manitou

Hi - welcome to Tao Bums. Your post was really interesting - nice to have you here.

There we go! The room where all paths meet is the room where all structure has been understood and uprooted in order to get to the Void. It seems to also be the room which is infused with love as its base truth; not in a sense where love is reserved only for the good actors; but for the bad actors as well, as no judgment is involved. This is also the room of wu-wei, or mastering the art of Do-Nothing and allowing the Way of the Tao to have full reign. It is a room of many synchronicities when one is inhabiting it, an indication that you are living in the Tao and not dwelling in the ego battles of everyday life.

I'm adding Lin Yutang's translation of Chapter 79, which is debatable whether this is the same chapter or not... Maybe this Ch. 79 doesn't match up with your translation, but the differences make for interesting conversation. LXXIX. PEACE SETTLEMENTS Patching up a great hatred is sure to leave some hatred behind. How can this be regarded as satisfactory? Therefore the Sage holds the left tally (sign of inferiority in an argument) And does not put the guilt on the other party. The virtuous man is for patching up; The vicious is for fixing guilt. But "the way of Heaven is impartial It sides only with the good man." (Discussion): I don't know if "the beginning of the thread of Tao" would equate with the way of Heaven siding only with the good man. It probably would, if projected out to its natural consequence? What is a Good Man, to the Sage? I would say this is a man who has done battle with and transcended the flames of ego; it is only without indulging ego that the Sage is capable of holding the left tally, or the inferiority in an argument. Or as the Tao would say, 'never be the first'. Patching up a great hatred is sure to leave some hatred behind - therefore the Sage holds the left tally. This seems to be really about crunching our pride to the point of where it really hurts. The way of the Tao will follow naturally and bring things to an orderly conclusion, once the humility is unearthed.

Life's a lot easier if you consider it All Good.

I think I found a way to subtly alter the awareness - this was just my idea and for some reason it spoke to me, so I tried it. I covered my bathroom mirror with newspaper for 2 weeks. I tried not to see my own image in anything, even looked away if I saw myself in a passing window. I also stopped looking into the eyes of people I passed on the street - I had come to a realization that there was an element of 'looking for approval' in the eyes of people I would come across, so I stopped doing it. I don't know how or why, but this seemed to bring me down to a base awareness similar to lots of meditation. I still avoid other people's eyes in casual settings (not when I'm talking to them) so that I won't participate in my own tendency to judge everything and everyone around me. I've been a meditator for 30 years, on and off - and this odd method of cultivating self-awareness seems to have found a base level that is real and is accessible upon demand now that my body knows what it feels like. It's kind of self-encapsulated and warm in there. Or...it could be just me being a bit whacked out.

I have found love to be the strongest weapon in the world.

Have you done the inner work yet to make yourself a truly open channel to truth? If you have, just be patient, nature will be the teacher. If you haven't you might want to find a method of doing battle with ego.

The unimpeded channel I'm speaking of is merely that one that Allows all. No judgement.

For those who are misunderstanding the shamanic path, as previously in this thread - please know that this path is also present in the room where all paths meet. To understand shamanism as merely a collection of tribal remedies or ceremonies and use of animal spirits for specific things is to look up a Wikipedia definition and be satisfied. Sure, these things can all be part and parcel with shamanic practice - just as accupuncture and herbal remedies are found in the chinese society, as is Taoism. These are not the same things, however. The mature shaman lives in the One as much as is humanly possible; it combines seamlessly with the Tao, which was the blending of my two particular paths. It tries for non-contention, never being the first - to attain the utmost humility, the same as the Tao. It understands that love is the strongest force and is indeed that force through which all healing is done...the path with Heart. The mature shaman tries for impeccability of character, to have recapitulated his entire life with an eye toward self-improvement of his defects, and made amends where he has seen that he has been wrong in the past. This in itself has gone a long way to increase humility and decrease ego. It purifies the channel. The mature shaman has developed their third eye and sees in three dimensions. The shaman is trained to notice the synchronicity of the moment, interpreting the synchronicity with an open and unassuming mind, and applying the synchronicity to the problem at hand, or a healing. The shaman understands that Spirit manifests from within nature and mankind, not from without. As does the Sage. Please don't make the mistake of regarding shamans in a cavalier fashion. Don't believe everything you think you know. Washte -

I've always thought the most beautiful moment in a symphony was the moment at the very beginning when it is dead silent and the conductor has his baton raised. Unlimited potential abounds. To draw the first note is to place limitation on the potential.

