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Attentiveness
I recently came to a practitioner who is licensed in accupuncture. He expressed tao beliefs and i knew this from books i had read and
i recently started macrobiotic cooking for health reasons. At my first
appointment he started making statements about me and suggesting
changes in the way i view life based on his statements. I basically
would like some input from someone familiar with tao and accupuncture.
He seemed interested in "my energy" and asked me questions about
body fluids. Is it possible for someone practicing accupuncture to take
or manipulate your enery for their advantage. He also made references
to tantra. Can you give input/
i recently started macrobiotic cooking for health reasons. At my first
appointment he started making statements about me and suggesting
changes in the way i view life based on his statements. I basically
would like some input from someone familiar with tao and accupuncture.
He seemed interested in "my energy" and asked me questions about
body fluids. Is it possible for someone practicing accupuncture to take
or manipulate your enery for their advantage. He also made references
to tantra. Can you give input/
Comments
When dealing with teenagers I try to get them in the NOW. In others words, if we are studing Algebra or analyzing Hamlet in an English class be there, be Algebra, be Hamlet and keep focused. A lot of students for whatever reason have a very difficult time to stay focused. I am not including the ADD & ADHD students etc.
Has anyone tried utilizing this Noble Truth Attentiveness with teenagers? I have managed to reach a couple of the students with this approach. The A & B students apparently do not have this problem. I am a volunteer math & physics tutor and sub.
What do you think?
Allandnone has his hands full with this one. The cheetah example sheds light on the problem he poses with the teenagers and Hamlet or algebra, etc. To the kids who lack attentiveness to Hamlet and algebra are like the cheetah and ants crawling past. The ants don't spark any interest in the cheetah; an ant holds no 'life meaning' for the cheetah, so passes by un-noticed, just as algebra or Hamlet may pass by a teenager (or me) un-noticed.
So, actually, we are all 'teenagers'. We fade out our attentiveness when faced with externals than hold no interest for us. So the question is, how do you make yourself become interested in everything / in every moment?... let alone how do you spark interest in another person in something in which they have little or no interest?
If a person carefully and honestly scans their own life, they will notice the myriad 'things' in which they have little, less or no interest and thus which hold little, less or no 'life meaning' for them.
This is where the hypocrisy of the educational / cultural paradigm are most obvious. Those who are the 'teachers' are teaching that in which they are most interested, or which hold some 'life meaning' for them... that is, if they are worth a damn as teachers. But, then we tend to amp-up the importance of our own areas of meaning and discount and ignore what doesn't interest us... just like the cheetah. It is naturally so.
The problem is not that we lack attentiveness or the prerequisite interest in this 'thing' or that. The problem is that we have forgotten that we are truly animals, like the cheetah. We've become lost in mythical beliefs about who and what we are, and then bemoan the fact that we are not living up to these ideals. How often have we heard, "don't be an animal". A wiser course might be to accept the fact that we are animals like the rest, have no more 'free will' than the rest, and should therefor approach life [chref=15]tentatively, as if fording a river in winter,[/chref].
Younger people who have not yet been fully convinced (brain washed) of the validity of the cultural paradigm have a hard time paying attention to its agenda. They are naturally suspicious of all the cultural 'salesmen' out there who clamor for their allegiance and deplore their irresponsibility. They can intuitively sense the 'bull----'. What the youngsters actually need is a sense of tribal belonging, from birth onward. As our culture becomes more mobile and fragmented, more youth will be left stranded without this sense of social belonging.
Social belong is what it is all about. All the myths, traditions, educations... words are nothing more than the means to provide this sense of tribal belonging which civilization has diluted. Since the birth of agriculture increasingly larger masses of people have been seeking some level of mutual identity and acceptance... love. Alas, it is so much easier to notice a problem than to find a solution... especially this problem which has been in the making for millennia. So, good luck Allandnone. While I have no solution, per se, I do think that realizing the full depth of the situation can occasionally help us find a way.
Geez, what a tirade! I have too much time on my hands this morning. Come to think of it, that is the major cause of the 'human problem'. Ever since agriculture began, food could be obtained (grown) by part of the population which allowed others more time for specialization: doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, merchants, soldiers, kings, priests, beggars and thieves. Thus, the Taoist suggestion, [chref=80]bring it about that the people will return to the use of the knotted rope.[/chref] ... I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that, though.
If you have teachers like myself that are physical-emotional, we are pretty boring for emotional-physical kids. I am the type when you asked me what time it is I have to tell you how the watch works (ha ha). So as the teacher or tutor, it is up to me to get in their comfort zone, not for them to get in my comfort zone. That is why I like one to one tutoring, because after I determine their personality dynamic, I tutor the subject so the kids can relate to it, of course they can still hate the subject, but they will feel safe with the teacher. The emotional-physical child especially is more interested in "Does the teacher like me, and do I feel safe in terms of making mistakes etc." Sorry if I am using terminology you may not be familar with. If you are interested in the subject go to humandynamics.com I am trying my best to not tell you how the watch works!
Cheers
Humanity of the 20th century onward is 'in' way over its head. The naked ape has more information and more sophisticated tools, but not any more sense that it had 100,000 years ago. This is not a problem per se; the difficulty lies in the fact that we don't [chref=71]know[/chref] we are 'dumb as dirt'. If we at least had a little more humility, as a species, we might [chref=16]innovate [/chref] more cautiously, and generally be more [chref=15]tentative[/chref] before we act.
There, that's my two cents. It always feels good to blow off a little steam. Now, off to my own folly...
Oh, I just found another cent or two...
Overall, institutional education is based on a skewed view of 'intelligence' and natural worth. Instead of working to adapt education to a kid's unique characteristics, society strives to 'brain wash' them into conforming to the paradigm of the era. Our goal has long been to [chref=8]contend[/chref] and conquer nature, not to [chref=65]conform[/chref] to it.
Up until the last half of the 20th century schools used to swat restless kids on the butt to keep them in line, let their parents discipline them, expel them, or all three. Of course there were abuses, as you'd expect from a world at odds with a more [chref=23]natural [/chref] approach to life.
Kids with the most physically and emotionally active natures don't fit civilization's demand for a physically passive / intellectually engaged setting - school. So now we drug them instead of beat them to control them. We mess with their natural biochemical maturation process instead of just intimidating them. Is this progress or just rearranging the 'furniture' of our paradigm so that we can keep our comfortable materialistic lifestyle running smoothly?
Ah, if only we actually had free will we could,...Mmmm.... well, lots of things come to mind, but my 'cents' is in danger of turning into nonsense.