2009.02.20 13:00 - The PaB Show: Wild Mustangs

The Guardian for this meeting was Solobill Laville. The comments are by Solobill Laville.

I arrive to find Maggie already at the Playgoda; she let's in me her plan to demonstrate our session during a University exhibition.

    Magdalena Colclough: Hi Solo :)
    Solobill Laville: Hello, Magdalena! :)
    Magdalena Colclough: Are you the Guardian for this hour?
    Solobill Laville: Yup!
    Magdalena Colclough: (Just Maggie, please)
    Magdalena Colclough: I have a favor to ask
    Solobill Laville: Sure
    Magdalena Colclough: I am showing SL as part of the opening of an exhibition called "Blurring Boundaries" at my university
    Solobill Laville: ok
    Magdalena Colclough: the opening is from 1-3 SLT
    Magdalena Colclough: may I sit in on this PaB session during the first hour?
    Solobill Laville: Of course!
    Magdalena Colclough: we would be on display to a group of probably not more than 30
    Solobill Laville: I should let any particpants here know about it though...
    Magdalena Colclough: I won't be participating, really. Just sitting
    Magdalena Colclough: Oh yes, please do
    Magdalena Colclough: and if any are uncomfortable, I will leave
    Solobill Laville: And of course any newbies.. :)
    Magdalena Colclough: thank you so much
    Solobill Laville: Well, I don't think you need to leave...we'll just set the knowledge of what is going on
    Magdalena Colclough smiles
    Solobill Laville: if anyone chooses to leave, they are of course free to
    Magdalena Colclough: thank you
    Solobill Laville: or to remain silent ;)

Wol arrives just as I'm writing the notecard, quickly followed by Corvi.

    Magdalena Colclough: hi Wol!
    Solobill Laville: Hiya, Wol! :)
    Wol Euler: this sounds private, should I come back in 5 minutes?
    Solobill Laville: Not necessary :)
    Solobill Laville: But, I think I need to throw together a quick Notecard...
    Wol Euler: or I could put my fingers in my ears and hum :)
    Magdalena Colclough: no--there's nothing private
    Magdalena Colclough: quite the opposite
    Solobill Laville: Maggie is demonstrating SL for her University...
    Wol Euler: oh cool
    Wol Euler: what, right now?
    Magdalena Colclough: from 1-3 SLT
    Magdalena Colclough: it's an exhibition opening
    Magdalena Colclough: the exhibition is called Blurring Boundaries
    Wol Euler: woot.
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: cn hide
    Wol Euler waves to Maggie's university.
    Magdalena Colclough: and our archivist asked me to do an SL component
    Magdalena Colclough: Hi Corvi :)
    Wol Euler: hello corvi!
    Corvuscorva Nightfire grins..hi ya'll!
    Magdalena Colclough: there's no one here yet-they'll be wandering around looking at the different parts of the exhibit
    Magdalena Colclough: how's your contemplation of intentional communication going?
    Magdalena Colclough: that looks great, Solo
    Magdalena Colclough: thanks
    Solobill Laville: OK, I'll just throw at folks as they arrive... :)
    Wol Euler: so are the kids looking at your view of SL on a beamer?
    Corvuscorva Nightfire thinks...i stopped thinking about it...so...
    Magdalena Colclough: lol
    Magdalena Colclough: on a beamer?
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: cool!
    Wol Euler: I guess that means "no" :) I had thought maybe your laptop was projecting SL for them to see
    Magdalena Colclough: it's part of the exhibit, but not projected. just the laptop itself
    Magdalena Colclough: next to a bunch of snapshots and quotations
    Wol Euler: ah, ok. Still a pretty neat idea.
    Magdalena Colclough: ok, people are beginning to come in. I'm going to step away so they can look
    Magdalena Colclough: thank you all

We are now the show!

