Category Archives: Immortality

We saw him laugh this Super Bowl week and we saw him cry. The closer Tom Brady has drawn to superhuman achievement, the more human he became to us.

The closer he has drawn to football immortality, the more he appeared to embrace his mortality.

On the cusp of becoming the first quarterback in history to win five Super Bowl titles, never has he been more compelling.

Brady never has been the braggart, never been the bumptious boor. Yet in his humility and good nature, neither has he opened the vault to his emotions. If you cut the Patriots quarterback, he did not bleed. If you pressed him, he smiled and deferred.

He usually has spoken in the moment and as if he needed to hurry off to a meeting with Bill Belichick. Reflection rarely was in the cards. We have known more about the unique diet that fills his stomach than the deeper feelings that fill his heart.

And then a 7-year-old boy named Joseph Duarte, who had won a contest to be a Super Bowl reporter, asked Tom Brady a question Monday night at Minute Maid Park.

Who's your hero?

The rules for this Super Bowl week changed right there.

"That's a great question," Brady said. "I think my dad is my hero because he's someone I looked up to every day and, ah my dad."

Brady, to the astonishment of hundreds of reporters, started to choke up.

The thought of his son accepting the Lombardi Trophy from commissioner Roger Goodell at NGR Stadium did not thrill Tom Brady Sr. Still upset with all the ramifications of Deflategate, he told a San Francisco television station recently that anyone "that has Roger Goodell's ethics doesn't belong on any stage that Tom Brady is on."

"He went on a witch hunt and went in way over his head and had to lie his way out in numerous ways," Brady Sr. said.

He said it is a different story when charges of cheating and deceit are leveled against your son or daughter. He said he'd rather take the arrows to his heart than have his kids absorb them. And while many of us have different views of what happened with those deflated footballs, every parent can identify with Mr. Brady's paternal instincts. The sentiment seemed to touch his son's heart, even if he didn't want to publicly subscribe to his father's harsh, harsh words.

"I'd say my dad represents his feelings," he said. "He's a dad, and I'm a dad, and, ah "

Brady began to tear up again. Later he talked about how his father had always supported him, came home at night after work to hit him grounders and fly balls. How he loved to go to 49ers games with dad and mom and throw the football in the parking lot outside Candlestick Park.

This was a Brady we had rarely seen and, it turns out, we only knew half of the story. Reports surfaced Tuesday that Brady's mom, Galynn, has been ill for 18 months. His dad has been to only one game this season, his mom none. They are expected to be at NRG Stadium Sunday.

"It's just been a tough year," Brady said. "Every family goes through different things and my family's always been a great support system for my entire life.

"I'm hoping my mom can make the game."

Sending out an Instagram photo Saturday night of his dad and him kissing Galynn at NRG Stadium, Brady made it clear his mom would be at the game.

We see the handsome face and the pinpoint passes and the remarkable poise in the pocket. We see the mansion and his supermodel wife. And we project a perfect life on him. It isn't fair, of course, for no life is perfect.

As we listen to Brady speak for at least three hours over four days, listen to him talk about his mom and dad, talk about how Gisele is the one who does everything for the kids, from 6 a.m to 6 p.m., every day for six months, reminisce about buddies from the past, talk movingly about how Robert Kraft is a second father to him We see him laugh. We see him cry. We see Tom Brady.

Yes, he has been to the Super Bowl seven times. Yes, he and Bill Belichick have formed the ultimate coach-player combination. Everyone from Troy Aikman to Jim Harbaugh is calling Brady the greatest quarterback in the history of football. And he is. Yet this week, the guy who has seemed like none of us has seemed like all of us. We came to watch for something as singular as revenge over Deflategate and instead we got a much fuller picture of a man.

From getting a chance to play at 23, through four Super Bowl titles, through seven Super Bowl appearances, through marriage and children, Brady called it a growing level of perspective. One that slapped him in the face after he missed the entire 2008 season with an injury, returned in 2009 and thought to himself, "Damn, I love this game."

"This is not a sacrifice, because I love to do it," Brady said. "There are a lot of other things that I don't get a chance to do, that when I am done playing I will get a chance to do.

"When you get to this point, walking off the practice field today, there are two quarterbacks in the world that are practicing today preparing for this game. Myself and Matt [Ryan] should feel very privileged to be able to do that. There are a lot of guys that don't have the chance and I think you do feel very humbled when you're walking off the field to say, 'Wow, we had an opportunity to go out and practice and prepare for a game that's so meaningful to all of us that we'll remember for the rest of our lives.' I feel blessed."

Even in the way he spoke of Belichick, he was more expansive. Brady talked about how Belichick has committed his life to coaching and how he has committed his life to playing. He talked about how there's no rah-rah b.s. with Belichick and how it works out between them because he's bad at taking compliments and Belichick is good at not giving many out. He said he loves the way Belichick continually challenges his team, how he likes to say, "I hope my expectation for you guys isn't more than your expectation for yourself.'"

"We're just lucky to have a confluence of situations where we wind up with the greatest coach in the history of the game and the greatest quarterback in the history of the game, keeping them together and keeping a great team around them," owner Robert Kraft said. "At least for however long the Good Lord lets me breathe, I hope they're playing and coaching."

Does vengeance play a role in this Super Bowl? It has to at some level. When you are forced to sit out a quarter of the season because of improperly inflated footballs, there has to be some lingering resentment toward the NFL. You read what Brady's father said. And while Brady said, "I'm focused on the game," Kraft said, "I think it will also be a great statement to people who are pursuing their dreams that sometimes you get treated unfairly or things don't go your way. You just hang in there."

Humans are complex. Humans harbor resentment, at least for a time. And if anything this week, Tom Brady has shown us how human he is. In the fascinating days leading up to Super Bowl LI, a game when Brady can make history, the most fascinating development was not that one side can scream about payback over footballs. It was that all sides can identify with what Tom Brady is going through with his family.

"I know where my family kind of sits at games," Brady said. "I scout that out when I have all my tickets and when I go out pregame and kind of look around I kind of know where they're going to be and I try to make some eye contact and let them know I'm looking at them.

"Yeah, this will be as special as it's ever been."

Predictions: Patriots 35, Falcons 31. Brady MVP. Goodell will try to make it seem like Deflategate never happened. Lady Gaga will make some kind of halftime political statement.

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Jeff Jacobs: Near NFL Immortality, Tom Brady Shows Human Side - Hartford Courant

Brain implants arent anything new. In fact, several types of brain implants (also known as neuroprosthetics) are already being used. Many patients with Parkinsons disease for instance, make use of a brain implant that transmits electrical pulses to help with motor control and reduce tremors.

On a separate yet related topic, last year, the FDA approved Second Sights retinal implant which can help patients blinded by advanced retinitis pigmentosa to regain their ability to perceive shapes and motion. And then there are cochlear implants which are commonly used by deaf people or those who have trouble hearing.

Theres a common denominator about all these implants, of course. All of them are being used to help treat or manage specific medical conditions. Which, and in reference to the neuroprosthetics, makes these kinds of brain implants easily acceptable.

