2009.08.04 19:00 - A Little Turbulent

The Guardian for this meeting was Eos Amaterasu. The comments are by Eos Amaterasu.

Eos Amaterasu: Hi Eliza
Eos Amaterasu: and Adams :-)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Eos :)
Adams Rubble: Hello Eos and Eliza :)

Adams walks across the pool water 

Eos Amaterasu: "walking on water wasn't built in a day" :-)
Eliza Madrigal: Hello Adams
Eliza Madrigal grins
Adams Rubble hasn't mastered that yet
Eliza Madrigal: What do you think the analogy stands for there? Walking on water...
Eliza Madrigal: certainly conjurs many things
Adams Rubble: he can do anything he wants (giggles)
Eliza Madrigal: hah, that's one way of seeing
Eos Amaterasu: that was Jack Kerouac's comment to the Merry Pranksters re LSD
Eliza Madrigal: and that is certainly another :)

How we are

Eos Amaterasu: How are you lovely ladies?
Eliza Madrigal: A little turbulent actually.. hard to describe :)
Eliza Madrigal: You?

--BELL--

Adams Rubble: I am feeling very peaceful but I am tired too :)
Adams Rubble: and you Eos?
Eos Amaterasu: In the last few hours I did an "act in an instant" move and decided to attend the retreat & made flight arrangements
Eliza Madrigal: Fantastic!
Adams Rubble: Oh wow!]
Eliza Madrigal: You'll be a very nice addition
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Adams Rubble: :)
Eos Amaterasu: Will either of you be there?
Eliza Madrigal: Alas, no
Adams Rubble: no sadly
Eliza Madrigal: Which does not mean that I wasn't up in the middle of the night looking at flights once :)
Adams Rubble: :)
Eliza Madrigal: It is the first week of school here, and my children are in three diff. schools
Eliza Madrigal: so difficult to coordinate
Eliza Madrigal: It is great that you are going though, a wonderful opportunity
Adams Rubble: Week before school for me and I don't have the courage to leave everything to turn into chaos the first week :)
Adams Rubble: I am afraid I am falling asleep
Eos Amaterasu: Yeah, transition time(s) - the possibility opened up, so go for it
Adams Rubble: wonderful eos :)
Eliza Madrigal: :) Night Adams...understandable :)
Eliza Madrigal: Yes, I fully agree Eos
Eliza Madrigal: When that happens, jump!
Adams Rubble: good night eos and eliza :)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eos Amaterasu: Good night, Adams!
Eliza Madrigal: You jumped right into the appreciation excercizes...
Eliza Madrigal: and everything here :)
Eos Amaterasu: LIke coming home :-)
Eliza Madrigal: in a wonderful way, I might add...very inspiring
Eliza Madrigal: yes, I relate to that very much as well

Busy beings with children

Eos Amaterasu: So you are a busy being, with 3 children school age
Eliza Madrigal: Sometimes, yes
Eliza Madrigal: This summer has been so odd. Normally they are in camps, and we're taking vacations, etc.
Eliza Madrigal: This year they've been involved with friends and such...
Eliza Madrigal: leaving me with this wide open space in which to study and to be here
Eliza Madrigal: almost too much space :) Luxurious
Eliza Madrigal: Right now they are at a Greenday concert... well, not my son. He's with a friend
Eos Amaterasu: My son (age 16) introduced me to Battlestar Galactica
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, heard the series is very good
Eos Amaterasu: very impressed with it - takes some of the Blade Runner themes further
Eos Amaterasu: what does it mean to be human
Eliza Madrigal: Not familiar, but go on?
Eliza Madrigal: Oh
Eos Amaterasu: there are androids, who now can look just like humans
Eliza Madrigal: What do you answer?
Eos Amaterasu: Hi Stevenaia
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Steve :)
stevenaia Michinaga: hello
stevenaia Michinaga: just talking a break.. as soul caretaker of my world for a few weeks

Self-deception: "How do you do it?", asks the android 

Eos Amaterasu: I was very struck by something Cylon 6 (a seductive female character/android) said to Baltar
Eos Amaterasu: who had just betrayed his world, and was only concerned about his reputation,
Eliza Madrigal: Steve, nice to have a place to settle for a bit isn't it? :)
Eos Amaterasu: she said, "How do you do it", with a mixture of fascination and repulsion, re how can humans deceive themselves?

