Spotless

The question was about what it is to Believe - it is quite different than to have a belief. It is knowing - it is certainty - it is the dispelling of hesitation.

I have a Kirilian "camera". It is actually a copper plate that you put unexposed film over in a dark room or a dark housing and then you place a hand or object on it in the dark and run a pulse of energy into it. I have not used it for years but I took many interesting photos. you can definitely see the differences in people doing energy work and those that dont. Unfortunately I am currently on a terriblie computer with typing problems so it is hard to go into this in detail here. Look up UCLA studies in Kirilian Photography. Also look for the phantom leaf phenomenon - it has been duplicated many times by many universities. Science has no explanation for it. U a UC:A veralso has some very interesting video as well

Most of us eat an apple and throw away the core. It is habit. If we prepare it in a thousand ways - we throw away the core.

Try this simple exercise: Place each index finger at the base of each ear just behind the earlobe in the pocket that is naturally there. As you take a deep breath in, add pressure to this area with each finger - press very hard or as hard as you can stand if it creates discomfort. Hold it for a comfortable few seconds (maybe 4 or 5) and then release both your breath and finger pressure. Repeat a few times.

We so often think of emotions as positive and negative and with each an automatic response takes place - an inertia. So called "positive" emotions are typically of a much higher frequency but the effect is not at all necessarily positive in the true sense. And conversely "negative" emotions can in fact have very positive effects. Neutrality is perhaps the most mistaken virtue - it is not "doing nothing" and it is not some void between positive and negative. It is much more like a crystal through which any ray any spectrum of light can move through without the crystal being effected or more clearly, without creating an inertia within the crystal. Create and Destroy both have a place - one is not better than the other. Our language creates problems addressing this discussion by the nature of our typical uses and the emotions they instigate. The buzz that our false personality lives in is in the realm of positive and negative. Our being resides in no inertia.

The idea of reduction is seductive to the mind. You /it can see the simplicity in the idea - it gives it process - a feeling of direction and holes in the dam to plug up. Or dams to remove. A map for success. Every apple polishers dream. You do not quit smoking by mind - at some point you are done with it and at that point it is quite easy to drop. You will not quit the addiction to future and past by reduction and these are truly illusion. No portion of the you that you associate with yourself is interested in winging it in present time - and you have rarely listened to the horse that moves you along. This cheap sellout that steers your course in life - whether you are a doctor or a king or a waiter or a cop - reduction is not practice in living with no future. Reduction is a tool for understanding that you can and cannot do as you intend. The driver (you)is a lunatic with glimpses of sanity and just enough intermittent positive reinforcement to pull the wool over your eyes.

Please read the thread in these forums on fasting - most of the people that fast have done very little to prepare themselves mentally by reading about it from experienced eastern practitioners. If have fasted many times - the shortest fast was a 5 day water fast and most of the fasts have been 18 - 23 days. I have never been tired on a fast or exhausted after the third day and by the 4th day I feel good, by the 5th day I feel great. Doing any form of yoga or Qi gong at this time should be quit easy and your experience should be quite profound. Do not harp on one particular area - this could prove to be a very big mistake. A general energy routine is good. I would advise against strong breathing routines - particularly trying to pop your kundalini. Full on general routines will prove to be exhilarating and you with find them extremely centering. I have always gone on fasts for spiritual purposes and they are one of the best mechanical methods for recalibrating yourself and seeing / feeling your original essence.

Their is no proof that can satisfy a vested mind, a false personality, someone in the buzz of things. Meditation brings you to approach silence - be with it - or at the very least begin to see/feel the nearness of it. Proper cultivation helps you to acquire habits of not doing - not dissipating. In your meditation you may at some time see and hear a white light popping and cracklings near your sixth chakra - this is the "you" that is in the buzz - it is the sound of your mind stuck on automatic. You are "normally" false personality and now you are looking at and possibly hearing this mechanism from higher senses. Seeing this is typically an initial step towards clairvoyance. The tricky part in all of this is that if you talk about it long enough and read about it and become an expert prior to having a clue what you are talking about - you will have created a new false personality that is obstructing your path and you will come to know it as your higher spiritual self - and you could be dead for another thousand years certain that you know all about it, and fully asleep in your new found pride. Clairvoyance is just an aside you come upon while walking the path - if it is your aim then it is not so hard to attain but it's effect is like a bear trap for your ego. If you attain it without neutrality it is an unhealthy prize. For this neutrality you do not need to be a saint - and love as it is usually muttered out has nothing to do with it - the false is equally dolled out by the "good" as it is by the "bad". It is precisely this judgement energy that is false and does not want to die - for this one - no amount of proof will convince it to commit suicide. You slowly sidestep this one with cultivation and at some point it will no longer reside in your house. It may also be that for a great deal of time this will come and go - it is a long road to the trust that allows you to step into the path that has no future - their is no sure footing except that retreating is no longer acceptable.