But thats just scratching the surface. Eventually, we will not stop being satisfied with simply using implants to restore lost or damaged functions. Why wait for something to get broken when you can just enhance it so it wont have to get broken in the first place, right? Or maybe, why not just enhance what can be enhanced so everything will simply become that much easier.

In the future, brain implants will most probably, at the very least, help us learn more quickly. Remember the movie The Matrix? Neo Keanu Reeves character simply downloaded practice from a computer and he instantly turned into a kung fu expert. Thats the kind of speed learning were talking about. Instead of taking years to become skilled at something, with the right brain implant, which can be in the form of a tiny chip a thousand times more powerful cognitively than your biological brain, it will only take a few minutes.

And then, after enhancing ones learning capabilities, next to enhance will be ones memory and concentration, and maybe even ones mood. By doing this, a person learns faster, remembers everything better, focuses better, and feels better too. And thats not so bad, right? Or is it?

Its still your brain. Its just an enhanced version. But with a computer chip in it, it will now become possible to upload your brain to the cloud. And when you die, you will continue to live on as your uploaded brain can simply be re-uploaded to someone else either some other person, or maybe a robot.

Its an extreme scenario. But with everything thats happening with our technology, progress in neuroscience and artificial intelligence, its not science fiction stuff anymore but a very real possibility. Furthermore, the process of capturing the intelligence of our brains in a machine is not a matter of if but a matter of when. So the question is, should we go to those lengths?

Even without bringing religion into the picture, theres something a bit off about tampering with the natural way the world works. Maybe thats because that is really the only alternative we know. But regardless, intervening to fix something is quite different from intervening to give someone an unfair advantage over everyone else. And isnt this exactly what nonbiological intelligence enhancement is going to result in? Unless of course everybody gets to undergo brain enhancement, then there will be a sense of fairness somehow.

But then, if everyone had super mental abilities, wheres the challenge in that? Perhaps a seriously super-advanced technological and scientific world, but can you really imagine living in a planet where everyone is a genius and everything everyone ever talks about is some kind of super-scientific or profound topic that normal people (if there will be any left that is) will not be able to understand or relate to?

And what about immortality? Who gets to decide whose brains should be uploaded and continue to live on?

We live in a troubled and complicated world. But at least, its the real world. If brain augmentation ultimately leads to everyone becoming immortal, what kind of world will we be living in? Better yet, will it still be considered living in the true sense of the word?

Were not saying progress in technology, physics, neuroscience and overall human intelligence in general fields which are unavoidably set to open up possibilities that we can scarcely imagine will negatively affect our existence. All were saying is that we just have to be a bit careful where these advancements take us as a society. But then again, and despite the risks of sounding contradictory, whos to say its not worth trying. After all, and in the words of Arthur Conan Doyle: Some believe what separates men from animals is our ability to reason. Others say its language or romantic love, or opposable thumbs. Living here in this lost world, Ive come to believe it is more than our biology. What truly makes us human is our unending search, our abiding desire for immortality.

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Is Brain Augmentation Leading The Way To Immortality? - Wall Street Pit

Aug 6, 2016; Canton, OH, USA; General exterior view of the Pro Football Hall of Fame before the 2016 NFL Hall of Fame enshrinement at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

5 players Philadelphia Eagles could target in free agency by Ryan Quigley

Michael Vick officially announces retirement from NFL by Ryan Quigley

Sometimes, you dont know what you have until its gone. At other times, youre completely aware of what youre missing. Former Philadelphia Eagles safety Brian Dawkins spent more time in The City of Brotherly Love than any other athlete ever spent as a member of one of the citys sports franchises.From 1996-2008, he played his heart out and wore it on his sleeve, endearing him to fans and teammates. Hed spend the remainder of his playing days with the Denver Broncos, but he returned to his roots to sign a one-day contract, allowing him to retire as a member of the Eagles.

February 4th has a chance of being a very special day for him and for Eagles fans.

The NFL will announce its next Hall of Fame class one day before the Super Bowl, and anyone thats ever watched him play will be patiently waiting to see him take the stage. Hell be waiting to see if his name called, much like the rest of us, and he takes with him a resume that would make any NFL great jealous.

The numbers speak for themselves. Dawkins, for his career, totaled 1,131 takles, 26 sacks (from the safety position) and 37 interceptions. Add 28 forced fumbles and being able to find the end zone three times, and you have one of the most versatile players to ever play on defense.

Hes a nine-time Pro Bowler. Hes a four-time First-team All Pro, but what he truly meant to the Eagles cant be measured in statistics. No one playing for the Eagles will ever wear the number 20 again. As we mentioned before, some people seem to mean more when theyre gone, but when Dawkins left, he left a void the Eagles struggled to fill for well over ten years.

Only time will tell if they ever find a way to add another piece as valuable, as respected or as talented as this one.

Now, if that doesnt get you going, you dont have a pulse.We at Inside The Iggles salute Brian Dawkins and wish him luck. Regardless of what happens tomorrow, hes a member of our Hall of Fame forever.

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Brian Dawkins: One day away from pro football immortality - Inside the Iggles

Rick and Morty is the fan theory equivalent of an all-you-can-eat buffet. With a universe and concept that is both expansive, self-aware, and abundant with possibilities, if you think hard enough, you'll find an explanation for almost anything that happens on the show.

A recent Reddit theory by ShadowmasterK is a prime example of this. On the face of it, the theory seems to be searching for meaning in a trait that is commonplace in all cartoons. But when you look below the surface, it begins to make sense in a way that poetically reflects the great oppositional perspective on our existence absolute purpose versus complete coincidence.

Maybe there is a god, maybe we are divine beings who share universal consciousness, maybe we're all celestial manifestations of another dimension, with this universe acting as a portal to eternal bliss. Or maybe our existence is sheer fluke, the result of billions of years of mutation that accumulated with semi-intelligent, insignificant flesh and bone hurtling through the dark abyss of space on a molten rock travelling at 1,000 miles per hour.

Wait, back to the Rick and Morty theory. ShadowmasterK believes that, in the pilot episode, when Rick injects Morty with the serum that repairs his broken legs, he also injects him with an anti-ageing serum, making Morty practically immortal. The universe canon for this lies with a dimension Rick refers to as a place where "their technology was so advanced that they had halted the ageing process and everyone there was young."

The coincidence argument, hell, the logical response to this is that characters don't age in animation anyway. But this is #RickAndMorty, a heavily meta show with a fondness for poking fun at the troupes of fiction and popular culture. This subtle reference, way back in the beginning, could well have been deliberately included by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland.

But there's something even more interesting to take from this scene. Whether or not Rick injected Morty with the serum, Rick could stop his ageing process, but he chooses not to. The inevitability of death is something he does pay attention to, after all he did transfer his brain into a younger clone of himself in "Big Trouble In Little Sanchez," creating the high-school sensation, Tiny Rick.

"He's a little afraid he'll lose sight of who he is"

So why doesn't Rick just use the serum? The answer may be found in a Reddit AMA with co-creator Harmon, who, when asked an innocuous question on what drink is contained in Rick's flask, gave a delightful "absolute purpose" response:

"I tend to assume vodka and I know it seems unlikely that Rick wouldn't use sci-fi tech to somehow augment whatever he drinks but I think in rick's mind part of the 'addiction' to the flask of good old fashioned booze is that it anchors his identity, and I think he knows that if he augmented the booze or the flask, then why not just whip up a very rudimentary nanobiotic alcohol dispenser in his body or inject himself with a plasma component that just amounts to always having a certain blood alcohol level, and I think the reason he doesn't do that is because he's a little afraid he'll lose sight of who he is."

