2008.08.30 07:00 - From Way Back When

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    That morning I, Pema, was the guardian on call, but I could only stay for half an hour, because of an astronomy meeting I had to attend later. Adams would send me the remaining part later.

    Pema Pera: good morning, Doug!
    doug Sosa: morning!
    Pema Pera: Good morning, Adams!
    doug Sosa: hi adams
    Adams Rubble: Good Night Pema :)
    Adams Rubble: Good Morning Doug :)
    Pema Pera: coming to our meetings forms a peaceful center of my day
    Adams Rubble: :)
    Pema Pera: the combination of “just sitting here” and using text
    Pema Pera: and the company of friends
    Pema Pera: something quite magical
    Adams Rubble: :)
    doug Sosa: i am glad i am not carying the rsponsibility to the degree you are, but i suspect that actually contribtes the calm..:)
    doug Sosa: to the calm..
    Pema Pera: responsibility is an interesting notion
    doug Sosa: like walking into my painting space is better because i know the paints and what they can do, its rcher, so being a bit detached in a rich environment..
    Pema Pera: I feel responsible for doing what I can as best as I can, but not for the outcome
    Pema Pera: which is totally beyond my control
    Adams Rubble: :)
    doug Sosa: yes.
    Pema Pera: Hi Artemisia!
    Pema Pera: Come join us
    doug Sosa: :)
    Adams Rubble: Hello Artemisia

    Little did I know that this new stranger would be an old friend of mine, from way back when, oh, ten years or so ago.

    Artemisia Svoboda: Hi everyone! I am Leonore in RL
    Pema Pera: hi!!!!!
    Artemisia Svoboda: I am visiting SL for the first time
    Pema Pera: Leonore ! ! ! ! ! !
    doug Sosa: please join us.
    Pema Pera: how nice to see you here
    Artemisia Svoboda: how do I sit down?
    Adams Rubble: Welcome to SL!
    doug Sosa: touch the pillow and you will see a menu
    Artemisia Svoboda: Thanks, nice to see all of you1
    Pema Pera: right click on the pillow
    Pema Pera: you see a pie diagram
    Pema Pera: yes
    Pema Pera: Wow, you were “born” today!
    Pema Pera: here in SL
    Artemisia Svoboda: yes, just few minutes ago

    !

    doug Sosa: and now to get more comfortable just click on the pillow again.
    Artemisia Svoboda: ok
    Pema Pera: Doug, have you met Leonore in Qwaq’s WoK Forums?
    doug Sosa: I don’t think so, but then i am big on faces more than names..
    Artemisia Svoboda: I think we were at some Sunday talks together, but there were always many other people present
    doug Sosa: good.
    doug Sosa: not that other people were present but that..
    doug Sosa: there may be a connection.
    Pema Pera: Adams, before coming to SL, I started activities that were somewhat similar in another virtual world, that of Qwaq
    Pema Pera: and Doug and Artemisia both attended those meetings, a year ago
    Pema Pera: it feels like a reunion!
    Adams Rubble: Ah. I saw a demo of Qwaq on YouTube
    Adams Rubble: Is it still going on?
    Pema Pera: Artemisia, we publish our conversations on our blog on the web http://playasbeing.wordpress.com/
    Pema Pera: Yes, Adams
    doug Sosa: qwaq is under intense development.
    Pema Pera: is it okay with you to include you in the discussions on the blog?
    Artemisia Svoboda: yes, I know, I translated some of the explanations :)
    doug Sosa: it is cooler (as opposed to warm) because the avatars are more basic, which is good for some things.
    Pema Pera: ah, yes, way back in April!!
    doug Sosa: translated from what to what, pleae?

    Artemisia helped translate into German some of the basic PaB text; see http://playasbeing.wordpress.com/summary/einfuehrung/. But I didn’t get a chance to mention that, since yet another friend of mine made his debut into PaB!