If you want to virtually eliminate cancer and most forms of arthritis a very low intake threshold of meat and dairy will do it. Dairy is clearly a health hazard over low intake thresholds and meat is as well. Check out both The China Study and the movie Forks Over Knives. There are so many billions of vegetarians that have lived long and very productive lives including top athletes and more that the idea that it does not provide enough of anything is ridiculous. And certainly any diet can go from good to bad in the hands of one with poor judgement or a penchant for over doing things. It is amazing how many people who could " never" become grass eaters become grass eaters when their doctor tells them they need to change their diet or they will not live to see their kids grow up. The intelligent person reads the labels on the statin drugs and runs from them into the hands of a vegetarian diet. The average heart bypass is accompanied by mini stokes that frequently leave patients with considerable memory loss for a considerable amount of time. It is why so many doctors choose a vegetarian diet when they are diagnosed with arterial problems - they understand how Western medicine only offers patch and repair - diet is the real thing and the answer is cut waaaay down on meat and pretty much eliminate dairy and if possible go vegetarian or vegan.

Aaron - am really am interested in the subject of what is the "eastern perspective" regarding the Tao. And I would truly like to hear what you have to offer as I suspect you have a good deal to tell. I am unclear as to their perspective and what you might have to say about the Western perspective is also of interest to me. I lay down any swords I may have rattled - please continue!

Lets take a look and see if you didn't perhaps miss your own point: This is your original post: "For those interested, I've made a new post to my blog. In it I ask the question of whether Westerners can ever really understand Taoism from an Eastern perspective as well as what the essential belief of Taoism is. Rather than repost it, you can a take a look here and tell me what you think, I certainly think it's worth a discussion. " I took the meaning of the original post in two ways - one - that you were asking for a sort of movie review of your article. Two, that you were interested in discussing it. By it, I mean that part that you very clearly enunciated ( a discussion of perspectives - Eastern and Western - regarding the understanding of Taoism). You did not really ever go into what the peculiarities are from your standpoint of the Eastern Perspective nor of the Western Perspective. It was clear that we assume they each have this in them and it is basically left at that - a perfectly respectful article for Readers Digest - topical but ruffling no feathers and devoid of content beyond what the title elicits. Regarding the Day and Night of Taoism and Socrates you confuse the issue in details and fuse Plato to Socrates - a Western assumption perhaps but gravely mistaken. Socrates and Taoism share one great vibration - that the assumptions we make regarding our sense of self and what knowledge we possess is an illusion. You have not touched on this elusive perspective issue - which seems to be the crucks of your post - am I way off here? Is the perspective the Eastern ability to see the wisdom within the myth and the superstition? Is the Western perspective the ability to see the atom and electron beneath the surface of form? I would very much enjoy discussing the topic of this post but it seems we are discussing the title of the topic.

Much of what is being written here about psychology is conjecture and assumption. For the most part, it has a reasonably good function in helping one to regain right thinking in some form, to sort out fundamental discord and angst. One of the great features of cultivation is discovering the wonderful abilities and energies we have - the miraculous. One of the great problems of cultivation - the great challenge - is the amplification of predisposition and habituation and our general lack of interest in really dealing with the personality and training it. We tend to want to overcome our circuitry by increasing our abilities beyond our frailties of personality - and this will not work. We think this is how you remove personality / ego. Removing - abolishing - much of this extreme is our western heritage. It will evaporate in time with cultivation, but it is not overcome. It is entirely false and does not exist - the idea of overcoming it, mastering it is belief and investment in it. We are climbing the mountain of ego in an attempt to reach the summit. We should not be climbing the mountain of the ego in order to overcome it - we need to use a shovel. For many here inappropriate untimely additions of certain types of energy and amplification are of no benefit - it's like releasing a thousands squirrels in your space. Some people have trouble expressing emotion, some are quite low in certain vitality and others are somewhat frozen in timidity and caught by a staid inertia - these types, this group can benefit from retention but metered out by a teacher who knows and sees how this is progressing. For most of the other types, retention (by retention I do not mean simple celibacy, I am talking about retention with the breathing and the whole bit) may be of some value at a point quite far into their growth but typically by the time it is of any value it is more as a gentle and intricate adjunct to what should be advanced practice. For most it is ill-advised, premature and often no different than alcohol - with all the "benefits" of alcohol.