According to Harmon, the most intelligent man in all of existence can see the importance of maintaining his identity it's the reason he keeps the flask instead of using any number of inventions to make things easier. The same can apply to anti-ageing. Rick may feel that if he used the serum and become immortal, he may lose sight of who he truly is.

There is another difficulty, too. By being immortal (or at least not dying of natural causes) certain situations could become even more dangerous for Rick. If he did live forever, he'd be extra screwed, facing an eternity behind bars following his arrest at the end of Rick and Morty Season 2.

Or, you know, all of this is a meaningless coincidence.

Is Morty immortal? Or is this over-thinking?

(Source: Reddit)

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'Rick And Morty' Theory: Rick Gifted Morty With Immortality, But Chose To Die Himself - moviepilot.com

Amrit (Sanskrit, IAST: amta) or Amata (Pali) is a word that literally means "immortality" and is often referred to in texts as nectar. Amta is etymologically related to the Greek ambrosia[1] and carries the same meaning.[2] The word's earliest occurrence is in the Rigveda, where it is one of several synonyms for soma, the drink which confers immortality upon the gods.

Amrit has varying significance in different Indian religions.

Amrit is also a common first name for Hindus; the feminine form is Amrit.

Amrit is repeatedly referred to as the drink of the devas which grants them immortality.

Amrit features in the samudra manthan legend, which describes how the devas, because of a curse from the sage Durvasa, begin to lose their immortality. Assisted by their mortal enemies, the asuras, they churn the ocean and release (among other auspicious object and beings) amrit, the nectar of immortality.[3]

Amrit is sometimes said to miraculously form on, or flow from, statues of Hindu gods. The substance is consumed by worshippers and is alleged to be sweet-tasting and not at all similar to honey or sugar water.

Amrit was the last of the fourteen treasure jewels that emerged from the churning of the ocean and contained in a pot borne by Dhanvantari, the physician of the Gods.

Amrit (Punjabi: ) is the name of the holy water used in the baptism ceremony or Amrit Sanchar in Sikhism. This ceremony is observed to initiate the Sikhs into the Khalsa and requires drinking amrit. This is created by mixing a number of soluble ingredients, including sugar, and is then rolled with a khanda with the accompaniment of scriptural recitation of five sacred verses.

Metaphorically, God's name is also referred to as a nectar:

Amrit sabad amrit har bai. The Shabda is Amrit; the Lord's bani is Amrit. Satgur seviai ridai sami. Serving the True Guru, it permeates the heart. Nnak amrit nm sad sukhdta pi amrit sabh bhukh lh jvaia. O Nanak, the Ambrosial Naam is forever the Giver of peace; drinking in this Amrit, all hunger is satisfied.[4]

According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "the deathless" refers to the deathless dimension of the mind which is dwelled in permanently after nibbana.[5]

In the Amata Sutta, the Buddha advises monks to stay with the four Satipatthana: "Monks, remain with your minds well-established in these four establishings of mindfulness. Don't let the deathless be lost to you."[6]

In the questions for Nagasena, King Milinda asks for evidence that the Buddha once lived, wherein Nagasena describes evidence of the Dhamma in a simile:

"Revered Nagasena, what is the nectar shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?"

"Nectar, sire, has been pointed out by the Blessed One. With this nectar the Blessed One sprinkles the world with the devas; when the devas and the humans have been sprinkled with this nectar, they are set free from birth, aging, disease, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. What is this nectar? It is mindfulness occupied with the body. And this too, sire, was said by the Blessed One: 'Monks, they partake of nectar (the deathless) who partake of mindfulness that is occupied with the body.' This, sire, is called the Blessed One's nectar shop."

Miln 335[7]

Amrit (Wylie: bdud rtsi, THL: dtsi) also plays a significant role in Vajrayana Buddhism as a sacramental drink which is consumed at the beginning of all important rituals such as the abhisheka, ganachakra, and homa. In the Tibetan tradition, dtsi is made during drubchens - lengthy ceremonies involving many high lamas. It usually takes the form of small, dark-brown grains that are taken with water, or dissolved in very weak solutions of alcohol and is said to improve physical and spiritual well-being.[8]

The foundational text of traditional Tibetan medicine, the Four Tantras, is also known by the name The Heart of Amrita (Wylie: snying po bsdus pa).

The Immaculate Crystal Garland (Wylie: dri med zhal phreng) describes the origin of amrita in a version of the samudra manthan legend retold in Buddhist terms. In this Vajrayana version, the monster Rahu steals the amrita and is blasted by Vajrapani's thunderbolt. As Rahu has already drunk the amrita he cannot die, but his blood, dripping onto the surface of this earth, causes all kinds of medicinal plants to grow. At the behest of all the Buddhas, Vajrapani reassembles Rahu who eventually becomes a protector of Buddhism according to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Chinese Buddhism describes Amrita (Chinese: ; pinyin: gnl) as blessed water, food, or other consumable objects often produced through merits of chanting mantras.

Link:

Amrita - Wikipedia

The Crown of Immortality is a literary and religious metaphor traditionally represented in art first as a laurel wreath and later as a symbolic circle of stars (often a crown, tiara, halo or aureola). The Crown appears in a number of Baroque iconographic and allegoric works of art to indicate the wearer's immortality.

In ancient Egypt, the crown of justification was a wreath placed on the deceased to represent victory over death in the afterlife, in emulation of the resurrecting god Osiris. It was made of various materials including laurel, palm, feathers, papyrus, roses, or precious metals, with numerous examples represented on the Fayum mummy portraits of the Roman Imperial period.[1]

In ancient Greece, a wreath of laurel or olive was awarded to victorious athletes and later poets. Among the Romans, generals celebrating a formal triumph wore a laurel wreath, an honor that during the Empire was restricted to the Imperial family. The placing of the wreath was often called a "crowning", and its relation to immortality was problematic; it was supposed to secure the wearer immortality in the form of enduring fame, but the triumphator was also reminded of his place within the mortal world: in the traditional tableaux, an accompanying slave whispered continually in the general's ear Memento mori, "Remember you are mortal".[2] Funerary wreaths of gold leaf were associated particularly with initiates into the mystery religions.[3]

From the Early Christian era the phrase "crown of immortality" was widely used by the Church Fathers in writing about martyrs; the immortality was now both of reputation on earth, and of eternal life in heaven. The usual visual attribute of a martyr in art, was a palm frond, not a wreath.[citation needed] The phrase may have originated in scriptural references, or from incidents such as this reported by Eusebius (Bk V of History) describing the persecution in Lyon in 177, in which he refers to literal crowns, and also brings in an athletic metaphor of the "victor's crown" at the end:

"From that time on, their martyrdoms embraced death in all its forms. From flowers of every shape and color they wove a crown to offer to the Father; and so it was fitting that the valiant champions should endure an ever-changing conflict, and having triumphed gloriously should win the mighty crown of immortality. Maturus, Sanctus, Blandina, and Attalus were taken into the amphitheater to face the wild beasts, and to furnish open proof of the inhumanity of the heathen, the day of fighting wild beasts being purposely arranged for our people. There, before the eyes of all, Maturus and Sanctus were again taken through the whole series of punishments, as if they had suffered nothing at all before, or rather as if they had already defeated their opponent in bout after bout and were now battling for the victor's crown."[4]

The first use seems to be that attributed to the martyr Ignatius of Antioch in 107.[citation needed]

An Advent wreath is a ring of candles, usually made with evergreen cuttings and used for household devotion by some Christians during the season of Advent. The wreath is meant to represent God's eternity. On Saint Lucy's Day, December 13, it is common to wear crowns of candles in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Italy, Bosnia, Iceland, and Croatia.