--BELL--

stevenaia Michinaga: this the new Batlestar Galactica, I saw it first time it came around
stevenaia Michinaga: hello Mary
Eos Amaterasu: Maybe if you can deceive yourself you can pass the TUring test
Mary Korpov: Hi, I hate that show.
Eos Amaterasu: HI Mary
Mary Korpov: Hi
stevenaia Michinaga: :)
stevenaia Michinaga: have you been here before
Mary Korpov: Once or twice
stevenaia Michinaga: I jsut got here as well
Eliza Madrigal: the TU test, Eos? the human test?
Eos Amaterasu: yes
Eliza Madrigal: (Hi Mary)
Mary Korpov: Hi
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, I see what you are saying... seems a bleak outlook? Humanity=deception?
Eliza Madrigal: Or do I misunderstand?
Eos Amaterasu: the possibility of being able to ignore
Eos Amaterasu: mabye the light is too bright
Eos Amaterasu: so we shade our eyes
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, THAT I hear :)
Mary Korpov: Turn down the screen brightness and it will be better
Eos Amaterasu: or the empathy too painful
Eos Amaterasu: so we separate
Eliza Madrigal nods
Eliza Madrigal: I find myself listening to Pema Chodron a lot these days. She talks much about the idea of our 'soft spot'
Eliza Madrigal: and that cultivation is the work of keeping soft... ?
stevenaia Michinaga: My office associate listens to that as well
Eliza Madrigal: She's wonderful... truly moving, and so funny
Eliza Madrigal: when we empathize we are open
Eliza Madrigal: which 'sounds' nice... but yes, can be painful too
Eliza Madrigal: but I think of that as part of our humanity rather than our humanity separating us?
Eos Amaterasu: yes, care seems kind of intrinsic
Eos Amaterasu: I've been watching how the robins who are tending a nest in our porch maintain "air superiority"
Eliza Madrigal listens
Eos Amaterasu: very systematic, paranoia plus care
Mary Korpov: How can you tell when a bird is paranoid?
Eos Amaterasu: it watches the space
Mary Korpov: Is that paranid or watchful? Seems like you are attributig human characteristics to the birds.
Eos Amaterasu: but, mabye the word paranoia applies more to us who elaborate on the necessary watchfulness

Life and death 

Eos Amaterasu: there's life and death in being
Mary Korpov: There's being in life and death
Eos Amaterasu: the less we elaborate, add extra imagining, the more clearly we see
Eos Amaterasu: :-)
Eos Amaterasu: a "charnel ground", where lots of both death and life take place, is a recommended place to meditate

--BELL--

Mary Korpov: It doesn't matter where, or if, you meditate
Eliza Madrigal: I agree actually, that consideration of death is vital to appreciating life
Mary Korpov: Life and death are the same
Eliza Madrigal: Mary, I guess I lose the movement and experience when we make statements like that
Mary Korpov: I didn't quite understand what you meant
Eliza Madrigal: I suppose that in thinking about living every day, experiencing other people, that kind of statement seems to shut down sharing for me
Mary Korpov: I see what you mean.
Mary Korpov: But I think life and death are the same thing
Eos Amaterasu: Can you say more?
Mary Korpov: no
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eos Amaterasu: :-)
Eos Amaterasu: 42
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eos Amaterasu: I love integers
Eliza Madrigal: Today I was sitting, considering some things... and had flashes of really tough times, really solid seeming obstacles... and then
Eliza Madrigal: Whooosh
Mary Korpov: They are elements of the same thing, just different manifestations of it
Eliza Madrigal: felt as though I was so grateful for everything that brought me here.
Eliza Madrigal: PaB certainly, but 'here' in a different way
Eliza Madrigal: and death is like that
Eliza Madrigal: considering it brings life to our living
Eliza Madrigal: an obstacle which is a doorway
Mary Korpov: Perhaps living brings death to our dying
Eliza Madrigal: because of course there aren't obstacles or doorways
Eliza Madrigal: Sure Mary, you can flip things like that
Eliza Madrigal: I was just sharing my experience :)
Mary Korpov: How do you know you are living rather than dying right now?
Eos Amaterasu: I can smile, and my hair is getting grayer
Eos Amaterasu: both
Eliza Madrigal: Not sure that's helpful... we hold many states at once
Eliza Madrigal: or not hold, as it were.
Mary Korpov: We are many states at once
Eliza Madrigal: And yes my hair is graying too :)
Eliza Madrigal: Yes, Nice way of saying that Mary :)
Eos Amaterasu: the united states of the appearance claiming to be me
Eliza Madrigal: :)

