2008.10.15 01:00 - Stepping Out of Sync

That night, at 1 am SLT, I first spent ten minutes by myself at the pavilion. After that, Corvi arrived.

Pema Pera: Hi Corvi!
Pema Pera: Good to see you again
Corvuscorva Nightfire: Good to see you..I'm bringing a friend this time.
Pema Pera: Always nice to meet friends of friends!
Pema Pera: Hi Augustus!
Corvuscorva Nightfire smiles.
Augustus Trefoil: greets, Pema
Pema Pera: Did Corvi tell you about our group, August?
Augustus Trefoil: very litle....a group of mediators
Corvuscorva Nightfire snorts.
Pema Pera: in a way, you could say, though some more than others
Corvuscorva Nightfire: yes..that's all I said, isn't it..brave of you to come.
Pema Pera: :-)
Augustus Trefoil: sorry for typos...my laptop likes smaller hands
Pema Pera: light-weight version?
Augustus Trefoil: nah
Augustus Trefoil: fat fingers )
Pema Pera: :)

Pema Pera: what we do here is talk about a kind of exploration that we mostly carry out in RL
Pema Pera: the idea being to spend a few hours every day in which we stop for nine seconds, several times an hour
Pema Pera: so in total perhaps ten or twenty times a day or so
Pema Pera: or altogether a couple minutes a day, if you add it all up
Pema Pera: you could call it micro-meditations
Pema Pera: or just explorations of what happens when you stepp off the beaten path
Pema Pera: the bell you just heard rings every fifteen minutes
Augustus Trefoil listens
Corvuscorva Nightfire: or if you are like me, you do it once in a while...and get what goody you can out of it.
Pema Pera: some people like to set a kind of bell on their computere, to ring every 15 minutes, to remind them to stop for 9 seconds at the sound of the bell
Pema Pera: it's a kind of pun: 15 minutes had 900 seconds
Pema Pera: and 9 seconds is like a 1% time tax
Pema Pera: 99% for that what keeps you so very busy during your day
Augustus Trefoil: hmm...a "stepping out of sync" in a way......zen in a way....either form or substance
Pema Pera: and 1% to stop and smell the roses
Corvuscorva Nightfire smiles...
Pema Pera: like zen yes, and like many other things
Pema Pera: some of us have no particular interest in any tradition, see this more as a kind of personal or scientific or curiosit-driven exploration
Pema Pera: *curiosity
Pema Pera: http://playasbeing.wik.is/ is our web site
Augustus Trefoil: this is very deep for 9 seonds at a slice :)
Pema Pera: (^_^)
Corvuscorva Nightfire points to the chat logs...
Pema Pera: it turns out that regularity is more important than exactly what you do during the regular ways of coming back to what you do

Corvuscorva Nightfire: Hi, Umbriel!
Pema Pera: btw, we record what we are talking about and put the conversation on the web
Pema Pera: is that okay with you?
Pema Pera: hi Umbriel!
Augustus Trefoil: yes...just perused a few logs
Pema Pera: thanks!
Umbriel Levenque: Peace and Love
Faenik: why not?
Augustus Trefoil: Hiya Umbriel
Pema Pera: Hi Vertigo, good seeing you again!
Umbriel Levenque: Peace and Love
Vertigo Ethaniel: namaste
Augustus Trefoil is listening to the rhythm of the ibirds in sl and the birds in the yard,,,juxtaposition
Pema Pera: :-)
Corvuscorva Nightfire: Hello, Vertigo.
Pema Pera: How have you been Vertigo?
Augustus Trefoil: Namaste, Vertigo
Vertigo Ethaniel: good to see you guys again
Vertigo Ethaniel: busy, stressed, working..
Vertigo Ethaniel: you?
Pema Pera: busy, not so stressed, working :-)
Vertigo Ethaniel: :)
Umbriel Levenque: not too bad thanks
Pema Pera: Umbriel and Vertigo, you probably haven't met Augustus yet?
Vertigo Ethaniel: hello augustus, nice to meet you
Augustus Trefoil: stressed, busy, loved
Augustus Trefoil: and you
Umbriel Levenque: Nice meeting you Augustus
Vertigo Ethaniel: so.. what is the topic tonight?
Pema Pera: I have just summarized the 9-sec exploration idea for Augustus
Vertigo Ethaniel nods
Pema Pera: have you gotten some change to play with that, Vertigo, even while being busy?
Vertigo Ethaniel: unfortunately no.. works keeping me on the strait and narrow

Augustus Trefoil: In nine seconds | two deep breaths | does one also pair | 9 with 900?
Vertigo Ethaniel: however, when i can, i am trying to learn tai chi at night.. that helps
Umbriel Levenque: :-)
Pema Pera: tai chi is a great way to balance stress, for sure
Pema Pera: Nice poetic 9-sec, Augustus !
Pema Pera: Isn't it interesting, Vertigo, that we all then to think we don't have time for 9 seconds, when we are busy . . . .
Faenik is a hairy black ball with eyes and ears.
Pema Pera: though in fact even ten times 9 seconds is only one and a half minutes
Augustus Trefoil: Pema, I was thining of it as a koan
Pema Pera: I love koans!
Vertigo Ethaniel: yes, i really should take the time
Vertigo Ethaniel: i get carried away at times
Umbriel Levenque: ah... 'should'
Pema Pera: I find that, when I am extremely busy, it helps a lot to keep a piece of paper or electronic file and write a couple words at each 9-sec
Pema Pera: just to keep a trace
Pema Pera: to remind me that I've done it
Pema Pera: or not
Umbriel Levenque: well if tai chi suits you Vertigo that's what you need...
Pema Pera: adn then to look at the parttern of doing and forgetting-to-do
Vertigo Ethaniel: mm
Augustus Trefoil: sa-zen?
Umbriel Levenque: I found 9 sec most effective when I don't 'remember' to do it
Vertigo Ethaniel: i find that my strength isnt what it should be for the forms, and sometimes i move too abruptly and fast, and feel really gumby. then stop. something to work on.
Faenik: ah :)
Umbriel Levenque: the forms, you mean tai chi?
Vertigo Ethaniel: yes
Vertigo Ethaniel: 6 form taic hi
Umbriel Levenque: I see
Pema Pera: Nice to meet you all here! I'm taking off, back to bed in RL -- it's 4:30 am here, and I'll try to get a couple more hours of sleep. Looking forward to seeing you again, Augustus, and all of you!
Umbriel Levenque: good night Pema
Augustus Trefoil: reminds me of the kung-fu forms....5+1 elements
Augustus Trefoil: gnight, pema
Pema Pera: Umbriel, perhaps you could email me the rest of the chat log, or put it up on the wiki?
Umbriel Levenque: I will Pema
Vertigo Ethaniel: oh ok
Vertigo Ethaniel: goodnight pema
Corvuscorva Nightfire: gnight Pema
Pema Pera: bye everyone!
Pema Pera: thanks, Umbriel!