2010.05.24 07:00 -To Woo Wu Wei's Way

The Guardian for this meeting was Eden Haiku. The comments are by Eden Haiku. This session was a theme session on wu wei initiated by Pema and Wol. A perfect circle of 12 people soon gathered: SophiaSharon, stevenaia, Pema, Zen, Eliza, Riddle, Wol, Bleu,Yakuzza, Pila, Eos and I. At some point, a little dance of leaving and coming happened and Paradise sat on Riddle's pillow, recreating the perfect circle.  A visitor also made a short appearance and Bertram came a bit later and stayed until the end. 

Steve expecting rain, carries an umbrella!

Eden Haiku: hi Pema!
SophiaSharon Larnia: hi everyone :)
Eden Haiku: Hey Sophia Sharon, Steve and Zen!
stevenaia Michinaga: hello, expecting rain here
SophiaSharon Larnia: smiles
Eden Haiku: Good morning Eliza!
Pema Pera: Hi everybody!
Zen Arado: Hello All
SophiaSharon Larnia: it's raining here in PA isnt it :))
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Everyone :)) Nice umbrella, Steve :)
stevenaia Michinaga: any minute
Eden Haiku: Hello Riddle!
Riddle Sideways: Hi EveryBody
Wol Euler: hello invisibles
Zen Arado: weighing up Wu
SophiaSharon Larnia: hi :)
Eden Haiku: Welcome Wol ;-)
Pema Pera: :-)
Zen Arado: Hi Wol:)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Wol :)
Eden Haiku: Good morning Bleu :)
Zen Arado: Hi Bleu
Bleu Oleander: hi everyone
Wol Euler: brb, tea is nearly ready
Zen Arado: or wooing Wei
Pema Pera: :-)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Bleu, Ya :)
SophiaSharon Larnia: :0
Zen Arado: Hi Yaku
Yakuzza Lethecus: hiya everyone
Pema Pera: to woo wu wei's way, Zen?
Eden Haiku: Yaku is only one shoe!
SophiaSharon Larnia: hi :)
Zen Arado: good one Pema
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Pila :))
Pila Mulligan: hi
Zen Arado: good alliteration :)
Wol Euler: ah, pila you made it here after all
Eden Haiku: hello Pila!
Pema Pera: waiting for Yaku's other shoe to drop . . . .
Zen Arado: Hi Pila
Pila Mulligan: :) 4 am
Wol Euler: wow
Pema Pera: 11 pm here
Riddle Sideways: been waiting weeks for the other show
Eden Haiku: Wow Pila!
Wol Euler: dedication or insomnia?
Riddle Sideways: shoe
SophiaSharon Larnia: Hi Pila, and oh my
Pila Mulligan: wu wei :)
Wol Euler chuckles
Pema Pera: wu wake ?
Pila Mulligan: :) also
Yakuzza Lethecus: doing in not doing sleeping ?

 

