2009.08.11 13:00 - Retreat at the end of a keyboard

The Guardian for this meeting was Mickorod Renard. The comments are by Mickorod Renard.

Bertram, Wester and Yaku join me in this session

Mickorod Renard: I forget now, are you French?
Bertram Jacobus: i was looking for the same - where you came from. no - i´m german ... ;-)
Mickorod Renard: a ha,,I am uk,,but I did live in France for 8 years
Bertram Jacobus: oh. i see ! i like france very much ...
Bertram Jacobus: i was there several times in the last years, for work and meditation
Mickorod Renard: yes?,,it is a nice and spacious country, I struggled in the end becoming home sick for the uk again
Bertram Jacobus: i see. and yes : especially the spacious aspect is hughe in france ! :-)
Mickorod Renard: same population as the uk but twice the surface area
Bertram Jacobus: yes. it´s REALLY big i find ... :-)
Bertram Jacobus: but - i also come always back to my home town ... ;-)
Mickorod Renard: ;-)
Bertram Jacobus: and i notices before, as i wrote, i was in france for work and meditation - that i wrote work first. then i associated the ora et labora. would be fine if i had meditation first in my mind ... ;-)
Bertram Jacobus: noticed* ! :o)
Mickorod Renard: yea,,he he ,,so what sort of meditation did you do in france,,and whereabouts,,if you dont mind saying?
Bertram Jacobus: np at all. ask everything, always, welcome . that was tibetan style and there is a center with 3 years retrats in the auvergne. but i did not such long retreats. only visited the place again and again ... ;-)
Mickorod Renard: wow,,sounds nice,,and did they speak in french or english?
Bertram Jacobus: both mick
Mickorod Renard: perhaps had I have took time to know about the place I may have stayed longer
Bertram Jacobus: yes. i think it´s the biggest place out of asia what refers to the retreat practis. most of the time there are about 100 people who do the 3 year practise . and some do 12 years retreats also ...
Mickorod Renard: thats awsome
Bertram Jacobus: yes. and the atmosphere there is as well
Bertram Jacobus: the air is like vibrating
Mickorod Renard: Yaku, we were just discussing Berts visit to france re meditation
Mickorod Renard: nice,,I have visited some places in asia,,nepal in particular,,and I can feel what you mean
Bertram Jacobus: wonderful
Bertram Jacobus: to share such experiences
Bertram Jacobus: and to have them
Mickorod Renard: yes, I havnt actually done much in respect to Budhist work,,just visited some local centre
Bertram Jacobus: what is your spiritual background ? also : if i may ask ?
Mickorod Renard: just thinking about that Bert,,,
Mickorod Renard: I am very spiritual I think,,but have a leaning towards Christianity
Mickorod Renard: although i have my own personal slant on that and do not impose it on anyone
Bertram Jacobus: i would like to hear more of that slant ? would you liek to tell a bit ?
Bertram Jacobus: like*
Mickorod Renard: well,,maybe I am discovering it and havnt made much sense in a way that I can tell,,but I gues it came to me outa the blue
Mickorod Renard: in many respects it seems like budhism
Bertram Jacobus: i agree mick. and for me some christians aspect only became more clear for me through buddhism : jesus words about love, especially towars enemies for example and much more of him ...
Mickorod Renard: thats kind of you to recognise that,,some folks are quite agressive towards Jesus and I think its because its not cool
Mickorod Renard: but I am at home with what I have,,at home as in comfortable
Bertram Jacobus: wonderful ! and i think, that the agression comes from mixin up some very sad problems with the churches and their history and the religion -
Mickorod Renard: yes, I aggree too , I did take some moments to blend in what is done here with my beliefs,,but now I find it compliments what I feel too
Mickorod Renard: your writing is fantastic Bertam
Bertram Jacobus: beliefs ... that is a point which is very difficult to me personally. i have the impression, this ability is very weak , i mean, i can´t believe very good . so i try to understand as much as possible and find out ethics and religious things by thinking and resaerch. and that is another thing then : experience ... but beliefe ... (you see what i mean?)
