Maxine rezzed outside the tea house, this time. Soon after that, Friedrich also materialized there, followed rapidly by DaWei.
Pema Pera: Hi Maxine!
Pema Pera: Do you know how to get in?
Pema Pera: Left click on a door
Maxine Walden: hi, Pema, here we are in the garden, will do
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: hi maxine
Pema Pera: Welcome Friedrich and Maxine, make yourself comfortable!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: good evening
DaWei Yohkoh: where are you
Pema Pera: Hi Dawei, we are inside
Pema Pera: left click on the door
Pema Pera: and it will open
Pema Pera: and you can walk in
Maxine Walden: hello Friedrich, nice to see you
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: you too
Pema Pera: NY black, hey, Friedrich!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: ;-)
Pema Pera: impressive outfit!
Maxine Walden: stylish
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: the statue of liberty was giving them away
Pema Pera: haha!
Pema Pera: getting clothes from a statue, neat
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i have to say, it was creepy. the twin towers have been recreated here
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: (the shops downstairs are vacant still - not sure anyone wants to rent them, even here)
Pema Pera: wow, Friedrich, that must have been eerie
Pema Pera: Hi Dawei
DaWei Yohkoh: hi pema
DaWei Yohkoh: hey, i have talked with the owner of this land for hours before, crazy
Pema Pera: with Dakini?
DaWei Yohkoh: yes!
DaWei Yohkoh: small second world, i swear
DaWei Yohkoh: she will remember me
Maxine Walden: hello DaWei
DaWei Yohkoh: hi maxine
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i’ve been following along the website, and stopping in the teahouse some evenings
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: hi dawei - I don’t think we’ve met
DaWei Yohkoh: hi fired
DaWei Yohkoh: friedwhich
DaWei Yohkoh: rich
DaWei Yohkoh: sorry, i messed that up pretty good
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: heh. you can call me fried. or even red
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: uh, fred. but red works too
Pema Pera: This is Dawei’s first time here
DaWei Yohkoh: haha ok fred
Maxine Walden: how do you find SL, Dawei?
Pema Pera: Max and Fred are oldtimers
DaWei Yohkoh: how do i find SL?
DaWei Yohkoh: what do you mean
Maxine Walden: well, not sure if old-timer feels quite right…oh, Dawei, just wondering if you feel at home or just learning…I am very much just learning even after a few weeks
At this point Sky entered
Pema Pera: Hi Sky!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: good evening, mr. fox
Maxine Walden: hello, Sky
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: looking fantastic, as your likeness suggests
Sky Szimmer: good evening everyone
Pema Pera: Sky, meet DaWei, who is here for the first time
DaWei Yohkoh: hi sky
Pema Pera: you can speak Chinese with hiim
Pema Pera: can you type Chinese, Sky and DaWei?
DaWei Yohkoh: lol, yi diar
DaWei Yohkoh: 是
Pema Pera: 中国語
Sky Szimmer: ahhhhh!
DaWei Yohkoh: nice
Maxine Walden: I am very impressed with all the different languages some of you have; mastering the English language seems an ongoing struggle for me
DaWei Yohkoh: i made the owner change the sit posses under the canopy
Pema Pera: xie xie
Pema Pera: ??
Pema Pera: owner?
DaWei Yohkoh: of the land
Pema Pera: ah
Pema Pera: Dakini?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: these are comfortable.
Pema Pera: (xie xie is thank you, Maxine)
Maxine Walden: Pema, you are so good at welcoming one in in one’s own language…oh, thanks for the translation
Pema Pera: Thank you Maxine!
Pema Pera: DaWei, did you get a chance to look at our web site?
DaWei Yohkoh: no pema
DaWei Yohkoh: i just came from another lecture
DaWei Yohkoh: at wright college
DaWei Yohkoh: i visited your site, but did not read anything
DaWei Yohkoh: just slightly
Maxine had already mentioned an to me that she had had another interesting dream.
Pema Pera: Maxine, would you like to talk about your dream perhaps?
Maxine Walden: oh, I could try;
Maxine Walden: this morning I had a dream about a little boy about 7 yrs old asking after a younger boy about 3-4 yrs; apparently I was able to tell him things about the little boy which were heartening…
Maxine Walden: such as that the little boy has been in ill health but was recovering.
Maxine Walden: The older boy, the one questioning, then turned to me and said
Maxine Walden: that the little boy had drowned but had now recovered.
Maxine Walden: Although it sounds a bit dreary as I report it, the dream was very optimistic at the end of the dream
Maxine Walden: as sometimes dreams can feel which is perplexing to the observer of the dream
Maxine Walden: but not to the one experiencing the dream
Maxine Walden: My understanding of the dream? or would anyone else like to comment on it?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: maxine: do you have any children?