I went on a vegan diet for cardiac reasons and it has been delightful (an odd word for me but there it is). Energetically it is much smoother and fitting for practice. I was a complete dripping red meat person for the vast majority of my life but always pretty clear of refined foods, fake foods and garbage food. I was a vegetarian during much of college and during some of my most intense cultivation - but I moved away from it for about 35 years and now I am doing Vegan. It is a learning curve but that has been half the fun of it - the other half of the fun is the new land of Vegan - I have eaten well and all over the world - and now I have a whole new world of food and diet that is so different and interesting again. I miss nothing now - and I never did miss anything but for one thing - initially I missed the ability of just casually ordering something without thinking about it or where to go or how I would react to it or if it would be enough or if I would explode from gas or be weak or sleepy or....????? It has taken about 1 year to get fairly sorted out on this but it is still very new. The entire change was also excellent from the standpoint that change of this type takes us out of our robotic nature - something I work on constantly (when I am not unconscious and sleep walking through life).

I think your post reads well but it reads a bit like many journalists found in popular articles - it assumes a fair amount and makes virtually no points at all.The Asian perspective is assumed to be somehow known - at least the nuances of it. Your general support for the idea that Westerners can bridge the gap or at the very least still reap some benefit is pretty inarguable but a bit elevator - it slides in and out of the mind nicely but not much pith. Regarding then general question you pose - overall - Taoism has a feel not unlike Socrates - but with so much added teaching. Taoism speaks to a inner place in us that is that beacon of light that we all share. They ask us to examine that illusion that we "know" What we westerners lack in tradition regarding Taoism within our framework we makeup for by our lack of taking it for granted that we understand it - there is no glimmer in our eye that it is "ours" It would be interesting to look at the flip side of this - what problems an easterner has in understanding Christianity and how it could possibly appeal to an adult. In this case an abyss is closer to what we might find in the gap. The west is in a new "age of reason" - one that includes Spirit. Taoism like the Socratic Dialogues tear hard at our predigested mass assumption. We are realizing that the movies of robots taking over our planet have already taken place - we are the robots

My opinion in this is over a long amount of time and considerable observation but not in the tradition of most of what is adhered to in these forums. Having said that, I have found retention to be a distraction for me for most of my life and also of no benefit. I believe this is true for about 3/4 of the population in general. I consider retention different from abstaining or not indulging. I have found for me personally lots of sex was of no loss if it was with a girl friend and I seemed no more or less driven during these times. If on the other hand I was moving things along myself, the cravings got progressively worse and the behavior became an indulgence while every renegade pheromone popped my attention. So laying off artificial means for the most part was helpful - typically if it had been over a week it became easier and easier to not become worked up. If I was actively retaining and doing the whole breathing bit the entire thing generally became an ordeal unless I was on a fast. It is best to have guidance from a teacher if they are of the caliber to understand your nature. I do not know how much of a standard this practice is or if most students pick and choose this. If I were recommending retention to anyone, it would be for those lacking in certain types of energy or certain emotive levels. For many retention is like prescribing a real bender - miles out of their range of competence and need. It is more often than not something you should not engage in - for most it is only a distraction or a minor glimpsway into seeing how little control you have of yourself and how easily you are completely bent out of shape (interesting for a bit but of little value and frequently harmful). It is not necessarily an admirable quality to try and master everything that is difficult for you to master. Sometimes it is truly against your nature.

Unfortunately I am not very familiar with most of these terms - but when you are doing this does opening your mouth with tongue relaxed and slightly retracted have a noticeable effect? Different mouth shapes can change the effects - play with it and you can become more sensitive to some of this.Do you also find yourself flexing your ear muscles on your head? You may be doing this without awareness of it . This can open a channel to the throat chakra and on downward. Two of you have mentioned the popping near the bridge of the nose this may or may not be accompanied by minor light flashes and eye movements, this is the "buzz" still going on in your head - your analyzer so to speak - this will subside - and at some point be replace in the near vicinity with a vibration / wiggle which will be later be replaced by a sort of moving visual tunnel and then quite a bit opens up after that.

.

If you have begun the work in earnest - great teachers may come to you with little effort - and they may not - it may take years. Today the world is enjoying a very real increase in awakening. Humans are waking in numbers - great teachers are bounding through our screens - they walk among us. (And great frauds but nothing new there). Like an Indian chief who raises up a child to the sky and recognizes a great spirit - a great teacher sees spirit and they can look blindly past the outer layers.

