2009.04.21 07:00 - Appreciate Humongous Diversity

The Guardian for this meeting was Riddle Sideways. The comments are by Riddle Sideways.
[2009.05.03] This is a repost (I swear it is) of what I posted and later commented, but the server lost it.  Hope I can think up the comments now that it flushed out of my memory.

Aurel was already there when I entered.

aurel Miles: hello
Riddle Sideways: good Morning
Riddle Sideways: My computer and I are trying to wakeup
aurel Miles: I'm in Eastern Canada - so I'm awake
aurel Miles: but not to worry
aurel Miles: I am answering ims
Riddle Sideways: sometimes I see couples or even a group of 3-5 at a table all on cel phones
aurel Miles: pardon?
Riddle Sideways: reference to us both SL sitting quietly together
Riddle Sideways: but really doing other tech
aurel Miles: oh
aurel Miles: I see the paralell.

Riddle Sideways: went to a concert this weekend and my neighbor and person in next row were both txt'ing
Riddle Sideways: during explanation of the next song
aurel Miles: but for me, one of the reasons I like SL is because I can function the way I normally would without getting impatient
aurel Miles: I find it hard to sit through a concert without writing
aurel Miles: I used to review them
aurel Miles: there is an interesting book out on the subject of exactly this
Riddle Sideways: ah, I think that might be different
aurel Miles: of course the author is quite ageist
aurel Miles: actually it's not much different
aurel Miles: at least, not to me
aurel Miles: the author's premise was that this generation is growing up with differently wired brains than previous generations
Riddle Sideways: which might be a good/bad thing
aurel Miles: like all things, in my opinion, it is
aurel Miles: i tend to see it as good.

aurel Miles: but i see everything as good
aurel Miles: i mean
aurel Miles: not to sound like a pollyanna
aurel Miles: but investing the actual idea or observation with my own judgements
aurel Miles: is not something that interests me
aurel Miles: i am interested in how the author was able to decide it is generational
aurel Miles: i am not of the generation he refeers to
aurel Miles: but my brain works that way
aurel Miles: i grew up with a father who never watched tv without reading
aurel Miles: and i think it started there

aurel Miles: Hi Susi
aurel Miles: i think it's good to broaden out
aurel Miles: however you do it
Riddle Sideways: yes, my father always read with the tv on
Susi Alcott: hi Riddle and aurel
Pema Pera: Hi Aurel, Riddle, Susi!
Susi Alcott: Hi Pema.

Riddle Sideways: the observation of that there are many people re-wiring their brains to multitask through tech is prolly good
Susi Alcott: (rl phone
aurel Miles: Hi Pema
aurel Miles: it makes me a more careful listener
Riddle Sideways: the observation that the next generation is such and such is bad
aurel Miles: that bothers me
Riddle Sideways: hi Pema
aurel Miles: that has always bothered me
aurel Miles: we, as a society, spend so much time trying to set up these stupid barriers -
aurel Miles: and then justifying them
aurel Miles: every time we seem to be getting a handle on that, a new one pops up
aurel Miles: ageism
aurel Miles: prejudice against weight.

Riddle Sideways: few years ago, I went on a hunt of the trend of sensation authors to sell books off trendy ideas
aurel Miles: or looks
Moon Fargis: ^^/
aurel Miles: it's all bigotry
Riddle Sideways: hi Moon
aurel Miles: Hi Moon
Riddle Sideways: sorry moon, no candy today
aurel Miles: and the fact that we keep making up new ones just makes me sad.
Pema Pera: Hi Moon!
Susi Alcott: Hi Moon.

aurel Miles: Anyhow - I like that about SL
aurel Miles: i like being able to read and write 2 or 3 things at once
Riddle Sideways: around the turn of the other century there was a trend to believe different races had differing brain sizes
aurel Miles: voice seems kind of dictatorial to me especially since i usually have music in the background
aurel Miles: true
aurel Miles: but they also thought we saw by sending rays out of our eyes
aurel Miles: and that sperm was made of little tiny peoplke
aurel Miles: people
aurel Miles: no egg involved
aurel Miles: which is why we say "she is having his baby"
aurel Miles: and other things like that
Pema Pera: so maybe some things have improved then :-)
aurel Miles: sure - they always are, aren't they?
Pema Pera: the fact that we can talk so openly about ageism, etc, seems like a good thing

yes it truely is...

