The guardian at this meeting was Maxine Walden and the comments are hers.
That
evening, Maxine visited the tea house, to stand in for me, since I was
attending an astronomy workshop at that time (11 am the next day in
Tokyo).
She send me the following report, and provided a narrative as well. So
the “I person” speaking here is Maxine. The title of this entry is hers
as well.
I was in the teahouse for only a couple of minutes when Thorberg came in.
Maxine Walden: hi, Thorberg, please join me
Thorberg Nordlicht: there, that’s better, hello
Maxine Walden: glad to see you here
Thorberg Nordlicht: likewise
Thorberg Nordlicht: i’ve met so many people here in the past week, it’s difficult to keep track of who i’ve talked to and who i haven’t
Thorberg Nordlicht: forgive me if i don’t remember if or when we met
Maxine Walden: Oh, yes, I can appreciate that
Maxine Walden: I think we met at one of the previous zen retreat meetings when Pema was here
Thorberg Nordlicht: i see
Thorberg Nordlicht: hmmm, seem to be levitating
Maxine Walden: and I believe you agreed to be a greeter at one of these meetings…yes, I levitate sometimes here on these pillows too
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: hey.
Maxine Walden: oh, Fried, hello,
Thorberg Nordlicht: hello Friedrich
Maxine Walden: good to see you
Thorberg Nordlicht: yes, there was one night i was greeter when Pema couldn’t be here
Then in came Friedrich, to join us as well. We spoke a little about traffic in RL and SL, he was speaking about difficulty in teleporting, that kind of traffic
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: got stuck in traffic
Thorberg Nordlicht: I DO recognize Friedrich
Thorberg Nordlicht: he’s been here before too
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: yes, you too
Thorberg Nordlicht: “traffic” in RL
Thorberg Nordlicht: ?
Maxine Walden: oh, yes, traffic?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: teleprt trouble
Maxine Walden: oh, yes, I can appreciate that
Thorberg Nordlicht: ah, i see, “traffic” in SL
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: but, quite literally, probably traffic realted
Thorberg Nordlicht: yes, that’s really annoying when you can’t get somewhere in SL because you can’t teleport
Maxine Walden: I have not yet had that experience but I can imagine the frustration
Maxine Walden: worse than RL traffic, perhaps
Thorberg Nordlicht: not only frustating trying to get somewhere, but also sometimes you want to teleport to make a quick/graceful exit from somewhere, but you can’t get away
Then Friedrich began to speak about frustration and the PaB practice
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i don’t drive often, but yeah. nobody likes traffic. though, i wonder about the PaB practice & raffic
Thorberg Nordlicht: you have a thought about PaB practice and traffic?
Maxine Walden: traffic and the PaB practice?
Maxine Walden: two similar questions
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: well, ther frustration part at least
Thorberg Nordlicht: yes
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i do recall the experience of starting yoga years ago (I have since lapsed) and stress melting away …
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: this is on a smaller scale for me so far, but similiar
Thorberg Nordlicht: i understand
Maxine Walden: oh, frustration and the PaB practice…please say more
Thorberg Nordlicht: had the same experience with Tai Chi
Maxine Walden: yes…
Thorberg Nordlicht: i’m sure i’d love it if i stuck with it, but drifted away
Maxine Walden: just lost interest, perhaps?
Maxine Walden: or something else
Thorberg Nordlicht: definitely got to the point of understanding what people meant when they talk about “feeling the flow of the chi”
And we spoke about different perspectives on chaos, mental space, and related issues coming from previous experience. It was so interesting to have two virtually opposite views right in the room
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: its currently helping me a bit w/ boredom and stress. i can watch it dissipate
Thorberg Nordlicht: not so much lost interest and just too many demands on my time
Maxine Walden: choosing where to put one’s time is really a challenge for me
Thorberg Nordlicht: i’m trying to simplify my life to reduce stress
Maxine Walden: so many RL things mostly tugging at my sleeve, it feels..is it that way for you?
