Caledonia Heron: I wonder about the 9 secs - that is during this time, yes?
Caledonia Heron: or apart from this?
Pema Pera: apart from this
Caledonia Heron: ok, good
Caledonia Heron: I forgot the part about writing notes so I started doing that
Pema Pera: the idea is to spend one or more hours each day
Pema Pera: and during that time to spend 9 sec each 15 min. ;>)
Caledonia Heron: ok, I get it
Caledonia Heron: do you guys remember regularly - at 15 min intervals - my discipline is not good at that yet
Pema Pera: after a while you get more and more used to it
Caledonia Heron: mm
Pema Pera: you don’t have to do it precisely each 15 minutes
Pema Pera: a few times an hour is a good start
Storm Nordwind: I’m random and I prefer it to stay that way
Pema Pera: yes, that’s fine
Caledonia Heron: I appear to be more random within the hour also
Pema Pera: ;>)
Caledonia Heron: I’m curious to see what patterns emerge after a reasonable sample of notes
Storm Nordwind: Unless there is something important about the exactness - to catch you unawares if you like - I prefer it when it comes to my attention
Caledonia Heron: I can see that
Pema Pera: yes, the whole notion of play implies a lot of freedom
Pema Pera: we can all learn from each other, seeing how each of us approaches this type of play in a different way
Pema Pera: I mainly intended to start the ball rolling
Storm Nordwind: My whole life is play. This fits into that very well
Pema explained how he got to his suggestions, which lead to a discussion about continuity.
Pema Pera: my main suggestion has been to trade duration for frequency
Pema Pera: duration of meditation or contempliation is wonderful: if you can do it for hours a day, you will definitely learn and see a lot more
Pema Pera: but few people (think they) have the time . . . .
Pema Pera: so . . .
Pema Pera: as an alternative,
Pema Pera: I pulled a trick,
Caledonia Heron: the 1% tax :)
Pema Pera: yes!
Pema Pera: total time is less than needed to brush your teeth
Caledonia Heron: quite clever :)
Pema Pera: brush your soul every 15 minutes
Pema Pera: not a dent-ist
Pema Pera: but how to call it
Caledonia Heron: lol, nice and shiny
Pema Pera: yeah
Pema Pera: soul-ist?
Storm Nordwind: Now you are applying culture quality judgments!
Pema Pera: ;>)
Pema Pera: how would you say it, Storm?
Storm Nordwind: I’d keep it free
Caledonia Heron: not bad just a thing,
Caledonia Heron: I wonder if the requirement to be a some “thing” even something “free” is in itself not freedom…
Pema Pera: YES!
Pema Pera: a thing is something to have, not to be
Pema Pera: not to Be
Caledonia Heron: seems you can say it however you want - I find my point of view is not actually gotten even if I think I’ve said it well
Pema Pera: we try to point
Pema Pera: dance around it
Pema Pera: share
Pema Pera: enjoy
Pema Pera: intuit
Caledonia Heron: yes, exactly - so not judgement, not free
Storm Nordwind: The thing for me is that 9 seconds is FAR too short a time. If I am Being then it is continuous
Storm Nordwind: The meditation I learned 35 years ago could be done every waking moment and beyond
Pema Pera: yes the idea is to do it throughout the 15 minutes, continuously
Pema Pera: and the 9 seconds are like a spark plug
Storm Nordwind: Living itself is all the spark needed!
Pema Pera: In FAQ #3 I have tried to point to that.
Pema Pera: yes, Storm I agree
Pema Pera: but to learn to live that way may take 35 years or more
Pema Pera: and I would love to share this with others in less than 35 years
Pema Pera: more like 3.5 years or so
Pema Pera: or even 3 months
Pema Pera: to see how far we can get
Storm Nordwind: Quite so. It took me a few months, that is all
Pema Pera: but I presume it is getting more continuous with time?
Storm Nordwind: It is a matter of choice! :)
We talked about getting out of our heads:
Caledonia Heron: hmmm, I’m struggling to say something about ground of being and it does not formulate well
Storm Nordwind: Please continue at your leisure Cal!
