2008.11.08 13:00 - Water into wine

Storm Nordwind was the guardian for this meeting at the new pavilion. The comments are Storm's.

Adams was already waiting and seemed to have a problem: turning water into wine.

Adams Rubble: Hello Storm :)
Storm Nordwind: Hi Adams :)
Adams Rubble: Is the water red or is it me?
Storm Nordwind: It's you
Adams Rubble: Hmmmm
Adams Rubble: I guess I had too much wine
Storm Nordwind: Are other things red too?
Adams Rubble: The cushions
Adams Rubble: They are wine colored
Storm Nordwind: What happens if you type ctrl-alt-T?
Adams Rubble: some other things just turned red
Storm Nordwind: OK. Type it again
Adams Rubble: nothing happened
Adams Rubble: Ooops now the other red disappeared
Adams Rubble: but the water and cushions are wine colored
Adams Rubble: still
Storm Nordwind: Late night perhaps? :)
Adams Rubble: :)
Storm Nordwind inspects Adams for evidence of bloodshot eyes
Adams Rubble: Maybe it is my hair
Adams Rubble: Hello Adelene

I resisted the temptation to voice the old joke about it being the result of turning wine into water. Meanwhile a winged mountain lion arrived and plonked itself down on my lap.

Storm Nordwind: Hi Adelene!
Adelene Dawner: hiyo :)
Storm Nordwind pats Adelene gingerly
Adelene Dawner purrrs ^.^
Storm Nordwind looks round to see where the motor boat is
Adelene Dawner: (Where does a 200lb lion sit? Wherever she wants! ^.^)
Storm Nordwind: On top of a 280lb man's lap?
Adelene Dawner chuckles.

We got down to "business". Business seemed, at first, to be about balance.

Storm Nordwind: So what news anyone?
Adams Rubble: Well I had a bit of an insight last night
Adams Rubble: Nothing I didn;t know but I didn;t know it
Storm Nordwind is wide-eyed
Adams Rubble: I have been concentrating on my inner mind and my selves
Adams Rubble: and ignoring my body
Storm Nordwind nods
Adams Rubble: I fully realized last night that it is all three that were there at birth
Adams Rubble: and will be there at death
Adams Rubble has been learning the hard way
Storm Nordwind: Interesting... but...
Adams Rubble: yes?
Storm Nordwind: Not the same body. There is nothing in your body now that was there at birth I think maybe?
Adams Rubble: But the functioning was there
Adams Rubble: Then someone had to take care of it
Adams Rubble: Now I have to
Storm Nordwind: True. But...
Storm Nordwind: what is it in your body that is you? After all you have an SL body here :)
Adams Rubble thinking of just RL
Adams Rubble: right now
Storm Nordwind: Sure. I was thinking that there is nothing in my SL body or my RL body that was there at my RL birth. What is the me-ness I wonder?
Adams Rubble: Do you know that my body has ben in revolt since my experience with the great space on October 4?
Storm Nordwind: Ah no
Adams Rubble: It wakes up every night and won;t go back to sleep
Adams Rubble: It was Stim who pointed out that my body was threatened by what I had been doing
Adams Rubble: That I had to let it catch up
Storm Nordwind nods
Storm Nordwind: That is quite true
Adelene Dawner: Smart Stim. ^.^
Adams Rubble: :)

So much happening in so many different parts of my life/lives that keeping up with the personal experiences of even my dearest friends has been hard of late. I was rapidly playing catch-up. I don't always keep up to date with the latest theories either, so I had this stodgy feeling in my brain as we talked, wanting to find the point of common reference.

Adams Rubble: I am learning that there needs to be some unity
Storm Nordwind: Unity or identity?
Adams Rubble: unity among the inner mind, self and body
Bell: *ding*
Adams Rubble: If memory is in self
Adams Rubble: and the memory remembers to feed and care for the body
Adams Rubble: then it would seem to follow that self is important
Adelene Dawner: Cooperation might be a better word. I experience myself as bits and pieces, too, but that's no problem as long as they all work together well. I compare it to a family, in that idealized sense that most people associate the word with.
Storm Nordwind: Why would self be not important? :)
Adams Rubble: Yes Adelene
Adams Rubble: I have been spending five months battering down the self while seeking out attachments and identities
Adams Rubble: Maybe ot is time to do something differently
Adelene Dawner: sounds it.
Storm Nordwind: It is a seductive concept
Adelene Dawner: which, Storm?
Adams Rubble: seductive? You know something I don't?
Adams Rubble: (Well I know you do)
Storm Nordwind: I have spent so long feeding the concept of self. I find it is so natural to do so. And yet there lies the source of all my suffering.

We were not quite on the same wavelength yet. I was still thinking as a Buddhist and using words that could be misinterpreted.

