active and subtle fire

[sillybearhappyhoneyeater]

my background admittedly is in meditation, philosophy and internal gongfu,

my knowledge of religious daoism is limited but I have an interest.

 

I mainly practice dan dao in accordance with the principles of daodejing.

 

here are some thoughts on wen huo and wu huo.

 

when we use fire in our practice,

we must be aware that making the fire too strong will burn our energy out and make us tired and mentally ill. using too little fire will not allow the yang qi to rise and will hold our practice back, as well as making us subtle.

 

so the distinction between active and passive fire needs to be one which is rebalanced and altered during each individual practice.

it requires that we be very attentive to the feelings we experience during meditation, and to not let them get out of control.

 

I have seen some other posts where people have had rather extreme experiences during meditation and were not sure how to handle them.

one suggestion that I have is that people may wish to investigate ways in which they can relax and adjust the process of energy development and maintenance.

 

one thing to keep in mind is that we are not only try to cultivate post birth energy, but also to nurture our remaining pre birth energy.

We must not only create energy, but we must also balance it and allow it to naturally do its job in the body.

 

most people who practice meditation need to turn the heat down a lot.

most people who hurt themselves in meditation do so because they go to extremes of mind which are not balanced and do not lead to good results.

 

conversely, many people who practice taiji need to cultivate more energy and a more alive feeling. the active fire concept can be used in taiji to alter the state of mind used during practice.

 

if anyone would like to chime in on this, i would love for you to add to it.

if you aren't clear about the weird sounding mumbo jumbo i just said, please ask a question.

[Songtsan]

I am in extreme states of Yang energy most of the time. By brain is on fire. Its a kundalini/eastern thing. I allow this on purpose, and I also have predisposing mental conditions of course. I know it is not healthy in the long run, but I have learned to deal with the insanity in myriad ways. I am riding the avalanche of Yangness and funneling it out into my writing, but my physical body is suffering as a result. I know what I am doing health-wise, its a short term sacrifice which I am allowing myself to exact on my bodymind. Taoists always have complained that Kundalini yogic techniques are too hot. I agree, yet I am doing it this way anyways. Its based on impatience! lol I like the loco vida.

[fluidity]

Do you have any tips on reaching balance?


I used to be a master of sustained attention like all the other coffee'n'coders. Then stuff happened in life and now I cannot sit down to do things like that any more. Which really sucks!

 

And now I dive furiously into a project of self-improvement. But after a certain time, the Yang runs out and fwoooooosh, the balloon bursts in one go. Even with celibacy, my body got too hot. The Yang literally enveloped my body to the point where I felt like I was on fire all day long, literally on fire, my skin felt searing hot to the touch like I had come from the desert.

 

 

 

Either way there is always a cycle. Suffering, tired of suffering, intense Yang current, huge drive to push, many things get done, but then just as it catches serious momentum, the fire gets too much. Then fwoooosh... release it all, put down my work boots, let go into apathetic anhedonia, which is blissful riding on the wave of good karma, but not for long. Soon the suffering starts, the mind is hazy and distraught and a world of confusion opens up. And soon I get tired of it, and thus the cycle renews.

 

 

 

It seems there is either a macrocycle of energy circulating over a period of months (bi-yearly?) or my lifestyle creates a very bipolar pattern.

 

 

What do you suggest about creating sustained fire? Last manic phase I dived into Wu Wei and every day became effortless in terms of moving energy expenditure. Not a trace of tiredness nor muscle tension nor stress.

 

Yet, it was not sustainable. Clearly I was running on batteries and the batteries run out.

 

 

Yet many reach excellence in life and become powerful polymathematic behemoths of wisdom and creativity and learning. So they know how to keep this juice going.

 

 

How do I top up the stores and do that BEFORE it's time for the dam to burst? How do I turn the dam building and bursting into a gentle yet furious steady stream?

Much love!

[sillybearhappyhoneyeater]

some general pieces of advice, since you asked:

 

chill out.

don't worry about improving yourself in big ways, just focus on basics first.

enjoy the work you do.

 

 

now in terms of daoist theory:

 

when we meditate, sometimes we will have a very large urge to do positive things in our lives, or in other words, to use the energy which we are cultivating. this may also have the symptom of extreme sexual urges.