As you add to the Tao Bums with these daily discussions (which are wonderful, by the way), please consider adding to our knowledge by sharing the particular ego-diminishing methods you have used to get to the place of being a pure unimpeded channel. In order to truly have clarity, we know that one most 'go in', get our character defects out of the way of pure expression. This would greatly humanize your thread and take it out of the realm of just mind and more into the realm of including heart and experience. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this thread.

(I believe the sage would save a child being kidnapped. He would never think about the evil of the person committing the act but instead act upon sight of the act to help the child. If the child gave him a hug afterwards he would accept it. If the child throwed a punch and ran away he would dodge the punch. Never would he think "Oh what a great thankful child" or "Oh man that little shit!". Neither would he take the time to understand the situation from the child's perspective, "Well I did save him", or "He must have been scared" because that is of no importance and no value. ) (If I didn't replicate this previous post correctly, I apologize. I'm an old lady, a dinosaur on this computer. Maybe someone can tell me how to take part of someone else's quote and put it at the top of my two cents?) Another great Sage I can think of said 'hate the sin and love the sinner', or something to that effect. The Sage would also find his heart going out to the perp, knowing that everything is Here and Now. The perp is the same little kid that was kidnapped and molested himself, or something equally as traumatic. And it would have been at right around the same age as the new victim. It's not ours to condone or condemn. It just is. Straw dogs, and all that.

I'd be interested to know if he perceives Mr. Obama as an enlightened being, as I do.

This is slightly off topic, but Taomeow alluded to 'Tao in stillness and Tao in motion'. Has anyone else observed how very aligned with quantum physics this phenomena is? Quantum physics has measured that matter, when reduced to the smallest component (that we're capable of) has the property of both a particle and a wave. This is a phenomena that has science baffled at this point, how matter can have both properties. A particle, if you think about it, merely takes up space. A wave (of probabilty, in this case) would appear to utilize time to get from point A to point B. It would appear that as creatures living in a physical world of matter, we are sitting at the crossroads of time and space. Somehow time and space are jerked around with in the lucid dreaming previously described in this thread; I too share the ability to travel but it doesn't sound like my lucid dreams have evolved to the point of others in this thread. To achieve enlightenment, the left and right brain seem to want to comverge. Maybe this somehow translates into the quantum physicality of 'action and non-action of the Tao' Perhaps the left brain is the 'do-er', the right brain is the 'be-er'. The left brain is all structure, all intentional knowledge, all action. The right brain is the creator side, the perceiver of things hidden, the navel contemplator. I'm just guessing at this stuff, all I have to offer is my own self realization. The Do-Nothing of the Tao is the effect of enlightened thinking; thinking where all structure has been removed; perhaps all paths lead to enlightenment when followed to their terminus, the room where 'all paths meet'. Don Juan Mateus took years to get The Power of Silence across to Carlos Castaneda (same thing as Do-Nothing). Maybe mature Christians utilize the same concept with the 'Peace that passeth all understanding', although in the bible belt part of the country I live in, the Christian thinking is anything but enlightened or mature. It surely seems like all paths, including science, are walking up the same hill on different sides and are about to converge at the top. What an incredibly exciting time we get to live in...

As a child.

