That evening Maxine, Terri and Thorberg were already at the pavilion when I walked in over the bridge to the South.
Terri Holrych: i change every day
Terri Holrych: hi pema
Maxine Walden: ah, hi Pema and Thor
Terri Holrych: hi thorberg
Thorberg Nordlicht: hi there!
Terri Holrych: :)
Pema Pera: Hi Terri, Maxine, Thorberg!
Terri Holrych: hi
Pema Pera: Always feels a bit clumsy, stumbling in with lots of lag . …
Terri Holrych: lol
Maxine Walden: yes, it can feel clumsy
Pema Pera: Terri, you must have a large wardrobe!
Terri Holrych: lol
Terri Holrych: i try
Maxine Walden: hi, Pia
Pema Pera: I still have to get into the habit to get more clothes AND to organize my inventory
Pema Pera: hi Pia!
Pia Iger: Hi, everyone
Terri Holrych: i love clothes
Terri Holrych: hi pia
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: hi everyone
Pema Pera: Hi Fred!
Maxine Walden: hi Fred
Terri Holrych: hi fried
Pia Iger: Hi, Fred.
Pia and Fred arrived as well, so there were half a dozen of us.
Pema Pera: I had a crazy thought this morning
Cup of Sake whispers: Enjoy : )
Maxine Walden: oh?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: just one?
Terri Holrych: lol
Thorberg Nordlicht: no?!
Pema Pera: when I noticed once again how long the 9 seconds are becoming
Pema Pera: so I wondered about alternatives
Pema Pera: like 3 sec every 5 minutes
Pema Pera: or even 0.6 sec every minute
Pema Pera: still 1% time tax :)
Terri Holrych: lol
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: and in the limit? constant awareness?
Pema Pera: well, yes, that’s the hope :)
Maxine Walden: you know, the shorter than 9 seconds makes a kind of sense, in that so much can go on so instantly in our minds
Dakini Rhode: hello!
Pema Pera: Hi Dakini!
Dakini Rhode: please meet Yidam :-)
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: hey there
Terri Holrych: hi dakini and yidam
Maxine Walden: hi, Dakini and Yidam
Yidam Nightfire: Hi … i know many of you already :)
Pia Iger: Hi, there,
Yidam Nightfire: good to see you all again
Pema Pera: Hi Yidam!
Terri Holrych: :)
Dakini and Yidam joined, and with the eight of us, we were beginning to fill up the circle of cushions.
Pema Pera: Have you been at one of our Play as Being meetings before, Yidam?
Yidam Nightfire: no
Yidam Nightfire: i am looking forward to it
Pema Pera: you’re in it :)
Pema Pera: http://playasbeing.wordpress.com/ is our web site
Pema Pera: gives the background
Pema Pera: but perhaps you’ve heard about it already?
Dakini Rhode: I explained some of the background….
Yidam Nightfire: only from the Dakini
Pema Pera: The Dakini !
Dakini Rhode: lol
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: with regards to perpetual awareness, from a slightly different set of metaphors:
Pema Pera: Our very own dakini
Fred brought up some great quotes from the bible, connected to the continuity core of Play as Being.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: The pious were therefore particular to minimize the time when they could not reflect on God’s name. And they cautioned others, saying, “Let not your minds be vacant from reflections on God.” In the same sense, King David said, “I have set God before me always, He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved” (Psalms 16:8). What he meant was, “I do not turn my thoughts away from God — He is like my right hand, which I do not forget for even an instant because of the ease of its motions. Therefore, I shall not be moved — I shall not fall
Terri Holrych: :)
Pema Pera: yes, that is a nice connection
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: anyway, the idea was, as i understood it, to keep a presence in mind, as you would your right hand.
Terri Holrych: like pure land practice
Pema Pera: To borrow an image from Dakini: every 15 minutes we wipe our windshields
Terri Holrych: rofl
Pema Pera: and more often if we like, and can remember
Terri Holrych: :)
Pema Pera: yes, pure land is similar
Thorberg Nordlicht: how ’bout every time you blink?
Pema Pera: sure!!
Yidam Nightfire: or breathe
Pema Pera: or breathe
Yidam Nightfire: or move
Pema Pera: yes
Pema Pera: :)
Maxine Walden: nearly continuous awareness if possible
Terri Holrych: or the wind blows
Pema Pera: the point is: we are constantly practicing NOT seeing, so what we call practice is a counter balance
Terri Holrych: :)
Pema Pera: we have somehow learned to be in mindsets of not seeing, of bleeding on, of being zombies
Yidam Nightfire: “reflecting on God’s name” sounds like a mantra perhaps
Tara entered, for her first visit to the pavilion, and recognizing it immediately as such.
