Energy Part 2 - Continued Energy and Third Eye

From yesterday's post I got this question:

How about the energy that is seen as an aura. Also during meditation, white light or golden light can be seen from what I've read after a certain point. After a while, it is also seen during conscious state also from what I've read.

Some people do see an "aura" or "light". With training many people can be taught how to view aura's in a "standard way"

However: it's not what most people think it is. Your eyes only "see" what they are designed to see. But your mind can overlay additional information over each sense. Auras are such an information overlay.

The brain has the ability to process visual information, and it has the ability to use all that circuitry to pump back information in the form of visual response: which doesn't have to be from the eyes.

Your whole neural network, your mind and sense organs form a larger more sensitive "antenna" to pick up on energy and patterns. The mind then has the problem of how to send that information back to you. It has to use what it already has access to: the 5 normal senses. For example it can send back the images for you as an "aura". In reality what you are seeing is slightly different than that: but it's the best way the "third eye" has to relay the information back to you. This becomes the "aura" as the translated result.

Because so much of this depends on your ability to interpret the results: this creates lots of chances for mis-translation between the "facts" and what your third eye returns to you. Also because we see things differently it can be problematic to exchange the information back and forth between each other in a clear fashion. This opens up quite a bit of room for mystical practices to open up within. Some truly work, others which might vary from person to person in how they tune the sense, and others for tricksters to use for deception.

Taoist practice has quite a bit of training regarding how to use and work with the third eye. It's a real sense, But it is a "meta" sense and it must be "used and tuned" in order to be developed, rather than it being something that just works out of the box of birth.

As a Taoist I have been developing my third eye since I was 5 or 6 years old and had my first vision. When I shared my first vision I discover immediately, most people couldn't see the world in this fashion. Even worse, I was persecuted when sharing this ability. Being so young, I quickly learned to keep it to myself and explore it silently and patiently on my own terms. Until this year, I haven't opened up on this part of my Taoist practice, on purpose, since it is so easily mis-understood.

In 35+ years of exploring this ability, reviewing materials, and using my background in Taoism and the sciences to understand it. I have placed it in terms which can be acceptable to everyone. So hence I am now sharing it.

Many people naturally suppress this ability to prevent it from hurting them, to prevent others from making fun of them or labeling them as crazy.

It's time to begin helping others sort it out and in that find a greater sense of self peace.

The Third Eye is not some magical power, it's a part of our human nature which anyone with time, patience, training and acceptance of their nature can use.

Peace

Energy Part 2

What is energy?

By Webster:

1. Dynamic quality
2. The capacity of acting or being active
3. A usually positive spiritual force energy flowing through all people
4. Vigorous exertion of power : effort
5. A fundamental entity of nature that is transferred between parts of a system in the production of physical change within the system and usually regarded as the capacity for doing work
6. Usable power (as heat or electricity)

By Wikipedia:

Energy is a scalar physical quantity that is a property of objects and systems which is conserved by nature. Energy is often defined as the ability to do work.

Several different forms of energy, including kinetic, potential, thermal, gravitational, sound energy, light energy, elastic, electromagnetic, chemical, nuclear, and mass have been defined to explain all known natural phenomena.

Energy is converted from one form to another. This principle, the conservation of energy, was first postulated in the early 19th century, and applies to any isolated system.

Although the total energy of a system does not change with time, its value may depend on the frame of reference. For example, a seated passenger in a moving airplane has zero kinetic energy relative to the airplane, but non-zero kinetic energy relative to the earth.

How does a Taoist Define Energy??

The previous definitions are decent definitions, they describe aspects of energy which help quantify activity and interchange.

A Taoist would say:

Our Physical nature represents: Mass: Position and condition of self.

Our Spiritual nature represents: Energy: Motion, activity and interchange.

Now keep in mind our two halves: our physical nature and spiritual nature are a Yin / Yang mixture to combine and form a complete person. We can shift the balance between these two halves of our nature accordingly.

So when as a Taoist I perform energy work. This is a statement of interchange, where I help another person re-balance the motion of their own life, their nature etc to help shift a person internally to a more healthy balance of being.

What is interesting, is that in Taoist practice you learn how to sense and visually interpret energy around us. This helps us work with the process of Motion, Activity and Interchange more easily and completely. Instead of being abstract concept, it becomes a tangible property of life to work with.

Does a Taoist really see energy? Not directly. Anyone can see the end results of energy in action, seeing energy directly is another thing all together. However, the mind can develop the ability to process information and then overlay that information over our other senses in such a way we can then interpret and interact with energy in a more precise manner. In this way, we can see energy. As stated in an earlier post this is part of the nature of what Taoist's call the Third Eye.

