soalbundy

It isn't that easy, an epiphany doesn't come from reading a few books, I have been engaging with the 'hard problem' of brain and consciousness (how can something physical like the brain produce something non physical like the mind.....it can't) for almost thirty years. It starts with the feeling that something isn't quiet right. spiritual teachers often recommend reading Advaita Vedanta, a corner stone of the worlds oldest religion, Hinduism, I consider that too difficult to begin with. I would recommend watching some YouTube programs from the cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman about the illusion of reality and the end of spacetime as a basis for reality and go from there. An interesting documentary on YouTube is, 'is consciousness primary' by metaRising, they produce some good documentaries on the subject. Tony Parsons (YouTube) has some very radical views which are difficult to grasp for a beginner, he has written several books, his first is quite short, 'The open secret' which he wrote after having a spontaneous awakening while walking through a park in London where he realized that not only did he not exist but had never done so and for a few seconds he was the trees, the grass, the dogs etc. here my favorite excerpt:- "There is no me or you, no seeker, no enlightenment, no disciple and no guru. There is no better or worse, no path or purpose, and nothing that has to be achieved. All appearance is source. All that apparently manifests in the hypnotic dream of separation – the world, the life story, the search for home, is one appearing as two, the nothing appearing as everything, the absolute appearing as the particular. There is no separate intelligence weaving a destiny and no choice functioning at any level. Nothing is happening but this, as it is, invites the apparent seeker to rediscover that which is . . . the abiding, uncaused, unchanging, impersonal silence from which unconditional love overflows and celebrates. It is the wonderful mystery." At first I rejected it, only much later I came to see the truth in it, anyway, good luck.

No pain. My mental attitude towards life and death has changed enormously for the better over the years by privately studying the philosophy behind Buddhism and Hinduism and listening to physicists on YouTube such as Donald Hoffman and Thomas Campbell. I now appreciate that consciousness is the primary factor in the cosmos and that spacetime is just an interface for the manifestations of consciousness, after that comes the realization that all occurrences happen in the space of me but not to or for me. Basically we are the absolute but there is no you or me.......not everyone's cup of tea but it works for me.

Can't agree, at 75 I have never felt better.

Listening to his watch ticking.

What wall? it looks as if bits of the wall has collapsed and most of it is outside, it is most peculiar, it looks rather as if something has hit the wall in various places or an explosion has occurred and the wall has suffered Schrapnell damage.

Thailand has finally smelt the coffee, money is short everywhere throughout the world, average families are in a world of pain, no thoughts on exotic holidays.

To quote Mark Twain again, "If elections changed anything they wouldn't be allowed". The establishment doesn't take a beating lying down. Wongsuwan is probably the worst possible choice for Thailand but, like civil unrest, that wont faze the establishment as long as the machinery of corruption remains in their hands. There is hope that the civil servants, foot soldiers and other political parties will regard this attempt as too brazen even for Thai politics but scum has the propensity to swim to the top of dirty water.

It's more to do with high unemployment in China off late. Western firms are leaving China in droves, people with university degrees working as janitors, the mortgage debacle hasn't been resolved and according to one article on Youtube China has misrepresented its GDP to the tune of 16 trillion Dollars, the Chinese are not happy campers. I doubt they will get a million to come here.

So reality

and the national debt along with inflation

The UK probably wants cheap fruit for their food banks, the only organization on the island that is expanding.

Pita didn't get a majority of the electorate, his party had the most votes out of all the parties contesting which is why his government would be a coalition of 8 parties I believe, a recipe for disaster. It was pretty obvious that the Senate would blackball him as he was too radical in their opinion, he should have kept quiet about some of his policies. Opening up the alcohol market was especially dangerous, there are a couple of very big players who would be against this, one of them is very influential.

The Thai lawyer was jealous, he was ripping off the thief for far less which was (forgive the word) legal but he is being egotistical, the immigration office has many more mouths to feed.

So now they are low paid comedians, giggle while you scam.

This can negatively effect your pension (pension pot transfer)

It's the thought of having to go back that does it, that would push my buttons. whatever this going to cost him dearly.

Or boyfriend, that's a short haired flat chested woman by the looks of the photo.

I see they aren't protesting their innocence, are they hoping to get off on a technicality? Why are they still in uniform, shouldn't they be suspended pending investigation?

sounds a little desperate.

plenty in Isaan

Beats fried scorpion or chicken fetus.

To sell a bag for that amount is a crime but apparently there are enough idiots about who will buy such things, a little ego trip for madam.

There is begging and there is begging. This reminded me of an instance in Germany many years ago when Marks and not Euros were in circulation. Early one Sunday morning in Munich I walked past an elderly German man sitting on the pavement, as I passed him he said softly, "Have you a spare 10 marks", I spun round in surprise, "What happened to, have you a spare Mark"? I asked. He looked up grinning, "That mein Herr is for Amateures, if you are going to give then give to a professional, we have inflation, get used to it". His cheek fascinated me and I drew closer and noticed he had taken off his shoes and placed them in front of him each with a sentence written on the pavement, the left shoe was asking the right one, 'what's the matter are you tired', the right one replied, 'exhausted, I'm full of holes, I cant keep up with you', laughing I put 5 marks in his cup, he looked up at me with feigned disappointment, "That's deflation, not inflation", "You should be in marketing" I said and walked off grinning for the next 100 meters, money well spent.

He is now a rich wally due to his antics but he does have a face you would never tire of punching.

Thais don't seem to like certifying anything official. In the early days I went to the local police station in the nearby market town to get the captain to sign it, he hummed and hahed and checked my passport numerous times before telephoning the puh yai baan in my village to come and speak to him, what followed was quite astounding, the captain gave him an interrogation, what was my character like, had I ever caused trouble in the village, did I attend Buddhist services in the temple (he lied for me on that one), had I a drink problem etc. afterwards he reluctantly signed it. The puh yai apologized to me but I laughed it off. The puh yai took me to the council offices in the village (my village is a Tetsabaan) and introduced me to the mayor and it was agreed he would certify everything for me in future which was a relief as I had 3 life certificates a year, a UK pension, a German state pension and a BMW pension. Since then I have had no problems and have been serviced by 3 subsequent mayors, each informing the next mayor of my needs.