2008.08.30 13:00 - Short and easy

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    The guardian for this meeting was Storm Nordwind. The comments are Storm's.

    I walked across the bridge to the old pavilion on the hour and sat down alone for a while. Presently Gaya arrived.

    Gaya Ethaniel: _/!\_
    Storm Nordwind: Hi :)
    Gaya Ethaniel: Storm, could you move to the cushion next to one you're currently sitting? So that I can sit by you and my jellyfish won't swim into your face?
    Storm Nordwind: left or right?
    Gaya Ethaniel: Whichever is good for you <smile>
    Gaya Ethaniel: ty!
    Gaya Ethaniel: How are you Storm?
    Storm Nordwind: Not so bad!
    Storm Nordwind: And you?
    Gaya Ethaniel: Well thank you
    Storm Nordwind: It is quiet here this evening
    Gaya Ethaniel nods


    We had sat in silence for a while, before I asked a question.

    Storm Nordwind: I had an odd thought when I was preparing to come here tonight
    Gaya Ethaniel: oh?
    Storm Nordwind: People often tell of how PaB has changed things for them
    Storm Nordwind: And so I thought of things in reverse...
    Gaya Ethaniel: _/!\_
    Storm Nordwind: I was thinking "What would I likely to have been, what would I be experiencing if I had not found PaB?"
    doug Sosa: ::)
    Gaya Ethaniel: ah...


    doug joined us. That made three.

    Storm Nordwind: Greetings doug
    Storm Nordwind: The idea is to see the difference, if any - and if possible!
    doug Sosa: interesting question. Hard for me to separate PaB from this pavilion, SL.
    doug Sosa: Ad the people. I do love just coming here.
    Storm Nordwind nods
    Storm Nordwind: Yes the people especially
    Gaya Ethaniel nods
    Storm Nordwind: But people come and go - we have seen it many times
    Storm Nordwind: Some people are very active and become part of the furniture almost, then whoosh they are gone
    doug Sosa: i am kind of glad we don't have a list.
    Storm Nordwind: Sure! And when we started, it was elsewhere in the tea house
    doug Sosa: And that too was fine.
    Gaya Ethaniel came to PaB after moving to the pavilion
    Storm Nordwind: yes - though I remember talking to you by the teahouse
    Gaya Ethaniel: That was after I attended PaB for a couple of times Storm. I used to spend a lot of time sitting by the tea house.
    Storm Nordwind: Ah... I see
    Gaya Ethaniel smiles
    doug Sosa: So interesting. i am tempted, came here and at once, though i have a pretty nice rural setting sloping down to the river.
    Storm Nordwind: So without PaB, I would certainly have missed meeting some amazing people, that is true
    Storm Nordwind: But I think I would have missed a lot more
    Gaya Ethaniel: A lot more?
    Storm Nordwind: The experiences that the practices have brought me
    Gaya Ethaniel nods


    doug thought the atmosphere here was something he did not find some places elsewhere. I wondered whether what that was due to. The places in question? SL itself?

    doug Sosa: I like the easy talking here, so unlike most zen places.
    doug Sosa: easy talk with great practice.
    Storm Nordwind: Since I don't hang out in these 0ther places, can you summarise the difference for me?
    Gaya Ethaniel nods
    Gaya Ethaniel: Well... in RL zen classes I attended, ppl tend to be nervous about talking, asking questions
    doug Sosa: and cautious with each other.
    Storm Nordwind: Why do you think that was?
    Gaya Ethaniel: Perhaps because being in SL makes us relax a little more?
    doug Sosa: yes, though i do not understand it.
    Gaya Ethaniel nods
    Storm Nordwind: We can certainly show in SL only what we choose to show
    Storm Nordwind: We can hide behind a mask if we want to
    Gaya Ethaniel: How is that different in RL?
    doug Sosa: but the mask also shows, no?
    Storm Nordwind: Though most people hide behind a mask in RL - yes!
    Storm Nordwind: Many masks in fact - sometimes more than one at a time
    Gaya Ethaniel: You mean AVs?
    Storm Nordwind: Avs in SL. Personalities in RL.
    Gaya Ethaniel nods
    doug Sosa: I find I treat the avatar as semi real, and the real person semi unreal..:)
    Gaya Ethaniel smiles
    Storm Nordwind: There are many stages people go through on SL. I read an academic paper on it once. Manifesting in the way we treat our avatar(s) and how we feel in RL if they are hurt in SL
    Storm Nordwind: So is it the venue in RL - the Zen class - or could it have been anything where people found they couldn't hide?
    Gaya Ethaniel: Just self conscious?
    Storm Nordwind: I don't know. I am asking because I haven't been there myself
    Gaya Ethaniel: Imo... self-conscious as ppl I've met at Buddhist classes tend to be rather genuine
    Storm Nordwind: I expect they are. Though it may depend on why they are there!
    doug Sosa: people here at the pavilion are of course more attractive than the people at the RL zen center.
    Storm Nordwind laughs
    Gaya Ethaniel smiles
    Storm Nordwind: I know there are people who go to Buddhist centres with a view to learning to meditate.
    Gaya Ethaniel doesn't look put much weight on how AVs look
    Storm Nordwind: Meditation has become something of a commodity, and a fix it for the ills of the stress of modern life
    Gaya Ethaniel did use meditation to escape before...
    doug Sosa: In typical meditation class seems more ideological and less serious. Here it is more serious and less ideological. Very comfortable, allows me to wander in my own thoughts, the universe..


    But that was all people had time for.

    Gaya Ethaniel nods
    Storm Nordwind: sounds good :)
    Gaya Ethaniel: Must go now. Good day/night. Thanks for the conversation.
    Gaya Ethaniel: _/!\_
    doug Sosa: i am sorry to leave but I must. Blessings. :)
    Storm Nordwind: ok Gaya
    doug Sosa: hey.. bye!


    I stayed another 10 minutes, enjoying the silence, before I too left.

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