    Adams Rubble: Hello Pospero
    doug Sosa: please..
    Adams Rubble: Prospero
    Pema Pera: Hi Prospero!
    Prospero Frobozz: Hey
    Prospero Frobozz must be honest — he’s multitasking a bit
    Pema Pera: fine!
    Artemisia Svoboda: I translated part of Pema’s SL instruction website from English to German.
    Adams Rubble: I may be confused. Is Qwaq the software and WoK the equivalent to PaB?
    Pema Pera: welcome to our group here
    Pema Pera: yes, but WoK is wider than PaB
    doug Sosa: yes.
    Pema Pera: more like Kira
    Pema Pera: for a few years, while Kira was dormant, WoK was the follow-up of Kira
    Pema Pera: and developed a VW branch in Qwaq
    Adams Rubble: VW ?
    Pema Pera: virtual world
    Adams Rubble: ah
    Pema Pera: not the car :)
    Adams Rubble: Is WoK still going on. haha Pema
    Pema Pera: oh yes
    Pema Pera: Stim is teaching there five times a week
    Adams Rubble: Wow
    Pema Pera: have you gone to those sessions, Artemisia?
    Artemisia Svoboda: yes, sometimes I go to Steven’s sessions
    Pema Pera: http://www.waysofknowing.net/ is the general WoK web site
    Pema Pera: http://www.waysofknowing.net/VRExplorations.html is the WoK part in Qwaq
    Adams Rubble: Thank you
    Adams Rubble ’s head is spinning
    Pema Pera: hahaha
    Pema Pera: PaB did not originate in a vacuum, its pedigree has a long history
    Artemisia Svoboda: Adams, are you also new to SL?

    Unveiling some of the history of APAPB . . .

    Pema Pera: I’ll surprise you: the APAPB sentence is something that Artemisia worked on five years before Doug got started :-)
    Adams Rubble: I have been here since November but only since June in PaB, Artemisia
    Pema Pera: (appreciate the presence of appearance as a presentation by Being)
    Adams Rubble ’s head is spinning faster
    Prospero Frobozz looked at the “Who Knows?” poster in the corner, and thinks a couple should be added…. “21st Century Internet User : Google Knows!” “Transhumanist : my implants know!”
    Artemisia Svoboda: what poster?
    Pema Pera: hehehe
    Prospero Frobozz: the one back there
    Adams Rubble: :)
    Pema Pera: I’d say go ahead and add those - if that could be easily done
    Pema Pera: that poster was put there by one of our regulars, Threedee
    Pema Pera: one of our so-called “guardians”
    Prospero Frobozz: We can dream about vector textures, we can dream… :)
    Pema Pera: like “barristas” in MICA
    Adams Rubble: MICA?
    Prospero Frobozz: Meta-Institude of Computational Astronomy
    Prospero Frobozz: Another venture started by Pema — and it’s how I met him.
    Pema Pera: where Pros and I have to go to in ten minutes :-)
    Adams Rubble is holding on to her head
    Prospero Frobozz is an astronomer — not currently a practicing professional, but I have been.
    Pema Pera: as barristas in fact

    MICA can be found on VRExplorations.html

    Pema Pera: So Doug, you might want to look at http://lab.kira.org/experiments/APAPB.html
    Pema Pera: from five years ago!
    Pema Pera: Prospero is unique in having been a professional scientist for many years and now being a professional Linden!
    Prospero Frobozz: I have this alt named “Prospero Linden”, but he does things sometimes that I don’t want to own up to…
    Pema Pera: :-)
    Adams Rubble: :)
    doug Sosa: will do. not now.
    Prospero Frobozz: Pema, Artemisia : was that page (APAPB) written by Artemisia?
    Pema Pera: no, by a group of us
    Pema Pera: another forerunner of PaB
    Pema Pera: Artemisia, me, and half a dozen others
    Pema Pera: much smaller group than PaB
    Prospero Frobozz: OIC — yeah, scanning over it, various bits were signed by various people
    Pema Pera: and using email rather than VW
    Pema Pera: another Kira branch
    Adams Rubble: May I ask why the thwo groups co-exist? Do they have a different purpose?
    Pema Pera: which two groups?
    Adams Rubble: WoK and PaB
    Adams Rubble: Or is just dofferent platforms?
    Adams Rubble: different
    Pema Pera: rather different
    Pema Pera: Kira became Wok
    Adams Rubble: Hello Tara
    Pema Pera: and now WoK is being reintegrated into Kira
    Pema Pera: hi Tara!
    Tara Farmer: oh my god i’m in limbo
    Tara Farmer: PEMA!
    Tara Farmer: AGAIN!

