2010.02.18 19:00 - The Situation is Hopeless But Not Serious! (Or LIfe as a Thrilling Movie!)

The Guardian for this meeting was Paradise Tennant. The comments are by  Lawrence Vyceratops, Lunata Lupino

 The title comes from a recent chat with Yakuzza - it is the title of a book by Paul Watzlawick  LIfe as a thrilling  movie was Lunata's all in a few words summation  ;)

Lawrence Vyceratops: Slow night?
Paradise Tennant: lol
Paradise Tennant: yes a bit quiet
Paradise Tennant: have you been to playasbeing before
Lawrence Vyceratops: Yes.
Paradise Tennant: so you have the notecard and know the drill :)
Lawrence Vyceratops: Yes. haha
Paradise Tennant: is there anything in particular you would like to talk about :)
Lawrence Vyceratops: I like to talk about the same thing every time...
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Paradise Tennant: listens
Lawrence Vyceratops: That would be...
Paradise Tennant: lol
Lawrence Vyceratops: There seems to be a lot of discord, anger and violence in the world, from close personal relationships to world wars.
Lawrence Vyceratops: There must be something that is causing all of this, or at least, allowing this to take place.
--BELL--
Lawrence Vyceratops: It seems obvious the mind is causing all of this, but is it necessary? Is there another "way?"
Paradise Tennant: that is a great topic .. something I think about a lot too :)
Lawrence Vyceratops: I shouldn't say another way... what I should say is that is there something missing or not seen?
Lawrence Vyceratops: I'm glad to hear that :)
Paradise Tennant: hmm I guess there are a number of ways of approaching it ..
Lawrence Vyceratops: What exactly should we approach, to begin with?
Paradise Tennant: none of which seem to help sometimes .. with the most distressing parts of reality'
Paradise Tennant: but I work alot with aspiration
Paradise Tennant: with visualizing something that causes pain as being different ..
Lawrence Vyceratops: What I'm asking is, what should we take a look at first, to begin with?
Lawrence Vyceratops: What should we attempt to define or understand first?
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Paradise Tennant: emptiness would be the starting point ? no ?
Lawrence Vyceratops: How do you mean? Let's start with a blank page. The only thing on the page is this awful discord and violence in the world...
Lawrence Vyceratops: What part should we address first?
Paradise Tennant: except that the awful discord and violence is not really as real as it seems to our senses ..
Lawrence Vyceratops: Right, but it is there, obviously. So, should we look at violence or discord or something else?
Lawrence Vyceratops: Before trying to explain anything, just decide, between us, what to look at first....
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Paradise Tennant: anything will do ..everything is equally empty the bad stuff the good stuff
Lawrence Vyceratops: Empty of what?
Paradise Tennant: emptiness is a buddhist concept that boils down to reality as we percieve it is - not really reality
Paradise Tennant: *being
Lawrence Vyceratops: Yes, I can see that.
Paradise Tennant: so every 15 minutes .. I take a 9 sec break .. have set my watch to chime
Paradise Tennant: i just breathe and observe in that 9 sec
Paradise Tennant: what is around me
Lawrence Vyceratops: And what about the rest of the time?
Paradise Tennant: recognizing that perceptions I take in of those material appearances are just perceptions .. they are in my head ..not necessarily independently real
Lawrence Vyceratops: So, that's not so different from the 9 seconds.
Paradise Tennant: that is what I do in the 9 secs that rest of the time I am absorbed in the day to day world of distraction :)
--BELL--
Paradise Tennant: welcome lunata
Lunata Lupino: good morning all
Paradise Tennant: I am going to give you a notecard and mention that the conversations here are recorded and posted on a wiki page
Lawrence Vyceratops: Hi, Lunata
Lunata Lupino: good to know, so i should *behave* well .-)
Lunata Lupino: hallo Lawrence
Paradise Tennant: sorry the second card is the most current
Lunata Lupino: ok, then i read that
Paradise Tennant: we were just chatting about perceptions, emptiness, and how to approach suffering, violence and discord .. whew ..heavy topics :)
Paradise Tennant: should mention your mermaid outfit is stunning btw :)
Lunata Lupino: oh indeed hard topics at that late time .-)
Paradise Tennant: I find actually many buddhist precepts actually make life much simpler and more enjoyable to live
Lunata Lupino: am reading and opened my translator :-)
Lawrence Vyceratops: But, we can't all be Buddhists :)
Paradise Tennant: if we accept that reality is in our head a construct of thought and perception .. it makes it much easier to deal with life as a whole the good and the bac
