[kipster]

Thanks for your thinking on this manner. There is a web site, http://www.natureinstitute.org that does a splendid job of deconstructing the mechanistic view of biology and replacing it with a clear understanding of the holistic nature of nature. They present their understanding with clarity, detail and example. You may be interested in reviewing their offering.

[kipster]

I found the article on Professor Veizer’s thoughts on celestial activity’s effect on global warming weak. I’m not contesting Veizer’s thoughts here, just how they were not explained very well by the article. Do you have any better writings on this subject? Thanks.

[kipster]

Thanks for posting this article. If anyone is interested in reading more coherent and concise articles that show the strengths but also the considerable weakness of viewing life only through a reductionist lens (e.g. thinking the whole is the result of and no more than the sum of its parts, that genes are the dominant determinent of traits and life, and that genes are immune to context), please look at http://www.natureinstitute.org.

[kipster]

Michael,

I agree with you when you say that the “Great Story” folks overlook the governing aspect of the life force. Am I correct in thinking that when you apply the word “governing” as a quality of the life force, you do not mean it in a “command and control” way, but rather in more of a “continuously unfolding harmony/order” way? There is a wonderful site called natureinstitute.org which, though it does not deal expressly with the Tao, very carefully and beautifully shows the limitations of the empirical, reductionist way of knowing on its own terms. I am not representing the site well here, but I do think you would find some of what they have to say rewarding.

Thanks for your thoughtful posts on this site.

[kipster]

Thanks, Michael. Your answer helped me.

[kipster]

Generally, in the morning I do a few stretching exercizes along with a few simple qigong movements just to get the kinks out and the chi flowing. Recently, I saw an article by K. Cohen in an old Yoga Journal. In the article, he laid out a series of 8 or so qigong movements, two of which I do in my little stretching routine. The thing that caught my eye is Cohen’s recommendation that the person engaging in his routine not eat for a half hour after doing the exercizes. Since I only do two of the movements from his routine, I don’t think this advice applies to me, but I am curious why he thinks it is a necessity. The thing that attracted me to Taoist stuff is that it doesn’t seem to create a big divide between regular activity and spirtual practices. Chi is seen as a natural, unavoidable aspect of living that a practioner can integrate so that the chi is flowing properly no matter what activity one is engaged in. So what is the reasoning behind waiting so long to eat after a simple set of qigong movements? My life is busy enough without trying to find another half hour between qigong exercizes and eating a meal. Thanks, people.

[kipster]

Wendy,

I have neither the experience nor knowledge to comment on your desire for male/female harmony and liberation in terms of healing dao practices. However, one thing that seems real to me that I’d like to share with you is the idea of the acceptance, rather than the pursuit, of your divinity. Though the spiritual technique I practice is based on the notion of acceptance rather than pursuit, I realized that pursuit crept into my practice early on. I wanted to be more pure, balanced, creative and the like. And I realized that as long as I was in the pursuit mode, I was in the grasping, taking, accumulating mode. No fun. It took me a long time to really come to realize on the feeling level that the creation, for now anyway, felt like a love song, a gift, and each moment provided another opportunity to release, to love.

So, now I approach my practice as a sort of lovemaking. It is making a difference. That part of me that seeks to defend, protect, accumulate is less active, and that part of me that is free to give and receive is more active. This post does not, perhaps, address your desire specifically, but the heart of it, the surrender to a wholeness increasingly felt as a love song, certainly is currently making me feel more balanced and whole.

Blessings for your fulfillment.

PS I recently saw a video of Michael Winn doing “Tai Chi for Enlightenment”. The whole thing looked and felt like lovemaking with life to me.

[Author]

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