Tara Farmer: holy crap
Terri Holrych: hi tara
Tara Farmer: a pavillion!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: seems to me the differential is key though. not sure what this perpetual awarenss might be like
Dakini Rhode: hi Tara
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: hi Tara
Terri Holrych: lol holy crap hehehe
Pema Pera: Hi Tara, good seeing you again!
Tara Farmer: hello all you wonderful people
Pia Iger: Tara, hi,
Tara Farmer: nice pavillion pema
Pema Pera: Dakini made it
Pema Pera: as usual
Terri Holrych: :)
Pema Pera: ;)
Dakini Rhode: people always making me blush….
Tara Farmer: dakini’s the bomb
Pema Pera: creative rather than destructive
Terri Holrych: thats hawt
Dakini Rhode: thank you
Thorberg Nordlicht: I like the new pavilion because there’s enough room for the camera to pan back and see everybody at once
Dakini Rhode: indeed
Dakini Rhode: having no walls & roof helps with that too
Terri Holrych: :)
The topic turned to Fred’s face.
Pema Pera: Fred, I do think your face is black
Pema Pera: probably something you have to reset
Pema Pera: was the same last time
Tara Farmer: yeah your face does look black fried
Tara Farmer: its a little creepy
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: stealth Fred!
Pema Pera: :)
Tara Farmer: more like, about to get the electric chair fried
Terri Holrych: the last time t was black for me too
Dakini Rhode: oh i see you’re wearing a stocking overy your head…
Dakini Rhode: over
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: stick ‘em up!
Dakini Rhode: lol
Tara Farmer shivers her timbers
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: bad face day?
Pema Pera: well, all the drinks are free already . . ..
Terri Holrych: rofl
Thorberg Nordlicht: “bad face day”; hahaha; lol
Thorberg Nordlicht: only in SL
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: someone slipped me a skin where the beard is a tatoo…
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i’ve been futzing with it on and off all week. don’t mind me
Pema Pera: no that’s not the problem Fred
Pema Pera: you have “black avatar” syndrome :)
Dakini Rhode: um that is quite a beard…
Pema Pera: I suggest you look at the SL help site
Terri Holrych: oooo?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: yes, i hear that plague is going around
In fact, something similar had occurred to me too, a few months ago.
Pema Pera: you have to rebake
Pema Pera: as they call it
Pema Pera: did you use an external monitor?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: you gotta be kidding - read hte manual?
Tara Farmer sparys herself for cooties
Pema Pera: that’s often the trigger, it’s a bug
Terri Holrych: gross
Dakini Rhode: fred you look baked
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: its the incense ;-)
Pema Pera: if you swivel the camera, and look at yourself, you’ll see it’s the whole face
Pema Pera: not a beard
Tara Farmer: or the tea my friend
Dakini Rhode: Ctrl-Alt-R
Terri Holrych: lemmme drink some more
Dakini Rhode: that is the command to rebake
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i tried upgrading my client, and it was a disaster, so i switched back. mabe that had to do w/ it?
Yidam Nightfire: it looks good on you Friedrich :)
Tara Farmer: yeah i just upgraded and this version sucks
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: thanks yidam!
Yidam Nightfire: selfless
Dakini Rhode: lol
Terri Holrych: deep
Terri Holrych: lol
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: heh. feels like someone just told me my zipper was open
Tara Farmer: “how’d you get the beans above the frank”
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: kinda the same situation. to fix this i would need to turn around
Tara Farmer: LOL
Dakini Rhode: haha Fred i think you’re toying with us
Pia Iger notice the perpetual awarenss of black beard.
Terri Holrych: I want to peench ._.
Terri Holrych: hehe
pillow - kneel: Rotation =
pillow - kneel: Rotation =
Terri Holrych: the pillow is talkin now
Tara Farmer: pema, you’re getting a little beer gut
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: sigh. excuse me.
Fred left for a rebake, it seemed, Neela entered, and then Fred returned with a tanned but this time visible face.
Pema Pera: talking about new versions, I haven’t updated for a long time — are we being reminded to do so, or is there a specific command I should give?
Pema Pera: hehe, Tara
Pema Pera: too much sitting
Terri Holrych: Maybe little peench? o_o
Dakini Rhode: i know i look like i’m typing…
Terri Holrych: hi neela
Dakini Rhode: sorry
Pema Pera: Hi Neela!
