2008.09.26 01:00 - Books and Being

Wol Euler was the guardian and commenter for this session.

The meeting started with a discussion of our latest outfits.

Wol Euler: come in, everyone, the water's fine.
Fael Illyar: Hi Wol, Umb :)
Wol Euler: hello Fael, Umbriel
Umbriel Levenque: Peace and Love
Wol Euler: metta
Umbriel Levenque: Please take a seat Fael
Umbriel Levenque: :-)
Fael Illyar: already sitting :)
Wol Euler: ooh, Lawrence of Arabia!
Faenik: ah :)
Fael Illyar smiles.
Umbriel Levenque: :-)
Umbriel Levenque is looking for the seven pillars of wisdom
Wol Euler: ah
Wol Euler: or Omar Sharif, perhaps.
Umbriel Levenque: heheh
Fael Illyar ponders about trying this new outfit on now.
Wol Euler: how are you today?
Wol Euler: go for it :-)
Fael Illyar kind of likes this one too :P
Umbriel Levenque: well thank you Wol, yourself?
Fael Illyar: I'm well enough :)
Wol Euler: slightly slow and fuzzy. Out late last night, and had a glass of wine. One. Bah, getting old.
Umbriel Levenque: One glass is enough for me too :-)
Fael Illyar doesn't quite know how much would be enough.... drinks too little.
Wol Euler: too little is good, I think.
Umbriel Levenque nods
Wol Euler: oh, very nice Fael.
Fael Illyar didn't change yet.
Umbriel Levenque sits quietly and admires the ladies
Fael Illyar: but thank you :)
Wol Euler: I hadn't seen it before, your cushion is still unrezzed spehere
Fael Illyar: but time for the new one I bought :)
Fael Illyar: try zooming around, that helps with cushions
Umbriel Levenque: that's lovely Fael
Fael Illyar: thank you :)
Faenik is a hairy black ball with eyes and ears.
Wol Euler grumbles and waits for rezzing.
Fael Illyar: I guess I'll wait a bit before trying the options
Umbriel Levenque: Slovanic feels to it...
Fael Illyar: named Zadkiel
Fael Illyar: this outfit
Umbriel Levenque: ah...
Wol Euler wonders whether practicing metta applies to inanimate objects like SL.
Fael Illyar: why discriminate :P
Wol Euler: true
Faenik: could be
Fael Illyar: rezzed now?
Wol Euler: nope
Wol Euler: the prim bits have but you are still wearing blue and green clothes :-(
Wol Euler: ah, wait.
Umbriel Levenque: (let's not post this... Wol)
Wol Euler: ah, yes. finally!
Wol Euler: lol
Fael Illyar: why not?
Wol Euler: why discriminate?
Umbriel Levenque: :-)
Wol Euler: very nice!
Fael Illyar smiles.
Fael Illyar: but if you do post, you need a snapshot :P
Umbriel Levenque: Wol, I will send you a pic of this?
Wol Euler: everyone smile and face forward
Umbriel Levenque: Wol could you sit one cushion away please?
Faenik is a hairy black ball with eyes and ears.
Fael Illyar: oh, setting up the picture :)
Umbriel Levenque: done
Fael Illyar: ok, trying some alternatives :)
Fael Illyar: ah, shorter skirt
Fael Illyar ponders about this optional shirt ... makes no difference with the jacket on ...
Fael Illyar: oh well, leave that for later :)
Wol Euler nods.
Umbriel Levenque: :-)
Wol Euler: "Zadkiel or Hesediel (Heb. Tzadqiel, "Righteousness of God") is the archangel of freedom, benevolence, mercy, and the Patron Angel of all who forgive. Also known as Sachiel, Zedekiel, Zadakiel, Tzadkiel, Zedekul and Hesediel." (wikipedia)
Wol Euler: how appropriate :-)
Fael Illyar: Ah :)
Fael Illyar: Yes, kind of is :)
Fael Illyar: better buy the male version for Quel too :P
Umbriel Levenque: :-)
Wol Euler: "As an angel of mercy, some texts claim that Zadkiel is the unnamed Biblical Angel of the Lord who holds back Abraham to prevent the patriarch from sacrificing his son, and because of this is usually shown holding a dagger."
Umbriel Levenque: ah...
Fael Illyar: interesting :)
Fael Illyar: the way things are symbolized :)
Umbriel Levenque: el...
Wol Euler: /m enods.
Fael Illyar: yep, ends with el too, that name :)
Wol Euler: huh.
Faenik: ah :)
Umbriel Levenque: My 'sister' in RL is called Ariel as well
Wol Euler: well, we would have to look into the Hebrew origins to see what that final syllable means.
Fael Illyar: yes :)
Wol Euler: save that for another day, perhaps.

On to more serious matters! Fael explains Fourth Time.

Wol Euler: Permit me to fulfill my solemn duties as Guardian on Call. "Does anyone have any PaB business to discuss?"
Umbriel Levenque: :-)
Umbriel Levenque: What do you think of the new exercise?
Wol Euler: the fourth time?
Umbriel Levenque: Yes and APAPB
Wol Euler: fourth time defeats me, sorry to say. Do you undesrtand it?
Fael Illyar: at least I can't put anything words. Somehow don't feel puzzled by the concept though.
Wol Euler: do tell, please.
Wol Euler: lol, sorry, you just said you can't put it in words.
Fael Illyar: well, perhaps I can, just will take some time :)
Fael Illyar: Hi Corvi :)
Umbriel Levenque: Peace and Love
Wol Euler: goodmorning , corvi!
Corvuscorva Nightfire: G'morning.
Faenik: indeed?
Wol Euler: oh, you're a guardian! welcome to the club.
Umbriel Levenque: :-)

Corvuscorva Nightfire blushes. Thanks.