What you should do instead is to sit through it and just notice it until it is completely gone.

just keep cultivating your energy and it will go away naturally. This way you will enter into a deeper rest state.

meditation has the effect of bringing rather a lot of mind junk to the surface and also of letting us know our hormones and feelings more closely.

when we cultivate energy we should not be eager to spend it needlessly.

we should keep more energy than we spend.

 

sexuality is quite normal and if you are not trying to become a saint, don't worry about things like celebacy. as your body ages, you slow down sexually.

 

back to advice from my pov:

enlightenment experiences are not the goal,

getting off the wheel is related to having a happy and fullfiling life.

if you enjoy your life, you are already off one the most important wheels,

other things will resolve themselves naturally.

an experience of enlightenment is much less important than an enlightened life.

[fluidity]

Thank you! This advice has been transformative and completely applicable, water to a dry cracked ground. I was expecting heavy rain but a gentle stream is what was needed!


You have been blessed with serious wisdom, that is for sure.
I realised from what you said that I had been disregarding some serious emotional blockages that I had kept over decades and now they are in the process of releasing. The first step is awareness, and to go without even that creates tremendous suffering.

I would highly recommend others to read this link:
http://www.wellbeingalignment.com/emotional-pain.html

 

 

You’ve never been bad. Neither has anyone else. We all carry all the attributes of pure divinity of Source itself! In our essence we are the highest vibration of light and love.

Likewise, you’ve never done anything wrong. Neither has anyone else. Everything that anyone has ever done has always been an attempt to take care of themselves with whatever inner resources they had at the time.

This might be hard to take in because we are conditioned to make ourselves and each other wrong. To heal, we must learn to see ourselves and each other from the eyes of Source.

And how does Source see us? With unlimited, unconditional love. It sees us as sparks of Itself who have come to this plane to go through experiences, make mistakes and learn from them. In each experience we have the choice to let go into love and learn to trust it or to contract and cause ourselves misery. Depending on how we “do” in each circumstance, we create the next set of circumstances. ALL of it is part of the larger curriculum of our Evolution – to awaken to our Divinity.

And there is no judgment in any of it. There is only learning and love, learning and love…

 

Assuredly the source of the High Yang mentality: a means to escape from a painful and inescapable yet faint and miniscule past (High Yin). Actually you need to look towards that age old trauma and shine Divine Love upon it, and it will dissolve like a rock gushing forth water.


Another PHENOMENAL read:

www.mydavecarroll.com/HigherAndHigher.pdf

High and Higher
From drugs and destruction to health and happiness
Jost Sauer

 

In the state
of freeflow the Lungs let you embrace change, let go of the
past and look forward to the future.The Heart generates feelings
of love, inspiration and joy.The Liver makes you feel that
your life is progressing as it should be and this makes you
happy. The Spleen makes you feel energetic and provides a
balanced sense of self. In addition your thoughts will flow
smoothly and you will be able to grasp complex concepts
and ideas easily.The Kidneys make you feel young and full of
zest.You will have plenty of will-power and feel “supported”
in everything you do.

‘This is freeflow, a blissfully happy state in which you
love yourself, the world and everyone in it.You feel no pain,
hold no grudges and only look forward. Life is full of promise.
You sleep peacefully through the night and wake up full
of energy and anticipation, eager to jump out of bed and get
into another exciting and joyful day. Nothing and nobody
affects your peace of mind.’ I let my arm drop.

‘Who feels like this all the time?’ I paused and scanned the
room, but no one raised a hand.They were reacting as I had
hoped. I rephrased the question.‘Who would like to feel like
this all the time?’ Laughter erupted, some hands slowly rose,
and eventually all hands were up, including mine.
‘So why don’t we feel like this? As you can see,we all have
the mechanisms in place in our organs to make us feel fantastic
all the time, so what is the problem?’ I picked up the red
marker and drew a large dot on top of one of the acupuncture
points in the shoulder of my diagram man, before
answering my own question.

 

‘The problem is that if there is
a blockage at an acupuncture point, only a small amount of
Chi can squeeze through.This is like a traffic jam where six
lanes of traffic turn into one and then only one car at a time
can pass.As a result the organs do not get enough Chi to function
effectively and your spiritual, emotional and physical
wellbeing suffers.’

Thank you, and bless you for ever and ever!

Edited September 29, 2013 by fluidity