Fael and logan1717 entered the teahouse soon after I arrived and since logan seemed somewhat new we began by discussing the playasbeing practice itself.
Dakini Rhode: this is the playasbeing discussion group, where we discuss our playasbeing practice but often get off topic — and that’s OK
Dakini Rhode: logan are you familiar with playasbeing?
logan1717 Yoshikawa: absolutely not…
Dakini Rhode: :-)
logan1717 Yoshikawa: :s
Dakini Rhode: we’re experimenting with a type of meditation
logan1717 Yoshikawa: interesting
Dakini Rhode: every 15 minutes, we mentally pause for 9 seconds
logan1717 Yoshikawa: ah, yes, I heard about this
Dakini Rhode: a description is on our blog: http://playasbeing.wordpress.com/
Dakini Rhode: it’s like a micro meditation, a 9-second vacation
Dakini Rhode: the thought is to have some continuity with the practice throughout the day
Dakini Rhode: and see what happens
logan1717 Yoshikawa: are you able to do it…. every day???
logan1717 Yoshikawa: it doesn’t seem very simple
Dakini Rhode: i’ve done it every day for awhile now…
Dakini Rhode: it helps to set aside a time to practice, maybe for an hour
Fael Illyar: I’ve been doing it for today. I missed a couple while I visited my mother and didn’t have my 1 minute timer with me though.
Dakini Rhode: so for an hour, every 1 minutes you take a pause
logan1717 Yoshikawa: ah, obviously you need a timer…
Fael Illyar: Well, it helps … oh wait, it wasn’t supposed to be done every 15 minutes? just for one hour?
Dakini Rhode: it’s pretty open-ended how much or how little time you want to devote to it
Dakini Rhode: if you can do more than hour a day, that’s wonderful!
Fael Illyar: I guess I’ll keep doing it like this then
logan1717 Yoshikawa: one hour a day can be enough?
Dakini Rhode: sure! especially starting out
logan1717 Yoshikawa: i must try…
Dakini Rhode: :-)
Dakini Rhode: people have been playing with different ways of doing this
Dakini Rhode: 9 seconds every 15 minutes is the recommendation
Fael and Moon have installed a meditation timer just outside the teahouse, which will sound a lovely tone every 1 minutes.
Fael Illyar: Did you hear the bell sound just now? there is a 15 minute timer bell outside this teahouse.
Dakini Rhode: Yes!
Dakini Rhode: thanks to Fael and Moon… :-)
Dakini Rhode: we have a lovely bell outside the teahouse that rings every 1 minutes
logan1717 Yoshikawa: nice
Dakini Rhode: we can practice the 9-second breaks right here
Fael Illyar: I’m ignoring the bell myself as I’ve got my own timer but they’re only a minute apart.
Dakini Rhode: i downloaded a timer onto my computer, too
Dakini Rhode: the Mindful Clock
Dakini Rhode: it can be set to chime every 15 minutes
Dakini Rhode: it seems perfect for playasbeing and viceversa
Dakini Rhode: part of our practice is to write something - Pema has urged that we write something down
logan1717 Yoshikawa: where?
Dakini Rhode: in a notebook, or whatever you come up with as a journal
Dakini Rhode: just a few words…
Fael Illyar: I’ve been doing explorations today for pretty much all day. I haven’t written something down for every one of those but what has stayed most strongly in my mind is this one vision I had on two of the explorations.
Dakini Rhode: this part i am not so good with…
Dakini Rhode: will you share that with us Fael?
Fael Illyar: There is a river and I’m looking at the scene from the middle of it. I can see boat that I seem to be on. It’s a wide river
Fael Illyar: the surroundings were quite hazy but I got the feeling it’s forest and mountains.
Fael Illyar: the vision was a bit dark. Maybe sunrise or sunset.
Dakini Rhode: any thoughts or feelings coming with the image?
Fael Illyar: There was a feeling of something, in the air perhaps, everywhere.
Fael Illyar: hard to describe
We explored some dimensions of “the track” for playasbeing practice…
Stim Morane: This is an interesting new dimension, I hadn’t considered applying the exercise this way. Thanks very much!
logan1717 Yoshikawa: it’s a third life
Fael Illyar: I wouldn’t go that far :)
logan1717 Yoshikawa: :)
Dakini Rhode: oh, how is this different, Stim?