    Hehe, whenever I tp Tara, she seems to get caught into something. It happened again. I continue to plead innocence.

    Pema Pera: The reason for the split in the road is that WoK was the work of Stim and me, and not the three others running Kira
    Tara Farmer: ahhh there we go
    Pema Pera: then the other three went other ways, so by default WoK is becoming the new Kira
    Tara Farmer: sorry prospero
    Pema Pera: and PaB is more specific, just one activity under Kira, although by now by far the biggest one
    Prospero Frobozz: :)
    Pema Pera: Good seeing you again, Tara!
    Pema Pera: How’ve you been?
    Tara Farmer: thanks pema
    Tara Farmer: great
    Prospero Frobozz: “Second Life — where flying is easy, and sitting is hard.”
    Tara Farmer: you are a white mist currently
    Pema Pera: hehehe
    Tara Farmer: guru style
    Prospero Frobozz: White Mist is the “New Ruth”
    Pema Pera: better than grey goo
    Tara Farmer: ;)
    Tara Farmer: it should be your av always
    Pema Pera: :-)
    Tara Farmer: i’d rather be a white mist than ruthed
    Prospero Frobozz was at a meeting yesterday, and Green Linden had an av that looked like the white mist, with a little white-mist head floating above it. IT was confusing… I was wondering if he just hadn’t rezzed!
    Pema Pera: And oh, Adams, to finish the older Kira story: there is a manuscript I wrote for Artemisia & company, four years ago, that you might find interesting: http://lab.kira.org/lab/index.html
    Tara Farmer: Pema, do you sleep?
    Adams Rubble: Thanks :)
    Pema Pera: haha, Pros, what a neat idea
    Pema Pera: sometimes, Tara, just two hours before now :-)
    Tara Farmer: I see
    Tara Farmer mutters “freakin geniuses”
    Pema Pera: Pros, that reminds me of a screen saver that shows that your computer has just crashed completely
    Prospero Frobozz: hee hee
    Tara Farmer: :)
    Adams Rubble: :)
    Prospero Frobozz: Pema : yeah, I used to have one that would cycle through crash screens of a whole bunch of different OSes
    Pema Pera: exactly, me too
    Pema Pera: must be the same linux one
    Prospero Frobozz: This was years ago, on my Amiga, actually
    Prospero Frobozz: Or wait… yeah, it may have been on Linux. Don’t remember.
    Pema Pera: ah!
    Prospero Frobozz: ABout 10 years ago I decided to just go with an all black screen saver… ’cause I sometimes had background processes running
    Pema Pera: kernel segmentation fault at a254d52
    Prospero Frobozz: Yep
    Prospero Frobozz: Once or twice I came and saw the Sun crash mode and had a brief panic before remembering….

    Yes, I remember the feeling — that WAS a screen saver that kept confusing me on occasions too. Hard to not fall into panic mode yourself when your computer seems to have just given up the ghost.

    doug Sosa: need to go, bye all. :)
    Adams Rubble: bye Doug
    Pema Pera: a few times I myself got confused — and SHOCKED :-)
    Prospero Frobozz: Bye Doug!
    Pema Pera: bye Doug
    Tara Farmer: bye doug
    Artemisia Svoboda: bye doug
    Tara Farmer: okay so what’s on the table?
    Pema Pera: bits of food?
    Tara Farmer: Pab with a little kick?
    Pema Pera: Pros, I’m afraid we’ll have to move to the MICA room . . . . to do the honors there
    Prospero Frobozz: Indeed… nice meeting you all!
    Prospero Frobozz: I hope to drop back by these sessions every so often.
    Tara Farmer: oh, is it over?
    Adams Rubble: Bye Pema and Prospero
    Pema Pera: great, you’re welcome Pros!
    Pema Pera: no no Tara
    Pema Pera: but Pros and I are over
    Pema Pera: or go over
    Tara Farmer: hmmm
    Pema Pera: (if that goes over)
    Tara Farmer: ok
    Pema Pera: see you soon again I hope!
    Prospero Frobozz: “cross over?” That has scary metaphysical meanings….
    Pema Pera: hehehe not in SL I hope
    Tara Farmer wonders why everyone always leaves pab when she arrives
    Tara Farmer: ;)
    Pema Pera: great seeing you Artemisia!
    Adams Rubble: :)
    Artemisia Svoboda: great weeing you, too!
    Tara Farmer: lol
    Artemisia Svoboda: sorry
    Artemisia Svoboda: type
    Artemisia Svoboda: typo
    Adams Rubble: We all do that Artemisia :)
    Pema Pera: btw, is it okay to leave your real name in the blog, or shall I take that out, Artemisia?
    Pema Pera: some don’t mind, many prefer not to have their real name listed
    Artemisia Svoboda: yes, you can leave my real name
    Pema Pera: okay
    Artemisia Svoboda: maybe only first name?
    Pema Pera: I do the same in my profile, but we are a minority
    Pema Pera: yes
    Pema Pera: you’ve only used your first name here
    Pema Pera: so you will be the mysterious Leonore from the past!
    Pema Pera: bye all!
    Tara Farmer: bye pema
    Tara Farmer: the white mist has left the building
    Artemisia Svoboda: bye pema
    Adams Rubble: I will send you the rest of there is any

