oh...just me: December 2007 Archives

The Intuitive Acupuncturist firmly pressed all five of her fingers around my tan t'ien: "You've got to feel that you're connected, because you are!"

Tan t'ien: "refers specifically to the physical center of gravity located in the abdomen three finger widths below and two finger widths behind the navel." Interestingly, the IA also mentioned the ming men, the location in the small of the back facing the tan t'ien. The ming men

"stands for 'the door of life'. Kai Ming Men means open the life door to stay alive. Ming Men as an acupuncture pressure point is located on your spine where is the most concave spot. To open Ming Men refers to convex “the small of the back” and make it bow out."

Posture is important, with awareness of location within the body: "Ming Men is simply an area where, due to channel confluences, a person may be strengthened or weakened."

I want to make a contiguous leap, now, between individual centering and group centering. Just as a person needs to balance around their own center of gravity, so do groups. Just as persons need to determine with their own consciousness how to relax into their purpose, groups have to establish some consensual acceptance concerning collective mission and task. I do believe we can do it!

Today, my online life has taken me along this path:

1) Wanokip (facebook) posted a story on shopdropping, about which I blogged for future students (homework!): "even radical ideology gets commercialized"

2) after categorizing, I followed the tags to see what others' (strangers) have been up to and found this: “‘Definition of God’ - and it still leaves us with the job of living with each other through the unity of mystery”

3) which sent me back to facebook to comment to another friend who has listed his religion as "pseudopagain pantheist" - I've been trying to wrap my mind around the difference between panentheism and pantheism. According to wikipedia: "A panentheistic belief system is one which posits that the one God interpenetrates every part of nature, and timelessly extends beyond as well. Panentheism is distinguished from pantheism, which holds that God is synonymous with the material universe." Hmmm.

4) then, I returned to the "job of living together" post with all those cool quotes and read the comment after, which led me to: shoreless oceans of incorruptible wealth

5) which, I have to say, is overly religious for me yet still rich with the kind of sentiments I hold, to wit, the final line of a poem:

The moon matters, too. :-)

Today is a full moon (99%). "Campus Lady" (whoever she is) says,

"...the Moon, Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Pluto will align into the shape of a Pentagram. This is an auspicious time. The Sun is arriving at the same time Pluto makes his grand alignment with the Galactic Center. Jupiter only visits this area every 12 years. And Pluto only shows up every 250 years, and he does not stay long This alignment is the beginning of a 26,000 cycle. Then you add the Full Moon. This alignment only happens every 6,500 years."

She exaggerates somewhat - probably using a bit of regression to assume simultaneity.

The coincidence of a full moon and winter solstice is not so rare - on average once every 29 years. The last perfect match was in 1999; the next one will be in 2010 - and then there will not be another one until 2094!

A quarter of a century behind the curve, but right on time for me: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. (Also online at h2g2.com)

"Ah," said Arther. "This is obviously some strange usage of the word safe that I wasn't previously aware of" (1979, republished 2005, Del Rey, p. 49).

Zaphod says quietly:

"I only know as much about myself as my mind can make out under its current conditions." (p. 144)

Don't Panic!

"Perhaps I'm old and tired," [Slartibartfast continues], "but I always think that the chances of finding out what really is going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say hang the sense of it and just keep yourself occupied . . . . What does it matter? . . . I'd far rather be happy than right."

"And are you?" [asks Dentarthurdent].

"No, that's where it all falls down, of course" (p. 193).