At 1 am sharp, both Hotaru and I arrived at the tea house.
Hotaru Myoo: Hi Pema
Pema Pera: Hiya Hotaru!
Hotaru Myoo: Ou zabutan are bubbles this morning
Pema Pera: yes, slow rezzing
Pema Pera: a type of zabutan Ruthing :-)
Hotaru Myoo: haha
Hotaru Myoo: sit on them and watch ‘em flatten
Hotaru Myoo: haha
Pema Pera: beautiful wings again, how may pairs do you have ?!?
Hotaru Myoo: that’s great
Hotaru Myoo: countless
Hotaru Myoo: ty
Pema Pera: do you sometimes go wild and have one wing with one color and one wing with another?
Hotaru Myoo: have I ever told you the story behind the wings?
Pema Pera: no
Hotaru Myoo: no
Pema Pera is all ears
Hotaru Myoo: hmm
Hotaru Myoo: I am not too asymmetrical
Hotaru Myoo: I prefer balance and harmony in such matters
Hotaru Myoo: no dukka
Pema Pera: sure, me too, but there can be exceptions to anything — going wild sometimes . . . .
Hotaru Myoo: or as little dukka as possible
Hotaru Myoo: haha
Pema Pera: so can you wing your story?
Hotaru Myoo: toga toga toga
Hotaru began her story.
Hotaru Myoo: well…it has several layers of meaning ..
Hotaru Myoo: for me
Hotaru Myoo: there is the spiritual side
Hotaru Myoo: I started flying aircraft in order to get closer to god
Hotaru Myoo: (have had some mid air attemps at finding God too…)
Hotaru Myoo: yikes
Pema Pera: hohoho
Hotaru Myoo: so that is one level
Hotaru Myoo: and the fact that I do fly
Hotaru Myoo: that’s another
Hotaru Myoo: but I also look at what the butterfly is trying to teach
Hotaru Myoo: the never-ending cycle of transformation
Hotaru Myoo: the egg stage- Is this just a thought or idea?
Hotaru Myoo: the larva stage- do I need to make a decision
Hotaru Myoo: the cocoon stage- am I developing or doing something to make my idea a reality?
Hotaru Myoo: the birth stage- am I sharing a completed idea?
Hotaru Myoo: it’s like being in touch with the being
Hotaru Myoo: the doing
Hotaru Myoo: when I understand where I am on the ontinuum…
Hotaru Myoo: continuum… the symbol can help direct me what I need to do next on the spiral…
Hotaru Myoo: of self-transformation
Pema Pera: That’s a wonderful story, Hotaru . . . . worthy of a poem or essay or short story . . . .
Pema Pera: And I take it that the fire fly image is related to the butterfly inspiration?
Hotaru Myoo: ya…
Hotaru Myoo: the energy
Hotaru Myoo: the light
I had brought in the meaning of `hotaru’, firefly in Japanese.
Pema Pera: What strikes me always about fire flies is the complete silence in which they switch their glow on and off . . . .
Hotaru Myoo: the perpetuation of such
Pema Pera: no buzzing, no sounds of hovering . . . .
Pema Pera: just the silence of the night . . . .
Hotaru Myoo: ah
Pema Pera: and the unexpected switching on . . . and equally unexpected switching off . . . .
Hotaru Myoo: I like that …
Pema Pera: and the way they wink to each other
Pema Pera: silently
Hotaru Myoo: like our being
Pema Pera: pretty much like the way we are texting here
Hotaru Myoo: yes
Pema Pera: across oceans
Pema Pera: little glimmers
Pema Pera: yet visible to each other
Hotaru Myoo: winking computer parts
Pema Pera: bit for bit
Hotaru Myoo: it’s like using the air
Hotaru Myoo: or mental powers
Pema Pera: and lag seems part of the life of fire flies . . . doesn’t change the patterns . . .
Pema Pera: no hurry . . .
Hotaru Myoo: done with so much ease
Pema Pera: fine to glow fine to wait . . . .
Hotaru Myoo: helps build clarity
Hotaru Myoo: to organize our undertaking
Hotaru Myoo: it’s an incredible freedom
Hotaru Myoo: the possibility of change
Hotaru Myoo: it represents courage
Hotaru Myoo: stretching out to new realities
Hotaru Myoo: hmmm
Hotaru Myoo: expanding too
Hotaru Myoo: ?
