2010.01.21 07:00 - Ecstasy in the flow

The Guardian for this meeting was Storm Nordwind. The comments are by Storm Nordwind.

A lovely session in which we use Pema's description of a kind of walking meditation and Eden's description of a shamanic dance exercise as a springboard.

Fael Illyar: Hi Eden :)
Storm Nordwind: Hello Fael
Eden Haiku: hello Fael. Thanks for the great calendar!
Fael Illyar smiles.
--BELL--
Storm Nordwind: Yes. Good work. I use the Google one a lot
Fael Illyar: me too :)
Fael Illyar: I noticed it can be embedded too so when I saw people talking about updating several places at once, I remembered that.
Storm Nordwind: Always good to bring edits into a single place
Fael Illyar: a calendar is excellent fit for the task :)
Storm Nordwind nods
Fael Illyar: especially when it can be easily co-operated over
Fael Illyar: Hi Pema :)

I was sitting between Fael and Eden. Fael was wearing a patterned sweater. Eden had an Avatar avatar! Meanwhile, Pema comes somersaulting in, shortly followed by Eliza.

Storm Nordwind feels positively under-dressed this morning next to these radiant avatars :)
Fael Illyar: I'm not that radiant, am I? :)
Storm Nordwind: The top is wonderful
Eden Haiku: ;-)
Eden Haiku: Hi Pema!
Storm Nordwind: Pema the Tumbler: welcome!
Fael Illyar: just a red shirt, with my not yet for sale tattoo on it :)
Eden Haiku: Fist a ppearance of your busy day Pema!
Pema Pera: hi Fael, Storm, Eden!
Pema Pera: for me the third one already, radiant Blue Being!
Fael Illyar: we're still lacking someone in green :)
Eden Haiku: In your dreams Pema!
Pema Pera: :-)
Eden Haiku: Oh, 3rd already! And still jetlagged!
Fael Illyar: Hi Eliza :)
Pema Pera: Hi there Eliza!
Storm Nordwind: And still to be jet-lagged!
Storm Nordwind: Good morning Eliza!
Pema Pera: yeah, that's why I gave up trying to synchronize
Eden Haiku: Did not hear Eliza's bells...
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Fael, Storm, Eden, Pema :)
Eliza Madrigal is not wearing bells today, and nice to see you my newly blue friend :)
Eden Haiku: realize I don't have headset on...Putting it on....
Eden Haiku: No bells ;-(

Pema describes his experience of the core Play as Being practice whilst walking in a busy city.

Pema Pera: I found myself somehow more in tune with the 9-sec practice than usual, this morning
Pema Pera: while walking through Manhattan, in the middle of the night
Pema Pera: it's so interesting how many dimensions there are to "dropping"
Pema Pera: and how different it can feel in different situations
Fael Illyar: just looking at what is there, not creating anything yourself.
Pema Pera: yes, and not sticking to anything
Pema Pera: rather dream like, in between time zones and continents
Fael Illyar: that is creating something yourself I think.
Storm Nordwind worries for Pema's safety, as he glides through Manhattan, in the middle of the night
Fael Illyar: if you stick
Pema Pera: :-)
Eden Haiku: I did 9 secs at the dentist yesterday. Noticed all the images associated with 'torture'.Let them go.
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Fael Illyar smiles.
Pema Pera: it's funny, with less goal/aim/effort, to see how indeed even something mundane like walking takes on such a different feeling, Storm; probably related to some of the exercises you have talked about
Fael Illyar: a friend of mine is at the dentist right now... or maybe already returning
Pema Pera: hahaha, Eden!
Eden Haiku: New York is safe now Storm ;-) And Pema has about 70 guardian angels.;-)
Pema Pera looking around in all directions

The feeling of doing this can be quite remarkable.

