Nico

At least it doesn't say that he was the greatest martial artist that ever lived.

I need to do some more research. I was hoping through here I would get some ideas. I never knew Christian meditation even existed. It made sense to me that it didn't exist, because Ive never really seen any Christians that were very spiritual. They mostly seem to just repeat whats in the bible and try to follow it. I just looked on amazon and there are quite a few books on it. I'll do some research. If anyone knows of a good book don't hesitate to make a suggestion. Thanks Yoda.

You're right, it was REALLY dumb of him. When we were younger he was always the one with potential and seemed to know what he was doing. As we get older he just seems to be more and more lost, but there is still hope.

If anyone doesn't believe that story that's fine. I'm just really curious on the thoughts of others about metaphysics. All religions seem to have a point to get to. They have a higher goal. I'm curious how does metaphysics fit into this picture. Thanks for the comments so far, good stuff.

First off, I know that evil is just a label and doesn't exist. It only exists by saying something is good. Anyways for the purpose of my question I will use evil as something that would prevent us from living a spiritually healthy life or from reaching immortality so to speak. Now I have a story that has brought me to this question. My best friend had recently told me a story about using metaphysics in a negative way. He's a Christian and has read up a bit about metaphysics over the last few years. Anyways one day he was upset at his ex-wife. I guess she's making life miserable for him. So he decided that he wanted her to get killed in a car wreck. He told me that he had concentrated for about two or three weeks on her dieing in a car wreck. He said that when he would concentrate on her dieing in a car wreck he would go into a deep concentration. To me it sounded like a trance or something. He said there was days at work where he didnt talk to anyone because he was really deep in his head focusing on the car wreck. Anyways after doing this for two or three weeks he had decided it was a bad idea to make his kids motherless. So for a week more he had focused against her being in a car wreck. He genuinely ment it too. He was regretting that he had even started focusing her on being killed in a car wreck. Anyways after repenting for a week and focusing against it, his ex-wife had gotten into a car wreck. However, she wasn't killed, she just broke a leg. Some of you will probably read this and think, "Yeah right!". I gotta say though, my friend doesn't lie and he does have some spiritual connection that I do not see in most people. He has always had a very strong mind. Anyways I'm worried this path that he's taking with metaphysics. I was reading about Tao immortality. I read how people who do not cultivate correctly or use their energy in the wrong way become ghosts. So I guess what my question is.... with Taoism there is immortality to work towards. It can be something positive for the soul. What is there to be gained from metaphysics? Could it be that the only path that metaphysics takes you to is an immortal ghost?

Dragonfire, I have been having the same feeling too. That things are going to change and this civilization of technology will soon come to an end and spirituality will come into the mainstream. Like you said "a new beginning". No one can deny that things are changing rapidly. A lot of people seem to turn a blind eye to the facts. There's a lot more tension in the world and you can see it in wars. You can see it in how the United States is trying to make a dramatic change. There are droughts all over the world, less crops, disappearing glaciers. This is the way of the Tao. We had our time and we failed, technology has failed us. Think of the earth as a living organism. We are the viruses in it's body and it's trying to clear us out. We failed at maintaining harmony. The earth has been in a Yin state for quite some time, now it is filling itself up with Yang. Even without thinking about this and trying to make sense of it with science, it's something I feel. I feel like my life has been preparing me for a change in the world. A change for a more simple and spiritual life. Choices I made as a kid have all helped build up to where I am now and I see this as all going towards something important. I don't by any means think I'm special or anything. I just feel like I'm one of the many that life has been preparing for whats to come. This is really interesting. I never heard of this before. I'm from the North of the Equator and for the last 8 months I have been South of it. I feel like I have made a lot of spiritual advancements since I have been here in the South. Could it be that the South has helped balanced my Northern over thinking?? Very interesting.

Yin has the attributes of receptivity and docility. It is also cold energy. I would say start storing some of that Yang energy in your head. Fill it up everyday until one day you feel like you cant put anymore in there and your yang energy starts to fall back down your spine. When that happens then you should circulate the energy from your head down your front channel. Through your minds eye, nose, tongue and swallow it. Then your heart center, solar plexus center and to your navel. I'm not know what all you know, but just in case, to get the yang energy, you gotta sexually excite yourself. Move that sperm or ching chi up your spine to your head. If you aren't having a hard time if ya know what I mean hehe watch a porn flick. There are technique to go about if things aren't getting stiff, but I don't know about them. As for myself, I think I'm in need of some Yin energy.

You should check out Luo Dexiu. He's a Taiwanese Xingyi, Bagua, and Tai-Chi teacher. He is amazing. I think his record goes as never defeated. My Bagua teacher George Wood, who studied under Luo Dexiu for six years, said that the hardest he's ever been hit was by his teacher Luo Dexiu. He was holding one of those training kick shields and his teacher "Luo Dexiu" hit it with his fist. The way George explained it to me was that his teacher made a small turn with his waist when he punch the shield. When his teacher hit the kick shield, he felt all of his internal organs slam back up against the back of his body and then he flew backwards. He also explained how he would hold the kick shield for other students. Some who were 6 foot rugby players that would jump kick the shield and they didn't hit even close to as hard as Luo Dexiu did. I went to a Bagua type training camp of Luo Dexiu once. He is pretty amazing. He's very gentle too. Now, you might be thinking yeah right that's BS. I believe it because I heard the story first hand and George Wood isn't liar. He hits pretty hard himself. Just playing around he has knocked me down pretty hard by accident. OOps my bad. I was refering to MMA not IMA in my last post. I still stand by that one can learn to fend off an attack or a possible life threatening attack without having to resort to MMA. You cant be any geek off the street though. You gotta know what you're doing of course. However, just because someone attacks you like a dog doesn't mean you have to turn into a dog to beat them. When you are relaxed and aware, you can see and feel things coming before it hits you. Guns..... that's just a totally different subject. The power to take a life at the squeeze of a trigger. The only thing one can do is Always Be Aware of what you're getting yourself into.

IMA can be fun to watch, but there is better such as xingyi, bagua, and taiji. Personally the thought of breakings someone arm to win a fight is barbaric. The way to win a fight using IMA style is to disable the opponent. To break a limb or punch them until they're bleeding and can't continue. Sounds like Roman Gladiators without the weapons. With Xingyi, Bagua, and Taiji you can conquer an opponent without causing them great harm. The precision that one gains from being still and practicing at very slow speeds puts you on a totally different level from IMA. I was open hand sparring with a friend the other night. He was a little drunk though, but he jumped at me with a punch and I just smacked him in the mouth with my finger tips and he fell. I didn't have to cave his brain in or sweep his legs out from under him causing him to fall and smash his head. IMA is a barbaric sport which gives wrestling a bad name. Wrestling is also a art of skill and not of who can hit harder. I prefer to be able to conquer someone with a light touch rather then a disabling blow. We are all the same and come from the same source, 'The Tao'. We should be able to sort out our disagreements in a non-violent way, but if it does get violent, than a push is more preferable than a punch.

I study Gao style Baguazhang and Yang style T'ai Chi Chuan. My teacher for Baguazhang is George Wood who is a student of Luo Dexiu. http://www.yizongbagua.com/zongwumen.htm My teacher of T'ai Chi Chuan is Michael Ward who is a senior student of Robert W. Smith. Robert W. Smith was the first western student to learn from Cheng Man-ch'ing. I also studied some of Xingyi from student's of Robert W. Smith, but not really enough to claim it.

Im a Bagua and Taiji practitioner looking for some interesting conversations on the Dao. I recently came back from a deep journey inside and now I think it's time to come out and talk.