2008.08.08 13:00 - Attachments and Compassion

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    The guardian for this session was Solobill, the comments are his. 

    I arrived at the Pavilion wearing my sporty steam-punk suit, because I was feeling formal. This session was a conversation that was comprised of primarily of two threads; attachment and inwardly-directed compassion.

    Fael Illyar: Hi Solo :)
    Solobill Laville: Well hello Fael!
    Solobill Laville: Great to see you
    Fael Illyar: You too :)
    Fael Illyar: Oh, new clothes?
    Solobill Laville: Nah, I dragged 'em out of the closet
    Solobill Laville: :)
    Fael Illyar: Well, change from the usual still :)
    Solobill Laville: Yes, felt like changing it up a bit
    Fael Illyar: I've been using this dress and shape and skin for a few days now... maybe it's time to change.
    Fael Illyar: ... maybe I'll stick to just switching the shape and skin :)
    Solobill Laville: :), I like them all! And changing things up is always good too
    Fael Illyar: rather different feeling in some ways :)
    Solobill Laville: Avatars, you mean?
    Fael Illyar: the way this shape + skin looks like :)
    Fael Illyar: actually, I think I'll change clothes too.
    Solobill Laville: :)
    Solobill Laville: You could always go formal like me ;)


    Gaya joined us.

    Fael Illyar: Hi Gaya :)
    Gaya Ethaniel: _/!\_
    Solobill Laville: Hi Gaya!
    Gaya Ethaniel: Hope you've both been well
    Fael Illyar: Yes, quite well :)
    Solobill Laville: Yes, I have been, and you?
    Fael Illyar was too late asking back it seems :P
    Gaya Ethaniel: Was feeling a little sombre today with the grey weather otherwise well thank you
    Gaya Ethaniel smiles
    Fael Illyar: oh, phonecall
    Gaya Ethaniel: Sure
    Solobill Laville: Yes, we get that too where I live, from February - April.... ;)
    Solobill Laville: "cabin fever"
    Solobill Laville: grey, cold, and stuck inside
    Gaya Ethaniel looks out 'grey most of the time even in the summer...'
    Gaya Ethaniel nods 'know the feeling'
    Solobill Laville: :)
    Faenik: why not?
    Solobill Laville: So how are things going with you, Gaya? I haven't been around much (holiday)
    Gaya Ethaniel: I noticed you've been away
    Gaya Ethaniel: Think I've reached some sort of plateau with my practice somewhat
    Solobill Laville: Ah, how so?


    Rajah joins us.

    Fael Illyar: Hi Rajah
    Solobill Laville: Hi, Rajah!
    Gaya Ethaniel: There's nothing new except a little dips here and there. No upwards or forwards. Does this make sense?
    Gaya Ethaniel: _/!\_
    Rajah Yalin: hi Fael, hi Bill, hi Gaya
    Solobill Laville: Yes, I understand the feeling, Gaya
    Gaya Ethaniel: Pls tell me your experience
    Solobill Laville: Hmmmm
    Solobill Laville: I think with as much time and energy that we all put into this effort
    Solobill Laville: in whatever way we all do in our own way
    Solobill Laville: There might be a feeling of expecting too much
    Solobill Laville: being a bit too goal oriented
    Solobill Laville: I hesitate to say this (as I am with most everthing I say here)
    Solobill Laville: Because everyone is on their own path
    Solobill Laville: and at their own spot, on their own path
    Solobill Laville: But sometimes great expectations can be a big hindrance, depending on your own personal "whys" for practicing
    Solobill Laville: Does that make sense?
    Gaya Ethaniel nods
    Gaya Ethaniel isn't in the right frame of mind for enlightenment today. She's happy to be just happy and content.
    Solobill Laville: :)!
    Fael Illyar: maybe that's enlightenment :)
    Gaya Ethaniel smiles
    Faenik loves wells!
    Fael Illyar: Ok, done with the phonecall finally.
    Gaya Ethaniel: Well don't think it is. Days like today I'm looking at my practice to relax and improve myself rather than focusing on the ultimate goal.
    Solobill Laville: wb
    Gaya Ethaniel: wb Fael
    Gaya Ethaniel is learning to be compassionate towards herself.


