2010.05.15 01:00 - "The Centre Cannot Hold"

The Guardian for this meeting was Scathach Rhiadra. The comments are by Scathach Rhiadra.

Darren Islar: hi Scath
Scathach Rhiadra: Good morning Darren
Scathach Rhiadra: How are you today?
Darren Islar: a late night yesterday, so a bit of a hangover, but without the alcohol :-)
Scathach Rhiadra: :)
Darren Islar: Hi Bert
Scathach Rhiadra: good evening Bertrum
Bertrum Quan: Hi Darren, Scath
Scathach Rhiadra: how are Liza's meditation classes going?
Darren Islar: besides the problems we sometimes have with the voice, I guess pretty well
Darren Islar: but you should ask the ones coming to the class :-)
Darren Islar: but to me it feels nice to be back on the horse and I do learn a lot
Scathach Rhiadra: sounds good:)
Darren Islar: at least it works out for one person :-)
Bertrum Quan: How are you this morning?
Scathach Rhiadra: fine thank you bertrum, and you?
Bertrum Quan: Okay, thanks.
Bertrum Quan: How does your practice fare in the context of all of the world's difficulties?
Scathach Rhiadra: mmmm, there are always difficulties
Scathach Rhiadra: or they can always be seen as difficuties
Bertrum Quan: Yes, but do you ever find yourself distracted from your practice by the upheavals?
Scathach Rhiadra: sure, sometimes even wonder why I bother, what can it matter
--BELL--
Darren Islar: :-)
Bertrum Quan: Sometimes it seems a bit like the Yeats poem--"the center cannot hold"
Scathach Rhiadra nods
Scathach Rhiadra: groundless
Bertrum Quan: It's hard to be grounded.
Scathach Rhiadra: yes, and particularly hard to be grounded in reality, not just our concepts and desires
Scathach Rhiadra: I suppose that is why we need to practice:)
Bertrum Quan: Yes, it is important to be centered. But don't you feel a strong tug toward activism as well?
Scathach Rhiadra: yes, it can be eay to fall into wanting a 'quietude', if that is the correct word, forgetting that real practice must involve body, speech or energy, and mind
Darren Islar: right :-)
Scathach Rhiadra: Good morning Qt
Qt Core: hi all
Darren Islar: having a peaceful mind as goal, instead of practicing
Darren Islar: hi QT
Bertrum Quan: EHi Qt
Bertrum Quan: To achieve one's balance.
--BELL--
Scathach Rhiadra: yes, and it seems to me sometimes that we particularly associate energy with samsara, so to speak
Bertrum Quan: Would you expand on that a bit more?
Scathach Rhiadra: mmm, looking for the quiet, thoughtless states, afraid that feeling energy is getting involved in the 'world', taking us away from the 'real' state
Darren Islar: it is like not wanting to think anymore, or feel, or experience
Scathach Rhiadra: but in fact when we find some real presence or awareness, it cn be very energetic and joyful
Darren Islar: really empty instead of Emptiness
Scathach Rhiadra: yes Darren:)
Darren Islar: I am glad I learned to meditate right away from people that tought me well :-)
Scathach Rhiadra: :)
Darren Islar: thinking it through now, it seems to me that trying to be 'empty' is one of the things that keeps us in Samsara
Scathach Rhiadra: yes
Darren Islar: creating more ignorance, blocking energy
Darren Islar: becoming numb
Darren Islar: indifference
Bertrum Quan: What I'm struggling with lately is the barrage of real-life tragedies--from oil to war to poverety to illness to financial collapse and so forth with cetering onself and clearing one's mind for perspective.
Darren Islar: It sounds like you need to know where to focus on in your life
Bertrum Quan: Balancing it all... one cannot ignore what is going on around them.
Darren Islar: focussing on what you can change
--BELL--
Darren Islar: maybe so, but it seems to me that the world has become to big for my little mind
Scathach Rhiadra: maybe we focus too much on why things are as they seem to be, rather than on how they are. Big questions of why things happen can be an endless struggle with no answers
Darren Islar: right, where focussing on what they are might give us some choice about how we want to live our lives according to those big issues
Darren Islar: seemingly in a small way
Scathach Rhiadra nods
Darren Islar: sounds right to me
Bertrum Quan: The Dalai Lama has to balance his inner peace with finding ways toward a just world. Isn't that so?
Scathach Rhiadra: yes
Darren Islar: but also taking it as it is
Qt Core: maybe just the idea of being searching those way gave him inner peace
Darren Islar: well it is hard to say what HH the Dalai Lama is really doing
Scathach Rhiadra: and his presence and activity in that world has an effect on it?
Darren Islar: because my guts tell me it is beyond the 'trying'
Darren Islar: it sure has, but Tibet being still occupied
Darren Islar: I mena, even this 'man' can't break iron
Scathach Rhiadra: :)
Darren Islar: and he is not even looking for that
Scathach Rhiadra: and the idea is not to just make a 'better' or 'nicer' samsara
Darren Islar: ah... yes, nicely put
Darren Islar: you know what is intruiging to me about HH the Dalai Lama, that he is what he is, no comprimises
Darren Islar: even not when it is about the occupation of Tibet, hi monks squatered all over the place
Qt Core: time to go, short nice session for me today :-)
Darren Islar: bye QT
Scathach Rhiadra: have a good day Qt:)
Bertrum Quan: bye QT
Qt Core: bye all
--BELL--
Scathach Rhiadra: good morning Yakuzza
Darren Islar: hi Yaku :-)
Bertrum Quan: Good morning, Yakuzza.
Darren Islar: Bert is writing a book in the meantime :-)
Scathach Rhiadra: it seems so:)
Scathach Rhiadra: I must br off, thanks for a great session, have a good weekend all:)
Bertrum Quan: Bye Scath
Darren Islar: bye Scath, thanks, these are the kind of sessions I'm looking forward to
Scathach Rhiadra: Namasté
Bertrum Quan: I need to log off as well. Have a great day everyone.
Darren Islar: same here