manitou

I agree Zero. This is powerful stuff. Thanks for posting. I was getting pretty lonely. But I didn't want to pull a Palin and quit in the middle.

Awake to your sleep it bides its time and waits lurking forever.

LOL. i'm just too much of a lady to say the next natural flowing thing....

The participation here is killing me When the Nei-Yeh refers to an unimpaired mind, I think they are referering to a mind that is self-realized. A mind that remains after the journey into one's own character has been taken, realized, and dealt with. All things like selfishness, swollen ego, hate, anger, fear, pride....these are the very things that distort our lens of vision. When the lens has been cleared, the image is undistorted. We then become capable of projecting the true and the unfettered. The reason it cannot be hidden is because it is a shine that is invisible but undeniable. It does show up in our countenance as love and lack of judgment. Acceptance of all things. The reference to healthy skin color is perhaps the physical confirmation of the inner awareness. When in the TTC it mentions that the Sage is kept safe from harm, it is because of the energy flow mentioned in this chapter. What goes around comes around, simple as that. If we are emitting love for our brother (every one of them, regardless of what side of the world they live on) we will get love in return; perhaps not from the very same direction, but it will always return in equal measure. In equal measure will return unkindness, hatred, and anger as well. As I see it, this gives us an enormous amount of control over what kind of lives we wish to live. If we persist in living in fear of outer circumstances (which really aren't 'outer' at all, they just appear to be) then our fears will be realized one way or the other. If we instead choose to trust the balance of the Universe, this too will come our way. You can't even call it 'faith' at this point; it becomes Knowing, because we see it work over and over in our own lives and as this awareness settles in and we realize that this is actually the case, we stop manifesting problems in our lives. Or, when perceived 'problems' arise, we have a different perspective on the supposed problem and see it for the circumstance that we are to learn from. The creative force within us knows exactly what we need and when. All we have to do is let it happen and See why. We attract what we want, even if 'what we want' doesn't make any logical sense, or even if we think we 'should know better' after all these years. Sometimes we don't learn at all...we stay in the insanity of reacting the same way over and over and hoping that this time it will be different....if only we try a little harder. I think there is a certain surrender to Life that must be realized and embraced. I love the reference to the 'wordless pronouncement'. We seem to think that we are actually The Thinker, but is there not something within that generates the idea before we're even aware of it? As recently discussed on another thread, science is discovering that our bodies prepare themselves for the stimulus (of whatever we're about to think) even before we think it. There must be a split second prior to our supposed originating thought where it comes from The Source; the Source that we all share in Oneness. Perhaps this is why the chapter says that rewards are insufficient to encourage the good, and punishments are not sufficient to discourage the bad. Because it's not really the human 'us' that is the creator of the idea. apparently we are merely the vehicle. My personal theory, being as we only use about 10% of our brain, is that the remaining 90% of our brains work collectively and project the image outward. This would explain collective consciousness as well; in other words, how a baby born in this day and time will be born with a more modern set of mental tools than the baby born 1000 years ago. The last line says it all, to me.... "And once the mind is made stable, All under heaven will listen." This is to dance in the wu-wei and see life align around us. I only have my own experience to draw upon; but as a woman in her mid-sixties who has been on the metaphysical path since my early 20's, there is no longer any doubt in my mind that we Are what we Think. And our thoughts, we can control. It may take years of meditation to still the mind, and it may take years of inner work to find the love for all creation.....but we can ultimately put the two together and control our thoughts. We can cut off the judgmental ones, one day at a time - getting slightly better - becoming more patient and tolerant of those we previously may have called idiots. It is by changing our thoughts that our lives will align.

(Hi Old Green! So nice meeting you last weekend...) From the void The sound; From sound The manifest. From manifest The sound returns To the void.

Would someone else be willing to start this off? What an incredibly rich chapter...

I'd have to go back to Steve's idea of judgment. If we feel that we are being judged, it's because we are judging others. The trick to not feeling judged is to stop judging. Even the nazarene said something like that - judge not, lest ye be judged, something to that effect? This goes directly to that inner dialog that is streaming by at any given moment, our thoughts and reactions to people shaping the person we are. I do something here in Ohio that is just awful to people passing by - I pick up 'pretty' road kill, scoop it up in my arms, and take it over to a natural area where buzzards and other animals can put it back into the chain of life. I set it down and apologize to it (for us humans going way too fast for their pace of life). I just KNOW that people gasp in horror as they pass by - but the trick is not to look at them. Just get into the One and do it. Kind of like the ostrich hiding his head in the sand, but it works. This action keeps me on intimate terms with death, which is where I need to be for what I do.