    Solobill Laville: :)
    Wol Euler waves. Hello world!
    Solobill Laville: So, Wol and Corvi, how are you doing?
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: i'm very well.
    Wol Euler: struggling, actually... too much to do and not enough mental cycles available
    Corvuscorva Nightfire nods.
    Wol Euler: having a very hard time dealing with pressure lately. there isn't more of it than before, but I am somehow coping less well.
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: I feel a little...umm..."on stage"

Lia joins us.  I quickly give her a notecard giving her the "heads up" about this session, which I do for all the others who join in subsequently. Here is what the notecard said:

[Play as Being friend,

Please be aware that this session is being shared with a live University audience.

You are welcome to contribute and chat as usual, or withhold if you feel that is what you are more

comfortable with.

Thank you!

Solobill Laville (solo)]

    Lia Rikugun: hello
    Wol Euler: hello lia
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: Hi, Lia!
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: why do you think that is, Wol?
    Solobill Laville: Wol, can you define a "mental cycle" for me?

I missed Corvi's questions...sorry, Corvi! That too is a good topic for discussion sometime...

    Wol Euler smiles. By analogy to computer processor cycles. A unit of "getting things done"
    Wol Euler: I don't have enough spare getting-things-done-units do deal with what is happening around me
    Solobill Laville: ahhh...
    Solobill Laville: But are the units always the same? Wouldn't they differ depending on the scale of a project?
    Wol Euler: oh no, you're right, great differences. And also depending on mood and tiredness and hunger ...

Adams joins us.

    Adams Rubble: Hello everyone :)
    Lia Rikugun: hello adams
    Wol Euler: I seem to be falling back into the depression I had in November. Everything takes more time and effort and thought than it usually does
    Solobill Laville: Hello, Adams, and Lia :)
    Wol Euler: hello adams
    Solobill Laville: Oof, sorry to hear that Wol...
    Wol Euler: thank you.
    Solobill Laville: Seasonal blues maybe?
    Lia Rikugun: in the winter this happens
    Wol Euler: there is some of that, yes.
    Solobill Laville: Yes, Lia, we're on the same line... :)
    Solobill Laville: What was that German term for the "cold Mountain winds"??
    Adams Rubble: It has been a looooonng winter
    Wol Euler: Föhn?
    Lia Rikugun: when i was sad during the winter I went to a hm sonnenstudio once and it helped :)
    Solobill Laville: Yes!
    Wol Euler: ah, nice idea.
    Lia Rikugun: you get your portion of sun!

Steve joins us.

    stevenaia Michinaga: hello
    Solobill Laville: Hello, Steve! :)
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: Steve!
    Lia Rikugun: hello steve
    Wol Euler: hello steve
    Solobill Laville: What is that, Lia?
    Adams Rubble: Hello Steve :)
    Lia Rikugun: fake sun to get tan
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: Adams..i missed your entrance..what a fabulous outfit you have on!
    Lia Rikugun: :D
    Solobill Laville: Ah :)
    Wol Euler: there is a slight paradox that I am aware of: that sun and exercise and fresh air would help, but I don't have the energy to go out and get them
    Adams Rubble: :)
    stevenaia Michinaga: Hello Maggie
    Wol Euler looks. Oh yes! wow indeed.
    Corvuscorva Nightfire nods...yeah....which is why that idea of passive sunning seems so cool.
    Wol Euler: (sorry, afk for a bit)

Pila joins us.

