Taoism and disappearing Jedi

I had an interesting experience today in meditation. I had just finished some yogic breathing exercises and decided to practice Zen no mind Munin (sometimes called Mushin) anyway, I was breathing in time to my heart beat and my breath actually became visible to me in the form of a pulsing light. It was at the center of my visual field and a little upwards (corresponding to the third eye/spiritual eye)...gradually it became more and more brilliant. It began to take on a purple and then a bluish color. It became more and more powerful...it started to fill my whole visual field! I got distracted and lost the meditation, so I don't know where it was going.

Now some of you might be saying oh big deal, but I never really am able to visualize all the well. If I'm told to imagine something I'll conceptualize it in my mind, but I won't *see* it. I won't visualize it...this time it was totally different I could see the color blue like it was plain as the sky. What's even more interesting is that this meditation is performed with the eyes closed...and I wasn't trying to visualize anything.

Any thoughts as to what this was?

 

I will definately read more on this theory. But remember that Lucas stated his idea behind the "FORCE" came from a multitude of religions and beliefs. Taoism may be the basic of these beliefs that drew the most attention and strongest parrallel to what Lucas thought the "FORCE" would be.

I will read more upon this....

Good thread MEX, are you sure you were not a Jedi Master in a former life?

 

Wylding, if your eyes were closed during this meditation it may have been a message from the body, i.e. the organs. As you may know, the according to the five elements theory each organ is associated with a specific color; e.g. blue relates to the kidneys, purple to the endocrine glands in the brain. The theory suggests that these colors appear when the Chi is working on old problem areas. Have you had any trouble with the kidneys (or bladder) in the past? It might also have something to do with the emotions associated with the specific organ. In any case, this blue color might have been a message from the kidney shen. I've been seeing this screaming purple quite frequently, especially when practising in a large group and with our teacher. Lately, green has become the color of the day.

One question of my original post has been answered now. I've been to a weekend seminar with Mantak Chia two weeks ago, and he definately IS a Star Wars fan. He's really incredibly humourous, we nearly died laughing in there. And we did some great practice, he passed a lot of Chi to us. Apart from citing Star Wars he taught us a lot about scientific discoveries in relation to Taoist concepts, e.g. the "gut's brain" as related to the DanTien, and a lot of experiments related to Chi. He's scheduled to visit the US in June, so if you're interested in these subjects and enjoy a good weekend I suggest you check him out (one qualification: prudes are advised to stay at home).

 

I think your thinking of the wrong color of blue, this was more of a cobalt blue.

 

Hmmm... your experiance was interesting, Master. I meditate on occasions when life has me stressed enough for me to want to pull my hair out. I'm not much of a spiritualist, I don't know that much about Taoism, but I studied about it in Socials and found myself smiling over it when I realized how close this philosophy was to Star Wars. Most people relate to the Force (in SW) as in the God of Christianity but since I've got no real religious afilliations, except for maybe Buddhasim ( see, can't even spell it right!) since my parents are both Buddhists. I kind of view the Force on par with Taoism's chi and I've always thought that GL's idea of having good in every evil being and bad in every good being being closely related to Taoism' Yin-Yan, (sp?) Most people seem to berate me over my views of relating Star Wars to eastern philosophies, after all, May the Force be with you is closely related to the Christian saying, May the Lord be with you. Maybe that was a coincedence, but I'm not the type to make religious assumptions.

 

Hello Jade Angel, welcome to this thread. As to your post, it's great you saw the connection between StarWars and Taoism the first time you encountered Taoism. However, I've got to comment on one thing, if you don't mind: The Taoists are very explicit that Yin and Yang are NOT associated with bad and good. It's more like the two sides of a coin, or the two poles of a magnet: They are different, but at the same time they cannot exist independent of each other. There's no value judgement assigned as to which one of them is "better" or "worse".

Wylding, what do you mean by "the wrong color"? As far as I know there isn't a specific quality of the color blue as relating to the kidneys? Or am I wrong?

 

Hi JM, just looked it up at Amazon, seems very interesting indeed! Also check the work of Deepak Chopra, esp. "Science And Soul: The Survival of Consciousness After Death" on this!

 

Thats interesting. I've always compared the Force to religions of the Eastern world and Christianity. As a kind mediative mix between the two.

 

Well, after a long time searching I have to apologize to you TEROSWARRIOR. I found a book written by Yogi Ramacharaka entitled Mystic Christianity.

In it he explains some very interesting things that I had never before entertained about Christianity. Among them was the same idea that you expressed earlier TEROSWARRIOR, that Christ had traveled to the east and studied there. However, I would still stay away from EC Prophet if I were you. I hope that you read this apology though...

Mex, according to my Jujitsu teacher what was/is happening to me is a very specific spiritual "awakening" if you will. It has nothing to do with the kidney or bladder. I think that you are probably right about the color, but this was definetly a little bit different. Merkurian hit it on the head the first time. What it amounts to is my spiritual eye or third eye opening up a bit. I don't think it's open all the way (in fact I know it isn't), but I think I have made some progress.

Wow, enough about me, does anyone else care to share any interesting experiences from their meditations or spiritual walk?

 

Hello Wylding, nice to see you again. As to your meditation experience, did your teacher explain to you the reason you saw blue and not any different color? This is what I would be interested in; I completely agree that seeing colors has to be due to the (partial) opening of the Third Eye, but I think that there must be a reason for the specific color one sees. By now I've been through purple, green, yellow, red and white, and I really would like to know what this is trying to tell me. I asked Gabrielle Krebbers (a Healing Tao senior instructor) on this at a recent retreat and she also thought it's very likely that it has something to do with the colors associated with the organs or chakras, perhaps telling something about emotional states connected with them. I'll definately keep trying learn about this, maybe I'll e-mail Master Chia when he's back to Thailand. If you find out something, please let me know.