Hotaru Myoo: lots o gas…:)
Pema Pera: haha, yes
Pema Pera: switching
Pema Pera: changing
Pema Pera: metamorphosis
Hotaru Myoo: tick tock
Pema Pera: reminders of impermanence
Hotaru Myoo: yes!
Pema Pera: but a kind of impermance that implies
Pema Pera: never having been solidly real
Pema Pera: not coming and going
Pema Pera: but never having come
Pema Pera: never having gone
Pema Pera: yet being
Hotaru Myoo: always in constant flux
Hotaru Myoo: blinking
Hotaru Myoo: breathing
Hotaru Myoo: sine/cosine
Hotaru Myoo: so simple
Hotaru Myoo: basic
Pema Pera: yes
Hotaru Myoo: blink
Pema Pera: yes
An imagine popped up in my mind, from the world’s oldest novel.
Pema Pera: do you know the story about fire flies in the tale of Genji?
Hotaru Myoo: jeez..
Hotaru Myoo: I just read it for the second time last fall…
Hotaru Myoo: and I can’t say that I do…:)
Hotaru Myoo: duh…
Hotaru Myoo listens
Hotaru Myoo: (how could I have missed that?)
Pema Pera: Genji has a bag in which he has let someone put a large number of fireflies
Pema Pera: I don’t remember many details
Hotaru Myoo grabs her copy
Pema Pera: but he lets a prince, prince Hotaru (hence the name), come to visit a woman
Pema Pera: and it was at night, and the woman could not be seen
Pema Pera: normally speech was through a screen
Hotaru Myoo: haha
Pema Pera: and as I said I forgot the details
Hotaru Myoo: just like right now
Pema Pera: but you can guess
Pema Pera: at some point Genji opened the bag
Pema Pera: and the fireflies were out of the bag
Pema Pera: with a different effect than the cat out of the bag :-)
Hotaru Myoo: haha
Pema Pera: let me see, Google must help here
Pema Pera: fire flies genji
Pema Pera: should do
Pema Pera: http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/Genji/00000036.htm
Pema Pera: yup!
Google certainly is a great help in these situations.
Pema Pera: Suddenly, some six or seven feet away, there was a flash of light — and such beauty as was revealed in it! Darkness was quickly restored, but the brief glimpse he had had was the sort of thing that makes for romance. The figure at the curtains may have been indistinct but it most certainly was slim and tall and graceful.
Hotaru Myoo is gotta give up her wireless laptop and get a faster setup
Pema Pera: ah, the poems they exchange fit with our conversation! Isn’t that nice! Here is the first one
Pema Pera: “You put out this silent fire to no avail. Can you extinguish the fire in the human heart?
Pema Pera: and in response:
Pema Pera: “The firefly but burns and makes no comment. Silence sometimes tells of deeper thoughts.”
Hotaru Myoo: wow
Pema Pera: it seems that 1 am meetings in SL hark back to nightly meetings in earlier days . . . . .
Pema Pera: even with just one fire fly
Pema Pera: lighting herself :-)
Hotaru Myoo blushes
Pema Pera: hahaha
Pema Pera: my astronomy room mate wonders why I am laughing out loud
Pema Pera: and looks puzzled at my screen
Hotaru Myoo: lol
Pema Pera: noticing this is not the virtual astronomy meeting room that I had mentioned to him
Pema Pera: it is 5:30 pm here in Tokyo
Pema Pera: so many layers of reality . . . .
Hotaru Myoo: time for dinner!
Pema Pera: yup, it is!
Pema Pera: And how wonderful musing here with you!
Hotaru Myoo: well this has been delightful
Pema Pera: thanks for stopping by
Hotaru Myoo: thanks for Being
Hotaru Myoo: thanks for Playing
Pema Pera: thanks for Playing
Pema Pera: hahaha
Pema Pera: you drew more quickly
Pema Pera: this time
Hotaru Myoo: have a great evening!
Pema Pera: you sleep well, happy dreams!
Hotaru Myoo: ty
Hotaru Myoo: g’nite Pema!
Pema Pera: good later nite Hotaru!
