Riddle Sideways: hi pema
Pema Pera: Hi Riddle!
Pema Pera: The grid has been rather unstable today
Riddle Sideways: I had trouble getting logged in
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: hey there …
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: good evening
Pema Pera: Hi Friedrich!
Pema Pera: Tara will be joining us in a moment
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: great. hi riddle
Riddle Sideways: hi friedrich
Tara Farmer: hello all
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: welcome
Riddle Sideways: hi tara
Pema Pera: Hi Tara, welcome again!
Tara Farmer: thanks very much, it is good to be amongst friends
Pema Pera: Yes, we are beginning to form a real community, even after just one week!
Tara Farmer: I have been trying to get here in the evenings
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: night owl?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: (though i hav no idea what timezone you ive in)
Tara Farmer: ha ha i am an all time owl
Tara Farmer: i managed to catch three minutes of bunans sitting last night
Tara Farmer: or the night before i mean
Tara Farmer: pema, it has only been a week for you?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: april foold!
Pema Pera: for all of us here — we started on April 1, yes
Pema Pera: (^_^)
Tara Farmer: i come here in the mornings for some tai chi and a sitting
Tara Farmer: just me usually, when i met bunan we did tai chi together
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: this playful prank lasted past the first though. pema was serious
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: the waters here are healing
Pema Pera: Tara we have a blog at http://playasbeing.wordpress.com/
Pema Pera: lots of stuff there, but don’t let that intimidate you ;>)
Pema Pera: we’re just chatting here among friends
Tara Farmer: i’m not easily intimidated
Tara Farmer: to say the least
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: well, the digests and synthesis are in the works ;-)
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: right, pema?
Pema Pera: now we have a challenge, Tara (^^)
Pema Pera: see whether we can intimidate Tara
Tara Farmer: hey pema…
Pema Pera: yes, digests moving along Fried
Friedrich Ochsenhorn:
Pema Pera: btw, Tara, are you going to show your math art?
Tara Farmer: you led me into a strange little experiment the other day with siefert
Tara was referring to a tour given by Seifert Surface, a few days earlier, as part of the activitiest of the QSL group in SL. During that tour Tara was picked as the cheer leader in the Crooked House, so we refered back to her bewildering experience.
Tara Farmer: math art
Pema Pera: well, yes
Tara Farmer: how do i show it
Pema Pera: that was more than I expected!
Tara Farmer: ?
Pema Pera: I had no idea you would be choosen!!!
Pema Pera: you said you also had math art?
Tara Farmer: i am the chosen one
Tara Farmer: :)
Pema Pera: lol
Pema Pera: clearly!
Tara Farmer: ahh yes, if you are interested you can view it online
Pema Pera: choosen to be challenged
Pema Pera: URL?
Tara Farmer: http://www.artwanted.com/goddesstara
Pema Pera: wow
Tara Farmer: that is my photography and drawings
Tara Farmer: fantastic
Pema Pera: will look at it later
Tara Farmer: are you looking?
Tara Farmer: oh ok
Pema Pera: but I already see plenty of options for gorgeous T shirts!
Tara Farmer: i don’t use math to create my art though
Pema Pera: yes looked briefly
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: quite beautiful. tnx for sharing
Tara Farmer: well math from my head i guess
Pema Pera: Riddle, like your Java shirt!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: what were you chosen for?
Tara Farmer: thanks friedrich
Tara Farmer: oh pema led me to a math art discussion/speech
Tara Farmer: how interesting because this is along the lines of what i was chosen for the other night
Tara Farmer: seifert led us into a house he designed and I was the guinea pig
Riddle Sideways: to do what
Tara Farmer: I was told to walk through the house and down some flights of stairs
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: oh. in here that could have meant you actually leanred how to turn into a rodent
Tara Farmer: as i walked down stairs everyone else stayed in the room
Tara Farmer: eventually i got to a room with doors on every wall
Tara Farmer: I entered one of the dorrs and I went through (with some difficulty)\
Tara Farmer: when i went through I was in a room with everyone else but i was walking on the wall
Tara Farmer: !!!