Maxine Walden: Actually I do not have children of my own, a sadness
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: do you remember if hte boys were brothers, or just friends?
Maxine Walden: you know, that is interesting, I got the sense that they were friends, but from outside the dream I wonder if they were brothers
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: what season was it? cold? wamr?
Maxine Walden: oh, I think it was early spring, we had one lovely day of spring over the weekend
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: (yeah! here in nyc too)
Maxine Walden: may I ask why you ask?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: well, i was curious. but also wondering if more of the dream would come back to you if i asked for details
Maxine Walden: interesting, so many ways to think about dreams and to inquire
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: my image of the scene shifted from a frozne lake accident, which may have different symbolic meaning, htan a spring accident
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: or a swimming pool?
Maxine Walden: can you say more about each of those scenes? oh a swimming pool
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i can try, although my intial associations were w / movies that had these elements
Maxine Walden: any associations seem helpful
Maxine Walden: did someone just say something? Saw typing but no words…
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: so, i have seen recnetly the darjeeling express
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: which has a childhood water death scene
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: then, there is a short in the decalogue, by the polish director, whose name i could never spell
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: where a child falls into the ice while skating
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: and, while i’m typing, i guess scenes in the attempted suicide scenes in the sopranos
Maxine Walden: so many ways to glimpse images and associations about the dream…
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: pop culture - our modern day archetypes
Maxine Walden: yes, I guess that is so and shapes many of our thoughts and perhaps dreams
Pema Pera: do you want to say something about your sense of the dream, Maxine?
Maxine Walden: oh, yes, my sense of the dream was that it spoke about a sense I had yesterday when I felt a bit swamped at a certain point, …
Maxine Walden: and only slowly was able to draw myself away from that feeling. I thought that the older boy was sort of like an inner voice which said ‘it turned out ok, not swamped, not drowned…and I
Maxine Walden: had a good feeling after the dream, as if whatever had swamped my feelings the day before really was not now an issue
Maxine Walden: but that is probably a very unique sense of the dream, an observer could not really glimpse it because it dealt, as I sensed it, with an inner feeling, not an outer occurance
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: interesting thouhg, that we use the expression ‘drowning in work’, and you mentioned you were feeling swamped
Maxine Walden: oh, I am having to watch my time, I have another meeting at 7:30 which is just a few mintues away
Maxine Walden: oh, yes, actually I was at work in a manny of speaking when I felt swamped so you are very astute, Friedrich
Maxine Walden: manner of speaking…
Pema Pera: Thanks, Maxine, and we don’t want you to miss your meeting, so feel free to leave whenever you have to.
Pema Pera: I’m glad you were so inspired by the dream
Maxine Walden: ok, thanks maybe I should leave now, very nice to see you and have a chance to visit for a bit; hope to see you all again soon. Bye for now.
DaWei Yohkoh: i need ot leave now as well
Pema Pera: c u Max!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: bye. thanks for sharing
DaWei Yohkoh: thank you guys
DaWei Yohkoh: see you another time
Pema Pera: okay, bye DaWei!
DaWei Yohkoh: take care
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: yes, i will likely get a call at some point soon, but until hten i can chill
Pema Pera: fine.
We then picked up where we had left a few days ago.
Pema Pera: Friedrich,
Pema Pera: last time you did not really get the chance to talk about your practice
Pema Pera: Do you want to say something about that now?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: thanks for inquiring heh. not sure if today is the best day to talk about that.
Pema Pera: either way
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i have a rough time sticking with it during unstructured time
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i mean, this weekend was out of the ordinary, full day of interactions
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: so, you would think the practice would help more than ever
Pema Pera: in itself it is interesting to try, especially at times when we are convinced it would be almost futile to do so
Pema Pera: maybe it wouldn’t work
Pema Pera: maybe it will
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: well, hte good news is that i keep coming back to it
Pema Pera: lots of room for phenomenology!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i seriosuly have shifted where my mind returns to by default
Pema Pera: yes
Pema Pera: can you say more?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: well, when i am ‘idling’, say waiting for a bus, or subway
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: or walking between places
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i have this peaceful place to return to, which i often do now
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: it really all just starts with a deep breath
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: then, maybe ‘fuzzing out’
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: oh! I also went to my first movie since starting this practie
Pema Pera: I’m delighted to hear that, Friedrich
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: yes, its quite incredible that something so simple can actually nudge awareness so far
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: anyway, we have been using hte movie analogy for a while
Pema Pera: repetition is a powerful thing . . . .