Welcome,Dawg - I'm happy that you have found the forum, particularly given your location and current endeavors. We are still back here in the western world, each of us walking up hills of our own. I did read your URL link and the biblical history was nicely put together. Thank you for the time and trouble of sharing that. (A suggestion: please consider removing the quotes key from your keyboard - it becomes pretty distracting). I couldn't agree more with the current conclusions of your evolution. You mention atheism several times and I marvel at how closely atheism is aligned with the road to enlightenment. The removal of mental structure, in my experience, is key to eliminating preconceptions which get in the way of pure knowledge. Another requirement is to 'go inside', an element often missed by those of us who grew up in this western world, a world where most of our needs have been met immediately and we have lived so very far away from the earth. But removal of our own character defects and arrogance about our own spiritual knowledge are absolutely key to becoming a pure channel for the Tao spirit(or whatever you want to call it); it creates the ability to look to each and every moment without fear or trepidation and supplant those conditions with a kind and loving spirit. To be here now in a true and pure sense. I like to try and remember to dwell in the room where all paths meet. There is such a room, but my attendance within it is intermittent. After all, life does get in the way. Of course, there really is no difference between that room and life in general; it's only my own mindset that gets in the way; the mindset that thinks it's capable of judging whether something is good or bad for me, for my husband, for my country, for the world in general. My higher self knows there is no good or bad, it merely is. Judgment is counterproductive and cuts me off from seeing truth, which is self-evident once the internal cleaning process has been put into play and you've made it down the road a ways. It seems to me that the road to enlightened thinking is served well by developing a knowledge of the beauty of all paths and looking for the commonalities. The truth seems to be between the lines, yet the desire that is implanted within each of our hearts to want to know more about where we came from is common to all spiritual persuasions. It seems to be this implant of desire that separates us from the animals (although I wouldn't swear to that, do I really know?) We seem to be possessed of a self-consciousness or a reflective ability which has manifested within our hearts,but who really knows why? Was it because it was implanted by a higher authority, or did it merely grow out of fear and need for survival? Perhaps there is no higher authority than the thing that binds all our hearts. Perhaps we are the higher authority manifesting from the inside to the outside. Maybe the first higher authority within observable life forms manifested within micro-organisms and continued to its current evolution. It doesn't appear that we've come all that far, when we observe the current state of geopolitics in this day. I happen to live in a part of the U.S. where spiritual arrogance runs rampant (the bible belt of Ohio); a place where folks will fight to the death to make sure every baby is born, even into squalor; and yet these folks will also fight to the death to make sure they don't have to pay a dime for that baby's health care. The temptation back here is to wear Jesus on the lips (and loudly at that), but not in the heart. My four year stint in this part of the country has done as much to heighten my spiritual understanding as 20 years of studying different translations of the Tao Te Ching. It has done a lot to polarize me into an unstructured mindset, and to see the potential for mean-spiritness contained within religious zealotry. I do readily share these opinions with the godly-folks-without-temptation when they take the time to knock on my front door and want to save my pagan soul. We're not actually very popular around here. If I recall, you mentioned something about Jesus and shamanism in your article. Yeah baby!! What a cool shaman he must have been....talk about one who could manipulate energy, assuming any of the passed-down information is remotely correct if we regard the bible as any sort of a viable historical document. I like to think that Jesus (and other Essenes of the day) did a lot to break the glass ceiling to show us Who We Really Are. It's up to each and every one of us to find what (and who) is hidden inside of us. He had the courage to practic 'do-nothing' up until the end. Damn! Washte, Shaman. Thanks for the post - I look forward to reading more....

Or... The good may be seemingly good. The bad may be seemingly bad. Judgment of anything separates us from the Oneness. As for me, I choose to think it's all good. It's the Is-ness. It just Is. It's going exactly where it wants to go With or without our permission. How much easier it all is If we choose a loving stance as our bottom line. Armed with love and non-judgment All things come to pass perfectly.

Sincerity.

]

Maybe we are the creator.

