2010.02.06 19:00 - Reverberations

The Guardian for this meeting was Pema Pera. The comments are by Pema Pera.

Alas, time had slipped my mind, so I came in late.  Fortunately, Eliza was there (seemingly talking to herself while holding the fort, or pavilion), and Calvino joined at around the same time that I came in.

Pema Pera: Hi Eliza!
Eliza Madrigal now wonders what to do with all the pictures she took of herself dancing in the fountain :)
Pema Pera: ??
Eliza Madrigal: hah,, nevermind.
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Pema
Pema Pera: sorry to be late -- he said sheepishly
Pema Pera: HI Calvino!
Eliza Madrigal watches Calvino walking but not going anywhere....
Pema Pera: completely forgot the time . . . .
Eliza Madrigal waves
Pema Pera: sorry about that
Eliza Madrigal: :) No worries...
Pema Pera: have you been here from the start?
Eliza Madrigal: Hm, I saw that you didn't sign on about ten minutes in...
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Eliza Madrigal: yes indeed
Pema Pera: well, no excuse, except that it's yet another day with four SL meetings . . . the third time this week!
Eliza Madrigal: wow
Pema Pera: I keep trying to limit myself to two per day, but each day there are "exceptions"
Eliza Madrigal: yes, very easy to do that
Pema Pera: like today the two Malta reports and a fascinating astronomy talk
Pema Pera: and then finally my own session :-)
Eliza Madrigal: After retreat reports are over... can be 'moderate' ?
Pema Pera: ha, well, then there are Kira related meetings, and as you know Working Group meetings, and weekly guardian meetings, and recently PaB wiki meetings and . . . . .
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Pema Pera: it reminds me of the two things I learned soon after starting to work with virtual worlds:
Pema Pera: 1) the world is round; and 2) sleep is a precious thing
Calvino Rabeni: You get more used to sleeping in shifts, eh Pema?
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: What was the astronomy talk about? There is an unknown object now isn't there...
Pema Pera: it was about the nature of time
Pema Pera: hard to summarize in a few words
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, even more interesting
Eliza Madrigal: Can't do it in chat type? heh
Pema Pera: but I can give a URL: http://www.amazon.com/Eternity-Here-Quest-Ultimate-Theory/dp/0525951334/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265513211&sr=1-1
Eliza Madrigal: Thanks!
Pema Pera: Sean Carroll, the author of "From Eternity to Here" gave a talk about his own book

Pema Pera: as for the unknown object, I don't know about that -- fitting, I guess :-)
Calvino Rabeni: Sigh .. so many books, so little time :)
Pema Pera: btw, is that a new fairy dress? it's very pretty!
Eliza Madrigal: Thank you, yes... playing a bit :)
Pema Pera: the garland in the hair fits beautifully with the wings :)
Eliza Madrigal beams
--BELL--
Calvino Rabeni: :) you do play :)
Eliza Madrigal: As much as I dislike giving press to fox news... this is what I heard about... http://video.foxnews.com/v/4002243/space-oddity-baffles-boffins?playlist_id=87249
Pema Pera: duracell batteries?
Pema Pera: ah!
Eliza Madrigal: haha
Pema Pera: asteroid collision
Eliza Madrigal: yes batteries in space...
Pema Pera: yes, fascinating
Pema Pera: most likely the product of a collision of two asteroids
Pema Pera: How about switching to the Christian Science Monitor instead of Fox? http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/Discoveries/2010/0202/Has-the-Hubble-Space-Telescope-spied-asteroid-on-asteroid-collision-debris
Eliza Madrigal: Time is more fascinating maybe, but 'neat' to see these pictures...
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Calvino Rabeni: So now I envision a TV commercial - astronauts land on an astroid, approach ancient artifact, it turns out to be a rabbit powered by a certain brand of batteries, and it is still moving
Pema Pera: and here is the story from NASA itself: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2010/02feb_asteroidcollision.htm
Pema Pera: after all, the picture was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope
Eliza Madrigal: Well, Michio is on my facebook page... hahah
Pema Pera: hehehe, Calvino
Eliza Madrigal: now, if we could have pictures of time....
Eliza Madrigal: (Sorry am a bit loopy/tired... will settle down)
Pema Pera: the TSK book has several pictures of time . . . .
Pema Pera: :-)
Eliza Madrigal: :)