Tara Farmer: it was freekin rad
Riddle Sideways: an eschar house
Tara Farmer: yes sir
Tara Farmer: that is what he called it
Pema Pera: This was an event organized by QSL, see http://qwaq-sl.org/QSL/ ; if you are not a member already, let me know and I’ll make you one
Tara asked about our activities here, so we summarized the basic ideas behind Playing as Being.
Pema Pera: Tara, have you been in SL for a long time?
Tara Farmer: it reminds me of running in a dream
Tara Farmer: pema I just fell off the turnip truck
Pema Pera: lol
Riddle Sideways: lol
Tara Farmer: but i was chatting in IRC since i was 18
Pema Pera: did you hear something about what we turnips are doing here, Tara?
Tara Farmer: i have been connecting with people around the world for my whole adult life
Pema Pera: playing as Being and such
Tara Farmer: pema, I was here with you the one time, when we met, remmeber?
Pema Pera: yes of course I remember
Pema Pera: but that time was mostly chatting
Pema Pera: which was fun too of course
Tara Farmer: ahh, well then i do not understand fully
Pema Pera: but we didn’t really talk much about the 9-sec experiment and such
Tara Farmer: as i thought that is what we were doing
Pema Pera: ;>)
Tara Farmer: oh do tell
Pema Pera: well the basic idea is that instead of trying to see deeper into reality by meditation or contemplation or tai chi or yoga or some such thing for an hour or more every day
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i don’t know about anyone else, but the transition to the weekend from the weekdays was tough on my practice
Pema Pera: we are trying to to something radically different
Pema Pera: namely every 15 minutes
Pema Pera: we try to spend 9 seconds on a form of practice
Pema Pera: I call it a 1% time tax
Pema Pera: and you don’t have to do that the whole day
Tara Farmer: ok
Pema Pera: just an hour a day is fine
Pema Pera: or a few hours
Pema Pera: in total that will cost you no more than a minute or two
Pema Pera: like for brushing your teeth
Pema Pera: so you see
Pema Pera: no reason not to try it for lack of time
Pema Pera: BUT it requires some persistence
Tara Farmer: i see
Pema Pera: to do it regularly
Tara Farmer: time is a human construct
Pema Pera smiles with the thought of Tara meeting her challenge now
Tara Farmer: ha ha
Pema Pera: anyway
Pema Pera: would you like to try that for a few days?
Tara Farmer: so like deep breathing, a yoga move, what?
Pema Pera: just to see
Pema Pera: not necessarily
Pema Pera: just stop what you’re doing for 9 seconds (or thereabouts)
Pema Pera: could be a bit longer of course
Pema Pera: and try to poke holes in your normal concepts of reality
Pema Pera: open up a bit
Tara Farmer: ha ha
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: (er, when i’m alone, the sun salutation has snuck into my breaks)
Pema Pera: then write down a few words about the experience
Pema Pera: in a journal
Pema Pera: like a laboratory journal
Pema Pera: your own life as a lab
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: moleskins are great
Tara Farmer: I’m pretty open and poking holes in reality is my thing…but I could always be more open
Pema Pera: I feel the same
Pema Pera: you can find a bit more in http://playasbeing.wordpress.com/hints-for-playing-as-being/
Pema Pera: great, we got a deal!
Tara Farmer: okay so….
Pema Pera: So we come together here to discuss how we’ve been doing
Pema Pera: what we find
Tara Farmer: for an hour a day
Pema Pera: sharing
Pema Pera: suggesting
Pema Pera: having fun too of course
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: and, you have to figure out what taking a break in here means too…
Tara Farmer: every 15 muntes i stop for 9 seconds (or thereabouts)
Pema Pera: yes
Pema Pera: roughly four times an hour
Pema Pera: doesn’t have to be precise
Pema Pera: and not while using heavy dangerous equipment (^_^)
Tara Farmer: and i poke holes in reality
Riddle Sideways: take one breath and write a sentence
Tara Farmer: ha ha i only have scissors and some pruning shears
Tara Farmer: and a soil probe
Pema Pera: let’s hear from Rid and Fried how they have experienced it so far
Riddle Sideways: I have 12 scraps of paper now
Tara Farmer: i could poke the holes with that!