    What a wonderful and vital learning that is!  

    Solobill Laville: Wow, that is a big one Gaya
    Fael Illyar: but attaining the ultimate Goal is realizing there is none :)
    Gaya Ethaniel: Yes it is a huge one Solo. It is for me especially.
    Solobill Laville: Me too
    Faenik: indeed?
    Solobill Laville: yes Faenik
    Gaya Ethaniel smiles


    I spent a good deal of time typing out a thought and noticed Gaya typing as well, so as not to step on her fingers, I stopped and backspaced...

    Solobill Laville: (erase)
    Gaya Ethaniel laughs
    Solobill Laville: Go ahead, Gaya :)
    Gaya Ethaniel: I was just going to say for me, compassion was the missing piece
    Gaya Ethaniel: I'm sure for others it is different
    Solobill Laville: I think that's a big discovery Gaya
    Fael Illyar: What I realized today is that it's perfectly fine to have attachments.
    Gaya Ethaniel: Pls say a little more Fael
    Solobill Laville: Yes, please Fael!
    Solobill Laville: I've been reading about the attachments discussions with great interest
    Fael Illyar: Well, if I had been counting, I would've lost the count on the number of attachments I lost during my trip to the shop.
    Gaya Ethaniel: wow...
    Solobill Laville: Please, go on, what kind of attachments?
    Fael Illyar: well, all kinds of.


    Quilty joined us.

    Gaya Ethaniel: _/!\_
    Rajah Yalin: hi Quilty
    Solobill Laville: Hi Quilty!
    Quilty Bookmite: Hi All.
    Fael Illyar: First time in the time I remember that I actually met strangers eyes in the shop, saw them smile and nodded. Perhaps smiled myself too.
    Gaya Ethaniel smiles
    Faenik loves wells!
    Solobill Laville: What was the lost attachment in that situation?
    Gaya Ethaniel thinks Fael looks radiant tonight
    Solobill Laville: indeed!
    Fael Illyar: hmmh, I wonder :)
    Fael Illyar: it was hard to keep track when they were dissolving too fast.
    Faenik: ah :)
    Fael Illyar: all because I lost the attachment to not being attached.
    Quilty Bookmite: Eye contact?
    Gaya Ethaniel: ah
    Solobill Laville: I think that sometimes a natural result of the work of reducing attachments is an increase in "natural" compassion
    Solobill Laville: Don't know if that applies here or not, but I have experienced that :)
    Gaya Ethaniel: Pls give us an example Solo
    Fael Illyar: ah, yes, I think I finally know what this Compassion means.
    Gaya Ethaniel: There is a large missing piece between the attachment and compassion
    Fael Illyar: quite overwhelming at first.
    Solobill Laville: Personally, Gaya, to me it doens't seem like there is a missing piece between them...
    Fael Illyar: "You're perfect as you are"
    Quilty Bookmite: :-)
    Solobill Laville: so much as when we lose so much unnecessary baggage, the compassion - which was always there - is allowed to express itself
    Fael Illyar: and that one was a quote from Battlestar Galactica.
    Gaya Ethaniel: no I undertand you Solo but your sentence may not make sense for others. I suppose the 'missing piece' I meant was being kind towards oneself


    We have a couple of strands going here.  Sorry to be dense, Gaya, now I understand your point, and yes totally agree.  At a certain point I found that I could not but be kind and forgiving towards myself.  It was either do that or "take my ball and go home" (i.e. stop practicing).  (Gaya: these leaps of connections we are making during discussions possibly demonstrate that we are understanding/doing something without ‘forcing’ but more naturally. It could be only a good thing, Solo). And that self-forgiveness is such a release.  Perhaps that is not a pre-condition for compassion towards others (as I thought) so much as you simply being the first in the direct line of compassion now released to flow through you as its vehicle... (Gaya copies this comment into her diary).