Adelene Dawner: Duality, Storm. It's not a simple choice between fighting with the self or spoiling it.
Adams Rubble: Isn;t it the attachments and identities that are the cause of the suffering?
Adams Rubble: Yes, I think I see that Adelene
Storm Nordwind: They are not the root cause Adams
Storm Nordwind: Not in my view
Adams Rubble: Butif memory is in self, then self has a prime duty
Adams Rubble: important duty
Adelene Dawner: Mmhmm/
Adams Rubble: We can't deny that
Storm Nordwind: One is not the other. One carries the other in its shape
Adelene Dawner has something to say about this but will need some time to find words - a day or two, maybe.
Adams Rubble: Please explain Storm
Adams Rubble: OK Adelene
Storm Nordwind: You carry your memory in what you become. Memory can be erased but you cannot. You are shaped by your experiences and so carry their impact. But you may lose a knowledge or recall of the details
Adams Rubble: I see that as my inner mind or core self Storm
Adams Rubble: mind
Adams Rubble: What I call Z-self in my blog
Adams Rubble: I can experience "self" acting independently
Storm Nordwind: Settling on a common terminology is always the trickiest thing! :)
Adams Rubble: Yes
Adams Rubble: And I can understand that I may be defining it wrong but I am working from my experiences and then what I have heard or read
Adams Rubble: And it seems there are three parts to this
Adams Rubble: to me
Storm Nordwind: There is no wrong, never fear
Adams Rubble: :)
Adelene Dawner hmms.
Storm Nordwind: You are starting in the best way: from what you observe in yourself, not what people are telling you to expect
Adams Rubble: But I have been concentrating on isolating my inner mind and had forgotten that the other two parts are still important
Adams Rubble: Last night I began to see the unity
Adelene Dawner pulls out one of her favorite sayings: "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."
Storm Nordwind: That, I believe, is good Adams
Adams Rubble: :)
Storm Nordwind: Einstein?
Adams Rubble: It seems right to me
Adelene Dawner: The... set of things that makes a person... it includes a self. Ignoring that doesn't make it go away. It's there, it's real, and it seems to be there for a reason.
Adams Rubble: Einstein?
Adelene Dawner: Not Einstein, one sec.
Adams Rubble: Oh
Adelene Dawner: Philip K. Dick.
Adams Rubble: If we suppress our self too far, it appears it affects the body's equilibrium
Bell: *ding*
Adelene Dawner: indeed.

The problem with the word "suppression" is that it is no longer neutral, having its own baggage with it nowadays.

Storm Nordwind: Suppression of any kind may be harmful.
Storm Nordwind: I would rather see it, instead, for what it really is
Adams Rubble: I am hoping that I do see it correctly this time :)
Adelene Dawner: What I've done, and it seems to work in general, is just... ignore it. Let it do its thing. If it needs attention, it knows how to get it.
Adams Rubble: Well mine has been known to run amuk :)
Storm Nordwind: That implies you put your attention elsewhere Adelene? I wonder where you choose?
Adelene Dawner: The world's full of interesting things, Storm. And learning how to observe the self without interfering means that watching it is an option, too.
Storm Nordwind nods
Adams Rubble nods too
Adelene Dawner: So let it run, would be my inclination, Adams. It'll learn quickly enough if that doesn't work. :)
Adelene Dawner: I've actually gone through that - I somehow managed to completely suppress the brainbit that's responsible for monitoring body systems, as a teenager, and just recently found it again (about 8 or 9 months ago, now). It was definitely uncomfortable for the first few months while that brainbit got reoriented to the world at large, but it's learning, and it's good to have it back.
Adams Rubble understands now and glad you have it back Adelene
Adelene Dawner: (And the physical stuff that's gone along with that was interesting, noticeable, and inconvenient, and also rather TMI.)
Adams Rubble: TMI?
Adelene Dawner: Too Much Information.
Adams Rubble: Ah
Adams Rubble: Yes
Storm Nordwind: Is that like tinnitus in that you can learn to tune it out?
Adelene Dawner: Not at all.
Adelene Dawner: There were actually physical signs that that system was offline, though I didn't recognize them at the time. When it came back online, there was no equilibrium.. I went from nothing to too much, in a TMI way, for a while... but like I said, it learned, and there's something approaching an equilibrium now.
Storm Nordwind: I see
Adams Rubble: And in a smaller way, that is what has been happening to me
Adelene Dawner: The thing is, at least in my experience, you have to go through that lack-of-equilibrium period for a while, to get to the point of equilibrium. Interfering with that process... well, I didn't, so I can't say for sure, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work.
Adams Rubble: Hmmm. So I have to continue to be patient

Ah... patience. Sometime we humans are good at it. So often we are not! Our conversation reminded me of something I observed many years ago...