Stim Morane: Position is different from impressions of one’s immediate situation, existence, sense of being.
Stim Morane: “A vision” is different from
Stim Morane: That’s a new application.
Dakini Rhode: it seems we’ve been talking about different ways of perceiving, or perhaps knowing, in these last few sessions
Dakini Rhode: that maybe different people have different modes….
Stim Morane: Yes, of course.
Dakini Rhode: instead of words, a vision
Stim Morane: But I hadn’t thought of this approach, and I’m grateful for it being included now.
Dakini Rhode: oh good, b/c i had some fears jus tnow
Fael Illyar: I think I had something just now but somehow just out of reach.
Dakini Rhode: that i may have gotten off track…
Dakini Rhode: fael, it’s wonderful you are starting with this so quickly!
Fael Illyar: all I managed to grasp was fast movement. Then it was gone
Stim Morane: I think it will take some time for us to find what the “track” really is here. There are so many possibilities.
Stim Morane: This one is certainly a good addition.
Dakini Rhode: could you help me understand how this expands on your first thoughts?
Stim Morane: I’m sorry, to whom was that question addressed?
Faenik: could be
Dakini Rhode: sorry - Stim, i meant to ask you
Stim Morane: Oh. Well I originally thought of Play as Being in terms of interrupting the ordinary mind’s heedlessness and lack of appeciation of certain fundamental facets of being.
Stim Morane: That is, as a way of coming back to the sacred dimension of presence.
Stim Morane: But now I see it can also include expressive, “playful”, artistic intuitions
Stim Morane: This is very helpful
Dakini Rhode: ah
Dakini Rhode: i think you’re touching on something i’ve been trying to understand about the practice
Dakini Rhode: there is the return to awareness of presence, or being, if you will
Dakini Rhode: and there is the instruction to write something
Dakini Rhode: it seems that lately, i return to silence
Stim Morane: yes, that too is an important option or facet of all options
Dakini Rhode: well yes and maybe because i’ve been tired
Dakini Rhode: so then, nothing in particular to write
Stim Morane: I have to dash off for a second, I’ll be right back.
Upon Stim’s return, our stream of consciousness flowed toward birds and artificial intelligence in SL…
Stim Morane: sorry about the time off.
Dakini Rhode: np Stim … we enjoyed the quiet
logan1717 Yoshikawa: do you turn off the music?
Dakini Rhode: i usually have music off… but it’s optional
logan1717 Yoshikawa: i see
Fael Illyar: Some people like it, some don’t.
Stim Morane: Somehow it doesn’t really go with the teahouse atmosphere.
Fael Illyar: I usually keep it off.
Dakini Rhode: some people prefer different music…
Stim Morane: the stream and birds are the music.
Dakini Rhode: as in RL :-)
Stim Morane: yes
Fael Illyar: ok, this time I had a flash of a bird’s beak and eyes from close.
Stim Morane: watching us
Stim Morane: or something else?
Fael Illyar: I’m not sure
Stim Morane: friendly?
Fael Illyar: beast of prey I think
Dakini Rhode: like a hawk?
Fael Illyar: yes, sounds close
Dakini Rhode: not to insert my words…
Fael Illyar: too late ;)
I have to laugh at Fael’s sense of humor :->
Stim Morane: This brings some new ideas for me. Are there such entities in second life? Technically, there could be if the residents wanted them to roam free and independently.
Dakini Rhode: there are some simulations in SL
Fael Illyar: There are scripted birds, yes
Stim Morane: yes, I was thinking of truly independent entities that could roam at will thru SL, develop over time, etc
Dakini Rhode: there have been some interesting experiments with artificial intelligence
Dakini Rhode: and there is SL physics that can be used to randomize the events
Stim Morane: anyway, I’m sorry to divert us from Fael’s intuition
Dakini Rhode: like wind
Fael Illyar: roaming at will throughout SL is unfortunately not possible.
Dakini Rhode: the bugs i had wandering around here are an example
Dakini Rhode: their motion is random
Stim Morane: I see
Dakini Rhode: but then i had one get stuck in the waterfall
Dakini Rhode: and the water kept splashing….
