Late night, early morning, or mid-day drunk posts

Oh, and I asked a Latin friend if there was a culturally correct strategy for dealing with a person in a group who is disruptive, and he said "ignore them, or have a drink, or both". (ETA: this refers back to Church committees, btw, though it is widely applicable in life).

"Two things... 1st, anyone that ends their post with "Thoughts?" needs to pay Dan Ingram a royalty..."

" ...like how I'll naturally regret my reply tomorrow"

Shargrol, maybe you could start a 'thing' of ending your posts, "Second thoughts?"

(just inexcusably putting two and two together...)

Kate Gowen wrote: "Two things... 1st, anyone that ends their post with "Thoughts?" needs to pay Dan Ingram a royalty..."

" ...like how I'll naturally regret my reply tomorrow"

Shargrol, maybe you could start a 'thing' of ending your posts, "Second thoughts?"

(just inexcusably putting two and two together...)

Brilliant. Stuff I write seems to fall into several camps: mostly slightly embarrassing, not sure why exactly; often the surprising resolution of something I wasn't even aware was working itself out, so that once the "submit" button is hit the subject no longer seems interesting at all; occasionally mystifying, as in 'I wrote that??? really? that's not bad!'

Oh, this was a 3 am ramble that was amusing at the time but had lost its punch by morning. Nonetheless, it was a reworking of the 10 oxherding pictures to better express the typical spiritual journey of your average bumbling Western eclectic spiritual seeker. Edits welcome. I'm not that clever:

1. There's no such thing as ox herding, you idiot.
2. OMG this ox herding school I'm going to is amazing, you get a diploma in two years and it's free! The founder is a leading expert in ox herding. Employment opportunities are rife. It's totally going to change my life.
3. These classes are really hard. I don't like ox herding.
4. These classes are incredible. Ox herding is the best.
5. (repeat 3 & 4 for a few years)
6. OMG I graduated! This is so amazing. Oxen rule. Herding rules. Let me show you how it's done.
7. My oxen aren't herding like they should. What am I doing wrong?
8. I think I've lost my herd. Why did I ever want to be an ox herder anyway. What does it even mean?
9. Mommeeeeeee?
10. Oh. Hi.

Q: Does an ox have Buddha nature?
A: Moo!

Kate Gowen wrote: "Two things... 1st, anyone that ends their post with "Thoughts?" needs to pay Dan Ingram a royalty..."

" ...like how I'll naturally regret my reply tomorrow"

Shargrol, maybe you could start a 'thing' of ending your posts, "Second thoughts?"

(just inexcusably putting two and two together...)

.

Kate Gowen wrote: "Two things... 1st, anyone that ends their post with "Thoughts?" needs to pay Dan Ingram a royalty..."

" ...like how I'll naturally regret my reply tomorrow"

Shargrol, maybe you could start a 'thing' of ending your posts, "Second thoughts?"

(just inexcusably putting two and two together...)

Just for the record, I wasn't drunk on alcohol last night, but I did have some really good BBQ, which is almost the same thing.

I always get confused, are we supposed to prefer non-preference?

And while I'm at it, doing penance for other people is... oops moment of non-drunkness so I can't complete that thought.

Hmm... cashews.

[quote="shargrol" post=96229And while I'm at it, doing penance for other people is... .[/quote]

Drunk again:

... a method, not a reality.

One glass of wine and I wanted to add to the Sex question:

I'm also curious, does post-third path sex with a pumpkin count?

I knew I was a crusty old man after I had sex with a pumpkin pie... but I brushed them off.

(That first reference was obscure, but for the betterment of humanity, I'll explain:)

Ona Kiser wrote: Oh, this was a 3 am ramble that was amusing at the time but had lost its punch by morning. Nonetheless, it was a reworking of the 10 oxherding pictures to better express the typical spiritual journey of your average bumbling Western eclectic spiritual seeker. Edits welcome. I'm not that clever:

1. There's no such thing as ox herding, you idiot.
2. OMG this ox herding school I'm going to is amazing, you get a diploma in two years and it's free! The founder is a leading expert in ox herding. Employment opportunities are rife. It's totally going to change my life.
3. These classes are really hard. I don't like ox herding.
4. These classes are incredible. Ox herding is the best.
5. (repeat 3 & 4 for a few years)
6. OMG I graduated! This is so amazing. Oxen rule. Herding rules. Let me show you how it's done.
7. My oxen aren't herding like they should. What am I doing wrong?
8. I think I've lost my herd. Why did I ever want to be an ox herder anyway. What does it even mean?
9. Mommeeeeeee?
10. Oh. Hi.