Storm Nordwind: It sounds like something similar to what I noticed in myself some years ago, and also in some other people
Storm Nordwind: I found that it was almost as though different parts of me were ... can't think of a better way to say this but ... incarnating at different time!
Bell: *ding*
Storm Nordwind: It took a while before I was anywhere near complete
Storm Nordwind: And of course I may not be yet!
Adelene Dawner chuckles.
Storm Nordwind: And as each part arrived it needed to be integrated
Adelene Dawner: mmhmm
Adelene Dawner: Not that they lose that part-ness... at least, not for me... but they learn to work together with what's already there.
Storm Nordwind: Yes
Storm Nordwind: In fact, I believe there's a parallel with cooking there! :)
Adelene Dawner: ?
Storm Nordwind: I was enjoying a very complex sauce for my evening meal...
Storm Nordwind: and I realised that it was built from many layers of flavour...
Storm Nordwind: but they had not all merged...
Storm Nordwind: instead they were working together...
Adelene Dawner: mmhmm :)
Storm Nordwind: neither separate not totally merged into one
Storm Nordwind: It was a dance of ingredients
Storm Nordwind: And I was joyfully in the center
Storm Nordwind: holding hands wit them all
Adams Rubble: :)
Storm Nordwind gets poetic over outstanding Indian cuisine
Adams Rubble: :)
Adelene Dawner: ^.^
Storm Nordwind notices his mix of US and UK spelling too!

I suspect the fabulous mango curry [sic] I had had that evening was still playing in my imagination!

Adams Rubble: If it is so hard to get the unity then that would seem to say something about communicating with one's body
Adelene Dawner: hm?
Adams Rubble: The mind doesn;t seem to have that kind of control
Storm Nordwind: I'd go for Adelene's idea of co-operation. Unity brings an idea of merging in my mind, and perhaps the dance of flavours is what you're aiming for. Or are we using different words for the same thing again?
Adelene Dawner: maybe it's not supposed to, Adams?
Adams Rubble: I need to think about this some more; it helps to get feedback. Thanks!
Storm Nordwind: No need to force the pace, I suspect! Sit back and watch the dancers dance around themselves, and around you.
Adelene Dawner: mmhmm :)

But even that requires some physical balance...

Adams Rubble: It's easier to do when one is sleeping properly but I am learning that too :)
Storm Nordwind nods and understands
Storm Nordwind: My own lack of sleeping was traced to 2 things...
Storm Nordwind: One to LPRD which kept me awake with breathing difficulties for years. Now cured with a simple drug...
Storm Nordwind: And second to working on SL until the small hours every night! :))
Adams Rubble: :)
Storm Nordwind: The cure is not known for the second!
Adelene Dawner: I hear that, Storm :)
Adams Rubble: hehe
Storm Nordwind: Suddenly getting 7 or 8 hours sleep instead of 4 or 5 has been delicious!
Storm Nordwind: Although there's sure to be a backlog of work here now!
Adams Rubble: We can only do our best :)
Storm Nordwind: The more one does, the more it seems is expected!
Storm Nordwind: And I mean that in the best possible way!
Adams Rubble: yes, that is true
Adams Rubble: Pro ably more from ourselves than others
Bell: *ding*
Storm Nordwind: When i see how much joy or even simple utility I can bring from working here, I just keeping on going and forget to stop
Storm Nordwind: joy to others that is
Adelene Dawner: ^.^
Adams Rubble: :)
Storm Nordwind: But I am looking forward to next year when I only have one full-time job instead of two! :)
Adelene Dawner: oh? ^.^
Adams Rubble: In a freshly Democratic State
Storm Nordwind: YAY!
Storm Nordwind: Yes Adelene...
Storm Nordwind: I will leave the UK for the US
Adams Rubble: Color blue instead of colour blue
Storm Nordwind: hehe!
Adelene Dawner: ^.^
Adams Rubble: you betcha!
Storm Nordwind: My favourite - oops, favorite
Storm Nordwind winks
Adams Rubble: :)
Storm Nordwind: I love the word you used Adams: "freshly"
Storm Nordwind: Seems so full of potential
Adams Rubble: :)
Adelene Dawner: ^.^
Adelene Dawner: Well, folks, RL calls...
Adams Rubble: Rocky Mountain fresh
Storm Nordwind: OK Adelene
Adelene Dawner: See you around. :)
Adams Rubble: bye Adelene :)
Storm Nordwind: Thanks for keeping my lap warm
Adelene Dawner: ^.^

The winged lion left. And so we returned to the suffusion of red.

Adams Rubble wondering what to do about the wine colored water
Storm Nordwind: Just the pool?
Adams Rubble: and the cushions
Adams Rubble: The wisteria is OK
Storm Nordwind can't seem to duplicate it

But after some experimentation, I realised that Adams had beacons on (ctrl-N) plus an odd rendering setting. Thus was wine returned to water, by a less enjoyable method than I usually recommend.