2008.07.12 07:00 - Past lives, Hypnotism and Stories.

The Guardian for this meeting was Fael Illyar. The comments are Fael's.

This evening I got a phonecall right before PaB and was therefore 4 minutes
late. Strangely, I was nonetheless the first to arrive. Pia appeared a few
seconds after me.

Fael Illyar: Hi Pia :)
Pia Iger: Hi, Fael

... and of course, the phonecall had to do with RL things that couldn't wait.

Fael Illyar: Unfortunately, I'll have to go AFK for a few minutes, perhaps even 15. I'll handle the logging though.
Pia Iger: np. I will watch the door for you.
Fael Illyar: I'll be back as soon as I can.
Faenik loves wells!

Thankfully, Moon arrives so Pia didn't have to sit alone.

Moon Fargis: hi everyone
Pia Iger: Hi, Moon,
Pia Iger: just me and Faenik, Fael is afk
Moon Fargis: oh
Pia Iger: Is this your new title "wandering zen monk"?
Moon Fargis: hehe just when i wander throught sl
Pia Iger: hehe. I am not good at wandering in SL
Pia Iger: just stay around here
Moon Fargis: "just walk"
Pia Iger: how many sims do you go?
Moon Fargis: hehe i never started counting:)
Faenik: why not?
Pia Iger: so do you just look around, or try to talk to strangers?
Moon Fargis: sometimes i talk yes
Moon Fargis: lets wake fael up :)
Pia Iger: She is not around
Moon Fargis: well didnt worked:)
Faenik: ah :)
Pia Iger: I was thinking in old time, RL monks did wander to villages

At this point I returned from my RL distraction and joined the conversation.

Fael Illyar: ok, I'm back :)
Moon Fargis: :)
Pia Iger: Moon used the Siren to wake you up, Fael.
Fael Illyar: I didn't hear it :)
Pia Iger: I heard it, grins.
Fael Illyar: surprisingly few participants today. Usually more.

The siren started blaring again. Moon apparently thought I needed to hear it.

Fael Illyar: ... ok, now I hear it
Pia Iger: not again, Moon:)
Fael Illyar: ah, I finally recalled one thing I thought might be worth mentioning
Moon Fargis: yes?

I then recalled something I had been thinking about earlier, reincarnation.

Fael Illyar: I was pondering about this rebirth that buddhism has and wondering how we could know that and then figuring that if we can know, it's possible to remember something from your past lives.
Fael Illyar: so, as I figured that out, I instinctively did something that felt like might get me something like that but I only had the time to be surprised and it went away.
Fael Illyar: probably because I was surprised
Moon Fargis: enlihtment can come instant or slow
Moon Fargis: sometimes you touch it and fall back becasue you are surprised
Pia Iger: Fael, are you talking about reincarnation?
Fael Illyar: yes
Pia Iger: it is intriguing mystery to me.
Moon Fargis: "just ask" :)
Pia Iger: yes, I realize we have a monk here.
Fael Illyar: that's the part of Buddhism I don't feel like I ... umm ... "get" is not the right word.
Faenik: indeed?
Pia Iger: Moon, can you share what you get?
Moon Fargis: sure:)
Moon Fargis: any specific question ?
Pia Iger: as Fael said, can we somehow know we had past lives?

Moon begins explaining about past lives.

Moon Fargis: well we can, but its really really hard becasue you are searhing in a ocean of other pasts for yours
Moon Fargis: you past live and ego isnnt attachedto you anymore
Pia Iger: maybe we can remember a little bit something, or something will come to us like a flash.
Moon Fargis: well yes, when i sayd it isnt attched anymore.. i meand in in it is attached and not
Moon Fargis: like a tree wo his searching in the earth for a rotton leaf
Moon Fargis: its there somewhere
Fael Illyar: Moon, what you just said sounds like it might be easier to just "know" a past life that wasn't yours?
Moon Fargis: well easier maybe... depends what you need todo to get there
Moon Fargis: but then you would be flooded with babbling pictures
Moon Fargis: like a dream
Fael Illyar: not yours so doesn't make sense?
Moon Fargis: nt yours and all at once
Moon Fargis: or so much how you ar able to see maybe ...
Moon Fargis: but i didnt tryd myself either
Moon Fargis: saw some hypnotists who tryd this with people
Moon Fargis: recalling their life before

This made me suddenly notice that hypnotism might be related to meditation so that's the next subject.