    Solobill Laville: The TV show or movie??
    Fael Illyar: the new TV show, at least
    Solobill Laville: hehe
    Quilty Bookmite: One of the great philosophical treatises of our time. :-)
    Fael Illyar: the latest season
    Solobill Laville: Indeed!
    Gaya Ethaniel: wishing good to be done to us as we wish to treat others
    Solobill Laville: I must admit I don't know it though...
    Solobill Laville: (the BG quote)
    Faenik: could be
    Solobill Laville: reading...
    Solobill Laville: Yes Gaya, I think that being kind to oneself is part of the foundation, and I had to work on that
    Quilty Bookmite: It's a recurring theme for me too.
    Solobill Laville: :)
    Gaya Ethaniel: Guess 'we' are perfect - perhaps this is what quote meant
    Fael Illyar: It's interesting how the new religion springing up in BSG matches what I discovered myself right now :)
    Solobill Laville: oops, yes Quilty, i "have" to work on that (continually)
    Fael Illyar: well ok, a few hours ago :)
    Gaya Ethaniel: Yes at times I lose the sight of being compassionate... often a run-in with another person brings compassion back to me. Wish this won't be so necessary in the future and I will be compassionate at all times
    Gaya Ethaniel smiles
    Solobill Laville: Fael, Was that discovery that some attachments are good?


    I was going back to Fael's comment earlier about her realization that it is "perfectly fine to have attachments".

    Solobill Laville: Gaya, I hope that is the case too...time will tell
    Gaya Ethaniel remembers Bunan's 'attachments', Love, Generosity & Integrity
    Gaya Ethaniel nods
    Fael Illyar: "some attachments are good" line as it is... I'm still not convinced but hearing that is likely part of figuring this out.
    Solobill Laville: But losing things like self-loathing and learning to forgive yourself can go a long way, imo
    Fael Illyar: all the attachments I've found that might sound like good. Like attachment to feeling peaceful or perhaps attachment to not being attached have been bad traps for me.
    Gaya Ethaniel: ah
    Fael Illyar: attachment to non attachment won't help keeping other attachments away.
    Fael Illyar: and it will make me unwilling to admit them
    Gaya Ethaniel wonders if admittance is pre-requisite to acceptance
    Solobill Laville: True
    Fael Illyar: it is I think
    Faenik: indeed?
    Solobill Laville: You have to identify that which you are trying break the attachment to, of course ;)
    Solobill Laville: (sorry, I have phones ringing and kids running around...)
    Gaya Ethaniel: np Solo
    Solobill Laville: To try to tie these two threads together...
    Solobill Laville: I've found that on working on non-attachment, and letting go of some of them
    Solobill Laville: I have discovered those things that were laying there, that I didn't know about
    Solobill Laville: Self-loathing seems harsh, but that is perhaps most true to what I had found within myself
    Solobill Laville: So I worked on forgiving myself, which led to
    Gaya Ethaniel: It hurts you
    Solobill Laville: yes
    Gaya Ethaniel: Loathing and hating oneself hurts
    Solobill Laville: allowing me to discover that compassion resides there, when it is free to flow outward
    Gaya Ethaniel nods
    Solobill Laville: (guilt, self-doubt, self-loathing, are pretty effective barriers...)
    Gaya Ethaniel nods
    Solobill Laville: That was an "Aha" moment for me when I discovered that, self-discovery, big time
    Gaya Ethaniel: I've realised that if I don't know how to love myself, I cannot love others. I'd closed my 'inner eyes' and didn't realise that I had it in myself, compassion and love
    Gaya Ethaniel nods
    Solobill Laville: I agree with that statement wholeheartedly Gaya


    Genesis joins us.

