2009.05.15 01:00 - Life University

Gaya filled in for Wol. The comments are by Gaya Ethaniel.

I found Yakuzza at Playgoda on arrival.

Yakuzza Lethecus: hey gaya
Gaya Ethaniel: Hello Yakuzza :)
Gaya Ethaniel: Have you been to PaB before? [wonder if you need introduction]
Yakuzza Lethecus: it’s the 4th time that I am here, but i still don’t know what the target is exactly
Yakuzza Lethecus: I wait the 90 seconds every 15 minutes
Gaya Ethaniel: ah ok :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: but otherwise there have even been interesting topics here
Gaya Ethaniel: Well ... 9 second pauses are the main practice we do and we discuss the experiences of it. As you said we also talk about anything else as well.
Gaya Ethaniel: How are you finding the pauses?
Yakuzza Lethecus: It is great for self reflection
Yakuzza Lethecus: sometimes a little bit strange when ur in the middle of a longer sentence :)
Gaya Ethaniel: Yes :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: ur from japan ?
Gaya Ethaniel: Can you tell me what you mean by self reflection?
Yakuzza Lethecus: thinking about what I am doing at the moment
Yakuzza Lethecus: how is that what I am saying perceived and what intention do I really have at the moment
Gaya Ethaniel: No I'm in UK.
Yakuzza Lethecus: at least that is how it is most of the time
Yakuzza Lethecus: ok, I am in germany
Gaya Ethaniel: ah I see :) Do you do anything similar?
Yakuzza Lethecus: similar to what ?
Gaya Ethaniel: 9 seconds ... some of us here practice meditation for example.
Yakuzza Lethecus: I never did, I am curious about it because all kind of Buddhism esoterical stuff was just kind of nonsense for me in the past but I don’t believe that we just think in language and how do we think at all and how can we reach a better level of introspection
Yakuzza Lethecus: the mind got influence on the body but what kind of communication can we use, which tools do we have
Gaya Ethaniel nods.
Gaya Ethaniel: I'm actually rediscovering how philosophy is relevant to what we do at PaB/Kira.
Gaya Ethaniel: Before I found philosophy too abstract and often irrelevant to daily life.
Yakuzza Lethecus: I don’t believe that philosophy is irrelevant to real life since we have to make clear which kind of philosophy
Yakuzza Lethecus: but that is the problem I have with meditation which kind of meditation is maybe just senseless
Yakuzza Lethecus: I will not know until I really try to understand
Yakuzza Lethecus: but that also needs to be unbiased
Gaya Ethaniel: From what you said, you are finding 9 second pauses useful though.
Yakuzza Lethecus: And even to figure out where we are biased and on which tacit presumptions we are reasoning is already killing me :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: I didn’t made use to the 9 second pauses so far.
Gaya Ethaniel: ah ok
Gaya Ethaniel: I'm curious to know why you thought 'all kind of Buddhism esoterical stuff was just kind of nonsense'?
Yakuzza Lethecus: just by implicit picking that up
Yakuzza Lethecus: it was nonesense for everyone else, nobody did that, no confrontation with those things
Gaya Ethaniel: [Not everyone is Buddhist at PaB btw]
Yakuzza Lethecus: and when ur not related to something like that and u never have problems with something it is likely to just accept something
Yakuzza Lethecus: so it was never something I had clear reasons why I had those beliefs
Gaya Ethaniel nods.
Yakuzza Lethecus: it’s like being Christian, u grow up as a Christian maybe but do children really know the bible ?
Gaya Ethaniel: I see what you mean now.
Yakuzza Lethecus: and even most real Christians just believe or are going to be atheists
Yakuzza Lethecus: and both don’t know about saint paul, thomas aquinas, st agustine or how the Christian traditions are
Yakuzza Lethecus: and where we are related to other religions
Yakuzza Lethecus: so sometimes it’s really funny when atheists know more about Christianity then believing Christians, I believe those things can just happen when we accept beliefs of our environment
Gaya Ethaniel: I'm not entirely sure what makes one religious ... surely knowledge alone doesn't make one Christian or Buddhist etc.
Yakuzza Lethecus: I don’t know either, but I want to loose my biases and reflect more
Gaya Ethaniel: I'd call someone trying to live their life 'Christian ways' more ‘Christian’ than someone who read all the books.
Yakuzza Lethecus: yeah, being helpful, free social work that could make you a good Christian even without books
Yakuzza Lethecus: or volunteering here :)
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: but you don’t even have to be Christian for something like that
Gaya Ethaniel: Yes :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: so I don’t even think in religious terms and if I am Christian or not but religion provides us with some ethical and moral axioms until we start to reason
Gaya Ethaniel: Yes, it is useful to review one's beliefs.
Gaya Ethaniel: For me, PaB/Kira discussions have been very helpful in that regards.
Yakuzza Lethecus: Most of the time I just participated kira events.
Gaya Ethaniel: Well 1 am PaB sessions are not the busiest :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: Since PaB wasn’t on the sign of the wall and this is in a different region I didn’t even know about his
Yakuzza Lethecus: yeah :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: but the other is at 10pm gmt-1
Yakuzza Lethecus: even the afternoon session isn’t full at all
Gaya Ethaniel: We have sessions 4 times a day - 1 am, 7 am, 1 pm, 7 pm SLT.
Yakuzza Lethecus: yeah, the 1 pm session is full
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: Do you study ?
Yakuzza Lethecus: I mean in academia :)
Gaya Ethaniel: No but I guess one never stop learning.
Yakuzza Lethecus isn’t and never did.
Yakuzza Lethecus: that why I said academia explicitly :)
Gaya Ethaniel: If you meant university yes I attended.
Gaya Ethaniel: Though someone told me “I attended a university called ‘life’” :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: yes
Yakuzza Lethecus: ur not using voice I guess ?
Gaya Ethaniel: No we use text here.
Yakuzza Lethecus: I know, but I had to try :)
Gaya Ethaniel: Have to record for our wiki :) Have you seen it yet?
Yakuzza Lethecus: yeah, I checked it one time
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: may I ask what you studied at university ?
Yakuzza Lethecus: I am curious about all people around here :P
Gaya Ethaniel: Sure, I studied History of Art/Archaeology and a dash of Religion.
Yakuzza Lethecus: I am working in a company of tools of tungsten carbides
Gaya Ethaniel: You are interested in philosophy and psychology I see from your profile.
Yakuzza Lethecus: yeah very much :)

