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I can't wait for it to all come crashing down. Marijuana is too expensive now and there are no good shows on television. It's hopeless. It's mighty cool that we have an umimpeachable news source within the Kremlin. We should let Langley know ASAP.

I'd have to say that any written matter positively associated with Uri Geller doesn't serve the purpose of clear thinking, much less enlightened reasoning. His foolishness and deceipt were laid bare decades ago. Mishlove's tv show "Thinking Allowed" had some pretty interesting episodes - his time with Huston Smith was terrific, but he's no critical thinker, and regularly fails to demonstrate the capacity to recognize where verifiability and falsifiability begin and end. I believe it was the American Heretic's Dictionary that said "metaphysics is for people too lazy to study physics." There is so much to learn about the sensate world, including our inner world, that we are obliged to ask ourselves why we entertain so much that lies beyond the realm of the knowable. In my case it was because it was fun. But it was also easy.

Sorry to be a wet blanket.

My, my, my...

The Buddha was badgered with questions on this subject. "Is there life after death? Can we acquire paranormal abilities? Do you have magic powers?" His response was always and unequivocally the same - "It's not important." It had nothing to do with the far more important task at hand, which was working out your own salvation.

I've been a student of Buddhism for over thirty years. I've been a louzy Buddhist for the same time, but I definitely define myself as leaning toward Taoism. It would be fun to go back to college and get a BA in Chinese religions. Taoism definitely seems to avail itself to folks who are in search of the miraculous, since so much of the teachings are shrouded in mystery and occult-like phenomena. THIS IS NOT THE POINT!

Author Meng Deng-Dao "Warrior/Scholar" and "365 Tao" says that the union of body and mind is as important to a spiritual life as the redemption of the soul is for Christians. If you did nothing more than go on that advice you'd have enough to keep you busy for the rest of your life, wihtout diverting yourself with chi tricks. Once the ego gets invested in the process, you've failed yourself, disparaged the teachings, and missed the point entirely.

Get strong. Get healthy. Be peaceful. Help others.

Hi all

 

I am a young male 23 years old. I have had some unsucessful experience with chia's sexual techniques and some more successful

 

experience with chi-gung. However my relaxation and concentration abilities are weak, and I am looking for a good SIMPLE meditation

 

technique or techniques to increase these 2 areas. I think i have approached cultivation the wrong way as i am a very yang person

 

with a lot of tension. I have stopped doing all energy and sexual practices and I am just looking for something to relax me, reduce

 

tension, and increase my concentration abilities. I think that although I may have opened some closed channels and what not with

 

chigung i think i also created a lot of tension and blockages, especially with some of the kundalini stuff I did when I was 17/18. I have

 

some muscle spasms in my pelvic area as a result of this. Is there any good meditation technique that can help with muscles tension

and spasms? Also what is the difference between emptiness and concentration meditations? are they the same thing? Also please

 

only suggest techniques that do not take to much concentration/visualization power as I dont have much ability in that area. At the

 

moment I am trying a mediation techniques that involves simply reapeting the mantra I AM mentally over and over (from AYP book series by yogani), but I think this method may also be to yang for me.....not sure

 

thanks

Different needs call for different meditation styles/techniques. Zazen, vipassana, Taoist... they all serve vital functions. If you've come from a typically dysfunctional American family (as I did) you may have all kinds of self worth and shaming issues to work on. It took me half a lifetime to realize just how deep my shamed-based inner scripts were. So if you've got a boatload of emotional baggage, an appropriate meditation for a year or so would be reciting chakra affirmations in sync with your breath. A 30 minute meditation, seven chakras, ten repititions each, adds up to thousands of positive reinforcements a week. This cannot help but have a positive, demonstrable effect. There are models on line, and you can fine tune them as they start to work. There are a lot of chakra affirmations related to the specific issues of relaxation and concentration that you listed. Relaxation is an absolute must before the rest of the work can take effect.

Perhaps this isn't the advice you're soliciting, but there are millions who skip this essential step, and go straight to the "spiritual" stuff, without healing deep wounds. Chi kung, tai chi, nei kung, etc. will eventually soak your bloodstream in hormones that create positive mental states, but some of us need all the help we can get. If you've got any issues at all with addictions, affirmation/breath work is a must.

Hope this helps.

My neighbor gave me his inversion table when he moved. I love it, but would any of you advanced chi-flow folks consider specific usage, i.e., before nei kung, after, am or pm, east or west? Another technique that Frantzis recommends is flushing out stagnant chi by rising up on the balls of your feet and coming down onto your heels with a thud, three times. Seems to feel good, at least.