Let's go

Pema Pera: well, Wol, . . . wanna start?
Eden Haiku: laughing at all the puns
Wol Euler: sure, let's go.
Riddle Sideways: is there a SL control that will prevent ppl from singing "WuWei, Wu Wei Baby, Wu Wei..."
SophiaSharon Larnia: :D
Eden Haiku: ;))
Wol Euler: llFingersInEars (both);
Zen Arado: spotlight turns on Wol
Pema Pera: hehehe
Pema Pera: I remember that you spoke out to me across the log, so you can go first, Wol !
Wol Euler: ok
Pema Pera: (that's how the session came to be)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Wol Euler: this is a theme session (speaking for the log) on a concept that comes up frequently in our sessions
Wol Euler: Wu Wei
Wol Euler: do without doing
Wol Euler: hello eos
Pema Pera: hi Eos!
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Eos :))
Zen Arado: Hi Eos
Eden Haiku: Eos;)
Eos Amaterasu: Hi friends!
Wol Euler: one way to think of "do without doing", and a reason that it comes up here so often, is to relate it to dropping the self
Wol Euler: or rather the Self :)
Eden Haiku: Perfect circle!
Wol Euler: we get bonus karma points for that:)
Pema Pera: yes, they are clearly related
Eden Haiku: yeah!
Pema Pera: stepping out of the way
Pema Pera: :-) @ Eden
Wol Euler: *I* do not seek to enforce my will on an unwilling world, but rather step back from my desires and try to see what is right
stevenaia Michinaga: stepping with the way
Wol Euler: so we can relate that to Buddhist concepts like Right Action and Right Thought too
Wol Euler: something very similar happens in the state called "flow"
Wol Euler: when you are in flow, you stop being "yourself thinking" and become the action
Wol Euler: things that should happen, just do so
Wol Euler: like a carpenter stops thinking about his plane, and just smoothes the wood down
Wol Euler: or a tennis player stops feeling her racket and just puts the ball where it should be
Wol Euler: ((btw neither Pema nor myself has a prepared speech, so this can be a quite informal session. Feel free to ask questions or offer comments))
Pema Pera: so the challenge is how to get into that kind of flow . . . .
Pema Pera: it seems that we can identify with different senses of who/what we are -- the usual sense of a person (human being, with body and mind) or something wider, that then in some sense is "playing as person"
Pema Pera: it can be a little wider, or it can go all the way to Being
Riddle Sideways: OR play as no person
Wol Euler: mmhmm
Pema Pera: yes,

 

As Wol invited us to do so, Pila is the first to jump into the conversation:

Pila Mulligan: relevant quote: Tao Te Ching verse 48 (Gia Fu Feng translation): "In the pursuit of learning, every day something is acquired. In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped. Less and less is done until non-action is achieved. When nothing is done, nothing is left undone. The world is ruled by letting things take their course. It cannot be ruled by interfering."
Pema Pera: yes, and the challenge is to find that non-action without literally giving up action

