Rodney J Owen
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The Dao of Solstice

12/16/2018

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As of the date of this writing, the Winter Solstice is less than a week away.  Many internal and spiritual practices acknowledge this day.  We like to recognize it as a time to pause and acknowledge the perennial change of existence, even in the midst of the apparent frozen stillness of Winter.  The Winter Solstice is a good time to practice deep Qigong and/or extended meditation; to take the time and feel the energy flowing within the stillness of Wuji; to experience Yang energy rising from the frozen Earth, and Yin settling from Heaven, our bodies connecting the two, meditating Nature's process.

I hesitate anymore to recommend specific practices for specific days of the calendar, as everyone is on a different path and it's all Qigong anyway.  The Solstice and Equinox days are good times for practices that emphasize the Five Elements and/or Heaven and Earth.  It is beneficial to feel the different energies within the body and in the surrounding environment.  The rationale and purpose behind it is the same with all Qigong practices, to connect with the Dao; to acknowledge the Taiji of the Universe and the Wuji that underlies it all.

In the final analysis it's all made up anyway: time, Qigong, meditation, all of it.  But we exist within this flux of energy that has discernible  patterns and similar repeating experiences.  So we recognize it, name it, play with it, use it to direct our attention back to that which is before flux, beyond form and pattern.  In the end that is the Human experience anyway.  We might as well experience it at as high a level as possible.
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Word 12-9-18

12/9/2018

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"This aliveness I have learned to call "me" is a mystery without final answers, so following others who offer such answers can lead only to a deepening of the hypnotic trance of transcendence--the fantasy of gaining and obtaining. There is no transcendence. This is it. And THIS is melting away like the morning dew."
Robert Saltzman

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Words of Wisdom 12/4/18

12/4/2018

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"More and more, I come to see that enlightenment is an illusion. Part of the same matrix that keeps us believing in separation. Upheld by millennia of religion and spiritual tradition. Upheld by the self that wants to escape the existential agony of having incarnated as form. As if there is another world that cradles us in endless bliss … if only we attained enlightenment.

More and more, I come to know that there are openings, unfoldments and awakenings. And that we can wake up once and for all out of the dream of separation. But none of this makes us any more perfect, nor does it make our lives perfect. There’s no reward. We still have to meet the bittersweet human experience. We still have to meet the ever-changing landscape of our lives. We still have to learn and grow, find ways to survive and thrive in a world hell-bent on dividing us. We still have to meet loss and pain and the unanswerable question of why the world seems so crazy.

We wake up and see clearly the mechanism of reactivity, the sticky pull of “poor me”, the torment of thoughts amidst the storm, the addictive seeking of something more to resolve this discomfort. We wake up and are given the power to stop giving our allegiance to all this. Instead we rest right here, where we are. It’s not special or elevated, but simply intimate. It’s not denying the world of form as an illusion. Nor clinging to the world of formlessness as the only truth. It’s the truth of seeing clearly, just this. This most intimate experience with what is. No frills, no acrobatics. Just this.

Lifetimes of seeking can now come to an end. Millennia of lies can come tumbling down. You step out of the matrix. And see that everything your mind believes is a veil that clouds true freedom. And even freedom is a myth. There is no freedom from existence. You are here. Until you are not." 
​Amoda Maa



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