2009.01.13 01:00 - Like the Wash of a Propeller

That night I, Pema, was the guardian on call. Soon after I arrived, Susi dropped in as well.

Pema Pera: Hi Susi! Good seeing you again
Susi Alcott: Hi Pema
Susi Alcott: same here
Susi Alcott: how r you ?
Pema Pera: fine! I'm still forcing myself to stay eight hours in bed, no matter how busy I am . . . . I'm very glad I've been doing that now for quite a while. It makes a lot of difference, I've noticed
Susi Alcott: aha
Pema Pera: even though I only need six hours or so, and can function reasonably well with four or five hours, for a long time, I noticed that my peace of mind, creativity, etc goes way up when I stay in bed longer
Susi Alcott: maybe I now understand the question there was rising ....
Susi Alcott: U see there was this question; may I ask how is your health
Pema Pera: oh, basically fine
Susi Alcott: good

Actually, Susi would follow up afterwards with a brief conversation about some details of my health, which was quite illuminating. I continue to be amazed how much meaningful communication can happen in Second Life, notwithstanding all of its limitations. Have two or more people tuning in on a similar wavelength seems to give an opportunity to transcend quite a few barriers.

Wol Euler: good morning pema, susi
Pema Pera: Hi Wol!
Susi Alcott: good morning Wol
Pema Pera: Good seeing you again
Wol Euler: likewise!
Wol Euler: I can't remember whether we've spoken in 2009 yet; if not Happy new year!
Pema Pera: Happy New Year in any case, Wol !
Wol Euler smiles
Wol Euler: that's an unusual t-shirt image, pema. What does it mean?
Pema Pera: it means that it is time for me to buy a lot more T shirts!
Wol Euler: !
Pema Pera: Have been wearing this far too long
Wol Euler gave you FP: Love Knows - Black.
Wol Euler: oh dear, how embarrassing for us both. I didn't recognize it as being "old"
Susi Alcott: so maybe you Pema need to think an other time if to buy new ones :)
Wol Euler: you should get Kiremimi to take you SL-shopping some day :)
Wol Euler: happy new year, susi
Susi Alcott: happy new year to you too Wol
Wol Euler: ah, I guess that's more a woman's shirt, by the cut :)
Pema Pera: Thanks, Wol, for the new T shirt :) and yes, I know, I should . . . .

I quickly tried on my new T shirt.

Wol Euler: odd that an anti-genderist message should be on such a genderized item of clothing
Pema Pera: it still isn't fully rezzed for me . . . .
Pema Pera: ah, love knows no gender?
Wol Euler: mmhmm :)
Pema Pera: is that what it says (still rezzing)
Wol Euler: particularly apt for SL :)
Pema Pera: indeed :)
Pema Pera: how was your vacation, Wol?
Wol Euler: great, mostly. cold, sunny, family, good food, great conversation, books.
Pema Pera: sounds perfect . . . . right here in Kyoto it is snowing, very pretty
Wol Euler: ah!
Wol Euler: this has been an unusually cold and snowy winter inGermany, i.e. we do actually have snow that has stayed onthe ground for several weeks
Pema Pera: how nice! I love snow . . .
Wol Euler: yes, me too. I miss proper Canadian winters here.
Wol Euler: it was -30°C in Saskatchewan in the first week, but warmed up to a mere -18 or so towards the end
Pema Pera: :-)
Wol Euler: well, one does perceive it as being warmer!
Wol Euler: people walk around with their jackets unzipped
Pema Pera: oh, I know, in New York CIty it was below freezing for a few weeks, a couple years ago, and it felt so balmy when it went just above freezing!
Wol Euler: mmhmm
Pema Pera: Wol, would you be interested some day in a repeat performance of our "Wol playing Pema while Pema playing Wol" ?
Wol Euler laughs.
Wol Euler: generally yes :)
Wol Euler: though I would need to think and ponder (not hte same thing!) to re-ascertain what my position is these days.
Wol Euler: I got out of the habit of meditating over christmas and have been in panic mode at work since then.
Wol Euler: I looked at the Pheno exercises and realized I didn't have the clarity of mind to do them

From phenomenology to Play as Being.