Before the reform of the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century, St. Lucy's Day fell on the winter solstice. The representation of Saint Lucy seems to derive from the Roman goddess Lucina, who is connected to the solstice.[5][6]

Martyrs often are idealized as combatants, with the spectacle of the arena transposed to the martyr's struggle with Satan. Ignatius of Antioch, condemned to fight beasts in the year 107, "asked his friends not to try to save him and so rob him of the crown of immortality."[7] In 155, Polycarp, Christian bishop of Smyrna, was stabbed after a failed attempt to burn him at the stake. He is said to have been " crowned with the wreath of immortality ... having through patience overcome the unjust governor, and thus acquired the crown of immortality."[8]Eusebius uses similar imagery to speak of Blandina, martyred in the arena at Lyon in 177:

The crown of stars, representing immortality, may derive from the story of Ariadne, especially as told by Ovid, in which the unhappy Ariadne is turned into a constellation of stars, the Corona Borealis (Crown of the North), modelled on a jewelled crown she wore, and thus becoming immortal. In Titian's Bacchus and Ariadne (152023, National Gallery, London), the constellation is shown above Ariadne's head as a circle of eight stars (though Ovid specifies nine), very similar to what would become the standard depiction of the motif. Although the crown was probably depicted in classical art, and is described in several literary sources, no classical visual depictions have survived.[11] The Titian therefore appears to be the earliest such representation to survive, and it was also at this period that illustrations in prints of the Apocalypse by artists such as Drer[12][13] and Jean Duvet were receiving very wide circulation.

In Ariadne, Venus and Bacchus, by Tintoretto (1576, Doge's Palace, Venice), a flying Venus crowns Ariadne with a circle of stars, and many similar compositions exist, such as the ceiling of the Egyptian Hall at Boughton House of 1695.

The first use of the crown of stars as an allegorical Crown of Immortality may be the ceiling fresco, Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power (163339), in the Palazzo Barberini in Rome by Pietro da Cortona. Here a figure identified as Immortality is flying, with her crown of stars held out in front of her, near the centre of the large ceiling. According to the earliest descriptions she is about to crown the Barberini emblems, representing Pope Urban VIII, who was also a poet.[14][15][16] Immortality seems to have been a preoccupation of Urban; his funeral monument by Bernini in St Peter's Basilica in Rome has Death as a life-size skeleton writing his name on a scroll.

Two further examples of the Crown of Immortality can be found in Sweden, firstly in the great hall ceiling fresco of the Swedish House of Knights by David Klcker Ehrenstrahl (between 16701675) which pictures among many allegoric figures Eterna (eternity) who holds in her hands the Crown of Immortality.[17] The second is in Drottningholm Palace, the home of the Swedish Royal Family, in a ceiling fresco named The Great Deeds of The Swedish Kings, painted in 1695 by David Klcker Ehrenstrahl.[18] This has the same motif as the fresco in the House of Knights mentioned above. The Drottningholm fresco, was shown in the 1000th stamp[19] by Czesaw Sania, the Polish postage stamp and banknote engraver.

The crown was also painted by the French Neoclassical painter Louis-Jean-Franois Lagrene, 17251805, in his Allegory on the Death of the Dauphin, where the crown was held by a young son who had pre-deceased the father (alternative titles specifically mention the crown of Immortality).[20]

Link:

Crown of Immortality - Wikipedia

Are You "The One?" For every 10,000 people who read this book, only One will attain the immortal condition. Do you have what it takes to be The One?

Revised & Expanded 2nd Edition!

(Un)Common Sense (Stayin' Alive)

Teachings of the Immortals (Forbidden Knowledge)

The Darker Teachings 1 2 (Advanced Teachings)

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Do you believe immortality is a real possibility?

Does the vampire mythos move your spirit and haunt you with a ring of truth even if others try to tell you it's only fiction?

Do you want to live forever?

What if I told you... you can?

Teachings of the Immortals

You will find no role playing games here, no pretenses or pretenders. What is offered is real knowledge - the secret of immortality which has been suppressed and intentionally distorted by governments, religions & cultural bias for centuries, but which is now being offered openly for those who seek it with an Immortal Spirit.

Are vampires real? What is Lifeforce or animus? Do all things die, or can we use our quantum-energetic nature to evolve beyond the ability of death to undo? What is the answer to the riddle: you have to be immortal before you will know how to become immortal...?

These and many other questions will be answered here, and in the phenomenal publication, "Teachings of the Immortals."

To gain the most from this site, please take a few moments to read the FAQ page. Knowledge & truth are offered there which form the foundation for Teachings of the Immortals. A must-read for those seriously seeking immortality. In addition, what you will find here are Heart Murmurs - inspirational prose, poetry, art and videos designed to inspire the muse which lies at the heart of the seeker.

No faith or belief are required (in fact both are strongly discouraged) and all who enter here are expected to test the teachings for themselves. Where do these teachings come from? For now, let's simply say they come from a higher source, an evolved being whom some would call an ascended master, an immortal vampire. Yet such labels are only limiting, and we must strive to remember that words can only diminish and distort experience.We hear with the heart. We see with the spirit. We Know with the totality of our being.

What is required for understanding is Intent.

What is required for manifestation is Will.

The power of transformation lies within yourself - solely and wholly.

Thou art God. Create yourself accordingly.

In these pages, you will learn the forbidden knowledge of the immortals. It has the power to free you from the tyranny of humanform mortality, and enable you to recreate yourself as anything you choose to be, for we live in a quantum universe where Thought is energy, and energy holds the key to transformation.

The only limits are those you bring with you.

The only restrictions are those you place on yourself.

Open your heart... inside you will discover the immortal twin: the vampire's reflection, visible only to those who know how to See.

See original here:

Real Vampires, Immortality, Gothic, Pagan, Eternal Life ...

Xian (Chinese: //; pinyin: xin; WadeGiles: hsien) is a Chinese word for an enlightened person, translatable in English as:

Xian semantically developed from meaning spiritual "immortality; enlightenment", to physical "immortality; longevity" involving methods such as alchemy, breath meditation, and T'ai chi ch'uan, and eventually to legendary and figurative "immortality".

The xian archetype is described by Victor H. Mair.