Ona, this is belated, but I'm finding this really funny right now.

I kinda thought you were referring to Portnoy's Complaint, although the desired object in that case was a piece of liver.

shargrol wrote: I'm also curious, does post-third path sex with a pumpkin count?

Of gourds it does....but only if you are a vegesexual.
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=vegesexual

I am not drunk, but it's early morning. In light of the ever-recurring "how can I have Path X and still have experiences/symptoms/desires/events said to go away by Path X?" questions. Why is the answer always "Because thousands of highly trained monks/practitioners over hundreds of years are all wrong, and I, who just had this experience last week and have no sangha or teacher, am right." I would just assume, at least once I was over being a self-involved yogi who thinks she/he knows everything, that the old, time-tested long-standing tradition full of very experienced practitioners had way better data, and my ideas were clearly confused and I need to wait another couple decades before making grand proclamations as if I know anything. But noooooooooooo.

And, of course, aging decades is a nearly universal way to reduce sex drive, regardless of one's spiritual practice.

Pianists in training practice up to eight hours a day.

As my music teacher points out if you don't love practicing itself there's no point in learning to play. You can't suffer miserably hating practice hoping if you do it for a couple year's you will be done and can quit practicing and just tour the world being fabulous. The most brilliant musicians play (practice!) hours a day. They love to play. They love the music.

shargrol wrote: And, of course, aging decades is a nearly universal way to reduce sex drive, regardless of one's spiritual practice.

I know a number of people, not all of them priests or nuns, who practice strict chastity as part of their spiritual practice (and with whom I've had some conversation about it, otherwise how would I know?). Off the top of my head all of them are under 50, some under 40. They say the difficulty is not much with the practice itself, which is a bit like fasting from food: one gets used to not being so disturbed or afraid of certain sets of sensations in the body which were previously taken as a signal to immediately go do something, but instead just allows those sensations to be. And in time one becomes comfortable with them, as one can become comfortable being hungry and they can be largely ignored and don't arise as often. The greatest difficulty the lay people have is with the torrent of criticism showered upon them by any friends or colleagues who find out. A couple said that when family or friends found out they acted very offended. And one becomes aware of how much of popular culture is focused pretty much on sex, shopping, drinking and so forth, if one wasn't already aware of that.

It's like that with a lot of moral stuff, I think.

If you give up coffee, TV, alcohol, types of food, types of clothing (or add on new types of clothing), stop swearing, stop driving, give up modern conviences like electricity or electrical motors, and certainly if you give up association, touching, or caressing other bodies of whatever gender, sexual orientation, etc etc. ... The folks that haven't elected to make those same decisions will often be critical. Humans have this strange habit of assuming that if someone else makes a lifestyle choice, then it somehow reflects on them, too.

But of course that often does happen. "Moral" people become convinced of a reality to their symbolic moral choices and are supercillious, casting moral judgement overtones upon others who have not made the same choice.

Humans. <sigh>

I think in the general discourse sexual stuff (and many religious practices in general) become something that is about morality or lifestyle choices, and that's pretty much where the discourse stays in the public eye. That's taking the discourse to the table set out by modern secular society. It's not always seen that way. For people I know who have deep Christian lives these aren't "moral" choices for their own sakes or for the sake of political/social identity, but lived faith, which is activity, behavior, etc which arises by grace (not-self) as a fruit of practice, as an expression of and embodiment of a divinized life. It's not considered optional or a political statement. It's part of a sacred intimacy with God, something holy. That sacred behaviors/activities etc often (always?) involve renouncing much of that which is considered ideal by "the world" is the norm. Asceticism has been part of Christian practice since year 1, and before, really, if you take into account the heavy influence of the pre-Christian desert mystics. That people are always looking to modify, modernize, mellow-down, simplify or shortcut on practice is also normal. I'm guessing the constant tension and interplay between those "poles" is probably a natural part of the organic quality of lived faith through the generations. It seems to be a natural part of the unfolding of individual people's spiritual lives in any case.

(Ascetic practices also are purificatory, even if that is not as complexly articulated in Christianity as it is in say qi gong.)

Yes, renunciation/asceticism is or can be both functional (practical) and traditional.

To the extent something can't be described in practical terms, I think it falls into the classic "these things are beyond questioning within our system" domain. Pretty much every tradition has those.

(edit, I hope this conversation is going okay on your side. I'm interested in how my thinking/articulation is being shaped by it. I know these topics can be contentious and I don't want that to happen.)