An intriguing and enlightening analogy. 

Fael Illyar: when you read a book, you tend to just move your gaze forward along the text.
Fael Illyar: lets liken that to NOW.
Fael Illyar: the PAST would be what you've already read and FUTURE what is yet to be read.
Wol Euler nods. OK so far.
Faenik: could be
Fael Illyar: you can skip forward or backward in the text as you wish but ... overall, that doesn't quite make much of a difference in regard to what the book says.
Wol Euler: true, only your perception of it.
Fael Illyar: now, if you think of yourself as a character in the story of the book.
Wol Euler: ... I would have to believe that my life is absolutely determined, but unknown to me.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: this analogy makes perfect sense and terrifies me.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: for just the reason Wol said.
Fael Illyar: it's an imperfect analogy though.
Wol Euler: and that there is no free will.
Wol Euler thinks
Umbriel Levenque: it seems to be whatever choice I make my path has been determined for that particular choice
Fael Illyar: we could exchange the book for a truckload of books that has choices at some points and the rest of the story continues in another book for most of them.
Wol Euler: lol, ok.
Umbriel Levenque nods
Wol Euler: your point being to see me as a character, not as the reader.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: like those kids books in the 80's?
Wol Euler: the way being sees me.
Fael Illyar: yes
Faenik: could be
Wol Euler: is that the fourth time? Being's time as it reads me?
Fael Illyar: Yes, there are books like this but rather short :)
Umbriel Levenque: (pic sent Wol)
Wol Euler: ty
Fael Illyar: Being's time somehow feels off ...
Fael Illyar: does the book need a reader for the story to exist?
Wol Euler: no :-)
Umbriel Levenque smiles... the tree question
Fael Illyar: So, what you see as yourself, now, is a small part of this "book" :)
Fael Illyar: at one point in the story.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: must go, sorry...
Fael Illyar: See you later Corvi :)
Umbriel Levenque: Peace and Love
Fael Illyar: hopefully this didn't upset her too much...
Wol Euler: "No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; 
     Am an attendant lord, one that will do 
     To swell a progress, start a scene or two"
Wol Euler: just a minor character perhaps, not hte heroine.
Fael Illyar: as a character in the story, you can't know what goes on in the other paths you didn't take.
Umbriel Levenque: :-)
Umbriel Levenque nods
Umbriel Levenque: Can't run anywhere outside the "books"
Fael Illyar: except ... it feels like intuition is somehow something that takes peeks at the paths ahead.
Umbriel Levenque: possibly yes
Wol Euler: hmmmm
Fael Illyar: anyway, that's the fourth time. The existence of the story in the books.
Faenik: indeed?
Fael Illyar: at least one way to express it :)
Fael Illyar: flawed but conveys a part of it :)
Wol Euler: ... that Gatsby can be alive when I re-read the first chapter, though I know that he is also dead because I previously read the last chapter?
Umbriel Levenque: though I'd like to think that 'enlightenment' would enble one to 'see' all stories... that somehow doesn't sit well with how we use 'book' analogy so far
Wol Euler: that seems to be asking too much of enlightenment, Umbriel. PErhaps being enlightened would let you realize that your life is _a_ book.
Faenik is a hairy black ball with eyes and ears.
Umbriel Levenque: :-)
Fael Illyar: funny how that is, actually, immortality in a way ;)
Wol Euler: indeed. If there is a dimension of Being that expereiences time flowing as we do, it must be at right angles to our time :-)

RL begins  to intrude.

Fael Illyar: Ah, but it's time to go hang my laundry to dry ... well, ok, was an hour ago but ... :P
Wol Euler: lol
Umbriel Levenque: :-)
Fael Illyar will be afk for around 15 minutes.
Wol Euler: bye Fael, hang well.
Wol Euler: no!
Wol Euler: ah, ok, you are coming back. it'll wait.
Umbriel Levenque: :-)
Fael Illyar: See you later :)
Fael Illyar: no need stretch your c
Fael Illyar: schedule for me :=
Fael Illyar: ... better not write from an angle :)

The specter of Work arrives to haunt the meeting. 

Wol Euler: I just wanted to ask about foo and the database?
Fael Illyar: ah, sure :)
Wol Euler: is that "sure" as in "they are coming along well and we can go live on October 1"?
Fael Illyar: ah, perhaps :P
Wol Euler raises an eyebrow.
Fael Illyar: anyway, going now , see you in 15 :)
Wol Euler: kk

Angels, and the difficulty of finding things one doesn't know how to look for. 

Umbriel Levenque: Wol, no need to wait for me here but... curious about 'el'
Wol Euler: indeed. Thte great majority of angels are named "...el"
Wol Euler: and a few OT prophets and heroes too, Daniel, Ezekiel
Faenik: ah :)
Umbriel Levenque: ah...
Wol Euler: it's clealy Hebrew, and I would bet that it has a significance.
Umbriel Levenque: ah...
Wol Euler: interesting. This is a case where Google fails entirely, but a few phone calls or a good librarian would proably come upwith the answer we want within a morning.
Umbriel Levenque nods
Umbriel Levenque: Wish Kat was here
Wol Euler: there is an answer, and once we know it we would probably be able to formulate a search query that Google would solve.
Wol Euler: but without _knowing_ hte answer, we can't discover it.
Umbriel Levenque: yes