And yet...
In my span of years I have heard and said that sort of phrase so many times.
Things have been improving more and more. Why aren't things all better now.  They must have been in really bad shape. Most think we have not improved enough yet.

Riddle Sideways: I read (actually very well written) expose about how scientist can get their grants if they include global warming in their therory
Pema Pera: writing grants: the art of begging.

aurel Miles: Pema turned my attention to the idea of collective subjectivity in science and I like that a lot
aurel Miles: it humanizes things for me
Riddle Sideways: a good beggar knows the crowd
Pema Pera: objectivity is a special kind of shared subjectivity . . . .
aurel Miles: i have a tendency to take authorities at their word sometimes and that is not a good idea

Pema Pera: there was another good article titled "if global warming only had a moustache"
Pema Pera: if we can have a photograph of one bad guy to blame
Pema Pera: we can spend trillions of dollars to get that guy
Riddle Sideways: true
Pema Pera: but global warming for decades was just too abstract to fight
Pema Pera: "warm on global warming" naaah
aurel Miles: Bin Laden
Pema Pera: *war*
Moon Fargis: ep.. have to go, sory, see you ^^/
Susi Alcott: sry gotta go
Pema Pera: "war on global warming" just doesn't sound right

Pema Pera: bye Moon!
Riddle Sideways: sorry susi
Pema Pera: bye Susi
Susi Alcott: _/!\_
aurel Miles: oops
aurel Miles: bye

Riddle Sideways: is it that war has to have a face,or
Riddle Sideways: the presenters have to have a face on the target
aurel Miles: I always thought it was the other way around
aurel Miles: they need a specific monster

Pema Pera: yes
Pema Pera: hate target
aurel Miles: but it has to be a strange monster
aurel Miles: not a recognizeable human
Pema Pera: tribalism: the other to fight
aurel Miles: but someone they can say is "not like us"
Pema Pera: yes
Riddle Sideways: I have spent so many years with people not like me
Riddle Sideways: spent so many years trying really hard not to see differences

aurel Miles: i need to attend to something in the round world
aurel Miles: sorry to pop off
aurel Miles: see you soon!
Pema Pera: bye Aurel!
Riddle Sideways: ok
Riddle Sideways: bye Aurel
aurel Miles: enjoy Japan Pema!
Pema Pera: two of us left in flatland . . . .
aurel Miles: nice to meet you Riddle!
Pema Pera: thank you Aurel
Riddle Sideways: yes
Pema Pera: I'm at the airport
Pema Pera: at JFK in New York
Pema Pera: about to fly to Tokyo
Pema Pera: just in time for a PaB session :-)
Riddle Sideways: was in jfk last week
Pema Pera: yes, I remember your reports :)
Riddle Sideways: good you could make it
Pema Pera: 14 hour flight so I'll have to miss two PaB sessions . . ..

Pema Pera: still no internet on fligths
Riddle Sideways: do you use a satellite modem?
Pema Pera: no, an assortment
Pema Pera: T-mobile, verizon, Japanese e-mobile, you name it
Riddle Sideways: wifi everywhere
Pema Pera: I have a plug-in cell phone type card for the US and one for Japan
Riddle Sideways: I travel in the woods a lot
Riddle Sideways: no wifi in rural
Pema Pera: unless you have satellite :)

Riddle Sideways: new subject...
Pema Pera: Hi Eos!
Riddle Sideways: thanks for the long email about illusions
Riddle Sideways: am still studying it
Pema Pera: oh, yw, I hope it was not too long and complex
Riddle Sideways: hi Eos
Eos Amaterasu: Hi Riddle
Riddle Sideways: Pema, It is the right kind of complex
Riddle Sideways: the kind that I read a few lines and dream off on many paths
Pema Pera: can you share a path (or two)?

Riddle Sideways: I am really thinking about the many paths right now
Riddle Sideways: too bad Aural left
Riddle Sideways: there is something about seeing the many paths
Riddle Sideways: about to step
Riddle Sideways: and so many forks, twists andd options ahead
Riddle Sideways: putting aside good/bad
Riddle Sideways: just seeing
Riddle Sideways: there was a discussion sunday on time and/in dreams
Riddle Sideways: that SL kicked me from
Riddle Sideways: but, I was hearing many people making no diff between waking and dreaming time units
Riddle Sideways: most seemed sure that time lengths are not uniform nor measurable in either
Riddle Sideways: our memories / emotions mess with our judgements of time
Riddle Sideways: so the length of time I/we can spend looking at all the possible paths may be seconds or hours
Riddle Sideways wonders why I just go rambling in these sessions?