They are immune to heat and cold, untouched by the elements, and can fly, mounting upward with a fluttering motion. They dwell apart from the chaotic world of man, subsist on air and dew, are not anxious like ordinary people, and have the smooth skin and innocent faces of children. The transcendents live an effortless existence that is best described as spontaneous. They recall the ancient Indian ascetics and holy men known as i who possessed similar traits.1994:376

According to the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism, Chinese xian () can mean Sanskrit i (rishi "inspired sage in the Vedas").

The most famous Chinese compound of xin is Bxin ( "the Eight Immortals"). Other common words include xinrn ( sennin in Japanese, "immortal person; transcendent", see Xinrn Dng), xinrnzhng ( "immortal's palm; cactus"), xinn ( "immortal woman; female celestial; angel"), and shnxin ( "gods and immortals; divine immortal"). Besides humans, xin can also refer to supernatural animals. The mythological hlijng (lit. "fox spirit") "fox fairy; vixen; witch; enchantress" has an alternate name of hxin (lit. "fox immortal").

The etymology of xin remains uncertain. The circa 200 CE Shiming, a Chinese dictionary that provided word-pun "etymologies", defines xin () as "to get old and not die," and explains it as someone who qin ( "moves into") the mountains."

Edward H. Schafer (1966:204) defined xian as "transcendent, sylph (a being who, through alchemical, gymnastic and other disciplines, has achieved a refined and perhaps immortal body, able to fly like a bird beyond the trammels of the base material world into the realms of aether, and nourish himself on air and dew.)" Schafer noted xian was cognate to xian "soar up", qian "remove", and xianxian "a flapping dance movement"; and compared Chinese yuren "feathered man; xian" with English peri "a fairy or supernatural being in Persian mythology" (Persian pari from par "feather; wing").

Two linguistic hypotheses for the etymology of xian involve the Arabic language and Sino-Tibetan languages. Wu and Davis (1935:224) suggested the source was jinn, or jinni "genie" (from Arabic jinn). "The marvelous powers of the Hsien are so like those of the jinni of the Arabian Nights that one wonders whether the Arabic word, jinn, may not be derived from the Chinese Hsien." Axel Schuessler's etymological dictionary (2007:527) suggests a Sino-Tibetan connection between xin (Old Chinese *san or *sen) "'An immortal' men and women who attain supernatural abilities; after death they become immortals and deities who can fly through the air" and Tibetan gen < g-syen "shaman, one who has supernatural abilities, incl[uding] travel through the air".

The word xin is written with three characters , , or , which combine the logographic "radical" rn ( or "person; human") with two "phonetic" elements (see Chinese character classification). The oldest recorded xin character has a xin ("rise up; ascend") phonetic supposedly because immortals could "ascend into the heavens". (Compare qin "move; transfer; change" combining this phonetic and the motion radical.) The usual modern xin character , and its rare variant , have a shn ( "mountain") phonetic. For a character analysis, Schipper (1993:164) interprets "'the human being of the mountain,' or alternatively, 'human mountain.' The two explanations are appropriate to these beings: they haunt the holy mountains, while also embodying nature."

The Shijing (220/3) contains the oldest occurrence of the character , reduplicated as xinxin ( "dance lightly; hop about; jump around"), and rhymed with qin (). "But when they have drunk too much, Their deportment becomes light and frivolousThey leave their seats, and [] go elsewhere, They keep [] dancing and capering." (tr. James Legge)[1] Needham and Wang (1956:134) suggest xian was cognate with wu "shamanic" dancing. Paper (1995:55) writes, "the function of the term xian in a line describing dancing may be to denote the height of the leaps. Since, "to live for a long time" has no etymological relation to xian, it may be a later accretion."

The 121 CE Shuowen Jiezi, the first important dictionary of Chinese characters, does not enter except in the definition for (Wo Quan "name of an ancient immortal"). It defines as "live long and move away" and as "appearance of a person on a mountaintop".

This section chronologically reviews how Chinese texts describe xian "immortals; transcendents". While the early Zhuangzi, Chuci, and Liezi texts allegorically used xian immortals and magic islands to describe spiritual immortality, later ones like the Shenxian zhuan and Baopuzi took immortality literally and described esoteric Chinese alchemical techniques for physical longevity. On one the hand, neidan ( "internal alchemy") techniques included taixi ( "embryo respiration") breath control, meditation, visualization, sexual training, and Tao Yin exercises (which later evolved into Qigong and T'ai chi ch'uan). On the other hand, waidan ( "external alchemy") techniques for immortality included alchemical recipes, magic plants, rare minerals, herbal medicines, drugs, and dietetic techniques like inedia.

The earliest representations of Chinese immortals, dating from the Han Dynasty, portray them flying with feathery wings (the word yuren "feathered person" later meant "Daoist") or riding dragons. In Chinese art, xian are often pictured with symbols of immortality including the dragon, crane, fox, white deer, pine tree, peach, and mushroom.

Besides the following major Chinese texts, many others use both graphic variants of xian. Xian () occurs in the Chunqiu Fanlu, Fengsu Tongyi, Qian fu lun, Fayan, and Shenjian; xian () occurs in the Caizhong langji, Fengsu Tongyi, Guanzi, and Shenjian.

Two circa 3rd century BCE "Outer Chapters" of the Zhuangzi ( "[Book of] Master Zhuang") use the archaic character xian . Chapter 11 has a parable about "Cloud Chief" () and "Big Concealment" () that uses the Shijing compound xianxian ("dance; jump"):

Big Concealment said, "If you confuse the constant strands of Heaven and violate the true form of things, then Dark Heaven will reach no fulfillment. Instead, the beasts will scatter from their herds, the birds will cry all night, disaster will come to the grass and trees, misfortune will reach even to the insects. Ah, this is the fault of men who 'govern'!" "Then what should I do?" said Cloud Chief. "Ah," said Big Concealment, "you are too far gone! [] Up, up, stir yourself and be off!" Cloud Chief said, "Heavenly Master, it has been hard indeed for me to meet with youI beg one word of instruction!" "Well, thenmindnourishment!" said Big Concealment. "You have only to rest in inaction and things will transform themselves. Smash your form and body, spit out hearing and eyesight, forget you are a thing among other things, and you may join in great unity with the deep and boundless. Undo the mind, slough off spirit, be blank and soulless, and the ten thousand things one by one will return to the rootreturn to the root and not know why. Dark and undifferentiated chaosto the end of life none will depart from it. But if you try to know it, you have already departed from it. Do not ask what its name is, do not try to observe its form. Things will live naturally end of themselves." Cloud Chief said, "The Heavenly Master has favored me with this Virtue, instructed me in this Silence. All my life I have been looking for it, and now at last I have it!" He bowed his head twice, stood up, took his leave, and went away. (11, tr. Burton Watson 1968:122-3)

Chapter 12 uses xian when mythical Emperor Yao describes a shengren ( "sagely person").

The true sage is a quail at rest, a little fledgling at its meal, a bird in flight who leaves no trail behind. When the world has the Way, he joins in the chorus with all other things. When the world is without the Way, he nurses his Virtue and retires in leisure. And after a thousand years, should he weary of the world, he will leave it and [] ascend to [] the immortals, riding on those white clouds all the way up to the village of God. (12, tr. Watson 1968:130)

Without using the word xian, several Zhuangzi passages employ xian imagery, like flying in the clouds, to describe individuals with superhuman powers. For example, Chapter 1, within the circa 3rd century BCE "Inner Chapters", has two portrayals. First is this description of Liezi (below).

