2008.12.13 01:00 - Stoning (your own)

The Guardian for this meeting was Fael Illyar. The comments are Fael's.

Today I arrived a bit late, although, it seems just in time for conversation.

Pema Pera: Hi Vax
Pema Pera: Feel free to join me here, if you like
Vax Ansar: Hello Pema
Pema Pera: We gather here four times a day
Pema Pera: right now it is rather quiet, but perhaps a few more people will come
Pema Pera: we like to talk about the nature of reality, but in a light way :)
Pema Pera: we have a blog http://playasbeing.wik.is
Vax Ansar: That's good I'm not really that much of an intellectual about.
Pema Pera: so if you like, you can read there what we're concerned about.

This is where I arrived.

Pema Pera: Hi Fael!
Fael Illyar: Hi Pema, Vax :)
Pema Pera: We also like to include our conversations on that blog, is that okay with you?
Fael Illyar: Sorry I'm a bit late.
Vax Ansar: Yes.
Pema Pera: np :)
Pema Pera: Vax just arrived here a minute ago
Pema Pera: Thanks, Vax!
Fael Illyar: Ah, so I sort of "awakened" from RL conversation just in time :)
Vax Ansar: Your welcome. The Pleasure is mine.
Pema Pera: haha, good timing
Pema Pera: we get together here every day at 1 am 7 am 1 pm 7 pm, Vax
Pema Pera: quite a busy schedule, so we divide it over a few dozen people
Crusty Goldshark: hi guys
Pema Pera: greeters, or time slot guardians
Pema Pera: Hi Crusty!
Faenik: could be
Crusty Goldshark: Am I time for the stoning?

I wonder who Crusty was coming to stone. Hopefully not me for being the guardian and being late.

Pema Pera: ?
Crusty Goldshark: The heretics!
Crusty Goldshark: oops - wrong place
Crusty Goldshark: :)
Crusty Goldshark: So how are my favourite meditators?
Pema Pera: quiet, right now, if you are talking to us, that is :)
Crusty Goldshark: :)
Crusty Goldshark: Was it something I said - must not stone heretics!
Crusty Goldshark: Been trying to build a stupa
Fael Illyar: How is it going?
Crusty Goldshark: I have the four elements
Crusty Goldshark: or five if you include ether
Crusty Goldshark: that is about it . . . but with my mighty cape and silly hat I feel quite
Crusty Goldshark: . . . the daga
Crusty Goldshark: wizard
Fael Illyar smiles.
Fael Illyar: Well, kind of :)
Fael Illyar: a bit comical one though ;)
Fael Illyar: Although, in SL we're all kind of wizards :)
Fael Illyar: most just don't use the ability ;)

Interesting how we can do pretty much whatever we want in SL and ... people mostly seem to stick to doing things they could do in RL as well.

Crusty Goldshark: Yes comedy wizard - that is a good starting point for creating stupas in SL
Faenik: could be
Fael Illyar smiles 'Yes, quite so.'
Pema Pera: Have you tried the 9-sec exploration, Crusty?
Crusty Goldshark: Yes - Iam advancing quite considerably and did 4 * 9 secs
Crusty Goldshark: I may go for a full minute soon . . .
Pema Pera: :)
Pema Pera: the point of course is not the duration, but the frequency, of doing it regularly
Crusty Goldshark: Quite so
Pema Pera: did you find it fun, or helpful, or . . . ?
Crusty Goldshark: the longest I have medited for is two years - but I thought I might start over again . . .

It's sometimes somewhat difficult to tell when Crusty is joking and when not. Hopefully this one is joke as I was guessing.

