.

I am not a student of Mr. Lomax and I have never met him. Also I have no idea if his qi gong or healing actually works. And, in terms of moderation I don't actually care. If I were to Pit everything I thought didn't work or was bogus or perhaps not fully understood then the Pit would be more or less full and general Dis. would be more or less empty. I have never arbitrated over what is valid and what is not, its not my role to do this. I have no favourites in terms of moderation. OK?

For notifications >>> click on your name top right

Choose >>>>My settings

Look down list on left hand side. for notification options >>> click it

Click various buttons for what you want i.e. email of notifications.

Apparently I have not been getting to know my operating systems well enough...

Try a night on the tiles with the Windows Eight.

Were you not aware of these facts?

The past is another country.

They do things differently there.

;-)

What's past is past and I think we should all do our best to forgive if not forget. And I mean that Tom Jones video not WWII.

Linux Mint smokes turkish cigarettes and carries a battered copy of "Vile Bodies" in his briefcase. He's an Iris Murdoch character. And lives in West Hampstead.

Ubuntu listens to Bebop, drinks rum and has dreadlocks. He wears shades at night and does his own thang. Obviously he can play a mean tenor sax.

Tom Jones is dead?

Mrs GMP will be bereft.

Ah! I think I retired him early. Oh well I was just thinking of the green green grass of home.

Invite it to go into the Light.

They do you know.

It's only hanging around because subconsciously you want and need it to.

Decide to change that and change will occur.

Your call bro.

 

HTH

It's not a debate as such. 'Aired opinions' more like.

No one knows for sure, some have an opinion; more don't give a feck.

Experience still counts for something in Taoism and sure as eggs is eggs most of these young lads pontificating on here now and showing little respect and less sense will be off chasing some fresh fad come spring.

Older, wiser heads such as Guro MH carry on regardless.

Will they be frolicking in the field like young lambs??

Seems obvious that people mean different things when they use the term 'self'. hence the need for debates like this.

But what level of Mo Pai did he achieve?

I think like elvis he died on the toilet because he'd set all the paper on fire ... that might be a clue.