Subs feel present, but very much in the background right now.
Turned on the dehumidifier last night before going to bed. Thing gets pretty hot.
As a result, the room became hotter and drier over the course of the night as I slept. So I woke up at 6:40 or so without the aid of an alarm.
Meditated from 6:45 to 7:45. But paid for the early waking later in the day, after lunch, with a powerful wave of tiredness.
I’ll keep this update brief.
This Friday will be the last day of my first Play Period with just my 2-custom stack. Two Standard ZPv2 customs.
I’ll take a 5-day processing phase, and then I’ll start up exposures again on Thursday 21 September. That’s the plan, anyway.
This! I got some sort of internal trigger reading this.
Is this (one of) the difference(s) between daoyin and qigong? Am I thinking of the right thing? 
As with many of these things (i.e., ‘ancient arts’ and’ mystical teachings’), there’s some slippery politics around how the history gets constructed and portrayed.
Qigong books frequently talk about how every system and every practice is “thousands of years old”. And there’s some degree of truth to it.
But when it comes at least to the specific term “qigong”, that’s a modern creation. Less than a hundred years old. Older practices did exist with names like Dao yin or tu na. But they were often significantly different from the kinds of methods that we’re practicing these days.
It all has an interesting history. A mixture of genuinely profound methods, politics, and propaganda.
Woke up at 6:25 am for some reason today. Realized that the new subliminal club title would be dropping in 20 or 30 minutes.
Opted for an early morning meditation. 6:35 to 7:35.
Today is the last day of my current play period. One final play of my two custom stack. I’ll be processing and resting from Saturday to Wednesday. Resuming on Thursday.
Just finished reading the Hero Origins description. I do not see myself not running this program.
My arts: nei gong, hypnosis, meditation, taijiquan, teaching and counseling.
We shall see.
More Interesting Time-Stuff
Just took a nap. Woke up from a dream in which it was important to the plot that it had just turned 8 pm. 8 pm for some reason was the ‘symmetry point’ or ‘transition point’ of the dream. In the dream, that important time had just been reached.
Woke up and it was 7:55 pm.
That was a little weird.
It is foolish to judge other people if you have not spent time in serious observation and study of other people. The same principle holds true for any phenomenon.
And to the extent that you remain immersed in an egocentric orientation you have only ever really been observing yourself—and only a narrow swath of yourself at that; appearances to the contrary notwithstanding.
About 2 weeks ago it suddenly occurred to me that I could use ChatGPT to deepen and extend my consultations and interpretations of the I Ching. I’ve been using this method often and to great effect since then.
(And it only just hit me as I was writing this that this “suddenly occurred to me” about 7 days after I’d started running my custom, and is most likely yet another expression of my custom subliminal, which contains Revelation of Spirit, Revelation of Mind, and Polyglot. I wasn’t even recognizing that.)
Anyway, I consulted the I Ching about working with the Hero:Origins program.
This was my query:
Consulting the I Ching
Query: Subliminal Club has released a new program entitled HERO Origins: Sage and the Blade. Its focus is to inculcate and facilitate the development of mastery and impeccability, inspired in part by the ideals and the ways of bushido and the philosophy of Miyamoto Musashi, though it is not restricted to Japanese culture or arts.Please show me the guidance and the result for me of choosing to work with this program.
I Ching response
觀, line 4General Guidance:
觀：盥而不薦，有孚顒若。大觀在上，順而巽，中正以觀天下。觀，盥而不薦，有孚顒若，下觀而化也。觀天之神道，而四時不忒，聖人以神道設教，而天下服矣。Specific Guidance:
六四：觀國之光，利用賓于王。Please interpret and apply this I Ching guidance in the context of my query and my situation.
And here is the response:
The I Ching hexagram you’ve drawn is 觀 (Guān), often translated as “Contemplation” or “Observation,” with a specific focus on the fourth line.
Here’s my interpretation based on your query:
General Guidance (觀): The hexagram Contemplation suggests a time of introspection, observation, and learning. It encourages you to look within and around you to gain a deeper understanding of yourself and your environment. In the context of your intention to work with the new program HERO Origins: Sage and the Blade, this could signify the need to observe and study the principles and philosophies underlying the program. It might also suggest that the program will encourage a similar introspective and contemplative approach, helping you to deepen your understanding and mastery of the skills and ideals it embodies.