I find that a very helpful question is "Why am I manifesting this?" It is from this question that triangulation of vision can occur.

SEVENTEEN For all who practice this Way: You must coil, you must contract, You must uncoil, you must expand, You must be firm, you must be regular (in this practice). Hold fast to this excellent (practice); do not let go of it. Chase away the excessive; abandon the trivial. And when you reach its ultimate limit You will return to the Way and the inner power.

You must coil, you must contract. This reminds me so much of the Qigong movements I recently learned. It's as though Qigong is an outer manifestation of the inner self, an expansion and a contraction. But the Qigong dance, along with dancing in the wu-wei, is a constant stillness movement. Our reactions to life's stimulus, if we're adept, is a constant stillness movement as well. There is no rigidity in the Sage, as there is no rigidity in the physical stillness movement. There is no differentiation or judgment of others in the Sage, but this does not mean he cannot See and differentiate. He can, but he chooses to see all others as himself. If one is regular in their inner and outer practices, and they come to a point of alignment, then wu-wei is with us all day. Life takes on a mysterious harmony; we come to realize that we are One with Nature, and all outer stimulus is answered with love and truth, as we perceive it. The Sage lets life come to him. He no longer feels the necessity to make things happen; he knows enough to let things happen. The highest path is the one he will always take relative to all stimulus. When one is consistent in taking the highest path, particularly in one's own thoughts, (which is surely a choice we make daily), then things are aligned of their own accord. Magically.

It's funny how we wax and wane on this forum. I just hate it when Straw Dog wanes (which is actually what I seem to be doing at this time, as he waxes). All is One, in my understanding, is the self-realization attained after doing years and years of self-examination. It's not an intellectual question. It is a Knowing down in your belly who you actually Are. We are all the same Being with many different arms.

MassTaoism - your name says it all. we are but One of the 10,000 things, and we are the great manifester as well. I'm thinking the strata is reinforces the illusion of separation from each other and from the One.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN If people can be aligned and tranquil, Their skin will be ample and smooth, Their eyes and ears will be acute and clear, Their muscles will be supple and their bones will be strong, They will then be able to hold up the Great Circle (of the heavens) And tread firmly over the Great Square (of the earth). They will mirror things with great purity, And they will perceive things with great clarity. Reverently be aware (of the Way) and do not waver, And you will daily renew your inner power, Thoroughly understand all under the heavens, And exhaust everything within the Four Directions. To reverently bring forth the effulgence (of the Way): This is called "inward attainment." If you do this but fail to return to it, This will cause a wavering in your vitality.

Hi Angela - I'm so glad you made your way to this thread! Thanks! I was feeling pretty lonely. Someone else's description of alignment might be different, but the sense I was speaking of is stilling the mind (no inner dialogue going on at all; if you've been a long-term meditator this should be second nature for you). Stilling the mind, combined with relaxing every muscle in the body so there is no resistance to the inner realization that we are indeed the Great Manifestor, at some level. This is achieved through the process of inner work; going into one's own personality and straightening out the contortions that have been imprinted since childhood. Different traditions of spirituality have different modes of doing this. The study of the Nei-Yeh, the book we're talking about here, is a Taoist path for getting to the inner Self. The Buddhist might find his inner self by years of meditating on non-attachment, which would most likely accomplish the same thing. My particular path to inner realization started the first day I walked into AA and started working the steps to recovery 30 years ago. Seems like it's a life journey, regardless of which path Spirit has placed us on (or we've placed ourselves on, to be more accurate). One of the best guides I've ever seen as a template for the inner journey was a Yogi philosophy book, in which it refers to character foibles as different animals - the peacock, the pig, the monkey, etc. It seems like true inner clarity can only be achieved by the process of self-realization; otherwise, it's all left brain education and not self-realization of who we really are. It's when the two are in alignment, the left brain and the right brain, is perhaps another way of putting it. Thanks so much for joining the thread! Barb

Funny - don Juan Mateus repeated told Carlos Castaneda over and over during the series of books to get rid of his self importance to get to the place of the shaman.

There's something rather synchronistic about Dr. Ruit bringing visual clarity to people who live in the highest place on the earth. What a beautiful soul that man has. He seems to exude joy and gentleness. Thank you for posting that video, CowTao. the fact that he's doing what would be an $8000.00 operation here in the West for nothing is certainly a manifestation of his Christ-like nature. But there's more to him than even that - hard to put a finger on it. His Boddhisatva nature... He knows exactly Who He Is. I think I'll make a donation. Thanks again.

