Maxine and I met in the tea house. I had not realized that the local land ownership groups name was still visible above my head. When I had set the permissions on my new land the night before, I had activated our local group, which had given me the name 'cultivator.'
Maxine Walden: good morning, cultivator
Pema Pera: haha
Pema Pera: good morning Maxine!
Maxine Walden: saw you got your land…
Pema Pera: Yes, cultivator, that is the title we gave each other in the SL group that is going to govern the new land.
Maxine Walden: nice. Cultivating new growth and possibilities?
Pema Pera: yes!
Pema Pera: I think that yesterday we doubled the amount of land that Dakini and Storm and I had available, just by buying that half sim . . . .
Pema Pera: what a great omen, on the day that we started our guardian group!
I was refering to the group of seven that we had formed, to take care of the afternoon sessions, each day of the week, while I would be in Japan.
Maxine Walden: yes, interesting to see what develops…
Pema Pera: When Storm asked me what I was going to do with it, I emailed back to him that, first of all, I don’t know; Dakini built this tea house without knowing what would happen in it.
Pema Pera: But then again, that does not imply that I have no idea and/or that I don’t care and/or that I sit back and just watch.
Pema Pera: Real action always jumps the bounds of the polarities we normally think in.
Pema Pera: It is always a third way.
Maxine Walden: But ‘not knowing’ may just allow space for ideas to accrue
Pema Pera: yes!
Pema Pera: Exactly.
Pema Pera: So here is an idea — not a plan, but an intuition more.
Pema Pera: I could see Storm creating a forest area with streams and lots of trees and hills
Pema Pera: and I could imagine many of us having little retreat spaces there
Pema Pera: sprinkled through the landscape
Pema Pera: a community of players
Pema Pera: in the Play as Being
Maxine Walden: oh, isn’t that a lovely thought. Are you thinking of different retreats expressing the individuality, etc of the different players?
Maxine Walden: or more as spaces for ‘retreat’ in the more spacious sense of the term? Or maybe something else…
Pema Pera: yes, individuality as jewels embedded in one shared setting
Pema Pera: all of the above
Pema Pera: not a plan, not even a vision, more an intuition, a direction . . ..
Maxine Walden: I have been thinking of individuality in terms of our discussions…
Maxine Walden: and while a nascent thought still, I am wondering about how that individuality might be
Maxine Walden: not compromised, but bypassed in preference to
Maxine Walden: the
Maxine Walden: ‘wider reality’ you and we are trying to think about…
Pema Pera: yes
Pema Pera: Play as Being
Pema Pera: means:
Pema Pera: one Being but many many ways to play and many many players
Maxine described her reactions to PaB discussions, and her reactions to those reactions.
Maxine Walden: yes, I think that is important but I am aware that some valued
Maxine Walden: ways I have accrued in my work and life…that there is a pressure at least in me since our discussions have begun
Maxine Walden: to let those valued lessons and ways of understanding…to let them go
Maxine Walden: and that is beginning to trouble me some. This might be a topic for another discussion away from PaB but it has been on my mind…
Pema Pera: perhaps instead of letting go, how about ripening, maturing, fulfilling?
Maxine Walden: I do like that notion of maturing…but it may be that there is a tendency to look to you (as I think we all do) as a leader to some extent, and
Maxine Walden: some aspects of acknowledging a leader does mean giving away one’s own quietly accrued authority
Maxine Walden: do mean
Pema Pera: part of the notion of play is not giving up anything . . . but loosening our tightness a bit about anything we do and believe and engage in
Maxine Walden: this is something that I have learned about people over the years…the capitulation of their own quietly accruing selves
Pema Pera: thank you very much for expressing this so clearly Maxine — as Dakini has expressed it too — and indeed, I definitely do not want to play a leader role, yet I realize that I cannot avoid to some extent the role of mentor perhaps, facilitator, initiator, but as soon as we can I hope we can really let this mature into a true group’s endeavor. The creation of the group of seven guardians has an almost mythological feel to it, in that respect ;>)
Maxine Walden: it is a truly mature group who can all keep hold of themselves while learning from each other, and usually this also means that there is no ‘leader’ in anyone’s mind…and this may take some conscious work on all our parts
Pema Pera: yes, and we are already doing it!