Pema Pera: well, to switch the subject slightly, how has the Malta retreat come across, in the several reports, this last week, for both of you?
Eliza Madrigal: I loved Lia's session
Eliza Madrigal: and of course they are all interesting.. one can definitely feel that there was a particular and wonderful sharing to the time
Calvino Rabeni: How so about Lia's session, Eliza?
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, it just felt hm.. whimsical and explorative
Eliza Madrigal: like Lia I guess... and Pema.. encouraging the crossovers daydreams/dreams/sl....
Calvino Rabeni: For me, it was like different episodes of a drama series, in a certain way
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Calvino Rabeni: because I get to like the characters involved, and look forward to their next escapades
Calvino Rabeni: :)
Eliza Madrigal: you say 'their', but wouldn't you plan to attend a retreat Cal?
Calvino Rabeni: My av looks somewhat serious, but when I type :) the mouth should curve up )
Eliza Madrigal: :))
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, I was more attracted to travel to malta, and also to some PaB retreat anywhere
Calvino Rabeni: On a recent session, someone was suggesting Crestone CO as a location for a retreat
Eliza Madrigal: Ohhh, yes I read that
Calvino Rabeni: I was interested in that
Eliza Madrigal: yes me too

Eliza Madrigal: It was Storm I think... looking at places in Colorado
Calvino Rabeni: The place has a certain weird grandeur
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Pema Pera: I've never been there, but yes, I've heard great stories about the place
Calvino Rabeni: And , of course, san francisco is a favorite, but not an exotic escape, since I lived in the area
Calvino Rabeni: Or even Boulder CO, easier to get to
Eliza Madrigal: yes, I've been trying to get back to Colorado for 20 years.. would prob be the first to sign on to that retreat :)
Eliza Madrigal: I often wonder if that's not why I took a spiritual turn in life... feeling so dwarfed by the surroundings....
--BELL--
Eliza Madrigal: maybe similar to meditation clifftop overlooking the sea :)
Calvino Rabeni: You had a period in CO then Eliza?
Eliza Madrigal: yes a little window, but a significant one :)
Calvino Rabeni: Hint about what? :)
Eliza Madrigal: haha
Eliza Madrigal: Not about anything really... just a little adventure which maybe had larger reverberations than intended at the time...
Eliza Madrigal: Still I can remember the tears when driving toward the rockies... the sun was streaking through the clouds just so....
Eliza Madrigal: overwhelmed me entirely... and I just sort of stayed like that :)

Pema Pera: :)
Calvino Rabeni: I remember certain things also - I like your term "reverberations"
Calvino Rabeni: For me, there aren't so much peak experiences, or maybe they are if therre is such a thing as subtle peak experiences
Eliza Madrigal: Oh, yes I'm sure there are...
Calvino Rabeni: But these are the ones the my mind returns to during dreams and meditation
Calvino Rabeni: during which things seemed to shift in some deep way
Eliza Madrigal: yes...
Calvino Rabeni: Although I'd not recall them as "overwhelming", they have some indelible mark left in me
Pema Pera: it is odd, isn't it, how some parts of our lives take on such magical hues . . . .
Calvino Rabeni: Although they seem "self generated" rather than me being swept away by uncommon circumstances of the outer world
Eliza Madrigal: yes... and strange too how one might not notice at the time but then backing up... so apparant
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, pema
Eliza Madrigal: Well, thinking of self-generated... like the retreats, one sets aside the time...
Calvino Rabeni: Right, that can happen, the significance wasn't so noticeable at the time
Eliza Madrigal: and maybe there are things that are there but haven't had the nurturing or quiet to come to the surface... and then in nice company....
Eliza Madrigal: peacefulness
Pema Pera: I find that the more I learn about contemplation, the more I can recognize earlier spontaneous episodes -- it's like I'm finally getting to know more of the landscape, and realize I've made many explorations there before, without clearly realizing what happened
Calvino Rabeni: It is like, almost, opening up something at that time, a doorway, and nothing comes through at the time, but it stays open and things continue to come through or "reverberate"
Calvino Rabeni: Yes Pema, like that
Pema Pera: yes, nicely put, Calvino!
Eliza Madrigal: hmmm
Calvino Rabeni: The immediate effect is what people notice more commonly
Calvino Rabeni: It is an orientation that makes experiences significant depending on their immediate "impact"
Calvino Rabeni: Perhaps like, why movies have bigger and bigger special effects
Calvino Rabeni: But the non-impact subtle qualities can be more powerful in the long run
Eliza Madrigal nods... yes I think so too ... or at least as much so
Pema Pera: like the tremendous delight I felt while playing with chemical experiments when I was 13 or 14 years old, and only much later realizing forms of overlap with what alchemists wrote about . . . . just the sheer joy in working with purified substances and watching their transformations
Pema Pera: just one example; there are many others -- like watching the sky cloud over, having to stop looking through my little telescope at age 12 and just "falling into the clouds"
Eliza Madrigal: sheer joy and 'just' play... nice!
--BELL--