This can appear as being a mystical power due to the relative nature of the skill. But it's a very real and tangible skill.

Some people do take this and go too far, make it fantasy. So you do need to be careful with people saying they are energy workers. Another problem is the relative nature of the skill. What one energy worker will see, is different than another energy worker. Some commonalities exist. We are human, and our form, our shape means we tend towards common baselines. However, the unique experience's and nature of each person also ensures that each energy worker will see things from a different angle.

So if you do Qi-Gong: you are actually being an energy worker yourself. It's a practice which works with a person's internal energy balance. Much of Qi-Gong training is about how to visualize and work with the motion, activity and interchanges involved in your life. This isn't mystical stuff, its all very real and tangible process.

In fact if you do any form of exercise, then you are in the initial stages of being an energy worker, learning how to balance the various energies in your own body.

Energy is an amazingly misunderstood aspect of our life. However, it does represent half of our life. We can interact and work with energy in every moment we breathe. However, because of it's transitory nature people tend to understate and misuse their energy.

Because western culture is so physical, it understates the energy aspects of life. Many problems westerners face are due to improper use of the energy in their life.

More later...

Part Three will be : What are the limits of energy work?

Teaching Children Taoism

Todays Question:

As a new mother (1.5 years), I wonder how to bring up children in a Taoist way? There are so many opinions, traditional, more modern etc. What is the best or what to avoid and how to bring up the child in harmony with Tao?

Thanks for any hints, I do understand that many aspects will be purely personal and up to the two of us (me and my daughter) to discover...

The answer is:

By being yourself.

By living to good humor.

By showing children it's good to be themselves.

By being strong and holding firm to what you feel is right as a mother.

By being relaxed and laughing when everything goes crazy and sideways.

Teaching kindness of the heart and in kindness we are all connected.

If you teach these things
Then you will reveal to your children the Tao and Harmony.

It's possible to teach scriptures and other pre-defined aspects of any religion...But such words are meaningless to children. They don't have the perspective yet to give such things meaning. They look to us as parents initially for perspective. So don't teach words, teach them life, in action, in laughter and in exploring.

I have children, I know how hard it is juggling a thousand things and trying to make sure they have a bright future. Some days it's all you can do just to keep oneself up and moving in the daze. So don't hurt yourself , any hurt you do to yourself, you do to your children. Teaching kindness is to also practice kindness for yourself as much as for your children. Relax and give yourself a chance to be a real person. That's Taoism!

Also accept your child for their nature, instead of trying to pre-define who they should be. We can teach our children, can teach them boundaries of others and society: But that doesn't mean to force them into a shape either.

So remember:

Kindness and acceptance is the key and core to Taoism.

I don't teach my children anything from books or what is written: They will have enough time to figure out what words will have meaning later in life. Right now it's most important for them to learn about you, what you love, how you live, so they can know you fully. It's important to show them connection to your life so they know love and can later reach out to others in connection.

Then later as the world changes, as it does every day, they will be ready for everything and know the Tao as their life.

If you do that, then you will be a greater teacher than any Taoist Master, they will discover wonders you never even could guess, because you would have shared in laughter and life with them fully, for good and bad, for smiles and tears and it all rolls up into who we are as a family.

Peace and Love

me

Energy

Today's question I got in a email:

I have a question about the energy generated from Taoist practices:
I'm a little reluctant about generating so much energy and what is considered dangerous.

Energy is such a confusing term, and used in so many ways. So lets back up and understand what is energy and the different ways we use it in Taoism.

First: Lets look at our nature :

We are physical: matter:
On the surface level people understand mass / matter of their physical form.

We are also energy: We literally are fire:
The body is the furnace, the fuel we burn is food: we are literally a living fire.

We are a process of reaction:
We breathe, to bring in oxygen to oxidize and stoke the fire.

So our very nature is a Yin / Yang mixture of Matter / Energy

Taoism practice considers the three aspects of this situation

Taoists take care of the body: the furnace to keep it clean and promote a even burn. If you burn too hot, you harm the furnace. Funny thing is Taoists, at times, are known to lessen our fire (our burn rate) on purpose to lengthen life and explore spiritual practices. Science has caught up to some degree and has shown how eating less can lengthen the life span. But this process of controlling the rate of burn within life, leads to many interesting Taoist practices. So this is one area of energy work in Taoist practice

Taoists take care in the food we eat. The quality of the fuel we burn makes a difference for both keeping our physical self in shape and access to cleaner energy to work with in our practices. This is very important for the more advance Taoist practices. However, eating well has an immediate impact of the quality of life even when not using it for purposes of focusing clarity into one's practices.

