aridus

Some people think that because Tao does not judge, it means "do what you want". It is not only this, but it is included. Some people think that effortless doing means "inertia". It is not only this, but it is included. I suggest looking into TTC chapter 10. There's a thread on it here.

I'm glad you posted this. Some people think you need forms for qi and only forms. I do suppose it is true for the advanced that allowing qi to flow in specific ways requires specific forms. I also take a little from zen and apply it in this department. I often do this sort of thing, just whenever. It really is like playing with clouds. Picking up cup, picking up cloud. Point to something, point to cloud. Pet the dog, touch a cloud.

I've taken to solving puzzle cubes while I think. May seem strange but it works for me. Especially the 6x6x6 cube. I find it gives me time and usually the right amount of focus. If I can solve it smoothly without losing my place, and yet not forget what I am thinking, this seems to be a good balance. If I mess it up, I'm thinking too hard. If I forget what I was thinking, I wasn't thinking enough. Not sure how it would work for others, though.

A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere. I must confess, I was born at a very early age. I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it. I've got the brain of a four year old. I'll bet he was glad to be rid of it. Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies. Well, Art is Art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know. Why a four-year-old child could understand this report. Run out and find me a four-year-old child. I can't make head nor tail out of it. All Groucho Marx

I think this is the same reason that I love it when the frogs are singing at night.

I thought this was quite amusing. My dad's wife is cooking chicken. She asks him: "How many pieces of chicken do you want?" He says: "Two!" She ask me: "How many pieces of chicken do you want?" I say: "How big are they, and what else are we having?" I just thought that was funny.

Not knowing how something began to do what it is doing does not mean that you don't know what it does.

Several different ancestors evolved from one ancestor, and, geometrically, several ancestors evolved from those several ancestors. Ancestors go alllll the way back - so actually, you have both happening. Or so I hear. I don't actually know.

Actually I do have plant DNA in me. I just ate. It was pretty good, too.

This (along with similar things that are said after) I think 'trying' is the problem. Flow. Breathe. Effortless doing. Or, if you need a more practical sense, you may be using too much muscle because of anxiety and 'want'. Or you may be trying to copy and therefore you fail. Not everyone can start out at the same speed. Maybe slow down. Just a suggestion. Find a particular movement, and do it slowly. It could be something very small, even just a hand gesture. Do this movement, breathe, let it flow. When you begin to understand this, when you empty yourself so you can be filled again, then maybe you can start following the instructor.

Precisely.

I understand. And I agree that necessity is what it is. But I have also seen that one can need what one wants, and want what one needs. Things are dependent on other things, but not all things which necessitate something else are themselves necessary. I think there comes a time, for some, to not live, but they impose their will anyway to do what they want and not what is needed (to live) I look at need/want on a universal scale. At this point the distinction becomes vague.

My thought is that they are the same thing divided by perceptions.

Action, inaction. Presence in absence. Wuji. Taiji. Mysteries are not solved: they simply move elsewhere. Knowing a thing is having a little bit of knowledge. Knowing what you don't know is yet more knowledge. Knowing the case when you don't need to know a particular thing is more still. Perhaps at some point one can know nothing and be content still.

There are problems with society. The point is, people here can't do much to fix them - and you can't either. It is not abnormal to recognize things and perhaps even be upset by them. But if you still want to increase yang, you still can. I think you need to do it for you, though. Find your balance in order to have balance. If you seek it only to be a part of something that is hurting you right now (society), then you won't be able to. Do it for your own harmony.

Yeah, I figure even if it doesn't solve things entirely by itself, it may be a starting point to get out of a 'rut'. To calm ones self to begin to have a different perspective, at the least. It may be easier for more yang activities to follow it, if needed, if he can at least begin with something.

Did not read entire thread, so forgive me if I post in ignorance here. Maybe look into feng shui? Just an idea. "Difficult things in the world must have their beginnings in the easy; Big things must have their beginnings in the small."

I read it as an effect of The Way being The Way of all things. Nothing else would be necessary. I don't see it as rottenness exactly, I only see it as the fact that if we misalign anything, other things come into play - it could be seen as "needing a bit of help". I think many are simply lost and would not mean harm, if they knew any better.

I understand what you are saying. I'm basically saying that this is exactly what happens when things are taken out of balance. If it is most of what is being taught, then it will of course produce poor results, because it is poor teaching. One should not be frightened into believing anything, that is corruption.

I don't know if they are necessarily negative. The human perception of negative is just that, a perception. Sure, there can be opposing forces, that which is light or dark or positive or negative. But like yin and yang, these cannot be restricted, such as in the misguided concept some people have that yin represents 'evil' and yang represents 'good'. These are not classified in such a way, we cannot put them in boxes like that for it is a relationship of both, they flow around each other in constant change - you cannot eliminate one without causing the other to flip, and therefore defeating your intention. I think some people just seek a reason to do what they do, in some cases it may be negative but it is not as simple as tacking the word on and being done with it.

I think that what it is, is not what it isn't; and what it isn't is a whole lot of things. I think it isn't absolute, and isn't stationary, and isn't merely a difference of events - I do not believe that mere arbitrary differences need be so defined in how different these differences are. Events are not only in different 'times', but differently different 'times', also.

I'm here looking for insight.