Soon after I sat down in the tea house, I saw Friedrich walking up. He entered through the door near the bridge, in the small side of the house. Most visitors, myself included, walk past that one, entering the other door on the wider side. Interesting psychology.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: hello!
Pema Pera: Hi Friedrich!
Pema Pera: How’s life?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: what’s doing?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i’m feeling good.
Pema Pera: that’s good!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: yourself?
Pema Pera: Oh, fine! Many things going on here
Pema Pera: For one thing, a week from now I will be in Japan
Pema Pera: and then I won’t be able to be here in the afternoon
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: work or play?
Pema Pera: both
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i mean, its all play ;-)
Pema Pera: work of course
Pema Pera: but also fun
Pema Pera: so while I’m sleeping others will hold the fort
Pema Pera: and I can be present at 1 am, 7 am and 7 pm
Pema Pera: so we will truly have four meetings a day
Pema Pera: every day
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: pretty cool
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: if I start sneaking this “habbit” into work i’m in trouble
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i mean, its research and all, but I’m on my honor, so to speak
Friedrich asked about my other activities in Second Life.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: curious if the astro group is having similar experiences to this one
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: you mentioned you started up another SL group around the same time as this one
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i am wondering if they have expressed similar reactoins to this world, or if some of ours have been based on the content of our conversations
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i mean, related to the attitude/stance we have brougth to the convesation
Pema Pera: well, the astro groups stay closer to what they are doing in RL, SL is a copy for them
Pema Pera: so it affects them less, I think, than when we talk about reality here
Pema Pera: but who knows, individuals have different reactions
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: curious how this compares to qwaq thenMeanwhile Friedrich had moved from one seat to another, and had started to levitate above the latter.
Pema Pera: now you are floating
Pema Pera: to go from one seat to another better to first stand up
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: no tea, even!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: inflatable coushins?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: did you used to meet w/ that group there, or is this another bunch of folks entirely
Pema Pera: we started in Qwaq, but moved to SL and met other SL people there
Pema Pera: yeah, you probably want to just stand up and then sit down again
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i’m comfy if you are ;-)
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: maybe this tea will wigh me down
Pema Pera: I’ll humbly sit at your feet then ;>)
Pema Pera: the second thing
Pema Pera: which is new
Pema Pera: is that I bought half a sim
Pema Pera: to make a big forest
Pema Pera: with help of Storm
Pema Pera: just yesterday
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: nice. kinda like a nature preserve
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: congratulations. a land owner
After some more attempts, Friedrich came down from his high position, and when the dust settled, I turned to the PaB practice.
Pema Pera: Did you try a few 9-second experiments, as we discussed the other day?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i’m still on hte wagon
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i haven’t ramped up to 4x /hour
Pema Pera: how many in one day?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: just periodiclaly thorughout hte day
Pema Pera: ah
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: easily, half a dozen
Pema Pera: and what happens then?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i aim for once an hour
Pema Pera: fine!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: its good.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i didn’t mean to suggest there is no time for the practice, just noticing how easy it is to get absorbed in the peripheral activities
Pema Pera: oh sure
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: the integration part
Pema Pera: that is exactly the reason that I suggested doing it often
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i don’t think I have shared this connection….
Pema Pera: to counteract the habit of getting fully absorbed in the conventional illusion of seeing the world
Pema Pera: the way we have learned for survival, only
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i once heard that old time typists didn’t get carpal tunnel cause they took micro-breaks
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: each time they paused to push the carraige back to the other side
Pema Pera: interesting!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: advance the paper
Pema Pera: a fun connection
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: so, I have connected these “pokes” with microbreaks
Pema Pera: so we can advance our life
Pema Pera: page by page
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: to avoid repetitive reality stress
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: hehe
Pema Pera: I like that!
Pema Pera: yes
Pema Pera: thanks!
How interesting, to associate so many different activities with the PaB practice. I asked Friedrich more specifically how his exploration was working out.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: truthfully, i have embraced the notion of keeping this going indefinitely
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: its quite absurd how easy it is to forget to breathe
Pema Pera: can you describe, phenomenologically, what happens during one (pick one, any one) 9-sec event?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: well, I have been sorta aiming for :09, so sometimes I look at the clock to ssee how close or far I am from my mark
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: but, I basically pause from whatever I am doing
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: take a deep breath, shift the focus of my attention
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: it works pretty well conquoring boredome sometimes too
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i dunno - 9 seconds comes and goes pretty quickly
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: tara once said a good breath is 14 sec
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i am still a bit puzzled by those in this group who practice with an alarm clock
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: that seems to me like it would be jarring
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: but then, there are hours that I simply forget as I am absorbed
Pema Pera: sure, there are many ways to do it;
Pema Pera: some people like more structure some less
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: anyway, it feels peaceful
Pema Pera: that’s all fine
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: like i am in control
Pema Pera: the main point is to start somewhere and just to do it
Pema Pera: do you sometimes write something too?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: sometimes. i have a moleskine, but its not always on me
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i started taking PaB notes from the back
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: if I don’t, I sometimes try to imagine what I would write
I was really happy to see Friedrich getting into the exploration so fully. He would later write about his enthusiasm in his blog.
Pema Pera: I’m very glad to hear that you are taking all this so seriously, Friedrich
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: this is lame, but I want a few more external objects to get this set up right
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: a good keychain pen
Pema Pera: since by actually doing this kind of experiments, we then have a basis to progress with theory as well
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: well, you should understand, I have been intedning to get back into my yoga routine for ages
Pema Pera: sure, external objects are important — ritual is one of the oldest parts of culture!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: helps that I have wanted a good keychain pen for a while anyway
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: so, this is pretty consistent w/ a longstanding goal
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i really should always have a paper/pen on me at all times
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i have also been reflecting on the curious correspondance between this particular cutural excercise and what I hear folks are doing on twitter nowadays
Pema Pera: I don’t know much about twitter
Pema Pera: Well, thank you, Friedrich!
Pema Pera: I’ll have to leave soon
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: thank you! this is great stuff
Pema Pera: but as I said I’m glad to hear that you are enjoying this
Pema Pera: Next time, perhaps we can start right from the beginning of the session to try to digest what the 9-sec practice has to do with our main theme Play as Being
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: seriously, its been helping me reorient my thinking on my studies and goals
Pema Pera: great!
Pema Pera: Frankly, I’ve been surprised to see how powerful this practice is, both for others and for myself
Pema Pera: But I have to run now
Pema Pera: More soon!
Pema Pera: Come back whenever you like
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: g’night
Just at that moment, Mongo walked in.
Pema Pera: Hi Mongo!
Mongo McGinnis: hi
Pema Pera: welcome!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: oh - hellpo
Pema Pera: we used to have a tinies seat
Pema Pera: don’t know where that went
Pema Pera: come join us!
Pema Pera: I have to go soon, but can stay a few minutes
Mongo McGinnis: i have to go but just stopped bye to say arrrrrooo
Pema Pera: arrrrrroooooo to u 2 !
Mongo McGinnis: see later
Pema Pera: bye!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: hooowwwwwwwlllllllllllll!
Pema Pera: see ya Fred!
Pema Pera: hahaha
Pema Pera: yeah
Pema Pera: okay, next time!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: ya - later