We take care in how we breathe. This is the key step, by controlling the breath, we control the very center of the process of generation of energy. The core of all energy practices are within the breath.

Qi-Gong practice often focuses on the breath and then upon shaping and keeping the body, the furnace, in optimal performance range. Much of the practice teaches a person how to reflect and keep track of their state of being to keep oneself in the form they desire for life.

Energy is a central aspect of our life. You cannot harm yourself if you practice energy work in a moderate rate, since energy is part of our very nature. You only harm yourself when pushing the limits. For going to the limit of any aspect of our life skews the balance of our nature. For instance eating only sugar: it burns too hot and corrupts the furnace (our body) by leaving its residue behind.

Now the original question touches many other aspects about energy I will have to also answer, but I will save that for a series of blog posts over the next week. However, it's important to understand : energy is a fundamental aspect of life. It isn't all crystal new age stuff. This is a fundamental part of our nature. To ignore the energy balance/aspects of one's life is to ignore half of our nature. This is why many in western culture are unbalanced in their life practice.

In this post I am describing energy using more western science aspects and terms on purpose since many of my readers are more based in the hard western style of facts. However, many other valid ways of understanding our energy and working with that energy exist. In fact western terminology and perception are pretty poor about working with energy since it approaches energy in terms of physical processes only. While Taoism understands energy from a physical aspect, it also works with energy on many other levels of practice and understanding.


more later


peace



all

Peace

:)

just wishing a moment of peace for those passing on by.



me

Delusion and Reality

I was asked this question a month or two ago.

How do you tell delusion from reality

The first part of the answer is to answer what is delusion

Here is the definition (one of many)

Delusion is rooted within ego's belief thinking we are separate from the universe and then to "project" out a different world based solely upon our own image.

So delusion is the active projection of ego creating a false illusion of what reality is.

How to tell the difference.

1) I use my third eye, in other words when using the third eye: delusions have no substance: the third eye cannot see delusion. It "sees" potentials... which people often mistake for delusion.

I will have to define what the third eye is later, since so much confusion exists on the nature of the third eye. The answer will surprise many as it isn't as mystical as many make it, even if in effect it produces mystical experience. The third eye is a Meta-organ, your mind and senses working together to form a larger more "sensitive meta 6th sense" which can give us surprising insights and capabilities.

For those developing the third eye. Separating out the images of potential that the third eye overlays upon your natural 5 senses and the reality your senses show is a very confusing issue.

Here is the tricky part: since our third eye reuses and projects information upon our other senses. In this, nothing your third eye reveals is "real". However, It's not delusion, nor illusion: rather it's information and pattern overlay only: Representing the various potentials of the situation or object you are examining within your third eye.

As a result I apply the yin/yang of truth/falseness filters I teach students to use to navigate the information you receive. In other words: as a projection it's information to be used relative to the situation.

The third eye is a very real part of our nature. With the information you gain from the 3rd eye it's possible, to embrace, navigate and even shape what others would call reality.

What is important to grasp is :

Much of Taoist practice reverses the shaping that we do upon ourselves. We can start off as one shape, to let go of form, shedding aspects of our nature...

to then become whole and formless again.

To un-carved oneself.

This is the path of releasing ego.

The true potential of transformation is limitless by the very definition of transformation.This includes becoming the un-carved block of pure potential, of innocence again: if that is the transformation one wishes to fulfill.

The point becoming: Ultimately you can fully release into the empty state: the Formless state. We then use the third eye's information about the various overlays of possible shape , of our nature to then overlay our formless state with: to become that vision.

At that point it becomes possible to shape yourself.. or even reality relative to those forms and images your third eye reveal. In other words the third eye is revealing potentials and possibility... which you then as a Taoist can literally shape life towards.

So delusion is when you try to shape something relative to ego... which in fact is destructive and lessens your nature:

VS.

Reality being a spectrum of possibilities, which with your third eye, you can navigate between and experience, or by measuring completely cause to happen.


Later this month I will write up a post about the nature of the third eye.

Peace

Understanding

Taoism views everyone as a Taoist, Each person has their own "way", Each person has a personal choice on how to live life.

Taoism as a practice falls into several categories (I am just using western terms now to keep things simple)

1. Just living
2. Actively seeking
3. Letting go
4. Transformation

Most people fall into the just living category and at each "level" Taoist practice offers different advice to movement of life.

The advice and the teachings in Taoism will always be relative to where you are in life.