Maxine Walden: to achieve this state
Pema Pera: To wit, the meeting Sunday afternoon, in which Storm wrote the commentary
I referred to the fact that Storm had agreed to play the role that I had been playing so far, during the session that I was in an airplane, without internet access.
Maxine Walden: I have not yet looked at the commentary, will do that.
Maxine Walden: It was an interesting experiece, I think we all had you in mind, but were able to share openly as far as my experience went
Maxine Walden: that might be a path for evolution in this way toward maturity
Pema Pera: yes!
Pema Pera: And even from the very start
Pema Pera: I really feel it was not me
Pema Pera: nor was it Dakini building this tea house even before I showed up
Pema Pera: nor the people who started the community here in Rieul and Mieum
Pema Pera: it all unfolds
Pema Pera: flows
Pema Pera: in mysterious ways . . . .
Maxine Walden: yes, I know what you are talking about…letting it happen, going with the flow, participating in what makes itself available
Maxine Walden: that is such a beautiful way to be able to proceed and in my experience
Maxine Walden: it comes from ceasing to try to control…anything
Maxine Walden: That does bring an interesting confluence: of ‘letting it happen’ with
Maxine Walden: valued lessons and ways of viewing the world which might suggest
Maxine Walden: ‘how to see or interpret’ certain things…
Maxine Walden: ways of seeing things as a physician are always with me, along with a sense of responsibility
Maxine Walden: and how to integrate those ways of seeing and responding with the ‘new’ is an intriguing thing…
Pema Pera: yes, that is what we started to talk about yesterday, but didn’t have time to get into further.
Pema Pera: normally we think in terms of polarities, dualities
Pema Pera: either we do and control or we give up and let it go
Pema Pera: but the notion of wuwei implies neither
Pema Pera: in one way there is no control
Pema Pera: and in another way that allows us to be most fully in control
Pema Pera: by letting the Universe be in control through us
Pema Pera: the Universe, or Being
Pema Pera: in every religion we find this notion
I was glad we could in this way pick up the thread that had been left over from the previous day.
Maxine Walden: yes, for me what comes to mind is when I consciously cease to control and rely more on repose
Maxine Walden: then I really have more access to my quietly accrued capacities, which do not really feel
Maxine Walden: like possessions or parts of me, but as universal (poor choice of words) aspects to call upon
Maxine Walden: (fear this is a garbled thought)
Pema Pera: yes
Pema Pera: very much so
Maxine Walden: reponse allowing quiet access to what feels like more than oneself
Pema Pera: and not garbled ;>)
Pema Pera: yes indeed
Pema Pera: that’s how it works
Pema Pera: The problem is that when we write ideas like this in an article or book or on the web
Pema Pera: without a living dialogue
Pema Pera: then it is very easy to misconstrue
Pema Pera: as if we are giving up responsibility
Pema Pera: becoming lazy or superstitious, etc
Pema Pera: but in practice it couldn’t be further from that
Pema Pera: and in a dialogue we are able to bring that out
Pema Pera: by expressing everything we say in context, and offering
Pema Pera: examples
Maxine Walden: the dialogue and the dialectic which is available in dialogue
Maxine Walden: but this does bring another thought
Maxine Walden: about different dimensions, as I think of it:
Maxine Walden: I think that reading a transcript, as valuable as it is, cannot replicate
Maxine Walden: the experience of being in the room, as we are now. When I am working and try to write notes about what just occurred
Maxine Walden: there is no way I can ‘be there’ as I was just minutes ago. And yet, when I am then at work again
Maxine Walden: all that had transpired can be reconnected with again…
Maxine Walden: it is quite interesting and I have wondered about this as an example of different dimensions of realtiy
I suddenly had to thing of our meeting yesterday with Isen, who had talked at length about sewing his monk’s robe.
Pema Pera: yes, and normally that is the hardest thing, to connect different compartments of our life, work and pleasure and family and various duties . . . . we spend an enormous amount of energy while growing up to learn how to compartmentalize . . . .
Pema Pera: . . . but for us, the 9-second practice can serve as a way to stitch together the different parts of our life
Pema Pera: making it all into one colorful robe!
Pema Pera: each 9-second portion a single stitch
Pema Pera: Isen would love that
Pema Pera: he talked about stitching together his monk’s robe recently . . .