Crusty Goldshark: m m m . . . well I found it concentrating . . .
Crusty Goldshark: Sort of extra awareness
Crusty Goldshark: How are you getting on
Crusty Goldshark: ?
Pema Pera: I find it very useful to stop regularly, to drop the usual identification with the role I am playing
Pema Pera: and to try to be more open
Pema Pera: without any particular agenda or method
Crusty Goldshark: Interesting - the sensation of opening I can concur with
Crusty Goldshark: and the dropping of roles and agendas
Crusty Goldshark: However I do tend to find ways to flow into awareness as much as possible - so the 9 secs is one of many tools :)
Pema Pera: oh sure
Crusty Goldshark: What other tools do you favour?
Pema Pera: btw, I was intrigued by the way you talked at the previous session about "I am"
Pema Pera: knowing "I AM" as you named it
Crusty Goldshark: ok?
Pema Pera: Can you say more about that?
Faenik: could be
Pema Pera: (as for other tools, there are many, from many traditions)
Crusty Goldshark: Well the idea of I AM is one of the mantras used in Hinduism and is I feel more of the experience of the theist orientated mystics
Faenik is a hairy black ball with eyes and ears.

Faenik makes a statement ... although this one is difficult to interpret in this context :)

Crusty Goldshark: So for example in Islam or Christian mysticism or say Jewish Kabbalh and even Western Ocult schools this idea and experience of BEING is improtant
Crusty Goldshark: It coressponds to the exact same thing in Buddhism as the experience of 'Not Being'
Crusty Goldshark: The I AM does not have an object of awreness even in the later stages - it is independent of being other than a sense of awareness
Pema Pera: interesting point, Crusty, yes, that makes a lot of sense
Pema Pera: Hi Obama
Pema Pera: would you like to sit down?

Obama arrives to the playgoda, dancing. Vanishes soon after.

Crusty Goldshark: Buddhist often (I have heard a senior monk state this) state they are not mystics - but they may have mystic experiences and even engage in ecstatic dancing
Crusty Goldshark: as do the dervishes
Pema Pera: yes, all those terms are not very fitting
Pema Pera: mysticism, religion . . .
Crusty Goldshark: However there are other levels of I AM which are based on an object and have little sense of innate reality
Pema Pera: yes
Crusty Goldshark: There is a big difference between I AM (ego) and I AM awareness - or I AM NOT
Faenik: could be
Pema Pera: yes, definitely -- and I agree, the "highest self" of Hinduism comes close to the "non self" of Buddhism or at least can come close
Crusty Goldshark: Yes
Crusty Goldshark: This is why the experiential is more important than any dogma
Pema Pera: what is your prefered tradition, if I may ask, Crusty?
Faenik: ah :)
Crusty Goldshark: Buddhism - as a vehicle of expression
Pema Pera: what kind of Buddhism?
Crusty Goldshark: I had adopted Alchemy but found too many people still engaged in gold making
Crusty Goldshark: The outer expression - is not as important as the inner knowing
Crusty Goldshark: So I am quite happy to go in a Church or Mosque but prefer the company of Buddhists

This part I'd say I quite agree with Crusty here. Aurora drops in, apparently bringing Shaman in tow.