We a few new people visiting us.

Yakuzza Lethecus: hello daniel
Daniel86 Loopen: hi
Gaya Ethaniel: Hello Daniel. Welcome to PlayasBeing. Have you been to any of our discussions before?
Daniel86 Loopen: nah
Daniel86 Loopen: I’ve only just started on here
Gaya Ethaniel: ah :) Welcome to Second Life.
Daniel86 Loopen: thanks
Gaya Ethaniel: You can try sitting - right click and click 'Sit'.
Visitor: hi everybody
Yakuzza Lethecus: hello
Gaya Ethaniel: We record what we discuss on our wiki http://playasbeing.wik.is/ - is it ok to record your name and comments Daniel?
Daniel86 Loopen: yeah go for it
Daniel86 Loopen: why do you record them?
Gaya Ethaniel: Hello Visitor. Welcome. Have you been to PlayasBeing discussions before?
Visitor: no
Visitor: I’m going anyway.. bye
Gaya Ethaniel: Have a good day Visitor.
Daniel86 Loopen: yeah I’m going to have a look around . . see what’s out there
Daniel86 Loopen: cya
Gaya Ethaniel: We meet here 4 times a day 1 am, 7 am, 1 pm and 7 pm. Have fun :)
Another Visitor: So teleports are down?
Yakuzza Lethecus: hello
Another Visitor: Hi :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: tp are down ?
Gaya Ethaniel: Hello Another Visitor :)
Another Visitor: For me they are. Are they for you?
Yakuzza Lethecus: I had no reason to escape so far :)
Gaya Ethaniel: Let me check grid status ... one moment.
Gaya Ethaniel: No problems I see on the report Another Visitor.
Another Visitor: Hm.
Another Visitor: Strange.
Yakuzza Lethecus: maybe ur target area got issues ?
Another Visitor: I think I'm going to relog and see if that fixes it.
Gaya Ethaniel: Yes sounds like an idea.

As quickly as the new visitors came, they left.

Yakuzza Lethecus: psychology... yeah but the point is that I don’t know the tools of scientific reasoning
Gaya Ethaniel: Philosophy gives you good grounding for that I'd have thought.
Yakuzza Lethecus: how do we know what is true, as I said I never attended university or fachhochschule(university of applied sciences)
Gaya Ethaniel: And for science, actual experiments etc.
Yakuzza Lethecus: yeah, to hear from popper,fayerabend,thomas kuhn
Yakuzza Lethecus: so it’s still an issue to get in positive and pressureless contact with science
Gaya Ethaniel: I hope you find some good information or groups in SL for that.
Yakuzza Lethecus: it’s hard to find area’s on the internet where I have the feeling that I can trust the people I am surrounded by
Yakuzza Lethecus: I thought I did :D
Gaya Ethaniel shrugs ... reputable magazines are good I'd have thought.
Yakuzza Lethecus: I live far away from the next university library and the next library is 20 km from here and everything I am interested in has to be ordered there for and extra fee
Yakuzza Lethecus: so the opportunity costs to check out new stuff just about curiosity is very high and there is on top the issue that I won’t read 98% when I just search for something interesting.
Gaya Ethaniel: Sorry to hear that Yakuzza ... hope more books will be available online soon.
Yakuzza Lethecus: ok, I don’t want to steal ur time any longer :)
Gaya Ethaniel: Not at all but yes it's almost time for me to return to RL.
Yakuzza Lethecus: bye! thanks for ur patience
Gaya Ethaniel: Anyhow, if you are not after the latest books, you can read out of copyright titles on Gutenberg Project. I'm sure I'm telling you what you know already.
Gaya Ethaniel: Have a good day. :)