Maxine Walden: oh, yes, simplify,
Thorberg Nordlicht: yes, making life too complicated thinking that’s going to make it better, but actually makes things worse
Maxine Walden: to provide more time and space?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: perhaps. i think for many people, no matter how much they have on thier plate they are busy. feelingoverwhemd is a matter of perspective
Maxine Walden: please say more Friedrich
Thorberg Nordlicht: Suzuki roshi said if your meditation practice makes your life more complcated then cut back and start out slowly
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: so, i figure, might as well take alot on, if i feel busy anyway
Thorberg Nordlicht: yes, Friedrich: elaborate
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: nothing particularly deep. snarky maybe. just the recognition that i’m going to feel busy no matter how much I take on, so why not take more on?
Thorberg Nordlicht: i see
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: kinda hte opposite from simplifying, perhaps ;-)
Thorberg Nordlicht: as long as it feels “right” for you
Thorberg Nordlicht: for e, at this point in my life, feels like i need to simplify
Maxine Walden: maybe, seems the notion of more time and space does not feel so important
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i am quite compfortable with chaos
Thorberg Nordlicht: “tolerance of ambiguity”
Maxine Walden: I see, interesting, chaos is something which is a challenge for me in terms of being able to have clarity
Maxine Walden: but maybe we are placing value on different things
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: well, i grew up in a rather chaotic home, so maybe it just feels right
Thorberg Nordlicht: i see; makes sense
Maxine Walden: oh, yes, familiar
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: and, i like trying to find the patterns around me, i suppose.
Thorberg Nordlicht: :-)
Maxine Walden: interesting…
Thorberg Nordlicht: i grew up in an environment that was outwardly quiet, but with a lot of unspoken tension
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: oh, ours was spoken… loudly ;-)
Thorberg Nordlicht: haha
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: do you have siblings?
Thorberg Nordlicht: (not meaning to make light of it, though)
Thorberg Nordlicht: no, no siblings for me; only child
Maxine Walden: oh, no siblings to ‘take the tension out on’
Thorberg Nordlicht: right
Maxine Walden: that could be very difficult
Thorberg Nordlicht: and I’m an introvert by nature; but not antisocial; just true introvert in the sense that i need lots of “alone” time to balance and process social contact
Maxine Walden: lots of time and space?
Maxine Walden: maybe to prevent unwelcome tension to build up
Thorberg Nordlicht: some people find social contact to be invigorating and stimulating, whereas I find it to be exhausting; need lots of “time and space” to process
Thorberg Nordlicht: yes
Thorberg Nordlicht: intersting how everyone is different
Maxine Walden: I think I can understand that…yes so interesting our differences
Maxine Walden: and still some similarities
Thorberg Nordlicht: i’m sure we’re all shaped by our childhood environment, but there’s no question we come into the world with our own personalities and agenda
Friedrich suggested an article for us to read
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: along these lines, you might enjoy this article HYPERLINK “http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/bu...ce&oref=slogin” http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/bu...ce&oref=slogin
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: its all about establishing patterns and breaking habbits
Thorberg Nordlicht: ((following link))
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: when i read it today i thought alot about PaB
Maxine Walden: this is the PaB time, I think, which began at 7pm SL time
Maxine Walden: please say more about the article
Thorberg Nordlicht: hmmm, interesting; i’ll bookmark it and get back to it when i have time; thanks
Maxine Walden: yes, and I need to say that I need to leave in about 3 minutes to go to another meeting
Thorberg Nordlicht: can you summarize it for us?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: its about consciously deciding to create new habbits
Thorberg Nordlicht: i see
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: how, hte old ones are tough to change, but new ones form in parallel
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i mean, its from a neurobiological perspective
Thorberg Nordlicht: i see
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: part of what was intereting to me in relation to this practice, is that the article suggests that it barely matters what new habbit you choose to form
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: just breaking routine can trigger all sorts of introspection and self-awareness
As occasionally happens I felt frustrated that as the discussion was really getting interesting I had to go to another meeting and so excused myself with enough time to manage the transcript.
Maxine Walden: Afraid I will have to go, please continue…I will take the notes so far for Pema’s blog, is that OK?
