When I entered the tea house, at 7 am SLT, I found both Joseph and Maxine already sitting there.
joseph Ruhig: shitsurei shimasu!
Maxine Walden: good morning
Maxine Walden: hi, Pema
Pema Pera: Hi Maxine, hi Joseph!
joseph Ruhig: hello, people!
Maxine Walden: hi, Joseph
joseph Ruhig: Pema, always different!
joseph Ruhig: :-)
Pema Pera: sometimes different ;>)
joseph Ruhig: tkx
Maxine Walden: restless, Pema?
Joseph was referring to my long hair, which he had not seen, and Maxine wondered why I was walking around without sitting down.
Pema Pera: well for me at least the cushion remained spherical
Pema Pera: and then when I got up it finally flattened.
Pema Pera: oh well, SL
Maxine Walden: oh, I have had that spherical cushion number a few times
Pema Pera: does it go away by itself?
Maxine Walden: that has been my experience, as if the system is still warming up or something
Maxine Walden: or settling down…you know, changing dimensions
joseph Ruhig: system?
Maxine Walden: oh, my notion about the SL software and perhaps its configuration on my computer…the spherical cushions always seem to occur at the beginning of my logon
Maxine Walden: or just after logging on
Maxine Walden: heard there might be an interruption in SL availability this hour so glad we came a bit early or right on time
joseph Ruhig: oh… I have to go…
Pema Pera: Given the instability of SL it is actually surprising that we have hardly missed any sessions yet
Maxine Walden: nice to see you even briefly, Joseph
joseph Ruhig: I need to buy something to eat with my frau!
joseph Ruhig: :-)
Pema Pera: good seeing you again, Joseph!
joseph Ruhig: That was my pleasure!
Pema Pera: come back whenever you feel like it!
joseph Ruhig: kyotsukete!
Pema Pera: ki o tsukete!
joseph Ruhig: hai!
After Joseph left, Maxine and I continued our conversation.
Pema Pera: The japanese he used “ki o tsukete” literally means “stay attached to your chi”
Pema Pera: but is an everyday expression.
Maxine Walden: oh, very nice, thanks for the translation
Pema Pera: It is interesting how those terms are completely normal in Japanese
Maxine Walden: really
Pema Pera: while they sound quite exotic to us.
Maxine Walden: does it reflect the culture, comments such as that?
Pema Pera: So when we say “take care” in general, they say “take care of staying with (or attached to) your life energy.
Maxine Walden: oh, yes, nice to make the parallel, the more specific notation in Japanese
Maxine Walden: thanks, gives me a bit of a window…
Maxine Walden: so many worlds to explore…
Pema Pera: How is the 9-second practice going, Maxine?
Maxine Walden: well, have to admit that the specific practice of the 9 sec has not been as regular lately, but
Maxine Walden: it feels that I am rather constantly in that space of more openness, such as
Maxine Walden: what seemed to occur when I first began the practice…
Maxine Walden: have felt a little like I have been letting the team down,
Maxine Walden: but actually not so in that the ways I find I am thinking about things in general and
Maxine Walden: in specific ways is rather consistently much broader…and
Maxine Walden: I have been opening to dreamspace consciously as you had suggested on a response to my blog, and
Maxine Walden: that has been very fruitful…have blogged an example of that just the other day
Maxine Walden: so long answer to perhaps a simple question
I asked a little bit further, curious about Maxine’s summary.
Pema Pera: I should read and catch up with all the blogs — but right now I have difficulty keeping my own blog in order ;>)
Pema Pera: What did you mean about letting the team down?
Maxine Walden: I can imagine you are very busy, and …oh, let the team down — I have this fantasy and wish actually to be a full participant and to carry through with what I say I will try to do…sort of a reliable colleague sort of thing
Maxine Walden: this matters, and I so appreciate your guidance and the chance to participate in this project, all those aspects of care, concern and I guess the privilege of belonging in a rather unique adventure
Maxine Walden: those elements comprise the ‘team’ I guess — lots of it is my own fantasy, but I guess we clothe the vehicle of our journey with our wishes/thoughts/hopes
Pema Pera: oh, yes, we form a community, definitely, but I was surprised that you talked about “letting down”. I wasn’t away of you doing anything to deserve that label. What did you have in mind?
Maxine Walden: appreciate you have been occupied with other details and the whole shift for awhile to Japan, so your journey right now may well be ‘clothed’ with other (layers) of elements
Maxine Walden: what did I have in mind…hmmm…guess I must be referring to my own standards for myself…when we began in early April I was very ‘vigilent’ is the word that comes to mind which is too full of zeal, but very
Maxine Walden: enthusiastic about the 9/15 practice and found it very helpful…but as the weeks wore on
Maxine Walden: I think the flood of other elements intruded so my close and careful practice seemed to get more crowded…and I think I felt I was letting myself down, but there seemed little I could do. The space did seem to get more crowded but with bigger and more spacious thoughts and ideas
Maxine Walden: less detail and as if the thoughts/ideas are ‘bigger’ and seems less room for the precise detail of the practice as I experienced it at the beginning of april…
Pema Pera: I wouldn’t worry about anything like that at all, Maxine! You have been one of the most dedicated individuals in the group here. Even so, it is good to remain critical of oneself in a constructive way, and thus not to become complacent . . . it is always a matter of balance.
By this time it was 11:30 pm for me in Japan, and I began to feel the combination of jetlag and the late hour.
Pema Pera: Talking about balance, I still have to catch up on sleep
Pema Pera: and here it is getting close to midnight
Pema Pera: so if you don’t mind, I think I’d like to call it a day . . . .
Maxine Walden: oh, I can well imagine…yes, near midnight, I thought so
Maxine Walden: yes, let’s call it a day
Pema Pera: Always good to see you hear Maxine!
Maxine Walden: good to be here
Pema Pera: I hope to be more focused next time.
Maxine Walden: please, I find that when I get more sleep things always are more focused.
Maxine Walden: bye and sleep well
Pema Pera: good night!
Maxine Walden: good night