So a person who is just living often leaves things alone: - to be as is - ; while a person seeking often stirs things up to find answers.

As a teacher I am careful when answering questions for this reason and vary my answers to each person to best fit to where they are. So when reading answers in my blog, my site, or in books like the Tao Te Ching: know the answers received are not static. That as you look at the materials you will see answers and ideas shift as you explore life.

Westerners want defined answers which are true at all angles: a Taoist instead views answers as shifting depending on the angle of life.

Now this is important for many reasons: however here is one consideration right now.

Often times when stuck trying to understand a Taoist answer or writing. Look at it not in terms of the answer you think it contains, instead look at the statement in terms of release.

An important Taoist key in translating various Taoist texts: Taoism is "rarely" ever about destination, so conversely never about direct answers. Taoism is about the way, a path, a journey itself. So most passages are the key -not to answers- but rather towards some form of release of assumptions, expectation, ego, etc anything that hold s a person down.

A key is about opening possibilities and not about what is actually in the locked box that the key opens.

This means when stuck a person is often looking at the Taoist passage or answer in older personal terms which they need to release in their life to move on. So when stuck, always look the element of release over a solid answer which helps you move on in your life.

peace

Sorting Out Retreat Locations

Looks like we have sorted out movement details

We will be in Taos NM until end of July
Then in Minnesota for August
Then in Hilo Hawaii for the Fall.

When in the US Mainland it looks like we will rotate within a 400 mile circle about the Four Corners area.

I will update the retreat page in a few days to reflect this.

Peace

Passings and Death

Three people we know passed away this week. I started to write this poem today as my thoughts came out to pay respect.


Death's Gate

No words cover the experience.
No time undoes the feeling.
In love having fullness.
Only to be left releasing:
A shovel, a handful of dirt and the hole left behind.

In love, in sharing: becoming angels.
Living itself: is the wing beat of being an angel.
Even when forced to face death
Coming down to find the ground.

No words fulfill this hole.
Not enough dirt hide the remains,
within the mind, memory and visions
which as if alive
continue to play out.

In peace
I wish you peace
to say in oneness
Death is a reflection
Looking back from the depths
towards the light
where we all are one.

This is truth
The reason no words work
in that Death is the merging,
Becoming alight
with the Tao.

---

May 2008
For Susan and Lynne

To my friends, I wish peace and love

Masters Part III

Here are several questions I was asked about learning from a Master.

Question 1

-How do you know a person is a Taoist Master?

The core to what a Taoist Master teaches

1) Acceptance of who we are

2) Acceptance of the connections in life

3) Enjoyment of life

4) Various practices (which vary slightly depending on the school of Taoism the Master is from) which aid 1,2 and 3

When you talk to a Taoist master, if they don't laugh, if they don't play and test reality , if they hold themselves higher or as if they hold onto special truth... then you know you are not talking a Taoist master.

We are just here to live and we share in that, because it's part of our joy to do so.

Everything I said here or teach is just one way of looking at the universe. Humanity has create thousands of ways to explore they all are equally as truthful and of value.


Now here are the tricks to understand.

Not every practice will match to each person

1) Understand it's OK to explore practices / systems of belief to find one which fits your expression

2) In time, as one move in the expression of life, what they see and feel changes so the practices will correspondingly change

3) Masters come and go, they are simply the person there at the right moment to help you connect to the larger essence at that moment.


Question 2

-If you train under someone who doesn't necessarily know what they're doing but purports to be a master, how do you learn to do it correctly?


Several ways: Here is one of several techniques to sort thru the issue you mention:

The yin and yang of truth / falsehood

There is no absolute truth , no absolute falsehood which means in every thing you can find both truth and false hood.

This is a very very important fact since it means: you can discover truth within everything. it's a matter of perspective.

Many Taoist teachings are weaved into the fabric of society itself, you will find many references and aspects of Taoism even within western culture.

A Taoist embraces the negative as much as the positive since (think yin and yang) it all plays part to opening up our understanding and spreading truth.

The world is always our teacher, that all the lessons and truths are at our disposal : always. Its just a matter of being open to seeing things for many perspectives, from many voices. Coming to a retreat might help speed up the learning curve, but the information is already around you now to help open up doors.

Now also be careful (think yin and yang) if you embrace your ideas of truth too hard, you will push your truth into falsehoods.

Embrace truth lightly to have the clearest view of the world.

When learning from a person, strangely even when being taught incorrectly: a true Taoist will learn from that and reverse it back into truth.