Pema Pera: or the delight of riding a motorcycle through tiny roads between farmlands
Calvino Rabeni: Got me there, Pema
Calvino Rabeni: A delight for me was to ride a motorcycle in Thai cities :)
Calvino Rabeni: I felt "one with everything" :)
Calvino Rabeni: I think I "dropped" a great deal of cultural "stuff" at that time.
Pema Pera: I guess one aspect is that you control the machine with your whole body, rather than only with hand and feet, as in a car
Calvino Rabeni: Much more immersive, immediate
Calvino Rabeni: More at risk, more trust of having one's fate in one's own hands
Pema Pera: in some way a kind of subject-object unity -- or at least a glimpse
Calvino Rabeni: Indeed

Eliza Madrigal has ridden a unicycle... giggles...not sure what one learns there
Eliza Madrigal: other than it is more difficult than it looks :)
Pema Pera: :-)
Calvino Rabeni: Poise and balance, focused intent :)
Pema Pera: flow
Calvino Rabeni: Omnidirectional awareness
Pema Pera: concentration :)
Calvino Rabeni: Mastering all you degrees of freedom
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, well not the way I did it... but I did make it a little ways
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Calvino Rabeni: Because it has so many more of them compared to a car
Pema Pera: how far, Eliza :)
Calvino Rabeni: A car has fewer than a bicycle has fewer than a unicycle
Eliza Madrigal: hm...across a long hall....
Pema Pera: yes, Calvino, a car is like a kind of "virtual motorbike" -- you feel more like a typist
Pema Pera: a long hall, ELiza ???
Pema Pera: not a long haul?

Eliza Madrigal: it was at a friend's clown college...
Pema Pera: starts getting interesting now . . . .
Eliza Madrigal smiles... part of a little entertainment group... went out for parties and such...
Pema Pera: you were riding on top of a high wire?
Eliza Madrigal: NOoooooo
Pema Pera: hence the wings?
Eliza Madrigal: I think I would have liked to... I was just the girl in the middle of the two boys juggling fire and such... but good memories...
Pema Pera: sounds dangerous . . . .
Eliza Madrigal: Nooo just fun, playful
Pema Pera: :-)
Eliza Madrigal: less dangerous than chemicals or motorcycles
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Pema Pera: well, I think I'll try to get some sleep, nice talking with you both!
Eliza Madrigal: Nite Pema :)
Calvino Rabeni: As always, Pema :)

Pema Pera: see you at the guardian meeting tomorrow -- to NAME THE CAT !!!
Eliza Madrigal: :))
Calvino Rabeni: BFN