This post is written in a chinese way (explanation and conclusion in reverse).

 

It should be interesting to note that more car makers are designing more sporty diesel cars now.

It seems to me this is a step in the opposite direction.

I was doing some research on this this morning after looking at a car magazine that was covering sports car/ muscle car type vehicles with "sporty" specs.

The upside it seems is that diesel engines can be converted to burn a lpg-diesel blend to make the engines more efficient. The downside is that it increases dependancy on fossil fuels (petroleum).

 

What causes societies to change? The american beauty has for the most part been ignorance so to speak.

 

Unfortunately, out of ignorance one of our greatest sources of ignorance and possibly some of our libraries of ageless wisdom might be destroyed in the future. Humankind, dissatified with what religion has percievably caused could easily decide to abolish it for the reason of dissention and disunity resulting in a horrific mao tze tung like "cultural revolution" of horrific proportions.

 

One could easily point to religion as a problem, as in our age religious dogma tends to make our view of things very linear, black and white (dualism) and concieved notions that there is only one way of doing certain things when it comes to science, mathematics, art and music.

 

It seems that mankind needs to feel the need to "direct" things. The ant-like feelings of "thats all and good but that does not tell me what I need to do to get from point a to point b" line of thinking is completely void of the ability to be able to constantly look at waht is going on around oneself, or be aware of ones action upon all that currently exists.

 

When peoples are conquered the scribes and the intelligent people of the ones conquered are either reeducated or killed, which does not seem a very good end game. However seems unlikely as in recent decades it seems people have become more and more divided to subfactions and even more subfactions.

 

Since the problem is that the ignorance has run so deeply to the point that linear thinking, black and white (dualism) and desicions based upon preconcieved notions are so commonly used and only serve to create greater problems in the future...

 

However, for people to change it has to be no longer acceptable or even disasterous to hold to the current ways of doing things. This could happen through disasters be it natural, self-created or through management type strategies like ecological changes (creating an atmosphere more supportive of positive construtive ways of doing things) as well as projecting calmness deters restlessness or explosive behaviour.

 

Taoism tend to lend itself to acceptance of things that exist, because denying that some things exist only serve to add more stress to an organism and lends itself to a universal purpose that acceptance and letting go has a profound effect on people that is very contagious.

 

Purpose without attachment to an outcome is not easy to teach the masses (I mean teaching that the outcome of such behaviour can sometimes be more than an anxious attitude that an outcome might be achieved and with greater results than needing the outcome to take place) but could be done without putting oneself in harms way. It just takes some planning and work.

A good example would be people becommeing extremely sick and tired of extreme demands... caused by extreme demands. This is the result of an attempt of the current highrollers trying to maintain power and money.

 

Edit:

So, to more or less clarify what I am saying is that forcing an outcome, like many are currently doing, is their undoing. Even if the climate changes (a what if scenario), or the political order does become extreme it is only a matter of time before change ensues.

This is rough stuff, man. Reminds me of the rule in Creative Writing class - "One must learn the rules of good writing before breaking them." I thank you for taking the time to contribute, however.

I know recalling a governor is a joke, but it happened last time California couldn't balance the budget. My comment was meant only as humor.

 

I have studied Lovelock for about a decade now. Largely in relation to the Gaia Hypothesis. I disagree with him about a few things, including carrying capacity for the earth. The tenants of his own gaia theory involve auto-regulation factors in the function of the biosphere, if this is true then there is no fixed carrying capacity for earth due to the ability of the earth to adjust in a responsive manner.

 

Ontology is everything too, at least to my point of view. Living the way many developed nations do is fundamentally immoral (my 2cents), so the carrying capacity of the earth in terms of such a lifestyle is irrelevant.

 

If we take into consideration that currently the majority of the population is domesticated into servitude for the minority of the population, than social structure is as important a feature of sustainability as population. Different societies are not equal in their energy requirements per capita, for this reason there cannot be a generalization about carrying capacity of earth without specifying lifestyle and social structure.

 

The topic is not separate in promulgation of ideals, from the topic of class and caste division. Moreover I believe that planetary factors involving biosphere regulation are such as that our population remains subject to them, ergo we are not outside of ecology or evolution.

I apologize for my rudeness. I hope the schisms in Lovelocks's thought render his arguments about carrying capacity ripe for reevaluation, and that he has erred in our favor. The bulk of data on all global fronts from climatologists, peak oil scientists, and military and insurance company forecasts all seem pretty consistent with Lovelock's pessimistic assessment.

I had the good fortune of attending the first biannual Integral Theory conference in N. Cal. last year. An unspoken, ill-defined consensus seemed to be that we will either exploit human capital and harvest the fruits of our better selves, or exploit the resource base beyond a recovery.