The Sage in the Tao is not worshipful of any outside entity. What I mean when I say 'at some level we are manifesting this' is because at the very base level we are god, unless one prefers to think of an outside entity floating around somewhere to whom we must petition for our wants and desires, much like Santa. An enlightened one understands that we do manifest all. That places ultimate responsibility onto ourselves for all situations - health, social, political, world-wide. It only becomes a fault-finding exercise if one places judgment on it - like it's your 'fault' for becoming sick, your 'fault' for allowing yourself to be abused, etc. The need for placing fault is not necessary. The best way is to try not to place a judgement on anything. Living in non-judgment is not easy and it takes quite a while to achieve it. There are different methods. And then, of course, one can readily revert back into a nasty judgement mode the minute you turn on the TV and watch the news. But in reality, the 10,000 things merely 'are', as it infers in the Tao. After all, the Tao treats us all like straw dogs. The soul brings to itself each and every situation that brings something to our attention that needs to be changed internally so that a perfect channel can be achieved. The soul is merely looking for a channel for perfect expression. What appears to be negative may not be so at all - how often does something that appears horrible at the beginning turn out to be a true blessing? All is soul and what it needs for perfect expression of the One. After all, we are merely a perfect vessel looking for a time and place to happen. Soul retrieval itself has been done in many indigenous cultures; this concept was understood back at the beginning because they understood that they were all One. Egos had not yet been individuated. |It was about the collective, not the individual. Soul retrieval is the art of finding the spiritual cause of the malady and 'imprinting' the soul (or tricking the soul) to go off in a different direction. It is trying to determine what the soul is saying and what it needs. The Tao would call this 'bending the light'. Here is an example. There was a lady my husband and I knew when we lived in Ojai, California several years ago. She had developed breast cancer, early stages. She was 78 years old, a nice church-going Catholic woman. Why develop breast cancer at that age ?? Before we did any sort of a soul imprint we needed to find out more about her emotional situation and what was going on around her in her life. Turns out, several years prior, her 55 year old son and his girlfriend moved into her house and had basically overrun her life. This fits nicely with the fact that she had recently developed the malignancy in her breast, which would obviously point to motherhood issues. Not only did they treat her badly and eat up all the food she couldn't afford to buy, but she was concerned that he could not find work. Jesus was her man. Although she would repeated pray to Jesus about the cancer(and no doubt about her son) she was unsuccessful in getting the answers she wanted(I suspect that by her continual petitioning she was actually reinforcing the problem). When we performed a ceremony on her, we established a ceremonial area, we used rattles, drums,and flute music. I had found a small box and asked her to put a picture of her son into it. I downloaded a picture of Jesus off the internet and placed it in there too,along with a few feathers to symbolize the problem flying away to Jesus. We had already dug a hole for her (due to her age - although I would have prefered to have her dig her own hole) - but she did get down on her hands and knees, say a prayer asking Jesus to take care of her son - TRUSTING him to take care of her son so she wouldn't have to worry anymore, and she buried the box. It was a tearful event for her. When we got toward the end of the ceremony, at one point we were all touching and we all felt electromagnetics come up out of the earth and up through our legs into our bodies. Needless to say,the 78 year old Catholic woman was scared to death of this hocus-pocus, but she saw it through. This electromagnetic force, of course, was kundalini energy responding to the ceremony and our combined consciousness. Energy follows thought. At the risk of sounding trite, at her next doctor appointment the cancer had removed itself and had headed on down the road. Soul retrievals are heavier ordeals than the above described scenario - they involve long-standing tendencies and maladies which have developed over the years, which have usually stemmed from one memory or one particular ongoing situation. One has to get to know the individual quite well,well enough to get them to voice their uncomfortable childhood memories (if that is the cause,it usually is). Again,one imprints to the opposite, if the connecting memory can be found that started the ball rolling downhill. I've only done one soul retrieval and it was powerful - only the woman promptly went home afterwards and had a mild stroke. This was not the desired result, or so I thought at the time. Actually, it turned out that the stroke slowed her speech and her thought process down to a level where she could be better understood,more loving, and better loved by those around her. Her mother told her that there was a peace about her that had never been there before, as she had been an extremely high-energy thinker, actor,and talker. I'd love to think that this was the 'desired result', but I'm still wondering about that one. I suspect a soul retrieval would be emotionally similar in impact to an exorcism in many circumstances, just a different spin. |On another occasion, a woman was unable to let go of the memory of her murdered sister which was keeping her in chronic depression and self-pity. She had been saving the clothes of her sister, almost like a shrine. In imprinting to the opposite, we took her out to a wilderness area and started a bonfire and had her ceremonially burn her sister's clothing. After the burning, she instinctively went down on the ground, face down. At this moment about 40 crows landed on the tops of the sycamore trees and started screaming while she was laying on the ground and the clothes were burning. Ceremony helps us tap into the synchronicity of the moment. As in Be Here Now. It connects past, present, future (if one chooses to buy into the illusion of linear time). I hope this has helped to clarify.