--BELL--

Zen Arado: it can be a gradual process then?
Pema Pera: any exploration can take on more of a gradual or more of a instantaneous sense, I think..
Paradise Tennant: gtsy everyone :) waves all round :)
SophiaSharon Larnia: ~waves~
Pema Pera waves back
Zen Arado: Hi Paradise :)
Pila Mulligan: hi Paradise
Wol Euler: hi paradise
Eden Haiku: Good morning Paradise!
Eden Haiku: Will give you a note...
Wol Euler: yes, wu wei doesn't mean that things stop happening, nor even that you just lie on the sofa and each chocolates all day
Bleu Oleander: in the example of the tennis player, isn't that a learned action that becomes subconscious, rote, so the mind can concentrate on the bigger perspective? is that wu wei?
Riddle Sideways: yes, it is (and less)
Wol Euler: it's an imperfect example, sure. Pema is the theoretician, I am more comfortable with analogies and illustrations
Pema Pera looks around for theoreticians
SophiaSharon Larnia: giggles
Wol Euler: but yes, I think that it is. Because what happens is that the tennis player stops concentrating
Bleu Oleander: not sure how wu wei would be applied to everyday life
Zen Arado: thinks' being n the zone' is a bit different
Pema Pera: there are hundreds of wu wei ways, on various levels . . . . as in Pila's quote, you can keep shedding for a life time . . .
Wol Euler: and starts seeing the entire picture of what is happening
Eliza Madrigal nods zen
Zen Arado: it's more like being entirely in the present?
Bleu Oleander: so is it less concentration on the small stuff and more seeing the big picture?
Pema Pera: one example, Bleu, would be to hear a friend talking about problems -- and neither to walk away nor to try to come up with solutions, but just to be there, and say something when it really feels natural
Eos Amaterasu: resting in its own place, which could be in the middle of action
Pila Mulligan: Zen, it probably also includes being in a natural presence
Bleu Oleander: how does one cultivate a feeling of feeling natural?
Pila Mulligan: :)
Zen Arado: so how do we get there is the big question?
Eliza Madrigal: athletes will often talk about the work that it takes to hone a skill, but when they are in the moment of something acting on that, they have to rely on something out of their implicit control coming into play ...
Wol Euler: I'm wondering as we speak, whether Wu Wei is actually a state like Flow, or a way of describing something that happened.
Pila Mulligan: As two younger fish swam by an older fish said 'hi boys, how's the water?' a bit later one younger fish said to the other, 'what the hell is water?'
Zen Arado: agree Eliza
Bleu Oleander: wu wei = flow?
Wol Euler: yes, if a tennis player suddenly starts thinking about how to hold her racket in mid-match, her game goes to pieces instantly.
Eos Amaterasu: Re "how to get there": perhaps just noticing how we leave there is sufficient
Zen Arado: well.... how do we realize we are there then?
Eliza Madrigal nods
Riddle Sideways: being
Eliza Madrigal: but what I described zen yes does seem more like zone, which like you, thinking isn't quite the restful place wu wei describes?
Wol Euler: Perhaps it can only be recognized after the fact, in the way that one seldom feels a moment of happiness about to arrive
Bleu Oleander: is there a danger of justifying our actions by believing them to be "natural" ? is it subjective this judgement of "natural"?
Eden Haiku: Last week, something happened on the street that tasted like "wu wei". A choregraphy of concern about a little bird fallen from the nest. 7 strangers stopping to look at the creature.
Pila Mulligan: :)
Eden Haiku: And then, this jogger asking for a ladder, getting it, climbing up and putting back the bird into its nest.
Paradise Tennant: thinks it also relates to understanding our true nature which I think wu wei give you a little taste of :)
Eden Haiku: It felt like being part of some wonderful event.
Wol Euler: I don't think it is a judgement, Bleu, that doesn't feel quite right.
Pila Mulligan: nice event Eden
Eliza Madrigal: Nice, Paradise
Wol Euler: it's rather about mindfulness, and letting the moment that is around you show you what should happen
Eden Haiku: Hi Visitor. Have you been here before?
Visitor: i dont speak english only spanish
Wol Euler is practicing Wu Wei right now, letting herself be led by the momentary flow of conversation
Bleu Oleander: when you determine what should happen, aren't you making a judgement?

 

All aspects of wu wei,  none of them *is* wu wei

Eden Haiku: Welcome Bertram.
Zen Arado: Hi Bert:)
Bertram Jacobus: hy everybody ... :-)
Eden Haiku: Will give you a note Visitor.
Pema Pera: that's the point, Bleu, not to determine
Wol Euler: hello nick, bert
Pema Pera: not as a conscious act
Bleu Oleander: so act unconsciously?
Pema Pera: for example, when you cross through a busy area full of other people, you don't bump in to others
Pema Pera: but not by deciding or calculating
Pema Pera: it "just happens"
Visitor: i have to go out, by
Wol Euler: mmhmm
Pema Pera: it is natural
Wol Euler: in that sense, you could say that it is also related to intuition.
Bleu Oleander: wasn't that action learned before it became unconscious?
Wol Euler: intuition is your mind doing wu wei behind "your" back

