2010.02.25 19:00 - Aspiration!

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

Paradise Tennant: smiles Hiya lawrence :) How are you?
Lawrence Vyceratops: Hello. I'm good; and you?
Paradise Tennant: Very well thanks ..snowy night here .. drinking a nice cup of jasmine tea :)
--BELL--
Lawrence Vyceratops: Sounds cozy. :)
Paradise Tennant: yes always nice to be inside when there is a storm outside . makes you kind of appreciate it :)
Lawrence Vyceratops: You mean it makes you appreciate fine weather?
Paradise Tennant: lol no the benefits of indoors :)
Lawrence Vyceratops: Ah. :)
Paradise Tennant: What would you like to talk about Lawrence anything in particular? :)
Lawrence Vyceratops: I'm usually interested in talking about the problems of mankind, like violence and war - what can be done to really change things.
Paradise Tennant: Aspiration
Paradise Tennant: That would be the buddhist answer I believe
Lawrence Vyceratops: Why do you believe that?
Paradise Tennant: Their premise being that the world is a creation of our mind and by changing our thoughts focusing on seeing things differently will effect change
Paradise Tennant: and yes I believe it
Lawrence Vyceratops: Well, it has been around a very long time.... is it working?
Paradise Tennant: have you ever watched "what the bleep do we know"
Paradise Tennant: good section in the film about a study done in washington dc
Paradise Tennant: brought in a big team of experienced meditators
Lawrence Vyceratops: I watched it, but I don't remember it....
Paradise Tennant: did 24/7 focused meditation on bringing peace to the city
Paradise Tennant: head of police for the city poo pooed the whole concept
Paradise Tennant: crime rate ended up dropping dramatically during one of the hottest summers the city has ever had
Paradise Tennant: polilce chief became a big fan
Paradise Tennant: they did a replicate study too
Paradise Tennant: very similar results
Paradise Tennant: almost spooky
Lawrence Vyceratops: Interesting.
Paradise Tennant: My faith was more premised from watching my Dad growing .up . he was a quaker with a very disciplined way of thinking .. always thought the best of everyone ..
Paradise Tennant: and he drew that out of people invariably
Paradise Tennant: it was like he beamed sunshine out into the world and it beamed it right back at him
Paradise Tennant: so many amazing things would happen. I am firmly convinced that they related to his being able to simply exclude negative thinking from his consciousness
Paradise Tennant: that is why I find it really easy to believe what the buddhists are suggesting that the answer to violence is not a criminal justice system, or more violence or protests but simply calm reflection and the focused visualization of peace
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Lawrence Vyceratops: You said he had a very disciplined way of thinking...
Paradise Tennant: yes
Lawrence Vyceratops: In what ways?
Paradise Tennant: well. I do not recall  him ever saying anything negative about anyone and he would always censor me for doing so .. I do not think that he was simply without those kinds of thought he just consistently and successfully chose not to indulge them
Lawrence Vyceratops: I see.
Lawrence Vyceratops: He recognized grave consequences, perhaps?
Lawrence Vyceratops: ...of being negative.
Paradise Tennant: censor in the fashion .. if I made criticism of someone - he would usually point out that it was an impossible thing to say because I really did not have all the information
Paradise Tennant: and he was right
--BELL--
Paradise Tennant: more recent example
Paradise Tennant: at the retreat .. there was a neighbour's dog at the farmhouse who was being mistreated ..difficult situation difficult neighbour
Paradise Tennant: I was upset about  leaving the situation as is  without really doing anything
Paradise Tennant: I did send an email volunteered to contribute the costs of creating a yard for the dog but was at a loss of how to do more
Paradise Tennant: without overstepping .. and causing a problem for our host
Paradise Tennant: so I did aspiration personally and with buddhist class for both the hunter and the dog
Paradise Tennant: got an email last weekend saying after some weeks of negotiation the neighbour has agreed to allow the dog to stay out side during the day
Paradise Tennant: big improvement
Paradise Tennant: it does work
Paradise Tennant: would you like to try
Paradise Tennant: is there one situation that really bothers you
Lawrence Vyceratops: How do you mean?
Lawrence Vyceratops: Yes.