Maxine Walden: stitching together…nice thought, and I would like to think about that…it makes sense, all of us being part of one tapestry…and yet the uniqueness of each dimension, perhaps compartment, still warrants at least my attention
Maxine Walden: because of the uniqueness…it seems to deserve preservation.
Pema Pera: constant rejuvination perhaps?
Maxine Walden: Don’t think you are disagreeing…guess I am in dialogue about uniqueness and …yes I like the notion of constant rejuvination.
Pema Pera: oh yes, no disagreeing at all
Pema Pera: just adding other angles
Pema Pera: but agreeing with your angles too
Maxine Walden: these discussions do bring the direct experience of the widening, just as then in your last remark, and it is interesting
Maxine Walden: that such seems to need re-experiencing again and again.
Pema Pera: yes, always fresh . . . .
Pema Pera: we learn from the past
Maxine Walden: like the new day
Pema Pera: and respect what we learn
Pema Pera: but we cannot repeat the past
Pema Pera: that would be addiction
Pema Pera: addiction in any form is an attempt to repeat the past
Maxine Walden: layalty to the past or loyalty to the future…
Maxine Walden: loyalty
Pema Pera: loyalty to Being . . . by seeing and being Being . . . a very odd kind of loyalty . . .
Maxine Walden: that is something which I have faced in my discipline, much loyalty to the past, theories, teachers, etc…
Maxine Walden: oh, yes, agree, loyalty to Being…hello Cal
Maxine had seen Caledonia before I had noticed her.
Caledonia Heron: hello there :)
Pema Pera: Hi Cal!
Caledonia Heron: hey :)
Pema Pera: welcome!
Pema Pera: Always great seeing you!
Maxine Walden: love your necklace, it really sparkles
Caledonia Heron: very bling-y, yes?
Caledonia Heron: yet not
Caledonia Heron: thank you :)
Maxine Walden: (afraid I don’t know what bling-y means)
Caledonia Heron: bling?
Caledonia Heron: ah, well, slang for sparkly showy stuff
Maxine Walden: thanks,
Pema Pera: it is so nice to see so many worlds intersect here
Pema Pera: sometimes I also have to ask
Pema Pera: about expressions I don’t know
Pema Pera: we all learn from each other!
Maxine Walden: yeah, I can feel very provincial when I don’t know something…
Caledonia Heron: yes, :) Maxine and I inhabit different worlds I think while on the same planet, fascinating!
Pema Pera: isn’t it?!?
Caledonia Heron: just a different focus Maxine :)
Caledonia Heron: or foci as the case may be
Maxine Walden: yes, a different focus…foci
Pema Pera: perhaps we should invite some pure examples of different worlds . . . a rappa . . . a true shrink (not a liberal one ;>) . . . etc
Caledonia Heron: yeah, some archtypes…that would be interesting :)
Caledonia Heron: pointing out our different groundings makes me wonder where we intersect :)
Pema Pera: here!!!
Pema Pera: haha
Caledonia Heron: lol, well d’oh :)
Caledonia and I were warming up to texting mode.
Pema Pera: but in many other places and angles and intuitions too, I’m sure, even though we may use different words
Pema Pera: as different shadows on the wall
Caledonia Heron: in the firelight
Caledonia Heron: hopping, dancing, together and apart
Pema Pera: burning up totally . . . . to become a phenix and truly learn to fly . . ..
Maxine Walden: I am reminded about how our ancestors probably could not abide differences…they divided; here we are trying and mostly succeeding in having differences which inform…
Caledonia Heron: poof!
Maxine Walden: parallel conversations are so interesting
Caledonia Heron: yes tribal at survival level
Caledonia Heron: and then more nuanced as we move to leisure intellectual pursuits
Maxine Walden: indeed
Pema Pera: supervive?
Caledonia Heron: :)
Maxine Walden: survive and supervive?
Pema Pera: yeah
Caledonia Heron: survive and super-alive
Maxine Walden: love these new words…thoughts
Pema Pera: super!
Maxine Walden: superb
Pema Pera: haha
Caledonia Heron: superbole :)
Maxine Walden: Haha!!
Caledonia Heron: Nova would have us believe that our shift from survival occured when we invented refrigeration….I see a silly play enacting this
Pema Pera: so we will instate an annual superbole for PaB?