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: but i hadn’t tried that first hand
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i really can’t get over how malleable this lump on my shoulders is
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: sky - i should mention, that I haven’t comitted yet to the full practice
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i am starting slower, until the semester is over and i have more time
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: but, still noticing effects.
Sky Szimmer: good for you.
Sky Szimmer: it sounds like if you start in full swing, then who knows where you’d end up
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: oh, i have a hint ;-)
Sky Szimmer: ?
Sky Szimmer: sorry i am a bit distracted as my son is sharing my attention
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: kidding. i just didnt want to overdue it. too easy for this to become a distrction
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: ah. no prob
Sky then refered to yesterday morning’s session.
Sky Szimmer: yes. i had a problem with that one recently
Sky Szimmer: which is why last time i came here, i got quite upset
Sky Szimmer: i think it was due to overdoing
Sky Szimmer: sometimes when we start noticing effects
Sky Szimmer: our ego starts to take claim
Sky Szimmer: which can lead to a head trip
Sky Szimmer: at least that was my own interpretation of why i became upset when
Sky Szimmer: i didn’t feel understood
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: hm, that’s fascinating.
Sky Szimmer: my ego wanted recognition
Sky Szimmer: that something was happening
Pema Pera: Well, Sky, I think it was partly my fault — overenthusiastically commenting on your experience too much before you were really done speaking, and drawing parallels and connections too quickly . . . . .
Sky Szimmer: no piet,
Sky Szimmer: no pema : )
Pema Pera: hahaha
Sky Szimmer: it wasn’t
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i suppose it gets ‘jealous’
Pema Pera: Mar . . . sky
Sky Szimmer: yes. i (ego) got jealous of some of the insights that others seem to have had
Sky Szimmer: and wanted recognition too
Sky Szimmer: it is hard to share that
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i meant ego gets jealous of all the fun the rest of Being is having
Sky Szimmer: but that is really what it boiled down to
Sky Szimmer: hmmm,, i don’t know about that Friedrich
Sky Szimmer: I have to think abou what that means
Sky Szimmer: ah… i think i got it.
Sky Szimmer: yes. indeed that is what happened.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: yikes - i have to to outta here. don’t talke that last one too seriously. i am not sure what i meant either.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: but, i have been thinking about jealosy between senses recently
Sky Szimmer: no worries.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: to be continued
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: …
Pema Pera: continuity is the one thing we can pretty much guarantee here!
Sky Szimmer: nice chatting with you. bye
Sky and I continued our conversation.
Pema Pera: Thanks, Sky, for speaking so frankly, I really appreciate that! And also, I meant what I said, it felt for me that I was a little off, yesterday.
Sky Szimmer: no…. it was good for me.
Pema Pera: glad you see it that way
Sky Szimmer: seriously. it was helpful on many different levels
Pema Pera: Your experience, as a type of Nisargadatta sense, came across as really genuine –
Pema Pera: so please don’t let that slip
Pema Pera: even though you can have different interpretations
Pema Pera: that sense of no self is very important in itself
Pema Pera: and Nisargadatta is great in his utter simplicity
Sky Szimmer: this is all quite tenuous for me… sometimes i understand, sometimes i don’t
Sky Szimmer: but that is why we practice
Pema Pera: it is important to trust your experience
Sky Szimmer: thanks.
Sky Szimmer: nah, i was going to comment on something but decided not to open up another can of worms
Pema Pera: please do, I just love worms ! ! !
Pema Pera: I wish I had a bird avatar
Pema Pera: like Types . . .
Sky Szimmer: i wish i had a fly
Pema Pera: haha!
Pema Pera: maybe just one worm, for desert?
Sky Szimmer: i would love to be a fly on the wall when you are with steven
Pema Pera: well . . . your wish is my command
Sky Szimmer: wow. that was easy
Pema Pera: [whisper whisper . . . tomorrow at twelve . . . noon . . . same place here . . . . whisper . . . sshhht]
Sky Szimmer: speaking about dreams, i checked out some of the other locations in SL. it reminded me of my dreams.
Sky Szimmer: shucks… i have to work
Pema Pera: okay
Pema Pera: sleep well, in due time!
Sky Szimmer: you 2
Sky Szimmer: see you again.
Pema Pera: c u !
Alchemical Musings » Mirror, Mirror On the Screen // 2008, April 27, Sunday at 10:18 pm
[...] throughout my day, I continue to be impressed by how malleable my awareness can be. In Pema’s words, “repetition is a powerful thing.” Over the past few weeks I have enjoyed poking holes [...]