    stevenaia Michinaga: hi Pila
    Pila Mulligan: greetings
    Solobill Laville: Hello, Pila :)
    Lia Rikugun: hello pila
    Adams Rubble: Hello Pila :)
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: hi Pila!
    Pila Mulligan: I hope everyone is well and happy
    Solobill Laville: Was there anything on anyone's mind to share with the group?
    Solobill Laville: Thanks, Pila, you too!
    Pila Mulligan: :)
    Adams Rubble: I enjoyed reading about Pila's comments about the volcanoes the other day
    Solobill Laville: I missed that, what was it apbout?
    Adams Rubble: Oh my, I am afraid to summarize. It was one of the sessions in my Scribe period of 16-18
    Pila Mulligan: stopping by Volcanoes National Park to say hi to Pele, maybe?
    Solobill Laville: ah
    Solobill Laville: :)
    Adams Rubble: yes :)
    Pila Mulligan: it is just a few miles away, and always a stimulating sight
    Adams Rubble: Pila Mulligan: the thing I noticed driving home is how on a cloudy day like this the volcano steam and the clouds merge at a boundary where they become indistinguishable
    Pila Mulligan: clouds rising from below meet clouds fomring form above
    Pila Mulligan: seemed interesting as a perception
    Pila Mulligan: like a boundary question.
    Lia Rikugun: :)
    Solobill Laville: ...where earth meets sky.... :)
    Pila Mulligan: :
    Pila Mulligan: :)
    Wol Euler: bck, and reading
    Solobill Laville: That must be great to be so close to something like that - inspiring!
    Wol Euler: hello pila
    Pila Mulligan: keeps you on your toes too, Solo :0
    Pila Mulligan: hi Wol
    Solobill Laville: I bet...
    Pila Mulligan: Hawaiian Culture has personifed the Volcano diety in Pele ... soemtimes people will ask, 'do you believe in Pele?' and my answe is'do you believe in the volcano?'
    Pila Mulligan: it is a stimulaitng presence :0
    Solobill Laville: So, do you think that kind of stimulus overall helps or hinders contemplative practice?
    Pila Mulligan: it helps except during big earthquakes
    Magdalena Colclough: Hi for a sec--the reception is having a live music component in another room for a few minutes
    Wol Euler: hehehehe
    Magdalena Colclough: bye
    Solobill Laville: Bye, Maggie
    Solobill Laville: It's probably a non-question really :)
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: bye
    Pila Mulligan: one thing that people usually comment on is how a volcano creates new land while destroying old land
    Pila Mulligan: or pushing aside the sea, if not destorying old land
    Pila Mulligan: it is maybe the most genuine act of natural (non-human) creation and destruction
    Solobill Laville: Is there a rebirth myth associated with the volcanoes/Pele then?
    Pila Mulligan: in that sense, yes, the creation/destruction aspect

Yichard joins us.