Dogson posted: "I've been living in Brooklyn for the past year, and after being used to training at 8,000 feet in Colorado, it's been pretty grim. The lack of natural energy, the mindset of people here, the whole vibe is just really ugly and aggressive to me. But at a certain point, I just made the decision to enjoy myself." Cities can be taken as you like and it is not hard to see your viewpoint. I've spent quite a bit of time in the Rockies and lived in Tahoe for several years - the transition to Cities was always a real switch in pace and buzz among the inhabitants. Reno was pretty bleak compared to Tahoe, but San Francisco was fantastic. Cities - especially very large cities are wonderful places - all types of enterprise day and night, people of all colors and from all over the world, the arts, intellectual arenas, spiritual pursuits, great teachers. Cities are the hive of humans - great congregations engaged whether by choice or random encounter. I live in the SF Bay Area where the earth energy is electric but a few years back I visited New York and found the place phenomenally alive and in some ways taken less for granted - perhaps this was because it was not long after 9/11. Cities are art - the are messy grimy gritty human palettes where people play bumper cars with ideas and trade viewpoints with their strange food and odd looks while strutting among them are many and varied peacocks and sleek designs. The East coast has a hard chrome exterior but inside the lights stay up late.

I want to be clear that I am not arguing with the quote so much as clarifying they way in which it can be taken: Breathing has little to do with super human abilities per se - that is not to say breathing is insubstantial. Breath certainly has great value but issues dealing with depletion of ones energy are far more important. (and I am not referring to retention here) And from a disaster standpoint, if breathing is your first tool - if it is the one you choose at the outset - it becomes a crutch not dissimilar to alcohol. All you need to do is read the kundalini forums here to see the plethora of problems arising from cranking up the heat to various localized centers in order to pop out a result primarily with focused breathing. The retention forums are a study in what not to be doing before you are well along the path. (It is one thing to be celibate, quite another to be breathing through your penis - read them - it will bring forth your compassion) Along with sport yoga which is largely what we see throughout the West today, comprised mainly of fitness based marketing and moves based on yoga postures but a training that has nothing to do with yoga, we are now seeing - "how to awaken your kundalini in 90 days" right here in these forums. The push to "feel" this subtle energy that is so much spoken of in these matters is understandable. And having a certain lack of timidity is part and parcel to swimming against the sleep of society. Knowing that "rules" are only rough guidelines and most of them are concocted by apple polishers does not help us in this matter. With regard to this move inward the old teachings are from the masters - locksmiths so to speak. Every so called short cut is most frequently the entry point to a long detour. With the expansion of a great deal of formerly closely held higher forms and techniques now available everywhere - every temptation to find the simple AhHa answer to something that brings tangible miraculous phenomenon is now under our nose like a ripe pheromone. Between the basket cases and the marauding testosterone bloodbaths registered here on every other forum - it seems pretty obvious that such things as "right thinking, right action, patience and so forth are key if one is to actually progress and not become part of some lower form circle jerk. Most people are trying to die. The answers lie in having answers, labels and well founded points of view. We invest in these things, we dig in and lay our foundation and until some shock brings us out of our barricade - our "story" keeps us warm and fully automated - (dead). It does not matter if you are right or wrong or more right than wrong. If you are glued shut in any direction you are unable to be. In it's simple form this is where breath is "the secret" - breathing in and out - as you are transported beyond what you "know". On the journey inward the tortoise may appear to be slow when in fact he is raging past the hare.

The magnetic vortex became a very real part of my permanent waking state when I was approx 22 yrs old. It occurred quit suddenly during a lecture/ group meeting in a Gurdgieff group, though my primary practice was Raja yoga, mostly meditation. This was about 35 yrs ago.

Trance work - pretty much a big detour - typically the gateway to going off the deep end.

Ten or 20 years from now you will look back on what you have written and laugh:)

An atheist is no different than anyone who places a judgement in the lens of their perception. They are still that spotless being within that is the seer - they are you and you are them. If you find yourself indignant look at your identifications - your walls - the bars that create your jails. We all have our cherished shackles - yours may not require so much "proof" as an atheist but it may well allow for more assumptions. A judgement is the conviction that you know something. Wisdom will find that you know nothing. Great chunks of you will fall away - your history - your positions - the stakes you have pounded into the ground. As you emerge this dissolving brings a lighter world. It is not a releasing process - no healing was ever required. When you are finished you will begin.

This is very well put - reread it - the subtle doubt can take years to quiet. I have seen energy for many years now - with eyes open and closed. A healthy aura is a beautiful crystalline energy field not unlike a magnetic field. Recently while practicing Qi Gong directly in front of my master, he pushed out a finger in front of him and suddenly a puff of bluish white ( but mainly white and oddly much thicker than I have seen before) energy appeared.