Dao Bums (here i am)

[silent thunder]

1 hour ago, liminal_luke said:

I hold this to be the highest task of a bond between two people: that each should stand guard over the solitude of the other.

 

--- Rainer Maria Rilke

This perhaps more than any other bit of poetry I have encountered describes my relationship with my wife.

 

Edited February 25 by silent thunder

[blue eyed snake]

19 hours ago, Apech said:

its called almendres near evora in Portugal dated to between 6th and 4 th millennia BC  - very impressive and large stone circle

 

google almendres cromlech on wiki

 

impressive indeed, thanks

[blue eyed snake]

3 hours ago, liminal_luke said:

but almost all of us, at least on occasion, wear metaphorical wigs.  To me, this thread is an invitation to take them off.  It feels better than I thought it would.

 

Your mom did well, as it still takes courage to go against the cultural norm, even though in the described situation it was absolute silly.

 

It's  a bit strange to see the real persons here, I've never given it much thought, Apech to me is a white cat and you are a meerkat, Taomeow is forever looking out over the sea, her eyes shielded against the sun. Steve is the blue dot that you can disappear into, except for him now having changed his avatar 

 

The real physical  you interestingly looks a bit like my teacher, except for the beard that is. Such a nice friendly face, as if I've known you for a long time. We'll meet again mister Meerkat.

[blue eyed snake]

4 hours ago, blue eyed snake said:

blue eyes

 

and for those people that are laughing, this is the avatar i started with

 

 

Spoiler

 

Edited February 25 by blue eyed snake

[blue eyed snake]

2 hours ago, Taomeow said:

Would you believe that I only took one selfie in my entire life so far?

 

oh yes, of course I do believe that, same here.

I do not like pics taken from me but decided to ask a friend to covertly make some pics from me. Thinking it would be nice for my child to have some pictures instead no pictures from his mom.

 

Have never analyzed why i do not like the picture thing.

 

but sometimes one can share

[Taomeow]

1 hour ago, blue eyed snake said:

 

oh yes, of course I do believe that, same here.

I do not like pics taken from me but decided to ask a friend to covertly make some pics from me. Thinking it would be nice for my child to have some pictures instead no pictures from his mom.

 

Have never analyzed why i do not like the picture thing.

 

but sometimes one can share

 

For me, analysis is also sort of an after-the-fact attempt to explain, but I used to avoid it way more when I was very young and truly had nothing to hide and everything to show...  and had no explanation for the disinclination.  Now I regret having almost no pictures from my teenage years.  I was amazed when I went to the 10-year anniversary of high school graduation and discovered a photo gallery of my classmates presented by one of the boys who, as it turned out, was discreetly taking pictures throughout the last school year. 

 

Those were great because no one was posing and the pictures were like slices of life from "back then."  A 16-year-old me was represented in many, which I never knew existed -- talking across my shoulder to someone seated behind me, biting a pencil in contemplation, in stitches over someone having just cracked a joke, and so on.  I should have asked for copies but I was still too young to care, so I never did, and soon enough every chance of getting in touch again with that boy was lost.  (By the way, he was a nephew of one of the most striking film actresses the country ever had, and in hindsight, his talent for photography may have had some family story or other behind it...  but it never occurred to me to ask.)

 

You're right, sometimes it's nice to share.   

[Nungali]

5 hours ago, Maddie said:

 

Then my soul is gone #attentionwhore 

 

Oh no, its not gone ..... we have it imprisoned in our  ' photo soul snatcher reverse camera ' storage chip . 

 

 

[Nungali]

4 hours ago, silent thunder said:

I was an actor throughout my teens 20's and early 30's.  My wife and I participated in myriad stage productions, but toward the end for both of us it tended toward film and tv.  When it got to the point where we were getting big and the agents were pushing in (she was simultaneously up for two principle roles with Woody Allen and FF Coppola which she declined), we both had a potent realization and walked away from performing at that point without a backward glance and pursued another passion that wouldn't involve giving up anonimity in public or force either of us to be known to a wide group of strangers.

 

Far more impacting than any of the reactions to images, videos or photos shared of me were the interactions and the loss of privacy I began having on the street with perfect strangers who approached me with intensity and passion regarding a performance they had seen and wanting to express and explore the connection we shared through their experience.

 

Due to the impact of some performances, people felt they knew me on a level and had a personal connection to me so they would freely reach out, touch, hug and expect a level of intimacy that with some of them (and given my intense empathic nature) was horrifying and incredibly invasive for me.  While many of the interactions were pleasant and joyful... I soon realized that given my nature, I would be ostricized from my own life by a certain level of not being able to remain unnoticed.

 

anonimity is blissful freedom.

and the authentic connections here act as fuel for the furnace of cultivation, not a detraction.

 

I adore seeing all your faces and the images you choose to share to represent your mood or some facet of your character!