Pema Pera: it can feel as if something walks, the walking walks, not me
Fael Illyar: nothing there that is not profound :)
Storm Nordwind: Yes Pema!!
Pema Pera: if we allow ourselves to slow down, and to become aimless, it's amazing how much more "aim" we actually receive,naturally
--BELL--
Storm Nordwind: Feeling what is there to be felt, alive beneath our feet
Fael Illyar: much easier to aim when you can see what you're aiming for :)
Eden Haiku: 'We fortunately discover the right path through our wandering, and good may come from any movement.' Vincent Van Gogh
Pema Pera: letting go of control, in a quiet and careful way of course, can go much further than we can imagine -- must be the key of all martial arts
Pema Pera: a form of devotion, or at least for me it feels that way
Fael Illyar smiles 'Yes, that sounds very much like it feels to me too.'
Storm Nordwind: Almost like circumambulating Being
Eliza Madrigal: devotion, offering, letting go... yes surely fits...
Eden Haiku: Reverence
Fael Illyar: letting go of the notion that something, right now, is not as it should.
Eliza Madrigal: And a lovely phrasing phrasing Pema, "walking walks, not me"... even clearer than 'being walked" even...
Eliza Madrigal nods
Fael Illyar: the body walks :)

That comment, "the walking walks, not me", was nearly the title of this chatlog!

Storm Nordwind: When that happens, I feel as though it's like I am part of a gigantic organism, part of which is walking, and I can feel to the far side of the earth and be part of it, and yet see this body move a few feet on its surface
Pema Pera: yes, the whole notion of separation weakens more and more . . .
Storm Nordwind nods
Pema Pera: and that weakening of spatial separation in turn can weaking temporal separation as well

Eden tells of a dance where, magically, everyone seems to weave a pattern together in harmony.

Eden Haiku: With a shaman teacher who used dance, we did an exercice called the porpoise dance. Maybe 60 people whirling together in any direction in a small chapel, nobody ever stumbling into somebody else. I had this feeling of ' being danced'. Or was it dance dancing? ;-)
Pema Pera: resulting in an odd sense of peace and lack of the usual (background) worrying
Pema Pera: great example, Eden!!
Storm Nordwind: Yes indeed!
Fael Illyar: Yes, that's is very good example :)
Eden Haiku: Collective intelligence maybe.
Fael Illyar: similar to walking on a busy street, not really thinking about what's going on around you but still neatly avoiding collisions
Pema Pera: no-purpose porpoise dance :)
Storm Nordwind groans!
Eden Haiku: ;-)
--BELL--
Eden Haiku: Yes Fael, flowing easily, even in a busy crowd. And if we are tense and worried, then, the contrary happens...And we fall out of syntony.
Fael Illyar: precisely :)

Which all reminded me... This morning, an hour earlier, I was driving my wife to work through Denver, and a truck came screeching around a corner at a set of traffic lights, almost tipping over sideways, and nearly crashing into posts beyond the kerb. It recovered, with a little fishtail dance, and I noticed, with a sense of irony, the advertisment on the side of the truck trumpeted the concept of "Wellness". I couldn't help but apply our idea of dancing to traffic, and a lot of fun ensues... !

Storm Nordwind: Now I am thinking about the same thing applied to driving... wondering whether that dance can work... I expect you need all drivers to be willing participants!
Eden Haiku: That is why I don't drive Storm ;-)
Storm Nordwind chuckles
Storm Nordwind: And if you ever learn, don't drive in Denver!
Pema Pera: perhaps we can go to a disney land or something and practice with bumper cars . . . .
Storm Nordwind: Now THAT would be fun Pema!
Pema Pera sees another RL retreat coming up
Storm Nordwind: It's a must do
Pema Pera: PLAY as Being
Fael Illyar smiles 'Sounds fun.'
Eden Haiku: Saw some in a cinema the other day and felt like driving one bumper car!
Pema Pera: aha, and a funding opportunity: a PaB theme park!
Fael Illyar: we could perhaps do that in SL too? :)
Fael Illyar: virtual bumper cars
Eden Haiku: For Nova Scotia retreat maybe?
Storm Nordwind: Not the same sense of possible real collision Fael - I think that's important for the exercise :)
Eden Haiku: Would be quite a challenge to organize for Eos, in a forest!
Fael Illyar: yes, true... if everyone uses mouselook ,though, that helps a bit
Fael Illyar: it does give quite a shock to see the whole image on the screens shake
Pema Pera: !
Fael Illyar: when that is all you're concentrating on :)
Fael Illyar: visually