Tara Farmer: you know i think i am going to downgrade this version again
Tara Farmer: see you all in a minute or 60
Terri Holrych: ok
Neela Blaisdale: Hello everyone
Maxine Walden: hi, Neela
Pema Pera: wb Fred
Pema Pera: yeah!
Pema Pera: face is back too
Pia Iger: Hi, Neela,
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: danka.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: yeah, it wasn’t happening, so i gave myself a tan, but then it was normal
Dakini Rhode: wb Fred’s face…
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: heh. i /could/ have just covered it with hair, i guess
Fred and Pia each bring up something to ponder.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: one of these months i’ll start reading the instructions
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: its not like first life comes with any
Dakini Rhode: funny :-)
Terri Holrych: it should lol
Pia Iger: wonder why we insist Fred’s face has to be normal.
Pia Iger: even in SL.
Terri Holrych: i dunno
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: well, you’ve heard of hte Grandma neuron/cell? Maybe by now you have a Fred one?
Neela Blaisdale: I was noticing how many of us keep our hair and face the same
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i probably do. as i mentioned, its a bit disquieting running into other newbie’s who look like me
Terri Holrych: i like to experiment
Dakini turned back to the earlier conversation.
Dakini Rhode: i noticed when i arrived, you were chatting about continuous awareness
Dakini Rhode: or constant awareness of being
Dakini Rhode: ?
Terri Holrych: arent they the same?
Pema Pera: I wondered about alternatives to the 9-sec rule, like 3 sec every 5 minutes or even 0.6 se every minute
Pema Pera: and then Fred mentioned continuous awareness as a limit
Pema Pera: I feel the 9 seconds to become longer and longer . . . .
Pia Iger: how can it be?
Dakini Rhode: i feel the practice to be almost constantly in the background….
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i am uncertain if continuous awareness is desirable
Neela Blaisdale: What is the 9 second rule?
Pema Pera: Every 15 minutes we stop what we are doing for 9 seconds
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: much of the gain (for me) is in the contrast
Maxine Walden: I had mentioned the term continuous awareness but think that what I meant was more an attempt at constant awareness of being, as you but it Dakini.
Pema Pera: that is the basic Play as Being exploration
Pema Pera: see http://playasbeing.wordpress.com/
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: Neela: Hint - it has nothing to do with dropping food on the floor ;-)
Pia Iger: haha
Pema Pera: sorry, maxine, I thought it was Fred :)
Dakini Rhode: i notice that if i use a trigger for the 9 sec practice - like the bell - i quickly learn to ignore it
Neela Blaisdale: Chuckle
Maxine Walden: not at all, Pema, I thought you were making a point about not having a continuous awareness, and I was just trying to think about that…
Maxine Walden: the creativity of ‘being’ disrupting the awareness, something like that
Dakini Rhode: due to that - my tendency to quickly become fatigued - i think it would be helpful to vary the timing
Dakini Rhode: so an interesting idea, Pema
Pia Iger: also a point: the 9sec format is not rule. can be any time period.
Pema Pera: the whole idea is to be playful — yes Pia
Pema Pera: to experiment
Pema Pera: both with content and format
We talk about ways to remind ourselves.
Pema Pera: you may ennoy your neighbors at work if you ring a bell every 5 minutes though :)
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: RSI software works great
Neela Blaisdale: Especially if you work right next to someone
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: (repetitive stress injury)
Dakini Rhode: people like my bell
Terri Holrych: :)
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: just gotta work near an old clock tower
Maxine Walden: lol
Dakini Rhode: if you can attach mindfulness to the breath, you have a continuous reminder
Dakini Rhode: as you are continuously breathing…
Dakini Rhode: i made the mistake of doin gthis sound at work today…
Terri Holrych: lol
Dakini Rhode: i had to repeat it…
Terri Holrych: over n over
Terri Holrych: lol
Dakini Rhode: why not to have the SL window open when you work from home…
Terri Holrych: aww
Terri Holrych: why no pinch? 0.0
And Pia repeats her question. I’m trying to answer by describing a typical experience of a 9-sec exploration interval.
Pia Iger: still wondering why Pema feel 9 sec is getting longer and longer?
Pema Pera: When I do the 9-sec exploration
Terri Holrych: empty space?
Pema Pera: there are three stages to it, or so it feels
Pema Pera: the first instant
Pema Pera: the next second or so
Pema Pera: and then the next 8 or so
Pema Pera: the 8 feel very long and different from the rest
Pema Pera: the first moment, much less than a second
Pema Pera: feels complete in itself, timeless
Pema Pera: the next second feels like full of time already
Pema Pera: flowing
Pema Pera: and very long in comparison
Pema Pera: then the 9 secs feel almost endles :-)
Pema Pera: the punch seems to come in the first two stages
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: do you use an external trigger/reminder?