 

 

Thats the 'curse' . Some actors I 'worked with'  ( ie.  fed )   managed that very differently .   here is four ways I noticed .

 

Four types and their emojes ;

 

1.  Be shut down , grumpy and important  and a total opposite of your acting role .  No matter what the 'food guy' does to try to get your face crack into a smile  ... dont !   Be aloof and distant and nothing like you are when 'in role' .  Be resentful of the attention you get that allows you to live the decadent lifestyle you do  .  " I am NOT one of you guys ."   Cough cough (Rowan Atkinson ) ....

 

2.  Politely avoid attention when you can , politely deal with it when you cant .  Be 'contained' .  Be a real, a concerned and helpful person in your off role interactions with people .  Slip aside and ask the lunch guy to  give you a highly forbidden cigarette   ( Keanu  Reeves ) .

 

3.  Run away or use trickery or distraction when you dont want it . If you feel like it , interact  with others  as one of the guys .

" LOOK ! "  points at the sky  " A UFO ! "  .... then runs off in the other direction when people turn to look at it .  OR   sneaks forward on the lunch line , kicks DOP up the bum and slips back to his place acting innocent .   Join in with others in the mocking and practical joke playing on the lunch guy     ( Hugo Weaving ).

 

4. Love everyone and love everyone adoring you .   Dont rush from the limo to cover with head down , jump out and 'Ta-Darrr  ... I am here ! "  Dance and waltz around being friendly to everyone , have no judgements  ... accept any adoration that comes your way and somehow  seem internally authentic yet wholly artificial on the outside . Physically touch and connect with people .   Bask in the glory of your popularity and public attention yet somehow  do it innocently .  Ask the lunch guy to tell you one of his dirty jokes .   Pammy Anderson .

 

 

[Nungali]

5 hours ago, liminal_luke said:

 

I hold this to be the highest task of a bond between two people: that each should stand guard over the solitude of the other.

 

--- Rainer Maria Rilke

 

Awhile back I took an online course with Robert Peng on the Yi Jin Jing.  One of the movements I learned was meant to tonify the heart protector meridian.  Robert taught me about the importance of letting people in to my heart -- and keeping them out.  The point of the heart protector meridian, interpersonally speaking, is to develop discernment.  Metaphorically, the heart is the emperor and not everybody gets to touch the emperor.  There's virtue in being vulnerable and virtue in declining to be vulnerable, depending.

 

Publically share a face picture and some people will feel entitled to comment on one's features, and not always kindly.  Even the most minor of celebrities, even cats, sometimes find themselves subject to this kind of parsing.  Does the soul recoil?  I think maybe.  Sometimes.

 

 

 

Four of discs - maintaining personal power .

 

We see a 'keep' from above , in the center is a courtyard , your sacred space . About it is a protective wall with four elemental towers representing the four balanced parts of the psyche (attributed to those elements ) , about all of this is a moat , with a drawbridge .

 

Its about when  to 'stay inside ' your 'keep'  and when to  be not 'shut up from the world'  and venture out into the world . Its also about who you let the drawbridge down for and into your sacred space and when and to who that drawbridge should be closed  to .

 

 

 

[Mark Foote]

23 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

You're right, sometimes it's nice to share.   
 

College days, out at Gazos Creek above Santa Cruz, letting the wind play harmonics on the guitar strings:

 

 

Learned to play this in the college days--Fahey was so weird, but such a strong alternating thumb beat.  

 

 

 

 

Edited February 26 by Mark Foote

[Unota]

This thread makes me so happy. Look at all of you.

[silent thunder]

18 years ago @ 6:54 my son drew his first breath, and looked in my eyes forever shifting my experience of reality.

 

Such treasure that out of this spinning universe i should have the unimaginable fortune to be his Dad.

 

 

 

 

 

[oak]

2 hours ago, silent thunder said:

18 years ago @ 6:54 my son drew his first breath, and looked in my eyes forever shifting my experience of reality.

 

Such treasure that out of this spinning universe i should have the unimaginable fortune to be his Dad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations mate! You must be so proud of him. Watching a son grow must be a great self-knowledge tool.

I often have the previledge of working with 18 year olds in hospital settings and will be the first to say "18 year olds are amazing!"

[Nungali]

' The wheel of negative karma stops RIGHT HERE ! '

 

Thats what I say about bringing up kids . Because if you bring up your kids right, no matter what you suffered , then they will pass good upbringing on to their kids ... and so on .