Pema Pera: yes, Cal, please try to formulate
Pema Pera: you’re among friends here
Caledonia Heron: uuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh…a bit stuck
Pema Pera: we can help each other getting things pointed out
Caledonia Heron: something about operating from my middle by some kind of radar most of the time
Caledonia Heron: doesn’t make sense really it’s just a weird intuition sensory process
Storm Nordwind: It sounds like someone with an awareness (even if not an understanding) of Chi
Caledonia Heron: I get the chi intellectually which is extant from this “radar”
Caledonia Heron: or qi…spelling?
Storm Nordwind: Both spellings work for me
Caledonia Heron: like today - a very quiet place of being, observing where some days I am wearing my “game face”
Caledonia Heron: seems silly in a way
Storm Nordwind: It does not sound silly! :)
Caledonia Heron: it is a paradox :)
Caledonia Heron: to me
Pema Pera: Switching from head to hara/belly/body-center is very powerful
Pema Pera: either hara or heart
Pema Pera: so very different from living in your head
Storm Nordwind: Quite so
Second Life: Thirty minute load test commencing at 1:30 p.m. Pacific. Please see the blog for details.
Caledonia Heron: interesting - did not conceive it as such but understand the idea and event
Pema Pera: here is a very very simple exploration
Pema Pera: just take a minutes or so
Pema Pera: whenever you don’t have much specifics to do
Pema Pera: and try to see with your heart rather than with your eyes
Pema Pera: whenever I do that I am amazed at the difference
Pema Pera: the whole bodily sense of being present shifts, and mind too of course
Caledonia Heron: it is too much to bear sometimes
Pema Pera: yes, that can happen too
Storm Nordwind: Actually switching to any other centre apart from the head has often shattering effects for many
Pema Pera: yes
Pema Pera: so many degrees of freedom in our awareness that are always open for us but most of us never explore
Caledonia Heron: I feel unequipped to the overload
Storm Nordwind: Cal - I suggest that you do this at first only in a place where you feel familiar, safe and protected
Caledonia Heron: sometimes it just happens
Storm Nordwind: I see. I understand
Pema Pera: the nice thing about these daily meetings, Cal, is that whenever you feel overloaded, you can find friends here to talk about it with, within 6 hours, or at most 12 ;>)
Caledonia Heron: true - thank you Pera
Pema Pera: yes, Storm, always good to ease in
Pema Pera: sharing is the key to many of the best things
Caledonia Heron: yes, I think you may be right - expression of something so intense always seems to fall short of the experience
Pema Pera: but if like-minded people are present, they can `get’ a lot more than you may think at first
Storm Nordwind: Expression is only sometimes desirable anyway. Internalisation is often more productive
Caledonia brought up the key notion of `ground of being.’
Caledonia Heron: yes which goes to ground of being - a shared place to come from ….I think that is why people tend to group up by interest, vibration
Pema Pera: it is more a resonance than a pouring of information from one vessel into another
Pema Pera: can you say more about ground of being? — a term I like very much
Caledonia Heron: true Storm - internalize to learn from
Caledonia Heron: ground of being - it’s where you come from, how you operate, how you relate to people, qualities like honesty, integrity
Caledonia Heron: and you tend to gravitate to people who share your ground of being
Caledonia Heron: so …maybe buddhists with buddhists for you guys , you share a ground of being
Storm Nordwind: This can be as mundane as a shared value system or a common project goal
Caledonia Heron: no Storm
Caledonia Heron: not my understanding
Caledonia Heron: ground of being is fundamental to the essence of who you are
Caledonia Heron: that is more what I mean when I use that phrase
Pema Pera: Perhaps what I call “Being” could be this ground of being?
Pema Pera: ground of all beings?
Caledonia Heron: yes, I think so but more abstract in what it encompasses
Pema Pera: Being is not meant to be an abstract term
Pema Pera: but I prefer not to use a term related to a specific religion
Caledonia Heron: no I think it is a state
Pema Pera: a state?