Caledonia Heron: yes!
Maxine Walden: without refrigeration
Pema Pera: silly play?
Pema Pera: away with frigidity?
Caledonia Heron: act 1, act 2….a cartoon on the significance of refrigerators
Pema Pera: yes?
Caledonia Heron: sorry, I digress :)
And Maxine was warming up as well.
Maxine Walden: (wish I could match your punning… and myrth)
Pema Pera thinking about the ads revenue from our annual superbole
Maxine Walden: oh, yes, and the ads themselves
Caledonia Heron: sponsorships
Pema Pera: ah, practice, Maxine, practice! You’ll learn the texting myrth!
Caledonia Heron: 5th avenue
Pema Pera: haha!
Caledonia Heron: super atheletes
Pema Pera: Macys parade
Caledonia Heron: balloons
Pema Pera: giant floating beings
Caledonia Heron: really big balloons
Pema Pera: yeah
Pema Pera: tugging at the strings while Storm is blowing . . .
Caledonia Heron: bobbling while being
Pema Pera: hahaha
Pema Pera: There comes the Rieul Brigade, look ! ! !
Caledonia Heron envisions insipid commentators trying to describe being balloons
Pema Pera: Rieul brigands
Maxine Walden: Love this, but will have to leave in about 3 min
Caledonia Heron: love that word…brigands
Pema Pera: but our text balloons will outwit them
Pema Pera: giant text balloons in Macy’s parade
Pema Pera: PaB balloons!!!!
Caledonia Heron: refreshing every 3 secs
Pema Pera: yup
Until all three of us briefly became unstoppable.
Maxine Walden: and of course the PaB blimp
Caledonia Heron: PaBalloons
Pema Pera: yes!!
Pema Pera: PaB blimp
Caledonia Heron: PaBlimp
Pema Pera: we can anchor one here
Pema Pera: haha
Pema Pera: limping along
Caledonia Heron: blimping along
Pema Pera: blinging?
Maxine Walden: and without too much hot air
Pema Pera: blingy blimp
Pema Pera: yeah, Maxine
Pema Pera: you got it!
Caledonia Heron: hopefully just enough Maxine :)
Pema Pera: hahaha
Caledonia Heron: don’t want to take out the crowd
Pema Pera: we will all become part of the blingy blimp brigrands brigade
Caledonia Heron: Boffo!!
Pema Pera: poof!
Maxine Walden: bravo
Pema Pera: yeah!
Pema Pera: well
Pema Pera: this seems like a grand finale
Pema Pera: for our morning session
Maxine Walden: have to go…
Pema Pera: have to run too
Maxine Walden: see you all. Great times this morning.
Caledonia Heron: indeed…..hopefully not too disruptive…..
Pema Pera: oh no
Pema Pera: not at all
Pema Pera: bye Maxine!
While standing up to leave, I couldn’t help mentioning the land I had just bought.
Pema Pera: Cal, did you read about the half sim I bought?
Caledonia Heron: yes!! excellent
Pema Pera: Storm told me:
Pema Pera: I thought you never did things half, in half measures . . . . .
Pema Pera: . . . but now you bought a half sim . . . .
Pema Pera: ;>)
Caledonia Heron: funny
Caledonia Heron: I think it’s great to get more space
Pema Pera: I can see a big forest
Pema Pera: streams
Caledonia Heron: yes, water!!
Pema Pera: like the feeling of your place, with many landscape flavors in small scale succession
Pema Pera: yes
Pema Pera: tree houses
Pema Pera: caves
Pema Pera: meadows
Pema Pera: waterfalls
Caledonia Heron: that is the skinniest darn lot - I gotta branch out :)
Pema Pera: ponds
Pema Pera: feel free to take up residence here
Caledonia Heron: yes, a naturescape - it could be lovely
Pema Pera: I’m thinking of making the sim officially for the PaB group
Caledonia Heron: well, thank you
Pema Pera: the guardian group
Pema Pera: think of it as a home away from home ;>)
Pema Pera: couldn’t possibly use it myself anyway
Caledonia Heron: excellent idea :)
Pema Pera: and so much more fun to share with friends
Pema Pera: okay, gotta go now
Caledonia Heron: me too
Caledonia Heron: bye
Pema Pera: c u Cal!