 

I seem to have a lot to do with damaged people , or maybe that is just the stats 'out there ?    Some feel helpless about the effects their abuse has had / is having on them . And then some of them have kids and mess that up due to this  .   I have been trying to help a young guy ( son of a female friend ) that had a  bad childhood, he recently had his own son , unfortunately it is NOT a family unit and already beset with troubles .  Its  going to be a long journey here .   I had a good talk to him about it recently , about what happened to him and the people that abused him and stifled his development , and his issues with his own infant son , that he rarely sees .  I explained  my above ideas to him and how kids can feel and develop well with good input .  "Let's  (ie us )  take the little guy on an adventure in nature one day , fishing or something, he will love it ."

 

But its going to take time and patience .... small steps , treading on thin ice .    He actually talked to his mother  the other week (after some very subtle communication with me ) after  several years of either ignoring her or abusing her as they passed in the street . She was overjoyed .  Mum tells me  one of her daughters ( who seems a bit prophetic ) had a dream   about all of them , including him, sitting down to a meal together , that made mum very happy .   - I'm working on it .

 

 

Good onya mate  !

 

 

You watch that boy grow and spread the good  to others who will then do the same themselves .

[Cobie]

 

On 24/02/2024 at 4:28 PM, liminal_luke said:

Not snakelike at all … Count yourself lucky we're living on far away continents.  

I’m in the same country. 

 

Edited February 28 by Cobie

[oak]

 

Covid wars, 2022

Edited February 28 by oak

[oak]

Repulsing monkeys in Wales

[Earl Grey]

I saw this thread a while ago and I am posting here in the forum one last time to say goodbye because I am done discussing, arguing, and being taken advantage of by people who have sought me out to learn only to demonstrate undesirable behavior (e.g. lying about what they could afford and cheating me because I'm "unknown"--just like many hidden masters in the East; or arguing about another teacher or video they saw instead of following the process.

 

Yes: I don't come here or publicly discuss cultivation anymore because it is no longer my thing. But: I did make some friends here and can say that just under 7 years of being here did contribute to some of my own learning.

 

So this is goodbye with a video of me doing fajin and another video of me rooting on my YouTube channel, which is not martial or cultivation focused, but highlights parts of me. I am also linking to my ko-fi page to show that I am doing art--visual, musical, and literary art, alongside my vlogging.

 

I'm not re-enabling my inbox here to be contacted by anyone, but if you really want to get a hold of me, you can do so through ko-fi or YouTube. I accept there will be trolls and people mischaracterizing me or calling me all sorts of insults (including one member whom I thought was a friend who somehow keeps creating new dummy accounts all the time). But at this point in time, I'm at peace with being me, and whatever you feel is your responsibility, not mine. I'm only in charge of what I say, do, feel, and think, and that's already a huge task for anyone to manage.

 

 

 

Here's my ko-fi page too: https://ko-fi.com/waterpoint. If you want to commission short fiction, poetry, an illustration, or even a session for Akashic/psychic/cultivaton stuff, drop me a line.

 

I'm currently on pilgrimage in nature in the Philippines, supported entirely by donations since December, and hope to raise a little more (to the tune of $400 or more) to make it to the final mountains in April through May.

 

And to all admins and people I've had conflicts with before, I apologize for any hurt or harm I have caused both deliberately or unknowingly, and I leave you with peace and love in my heart.

 

Don't quote or reply to this post--I am logging out forever unless admin demands to talk with me for one reason or another.

 

Peace to all of you, and farewell. 

[Nungali]

 

To everyone , except the above .

 

Many a converse over the years I have had with Earl Grey and I enjoyed them . I was glad to see a post from him  , then sad  as I read it but now glad as  , I often talked to him about his situations in private , of course I would not reveal anything he didnt publicly , and some of that , involved a string of ' natural disasters', seemingly one after the other ,   he navigated through  .  What made me happy is   that he is currently on pilgrimage in nature in the Philippines, and is actually getting some support  and it looks like that will continue for some time .  

 

Yeah !

 

 

 

 

[blue eyed snake]

I regarded Earl as a friend, liked to converse with him and its good to hear he's now on a pilgrimage in the Philippines.

Walking in nature is the best experience and I hope he'll be able to keep that up for as long as needed.

 

I wish him all the best in his life, on his path.

[old3bob]

On 2/24/2024 at 8:15 AM, blue eyed snake said:

nice to see some of you here,

time to show you I am not a snake after all.

 

 

or maybe a tall, friendly blue eyed hobbit in dwelling 

[blue eyed snake]

42 minutes ago, old3bob said:

or maybe a tall, friendly blue eyed hobbit in dwelling 

 

retirement in Crickhollow

 

[liminal_luke]

I regard Earl as a friend as well.  He once gave me an Akashic reading which was quite illuminating.  We all have our paths and it seems to me that Earl is traveling his with passion and vigor.  I wish him well.

[steve]

My best wishes and prayers go out to Earl Grey for a peaceful and fulfilling life.

Despite the occasional ruckus, I enjoyed his presence and passion and will miss him.

 

[Dainin]

Hello Bums,

Edited February 28 by Dainin