My source of anxiety is the perceived unwillingness of people to consider the possiblity, as just one of many, that we have already passed the point of no return. I know that I run the risk of appearing as one who suffered a cognitive blow so severe that I am incapable of seeing positive news, the "green shoots." But what are the implications if these voices are correct? Obama's energy secretary Chu knows all about peak oil and energy budgets. But should he open his mouth and come straight out with it, or would that be irresponsible? Is Obama just trying to buy time by sweet-talking the population into false optimism? How rapidly can our species mature in order to steer a successful course into the future?

u don't have to poor ice water on you, but rather slowly lower the temperature while giving enough time for your body to adjust. Also the first few months after starting one should get only to a "cool" temperature level and only later try to get to the "cold" level

10-4

Check this out:

 

http://www.giveittomeraw.com/forum/topic/s...ATopic%3A113180

 

Has anyone else heard of this? It's incredible sounding, and makes sense based on human evolution (e.g. we were MADE to take physical damage, made to tolerate quick temperature shifts, made to be durable)

 

I'm going to give it a shot and see if it improves my circulation and / or asthma.

An old Tae Kwon Do instructor up in Oregon recommended cold showers. I finally got around to it on a regular basis in college. There was a great scene in the fairly decent movie "Best of the Best" where the Korean TKD team is running through the snow and then meditating in the icy river. So, it was really my ego that got me started on cold showers. I'd climb into the shower stall, aim my face at the spigot, and crank on the cold water, imagining that this would help turn me into a warrior impervious to physical discomfort.

I am so totally NOT in the mood to do this these days, but since it's 80 degrees at ten in the morning here in LA, those days may come back. The feeling of the blood returning to your peripheral tissues after a cold shower is awfully nice.

The answer here is quite possibly, "Yes, we have become too overcomplicated in our society for this ideal."

 

Our populations are much too concentrated and our societal structures much too entrenched for everyone to return to agrarian models. Sure people are doing this on their own micro-scale (i.e. self-sufficient communities), however it is the activities of the majority that are impacting on the global picture.

 

So what are we to do? I believe Master Hua-Ching Ni has it right:

The Taoist politic is one of self-government and self-responsibility. As examplified in the Daodejing, a government should be a passive structure that does not interfere in the day to day affairs of the people. With all it's regulations and complicated tax systems our governments are like an upside down pyramid requiring ever-increasing systems of control to keep the unnatural ruling structure in place. And the more systems of control in place the more brittle the whole structure becomes and, again following the Daodejing, the bow that cannot bend eventually snaps.

 

The 'pliancy' or 'resilience' needed today to avoid that fatal breakdown in the world's social structure is for people from all cultures, traditions, religions etc. to make a concerted effort to venerate Virtue as the common guiding principle in all human affairs. And it is here that us Taoists and Buddhists have so much to offer the world today. With our traditional education so rooted in Virtue it is us who need to be 'like water from the mountain stream' and give sustenance to a world starving for reintegration with the essence of individual and social virtuous nature.

 

And yet, sadly, even amongst our own ranks, we witness so many who overlook the subtle yet profound power of virtue in order to chase the allure of 'party tricks' or 'phenomenalistic fantasies' held out as 'sales hooks' by self-serving so-called teachers.

 

Virtue is the foundation of our 'spiritual empire' and self virtue, family virtue, and societal virtue form the only possible foundation upon which we can build a world of interdependent peace and prosperity.

I don't see a viable means of avoiding "that fatal breakdown in the world's social structure," no matter how enlightened or virtuous the population becomes. Ken Wilber and Co. (Spiral Dynamics) have argued that only ten percent of the population at any given time is enlightened, self-actualized, self-possessed, etc. There is simply no means of growing enough food to feed 7 billion people without petroleum, and most of the alternative energy folks are well-intentioned but they overestimate our ability to replace oil. The planet can support about two billion, and that assumes adequate access to water, topsoil, and agricultural skills.

We are on the same page, or I should say, you and I and Kunstler et al are on the same page. He is ultimately optimistic that the culture that outlives the withering hordes will possess the spiritual component we speak of. "World Made by Hand" is deeply moving. I haven't yet thought through the question of whether an enlightened and virtuous community precipitates out of the the struggle to survive or if it's the reverse, but there seems to be a correlation.

Personally, I'm set. I have land in the mountains with a home, two wells, deer, arable land, weapons, a barn. Part of me romanticizes a simplified future in which I can grow food, tend to the property, practice piano, guitar, chi kung and meditation. Unfortunately, that is cold comfort when I think of all the friends I have made since moving to LA 7 years ago. Most of them won't have a chance.