    Lia Rikugun: hello yichard
    Solobill Laville: Hello, Yichard! :)
    Wol Euler wonders whether the Indians associated Shiva with volcanoes...
    Yichard Muni: hello :-)
    Wol Euler: hello yichard
    Pila Mulligan: hi Yichard
    Solobill Laville was thinking of Shiva too
    Wol Euler: :)
    Pila Mulligan: yes Solo :0
    Wol Euler: the god of recycling :)
    Yichard Muni: Hello :-)
    Pila Mulligan: I don't know Wol
    Yichard Muni: God of recycling??? Very useful today :-)
    Pila Mulligan: but there is indeed a Shiva aspect
    Adams Rubble: I must go. bye everyone :)
    Lia Rikugun: byebye
    Pila Mulligan: bye Adams
    Wol Euler: bye adams, take care.
    Solobill Laville: Bye, Adams :)
    Yichard Muni: bye :-)
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: bye Adams!
    Yichard Muni: :-)
    Pila Mulligan: it is also interesting how fast new vegetation appears when the lava cools
    Yichard Muni: it is an ecological niche
    Solobill Laville: interesting, yes lots of good stuff in there
    Yichard Muni: In one of my novels I described the process :-)
    Pila Mulligan: yep, ferns pop up almost overnight
    Solobill Laville: Oooh, you have to name the novel now, Yichard... ;) (you really don't)
    Corvuscorva Nightfire was hoping...
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: and hoping it was available in English.
    Yichard Muni: http://www.planet-eolis.net
    Yichard Muni: aww, sorry not, mostly in french
    Yichard Muni: too much work to translate
    Yichard Muni: some stuff in english, thought
    Solobill Laville: Wow, thanks!
    Corvuscorva Nightfire nods, grinning..thank you thank you!
    Pila Mulligan: :)
    Yichard Muni: it is not on earth, it is on a nicier planet. But not so different of our's, so that the ecology principles are the same
    Solobill Laville: (Yichard, I have seen you around plenty, but do you want/need any info on Play as Being?)
    Yichard Muni: would be nice if I knew exactly what we are expected to do, thanks :-)
    Corvuscorva Nightfire grins...laughs loud...
    Solobill Laville: No expectations...
    Wol Euler grins. Just Be, and sometimes Play.
    Pila Mulligan: you are expected to write novels ... in French and English :)
    Yichard Muni: okie, I can do this :-)
    Corvuscorva Nightfire nods firmly to Pila.
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: Yes..that!
    Wol Euler: seriously though, there is a notecard about the group, let me give you a copy
    Solobill Laville: I have dutifully spammed Yichard... :)
    Lia Rikugun: (I like the pictures in the comic ;))
    Yichard Muni: Okie, I have the three notes, thanks
    Wol Euler: ok :)
    Pila Mulligan: may I ask how you learned about the ecology of the volcano?
    Yichard Muni: I did this about 20 years ago. Today I mostly do elvish stories
    Yichard Muni: me?
    Pila Mulligan: yes
    Yichard Muni: reading, observing
    Yichard Muni: some things are able to live oon bare rock, like lichens
    Yichard Muni: they accumulate dust and debris, where moss is able to grasp
    Yichard Muni: and after grass, trees, etc
    Pila Mulligan: there are almost always one or more university groups from all over the world here studying some aspect of the volcano
    Pila Mulligan: fun to chat with at a restaurant when you can catch them
    Yichard Muni: they dissolve the rock, adding soil, and the tree roots break the rock appart, like in the Angkor temples
    Magdalena Colclough: We are going to look at a few other sims. Thank you so much
    Pila Mulligan: bye Maggie
    Wol Euler: sure :) bye Maggie
    Yichard Muni: bye
    Wol Euler: and bye students!
    Solobill Laville: *poof*!
    Yichard Muni: a question:
    Solobill Laville listens
    Yichard Muni: people hearing at us... reading chat, or actually seeing us?
    Pila Mulligan: I think the live observors just left
    Yichard Muni: okie
    Pila Mulligan: but the chat log is kept on a website
    Solobill Laville: They were looking through Maggie's computer yes
    Yichard Muni: so they saw there are Elves in SL, lol :-)
    Wol Euler: :)
    Wol Euler: and dragons and unicorns and lions, oh my
    Solobill Laville: I think they know there are more than elves in SL.. ;)
    Corvuscorva Nightfire likes the comic book very much.
    Yichard Muni: thanks :-)
    Yichard Muni: today I have some elven stuff, on another site (searching URL)
    Yichard Muni: http://www.shedrupling.org/art/lotr/revelfic.php
    Yichard Muni: and also some sci-fi stuff http://www.shedrupling.org/art/sf/dum.php
    Yichard Muni: and some elven stuff too in SL, not yet available outside
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: yanno..i like the story and the pictures..but also the colors of the comic book.
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: i like how each color changes my "feeling" state.
    Yichard Muni: :-)
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: it adds a richness to the experience.
    Yichard Muni: My idea was to have full colour, but it was too much work. I am not macedo...
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: this might be better in it's way.
    Yichard Muni: so I tried to have colours matching the ambiant of each page
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: because the colors you chose have such power.
    Corvuscorva Nightfire nods.
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: it's interesting to me to experience my feelings as i turn the page to a new color.
    Yichard Muni: :-)
    Solobill Laville: We spoke a bit about color this morning here, and turqoise being the color of refuge
    Wol Euler: ah!

The bell dings and I felt like doing a practical PaB thingy...

    Solobill Laville: I'm going to do a 10-breath count with that last ding...brb...
    Solobill Laville: back :)
    Wol Euler smiles
    Solobill Laville: You coulda kept talkin' ya know ;)
    Corvuscorva Nightfire grins.
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: or...we could do 10 breaths with you.
    Solobill Laville: Even better :)
    Wol Euler: I started to but got distracted :(
    Solobill Laville: It happens...

I brought up Stim's Kira "Contemplation" session from the previous day.