Pema Pera: any chance to follow the 15-min / 9-sec explorations, in the middle of the busyness?
Wol Euler: I could make time, of course. but it is somehow unnatural. My problem wwas always with the 15 mins, not the 9 seconds; it takes me 15 minutes to get back into "flow" after an interruption
Wol Euler: and I did experience the timer as an interruptino
Pema Pera: how about doing it without a timer
Pema Pera: and without seeing it as an interruption?
Wol Euler: mmhmm, that is what I did; and yes, having started doing it that "loosely", it was much less interruptive
Wol Euler: I just need to kick-start myself again; my pump is not self-priming.
Pema Pera: :)
Susi Alcott: _/!\_
Pema Pera: as for interruption, there are two ways to do the 9-sec, many more of course, but two basic ways:
Pema Pera: one is to really stop and drop what you're doing, looking up, taking a deep breath, changing your posture, etc
Pema Pera: the other one is to change nothing at all, to continue exactly what you have been doing, but performing a kind of inner "stopping, dropping" in the following sense
Pema Pera: to drop all attachment you can feel to what you are doing
Pema Pera: to do it only for the doing itself, not for the results
Pema Pera: no hope no fear
Pema Pera: no worry no anticipation
Pema Pera: -- does that make any sense?
Susi Alcott: sure
Wol Euler: as a prescription, yes; doing it feels a bit harde
Wol Euler: +r
Pema Pera: one alternative is to do this while walking outside, or waiting for a bus, or waiting to fall asleep, or while having some relaxed time anyway
Pema Pera: you can just watch whatever thoughts bubble up, whenever you are in "neutral gear" so to speak
Pema Pera: and just look with a bemused look at all the hope and fears that are mixed in with the thoughts and feelings and images
Pema Pera: it's a fun exercise
Pema Pera: a bit like sitting on a terrace and watching the passers by
Pema Pera: hey, another hope!
Wol Euler: being bemused at myself is an easy enough task :)
Pema Pera: hey, look at that fear!
Pema Pera: would you like to try?

I had in mind trying later on in RL, but Wol took it literally, even better!

Pema Pera: we can call it the "terrace version of PaB"
Wol Euler tries.
Wol Euler: first thing I see is a great reluctance to do this right now
Wol Euler: I see a steady churning of work/duty/business just below the surface, like the wash of a propeller, but is just churning without anything happening
Pema Pera: but perhaps, like when tasting wine, the more you do it you develop a more precise taste, perhaps
Pema Pera: you can learn to see the individual hopes and fears in the middle of the churning
Wol Euler nods. that was my experience when I was doing it more regularly, yes.
Pema Pera: a fleating apprehension
Pema Pera: a momentary flicker of seeing a solution
Wol Euler: I meant more in the sense of images: a bit of programming floats up and sinks again, the corner of a building, a fragment of conversation about work ...
Wol Euler: flotsam and jetsam.
Pema Pera: :-)
Wol Euler: In itself an interesting discovery: I assumed that the presence of all this work-related stuff in my mind meant that I must be "working on" it at some level
Wol Euler: whereas I think in fact it is purely distraction. nothing is being done, nothing remains in focus long enough to change.
Wol Euler: it's the mental equivalent of sitting with the TV remote control at 11pm and changing channel every 2-seconds
Pema Pera: in a way, you are indeed working on it, but not in the most efficient way -- it helps a bit, I'm sure, but there is also the sudden "aha" of creatively seeing new angles; those are the most helpful, and only those can cut through existing tangles
Pema Pera: hahaha, nice image!
Wol Euler: I think, looking at it, that this churn is itself part of my unease.

I brought up the power of continuity, of even the most simple approaches.

Pema Pera: one way to cut through initially is to say some short prayer or mantra -- it's amazing how that can work like oil on stormy waters, calming the mind in seconds . . . .
Susi Alcott: _/!\_
Pema Pera: perhaps even a sentence like "appreciate the presence of appearance" may have that power, after doing that repeatedly for a few days. . . . power comes from continuity
Wol Euler: oh yes, I agree fully with that
Pema Pera: prayer is not asking for something, but realizing that underneath the churning rubbish everything is already there
Wol Euler: was it socrates who said "we become that which we regularly do"?
Susi Alcott: afk brb
Pema Pera: don't know that, but it sure sounds right
Wol Euler nods
Pema Pera: have you had a chance to look at Adams' blog lately, if I may ask?
Wol Euler has a vision of herself taking a huge ladle to the churning froth and scooping it away from the clear calm water
Wol Euler: no, not lately.
Pema Pera: I love your images
Wol Euler: :)
Wol Euler: I do understand the world very pictorially, by analogies and similes
Pema Pera: I've been suggesting something a bit similar to Adams, starting a few days before New Years day

Susi had to leave, being called upon to help somewhere in SL or RL, and I realize it is time for me to depart too.

Susi Alcott: so sad; I have to go again
Wol Euler: bye susi, take care.
Pema Pera: and since then Adams has been playing with it, and after about ten days suddenly everything started to get in motion and working. Might be fun to read, even if just skimming. I had made a deal with her that I would write a comment for nine days in a row
Pema Pera: Sorry, Susi!
Susi Alcott: _/!\_
Pema Pera: Thanks for stopping by!
Wol Euler: I'll have a look, pema.
Pema Pera: and ah, I realize I have to go too . . .
Pema Pera: . . . dinner time in Kyoto I'm afraid
Wol Euler: a worthy pursuit.
Pema Pera: :-)
Wol Euler: bon appetit, and have a peaceful evening and night
Wol Euler: see you tomorrow
Pema Pera: thank you, you too!
Pema Pera: if not (your) today :)
Wol Euler: mmhmm :)
Pema Pera: bfn
Wol Euler waves