Keep an eye on this wonderful state of California. We're $25 billion in the hole and about to join the ranks of the third world in July. As goes California, so goes the...

To answer the question of what such an enlightened society would look like, Laozi gives us chapter 80:

This simple agrarian societal model was, interestingly, also the type of model that the classical libertarians originally had in mind. (John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, etc).

 

I find this to be a beautiful ideal, but have we industrialized too far to see a potential for this type of simple life in the world? Also, would we be willing to sacrifice all that we have accomplished to live in a peaceful, enlightened world like this one?

I'd like to thank everyone for contributing such thoughtful commentary. I would like to conclude by answering the preceding paragraph - "...but have we industrialized too far to see a potential for this type of simple life in the world? Also, would we be willing to sacrifice all that we have accomplished to live in a peaceful, enlightened world like this one?"

According to the trajectories posited by a number of social scientists, as well as physical scientists (particularly the "peak oil" and "post oil" folks) we may not really have a choice but to adapt to an agrarian 1850s level technology. This is the premise of James Kunstler's "The Long Emergency" and "A World Made by Hand," as well as a host of other writers frequently profiled at http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net. The sheer enormity of having to raise our own food and live in a post-oil world, which we could see in as little as two decades, will force this upon us, and those who can find the resilience and resourcerfulness to do so may very well be the ones who find it a means to a Jeffersonian ideal. I've attempted to bring up the post-oil scenario in this forum because the "Transition Town" movement that is taking shape in Europe, and to a lesser extent in the US, would be a particularly appropriate vehicle for such a Taoist agrarian community.

James Lovelock predicts a population of 500 million will see the 22nd century. I predict that many of them will be Taoists!

Absolutely, the Dao De Jing specifically addresses government. There are several whole chapters devoted to it (anyone here ever actually read?)!In short, I think he says that ideally, an enlightened populace is self-governing. And so a stupified populace needs to be enlightened, not more and more laws.

 

In general, less government and governing in moderation to serve the people is advocated.

David Loy - "The Great Awakening: A Buddhist Social Theory" - explores what a "culture of awakening" would look like. I don't think excessive rules and regulations are the answer - they have generally been regarded as a sign of a decrepid culture - but what kinds of institutions would exist, what kind of behaviors would be rewarded and made positive examples of, if an awakened populace were the goal? Human beings are basically reptiles who are tremendously susceptible to environmental conditioning. We gotta get 'em young if positive attributes are to be encouraged more than the negative ones. I can offer no rigid examples or social prescriptions, I merely pose the question.

I am sure his head was sawed off several hours ago and is in a cryogenic freezer somewhere.

David Carradine, Michael Jackson, Farah Fawcett_____________________?

1. Dick Cheney

2. Britney Spears

3. No one

4. Osama Bin Laden

5. Pat Robertson

6. Iranian Mullahs

7. Kim Jong Il

8. Pamela Anderson

9. Donald Rumsfeld

10. Blasto

i hear that Apple Cider Vinegar is very good for you

 

http://www.celestialhealing.net/applecider2.htm

are Multi Vitamins really that bad? thats mostly what I take.. 1 multi vitamin pill, 1 B-100 pill, fish oil and alpha lipoid acid

 

oh btw i'm 23, so not sure if I need much of what was suggested here.

I once read that you should always spend as much on shoes as you possibly can because your feet are so important to the rest of you. I think the same may be true with vitamin supplements, depending on the quality of your food supply. If you're a poor, caffeine-dependent college student eating bean and cheese burritos from Taco Bell 10 times a week, you should probably take a good vitamin (or spend the vitamin money on better food). If you live in the shithole I live in called Los Angeles, then a good anti-oxidant is a really good idea given the quality of our water and air. But ultimately, it's more about increasing your chi flow and getting exercise than using supplements.

bilberry, milkthistle, cod liver oil, and many other supplements I take and benefit from.

 

I hope to soon try indiumease, nattokinase and others.

 

Dr. Mercola has a list of ingredients to be careful with in a supplement on this page:

 

http://products.mercola.com/multivitamin-c...rens-chewables/

I think you'll find indium very rewarding. There is a noticeable reaction within a week, but the effects seem to continue with long-term use. If you are extraordinarily healthy like I was when I started it - daily nei kung and four day/week weight training - you'll still feel something good. My guess is the older you are the more pronounced the subjective experience. It may depend on your age too. I'm almost 50.

"If you're not with us, you're against us."

 

Are Taoists "with us"?

 

No.

Could you elaborate?