Specific Guidance (六四): The fourth line, translated as “Observing the light of the kingdom. It is beneficial to be a guest of the king,” indicates the advantages of learning from a higher power or authority. In terms of your situation, this could mean that the program HERO Origins: Sage and the Blade could serve as this “king” - a source of wisdom and guidance from which you can learn. It hints at the potential benefits of adopting such a program into your routine.
In summary, choosing to work with the program HERO Origins: Sage and the Blade could be a beneficial journey of introspection, learning, and growth for you. It’s an opportunity to understand and embody the principles and ideals of bushido and the philosophy of Miyamoto Musashi. Remember to approach this journey with an open mind and heart, observing and learning from the wisdom it offers. The I Ching suggests a positive outcome from this endeavor.
Love What Is.
Observe the seen. Observe the seeing. Observe the seer.
Observe the felt. Observe the feeling. Observe the feeler.
Observe the heard. Observe the hearing. Observer the hearer.
At this point in my journey, I define “meditation” as ‘Lovingly Facing Reality’; at ever deeper and ever wider scopes of magnitude.
As usual, I audio-recorded the description from HERO Origins so that I can conveniently listen to it whenever I feel like it. It’s usually good, I think, to go back and listen to the description after about a month in or 2 months in.
For me at least, once my deeper mind is really digging into the script, the program acquires an almost slippery quality with my conscious awareness. It’s down on the dream levels and deeper, doing things that really matter. And my upper mind often doesn’t want to make the effort to get down there. haha.
Day 3 of 5 processing days. When I come back, on Thursday, I plan to add Hero to my stack.
Woke up earlier, so morning meditation today.
Feeling a little beaten down. But also amazed. Probably just not enough sleep.
Work is on my mind. Many moving parts. Thinking about if/when/how I’ll line things up to either move on from this job or reconfigure/reform it to make it fit me better.
Like many things, what I’m feeling right now is an energy thing.
Another book has been manifested today. The first one 2.5 weeks ago was more on the personal practice side of things. This one is more on the ‘Ideas’ side.
I’m a little wary of ideas in general. Love them and am wary of them.
As I put it earlier today in a conversation I was having with ChatGPT, ‘Intellectualism, by its very nature of objectification and narrativization, can often impose a slippery and subtle obfuscation on that which it purports to clarify.’
At one point, I dealt with that by rejecting ideas as much as possible. But that was not balanced, and didn’t necessarily improve matters. Now, I think that the best solution is humility. Just be the f–k humble.
My hours at work are pretty variable. And that’s, overall, a good thing. Just need to keep it in perspective.
Last night, last meeting ended at 9:40 pm. I went to the ATM afterwards, and then walked the 3 miles home. Took the opportunity to catch up with my sis, who is in a different time zone.
Remember when international calls used to cost something? Now, a WhatsApp call is basically free.
Didn’t come inside immediately when I got back because we were still talking, so walked a couple of laps at the park. Got home by about 11 pm.
This morning I woke up later. Feeling kind of off. Dragging my feet a bit.
Now, I’m going to meditate, even though it feels late. And then, do my best to have a productive day.
This is Day 4 of my 5 processing days. They’re kind of zooming by.
Here we go.
Another thing that ‘meditation’ does is it aligns your awareness with non-verbal modes of knowing. Painting, music composition, crocheting, and so on do the same thing.
I’m finding myself these days thinking of attention or awareness as a spectrograph or radio. And at various times I’m tuning it to different ranges or bands of the spectrum.
Last night, my awareness visited the dreaming range. I was standing in water, in the ocean, and there was a little girl who I was helping and protecting. A woman was there who was responsible for her. I was somehow making sure that she was safe in the water but also kind of making sure that she had a safe space to explore. I realized that I was wearing my sports jacket in the ocean.
Was with my whole family in church. Preparing to leave. (As I always am when at church.) Someone offhandedly asked when one of my aunts had died. Actually, the family member who asked has already passed away. But when it was revealed to me in this way, I became angry and upset.
Then I realized that although I was ready to leave, I was not able to find my son. This is a theme that I’ve experienced once or twice before in a dream.
Interesting.
That was the fourth night of my 5 days of processing.
Woke up from all of this sleeping and dreaming and saw that there was enough time for me to meditate before my son needed to leave for school.
So did that.
This was one of those more rapid time flow meditation sessions. Some days, I feel every minute as a minute. Other days like today, awareness dips into time-sensing every few minutes, so that 15 minutes feels ‘faster’.