Or....if all else fails....meditate on why you are manifesting this. At some level you are doing so. Try and determine what hair loss actually means to you. Are you embarassed for your appearance? If so, perhaps ego must be addressed. Did it signify strength or power to you as you were growing up? Some biblical stories or fables equate hair with strength. Could there be any connection there? Your body is doing this at your direction at a very deep level. If and when you determine the actual karmic cause for the hair loss,then an imprint to the opposite may be in order. Ceremonialize it. If you are familiar with soul retrieval (shamanic) then this is the type of action that can easily be taken once the old memory can be found and reversed.

the unconditional accepts the face of all things and realizes that we are all brothers. the unconditional knows that if one person is starving in the world we are all starving. the unconditional must be free of ego, judgment, and point of view. the unconditional Is. when good and evil appear, the unconditional is lost. the unconditional sits on a fence and watches the parade go by. the unconditional is formless and finds a way to love all things.

Maybe it isn't so much getting what we deserve (which implies a sort of karmic judgement)but instead we are manifesting exactly what we need at the moment. Maybe we are the creator and we manifest from the fire within. Is it possible we manifest the lessons the soul knows it needs to achieve ultimate enlightenment?

This discussion of the Law Wheel is wonderful to me, I didn't know there was a name for the odd feeling of having the universe rotating in one's pelvis. This has been happening to me - times when I've 'tried' to do a healing on someone (actually,the less we try during a healing session, the better the energy runs). When I can truly get out of my own internal way there is a definite sensation of an odd connection or rotation with the universe in the lower body. I can feel it in my ovaries, and I had a total hysterectomy 30 years ago. I must be feeling it in my ovary stumps, LOL. I'd have to say I practice a combo of Tao and shamanic - there's been a few helpful things that have brought me to the 'rotation'. There's an old shamanic trick- lie face down on the ground (I prefer lush grass). If I visualize that I am hugging mother earth and can actually 'see' myself clinging to the earth in my mind's eye, holding her lush grass in my fingers - this almost always activates the rotation and the ovaries light up. My husband gets the same feeling in his stomach during healing attempts. The prerequisite for this sensation is to be in the place of Be Here Now or Do-Nothing. This place,of course, additionally requires every single muscle in the body to be relaxed (particularly around the face, eyes, mouth, jaw- at least in my case, because that's where all my tension is carried and it stops the energy flow). After all the muscles are disengaged, the mind must be disengaged and the internal dialogue (as per Carlos Castaneda) must be stopped. If I can achieve this the sensation will start. It is part and parcel with Love and there is no doubt in my mind that this is the moving force. The loving extends out to the entire universe and to each and every being, no matter how removed from the light that person or situation may be. The heart is totally open, without reservation or judgement of any sort. Additionally, if I have trouble making the connection, I can add a very subtle movement of the pelvis into the ground,a slight grinding motion that nobody would even notice if they were standing there. After all, the kundalini spirit is one of sexual energy, and this seems to be a shortcut to activating the rotation as well. It's my opinion that this can only be achieved after the inner work is done, which is why we're all here, I guess. Conquering and transcending the flames of ego (the Islamic concept of true Jihad, not the crazy hijacked idea of Jihad) is a wonderful way to look at it. I happened to have to go through the 12 steps of AA some 30 years ago, and the steps are a wonderful non-denominational way to do battle with ego, particularly after you've made amends to all persons you have harmed in your life. This is not for sissies, and only for people who are dead serious about all this. Goonis, you have come very far. I might suggest that you modify your mindset about being friendly to people who are friendly to you. We don't have to like everybody, but in order to achieve what we are looking for, we have to find a way to love everybody. To set up a 'me vs. them' situation will be the biggest handicap to your achieving the Oneness you crave.We are all brothers. I love you.