    Solobill Laville: Stim presented some very nice practices yesterday
    Solobill Laville: I think Yichard was there, and Lia
    Yichard Muni: yes I was
    Pila Mulligan: can you summarize some please Solo, I wish I could have been there
    Lia Rikugun: yes yes but had to leave in the middle
    Solobill Laville: Even better, give me a sec and I'll pull the chat log
    Pila Mulligan: thanks
    Solobill Laville: OK, I'll just give it to everyone, if you don't want it, WHATEVER...
    Wol Euler holds out her hand
    Pila Mulligan: thanks
    Lia Rikugun: ty
    Yichard Muni: thanks :-)
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: thank you!
    Solobill Laville: yw :)
    Wol Euler: ty
    Yichard Muni: Hey, this build is somewhat unusual
    Solobill Laville: This pagoda?
    Corvuscorva Nightfire nodsnods..
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: Storm did it.
    Yichard Muni: it looks like a pagoda, but the central tree of life is just an empty channel

Maggie returns, but really "not Maggie"...

    Solobill Laville: wb, Maggie :)
    Wol Euler: hi maggie
    Yichard Muni: and it is rounded
    Yichard Muni: hi maggie
    Magdalena Colclough: Hi. I'm not really maggie, but Maggie is here guiding.
    Pila Mulligan: hi not really Maggie :)
    Magdalena Colclough: Hi Pila.
    Solobill Laville: i think a guiding design principle was openness to the architecture
    Pila Mulligan: how are you?
    Wol Euler: hello not-maggie, welcome to second life
    Solobill Laville: I'm not really Maggie either, just so y'all know
    Yichard Muni: Maggie is the medium, then, embodying another spirit :-)
    Wol Euler pokes you
    Solobill Laville: What?!? ;P
    Wol Euler hears a knocking on the table
    Yichard Muni: lol
    Magdalena Colclough pokes Wol back
    Solobill Laville: Well, you sat like an SL pro, "not Maggie" :)
    Pila Mulligan: eh, this is no newbie :)
    Wol Euler: actually I was poking Solo :)
    Solobill Laville: Wow, and look at the "/me", we have a pro on our hands!!
    Pila Mulligan: really
    Wol Euler: caught you!
    Magdalena Colclough: Just good instructions
    Wol Euler: :)
    Lia Rikugun just learned the "/me"
    Lia Rikugun: yeah it works!
    Solobill Laville: Hmmm...well SOMEBODY'S getting an "A" in that class I bet ;)
    Solobill Laville notes that it does work

Yichard comments on the pagoda and its meaning.