Yakuzza Lethecus: yeah mean blind beliefs ?
Bertram Jacobus: no yaku i mean all forms of belief ...
Bertram Jacobus: i find them really difficult
Mickorod Renard: I understand you very well, I am actually a person that by nature should not have bothersed with any beliefs,,and I struggle with this,,but I find the jig saw of events in my life and in my observations have brought me down a certain path,,I cannot deny the direction
Bertram Jacobus: i see what you mean mick and i´m happy, that there are so many ways for different humans to find something
Mickorod Renard: yes,, some seem to need the gaps filling in and others get by just being scientific or whatever,,some come to different resolves at diferent times of their lives too
Mickorod Renard: I have been busy doing the scribe these last few ddays
Bertram Jacobus: which scribe ?
Wester Kiranov: how did it go so far?
Mickorod Renard: the scribe project,,have you not heard of it?
Mickorod Renard: I posted it,,a day early
Wester Kiranov: that's good
Bertram Jacobus: oh. i´m not sure, sry ... - but go on to answer wester - i´ll pick it from there and from the net may be ... ty
Mickorod Renard: he he ,,my work proberbly wasnt good
Wester Kiranov: well at least you manage to hand it in on time - I was always about two weeks late
Mickorod Renard: Pema did press me on it once
Mickorod Renard: Wester, can you describe to Bert what the scribe is
Bertram Jacobus: may be a link could help ?
Mickorod Renard: yes,,its on the PaB website
Mickorod Renard: but the scribe can take many forms,,I just edit the chat logs and shorten and play about with them
Wester Kiranov: http://playasbeing.wik.is/PaB_Scribe_Project
Wester Kiranov: it's like a summary of three days of chat logs
Bertram Jacobus: i thought so and i must confess : it´s "still" the fact, taht english is sometimes a bit exhausting to me and so i´m "a bit" lazy with all that much stuff on the pab net sites ... sad but true ... i try to learn more and to advance ...
Bertram Jacobus: ty wester and mick. i read a bit from that already , yes, but it´s like explained above ...
Mickorod Renard: you seem to do very well,,and so does Yaku,,who is very quiet tonite
Bertram Jacobus: but "the whole thing" seems to be still too much for me ... may be it increases ...
Mickorod Renard: actually Bert, I dont read all the stuff on the site . there is too much,,but some suits some and some doesnt as well
Wester Kiranov: I'm not sure "the whole thing" is possible - do as much as you enjoy doing
Bertram Jacobus: sometimes i would like to do a bit more, but i should be patient and go slow perhaps ... :-)
Mickorod Renard: yes,,it often depends on how much time you have too
Wester Kiranov: sometimes it's nice to try and do a bit more, just to see how that goes.
Bertram Jacobus: yes. that´s one of the points, but - as written before mick : as long as i regard everydays things as more important then matters of mind and spirit ... hm ... ;-)
Bertram Jacobus: perfect said wester i guess. like a sportsman (so much one knows already and again and again i forget) ...
Mickorod Renard: when I do the scribe it makes me read the logs,,and I am always facinated in how illuminating they are,,with lots of info on APAPA
Bertram Jacobus: great
Wester Kiranov: i did enjoy doing the scribe - i just needed too much time to do it
Mickorod Renard: yes,,the old time thing again
Mickorod Renard: I love ddoing the scribe,,although I always feel I havnt done the logs justice
Mickorod Renard: are you with us Yaku?
Yakuzza Lethecus: yeah, i am here
Yakuzza Lethecus: i just like to read and to stay in my own blurry thoughts :P
Yakuzza Lethecus: it was from the difference between beliefs and beliving to religion and my own view on chistianity and the interesting part that the people most capable to talk about my roman catholic religion and about buddism were people i found around second life so far
Mickorod Renard: yes, I do think that people on sl , who tend to do cultural sessions,,are more deep in their thoughts
Mickorod Renard: people
Yakuzza Lethecus: i got to be awake again at 4:30 am, so only 5:30 hrs left, good night
Mickorod Renard: quiet evening tonite Wester
Wester Kiranov: Yes, it's quiet. I guess I'll leave too - still got some washing up to do