Pema Pera: I wonder how others experience this
Pema Pera: no
Dakini Rhode: how do you trigger the end of the 9 secs pema
Pema Pera: oh, I guess
Pema Pera: not precise
Pema Pera: I’m pretty good at estimating time
Pema Pera: astronomers are time keepers, originally at least :)
Maxine and Dakini describe their experiences.
Maxine Walden: I experience a re-entry after the 9 or so sec, not as dramatic as the first instant but notable; do also experience the middle 8 or so sec similarly to what Pema mentioned
Dakini Rhode: i can relate this to my experience also, and i wonder if it has something to do with timing the 9 seconds or keeping track of them, at least
Dakini Rhode: the first moment is one of attention and remembrance
Dakini Rhode: very bright
Neela Blaisdale: Have to deal with the computer again,back soon i hope
Dakini Rhode: and then my experience is similar
Maxine Walden: there is, however, for me a twilight time after re-entry when I try to find words for the experience
Pema Pera: I’m not seeing that I dislike the last 8 seconds, on the contrary, it is very restful, like a mini-retreat; more Soto zen perhaps, with the first moment being more Rinzai zen.
Pema Pera: *saying
Dakini Rhode: i don’t dislike the 8 seconds either, but in fact, the 9 seconds seems long
Pema Pera: yes, Maxine, writing takes more than a second :)
Dakini Rhode: surprisingly so
Yidam Nightfire: a single breath is close enough to 9 seconds in lenght
Pema Pera: yes
Maxine Walden: right
Maxine Walden: it would be interesting to shorten the time interval and see if there are differences in the experience
Yidam Nightfire: i think it might be interesting to consider what we’re aware of during that 9 seconds since i’m not familiar with your technique
Thorberg Nordlicht: i was thinking a single breath is mre like a veery long second; so, take a 9-breath timeout every 15 minutes
Yidam Nightfire: you must pant
Yidam Nightfire: :)
Dakini Rhode: :-)
Terri Holrych: lol
I answered Yidam’s question about what we do during the 9 seconds.
Pema Pera: There is no specific technique, Yidam
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: kinda tough for me to imagine pausing for less than a complete breath - not sure how i would come back before i finshed breathing
Pema Pera: oh, you can pause without worrying about breathing — just for one second
Pema Pera: or half a second
Yidam Nightfire: i like our notion of the very long second :), the emptiness of time
Pema Pera: Yidam, the general idea is to drop what you have in order to see what you are
Pema Pera: without specific detailed instructions
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: true. too easy to latch onto concentrating on breathing, but maybe that is a crutch
Pema Pera: it is like a lab experiment in which you can choose your own set up
Pema Pera: and an important part is to keep a lab journal
Pema Pera: to write down what comes up during the 9-sec exploration
Yidam Nightfire: prob in a few
Pema Pera: just a few words or short sentence
Pema Pera: prob?
Yidam Nightfire: typo sorry
Pema Pera trying to guess what “prob” is a typo for . . . :)
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i;m gonna call it a night - nice meeting you yidam. cheers, everyone.
Maxine Walden: just to mention that I need to go soon
Dakini Rhode: nite Fred :-)
Terri Holrych: bye fred
Pia Iger: bye, Fred.
Pema Pera: and me as well
Yidam Nightfire: night :)
Yidam Nightfire: thanks pema
Yidam Nightfire: good discussion
Following Fred’s example, we are starting to leave.
Thorberg Nordlicht: yes, i need to leave at 8PM also
Maxine Walden: very nice discussion, everyone, look forward to seeing everyone soon
Pema Pera: As you can see, Yidam, our talks are very unstructured
Pema Pera: not like lectures or even panel discussions
Thorberg Nordlicht: see everyone again soon
Pia Iger: bye, Maxine.
Pema Pera: but somehow always something interesting comes out :)
Maxine Walden: bye, all
Pema Pera: bye everybody!
Dakini Rhode: i’ll be leaving too, past my bedtime…
Terri Holrych: bye all
Thorberg Nordlicht: another advantage of no roof is you can make dramatic exits like just flying straight up, like this
Yidam Nightfire: bye all
Terri Holrych: namaste
Pema Pera: haha, without hitting your head, right
Dakini Rhode: yes and landing in the moat…
Pema Pera checking out whether the space above him is clear . . . .