Caledonia Heron: a state of consciousness
Pema Pera: it may take a while for us to find shared language, and fortunately we can take our time!
Storm Nordwind: So how can, in your view Cal, people tell whether or not they have the same ground of being? Simply by the fact that they gravitate together?
Caledonia Heron: no not really Storm, there is no litmus test…
Caledonia Heron: it’s a sense you develop over time being with people I think
Storm Nordwind: Is it something therefore you can only sense after the fact?
Caledonia Heron: there’s easy correlations you can draw…group a with group a, like that….this is more squishy :)
Caledonia Heron: that would be one way
Caledonia Heron: a shared experience(s) would be another
Storm Nordwind: And therefore not something you can plan for? Nor anticipate?
Caledonia Heron: I want to say yes but you learn after a while where not to waste your time maybe
Storm Nordwind smiles
Caledonia Heron: I’m really struggling here :)
Storm Nordwind: Then when it is positive it is part of the joy of being then :)
Caledonia Heron: yes!!
Storm Nordwind: That I can very much understand! :)
Caledonia Heron: and shared which goes back to what Pema said :)
Storm Nordwind: yes
And we wound up with musings about geeks, labs and back to play:
Pema Pera: You mentioned “state”, Cal. For me, a state is something you have, and what you ARE goes beyond any notion of a state
Pema Pera: but I want to be careful ; perhaps we mean different things by “state”?
Caledonia Heron: maybe the word state has too many boundaries associated with it
Storm Nordwind: As a software engineer, I would have to differ with you there Pema!
Caledonia Heron: :)
Pema Pera: ?
Pema Pera: I like functional programming, Storm ;>)
Caledonia Heron: lol, I think we agree on the vagaries of vocabulary :)
Storm Nordwind: All the scripts in SL use a state driven language
Pema Pera: surprise, we all have software background ;>)
Caledonia Heron: geeks united! right on!!
Storm Nordwind cringes!
Pema Pera: but in Buddhism, “suchness” or THAT does not have a state, right?
Storm Nordwind: sure
Caledonia Heron: lol, indeed Storm
Pema Pera: geeks at play
Caledonia Heron: I don’t know - I don’t really know what the tenents are - I have home grown spiritual radar :)
Pema Pera: that’s the only way to really treat your life as a lab — stay with the experience
Storm Nordwind: It’s cool. So do I. I call it “intuition” in order to describe it to none-savvy people, but it seems similar
Caledonia Heron: then I’m a big messy lab I’m afraid
Caledonia Heron: yes…assuredly intuition
Pema Pera: that’s where the discoveries are made;>)
Pema Pera: clean labs are for mopping up operations
Caledonia Heron: lol
Pema Pera: honestly
Pema Pera: penicillin was invented that way ;>)
Pema Pera: came through the window as impurity
Caledonia Heron: !
Storm Nordwind: People used to say at work that an untidy desk is the sign of an untidy mind. Until we can a clear-away desk policy. So an empty desk is the sign of… ? :)
Caledonia Heron: no work!
Caledonia Heron: :)
Pema Pera: wu-wei
Caledonia Heron: Play!!
Pema Pera: not-work
Storm Nordwind: yay!
Pema Pera: (^_^)
Pema Pera: yeah!!
Pema Pera: play as we may
Pema Pera: I’m afraid I have to get going
Storm Nordwind: me too
Caledonia Heron: yes, I also
Caledonia Heron: thank you for listening
Pema Pera: how wonderful to have this kind of conversation!
Caledonia Heron: and your ideas
Pema Pera: this is what I had hoped would happen
Pema Pera: free flow
Pema Pera: playfully serious
Pema Pera: seriously playful
Caledonia Heron sees those words circling….
Storm Nordwind: My thought for the blog: “Stepping into flowing water - delicious”
Pema Pera: btw, like your vision entry on your blog with the pic, Storm!
Pema Pera: ;-)
Caledonia Heron: yes! very nice
Caledonia Heron: my land is on a river…great strength there
Caledonia Heron: bye :)
Storm Nordwind: Namaste