Paradise Tennant: would you like to spend say 5 minutes visualizing it being different
Lawrence Vyceratops: There is a lot of war going on.
Paradise Tennant: ok let be specific which war where
Lawrence Vyceratops: Sure. I can do that.
Lawrence Vyceratops: Well, now... I don't want to imagine a war into ending, if it just allows another war to begin. This could have consequences!
Paradise Tennant: we will just visualize peace
Lawrence Vyceratops: Ok.
Paradise Tennant: say in iraq
Paradise Tennant: ok
Lawrence Vyceratops: Wait...
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Paradise Tennant: yes
Lawrence Vyceratops: Let's visualize people in America wanting peace.
Paradise Tennant: ok
Lawrence Vyceratops: Ok.
Paradise Tennant: will start at the count of 3 and I will time the 5 minutes ok :)
Paradise Tennant: 1 2 3
Paradise Tennant: smiles gong :)
Lawrence Vyceratops: I hope it worked! ;)
--BELL--
Paradise Tennant: not so hard
Paradise Tennant: lol
Paradise Tennant: more silence I guess we just continue :)
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Lawrence Vyceratops: :)
Paradise Tennant: always finds it helpful
Paradise Tennant: at the very least it always leave me feeling calmer  more  centered and somehow lighter :)
Lawrence Vyceratops: Thoughts can be "heavy."
Paradise Tennant: yes and for the most part very unnecessarily so !
Lawrence Vyceratops: How can we tell when it is unnecessary?
Paradise Tennant: loved the title of a book yakuzza was talking about on the weekend " the situation is hopeless but not serious " :)
Paradise Tennant: it is heavy
Lawrence Vyceratops: That's funny. ;)
Paradise Tennant: kind of think heavy is the big give away
Lawrence Vyceratops: What do you mean?
Paradise Tennant: well when our thoughts are heavy .. they are so because they are not balanced .. there is an over emphasis on the negative
Lawrence Vyceratops: That sounds very abstract... Could you elaborate?
Paradise Tennant: ok take death usually not a cheery topic
Paradise Tennant: often .. one around which there is a lot of emotional intensity trauma almost
Paradise Tennant: personally - I do not think death is that bad - had a dream about dying once and the sensation once you were out of your body was really kind of nice .. very open very free .. felt incredibly curious :)
Paradise Tennant: if the buddhists are right and our world is created with thought then dying might be just kind of waking up from the dream
Paradise Tennant: tend to think the people who are dying are not the ones who are the worse off .. it is just really hard on the ones behind  - the ones who miss them :)
Lawrence Vyceratops: Well, thoughts are what allows us to experience the world.
Paradise Tennant: hmm there are two ways of looking at it .. the world being independent of thought .. a concrete reality that we take in
Paradise Tennant: or another perspective - the world as a creation of our thoughts - so not so concrete not so independent. I just think the physical reality is a little more unusual than we can understand with our current sensory set up
Lawrence Vyceratops: I think Calvino and I were talking the other night about how we think in metaphors.
Lawrence Vyceratops: These metaphors correspond to physical reality. You and I have been speaking metaphorically this whole time.
Lawrence Vyceratops: I think that this causes many problems in the world.
--BELL--
Paradise Tennant: smiles akin to the black lab in brian greene's elegant universe series being scolded for not doing his quantum physics homework - we are black labs in a quantum world :)
Lawrence Vyceratops: Yes, what you were saying about interpreting reality. We are limited by our sensory set up.
Lawrence Vyceratops: Simply because they are sensory, they can never know the thing they sense. They can only get impressions.
Paradise Tennant: yes we are in a feedback loop :)
Lawrence Vyceratops: Right.
Paradise Tennant: lol not to make a really bad pun but in a way the loopy ness of it
Paradise Tennant: allows for the impact of our thoughts to manifest :)
Paradise Tennant: there is all sorts of really interesting science being developed on this ..that is really intriguing
Lawrence Vyceratops: Yes.
Lawrence Vyceratops: Well, I have to go.
Paradise Tennant: Thanks Lawrence for coming :)
Lawrence Vyceratops: Thanks for talking :)
Paradise Tennant: Made the time pass much more quickly :)
Lawrence Vyceratops: See ya 'round! :)
Paradise Tennant: waves at you cu