Two things happen together now. I suggest a kind of experiment, and Eliza announces some family news! I indent the thread on Eliza's news to highlight it. :)

Storm Nordwind: I think it would interesting to try a load load of people 'in the know', dancing around each other (in person or in cars) and introduce people who had no clue what was going on, one by one... Would it all break down, or would the clueless people catch on, I wonder?

Eliza Madrigal: Apologies, was afk ... phone call from my sister who has discovered she is having a little boy... So happy not to hear this time on facebook! :)

Pema Pera: I'd prefer to try that in person, rather than in car :)
Fael Illyar smiles.
Fael Illyar: I'd think that unless they resist catching on, they would.

Pema Pera: hahaha, Eliza, and congratulations!
Eden Haiku: Congrats on being the auntie of a future baby-boy Eliza!
Eliza Madrigal: Thank you :)
Storm Nordwind thinks hard... that's a new... er... nephew, right? Congratulations!!!
Fael Illyar: yes, congratulations :)
Fael Illyar has problems with these words in any language. Nephew and the like.

Eden Haiku: Yes, Storm, I think some would catch on easily, others would nvere get into it, and most would fall out of syntony once in a while ;-)
Fael Illyar: yes, especially when you fall out of symphony, getting back is difficult.
Fael Illyar: especially if one thinks one must :)
Eliza Madrigal: :)

Now I suggest the experiment in reverse, and we touch on what happens if you stumble as part of the dance.

Storm Nordwind: Going the other way. Starting with only one person in the know... is there a critical mass? :)
--BELL--
Eliza Madrigal thinks of some sessions where the conversation pool seems to be circulating smoothly and the delicacy of entering without disturbing the waters ... or those when the waters seem ready to change course...
Eden Haiku: The feeling of being 'not part of it' can be powerful if you stumble. For there is so much ecstasy in the flow.
Storm Nordwind: A very good point Eliza
Eden Haiku: Treacle ;-)
Fael Illyar: wouldn't that mean that all the people who worry about interrupting the conversation when they pop in are worrying over nothing?
Eliza Madrigal: : )
Pema Pera: Yes, Eliza; and also in a disorganized situation a single sensitive question can focus the whole group
Pema Pera: answering to some extent Storm's critical mass question there
Storm Nordwind: And, Eden, those who stumble then react according to their habit... they may be inspired by the flow around them and be more keen to join in, or disgusted by the apparent (to them) smugness of all around, or they may slink off to lick their wounds.
Pema Pera: yes, Fael, asking "am I disturbing" can well be a disturbance!
Pema Pera: yes, Storm, I've seen all those happening in various situations . . .
Pema Pera: from parties to sport events to scientific discussions
Pema Pera: "may I ask a question" often strikes me as an oddity too -- asking a question already (^_^)
Storm Nordwind chuckles

Eden brings up the awkwardness we sometimes have in hellos and goodbyes - like entering and leaving a dance. In the process, we coin a new word or two!

Fael Illyar: yep, that's a question that's widely frowned at in certain circles too :)
Eden Haiku: Slipping in and out is part of the dance isn't it?
Pema Pera: slipping in and out, yes Eden! That's even more of a challenge than going with the flow of the dance
Fael Illyar: (especially open source group realtime conversation)
Eden Haiku: Especially when you stand up and the host asks you if you are leaving before you had time to write your goodbyes! ;-)
Pema Pera also knows several people who are willing to spend arbitrary amounts of time to explain in great detail that and how and why they don't have time to do the little chore you just asked them to do . . . . (in RL)
Eden Haiku: Our avatars are so awkward. The 3D engineers need to improve our animations!
Storm Nordwind: for avatar, read awkwatar! :)
Pema Pera: hahaha
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Storm Nordwind: We do Eden, and we've coined a new word in the process!
Pema Pera: awekwatars here?