Fael Illyar: if they were modifiable, should be reasonably easy to insert a failsafe script that resets them to a set position if they don’t manage to move enough.
We spoke of different modes of experiencing and of communicating. And of dreams…
Stim Morane: So backing up a bit, Fael, did you have these sorts of visions before you started using this PaB discipline?
Dakini Rhode: maybe so…
Fael Illyar: No, I don’t think so
Fael Illyar: I’ve only had them today I think. Although, they remind me a bit of whatever dreams I see sometimes.
Stim Morane: I see
Fael Illyar: Which would make sense since I suppose those both come from the subconscious.
Dakini Rhode: this is one of the things i’m wondering about…
Dakini Rhode: i guess the instruction to write something down - is so that we can write something about our experience
Dakini Rhode: and for some, our experience comes not in words but rather in visions, or feelings, or …
Dakini Rhode: different modes of learning and experiencing
Dakini Rhode: i guess still we can write, sometimes it takes many words to write what can be perceived in a flash
Stim Morane: yes
Dakini Rhode: a flash without words…
Stim Morane: but a couple words can convey more than many, too.
Dakini Rhode: yes
Fael Illyar: The flash itself cannot be conveyed even close to perfectly no matter how many words you use.
Stim Morane: I don’t think the issue is documentation, but expression.
Dakini Rhode: in some ways, using a few words, it seems almost as though the experience is “coded” and only relevant to the experiencer
Fael Illyar: So, that makes me think that the only reason to write something down is to have a keyphrase that will bring that flash back to memory when you read it
Stim Morane: yes, I usually call these “trigger” words when I’m recommending a similar discipline in my classes
Stim Morane: but there is the potential problem that they will primarily have meaning to the person writing them, not to others.
Fael Illyar: That is unavoidable, words are not even close to perfect method of conveying thoughts
Stim Morane: words work well for some things and purposes. Here, we’ll have to see.
Dakini Rhode: we can see
Fael Illyar: I seem to be getting more visions now for some reason. I just had one of a waterfall on a cliff.
Dakini Rhode: it seems that some modes of communication are not available to us particularly in SL
Dakini Rhode: so we are more limited to words
Stim Morane: I am too new to second life to even begin to appreciate the trade-offs, or the extra possibilities that are introduced by the present medium.
Dakini Rhode: Fael do you draw?
Dakini Rhode: paint?
Dakini Rhode: i’m new to thinking about it in this way :-)
Dakini Rhode: most of my time has been spent building things…
Fael Illyar: No, I haven’t done that much. I think I did some a long time ago but that’s long past.
Fael Illyar: I’ve been thinking of pretty much anything you can do in SL as a form of communication
Stim Morane: yes
Fael Illyar: building, especially
Dakini Rhode: yes
Dakini Rhode: the results of building can certainly communicate…
Stim Morane: I feel surrounded by such a message here, thanks to you, Dakini.
Dakini Rhode: for some reason that astonishes me…
Dakini Rhode: i got the power haha
Dakini Rhode: sorry
Dakini Rhode: i saw my building as an expression of my dreams and my inner self
Dakini Rhode: i saw my dreams materialize as i built
Dakini Rhode: made them more solid and brought them to my awareness
Stim Morane: this is something I hope you and others can discuss more sometime.
Dakini Rhode: yes - i’m sure we shall
Fael Illyar: In a way, that’s communicating with yourself but at the same time, it allows others to see the message too.
Dakini Rhode: yes indeed
Dakini Rhode: and i see Pema is dreaming biiig dreams
Fael Illyar: :)
Stim Morane: Yes, that tends to happen.
Dakini Rhode: very intriguing
Dakini Rhode: speaking of Pema specifically?
Stim Morane: yes
Stim Morane: I usually drift along behind, shaking my head.
Dakini Rhode: i can relate to that
Fael Illyar: :)
Dakini Rhode: i described it as hanging on to the back of the caboose
Dakini Rhode: of a moving train
Fael Illyar: I guess I’ll understand what you mean eventually.
Stim Morane: that description will seem even more apt to you over time.
Dakini Rhode: o my