Fael Illyar: I remember seeing something like that
Fael Illyar: oh by the way. Is it possible to explain hypnotism?
Faenik: could be
Fael Illyar: what is it?
Fael Illyar: why does it work?
Moon Fargis: hmm never thought about that yet, maybe a willing externam deep meditation
Moon Fargis: external
Moon Fargis: maybe something like a controlled dream
Faenik loves wells!
Pia Iger: I wonder what part of us is continuing, while we have left behind the details of past lifes and previous egos.
Moon Fargis: well pema calsl it being
Pia Iger: what we carry from life to life
Moon Fargis: calls
Moon Fargis: i call it awareness
Pia Iger: when I do 9 -sec, it is so clearer to me all I have is awareness.
Moon Fargis: you shoukd try to do some longer meditations
Moon Fargis: l
Moon Fargis: i think you will find out just more how less there really is:)

More and less and both?

Pia Iger: You mean I will find out that a lot more that I thought was real, will be seen as not real, if I do longer meditation?
Moon Fargis: yes maybe.
Moon Fargis: or you find out how long it takes until your leg hurts.. depends on you :)
Fael Illyar: :)
Fael Illyar: I haven't done it that long yet
Pia Iger: I just sit on chair. so may never hurts.
Fael Illyar: I sit on my bed :P
Moon Fargis: ah ok
Fael Illyar: although, SL meditation sessions kind of require me to be here so on the rare occasions I've taken part in those, I've sat right here.

Then I suddenly notice that "here" could have two possible interpretations when said in SL. In this case, I meant my chair in RL.

Fael Illyar: It just occurred to me that it might be easy to mistake the context in which "here" should be interpreted.
Pia Iger: agree
Fael Illyar: there is SL here and RL here :)
Moon Fargis: no here and there:)
Faenik: could be
Pia Iger: after doing PaB so long, I do feel I can drop a lot of things.
Pia Iger: or can see many things are not real or solid as I thought before.
Fael Illyar: I haven't really lost any feeling of reality or solidity I think... but it could be I didn't have that anymore even before I started.
Pia Iger: could be:)
Moon Fargis: "why not?"
Moon Fargis: :)
Moon Fargis love walls
Fael Illyar: That's good question :P
Moon Fargis: e
Pia Iger: To me, it is clearer that all there is is "this moment"
Pia Iger: any thoughts of past or future is dreamlike,

Then I decide to try a line of Avastu-speak.

Fael Illyar: stories
Fael Illyar: many people might share them but still stories :)
Pia Iger: agree. I can understand what Avastu said better.
Fael Illyar: For me, Avastu started making quite a bit of sense rather fast.
Fael Illyar: After the initial shock at the weird style of expressing things :)
Moon Fargis: avatsu is like a sutra:)
Fael Illyar: ah, sutra generator?
Pia Iger: at the same time, there is still responsibilities and consequence in RL that I can not drop right away.
Fael Illyar: no reason to drop them, just drop attachment to them
Moon Fargis: pia: yes and it would be foolish not to be aware of them
Pia Iger: so I am a bit confused how the new reference point work into RL.
Moon Fargis: well it comes from alone if you practise in meditation
Fael Illyar: It doesn't, not directly.
Faenik: could be
Fael Illyar: It does make you better able to function in RL though.
Fael Illyar: because you will understand yourself better
Pia Iger: I can forsee that.
Fael Illyar: likely others too
Pia Iger: nods.
Fael Illyar: from dualistic perspective :)

I then realize how talking about dualism itself is dualistic.

Fael Illyar: even though the insight is about nondualistic ... dualistic is a funny word. dualistic and nondualistic is sort of a dualism itself
Pia Iger: since we have to use words anyway.
Faenik: indeed?
Pia Iger: just hope we understand the meaning of words we intend to mean in the context
Fael Illyar: Yes, it's important to not make words have fixed meanings
Faenik: indeed?
Moon Fargis: ok i have to go, need to prepare something and then will be offlline for a longer time, i iwll be back late it seems
Pia Iger: have a good day, Moon.
Moon Fargis: See you later!
Fael Illyar: See you later Moon :)=
Pia Iger: I will start my Sat day, too. See you, Fael.
Fael Illyar: Ok, see you later Pia :)

And then, suddenly, everyone is gone and the meeting is over.