I was a critical thinking junkie as an undergrad years ago up at Sonoma State University -

http://www.criticalthinking.org/

I volunteered at these conferences every summer in order to get in for free. One particularly informative session was "Does critical thinking presuppose a political viewpoint?" If you laid out the political spectrum from end to end, could you plot critical thinking on one spot or another, on many spots...? The most approximate conclusion we could make is that critical thinking is inherently subversive to hierarchical, authoritarian power systems. This did not fly well among those who were inclined to sit on "the right side of the aisle," or subscribe to a top-down moral order.

I have inadvertantly raised this potentially ugly subject by posting a link that impugns those who are politically or socially opposed to a single-payer health care system in America, modelled on those that exist throughout Europe and other industrial countries. A good question to ask is "Why did I post this in a forum for Taoism?" But since my interests in Taoism include health care, I thought nothing of it. Most of my understanding of Taoist philosphy comes from the writings of of deng MIng-Dao, especially "Scholar/Warrior" and "365 Tao." Taoism resonates with me because I recognize critical thinking and anti-authoritarianism within Taoism. But my degree is in geography, not Chinese philosophy.

What'ya think?

My 2 cents:

 

The Abraham-Hicks teachings teach that synchronicities exist because in fact your whole reality is created from your consciousness.

 

In my days of really being into Abraham, I would have some f#$%ing crazy synchronicities happen. Ones that there was no way they were just mathematically explainable coincidences. Just no way.

 

It all comes down to consciousness creating reality. The more excitement you hold toward a subject the more powerfully it reflects into your life.

 

These effects are easily explained away as tricks of the mind, except when it happens so regularly, in response to your desires.

This is the piece I read decades ago on the subject. I can't recall too much, other than I loved it, and should probably revisit it some time.

The Tao of Psychology: Synchronicity and Self (Paperback)

by Jean Shinoda Bolen

http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Psychology-Synch...9778&sr=8-1

"you guys have no clue of the effects of the legislation of which you speak. (if you do and still support it, then I apologize for your gullibility in accepting the #s you're believing...or, that's just your political bent, which although I completely disagree with, I can half-respect with a funny look on my face.)

I'm out for the weekend Look objectively at these things, fellas - a politician telling you to "hurry up rush we need to get this done now or its never going to get done and here's really the only way it can happen" most certainly has his fingers crossed behind his back."

From this sentiment I am assuming that you hold your political opponents in very low regard. John Galbraith and Bill Buckley were the best of friends for decades, sharing a mutual love of many interests, even though they were on opposite ends of the political spectrum. I suspect this will become less likely in this highly polarized climate. Personal attacks don't often contribute to informed discussion. I've been a political junkie for almost forty years and performed fairly well in grad school; I am aware of the roots of my ideas. The life of the mind is an exciting one, particularly when hidden connections are revealed between ideas that on the surface appear incongruent. But this process can only happen in a benevolent and cooperative spirit.

I would encourage everyone to consider the possibility that there are thinking people who represent a variety of intellectual persuasions. To insist that some points are beyond debate is to cut off creative thought. I don't consider myself an egalitarian, but I recognize the risks of letting insurance companies run a nation's health-care policy. Their creative contribution to society is, in my opinion, vastly lower than their compensation. But I recognize that this is a debatable point, and not worthy of impugning the intellect of people I have never met.

I've learned an important lesson in public blogging; don't assume that personalities who are attracted to Asian thought are necessarily progressive. I obviously enjoy Taoism, as well as Buddhism, for the way it resonates with the tenets in my own mental universe. But I cannot lay claim to an exhaustive knowledge of Asian thought.

Perhaps that could be a subject for discussion - "Does Taoism presuppose a political viewpoint?"

Hm, in Germany we have a system where some people are more paying and some more getting. But nobody talks about Socialism. They call it solidary. It's a lot more complicated in detail, but I don't see why the USA can't adapt systems from other countries.

(But of course, this is all just made-up problems.)

Actually the true sense of "hysterical" is not the same as of "hysterical laughter".

The USA is a business-run society, has been since the end of the civil war. We can expect societal norms that prevail in European social democracies to fall well outside American parameters. Our use of the term 'socialism' is almost entirely perjorative, and in fact, the average American knows very little about the political spectrum and where specific ideas are plotted. If you listen to Fox News on a regular basis, you would come to believe that fascism and socialism are the same thing. A lower-division political science class at any junior college could fix that, but of course, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh couldn't handle college. "A little learning is a dangerous thing."

What makes stabilized rice bran a 'nutritional powerhouse', pray tell?

10,850

here is just one link that might answer your question.

http://healthier-harvest.com/risotriene.htm