Eleven of us altogether enjoyed or at least they said they did a morning of exploration into reality and our right view of it. I explained the link with the argument to remove fluoride from the body as it calcifies the pineal gland apart from all the other negatives. The third eye that sees the world as a spiritual entity and its critical role in good health.
"One of the most damning pieces of research occurred at the University of Surrey in 1997 after Jennifer Luke discovered that the pineal glands in some medical cadavers had accumulated fluoride to the point of mineralization.
The pineal gland produces melatonin for the human body. While many know melatonin to be the hormone associated with sleep, KU Professor of Molecular Biosciences Paul Kelly explains that its function permeates all aspects of life:
"Melatonin is a secreted product of the pineal gland, and as you probably know that is functionally important for circadian rhythms; our ability to have an internal clock and be able to adjust a lot of the physiology and metabolism in our body, our brain and all our organs so that it is optimal for daylight, awakening behavior and also optimal for sleeping at night."
We then watched a video instructing how to improve the gland by "pushing on the door". Most of the group found the meditation calming and worth doing.
I then said how I believed the Tao could like the Christian faith be accepted as a declaration of faith as the mind is not capable of being separate from what is.
I found this idea already expressed in the following article.
The Tao of Faith
by Jack Crabtree
I want to do two things in this paper: (1) identify and explain an interesting idea shared by Taoist philosophy and modern Evangelicalism; and (2) begin to examine the teaching of the Bible to see whether this fascinating notion is to be found there. The distinctive idea in question I will refer to as "the Tao of Faith." () I begin by explaining the teaching of Taoist philosophy on those points where I find it so strikingly similar to the teaching of Evangelical Christianity.
I. TAOISM
Taoism is an ancient Chinese philosophy; and for some it is a religion based on and derived from that philosophy. The key concept in Taoist philosophy is 'the Tao'. In Chinese, tao, literally translated, means something like 'way'; but this literal translation is not helpful for understanding tao in its most important sense.
'The Tao' is the ultimate power which creates, energizes, moves, animates, and underlies the whole of reality and everything in it. If not for the Tao, nothing would exist at all. It is responsible for the existence of everything that is and provides everything that lives and moves with its animating force. In the Tao Te Ching, the Taoist 'scriptures', we read:
There is a thing inherent and natural,
Which existed before heaven and earth,
Motionless and fathomless,
It stands alone and never changes;
It pervades everywhere and never becomes exhausted.
It may be regarded as the Mother of the Universe.
I do not know its name.
If I am forced to give it a name, I call it Tao, and I name it as supreme.
Supreme means going on;
Going on means going far;
Going far means returning.
Therefore Tao is supreme; heaven is supreme; earth is supreme;
and man is also supreme. There are in the universe four things supreme,
and man is one of them.
Man follows the laws of earth;
Earth follows the laws of heaven;
Heaven follows the laws of Tao;
Tao follows the laws of its intrinsic nature. ()
In a later chapter, we read:
The great Tao pervades everywhere, both on the left and on the right.
By it all things came into being, and it does not reject them.
Merits accomplished, it does not possess them.
It loves and nourishes all things but does not dominate over them.
It is always non-existent; therefore it can be named as small.
All things return home to it, and it does not claim mastery over them;
therefore it can be named as great.
Because it never assumes greatness, therefore it can accomplish
greatness. ()
Any true philosophy of human existence must tell us how to live. Taoism does just that. According to Taoism, a human being can live, act, and think in harmony with the Tao–the ultimate, good and creative life-force which underlies all that is–or he can live, act, and think at cross-purposes to the Tao. The Tao is like a giant river flowing in a particular direction. As an individual human being, I can either relax and permit myself to be swept along by its flow, or I can struggle against it, seeking to swim across its flow or even to swim upstream. Even my efforts to move against its flow are, of course, ultimately empowered by the Tao itself; but because they are not efforts which take me in the same direction as the Tao, they will be clumsy, unsuccessful, futile, and unproductive. ()
Under this view, human existence will be good, happy, and fulfilling just to the extent that I live my life in harmony with the flowing power of the Tao and not at cross-purposes to it. And why is this exactly? Because a life lived in harmony with the Tao is a life energized by the direct and undiffused power of the Tao. But a life lived at cross-purposes to the Tao is a life lived under a different sort of power–the power of one's individual self. Since ultimately no power exists except the power of the Tao, the power of one's individual self is ultimately the power of the Tao as well; but it is diffused and particularized, not the pure, undifferentiated power of the Tao in its fundamental harmony. So human beings, while being empowered by the Tao, are able to take control of their own lives, to make decisions, and to take action out of the force of their own particular wills. The result, says the Taoist, is unfortunate. Self-effort, self-control, and self-assertion lead to evil, vice, failure, and imperfection. Creative work performed out of self-effort is inferior to the creative work performed under the undiluted and undifferentiated power of the Tao. Wisdom gained through self-effort and learning is inferior to the wisdom consisting of submission to the Tao.