--BELL--

Pema Pera: but of course, it takes a life time to learn that more and more
Eliza Madrigal: So then wu wei would be what is always 'happening' which we are in the habit of interrupting?
Paradise Tennant: smiles and waves at bertam ..
Pema Pera: we had to learn specific actions, yes, some of the examples mentioned; but the more we learn, from specific situations, the more we learn to improvise in all areas of our life, well beyond the specific examples.
Bertram Jacobus waves back at paradise ... :-)
Bleu Oleander: so is wu wei letting your past learned knowledge guide you in an unconscious way?
Pema Pera: no, I don't think so
Riddle Sideways: re: learn/practice: It took you about a year of intense study to learn to walk. Now you do it almost naturally.
Pila Mulligan: theoretically, change is a bedrock element of Chinese philosophy, and within change there is a natural median -- wu wei suggests having a modest relationship with change :)
Zen Arado: reminds me of Zen and archery
Wol Euler is reminded of the parable of the elephant and the blind men :)
Zen Arado: "(...) The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconscious is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill, though there is in it something of a quite different order which cannot be attained by any progressive study of the art (...)"
Paradise Tennant: could we also not say wu wei is alot about being open ..being open to your true nature and the reality beyond the self :)
Wol Euler: all these are aspects of wu wei, in its nature or in its workings in us, but none of them *is* wu wei
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Paradise Tennant: at wol :) because it is much bigger than us :)
Wol Euler: right
Pema Pera: the problem with examples is: the easiest ones indeed start off as acquired skills; the more interesting ones are when you learn to shed more and more, when you un-acquire the attitude of the usual conceptual thinking.
Eliza Madrigal: hm, my sense of this would be 'laboring to enter into rest' in the sense of Tilopa's outline... of rest as the ground and every action 'from that'...?
Wol Euler: I think that it is about mindfulness and openness to a great extent, about letting go of the desire to meddle in the world as a way of pleasing our ego
Zen Arado: yes - like sports activities just a specific example but we can acquire this in all areas of life?

Noticing the "do too much"

Pema Pera: as Eos said: instead of trying to "not-do" just notice all the ways in which you "do" too much, each day
Wol Euler: and to let go of the idea that we must consciously control every aspect of life and change around us
Eliza Madrigal: or like jesus confusing people saying 'i am the way':))
Pema Pera: the more you notice, the easier it gets
Pema Pera: he was the Tao (way), I guess :-)
Paradise Tennant: hmmm sacred leisure ..the necessity of having space and time with which to "truly" be :)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eos Amaterasu likes "sacred leisure"
Pema Pera: and so are we all
Bertram Jacobus: love (way) - as i understood him
Paradise Tennant: smiles at eos :)
SophiaSharon Larnia: translations are tricky
Eliza Madrigal: most are scared of leisure... hehe
Wol Euler: heh
Pema Pera: :)
Wol Euler: true though.
Eden Haiku: I like the idea of noticing how much we 'do' too much. It seems easier to do than just 'not do' :))
Pema Pera: yes, love too, Bertram!
Bertram Jacobus: so many words ! ... :-) ("okay") ! :-)
Zen Arado: but not passivity either ?
Wol Euler: how often does "I'm bored" mean "I don't know what I must do now to fill this gap of time"
Eliza Madrigal: yes, what if one doesn't? Its what we're looking at here in pauses?
Wol Euler: if you stop trying to do something about that block of time, you instantly become un-bored, because there is so much happening around you
Wol Euler: but your desire to actively fill it prevents you seeing that
Pema Pera: !
Zen Arado: but 'bored' is also about not liking what is happening?
Wol Euler: well, IMHO YMMV :)
Zen Arado: it is 'boring'
Wol Euler nods to Eden. Not doing can seem difficult
Paradise Tennant: surrender ... is necessary but with some finite restrictions .. so when we work ..you really work .. with enthusiasm .. whole hearted focus but set limits on how many hours a day :)
Pema Pera: yes, balance
Zen Arado: so there is an element of not resisting what is happening too?
Paradise Tennant: thinks so
Pema Pera: not resisting, but responding
Wol Euler nods
Paradise Tennant: not necessarily giving up direction
Zen Arado: nods too
Riddle Sideways: but not forcing a direction
Riddle Sideways: perhaps not over analysis
Paradise Tennant: but being one with the situation ) without judgement .. then allowing what is right to flow through as the response :)
Zen Arado: yes analysis is the killer
Wol Euler: exactly
Eliza Madrigal: maybe we're in the habit of missing 'most' of what is present by narrowing our focus.. trying to 'do' something with everything
Eliza Madrigal: which some of us call 'being responsible' :)))
Paradise Tennant: smiles we do a lot we do not need to do .. we think a lot we do not need to think :)
Zen Arado: nods
Wol Euler: in Taoism one speaks of letting The Moment tell you what is the right thing,what should happen now. Wu Wei has something of that too
Paradise Tennant: and we just plain do not smile and laugh enough for my taste as a species !
Wol Euler: agreed, paradise.
Eden Haiku: @Paradise, yes!
Eliza Madrigal smiles and laughs at Paradise
Paradise Tennant: smiles and laughs back at eliza :))))))))))
Eliza Madrigal giggle
Eden Haiku: I would love to hear stories of how you experienced wu wei "moments in time"…