Pema Pera: I love the idea of many paths, and the dream like dimension of them
Pema Pera: the key toward a balanced life seems to be appreciation of the humongous diversity without being paralyzed by it
Pema Pera: smiling and letting go, yet also being totally engaged
Pema Pera: Eos wrote something like that too, recently
Pema Pera: and your New York report had that flavor, Riddle :)
Eos Amaterasu: relaxation in fullness, in energy
Eos Amaterasu: not being hungry or anxious about the many, but not rejecting it(them) either
Riddle Sideways: totally emersed in our playing
Riddle Sideways: not looking forward to the next meal
Eos Amaterasu: play has quality of both involvement and transparency
Pema Pera: ah, here was Eos' quote, from last week, found it again:

Pema Pera: Eos Amaterasu: as they say, your vision should be as vast as the sky, and your conduct as fine as dust
Riddle Sideways: ooo like that
Eos Amaterasu: that's classic saying from meditation masters for centuries (bowing to them :-)
Pema Pera: yes, and always good to be reminded!

Pema Pera: and Riddle, I'm serious, I really hope you will tell us about some of the paths you're meandering on, dreamwise or not, in response to my illusion of illusion essay
Pema Pera: it was a tricky topic to write about, and I'd love to follow it up further, hearing how others see that kind of balance between what is really here and what we impute to be here
Pema Pera: what is here is so much more real that we ever can think/see/believe
Pema Pera: and yet it is all open and empty too . . . .
Pema Pera: so outside all our categories of thought and judgment
Eos Amaterasu: what is here (including "I") is more a potency, ability to be, than something fixed

Riddle Sideways: and I would like to read Pema's goings down those paths too
Riddle Sideways: much of your writing
Riddle Sideways: is to convince us to let go
Riddle Sideways: to get us up to the edge
Riddle Sideways: Pema should write of what is off his edges
Riddle Sideways: I will write about what is off mine
Pema Pera: yes, I'm equally trying to let myself go and get up & off my edge :-)
Pema Pera: it is so nice to explore together
Pema Pera: helping an complementing each other
Pema Pera: and ourselves
Riddle Sideways: yes, most of us in this group are/have been out there
Riddle Sideways: and find solise in the company of others
Riddle Sideways: I never really needed to be told it was okay that the world is different through mine eyes
Riddle Sideways: but it helps
Riddle Sideways: to hear that others take a deep breathe at 15 minute spans
Riddle Sideways: to know the universe while in the mundane
Riddle Sideways: while shuffling and avoiding shuffling the dust particles
Riddle Sideways: to already know you are the universe
Riddle Sideways: and are but dust too
Riddle Sideways: play is a good word for us to start getting the point across
Riddle Sideways: but it goes beyond
Riddle Sideways: after 'playing' (need another word) with working hypothesis for a while
Riddle Sideways: we start using it
Riddle Sideways: then we are the working hypothesis
Riddle Sideways: looking into why it is not fact
Riddle Sideways: proven
Eos Amaterasu: play with the little gap every 15 min, then you are it?
Riddle Sideways: or... 'BE' the little gap
Eos Amaterasu: going _to_ the gap, then find you're coming _from_ the gap
Eos Amaterasu: and everything, all the little dust details, arise from/in it as well
Eos Amaterasu: big bang, big gap :-)

Pema Pera: (sorry, have to leave now, great talking with you, as always!)
Riddle Sideways: that there is and is no diff
Riddle Sideways: ok, bye pema
Pema Pera: bye for now
Eos Amaterasu: Thnx, bye
Riddle Sideways: have the goo flight
Pema Pera: thanks!
Riddle Sideways: *good
Eos Amaterasu: Going to Japan?
Riddle Sideways: yes
Riddle Sideways: yes, the Big Bang was a big/small gap
Riddle Sideways: or 'that' big bang was among the big gaps
Riddle Sideways: sometimes picturing string therory helps
Eos Amaterasu: :-)
Riddle Sideways: sometimes listening helps
Eos Amaterasu: attending, yes....
Eos Amaterasu: it's also a bit contagious; it communicates to others a bit, even though it's held personally
Riddle Sideways: and the opposite too.
Eos Amaterasu: I must return to RL , thanks Riddle!
Riddle Sideways: no no thank you
Riddle Sideways: it was very nice
Eos Amaterasu: Yes, ciao!
Riddle Sideways: bye