Dropping the little you. Becoming conscious of being in Being perhaps? Or being as Being? Or Playing as Being? Or just... Being?

Eliza Madrigal: interesting though... to think one must be willing to change/shift/drop within the midst of what one is caught up in ... considering Eden's use of the word ecstacy... to learn 'give up' moment-to-moment ... for the sake of the larger flow, etc...
Eden Haiku: The larger flow, that is interesting Eliza, yes, as if we were in a spiral of some sorts?
Eliza Madrigal: takes me back to your walk, Pema... a surrendered state... letting walking walk...
Eliza Madrigal makes note on the pab wiki of new vocab
Eliza Madrigal: ; )
Pema Pera: as for the larger flow -- perhaps what is needed is to see the world outside the dance as not separate from the dance -- then slipping in and out does not involve barriers; quite a challenge though
Storm Nordwind: One would need to shift the focus of feeling, from the little self that's 'given up', to what was available in the greater flow, and find the ecstacy there
Pema Pera: yes
Eliza Madrigal nods nods
Eden Haiku: nods

It's lose to the hour, and Eliza leaves, followed by Pema.

Eliza Madrigal: Very inspiring! Thank you everyone :)
Pema Pera: thank u 2, Eliza, & all !
Eden Haiku: Bye Eliza! have a great day!
Fael Illyar: Have fun Eliza! :)
Eden Haiku: Good bye Pema.
Pema Pera watches Eliza slipsliding away :-)
Eliza Madrigal: Bye for now, wishing the same
Eden Haiku: Oups...
Pema Pera: hahaha
Pema Pera: I will be gone soon though
Fael Illyar smiles.
Eden Haiku: falling out...
Eden Haiku: Jumping back...
Pema Pera: oh no, Eden, you are practicing seeing no separations!
Storm Nordwind: 'No one' said that
--BELL--
Storm Nordwind slips way too...
Eden Haiku: Bye bye Storm!
Storm Nordwind waves

I also disappear for a while to sort out the new land for the Kira Japan Office, which will be to the southwest of the Kira Cafe. I'll return if I can. (I can always read the chat log to cover what I miss!)

Meanwhile the conversation continues. Eden tells of her experience, not only of how she first came to Play as Being, but also of how she felt wandering around places in Second Life for the first time.

Fael Illyar smiles.
Pema Pera whispering: bye everybody!
Eden Haiku: waving good bye to Pema
Fael Illyar: he's gone already :)
Eden Haiku: Yes, the slipping in and out needs some hightuning!
Eden Haiku: For all of us...fine tuning I meant!
Eden Haiku: Did you have time to check the pub yet Fael?
Fael Illyar: Yep, I was there two days ago :)
Eden Haiku: Nice isn,it?
Eden Haiku: I like the mist on the ground also.
Fael Illyar: very :) Nice to see that building finished finally :)
Fael Illyar: I remember wandering what it would be used for when I first came to PaB
Eden Haiku: Yes, it was not used very much before I think.
Eden Haiku: First time I wandered on these lawns, I found the little house irresistible.
Fael Illyar smiles.
Fael Illyar: Storm is a great builder :)
Eden Haiku: I was still quite a newbie (ages ago, in November!) and I did not know if it was ok to go inside a house.
Fael Illyar: Well, that answer can only be truly answered if you ask the owner but...
Fael Illyar: :D
Eden Haiku: But I did, out of curiosity. Felt like Goldie Locks, afraid the bears would come back...
Eden Haiku: Went out as fast, Then I met Storm on the lawn and asked if it was private property,
Eden Haiku: he said it was but that I was welcomed to walk on the lawns.
Fael Illyar: ah, wb Storm :)

Back from setting up the land. And my ears are burning!

