2008.07.06 19:00 - Follow the Flow

In below comments, I = Pia Iger,the guardian of this session.

I was alone at the Pavilion for a while. Quite unusual for my 7pm shifts. One visitor came by. I told him about PaB and he was quite interested. But he was also cautious not to have his first visit shown on blog, so that part of conversation was not here.

Then Fred showed up and he made a good guess of why not many people came tonight.

Pia Iger: Hi, Fred

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: good evening

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: how are you doing? sorry i'm late.

Pia Iger: just start. a bit quiet tonight.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: quiet sun night shift, huh? Peaceful.

Pia Iger: yes, rarely so quiet, my shifts were usually crowded.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: everyone is probably stuck in Fourth of July traffic

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: or recovering from sun and bbq?

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: (in this country, at least)

He started to talk about the weekend experience.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: nice. i actually went rafting this weekend.

Pia Iger: white water?

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i forget if i ever shared this connection, but there are times when you are rafting when its best for no one to row...

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: (yup. well, more like off-white)

Pia Iger: :)

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: when you are in exactly the right place, and all that rowing will do is throw your off course

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: reminded me of some conversations here

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i forget the term - wei wu?

Pia Iger: or "follow the flow"

Pia Iger: Wu Wei is right word too.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: heh. the old dylsexia

Pia Iger: not too bad, at least I understood.

Pia Iger: how many ppl on a raft?

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: they fit 6-8, but ours only had 4. we flew ;-)

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: it was kinda back to nature. they had released a dam...

Pia Iger: Ah.. dam.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: anyway, as close as you can get out on the east coast

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: heh

Pia Iger: so speedy..

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: quite fun. we lucked out on the weather, though in retrospect i am redder than i would have been if it rained

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: how was your weekend?

Pia Iger: can't complain.

Pia Iger: just watched the Wimbledon final this afternoon.

Pia Iger: was very emotional to me

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i didn't watch, but heard it was an upset of some sort

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: (hopefully not too upseting)

Pia Iger: very. Federer played so hard, but lost.

I was gonna say that the sports games can be our good chances to practice letting go, and not taking results too seriously. Sort of as an epitome of real life.

Fred changed the topic to PaB practice.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i find that trying to maintain the practice is much different during the week from the weekends, especially when traveling

Pia Iger: true, in the office, my pc gave me a reminder every 15 min.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: has it carried over outside the office? in teh evenings & weekends?

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: or, do you just forget more often? I do.

Pia Iger: I do a little, but as you said, easier to forget.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: are you a long time student of buddism/zen?

Pia Iger: not at all.

Pia Iger: Just start to read about them after I came here for PaB

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: how did you fall into this? I don't think i ever got to hear your story

Pia Iger: gotcha, not reading blog!!

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: not DAILY

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: but, if you point me at the right day, i'll do my homework

Pia Iger: just kidding.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: heh. i tried, at first

About our blog.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: it was overwhelming

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: and, weird. these conversations are sometimes ephemeral

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: don't always make as much sense reading them over afterwards

Pia Iger: you mean the blog entry of meeting you participate, don't make sense?

Pia Iger: or those you were not present.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: right. i haven't found them as valuable

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i actually wonder what the blog is like for a newcomer. quite daunting, i would imagine.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i mean, its daunting to me too, but i don't try to follow every post.

Pia Iger: I heard some ppl say that, some pply said interesting.

Pia Iger: I got into this the same way as you.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: that's another one of those places where 1% time tax is multiplied..

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: head first? off the deep end?

Pia Iger: I am not following.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: kidding. talking about ways into PaB

Pia Iger: I attended Piet's talk , then start to read blog.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: which talk?

Pia Iger: I read 2 months' blog before coming to SL.

Pia Iger: a talk in a spiritual group.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: pretty wild. Word of mouth has traveled, it seems.

Pia Iger: agree. but I sort of find blog interesting.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i still read it, just not, religiously

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: not sure what draws me to a particular post. the slug matters

About time we spend on PaB. Meanwhile, Pema dropped in from his RL train ride.

Pia Iger: I imagine you can read pretty fast.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: well, faster than the session runs, that's true

Pia Iger: you are right, we are paying more than 1% tax time.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: that's ok. i think in the balance, there is far more time we get to "write off " as a consequence

Pia Iger: you do think so?

Pia Iger: not a tricky question.

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: hi pema

Pema Pera: Hi Fred and Pia!

Pia Iger: Hi, Pema, shining third eye

Pema Pera: ah, yes, haha

Pema Pera: from the guardian meeting yesterday

Pema Pera: but don't let me interrupt your conversation!

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: err, yeah, so more than 1% total, but net, maybe it works out?

Pia Iger: what is net?

stevenaia Michinaga is Online

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: the difference, between time otherwise spent. this wasn't meant to be very precise

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: we were just talking about how PaB is often more than 1%, if you add up the extracurricular activities, like trying to follow the blog

Pema Pera: oh yeah, tell me about it lol!

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: heh.

Pema Pera: for me it has been half my life it feels by now . . .

Pia Iger: haha

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: but, then i joked that, in the balance, you get to "write off" more of the rest of your time. it becomes tax dedcutable.

Pema Pera: hehehe

Pema Pera: I should have stared at April 15, not April 1 . . . . . .

Pia Iger: haha

Pema Pera: but still, the beauty of it is that it is possible for anyone to do it only for a few minutes a day

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: like the rabbit from Alice in wonderland?

Pema Pera: so the threshold is lower than for any other reality exploration I know of

Pema Pera: whether in science or spirituality or anything philosophical

Pema Pera: the rest is incremental

Pema Pera: optional

Pema Pera: but often -- yes -- very time consuming :-)

Pema Pera: like many things in SL though

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: anyhows, nice chatting. i'm gonna tp

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: g'night.

Pema Pera: g'night Fred!

Pia Iger: gnite. Fred.

Pema talked with me about posting the blog on Wiki directly, then he had to get off the train, and SL.