2009.06.26 19:00 - Stormy weather, calm hearts

The Guardian for this meeting was Dakini Rhode. The comments are by Dakini Rhode.

at first, I hang around...

the first bell sounds...

I'm joined by Pila...

Dakini Rhode: hi Pila, now are you?
Dakini Rhode: *how
Pila Mulligan: HI dAKINI, i'M FINE THANKS ... HOW ARE YOU?
Pila Mulligan: OOPS
Pila Mulligan: caps locked
Dakini Rhode: sort of amazed at the tropical storms we've got here tonight
Dakini Rhode: drove home thru a hailstorm

Found out later I'd driven through a tornado...

Pila Mulligan: no damage from hail, I hope
Dakini Rhode: quite a bit -- power lines down etc
Dakini Rhode: well that would have been from the winds
Pila Mulligan: so this is hurricane season weath I suppose
Pila Mulligan: weather*
Dakini Rhode: not sure seems early for that
Pila Mulligan: yes, it does to me also
Dakini Rhode: weve just had monsoons this June
Dakini Rhode: almost constant clouds
Pila Mulligan: and they are calling it a tropical storm, menaing I suppose it came up form the Carribean
Dakini Rhode: may be
Pila Mulligan: that would be huricane pattern weather
Pila Mulligan: Googling :)
Dakini Rhode: http://www.wtnh.com/
Pila Mulligan: those are familiar lookng clods in the photo on your link
Pila Mulligan: clouds
Pila Mulligan: ominous
Dakini Rhode: it was pretty dramatic driving into the bank of grey clouds
Pila Mulligan: the satellite images show it fairly localized, though
Dakini Rhode: guess i was just lucky :-)
Pila Mulligan: yes, driving into a strom can be excitinig :)
Pila Mulligan: those colorful rounded clouds are very storny looking
Pila Mulligan: however, there is a cyclonic weathr systm in te Carribean -- that would be pre-hurricane
Dakini Rhode: you seem to know a lot about the weather
Pila Mulligan: I keep an eye on it
Pila Mulligan: been on the edge of a couple of hurricanes andin a bad tonrado
Pila Mulligan: makes you seneitive
Dakini Rhode: sure does
Pila Mulligan: :)
Pila Mulligan: http://www.weather.com/maps/geography/northeastus/index_large.html
Pila Mulligan: your weather system seems to be mostly offshore
Dakini Rhode: ah
Dakini Rhode: well it gummed things up pretty well
Dakini Rhode: my car is covered with leaves

Where is the boundary between climate change and ordinary weather?

Pila Mulligan: if Al Gore is right, this is the wave of the future so to speak
Pila Mulligan: or one of them at least
Dakini Rhode: could be
Dakini Rhode: the weather has been variable as long as i've known, so it's hard to tell from where i sit
Pila Mulligan: this seems to be the common perception, it certainly is here in Hawai`i -- things get extreme ordinarily
Pila Mulligan: so where is the oundary between climate change and ordinary -- hard to say
Pila Mulligan: boundary*
Dakini Rhode: it IS hard to say
Dakini Rhode: so if it were climate change, it could kind of sneak up on you
Pila Mulligan: and scientists disagree, of course -- although the consensus seems to be the more pessimistic side
Pila Mulligan: yes, it couldbe concealed
Pila Mulligan: the problem here the past few year has been lack of rain acutally -- drought
Dakini Rhode: many places have been tht way
Dakini Rhode: here we need to start building an ark
Pila Mulligan: :)
Pila Mulligan: makes me thing of Bill Cosby's routine form many years ago
Dakini Rhode: something tells me a link is coming

:-)

Pila Mulligan: it woud be but mysystm is hung up :)
Pila Mulligan: Firefox is stuck and just will not let me close it
Dakini Rhode: o that's happening to me too
Pila Mulligan: hmmm, mystic :)
Pila Mulligan: it is odd, it just won't close
Dakini Rhode: ever do that before?
Pila Mulligan: not this stubbornly -- it just did close though, after a few dozen tries
Dakini Rhode: (Pila slumps over in the Away pose)

Pila is "away"...

   

Pila Mulligan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0KHt8xrQkk
Dakini Rhode: you were just away for a bit
Pila Mulligan: :)