 

Hi Mex, it's good to see you again too

Yeah, my teacher did mention that the colors have a spiritual significance. He said that they represent what source of power you are tapping into. Those colors that you want to promote are purple, blue, gold, and white. These colors are associated with aligning yourself with God. Whereas, red, green, yellow, and of course black (I have seen this and it is blacker than the black of your closed eyelids) are colors associated with aligning yourself with the forces of darkness.

He also mentioned that your mood can have quite a bit of an impact as well. His advice was that you should be calm and at peace when you meditate. One should not foster or harbor any negative emotions when one meditates, because you can do damage to yourself and to others. It sounds quite a bit like what we've heard of all our lives from the Jedi Masters in SW. Emotions/feelings like love, peace, joy happiness, contentment, confidence, courage, etc. are to be promoted and cultivated during a meditation (that's why in our system we have an emphasis on prayer and reading the bible before we meditate)...

He also mentioned that one should never meditate while angry, jealous, depressed, hateful, etc. You are after all training your mind and it should be controlled. Christ once said that if you have thought it you have done it. It is my belief that he was giving specific advice not only for general living, but also to those of us who have decided to cultivate our lives spiritually.

Anyway, I'm off track. All in all he said that all of this goes into what color you are seeing. He didn't have much to say regarding the different chakras or energy meridians and he has been meditating much longer than I have.

Of course this may not fit into your belief system, as these are quite specific explanations, but you asked and that's what he said.

I hope some of that was helpful...

 

thx, Wylding, for your detailed answer, which was very interesting for me. Well, it seems our two meditation systems are very different indeed! In fact, much of what you mentioned doesn't quite "fit" into the taoist system and some things are outright contradictory to what I've been taught. Interesting indeed! In any case, I'll e-mail Master Chia on this colors issue, I'm very curious on the answer!
As to the negative emotions issue, what might be interesting for you is that in our recent retreat I've learnt a meditation practice that involves the "recycling" and transformation of negative emotions into pure energy. Essentially it amounts to identifying and isolating the negative emotion one harbours, balancing them through the five elements control cycle and transforming them into neutral chi. This neutral energy is then strenghtened through the fostering of positive emotions/virtues and it is used to clean up some major energy paths. This meditation may be practiced (and it's actually recommended to do so) when negative emotions are experienced.
Edit: for more details, if you're interested, please refer to http://www.universal-tao.com/tao/course_ht_ii.html (Fusion I to III)
cu, Mex

 

I'd be interrested to hear what he has to say...

 

Did you ever get to speak with him Mex?

 

It's amazing that this thread is on the front page today. In my Eastern religions class, we were asked to apply the Tao to someone's life and analyze it.

I don't have much to offer in the way of discussion, but I did my paper on Darth Vader.

P.S.: I noticed Mex mention Zukav's The Dancing Wu Li Masters-- I just bought this book, but I've yet to read it.

 

Wylding, not yet. He's still on tour in Spain, and will be back in Thailand by Nov. 20th. I'll do the e-mail then.

 

Ok, thanks Mex.

Merkurian I too think it's excellent that this thread is still around. I wish more people would read it and respond. IMHO, this is really what SW is all about.

 

Hey Everybody,
I just got through reading this whole topic and am quite interested but don't know where to start. I don't practice any religion but somewhere in my subconscious,(partialy because of Star Wars)I do believe in something more out there and would like to start reading about Tao. So... can you guys point me in the direction of a good basic book or web site. Thanks in advance.

KahRuhl

 

Hi KahRuhl, for links and literature see my post 12/21/2000 11:07am

 

Wylding, I've got Master Chia's answer now on the color question. Here's what he wrote me: "The colours can be from the energy center that you are opened to. The violet is more in the crown center and green is more in the throat center."

This would amount to the colors being associated with the chakras, in the case of blue it would be associated with the third eye chakra (pituitary gland, in western medicine terms).

 

Oddly enough that fits! When I meditate I place my conscious awareness at the center of my brow at the point of the third eye. Evidently I am activating it.

Interestingly enough since I've done this, I've had a lot more intuitive knowledge come to me. For example yesterday in lab I was taking a test on the lab deck and sitting across from me was the lab assistant proctering (sp?) the exam and grading our 10 page unknown reports at the same time. I'm in the middle of a question on reverse transcriptase when I become aware somehow that she is grading my paper. I lift my head from reading and say, "how I am a doing on the paper?" She said something like, "very good" and went back to correcting. She then realizes what has just happened and interrupts me from the test and waves her hand over a stack of papers and asks, "wait a minute, how did you know I was grading your report?" I didn't really know how to answer the question and simply said, "I just had a feeling."

 

Great experience Wylding! Keep training this intuition (right hemispere thinking, as some have termed it)! btw, I've attended a weekend workshop "aura reading" lately. It takes practise, but it works.

Chia's answer also fits with our system of meditation. Each time we meditate, we're doing the "microcosmic orbit", i.e. we guide energy starting at the navel, running down the front of the body and up the back, down the front again to the point of origin, thereby affecting all seven centres of energy. So this would explain why I see different colours at different times. It seems I succeed in opening different energy centers one day or another.

Anyway. I think we should try and keep this thread active until Ep II hits the screen. Very likely more interesting things to discuss here will appear.