Eliza and the sleeping buddha

Eliza Madrigal: Did I ever tell you my sleeping buddha story?
Eos Amaterasu: No
Eliza Madrigal: Okay... so in my house I have a piano toward the front door...
Eliza Madrigal: On top of it are pictures and such
Eliza Madrigal: And I was given a beautiful sleeping buddha statue
Eliza Madrigal: It seemed like it should go in the bedroom... after all, he is sleeping...
Eliza Madrigal grins
Eliza Madrigal: So I made a place for him in the bedroom...
Eliza Madrigal: but just did not fit there... kept moving things.
Eliza Madrigal: Finally, I realized that he wanted to be on the piano, because
stevenaia Michinaga: night, I;ll finish the ending when I I;m awake
Eliza Madrigal: "When I think on the notes between the spaces, the music begins to play itself"
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: Night Steven :)
Eliza Madrigal: Sleep well
Eos Amaterasu: 'night

--BELL--

Eos Amaterasu: That reclining buddha pose is most likely his "parinirvana", about to die, pose (lying on his right side)
Eliza Madrigal: Just to connect the dots, yes he is resting
Eliza Madrigal: Yes, that is the pose... fitting to tonight's conversation
Eliza Madrigal: Anyway, You first caused me to dwell in the skipped beats, as it were... or to think of it that way :)
Eos Amaterasu: :-)
Eliza Madrigal: I should go. Am still oddly turbulent. :)
Eliza Madrigal: Night Eos, Mary
Mary Korpov: Good night.
Eos Amaterasu: Good night, Eliza

Still going, still talking

Mary Korpov: I think I'll go, watching Dr. No.
Eos Amaterasu: I think you're ultimately right about life and death being not separate, Mary
Eos Amaterasu: How to hold that in your heart?
Mary Korpov: I don't know, I may just be talking out my ass.
Eos Amaterasu: :-)
Mary Korpov: My heart is just a pump, I would rather hold it in my brain.
Eos Amaterasu: Hmm, that's a whole other topic, what organ(s) we perceive/think/feel with
Mary Korpov: Brain plus sense organs.
Eos Amaterasu: heart keeps life circulating
Mary Korpov: It can be replaced with artificial pumps
Eos Amaterasu: senses keep perception circulating
Mary Korpov: Both are part of a single organism
Eos Amaterasu: back to the Cylons :-)
Mary Korpov: The who?
Eos Amaterasu: the androids in Battlestar Galactica
Mary Korpov: Oh right, i hate that show
Eos Amaterasu: I think they're drive by the question of what it means to be human
Eos Amaterasu: *driven
Mary Korpov: The old version is ok, but the new one is really horrid
Eos Amaterasu: could be - I'm just discovering it
Mary Korpov: My problem is one of logic. how is it that a civilization can figure out how to travel to the stars, but can't fix an astigmatism?
Mary Korpov: I mean, they wear glasses!
Eos Amaterasu: in the perspective of life an death being not two perfection takes on a different meaning
Mary Korpov: And in one episode I watched, they were using manila file folders. I wonder if when we figure out how to go to the stars we will store information on our spaceship in file cabinets with paper folders. I doubt they do that even on ISS.
Mary Korpov: Perfection is meaningless,
Mary Korpov: Well, I shoudl go. Sean Connery is about to drown. Oh good, he made it. He's SOOOOOO hot!
Eos Amaterasu: yes, the perfection of everything perfect is not too meaningful
Eos Amaterasu: Dr Yes
Mary Korpov: Talk about perfection!
Eos Amaterasu: :-)
Eos Amaterasu: Enjoy Sean
Mary Korpov: Good night.
Eos Amaterasu: Good night, Mary!
Eos Amaterasu: Good night, moon!

--BELL--

Eos Amaterasu: Good night, PaBilion!