Paradise Tennant: lol
Paradise Tennant: lawrence there is a wonderful book called "what makes you not a buddhist" by dongsar rinpoche ..well worth reading and very funny
Lunata Lupino: oh to accept that i dont need to be buddhist :-) its same that u get affected watching a thrilling movie
Lunata Lupino: its in your brain and it reacts as if it were real
Paradise Tennant: yes life is a thrilling movie
Paradise Tennant: you put it in a nutshell lunata
Lawrence Vyceratops: Right.
Lawrence Vyceratops: So, what is that which is not real, but we accept as real?
Paradise Tennant: lol everything .. in fact the us .. the premise being that duality does not exist
Lunata Lupino: u cant hide from the illusions your brain makes you think its real
Paradise Tennant: we do not really exist as we perceive
Paradise Tennant: :)
Paradise Tennant: sigh
Paradise Tennant: lol
Lawrence Vyceratops: But what do we call it?
Lunata Lupino: oh thats cahllenging to make such an discussion in english
Lawrence Vyceratops: haha
Lunata Lupino: would be complicated to fid right words in German too
Lawrence Vyceratops: What language do you speak?
Lunata Lupino: German
Lawrence Vyceratops: Oh, German?
Lunata Lupino: fluent .-)
Lawrence Vyceratops: haha
Paradise Tennant: ah lunata your english is very very good :) lunata is a very talented graphic artist from berlin ..
Lawrence Vyceratops: :)
Lunata Lupino: Paradise, in talks like these i feel my limitations badly
Lawrence Vyceratops: So, do we know what causes the discord?
Lunata Lupino: not to have the right voaculairy
Paradise Tennant: sighs my german is so poor it is not of any help I am afraid
Lunata Lupino: vocabulairy
Lunata Lupino: haha Paradise
Paradise Tennant: :)
Lunata Lupino: i dont expect anyone to speak another language
Lunata Lupino: i try to communicate as good as i can
Paradise Tennant: you do very well :)
Lunata Lupino: hmmmm
Lunata Lupino: i caompare with what i were able to express
Lunata Lupino: anyway....
Paradise Tennant: ;)
Paradise Tennant: lawrence when you try to deal with difficult parts of life the violence, discord how do you deal with it ?
Lawrence Vyceratops: Thank goodness I don't have to deal with much violence ;)
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Lunata Lupino: which kind of violence do u mean Paradise, it has many faces
Lawrence Vyceratops: But, there is discord all the time, and what I do is look at that. Sometimes, I get angry...
Lawrence Vyceratops: and I look at that and see what it is, where it comes from.
--BELL--
Lawrence Vyceratops: But I think that is easier said than done.
Paradise Tennant: where do you think it comes from ?
Lawrence Vyceratops: Understanding between people being fundamentally different.
Lawrence Vyceratops: Or contradicting.
Paradise Tennant: having different view
Paradise Tennant: *views
Lawrence Vyceratops: Well, that and sticking to their ideas, despite the obvious contradiction.
Lawrence Vyceratops: our*
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Lawrence Vyceratops: But, even deeper, we can see that the mind is causing this through a particular kind of perception.
Paradise Tennant: yes I am sure the latin root .. would be very near that definition ... fundamental difference in viewpoint
Paradise Tennant: yes
Paradise Tennant: if is created out of the mind does it really exist ?
Lawrence Vyceratops: Well, what is the mind, and what is existence?
Paradise Tennant: lol
Paradise Tennant: wow now those are good questions !
Paradise Tennant: hope someone figures it out :) soon :)
Lawrence Vyceratops: Indeed! haha
Lawrence Vyceratops: Hope everyone figures it out soon.
Lunata Lupino looks if *someone* is in near .-)))
Paradise Tennant: smiles even better
Paradise Tennant: lol
Lawrence Vyceratops: What is existence?
Lunata Lupino: a definition
Lawrence Vyceratops: It's this movement through time, isn't it?
Lunata Lupino: not for me
Paradise Tennant: lol well now there are those who do not believe in time either :)
Lunata Lupino: its something i can think about, or touch or smell
Lunata Lupino: that exists and has existence
Lunata Lupino: it exists, nethertheless in my mind or outside
Lawrence Vyceratops: Without the concept of time, what can exist?
Paradise Tennant: well
Lunata Lupino: time *exists* too for me .-) i am aware when i am in houses where they have those awful loud clocks which remind me that time is running
Lawrence Vyceratops: I'm sorry.... I have to be going....
Paradise Tennant: what is exists is our quote buddha nature that is neither born .nor dies .. that is beyond time ..beyond thought ... beyond concept
Paradise Tennant: no worries
Paradise Tennant: thanks very kindly for joining us tonight
Paradise Tennant: good nite lawrence
Lawrence Vyceratops: Sure :) Have fun!
Lunata Lupino: good night Lawrence