wilfredo and Jessica join us in the pavilion and we introduce Play as Being

Dakini Rhode: hi wilfredo
wilfredo Deimatov: Hi
Dakini Rhode: hi Jessica
Pila Mulligan: hi Jessica and Wilfredo
Dakini Rhode: are you familiar with the Playasbeing chats wil and Jes?
JessicaFletcher Dover: no
Dakini Rhode: i have a notecard for you if you'd like
Dakini Rhode: we're a group (well a small group tonite) who meets for discussion periodically
Dakini Rhode: we record our discussions and publish them on our website
Dakini Rhode: is it OK with you to be included in the discussion log?
JessicaFletcher Dover: yes but I'm still not sure how to do it
Pila Mulligan: it happens automatically
JessicaFletcher Dover: ok
Dakini Rhode: we're interested in exploring reality
Pila Mulligan: welcome to SecondLife, Wilfredo, I see this is your first day
Dakini Rhode: one of the things we do is to explore our minds, and perceptions by doing a very appreviated meditation practice
wilfredo Deimatov: yes is my first day jeje
Dakini Rhode: so you have much to explore and discover
wilfredo Deimatov: but im not english speaker :S .. so i cant understand well
Dakini Rhode: what language do you speak wil?
wilfredo Deimatov: spanish
Pila Mulligan: the same is true of many poeple attending these chats -- from all over the world
Dakini Rhode: appreviated - that was a typo - *abbreviated = short
Pila Mulligan: :)
wilfredo Deimatov: ???? :S
JessicaFletcher Dover: good - now I can see everybody
Dakini Rhode: :-)
Pila Mulligan: hi Jessica :)
JessicaFletcher Dover: hi Pila
JessicaFletcher Dover: This is a beautiful spot
Dakini Rhode: so we're exploring what will happen when we stop what we normally do for a short time and just "be"
Dakini Rhode: happy you appreciate it Jes, I love it too
JessicaFletcher Dover: I come here and sit often
Dakini Rhode: this was built by one of our first members, Storm
JessicaFletcher Dover: ah
Pila Mulligan: the scheduled chats here are at 1 and 7 am and pm, SLT
Dakini Rhode: ordinarily, we chat about some aspect of the practice
Pila Mulligan: but it is anice place to sit any time
Dakini Rhode: :)
Dakini Rhode: Pila how long have you been doing this Play as Being thing?
Pila Mulligan: since November of last year, I believe
Pila Mulligan: thereabouts

We compare practice notes...

Dakini Rhode: have you done the experiments as well as the chats?
Pila Mulligan: no, I do a daily meditation already, and I actually already had an additional practice similar to the 9 seconds one, so I gave it a few tries but it seemed redudndant
Pila Mulligan: :)
Dakini Rhode: :)
Pila Mulligan: do you?
Dakini Rhode: I too have a daily meditation practice, and I tried PaB which seems to be a good postmeditation practice, I even blogged for awhile with Pema's prodding...
Pila Mulligan: were you with PaB from the begining?
Dakini Rhode: I didn't do the best job of stabilizing the PaB practice, however my other practice is sort of taking over
Dakini Rhode: i was :-)
Pila Mulligan: let's compare notes on our daily meditation practices :) if you like
Dakini Rhode: sure :)
Pila Mulligan: I do a Chinese sylte, silent meditation
Pila Mulligan: style*
Dakini Rhode: can you say more about what Chinese style is?
Dakini Rhode: I'd like to know more about that
Pila Mulligan: this is a method from a book named The Secret of the golden FLower, it is also sometimes called Zen with details :)
Pila Mulligan: it is like zazen
Pila Mulligan: sittign and breathing
Pila Mulligan: but it ha slots of details as to the flow of chi, or breath energy
Pila Mulligan: I also do ati chi as part of my daily practice, and they are complementary
Pila Mulligan: tai chi*
Pila Mulligan: what is your?
Pila Mulligan: yours*
JessicaFletcher Dover: It's been nice meeting you all - I have to teleport home and meet my daughter
Pila Mulligan: bye Jessica
Dakini Rhode: Tibetan Buddhist meditation - the core practice is resting in the natural state of the mind, but that's not always easy to do, so the Tibetan buddhists have a lot of learning aids
Dakini Rhode: diffent types of meditation, analytic meditation, contemplation, visualizations, even physical movement
Dakini Rhode: really all pretty much to get you to rest
Pila Mulligan: :)
Pila Mulligan: calm and quiet the heart
Pila Mulligan: but themovement is a nice aspect of it
Dakini Rhode: resting in the mind without altering anything
Dakini Rhode: i'm doing some preliminary practices now, which, although i've been practicing for a long time, are the next step for me
Pila Mulligan: so you have phased steps as a progression in meditation, interesting
Dakini Rhode: these involve doing a great deal of full prostrations
Dakini Rhode: yes well there appears to be a progression, although everyone is different
Pila Mulligan: how many years have you been practicing?
Dakini Rhode: i first tried meditation in high school
Pila Mulligan: nice
Dakini Rhode: over the years, sometimes i practiced more and sometimes not much
Dakini Rhode: recently, since finding a tibetan buddhist teacher, it's been 6 years
Pila Mulligan: I got started about 1973 and have been lucky to have kept a daily practice since then
Pila Mulligan: but several years seems to be the critical time frame, after that it is set it seems
Pila Mulligan: and doing it regularly seems to be important too
Pila Mulligan: I'm glad you have found ateacher you seem to like
Dakini Rhode: thx!
Dakini Rhode: excuse...phone
Pila Mulligan: there is a Tibetan temple not far from my home and sometimes go over and meditate with the lama there
Pila Mulligan: http://www.nechung.org/ -- lovely place, actually been visited by the Dalai Lana *twice*
Pila Mulligan: Lama*
Dakini Rhode: i apologize, i must leave
Pila Mulligan: ok, nice to see you, bye Dakini
Dakini Rhode: have a wonderful evening
Pila Mulligan: same to you