    And so she did. The remainder is what Adams provide.

    Adams Rubble: Well, here we are we three. I know Tara from Zen Retreat Meditation and know only that Artemisia is a long term particpant
    Adams Rubble: Are you leaving?
    Tara Farmer: yep i just come to see pema every now and then
    Artemisia Svoboda: not yet, I thought I ought to practice moving around in SL a bit
    Tara Farmer: but i have nowhere to be
    Adams Rubble: :)
    Adams Rubble: I will tell you a little about me then
    Tara Farmer: okay
    Adams Rubble: if you like
    Artemisia Svoboda: great
    Tara Farmer: definitely
    Tara Farmer: i love to connect
    Adams Rubble: I joined PaB in early June
    Adams Rubble: I had come to the Zen Retreat looking for Buddhism
    Adams Rubble: I had never formally meditated
    Adams Rubble: The group just happened to be meeting and I sat in
    Adams Rubble: PaB group that is
    Adams Rubble: Anyway, I have had a long journey these past three months
    Adams Rubble: have had two mystical visions
    Adams Rubble: and this week finally found the person who Nisargatadatta says…
    Adams Rubble: is the person who was there when I was born and will be there when I die :)
    Adams Rubble: That’s my story :)
    Tara Farmer: adams, explain this other person please?
    Tara Farmer: a mate?
    Adams Rubble: Some people might call it ther “inner mind” or “basic person”. The one without identitites or atachments
    Tara Farmer: i see
    Tara Farmer: how did you recognize eachother?
    Tara Farmer: :)
    Adams Rubble: Well a number of things have happened
    Adams Rubble: One thing that happened is that I was reminded that I have a memory of when I was 6 months old
    Adams Rubble: That was the person
    Adams Rubble: In short I was a “witness” to my mother’s fear or concern
    Adams Rubble: But more important were the seeing exercises that Pema gave us
    Adams Rubble: I began to be able to see my “self” attaching thoughts to the images I was seeing
    Adams Rubble: Once I did that I found that my “self” had hidden something important from me for many long years
    Tara Farmer: sneaky self
    Adams Rubble: :)
    Tara Farmer: what was it hiding?
    Adams Rubble: The fact that my grandfather had found spiritual peace as an old man :)
    Tara Farmer: hmmmm…may i share something i found interesting about my life
    Adams Rubble: yes :)
    Artemisia Svoboda: sure
    Tara Farmer: I had never met my grandfather until I was 23
    Tara Farmer: but when we met I found that we were almost identical in spirituality
    Tara Farmer: which is interesting because i am all over the map with that
    Tara Farmer: we only knew each other for one week
    Tara Farmer: and corresponded with letters for about six months until he passed
    Tara Farmer: he asked me to read his cards for him in a letter and to call him with the results
    Tara Farmer: I saw his death all over the cards
    Tara Farmer: painful and sudden
    Tara Farmer: instead of calling him, i copied all the pages out of my book to send to him
    Tara Farmer: i could not share it verbally and prefered to have him interpret them himself
    Tara Farmer: he never opened the package
    Tara Farmer: he died before he could
    Tara Farmer: and my mother returned the envelope to me sealed
    Tara Farmer: event hough it was tragic it showed me something about how everything interacts
    Tara Farmer: and connects
    Adams Rubble: It is very sad but good that you had the chance to connect and share
    Adams Rubble: These moments seem to stick with us all our lives
    Tara Farmer: yes, and he left me all of his metaphysical “tools”
    Tara Farmer: so I now own his tarot deck and his crystal ball
    Tara Farmer: lol
    Adams Rubble: :)
    Tara Farmer: which i have never read
    Tara Farmer: bubble bubble baby
    Tara Farmer: :)