Fael Illyar: Hi Aurora :)
Crusty Goldshark: Hi
Pema Pera: HI Aurora!
Pema Pera: welcome back!
Pema Pera: Hi Shaman!
Crusty Goldshark: Yinyana Buddhism - we get to go to stonings . . .
Crusty Goldshark: (usually our own)
Shaman Kharg: Greetings
Crusty Goldshark: Hi Storm
Aurora Kitaj: Hi Shaman, take a seat
Pema Pera: Come join us, Shaman
Crusty Goldshark: Ooops - sorry Hi Shaman
Fael Illyar: Ah, hi Shaman :)
Faenik: ah :)
Pema Pera: Has Aurora told you about the background of our meetings?
Aurora Kitaj: Hi Crusty
Aurora Kitaj: Hi Faenik
Pema Pera: We get together a few times a day to chat about the nature of reality, and everything else, and we have a wiki Http://playasbeing.wik.is/ -- we record our conversations there. Do you mind being included in our blogs?
Shaman Kharg: yes; a little
Crusty Goldshark: Hi Aurora
Aurora Kitaj: Thanks Pema
Shaman Kharg: no, not at all : )
Pema Pera: http://playasbeing.wik.is/
Pema Pera: thanks, Shaman!
Crusty Goldshark: What about you Pema - what is your preferred tradition if any and Fael?
Pema Pera: many, Crusty
Pema Pera: Buddhism may come closests, but there are many others I explored
Fael Illyar: not sure if I have a preferred tradition :)
Pema Pera: the point is to see, by whatever name
Fael Illyar: I meditate close to the Zen way but other than that ...
Fael Illyar: I still mostly just read what I come across :)
Pema Pera: Tibetan Buddhism is something I've explored more than others
Pema Pera: but also Zen, and Advaita Vedanta, and some forms of Christian mysticism
Crusty Goldshark: Have you read the philokalia?
Pema Pera: no
Crusty Goldshark: It is a record of the teachings of the desert fathers
Crusty Goldshark: Or the dessert fathers as I rather trifingly and sweetly refer to them . . .
Shaman Kharg: bedoins?
Crusty Goldshark: No they are Christian mystics who hang out in the desert looking for Cod - or failing that God
Shaman Kharg: haha
Pema Pera: Shaman, each session here we talk about quite different things
Faenik: indeed?
Pema Pera: but what we have in common is our exploration, or practice
Pema Pera: we like to stop for 9 seconds every 15 minutes
Pema Pera: to drop what we have in order to see better what we are
Pema Pera: a kind of 1% time tax :)
Shaman Kharg: many believe WE are god - or rather , he is within us
Crusty Goldshark: I am developing a hard core practice trying to up the anti to 27 secs . . .
Pema Pera: Crusty likes to joke, Shaman . . . .
Pema Pera: in case you hadn't noticed
Shaman Kharg: as do I ...
Pema Pera: so what we are trying to do is to trade duration for frequency
Pema Pera: instead of traditional long session, very many very short explorations
Crusty Goldshark: I take it God is Infinite - how does he get inside us? I am only finite :(
Pema Pera: and it seems to "work" for many folks here
Shaman Kharg: a break for a new look?
Pema Pera: openings yes
Shaman Kharg: gotcha : )
Pema Pera: shooting holes in our usually quite closed views of the world adn of ourselves
Pema Pera: but the fun thing is, each and everybody here comes from a totally different background
Shaman Kharg: the best way to prove a theory, is to try to disprove it
Pema Pera: so it is very interesting to compare the experiences
Pema Pera: that's a good way, yes
Pema Pera: how do you try to disprove that "God is within you" :-)
Shaman Kharg: with free choice
Pema Pera: can you say more?
Fael Illyar: how do you know you're finite?
Crusty Goldshark: Well I have limits
Shaman Kharg: I can touch my edges, but am I only physical; another question then
Aurora Kitaj: Oops, hope my voice isn't on cos you will have just some rather assertive noises telling my son to go down stairs for breakfast, it was on.
Pema Pera: you didn't Aurora
Pema Pera: but now you are making us curious :)
Fael Illyar smiles 'I won't hear anything because my voice isn't activated at all.'
Faenik is a hairy black ball with eyes and ears.
Pema Pera is only hearing the SL birds twittering away here
Shaman Kharg: no voice here, either
Pema Pera: well, I gotta go
Pema Pera: dinner time for me
Fael Illyar: See you later Pema :)
Pema Pera: good seeing all of you
Pema Pera: nice to meet you, Shaman!
Crusty Goldshark: bye pema
Shaman Kharg: safe paths, Pema : )
Pema Pera: bye everybody
Aurora Kitaj: Thanks Pema,
Aurora Kitaj: Nice to meet you Crusty
Aurora Kitaj: Fael, did we meet here once before?
Crusty Goldshark: Nice to meet you Aurora ;)
Fael Illyar: Yes, I think I've seen you here once before, Aurora :)
Crusty Goldshark: OK time for my breakfast - anoter limitation :)
Crusty Goldshark: CU you guys
Fael Illyar: See you later Crusty :)
Shaman Kharg: be well, Crusty : )
Fael Illyar: Oh well, I'll be leaving as well, see you perhaps later Shaman :)
Shaman Kharg: nice to meet you - take care, Fael : )

With this, the meeting ends.