    Solobill Laville: Hi Gen!
    Gaya Ethaniel: _/!\_
    genesis Zhangsun: Hi!
    Quilty Bookmite: Well said Gaya.
    Gaya Ethaniel: If I want to be cared and loved by others, I realised I have to start with myself
    Quilty Bookmite: Hi Genesis.
    genesis Zhangsun: Hi Quilty!
    Fael Illyar: Hi Gen :)
    genesis Zhangsun: Hey Fael!
    genesis Zhangsun: Nice outfit :)
    Fael Illyar: Thank you :)
    Solobill Laville: But, for me anyway, working on those attachments is a requisite step
    Fael Illyar: This is the first one I ever bought in SL :)
    Gaya Ethaniel: Maybe I'm moving forwards somewhat then Solo
    Gaya Ethaniel: upwards and beyond!
    Solobill Laville: :)
    Solobill Laville: Just keep on keepin' on Gaya!
    Gaya Ethaniel: Yes effortless effort
    Faenik: ah :)
    Rajah Yalin: hi genesis
    Solobill Laville: The way people climb mountains is one slow step at a time
    genesis Zhangsun: Hey Rajah!
    Gaya Ethaniel nods 'all journeys start with a first step' Chinese saying
    Quilty Bookmite: :-)
    Solobill Laville: The key is to just "keep your feet moving"
    Gaya Ethaniel nods
    Solobill Laville: brb
    Gaya Ethaniel: Guess what I worry most is whether I hurt others while learning
    Gaya Ethaniel: k
    Solobill Laville: back
    Gaya Ethaniel: wb
    Solobill Laville: Hard to imagine how you'd do that Gaya
    Gaya Ethaniel looks up her diary
    Solobill Laville: What do you think?
    Gaya Ethaniel: I am perhaps hurting them as I try to avoid being hurt.
    Gaya Ethaniel: That is something I wrote in my diary today...
    Fael Illyar: I think I heard someone say at one time that, "Hurt is good! It makes people get enlightened!"
    Solobill Laville: hehe
    Fael Illyar: Could've been Isen :)
    Solobill Laville: That's one way to look at it Fael
    Solobill Laville: :)
    Gaya Ethaniel: Some ppl are too fragile to take hurts
    Quilty Bookmite: just don't set out to hurt people. :-)
    Solobill Laville: Again, different paths, different folks
    Gaya Ethaniel: Guess I just have to be aware more of what I do...
    Fael Illyar: Although, the only way out is through the hurt.
    Fael Illyar: the only way to make it stop
    Solobill Laville: I'm not so sure it actually ever stops...
    genesis Zhangsun: Hmm that is an interesting thought Fael
    Fael Illyar: Well, probably not but you'll stop amplifying it yourself.
    Solobill Laville: Yes
    Fael Illyar: which is pretty much what I discovered today.
    genesis Zhangsun: Care to exand on how that is?
    Quilty Bookmite: Yes Fael. Stop the wheel from turning the wrong way. :-)
    Fael Illyar: oh, right, Gen came after I explained
    Solobill Laville: I'm very interested to see how you end up putting this all down in words sometime, Fael
    genesis Zhangsun: oh ok sorry
    genesis Zhangsun: didn't realize you had already discussed
    genesis Zhangsun: will read later in blog
    Solobill Laville: There's a quiz in 7 minutes
    Solobill Laville: ;)
    Gaya Ethaniel smiles
    Fael Illyar: I realized it's perfectly it's perfectly fine to have attachments.
    Quilty Bookmite: I've got to go in 6. :-)
    Faenik is a hairy black ball with eyes and ears.
    Solobill Laville: No make-ups Quilty!
    Gaya Ethaniel smiles
    Quilty Bookmite: :-)
    Solobill Laville: :)
    genesis Zhangsun: hmmm thats interesting so enjoying riding the wave :)
    Fael Illyar: and as a pretty direct result, lost more of them than I could've counted during a trip to shop.
    genesis Zhangsun: as we discussed last time
    Gaya Ethaniel thinks holidays are good... 'look how relaxed Solo is tonight'
    Solobill Laville: ahhh
    Solobill Laville: yes :)
    Solobill Laville: I liked your wave metaphor, Gen
    Gaya Ethaniel: So what attachments have you got left Fael?
    genesis Zhangsun: :)
    Solobill Laville: (I need an Excel spreadsheet to organize and sort mine)
    genesis Zhangsun: lol
    Gaya Ethaniel laughs
    Gaya Ethaniel needs Access
    Fael Illyar: I don't know :)
    Solobill Laville: ah, yes, a database!
    Solobill Laville: of attachments
    Fael Illyar: whatever the count. It is. :P
    Gaya Ethaniel smiles
    genesis Zhangsun: I use Google excel so I can access them whenever I want ;)
    Gaya Ethaniel laughs 'neat genesis'
    Solobill Laville: and then delete them as appropriate!
    Fael Illyar: :)
    Solobill Laville: nice
    Quilty Bookmite: Does the desire to list them constitute another attachment?
    Solobill Laville: :)
    Gaya Ethaniel opens up her Access 'hm... who listed all these?!'
    Solobill Laville: Only if your attached to Microsoft (or Apple)
    Quilty Bookmite: :-)
    Solobill Laville: Alas
    Solobill Laville: Be gentle with yourself Gaya
    Quilty Bookmite: I use this.http://www.tadalist.com/ It's good for shopping too. :-)
    Solobill Laville: And keep up the fight Fael!!
    Gaya Ethaniel: Thank you Solo
    Gaya Ethaniel: Same to you
    Solobill Laville: ty Quilty
    Fael Illyar: I'm taking a pause today :P
    Quilty Bookmite: Well said Solo.
    Fael Illyar: ... or well, that's what I thought :P
    Solobill Laville: ...right... ;)
    Quilty Bookmite: got to go now. YOu can start the quiz. :-)
    Quilty Bookmite: Goodnight all.
    Fael Illyar: Goodnight Quilty :)
    Gaya Ethaniel: _/!\_
    Solobill Laville: :)
    genesis Zhangsun: night
    Solobill Laville: Bye Quilty
    genesis Zhangsun: so is it quiz time?
    genesis Zhangsun: I'm afraid I might have to walk out ;)
    Solobill Laville: Yes, and you won't do well I'm afraid Gen....
    Solobill Laville: LOL!!!
    Gaya Ethaniel laughs
    Solobill Laville: too funny
    Gaya Ethaniel: What's the prize?
    Fael Illyar: :)
    Faenik: why not?