    Adams Rubble: :)
    Tara Farmer: so one thing about buddhism and meditation which attraacted me was the fact that it identifies with nothing (so to speak)
    Tara Farmer: it instantly removes the disstractions and correlations which are not relevant
    Tara Farmer: and forces you to deal with yourself
    Adams Rubble: Artemisia, is there anything we do to help you start SL?
    Adams Rubble: Yes tara
    Artemisia Svoboda: I guess it will take some practice to get used to this form of conversation…
    Artemisia Svoboda: I will just have to come back a few times until I can fully participate
    Adams Rubble: I expect it will come very quickly :)
    Adams Rubble: We will be very happy to have you just sit, if you like :)
    Artemisia Svoboda: we will see:)
    Artemisia Svoboda: that is great
    Artemisia Svoboda: if I can sit and not say much
    Adams Rubble: I gave you a landmark, did you get it?
    Artemisia Svoboda: a landmark?
    Adams Rubble: I’ll try again, it will come as a blue box at the top right of the screen
    Artemisia Svoboda accepted your inventory offer.
    Adams Rubble: Just click yes to accept
    Adams Rubble: ah, you did :)
    Adams Rubble: That is to a store with free clothes and things for new AVs
    Artemisia Svoboda: what is there?
    Artemisia Svoboda: oh, that should be fun
    Adams Rubble: It will reside in a folder in your inventory (see bottom right)
    Adams Rubble: In the onventory is a folder called landmarks
    Artemisia Svoboda: yes, I can see it, thanks!
    Adams Rubble: Ask questions of any of us and we will be glad to help :)
    Adams Rubble: The PaB group is like an oasis in second life :)
    Adams Rubble: Everyone is so friendly
    Artemisia Svoboda: yes, pema tends to attract friendly and interesting people!
    Adams Rubble: I am looking forward to learning more from you when you feel comfortable with the mechanics of SL :)
    Artemisia Svoboda: ok1
    Artemisia Svoboda: I can tell you a little about myself now
    Artemisia Svoboda: I don’t have an inspiring story at the moment but…
    Artemisia Svoboda: I live in Switzerland, I study computer science
    Artemisia Svoboda: but a long time ago I was in philosophy and competely absorbed in the world of academic humanities
    Artemisia Svoboda: I quit philosophy because of a bad case of writer’s block
    Artemisia Svoboda: and decided a few years later that I wanted to do something that doesn’t require much writing
    Artemisia Svoboda: but that is still intellectually challenging
    Adams Rubble: Yes :)
    Adams Rubble: Uses a whole different part of the brain
    Artemisia Svoboda: I met Piet for the first time at a Kira summer school in 1999
    Artemisia Svoboda: and later, I was living in California and met him there again at a couple of meditation retreats
    Adams Rubble: :)
    Adams Rubble: I had the pleasure of meeting him a few weeks ago :)
    Artemisia Svoboda: in what setting?
    Adams Rubble: For lunch by myself and then dinner with a few of us :)
    Artemisia Svoboda: oh, great
    Adams Rubble: yes
    Adams Rubble: It is great that you have have sought him out here and will meet the avatars of the rest of us :)
    Artemisia Svoboda: Yes
    Artemisia Svoboda: I need to leave soon, I am invited to a party in RL
    Adams Rubble: I am an arthistorian/image librarian and came to SL to look at the art sites
    Adams Rubble: I have found this a very powerful medium for learning.
    Adams Rubble: It was very nice meeting you :)
    Artemisia Svoboda: it was very nice meeting you too!
    Artemisia Svoboda: and Tara
    Artemisia Svoboda: now what do I do to log off?
    Adams Rubble: Just click the red X on the top right
    Artemisia Svoboda: ah ok.
    Adams Rubble: bye :)
    Artemisia Svoboda: Bye!
    Adams Rubble: bye tara :)

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