Calvino Rabeni: The cat, the cat, ...
Eliza Madrigal: : )
Calvino Rabeni: It could be called "Name This Cat"
Eliza Madrigal: haha
Calvino Rabeni: I like too many of the names - might have to give fractional votes
Eliza Madrigal: Well, she doesn't seem to mind not having a name, but still nice to give her one
Calvino Rabeni: haha, as in "Steal This Book"
Eliza Madrigal: :)))
Eliza Madrigal: I think you'll just have to choose, Calvino... tough, I know...
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: such a strange night... think I drank too much coffee today
Calvino Rabeni: So much to choose from in SL and other places
Eliza Madrigal: sat at a cafe for hours... reading
Calvino Rabeni: Nice,
Calvino Rabeni: It is saturday
Eliza Madrigal: yes, it really was :)
Eliza Madrigal: Almost Sunday here :)
Calvino Rabeni: I have a ritual - I call it "information Sabbath"
Eliza Madrigal: sundays in SL are by busiest days
Eliza Madrigal: *my
Calvino Rabeni: Or it could be called by another name
Eliza Madrigal: On Saturdays you take a break from information?
Eliza Madrigal: So not following any links about asteroids or time books... hehe
Calvino Rabeni: Anyway, Friday afternoon I go to a cafe, or public place,and then get all my "information" tasks mentally squared away
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, you're a source of temptation :)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: How so? Curious about that idea...
Calvino Rabeni: And then from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, I stay pure of information
Calvino Rabeni: Just like - same idea as a day of silence at the retreat\
Eliza Madrigal: Ah
--BELL--
Eliza Madrigal: I used to take Silence Fridays
Calvino Rabeni: Until Dark on saturday, I can open the information floodgates again
Calvino Rabeni: But you really didn't tempt me, because it is night here, so those links were OK
Calvino Rabeni: I'm chatting during the "pause" because I have to leave soon.
Eliza Madrigal: I've never stuck with the silence all day though.... but staying off the computer at least one day per week used to be a discipline
Calvino Rabeni: It is a good one. Also, no information reading, like news.
Calvino Rabeni: Nothing that makes you feel incomplete, nothing impersonal
Eliza Madrigal: Hm, interesting...
Calvino Rabeni: I think, certain kinds of reading are outside "information"
Calvino Rabeni: so those would be OK
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: there are kinds of reading that aren't really reading... its funny
Eliza Madrigal: but yes I do hear you... not taking in 'stuff' just to have it...
Calvino Rabeni: Yes
Calvino Rabeni: Not a consumer consciousness
Eliza Madrigal: information included. I spend some of my time with friends, them asking me "Didn't you hear about ___?"
Calvino Rabeni: Well, you can "redeem" it in that case
Eliza Madrigal: Thankfully, I have them... so I'll never be left out entirely
Eliza Madrigal: haha
Calvino Rabeni: If you can get them to turn it into a "story" :)
Eliza Madrigal: There is a tv 'news' show I really appreciate the format of...
Eliza Madrigal: cbs sunday morning. I tivo that
Eliza Madrigal: really nice focuses on cultural figures along with relevant topics
Eliza Madrigal: Not sure why that's so rare
Calvino Rabeni: I never saw it - don't have a TV
Eliza Madrigal: many SLers don't...
Eliza Madrigal: I went years without one too
Calvino Rabeni: It might be OK if you could knit or something along with it
Eliza Madrigal: hehe... well it isn't as much for me as for others, but tivo makes it less of a hinderance
Eliza Madrigal: anyway, I think I'm babbling...
Calvino Rabeni: I am too
Calvino Rabeni: I like the TV as a meditation
Eliza Madrigal: so sleepy but caffeinated :)
Calvino Rabeni: :)
Eliza Madrigal: Was that riddle who talked about that?
Eliza Madrigal: Or Steve... I can't remember
Calvino Rabeni: I listen to the tones of the voices, but have little regard for the statements they are making
Calvino Rabeni: Not always of course, but only with TV Meditation
Calvino Rabeni: Certain shows I would turn on, just for the sounds and rhythms of the opening scenes
Calvino Rabeni: Style, on an energetic level
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Calvino Rabeni: and then, maybe, turn it off again
Calvino Rabeni: Anyway, get some good rest Eliza :)
Eliza Madrigal: yes, I hope so :)
Calvino Rabeni: GTG, good talking to you
Eliza Madrigal: Otherwise I'll have no creativity for cat talk
Calvino Rabeni: :)
Eliza Madrigal: Nite Calvino
Calvino Rabeni: Bye