steve

I don't care what anybody says, 陳 泮 嶺太 極 拳99 is the best in world.

So I'm sorry for fucking around... Yesterday, after doing the 99, I was SO juiced that I wanted to post, And I immediately thought of all the old threads about ' this style is better,' and Chen's original and martial, and Yang is this, and so on. So this was sort of an inside joke to anyone that got sick of those threads but it sort of flopped! But the real message was that whatever form you do, THAT is the best. My problem lately is that I'm lazy and haven't been working hard enough so I was feeling good about myself. Today, I'm back to normal. Chen is better because I haven't tried it yet = desire I just need to practice...

Thought is a reflection of experience. Either a recap immediately capturing, explaining, or commenting on experience in the present; or a memory, knowledge (which is memory), as a recollection,; or projecting knowledge (memory) into the future. Thought seems to be related to time. Is there cause and effect between thought and existence? It's how our mind likes to look at things but why should there be? Is there cause and effect without thought putting it there?

Genocide... It breaks my heart. There just aren't enough tears But I guess it's just clinging to something that is gone. Life is change, huh?

I don't think so - but I could be wrong.

Don't mind me, I'm just baiting people. There is no best I did my form today and it was the best It's just a form Chen guys fall into their step a lot - that looks off balance to me They're all just forms But MINE is the best!

It almost sounds like you're saying a memory of someone or a name defines existence. I exist. Names are boundaries...

Schweet!

I've never studied Chen style and would love to someday... Mine's still the best!

This one is my favorite video but the best video is waiting to be made...

Yes - Chen Pan Ling Tai Ji Quan - Mine's better!

_/\_

I don't know if searching for a metaphysical experience is the best way to approach this problem. One might occur but rarely when sought... You carry a "burden inside" as do we all. Does that burden really create a situation in which there is no possibility of happiness? If you think so, where do you think that idea came from? Can you look at the burdens closely and deeply and see why they create that illusion? Can you find a place to make room for these burdens and just be with them? Is it possible for happiness to exist alongside? Can you say to them with sincerity - my happiness is not dependent on relieving myself of these burdens? This is one approach that could shed some light on the relationship you've established with these burdens. Good luck.

And it works the other way even more effectively. A treatment can create the necessary anatomic or physiologic changes that would be conducive to resolving the problem, but the expectation or intention remains a block to healing. I see that even more frequently and it makes the job extremely challenging. Once I was able to let go of my attachment to "making someone get better" and simply "do my best to help someone to get where they want to be" I realized that I am blessed to have a "right occupation" and it's up to me to be content with that. I can help with the pain but not always with the suffering. But I do try to address both whenever I can, however. Good luck with #2 (that sounds a little gross... )

Excellent question Little1. I think this is a weakness of many methods. Expectations affect the experience and outcome. Maybe analogous to Heisenberg's uncertainty. Quantum Mechanics has demonstrated a time and place independence of such a relationship between cause and effect. So our expectations preselect our path. My shifu has mentioned that the Pang men is hazardous. Quicker, more demanding, and more risk. Beyond that, I am unable to add anything worthwhile.

Conclusion means to close, to end. I believe there are those who like to answer a question and thus create a "belief" and defend that position. They are then no longer open - the question for them is dead and they move on thinking they already know that. They look at the world with an answer in their head. This is how most of us face the world every day - overflowing with our conclusions, our images, and our expectations. So we define and direct the way we live. We are not open to Wu Wei. We live with many more answers than questions. The question doesn't have to be dead when we consider a conclusion but it is when we accept it. We see that constantly. That's why it is so difficult to be in a relationship. It's where conflict comes from. I am a Christian, I am a Jew, I am a Daoist, I am a Buddhist. Laozi meant this. This stanza means that. I now limit myself. And I think it's terribly important for each of us to watch our tendency to do that. But I'll agree that there must be a balance. There are certain answers that are important - what time should I be at the hospital, where do I live, is this food spoiled? But those practical answers are generally of little value in the psychological, emotional, and spiritual world.

Thanks - I suspect that both were sensitive to the effects and they also were playing with things without any guidance. I imagine that people with a predisposition toward mental illness/instability (ie a strong family history or personal history) are probably more susceptible to getting into trouble with entheogens. Regarding 'truth' - I was sort of using it as a synonym for reality, the nature of existence, that sort of thing... Good luck in you journey

My study of Taijiquan has taught me a lot about Wu Wei. There's a song that includes the phrase: Zhan Nian Lian Sui Bu Diu Ding Bu Diu Ding means - do not separate and do not go against Just like I practice this skill in pushing hands and martial training, I can practice these skills in daily life - Wu Wei. Another facet for me of Wu Wei relates to my psychological and emotional life. Each of us has been heavily conditioned by social and cultural factors and each of us has, deep down, a set of values that define our ethics and moral structure. First, I think it's important that we identify those core values that are most fundamental and important to us. Next, it's important to see if those values are genuine. Are they really a reflection of who we are or are they rules and regulations drilled into us during childhood and in our careers? Are we living the lives we want or puppets of our society? So if we can get in touch with our core values and make sure they are our values and not artificial and insincere, then we can have the opportunity to live in a way that does not separate and does not go against our values. And psychologically, emotionally, that is Wu Wei.

Excellent point.

Very nice find...

I agree - I had a terrible emotional crisis when my youngest moved to the West Coast (I'm on the East). And then I had the experience of the continued bond even across a continent. And in fact, our relationship is stronger and closer than ever. There are many spiritual and psychological and energetic layers but I'm not going to get into that. I just wanted to echo your sentiment.

Very nice work Stig - I mean it. Not just trading niceties here.

Hook, line, and (bong bubbles rumbling in background).... sinker!

There are very simple explanations for a round hole in a skull. Any of a variety of natural processes could do this - infection, parasite, tumor, etc... The coincidental finding of fractures opposite this hole would be inconclusive, unless expert forensic analysis could prove it was an inside - out explosion. I'm not sure if that distinction is possible. If so, there is another explanation. The skull could have been used for target practice long after death and left exposed to the elements subsequently. And we can also certainly entertain more exotic explanations.