Also you listen to your body, essence, and mind. People listen to others too much... even true masters at the price of hurting themselves, at the price of lessening their own nature... listen to yourself as much as the master. At some point you learn enough and leave. You learn from everyone. Its just some people you learn what you need to know in 5 seconds and then move on.

Peace

Master Part II

Master is an interesting term.

Am I my own master?... Really think about that. I am casey, I define myself fully and completely by being myself...

To myself, I am never a Master, merely myself. However, because I define myself so well, others would and do see me as my personal master. I never see myself as a master in this sense since then there falls the trap of ego: Thinking more of oneself than one should.

Instead: I am. That is enough.

I am...

All is relative to perception on that front.

Master also implies other things. It implies connection to the past, to teachings, to practices.

Since I do teach Taoism and help people be themselves. I am a Taoist Master. But again it's a relative term. I accept that I am a Taoist Master for this reason. Does that mean I know everything. Nah a good Taoist knows they know nothing. I merely accept everything else. In terms of acceptance people get confused on what acceptance really means also, but I talked enough about acceptance in previous blog posts.

To some I would be a Master, that would mean I represent an ideal through which they gain connection to the larger world. As I said earlier, I am just casey...(notice lower cased!) but due to perception and connection I also fall under the category of a Master.

Master is such a strange concept. But I use the term Master since it does refer to this process of connection and when teaching others I am at times a Taoist Master, at other times not.

It all just depends. To me it makes no difference as I remain myself through the whole debatable issue of language.

peace

PS tomorrow I will chat about how does a person find a Master, or "validate" a Master is a Master.

Masters

Got an email today which made me smile right away

It simple stated:

Who was your Master?

---

This is a question Taoist's love to play with. So many answers...

Here's my answer for today:

Lineage cracks me up: who is anyone's master?

Lineage is really about

"what tradition do you follow?"

And tradition is really about

"what practices do you embrace?"

And in all that, in all the searching does that really get you closer to Tao?

If you are lucky, it will get you closer to yourself and acceptance

but only after letting it all go

peace in your travels and don't forget to laugh :)

---

My normal mental answer to say the salamander is my master, but too many don't have a sense of humor and don't understand it as a response.

Oh well so it goes.

sincerely
me

Answers

Truth and Answers are a strange beast. They are very relative to a person's current perception / situation, meaning most answers become a delicate creation at best.

For instance for the question: Is life deterministic or do we have free will?

• I can answer for some: It's both: so leave it alone to instead enjoy your life.
  
  
• For others I might write out an essay describing aspects of the debate.
  
  
• I could craft various different answers proving how each statement is true or false...
  
  
• I could show how the question is immaterial to how one lives life, so the question isn't worth losing sleep over.
  
  
• I might answer with silence... since a person could be depressed and could take the answer in a negative harmful direction. Being stuck in "wonder" isn't a bad place to be. (Many different types of wonder exist.)
  
  
• Since both conditions are true: I often answer the opposite of what a person believes in order to help shake them up and expand their thoughts.
  
  
• Since both conditions are true: I often give the answer the person wants to hear so they can meander onwards so I can be left in peace. Not everyone should be shaken up.
  

So many questions are like this. People desire "satisfying" answers, but answers are rarely easily packaged in neat and simple tidbits. Some people make money packaging simple answers to the masses. Quite a bit of the self help industry works like a spiritual fast food chain. So it goes. It's neither right nor wrong, just supply and demand.

Of course if you eat enough big macs or fast food: it does harm the body. In a similar manner just living on fast spiritual answers leaves a person empty in the long term always looking for "more". Supply and demand is a terrible way to find spiritual peace. But that's my opinion.

Personally the best answer is when I just write a poem.

I prefer poetry as its more fun to write.


Answers

---

Some follow in the steps of the wise
Seeing direction in the steps.
Finding an answer towards destination.
A master merely wanders.

Some look to scripture.
Werd!
In the beginning, There was a word...
A sound, a pattern, a statement
Leading to Dogma, Faith, Belief, Rules...
All fulfilling answers.
Each word implicating truth. (Little judgments each!)
A master is speechless.

I have Tao
A way
But never answers to fulfill it with.
It is

Is...

Releasing all answers
to free oneself
to be oneself.

to...

Tao

---

4th draft of poem 5/1/2008

peace

Three years

The Personal Tao Site is three years old today. :)


However, I don't believe in birthdays, nor time for that matter

So instead it's time to go back outside to enjoy the breeze and get some paper work done.

Paper airplanes count.... :) especially if you are using tax returns or official documents.

peace

Unfolding

Took this picture the other day up near a desert stream.

Every day we unfold into ourselves.

Peace