--BELL--

Riddle Sideways: ah, must go... Paradise, please take my pillow
Wol Euler waves to the departing Riddle
Zen Arado: bye Riddle
SophiaSharon Larnia: bye Riddle
Bertram Jacobus: i'm not sure, wether that is it, but i experience very often moments of "just be" and have the impression - this may be "wu-wei" - "in time" ? "yes, sure" ! ... ;-)
Wol Euler nods
Bertram Jacobus: bah - typos - sry
Eliza Madrigal can think of just a few experiences of 'total harmony' but many which seem tastes
Wol Euler: I've had a few occasions where I have had to do something, physical things usually, but didn't know how to do what needed to be done.
Wol Euler: I found that if I just "turn off" the idea of knowing the right thing to do, then I can sometimes just let the right thing happen
Zen Arado: maybe we don't even notice it sometimes?
Paradise Tennant: thanks riddle .. for the log :)
Eden Haiku: There would be a distinction to make between 'flow' and "wu wei", wu wei being closer to just be as Bertram describes it?
Paradise Tennant: smiles at wol :) yes !
Eliza Madrigal: or being caught in a flow of wu wei, where it doesn't even matter if one becomes conscious of it... doesn't scare it away, in a sense...
Bertram Jacobus: i think, wu-wei and flow describe "the same thing" - may be a bit different aspects of "it"
Zen Arado: if we notice we aredoing it maybe we aren't doing it?
Wol Euler smiles
Paradise Tennant: it is not we doing it ... :) I suspect :))))
Zen Arado: or it doing us
Zen Arado: or it doing us doing it:)
Eden Haiku: Somehow, I think it always becomes conscious because it is so exhilarating. Like feeling we breath some fresher air, being what we are meant to be, just be.
Zen Arado: ties himself in knots again :)

 

Happiness and wu wei

Wol Euler: there's an interesting similarity between happiness and wu wei, as states
Eliza Madrigal: mmmmm Eden, yes
Wol Euler: you can't "do" happiness. Trying to is guaranteed to fail
Zen Arado: yes Wol
Wol Euler: it happens most often as a byproduct of having been in flow, being really busy and occupied doing the right thing
Eden Haiku: But we know happiness when it is there. I had a friend who used to say at parties "Aren't we happy?"
Wol Euler: and you recognized in retrospect, "ah, I was happy just then"
Paradise Tennant: sorry let me rephrase ... it is not the we we know and see and can touch .. it is a much deeper more profound we .. semantics can be so confusing :) often words obstruct more than communicate :) likes pictures
Paradise Tennant: bleu what would a picture of wu wei look like ?
Wol Euler: she's afk, alas
Pema Pera: yes, one way to approach wu wei is to let go of the identification of what we think we are
Eden Haiku: It was like he was taking snapshots of "wu wei"and I still remember one of them, years later. The weather, the people, all still there like if I am still in this moment.
Paradise Tennant: oooo eden just got shivers .. a no time moment!
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Wol Euler: mmhmm :)
Eden Haiku: Yes :)
Pema Pera: :)
Zen Arado: is meditation wu wei?
Pila Mulligan: nice question :)
Bertram Jacobus: can be i'd say
Wol Euler: depends why you started it, I would say :)
Eden Haiku: Can't we say that of this moment also, like a perfect circle of a perfect moment in time. All of us available to have this conversation now, living in peace and in such privileges we can gather in a metaverse and have a conversation like this?
Eliza Madrigal: ((Eden)))
Wol Euler: if the alarm clock rang and you threw down the brush you were painting with and forced yourself to abandon what you were thinking about, then no.
Wol Euler: IMHO YMMV
Zen Arado: lovely Eden
Wol Euler nods to Eden.
Eos Amaterasu: nostalgia for this unutterable moment
Eden Haiku: Taking snapshots of "wu wei" as flowing with it is the poet's work I would say ;)
Wol Euler: perhaps wu wei is about the reason things happen, not the things that happen.
Eden Haiku: How so Wol?
Paradise Tennant: smiles at eden ..!
Wol Euler: well, I was thinking about my last example.
Eliza Madrigal: then we all should be poets Eden :))
Wol Euler: meditation can be wu wei if it happens naturally at the right time and place
Eden Haiku: Aren't we all Eliza? :))
Eliza Madrigal: or 'may we all be poets'
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Wol Euler: it can also definitely not be if You made a decision to stop something that was happening naturally and force yourself to do that
Wol Euler: so in that example wu wei is not in the meditation, but in your reasons, your desire
Paradise Tennant: thinks in a way we all are poets and musicians . art and music being a circular flow ..incomplete without the viewer and the listener :)))
Zen Arado: or it can happen naturally in meditation?
Zen Arado: but not all meditation is wu wei?