Storm Nordwind: Thank you. Business complete :)
Eden Haiku: Then he told me there was going to be a meeting and that I was welcomed to attend if I wanted.
Eden Haiku: Talking about the devil ;-)
Eden Haiku: That is how I went to my first PaB session...
Storm Nordwind looks around innocently for a devil...
Storm Nordwind remembers happily
Eden Haiku: That was a great day for me, a new beginning!
Fael Illyar smiles.
Fael Illyar: Yes, coming to the first PaB meeting was a new beginning of sorts for me too :)
Storm Nordwind: A bright new star arose in our sky too Eden :)

I wonder how many people are put off Second Life because they turn up at empty places where there is not even a sign to say "GON OUT. BACKSON. BISY. BACKSON."

Eden Haiku: I was so bored of visiting empty spaces and dancing crazy dances at Bombay Social Club.
Eden Haiku: Though I still love dancing ;-)
Eden Haiku: How did you discver PaB Fael?
Storm Nordwind: Especially 'Justice hand' IIRC
Eden Haiku: Yeahhh!!!
Fael Illyar: a friend invited me to meet his new friend. He was certain we'd get along well. He was right too. That was Hotaru, she suggested I go take a look at this group called PaB :)
Fael Illyar: so, a few days later, I went
Eden Haiku: Oh Hotaru! She came back here recently but I haven't seen her in a while.
Storm Nordwind: Ah... our long lost Firefly
Fael Illyar: the first time I popped in, the teahouse was empty so I IMed Hotaru asking what's up and the meeting had been moved since that sim was restarting when the meeting started
Eden Haiku: Oh! and it did not discourage you! Good!
Fael Illyar: no, it never occurred to me to abandon the idea to check it out :P
Eden Haiku: I remeber the host was Mickorod, He has been so gracious! And Sophia Sharon was there also, I found her so nice. I could not beleive my luck to meet these people.
Eden Haiku: And I kept coming back...
--BELL--
Storm Nordwind: So many wonderful people are attracted here, and so many keep on coming back
Eden Haiku: And in a week or so , I will be travelling in India with no access to SL and I will miss you guys!
Fael Illyar: at first I came to two meetings a day, the ones I was awake for.
Fael Illyar: then my sleeping pattern slowly shifted so I could take part in 3 and I did for some weeks
Eden Haiku: Wow!

Play as Being can be so cosmopolitan.

Eden Haiku: It is so interesting also to get to know people from all over the world.
Eden Haiku: So many different outlooks, languages, beliefs, cultural backgrounds. And yet, a unity that is palpable.
Storm Nordwind: And it really is all over the world. We've had people here from Pacific Islands, Europe, the Americas, Russia, the Middle East... and so on and so on. They all bring something unique
Eden Haiku: I love languages in general. I do like it very much when people talk a bit in their native language. Ara is teaching us a bit of maltese through the logs. I enjoy it so much!
Storm Nordwind: She is a delight to hear too. The Maltese accent has a fascinating sound.

Fael vanished but reappeared soon after, but it seemed like a message to adjourn to the Five Bells.

Eden Haiku: Fael slipped away so quietly I did not notice...
Eden Haiku: Oh, she's back
Storm Nordwind was busy checking his deodarant just in case
Fael Illyar: connection dropped.
Fael Illyar: back with my backup
Eden Haiku: Nver heard her yet. Looked forward to it. oh Fael, I see your boots, your hair and your red shirt in parts...
Fael Illyar: slow rez then :)
Fael Illyar: although I'll need to pop out quite soon :)
Eden Haiku: Seeing you now caming on and off.
Fael Illyar: well, it's been fun. Now I need to pop out :)
Eden Haiku: Did you come here once in a very nice Egyptian outfit? Was it you?
Fael Illyar: have fun Storm, Eden :)
Fael Illyar: I think I probably did
Eden Haiku: Bye Fale, have a nice day.
Storm Nordwind: Bye for now then Fael
Eden Haiku: Well, what about having a Guiness at the pub Storm? Time for that?
Storm Nordwind: I think so. What a good idea :)
Eden Haiku: yeah!