GrandmasterP

Maybe we get the spirit guides we either need or deserve. Your monk guide was there for you for a purpose more important right then than anything anywhere else. Your cultivation and deep psychic abilities acts as an antenna to spirit friends Shanlung. I can see where birdy and beastie posters might be peplexed by such issues but not here. Even the most secular culivator is far and away more in tune with spiritual issues than those who do not cultivate,whatever their method. You will be made most welcome at our centre if ever you find yourself in this part of the forest. The ladies make a good bowl of tea sometimes accompanied by home made and most delicious cakes.

David Icke, bless him; nice guy but possibly several fries short of a happy meal. I worked with him a few years ago when he was starting out on the 'prophet/guru' circuit and booking into smaller church and centre venues. he does stadiums these days.. Nevertheless he gets a nice living and good luck to him for doing so. He's just finished a European Tour. Good times right now for doomsayers what with the Mayan apocalypse just around the corner (according some accounts). Now that said, trees are super for doing QiGong under. Pines are especially nice. Personality wise I've always looked at threes this way... ('arbrophomorphically') Oaks.. a bit stuck up. Elm.. nervy tree is your Elms forever trembling. Willow.. neurotic, forever weeping. Ash tree.. very down to earth and practical Silver Birch, rather vain; can get a bit above itself but lovely to look at as a group in a copse. We have Scotch Pine Cherry Silver Birch Alder Rowan here in our garden all different personalities but equally lovely.

I like to see the Lily each day. Nietzsche/Chang-tzu... (Snog, Marry, Avoid?)... now that sounds interesting. Bring it on bro.

PM me for entity advice etc if you feel led so to do.

Things we try to do... Consume as little as possible. Walk don't drive. Grow vegetables, eat vegetables. Bake bread, cakes and biscuits Dress warm in winter avoiding using too much fuel for heating. Favour local and farm shops above supermarket for absolute esentials such as toothpaste. Never wear anything that has either a corporate or fashion logo. Don't eat or drink anything served or prepared by someone doing so for minimum wage. Pool resources and surpluses with others. Make your own entertainment and socialise via temple, centre or church. Shun alcohol and all it entails. Smile inwardly... a. Cos you are saving a fortune b. Cos you'll feel better, be happier and probably live longer. All te while enjoying life with and amongst like minded friends.

Good article, thank you. Whilst there's very little any of us might do individually to change the ways of the industrial complex world we could all usefully adopt a much simpler lifestyle leaving less of a messy footprint and a much lighter shadow upon the earth. Ultimately the oil will run out and folk will have to do that anyway but we can all begin right now where we are making small changes towards simplicity.

Sit with both feet flat on the floor. Be comfortable. Now lift slightly then begin move your right foot in a small clockwise circle about the size of a dinner plate. Nice and easy. Keep going. Well done. OK whilst still circling your foot... Raise your right hand. And use it to slowly draw a big Number 6 in the air. Your foot has changed direction. Good eh?

.......................................... Wise words

Thank you.

Aaaarrrggghhhhhhh.... that Lily of Laguna song is just so offensive.... I had no idea. Mods please remove it.

Enough already with the Lily-themed songs....

Gone

Or better yet the Japanese song 'Flower'

It's a 'Flower Drum'. Lovely tone.

There are always at least two ways of looking at 'sitting on the fence'.

Religion is a complicated joke. If you don't laugh at all you have missed the point; if you only laugh you have missed the point again. It is a very complicated joke. And the whole of life is a great cosmic joke. It is not a serious phenomenon -- take it seriously and you will go on missing it. It is understood only through laughter. (Osho)

http://www.taodirectory.co.uk/articles.html It's the article on this page by Chris Deva North.

Check out our centre weebsite via my PM. Coming as one does from the off the wall end of Taoism this stuff is natural. No big deal if people don't believe it. Belief is a choice and everybody is different. Good fun though. Last month I ran a table tilting workshop. Nine tables thirty odd people. Heavy tables too but they all flew eventually. Participating goes a long way towards quelling skepticism. Randi does a good job debunking frauds but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. It's ALL Tao so nothing is more nor less 'super', if it works then it's natural. Odd and unusual maybe but nevertheless just natural. Thing is these so called 'powers' are pretty useless materially beyond pointing folk towards the fact than there is far more to life than the illusory 'real'.

That nice chap who runs Grandmaster Mantak Chia's franchise in London wrote a jolly good piece on Inner Smile. Will try to post a link if I can find it. It's a super positive way to begin a working day.

Nothing to fear except fear itself. Like attracts like.

Spot on PLB. Another crit of Tai Chi I have been told by students who think they have to 'big up' QiGong is that Tasi Chi is a martial art hence 'aggressive' whereas QiGong is not aggressive. Now that's just tosh and I always say so, often replying along the lines of... 'You could choke someone to death with a fluffy bunny if you had a mind to'. It's the intention NOT the form that counts. I once read for a lovelypro cage fighter who paints inspired watercolours in his spare time there is one above this desk now as I type, Mount Fuji with pines in the background and four figures with two pack horses traversing a path in the forground.

Well it's all Tao if you think about it. Sifu Debbie Smith runs 'Angelic Workshops' at our centre, there was one last Saturday. Excellent foyer activities for those interested in exploring meditation but who would not necessarily come along to a Taoist meditation session simply because few know what might be in store whereas 'Angels' are part of western and new age consciousness. So their barriers are down before one begins. . Sifu Debbie had twenty plus along to that at ten pounds a ticket for three hours and some of those attending will no doubt return for other activities.

Best to seek advice before embarking on radical fasting especially if on medication for anything at all. A moderated healthy diet established prior to any fast pays dividends. Many posters here especially amongst our USA cousins subsist for large parts of each month on convenience 'food' and carbonated sodas. Burger-fast-burger is a less than fruitful set. Moderation in all things and aiming towards a predominantly veggie diet is perhaps a more sensible first step. Sign above a Taoist Monastery door read.... 'Only vegetarians may enter'.

Save the link. There's always time for yet another short-term obsession to add to the growing list.