Tara Farmer: woo hoo
Pema Pera: sounds like a turnip !
Riddle Sideways: about 4 pages
Tara Farmer: ha ha
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: stay away from tara’s scissors
To make it more concrete, Riddle spoke about his experiences during the last week.
Pema Pera: Riddle, do you want to summarize?
Pema Pera: to give an idea of a week of Playing as Being?
Riddle Sideways: hmmmmm
Tara Farmer: i’m all ears
Tara Farmer: err eyes…
Riddle Sideways: no your not
Riddle Sideways: ooo lights on
Riddle Sideways: I found remembering each 15 was hard to do
Riddle Sideways: and stopping each time through a door or something was fake
Riddle Sideways: so I have a digital grandfathers clock
Riddle Sideways: takes me back to my childhood in my parents home
Riddle Sideways: when it gongs I breathe and write something
Riddle Sideways: anything
Riddle Sideways: later I have been looking back
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: was it bought on the morn of the day that you were born?
Riddle Sideways: and seeing reality vs Being vs suchiness vs business
Riddle Sideways: buzy-ness
Riddle Sideways: no my dad built it when I was 2-3
Riddle Sideways: nice touch tho
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i try.
Tara Farmer: so what are you writing down
Tara Farmer: can you share?
Riddle Sideways: often it is just the “where I was” just then
Riddle Sideways: e.g. in SL but in a larger world too
Tara Farmer: so like stichomancy of the brainwaves
Tara Farmer: ?
Tara Farmer: open it up and that’s the answer
Riddle Sideways: deeply into a virtual world of a sci-fi novel
Tara Farmer: LOL a forward thinker, that is good
Pema Pera looks up stichomancy on the web
Tara Farmer: something i practice fairly regularly
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: heh. that;s where i just went!
Tara Farmer: geeks
Tara Farmer: :)
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: you’re using words that even google doesn’t know
Riddle Sideways: lol
Tara Farmer: leave it to a pagan to throw a wrench into the computer world
Tara Farmer: stichomancy is the practice of opening a book, sometimes the bible (bibliomancy) to find an answer
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i think this world needs the whole toolbox thrown in
Tara Farmer: kind of like the Akashic records or the book of answers
Pema Pera: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stichomancy
Tara Farmer: tao de ching
Tara Farmer: type of thing
Riddle Sideways: which world needs throwing in
Tara Farmer: I , myself, find no comfort in the bible
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: ours?
Tara Farmer: so i usually use poetry books
Pema Pera: there is overlap, I think, Tara
Pema Pera: the idea is to not think or analyze
Tara Farmer: i see
Pema Pera: just let whatever comes up come up
Tara Farmer: i understand
Pema Pera: and the “benefit” if you want to call it that
Pema Pera: is as much the energy and the gesture and the atmosphere
Pema Pera: as the words themselves
Pema Pera: but the words too are fun to read later
Pema Pera: to see patterns
Pema Pera: but the idea is to all do it very lightly
Pema Pera: poking holes, softly ;>)
Pema Pera: gently
Tara Farmer: ahhh, this is kind of adherent to my drawing as well
Tara Farmer: when i draw i just try to zone out (it helps that i use sharpies)
Tara Farmer: ahhh…the sweet smell of a new sharpie
Tara Farmer: but anyway, i digress
Riddle Sideways: ooo luv that smell
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: have any metallic ones?