    Yichard Muni: remember that a pagoda is a buddhist building, and within buddhist symbolism, an empty
central shaft means much more realization than the traditionnal wooden shaft
    Solobill Laville: Which speaks well to PaB's non-sectarianism :)
    Wol Euler: is the central shaft related to the Tree of LIfe?
    Solobill Laville: In a way..
    Yichard Muni: in a pagoda the central shaft is also called "tree of life"
    Yichard Muni: and it represents the central body channel, or the uddha mind too
    Yichard Muni: yes tree of life like in the hebrew system. Even the words are rerssembling: sok ching in tibetan, ots shin in hebrew, that is fun
    Solobill Laville: Is uddha pre-Buddhist? Methinks yes probably
    Lia Rikugun: sorry I have to go
    Lia Rikugun: pheno is calling
    Yichard Muni: although the symbolism is not really the same
    Wol Euler: bye lia, take care.
    Solobill Laville: Bye, lia
    Lia Rikugun: can you hear it too?
    Pila Mulligan: bye Lia
    Yichard Muni: uddha is the name of the Lord Buddha in typonese :-)
    Wol Euler: :)#
    Wol Euler: smiley with a beard
    Pila Mulligan: my favrite laugage
    Yichard Muni: lol
    Solobill Laville: lol, that it explains it then
    Pila Mulligan: nice beard Wol :)
    Wol Euler: making the best of another typo
    Pila Mulligan: :|)# and mustache
    Wol Euler: :)
    Corvuscorva Nightfire grins.
    Yichard Muni: °:-) is a buddha smiley
    Pila Mulligan: :)
    Pila Mulligan: ajna
    Wol Euler: 0 :-)
    Wol Euler: saint
    Pila Mulligan: big ajna
    Yichard Muni: saint
    Pila Mulligan: oh, halo, pardon
    Yichard Muni: lol
    Wol Euler: I hope not-maggie has the speakers on to hear this birdsong ...
    Yichard Muni: :-)
    Wol Euler: that is a large part of the appeal of hte Playgoda to me.
    Yichard Muni: :-)
    Solobill Laville: Sound can be a powerful bridge between subject and object :)
    Pila Mulligan: just finished Stim's notecard -- thanks Solo, most interestig
    Solobill Laville: yw
    Pila Mulligan: (slow reader)
    Wol Euler: I'm going to try that exercise this weekend.
    Wol Euler: I suspect it will take me several hundred breaths to reach "20"
    Solobill Laville: :)
    Solobill Laville: I liken thoughts to wild mustangs
    Solobill Laville: and you can choose to jump on or not...with practice :)
    Solobill Laville: Always practice...
    Solobill Laville: So I let them stampede away
    Pila Mulligan: :)
    Solobill Laville: So the third practice is very foreign to me, and yet very warm
    Solobill Laville: Caught up in my own mini-dogma :)
    Yichard Muni: the third practice is very interesting, and it is the core of the deepest spiritual paths
    Solobill Laville: Interesting topic...
    Solobill Laville: they are all related I think
    Pila Mulligan: "attend in particular to the aliveness you can find within each part of the breath. Enter that aliveness and allow it to open up to more of itself."
    Solobill Laville: Yes, that is the part, pila
    Yichard Muni: the second too is very important
    Yichard Muni: okie, I must go now. It is late here :-)
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: bye, Yichard.
    Pila Mulligan: bye Yichard
    Yichard Muni: bye
    Solobill Laville: Bye, Yichard, thanks for joining us :)
    Wol Euler: bye yichard, take care
    Pila Mulligan: thanks for the web links
    Yichard Muni: enjoy them
    Pila Mulligan: :)
    Yichard Muni: I have some stories in SL too, but you must come in the elven lands :-)
    Yichard Muni: bye
    Solobill Laville: :)
    Wol Euler: Just did a count of five breaths at Corvi's suggestion. Took me ages :)
    Solobill Laville: Do you adjust your breathing?
    Wol Euler: I was having great difficulty turning everything off, constantly thinking about how I was not thinking
    Pila Mulligan: :)
    Wol Euler: which sounds nearly impossible until you catch yourself doing it
    Pila Mulligan: be a witness not a particpant
    Solobill Laville: yes
    Wol Euler: I try not to, Solo, I try just to let it flow as it was before
    Wol Euler: count without steering
    Solobill Laville: ok, good :)
    Wol Euler: but that too is difficult: Heisenberg and all that
    Solobill Laville: It can take me, to truly settle, anywhere from 30 breaths, to 10 minutes
    Wol Euler: I'm very reassured to hear that :)
    Solobill Laville: But with this exercise I can achieve no thoughts for several seconds at a time, just sitting here :)
    Solobill Laville: ...a lot of wild mustangs out there... :)

From Mustangs to America...

    Wol Euler hums "Horse with no name"
    Corvuscorva Nightfire hums along with you.
    Wol Euler smiles
    Solobill Laville: la...la....la la la laa...
    Pila Mulligan: :)
    Wol Euler laughs and sighs. Thank you, dear friends.
    Solobill Laville: but, alas, I must be off
    Pila Mulligan: moi aussi
    Wol Euler: it was a great session, thank you Solo.
    Magdalena Colclough: Thank you all for allowing us to peek
    Solobill Laville: :) YW!!
    Pila Mulligan: yep, thanks, everyone
    Wol Euler: bye pila, bye solo, bye maggie and not-maggie
    Wol Euler: enjoy your Fridays
    Magdalena Colclough grins
    Magdalena Colclough: you too
    Wol Euler: y'all come back now, not-maggies.
    Corvuscorva Nightfire waves at the Maggie like ones...
    Wol Euler: doesn't cost a whole lot.
    Solobill Laville: Have a great weekend everyone
    Wol Euler: basic accounts are free
    Corvuscorva Nightfire: Thank you, Bill...that was really....