Opening Eyes

[Sophoroto]

Let simple men stay simple men, pleased by simple things, going about simple lives, with simple concerns.

Over my career, I have always tried to leave the simple folk their simple lives.

Way I see it lots of these things are like dogs smellin fear, they go after the source of fear. Might be why so few people have just one encounter and why they normally get worse an worse, the meet a monter, they start to be afraid of monsters, more monsters come to feed on that fear.


Why would anyone want to condemn another person to dealing with all this?

Because, if the majority of people don't figure this out in tme, our small battles won't be enough. Sooner or later the floodgates will break open and everything mankind has ever feared will leap from the shadows.

If mankind still pretends it all doesn't exist - makind won't be ready and it will fall.

Mr Caliburn I have seen other places where the supernatural is natural and common place Mr. Greydawn took me there once and it wasn't a very friendly place and the sad thing was that the demons and monsters thier were mostly controlled buy humans that were far more cruel than any monster and almost made me feel sorry for the mansters and demons for no creature should be a slave be it human or otherwise.

My point being if all humanity were to open its eyes here there is a chance of the same thing happening here.

[GhostSpider]

Men can be worse than monsters. A sad but true fact.

[Ron Caliburn]

I'd rather people felt sorry for mistreated monsters than have to worry about how many people don't make it home tonight because of monsters.

[Greydawn]

Mr. Caliburn the one thing that young Sophoroto neglected to mention is that the men in control of the monsters and demons used them to prey on the weak and innocent.

I would much rather have to deal with a demon or monster that thinks for its self as one who is controlled by a man. I have found that they are much easier to dispatch than the latter, mainly because they can be predicted because they follow a pattern and once you can figure out the pattern you can get one step ahead of it and take it down. In the case of the ones controlled by men they are harder to predict because they may or may not follow thier nature.

[Ron Caliburn]

Yes that was an oversight of him.

I have a special place in my heart for those who summon monsters to do evil.

We'll just say it's rather cold and dark there.

[Chen Lung]

The trick is not to teach others of the dangers they might someday face, but rather to teach them how to truely see. To quote the teacher of my teacher, "The unexamined life is not worth living."

[Eilonwy Solstice]

Yes, but if they choose not to see, that won’t help. There is another old saying about leading horses to water.

[GhostSpider]

Teaching man to truely see??

You are joking right?

[KonThaak]

Master Lung, if you know of a way to teach men to truly see--men of the western world in addition to the eastern--I would love to hear it. That is a quandary I've pondered for many long years, now...

[GhostSpider]

You can't teach something to someone who doesn't want to learn.

[concrete_Angel]

I had a guidance counselor who said the same thing.

[KonThaak]

Untrue. If a person doesn't wish to learn, but they hear, there is a chance that, when a situation is critical, they will still remember. If a person doesn't want to learn, but they see, there will be a part of them that will be touched. That will be the beginning. Many of us here were once such: We had our own lives, we thought nothing of the paranormal, and we saw something which turned us down the paths we now walk.

I know it's not true for all of us, but the scenario is common enough.

[Chen Lung]

All of this is true: People will get out of a lesson only what is already within them. Often, even when the true nature of the universe is shoved in their face, people will fail to see. When the Truth is seen but not understood, it can be altered by the vision of reality that is accepted by the viewer. To that end, when you teach the student to see, you must teach him slowly. Begin with basic philosophical/theological/sociological lessons. You may believe that time will be wasted with this approach, but that one student can teach a thousand more if he has the proper foundation for his knowledge.

The great teachers of the ages have discussed the questions of how we know what we know and what it is to know anything and even they have given insufficient answers. The answers they have given do not tell us how to teach what we know to others so that they will see that knowledge in the same way we do. Think of the numbers of skeptics out there who have their "knowledge" reinforced daily by the media outlets and television. Even when the stories get out, the public still denies it.

Teaching Truth is the slowest possible of life's many lessons.

[GhostSpider]

Truth??

Truth is relative.

[Chen Lung]

Exactly! But it is relative to how much one has studied the world around and the ideas about that world from others. Then that information is analyzed against all previous learning and fitted into that person's Truth. I have learned the Truth in my life, but I cannot teach it to others. I can only point my finger in the general direction; you will find your own Truth.

"It is like a finger pointing at the moon; don't pay too much attention to the finger, or you will miss all that heavenly glory" -- Bruce Lee

[KonThaak]

And yet, in many cases, people do pay more attention to the finger, to use your wonderful quote... The lesson here is to teach. Most may never see what you teach for one reason or another, but if you reach one in a hundred--a thousand--a million--then you've affected, maybe even saved, one life. That person will then turn around and talk to their friends, their relatives, their co-workers. Most of these people will not believe them...but someone will, or will have their lives saved for it, and the cycle will continue.

Granted, this is philosophical theory, and I know full well that to put it to practice is another thing altogether...

[Shang Li]

translate nice monk for me did.

In early times in Japan, bamboo-and-paper lanterns were used with candles inside. A blind man, visiting a friend one night, was offered a lantern to carry home with him.

"I do not need a lantern," he said. "Darkness or light is all the same to me."

"I know you do not need a lantern to find your way," his friend replied, "but if you don't have one, someone else may run into you. So you must take it."

The blind man started off with the lantern and before he had walked very far someone ran squarely into him.

"Look out where you are going!" he exclaimed to the stranger. "Can't you see this lantern?"

"Your candle has burned out, brother," replied the stranger.

[Holister]

No way....not possible. This has to be another prank?

[KonThaak]

I dunno. Gabe seems to be back, Celeste seems to be back... Ron threatened to leave if someone started posting as Shang Li, so I'm hoping Ron comes back, soon, too...

[Chen Lung]

translate nice monk for me did.

In early times in Japan, bamboo-and-paper lanterns were used with candles inside. A blind man, visiting a friend one night, was offered a lantern to carry home with him.

"I do not need a lantern," he said. "Darkness or light is all the same to me."

"I know you do not need a lantern to find your way," his friend replied, "but if you don't have one, someone else may run into you. So you must take it."

The blind man started off with the lantern and before he had walked very far someone ran squarely into him.

"Look out where you are going!" he exclaimed to the stranger. "Can't you see this lantern?"

"Your candle has burned out, brother," replied the stranger.

Yes, I see, but I believe it is what I was saying. We must be sure our lanterns are lit while we walk in the dark. Others will need our light to avoid the dangers we hunt. Once they see our light, they can then protect themselves. It is how we approach them in these dark alleyways of the world that will either drive them to madness or lead them to safety (if you can call our world "safe").

But tell me,Jiaoshi Shang, have you failed to find the peace you so sought in life? Was Nirvana out of reach? What has brought you back so soon? I am Wei Chen Lung, a simple monk on a journey, I must admit that I felt as though I had been neglegent in my having not met you before your death, but I did not expect to ever remedy my loss.

Do you bring trouble from the spirits of the dead or do you merely bring wisdom you sense we lack on this issue?

[Shang Li]

I have been here I see, the monks started speaking to me in this tounge and, I found that I already knew it! I feel that I have friends here, although I know not why, I am too young to know about these things, but as I read them, many of these things I know as true. Some of them I remember as I read them, and others I rember faces as I read the names, and some who I have seen, I know are no longer. The monks here explained to me about the Dahli, but I am not one of them, so I am not sure exactly what is going on.

[Last Moon]

Opening eyes is very much the goal of my research. If I can raise public awareness of the Therians that walk among us, then society can have the proper debate about their place.