Lieh Tzu could ride the wind and go soaring around with cool and breezy skill, but after fifteen days he came back to earth. As far as the search for good fortune went, he didn't fret and worry. He escaped the trouble of walking, but he still had to depend on something to get around. If he had only mounted on the truth of Heaven and Earth, ridden the changes of the six breaths, and thus wandered through the boundless, then what would he have had to depend on? Therefore, I say, the Perfect Man has no self; the Holy Man has no merit; the Sage has no fame. (1, tr. Watson 1968:32)

Second is this description of a shenren ( "divine person").

He said that there is a Holy Man living on faraway [] Ku-she Mountain, with skin like ice or snow, and gentle and shy like a young girl. He doesn't eat the five grains, but sucks the wind, drinks the dew, climbs up on the clouds and mist, rides a flying dragon, and wanders beyond the Four Seas. By concentrating his spirit, he can protect creatures from sickness and plague and make the harvest plentiful. (1, tr. Watson 1968:33)

The authors of the Zhuangzi had a lyrical view of life and death, seeing them as complimentary aspects of natural changes. This is antithetical to the physical immortality (changshengbulao "live forever and never age") sought by later Daoist alchemists. Consider this famous passage about accepting death.

Chuang Tzu's wife died. When Hui Tzu went to convey his condolences, he found Chuang Tzu sitting with his legs sprawled out, pounding on a tub and singing. "You lived with her, she brought up your children and grew old," said Hui Tzu. "It should be enough simply not to weep at her death. But pounding on a tub and singingthis is going too far, isn't it?" Chuang Tzu said, "You're wrong. When she first died, do you think I didn't grieve like anyone else? But I looked back to her beginning and the time before she was born. Not only the time before she was born, but the time before she had a body. Not only the time before she had a body, but the time before she had a spirit. In the midst of the jumble of wonder and mystery a change took place and she had a spirit. Another change and she had a body. Another change and she was born. Now there's been another change and she's dead. It's just like the progression of the four seasons, spring, summer, fall, winter." "Now she's going to lie down peacefully in a vast room. If I were to follow after her bawling and sobbing, it would show that I don't understand anything about fate. So I stopped. (18, tr. Watson 1968:1912)

Alan Fox explains this anecdote about Zhuangzi's wife.

Many conclusions can be reached on the basis of this story, but it seems that death is regarded as a natural part of the ebb and flow of transformations which constitute the movement of Dao. To grieve over death, or to fear one's own death, for that matter, is to arbitrarily evaluate what is inevitable. Of course, this reading is somewhat ironic given the fact that much of the subsequent Daoist tradition comes to seek longevity and immortality, and bases some of their basic models on the Zhuangzi. (1995:100)

The 3rd-2nd century BCE Chuci ( "Lyrics of Chu") anthology of poems uses xian once and xian twice, reflecting the disparate origins of the text. These three contexts mention the legendary Daoist xian immortals Chi Song ( "Red Pine", see Kohn 1993:1424) and Wang Qiao (, or Zi Qiao ). In later Daoist hagiography, Chi Song was Lord of Rain under Shennong, the legendary inventor of agriculture; and Wang Qiao was a son of King Ling of Zhou (r. 571545 BCE), who flew away on a giant white bird, became an immortal and was never again seen.

The "Yuan You" ( "Far-off Journey") poem describes a spiritual journey into the realms of gods and immortals, frequently referring to Daoist myths and techniques.

My spirit darted forth and did not return to me, And my body, left tenantless, grew withered and lifeless. Then I looked into myself to strengthen my resolution, And sought to learn from where the primal spirit issues. In emptiness and silence I found serenity; In tranquil inaction I gained true satisfaction. I heard how once Red Pine had washed the world's dust off: I would model myself on the pattern he had left me. I honoured the wondrous powers of the [] Pure Ones, And those of past ages who had become [] Immortals. They departed in the flux of change and vanished from men's sight, Leaving a famous name that endures after them. (tr. Hawkes 1985:194)

The "Xi shi" ( "Sorrow for Troth Betrayed") resembles the "Yuan You", and both reflect Daoist ideas from the Han period. "Though unoriginal in theme," says Hawkes (1985:239), "its description of air travel, written in a pre-aeroplane age, is exhilarating and rather impressive."

We gazed down of the Middle Land [China] with its myriad people As we rested on the whirlwind, drifting about at random. In this way we came at last to the moor of Shao-yuan: There, with the other blessed ones, were Red Pine and Wang Qiao. The two Masters held zithers tuned in perfect concord: I sang the Qing Shang air to their playing. In tranquil calm and quiet enjoyment, Gently I floated, inhaling all the essences. But then I thought that this immortal life of [] the blessed, Was not worth the sacrifice of my home-returning. (tr. Hawkes 1985:240)

The "Ai shi ming" ( "Alas That My Lot Was Not Cast") describes a celestial journey similar to the previous two.

Far and forlorn, with no hope of return: Sadly I gaze in the distance, over the empty plain. Below, I fish in the valley streamlet; Above, I seek out [] holy hermits. I enter into friendship with Red Pine; I join Wang Qiao as his companion. We send the Xiao Yang in front to guide us; The White Tiger runs back and forth in attendance. Floating on the cloud and mist, we enter the dim height of heaven; Riding on the white deer we sport and take our pleasure. tr. Hawkes 1985:266)

The "Li Sao" ( "On Encountering Trouble"), the most famous Chuci poem, is usually interpreted as describing ecstatic flights and trance techniques of Chinese shamans. The above three poems are variations describing Daoist xian.

Some other Chuci poems refer to immortals with synonyms of xian. For instance, "Shou zhi" ( "Maintaining Resolution), uses zhenren ( "true person", tr. "Pure Ones" above in "Yuan You"), which Wang Yi's commentary glosses as zhen xianren ( "true immortal person").

I visited Fu Yue, bestriding a dragon, Joined in marriage with the Weaving Maiden, Lifted up Heaven's Net to capture evil, Drew the Bow of Heaven to shoot at wickedness, Followed the [] Immortals fluttering through the sky, Ate of the Primal Essence to prolong my life. (tr. Hawkes 1985:318)

The Liezi ( "[Book of] Master Lie"), which Louis Komjathy (2004:36) says "was probably compiled in the 3rd century CE (while containing earlier textual layers)", uses xian four times, always in the compound xiansheng ( "immortal sage").

Nearly half of Chapter 2 ("The Yellow Emperor") comes from the Zhuangzi, including this recounting of the above fable about Mount Gushe (, or Guye, or Miao Gushe ).