This, in my opinion, demonstrates the principle that we manifest from the inside to the outside. We Are the Great Manifester, once we've realized the One and gotten down to our original nature. The nature without contorted ideas, without fears, without judgment, without ego, without defense, without arrogance, without pride. All of it. It's all in the alignment, and we are free to go to the trouble of aligning ourselves with the One by doing the inner cultivation, or we can stay in the purely intellectual mode and not get down to the One at all. It's our choice. This is so aligned with Castaneda that it's kind of mind blowing.

This is wonderful and insightful, Zero. The artist. Wow. The Creator. There are different types of artists; there are left brain artists and right brain artists. I was always a left brain artist, going for perfection and exact duplication of what I was seeing. That was then. Today my art starts usually with a squiggle that I honor and use as a basis for whatever jumps out of the canvas at me. It's completely right brain. The two can be merged easily if we need to. No, I don't see doing the work to develop a positive attitude as rejecting reality either. It's merely changing our reality.

One incredible topic, Otis. I happen to live in a part of the country where people talk their religious game and then squish each other to get ahead. As though there is no relationship between "Real Life" (money and job) and Inner Life. What does money represent? Is it power? Is it accumulation from yesterday that is waiting to be used tomorrow? Or is it a balanced way of meeting our needs one day at a time? The balance thing is a lot easier for me to talk about than someone with children who must be raised. There is a certain fear of lack that must certainly accompany child-rearing. If one is obsessed about saving enough money to make sure their 2 year old goes to Harvard, I'm not sure life could ever be in balance. My thinking, and I could be dead wrong, is that somehow Life takes care of us if we stay in balance within the Zone on a daily basis. If we're impeccable with our inner thoughts and don't let the negative and judgmental have sway. If our inners are impeccable, the outers will be too. The only thing I have to back any of this up is that my life has changed significantly in the money department, going from one who worried constantly about not having enough, to one who is relatively comfortable; but the situation seemed to improve as my inner dynamics improved. I don't know how this happens, but it just seems to. I think there's another hocus-pocus thing that happens too. When we develop gratitude for what we HAVE, as opposed to yearning for those things we DON'T HAVE, a new dynamic and subsequent manifestation seems to kick in too. To honor those physical things we do have - to keep our kitchen clean, to keep our lawn mowed, to love those we live with, to be respectful of those we disagree with....this outer manifestation seems to be a direct result of our inner selves. I go through spells where my house will be messier than other times; and whenever I notice this happening, I know there is something within that needs to be addressed. Our outer really does reflect the inner. Perhaps the same is true of money. The outer reflects the inner. Balance with money seems to be the operative principle, if you ask me. Again, a fabulous topic. Bringing all the headiness down to the realm of the here and now. I love it.

Nicely said. Thanks.

Kung Fu Hustle is the shizzle! We went to see Kung Fu Panda in 3D the other day. That'll get you to the zone too, lol. A surprising amount of Tao in that silly little movie. Of course the evil ruler was a peacock (pride).

The area I live in is rife with Tea-Partiers who are down and out bible-thumpers. Many are Palin-ites. As long as the bubbleheads are mouthing off about America and 'being free' like a mantra, it seems to appeal to these folks. They don't seem to see that they are lackeys for the big corporations, but it's disguised under that stupid mantra and they continually buy into it. Very few real thinkers back here. And the funny thing about the jobs you describe getting easier and easier, this is true in one sense. But in another sense, those high end jobs have more residual stress attached and it tends to carry over from day to day in the form of worry and anxiety. Where's the worry and anxiety in the man chopping wood and carrying water? He may indeed have some, but it's sure not from his job. The menial jobs are hard, true....but there is a sense of daily completion that is missing in the high end jobs. I think that stress takes its toll over a period of time.

In the event it turns out not to be a physical problem, is there any chance it's Kundalini energy? Mine often sits real hot right under the skin of my shoulder blades. Seems to like to hang out there.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN For those who preserve and naturally generate vital essence On the outside a calmness will flourish. Stored inside, we take it to be the well-spring. Floodlike, it harmonizes and equalizes And we take it to be the fount of the vital energy. When the fount is not dried up, The four limbs are firm. When the spring is not drained, Vital energy freely circulates through the nine apertures. You can then exhaust the heavens and the earth And spread over the four seas. When you have no delusions within you, Externally there will be no disasters. Those who keep their minds unimpaired within, Externally keep their bodies unimpaired, Who do not encounter heavenly disasters Or meet with harm at the hands of others. Call them Sages.