    I leave, with my attachements and steam-punk suit, and Dakini arrives, with her skull necklace of decapitated attachments...

    Solobill Laville: I must attend to my little ones
    Gaya Ethaniel: Thank you for the conversation. Good day Solo
    Gaya Ethaniel: _/!\_
    genesis Zhangsun: Take care Solo!
    Fael Illyar: Goodnight Solo :)
    Fael Illyar: Hi Dakini :)
    genesis Zhangsun: Sorry i could only catch the tail end
    genesis Zhangsun: but glad to see you :)
    Solobill Laville: Me too Gen!
    Dakini Rhode: hi :)
    Rajah Yalin: hi Dakini
    Gaya Ethaniel: _/!\_
    genesis Zhangsun: Hi Dakini!
    Gaya Ethaniel smiles
    Solobill Laville: Hello and Goodbye Dakini!
    Gaya Ethaniel: Did you have a good day on your birthday Dakini?
    Dakini Rhode: I did, Gaya, thank you for asking :)
    Solobill Laville: I've got to get out of here before her scary skull necklace gives me the heebie-jeebies!!!
    genesis Zhangsun: oh wow Dakini! I have not seen you for a long time! Nice look :)
    Dakini Rhode: So nice to see everyone :)
    Fael Illyar: Ah, happy birthday Dakini :)
    Solobill Laville: Happy belated!
    Fael Illyar: (yes, I'm late)
    Dakini Rhode: lol I'm here to shatter illusions, Bill :)
    Gaya Ethaniel smiles
    Solobill Laville: Ahhhhhh!!!
    Solobill Laville: :)
    Dakini Rhode: these skull represent attachments which have been cut away :)
    Solobill Laville: Bye all!
    genesis Zhangsun: bye
    Dakini Rhode: decapitated attachments :)

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