Tara Farmer: i usually zone out and things seem to appear out of nowhere in my art
Tara Farmer: symbols a lot of times
Tara Farmer: symbols I don’t know
Pema Pera looks up sharpies on the web : Sharpies (also known as Sharps) were members of suburban youth gangs in Australia mainly from the 1960s to 1980s,
Tara Farmer: runic type character
Tara Farmer: faces
Tara Farmer: I get a lot
Tara Farmer: and other thinsg
Tara Farmer: with no intent
Tara Farmer: so often when a different person looks at it, they see a different thing
Tara Farmer: perspective call it
Riddle Sideways: I play music (or it plays me) and get the same
Pema Pera: yes, I think that is close to what we are trying to do
Pema Pera: we play Being and Being plays us
Tara Farmer: sharpie is a black pen
Tara Farmer: well they have other colors
Pema Pera: AHA
Pema Pera: didn’t know that
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: they are permanent
Tara Farmer: thank goddess I LOVE COLOR
Tara Farmer: yes and they are wonderful
Tara then spoke more about her own views, and we talked more about the type of playing that we are attempting here.
Tara Farmer: pema, i am just trying to fit it into my own level of understanding
Tara Farmer: before I meet your challenge
Pema Pera: you’re doing very well indeed!
Pema Pera: the whole idea is to find our own way
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: Tara, have you found the interfaith gardens? they have sections for wiccan and pagan traditions too
Tara Farmer: no but please send me the link
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: maybe i can return your gift…
Tara Farmer: )
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: why not?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: (that’s what I heard)
Tara Farmer: i probably am misquoting that little guy
Pema Pera: the problem with words is that the opposite of a great truth is also a great truth
Pema Pera: no intention and strong intention
Pema Pera: both are correct
Tara Farmer: yes
Pema Pera: but it depends what you mean in each case
Tara Farmer: but this is only part of the experimant i understand
Pema Pera: different shadows of the same stick
Pema Pera: lit up from different directions
One of the central notions in our play is the same idea that is central to many religions: we are not what we think we are.
Tara Farmer: So, things we are not looking for with this ….
Tara Farmer: “5:15 just picked my nose”
Pema Pera: hahaha
Tara Farmer: ha ha
Tara Farmer: LOL
Tara Farmer: “5:30 drank some water”
Tara Farmer: ha ha
Pema Pera: I’m really looking forward to your reports now!
Pema Pera: lol
Pema Pera: but yes, that’s perfectly fine too
Tara Farmer: <—jackass
Riddle Sideways: hey, you were reading mine
Tara Farmer: ha ha LOL riddle, you are funny
Pema Pera: and then also whatever else pops up
Friedrich Ochsenhorn snickers
Pema Pera: <– imagines a meadow with turnips and jackasses
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: just wait until 5:45….
Tara Farmer: watch out
Tara Farmer: so can i deep breath too
Tara Farmer: it helps to focus my brain
Pema Pera: of course!
Tara Farmer: also like automatic writing
Riddle Sideways: hmmmm deep breath takes 14 seconds
Pema Pera: fine!
Pema Pera: so I’m carrying that to the extreme
Pema Pera: we are Being
Pema Pera: whatever we have, we can drop
Pema Pera: you talked about religion, Tara; every religion tells us that we are more than what we think we are
Pema Pera: what is left is Being
Tara Farmer: ahhh
Pema Pera: to say it very very briefly
Tara Farmer: a twinkle of understanding has finally crept into my over-analyzing brain
Pema Pera: twinkling turnip
Tara Farmer: sometimes it takes me a while
Pema Pera: lol
Tara Farmer: )
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: all i can recommmend, Tara, is try it. Being will speak for itself
Pema Pera: tiptoeing through the turnips
Tara Farmer: LOL
Tara Farmer: oh i’m doing it
Tara Farmer: we will see what is hidden in the folds
Tara Farmer: of time and my brain
Pema Pera ponders role reversal: Fried serious and Pema flippant
Tara Farmer: you bring out the best in eachother
Friedrich Ochsenhorn belly laughs