The Ku-ye mountains stand on a chain of islands where the Yellow River enters the sea. Upon the mountains there lives a Divine Man, who inhales the wind and drinks the dew, and does not eat the five grains. His mind is like a bottomless spring, his body is like a virgin's. He knows neither intimacy nor love, yet [] immortals and sages serve him as ministers. He inspires no awe, he is never angry, yet the eager and diligent act as his messengers. He is without kindness and bounty, but others have enough by themselves; he does not store and save, but he himself never lacks. The Yin and Yang are always in tune, the sun and moon always shine, the four seasons are always regular, wind and rain are always temperate, breeding is always timely, the harvest is always rich, and there are no plagues to ravage the land, no early deaths to afflict men, animals have no diseases, and ghosts have no uncanny echoes. (tr. Graham 1960:35)

Chapter 5 uses xiansheng three times in a conversation set between legendary rulers Tang () of the Shang Dynasty and Ji () of the Xia Dynasty.

T'ang asked again: 'Are there large things and small, long and short, similar and different?' 'To the East of the Gulf of Chih-li, who knows how many thousands and millions of miles, there is a deep ravine, a valley truly without bottom; and its bottomless underneath is named "The Entry to the Void". The waters of the eight corners and the nine regions, the stream of the Milky Way, all pour into it, but it neither shrinks nor grows. Within it there are five mountains, called Tai-y, Yan-chiao, Fang-hu, Ying-chou and P'eng-Iai. These mountains are thirty thousand miles high, and as many miles round; the tablelands on their summits extend for nine thousand miles. It is seventy thousand miles from one mountain to the next, but they are considered close neighbours. The towers and terraces upon them are all gold and jade, the beasts and birds are all unsullied white; trees of pearl and garnet always grow densely, flowering and bearing fruit which is always luscious, and those who eat of it never grow old and die. The men who dwell there are all of the race of [] immortal sages, who fly, too many to be counted, to and from one mountain to another in a day and a night. Yet the bases of the five mountains used to rest on nothing; they were always rising and falling, going and returning, with the ebb and flow of the tide, and never for a moment stood firm. The [] immortals found this troublesome, and complained about it to God. God was afraid that they would drift to the far West and he would lose the home of his sages. So he commanded Y-ch'iang to make fifteen [] giant turtles carry the five mountains on their lifted heads, taking turns in three watches, each sixty thousand years long; and for the first time the mountains stood firm and did not move. 'But there was a giant from the kingdom of the Dragon Earl, who came to the place of the five mountains in no more than a few strides. In one throw he hooked six of the turtles in a bunch, hurried back to his country carrying them together on his back, and scorched their bones to tell fortunes by the cracks. Thereupon two of the mountains, Tai-y and Yan-chiao, drifted to the far North and sank in the great sea; the [] immortals who were carried away numbered many millions. God was very angry, and reduced by degrees the size of the Dragon Earl's kingdom and the height of his subjects. At the time of Fu-hsi and Shen-nung, the people of this country were still several hundred feet high.' (tr. Graham 1960:978)

Penglai Mountain became the most famous of these five mythical peaks where the elixir of life supposedly grew, and is known as Horai in Japanese legends. The first emperor Qin Shi Huang sent his court alchemist Xu Fu on expeditions to find these plants of immortality, but he never returned (although by some accounts, he discovered Japan).

Holmes Welch (1957:8897) analyzed the beginnings of Daoism, sometime around the 4th-3rd centuries BCE, from four separate streams: philosophical Daoism (Laozi, Zhuangzi, Liezi), a "hygiene school" that cultivated longevity through breathing exercises and yoga, Chinese alchemy and Five Elements philosophy, and those who sought Penglai and elixirs of "immortality". This is what he concludes about xian.

It is my own opinion, therefore, that though the word hsien, or Immortal, is used by Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu, and though they attributed to their idealized individual the magic powers that were attributed to the hsien in later times, nonetheless the hsien ideal was something they did not believe ineither that it was possible or that it was good. The magic powers are allegories and hyperboles for the natural powers that come from identification with Tao. Spiritualized Man, P'eng-lai, and the rest are features of a genre which is meant to entertain, disturb, and exalt us, not to be taken as literal hagiography. Then and later, the philosophical Taoists were distinguished from all other schools of Taoism by their rejection of the pursuit of immortality. As we shall see, their books came to be adopted as scriptural authority by those who did practice magic and seek to become immortal. But it was their misunderstanding of philosophical Taoism that was the reason they adopted it. (Welch 1957:95)

The Shenxian zhuan ( Biographies of Spirit Immortals") is a hagiography of xian. Although it was traditionally attributed to Ge Hong (283343 CE), Komjathy (2004:43) says, "The received versions of the text contain some 100-odd hagiographies, most of which date from 6th-8th centuries at the earliest."

According to the Shenxian zhuan, there are four schools of immortality:

Q (Pneumas): Breath control and meditation. Those who belong to this school can

"...blow on water and it will flow against its own current for several paces; blow on fire, and it will be extinguished; blow at tigers or wolves, and they will crouch down and not be able to move; blow at serpents, and they will coil up and be unable to flee. If someone is wounded by a weapon, blow on the wound, and the bleeding will stop. If you hear of someone who has suffered a poisonous insect bite, even if you are not in his presence, you can, from a distance, blow and say in incantation over your own hand (males on the left hand, females on the right), and the person will at once be healed even if more than a hundred li away. And if you yourself are struck by a sudden illness, you have merely to swallow pneumas in three series of nine, and you will immediately recover. But the most essential thing [among such arts] is fetal breathing. Those who obtain [the technique of] fetal breathing become able to breathe without using their nose or mouth, as if in the womb, and this is the culmination of the way [of pneumatic cultivation]." (Campany 2002:21)

Fn (Diet): Ingestion of herbal compounds and abstention from the Sn Sh Fn (Three-Corpses food)Meats (raw fish, pork, dog, leeks, and scallions) and grains. The Shenxian zhuan uses this story to illustrate the importance of bigu "grain avoidance":

"During the reign of Emperor Cheng of the Han, hunters in the Zhongnan Mountains saw a person who wore no clothes, his body covered with black hair. Upon seeing this person, the hunters wanted to pursue and capture him, but the person leapt over gullies and valleys as if in flight, and so could not be overtaken. [But after being surrounded and captured, it was discovered this person was a 200 plus year old woman, who had once been a concubine of Qin Emperor Ziying. When he had surrendered to the 'invaders of the east', she fled into the mountains where she learned to subside on 'the resin and nuts of pines' from an old man. Afterwards, this diet 'enabled [her] to feel neither hunger nor thirst; in winter [she] was not cold, in summer [she] was not hot.'] The hunters took the woman back in. They offered her grain to eat. When she first smelled the stink of grain, she vomited, and only after several days could she tolerate it. After little more than two years of this [diet], her body hair fell out; she turned old and died. Had she not been caught by men, she would have become a transcendent." (Campany 2002:2223)

Fngzhng Zh Sh (Arts of the Bedchamber): Sexual yoga. (Campany 2002:3031) According to a discourse between the Yellow Emperor and the immortaless Sn (Plain Girl), one of the three daughters of Hsi Wang Mu,

The sexual behaviors between a man and woman are identical to how the universe itself came into creation. Like Heaven and Earth, the male and female share a parallel relationship in attaining an immortal existence. They both must learn how to engage and develop their natural sexual instincts and behaviors; otherwise the only result is decay and traumatic discord of their physical lives. However, if they engage in the utmost joys of sensuality and apply the principles of yin and yang to their sexual activity, their health, vigor, and joy of love will bear them the fruits of longevity and immortality. (Hsi 2002:99100)

The White Tigress Manual, a treatise on female sexual yoga, states,

A female can completely restore her youthfulness and attain immortality if she refrains from allowing just one or two men in her life from stealing and destroying her [sexual] essence, which will only serve in aging her at a rapid rate and bring about an early death. However, if she can acquire the sexual essence of a thousand males through absorption, she will acquire the great benefits of youthfulness and immortality. (Hsi 2001:48)

Dn ("Alchemy", literally "Cinnabar"): Elixir of Immortality.(Campany 2002:31)

The 4th century CE Baopuzi ( "[Book of] Master Embracing Simplicity"), which was written by Ge Hong, gives some highly detailed descriptions of xian.

The text lists three classes of immortals:

These titles were usually given to humans who had either not proven themselves worthy of or were not fated to become immortals. One such famous agent was Fei Changfang, who was eventually murdered by evil spirits because he lost his book of magic talismans. However, some immortals are written to have used this method in order to escape execution. (Campany 2002:5260)

Ge Hong wrote in his book The Master Who Embraces Simplicity,

The [immortals] Dark Girl and Plain Girl compared sexual activity as the intermingling of fire [yang/male] and water [yin/female], claiming that water and fire can kill people but can also regenerate their life, depending on whether or not they know the correct methods of sexual activity according to their nature. These arts are based on the theory that the more females a man copulates with, the greater benefit he will derive from the act. Men who are ignorant of this art, copulating with only one or two females during their life, will only suffice to bring about their untimely and early death. (Hsi 2001:48)

The Zhong L Chuan Dao Ji (/ "Anthology of the Transmission of the Dao from Zhong[li Quan] to L [Dongbin]") is associated with Zhongli Quan (2nd century CE?) and L Dongbin (9th century CE), two of the legendary Eight Immortals. It is part of the so-called Zhong-L () textual tradition of internal alchemy (neidan). Komjathy (2004:57) describes it as, "Probably dating from the late Tang (618906), the text is in question-and-answer format, containing a dialogue between L and his teacher Zhongli on aspects of alchemical terminology and methods."

The Zhong L Chuan Dao Ji lists five classes of immortals:

The ragama Stra, in an approach to Taoist teachings, discusses the characteristics of ten types of xian who exist between the world of devas ("gods") and that of human beings. This position, in Buddhist literature, is usually occupied by asuras ("Titans", "antigods"). These xian are not considered true cultivators of samadhi ("unification of mind"), as their methods differ from the practice of dhyna ("meditation").[2][3]

The rest is here:

Xian (Taoism) - Wikipedia

Angel: Buffy, be careful with this gift. A lot of things that seem strong, good and powerful, they can be painful. Buffy: Like say... immortality? Angel: Exactly. I'm dying to get rid of that. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Put your hand down. This is not a vote. The worst fate possible might well be immortality. Sure, you might like the idea that you get to live forever and see what the world's like hundreds of years from now, but what's eternal life compared to the pain of life in general? From eventual boredom to eternal entrapment and torture to the emotional anguish of seeing your loved ones die, one by one, as you stay fixed in time. When done Anviliciously, this can seem like Sour Grapes on the part of the very much mortal writers. May be used as a Fantastic Aesop. This attitude toward immortality is Older Than Feudalism, going back at least as far as the Greek myths about Tithonos's Age Without Youth and Prometheus's punishment and of course the appeal behind He why is your hand still up!? Compare Blessed with Suck for those that angst as well as And I Must Scream for the mindset this can create. Contrast Living Forever Is Awesome for those who like it, and Immortality Seeker for those who seek it, and Eternal Love where immortals fall in love. See Living Forever Is No Big Deal for the middle ground. See also Immortality Hurts, which is a subtrope. Immunity Disability is a supertrope (here, the "immunity" is to death). See Analysis for more horrifying details.

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A thousand years have come and gone, but time has passed me by Stars stopped in the sky Frozen in an everlasting view Waiting for the world to end, weary of the night Praying for the light Prison of the lost Xanadu

And there's never gonna be enough money And there's never gonna be drugs And we're never gonna get old And there's never gonna be enough bullets And there's never gonna be sex And we're never gonna get old

If I've lived a thousand times before And if I'm gonna live anymore Always brings me down Everyone wants to live forever Thinkin' that it'd be a lot better... Everyone wants to live forever But no one ever gets it together

Radiation got me as well made me immortal in this hell An old dream coming true but why now when there is nothing to do? Since then I've been searching around going from town to town Could it only have happened to me? Am I doomed to be I'm the last man on earth

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"Eternity is permanent boredom A cheerless cycle with neither beginning, nor end For all the time the same is repeated from the start No exultation, no horror Only the boring Idiotic Eternity"

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Nothing ever really happens to me. I am completely safe from harm, and this is a great burden... I think that one day, this world will simply talk itself to death, and I will be left to flit about in the void. I will be the Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives Nowhere.

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Freeze: You want to live like this? Abandoned and alone, A prisoner in a world you can see but never touch. Old and infirm as you are, I'd trade a thousand of my frozen years for your worst day.

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Originally posted here:

Who Wants to Live Forever? - TV Tropes

Study, along the lines which the theologies have mapped, will never lead us to discovery of the fundamental facts of our existence. That goal must be attained by means of exact science and can only be achieved by such means. The fact that man, for ages, has superstitiously believed in what he calls a God does not prove at all that his theory has been right. There have been many gods all makeshifts, born of inability to fathom the deep fundamental truth. There must be something at the bottom of existence, and man, in ignorance, being unable to discover what it is through reason, because his reason has been so imperfect, undeveloped, has used, instead, imagination, and created figments, of one kind or another, which, according to the country he was born in, the suggestions of his environment, satisfied him for the time being. Not one of all the gods of all the various theologies has ever really been proved. We accept no ordinary scientific fact without the final proof; why should we, then, be satisfied in this most mighty of all matters, with a mere theory?

Destruction of false theories will not decrease the sum of human happiness in future, any more than it has in the past... The days of miracles have passed. I do not believe, of course, that there was ever any day of actual miracles. I cannot understand that there were ever any miracles at all. My guide must be my reason, and at thought of miracles my reason is rebellious. Personally, I do not believe that Christ laid claim to doing miracles, or asserted that he had miraculous power...

Our intelligence is the aggregate intelligence of the cells which make us up. There is no soul, distinct from mind, and what we speak of as the mind is just the aggregate intelligence of cells. It is fallacious to declare that we have souls apart from animal intelligence, apart from brains. It is the brain that keeps us going. There is nothing beyond that.

Life goes on endlessly, but no more in human beings than in other animals, or, for that matter, than in vegetables. Life, collectively, must be immortal, human beings, individually, cannot be, as I see it, for they are not the individuals they are mere aggregates of cells.

There is no supernatural. We are continually learning new things. There are powers within us which have not yet been developed and they will develop. We shall learn things of ourselves, which will be full of wonders, but none of them will be beyond the natural.

[Columbian Magazine interview] Thomas A. Edison

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Quotes About Immortality (482 quotes)