--BELL--

Eden Haiku: @Paradise, yes, all practitioners of the Art of Being ;)
Eliza Madrigal: meditation 'can' create the conditions which allow you to step out of the way perhaps
Wol Euler: not all of anything is anything :)
Zen Arado: agree Paradise
Pema Pera: . Eden snapping shots of wu wei here, wu wei there wooing all of us
Wol Euler smiles.
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Paradise Tennant: smiles :)))))
Eden Haiku: Ah! Pema is certainly a poet :-))))
Zen Arado: :)
Pema Pera bows to Eden
Paradise Tennant: yes ! even his math is poetic!
Wol Euler: :)
Pema Pera: (at best a sleepy poet, it's midnight, so I'll bow out now :-)
Wol Euler: goodnight, pema, thank you!
Eliza Madrigal: Night Pema, thank you
Paradise Tennant: good nite pema ..thank you :)
Pema Pera: thank you all for not-doing whatever it was we were all not-doing :)
Eden Haiku: Creating Play as Being was a wu-wei non-action action that bears a lot of fruits,,,
Paradise Tennant: lol
Eliza Madrigal: hehehe
Yakuzza Lethecus: bye everyone
Eden Haiku: Night Pema, thank you!
Wol Euler: bye yaku, take care
Pema Pera: hehehe, Eden
SophiaSharon Larnia: bye :)
Eliza Madrigal: lots of fruits indeed
Yakuzza Lethecus: thx wol, pema
Zen Arado: Bye Pema, Yaku
Paradise Tennant: take care yaku :) big wave
Pema Pera: bfn
Eden Haiku: Bye Yaku!
Bertram Jacobus: bye pema *wave*
Eliza Madrigal: Bye Ya
Bertram Jacobus: bye yaku :-)
Eliza Madrigal: What a nice session, appreciate it everyone
Eos Amaterasu: Ciao all, must also leave this gathering, this moment....
Paradise Tennant: smiles at everyone :) it was very enjoyable :)
Wol Euler smiles and nods. Yes, we did very well I think :)
Wol Euler: bye eos, take care
Paradise Tennant: take care eos :)
Eliza Madrigal: Bye Eos
Zen Arado: Bye Eos
Bertram Jacobus: bye eos ! ...
Bleu Oleander: Bye everyone
Eden Haiku: Yes, very nice indeed. Thank you so much for this wonderful theme Wol.

 

"The dessert is in bloom": was it Eliza saying this theme was a treat, somehow, we gently wu wei into desserts…

Eliza Madrigal: Thanks Wol, a treat to start the week like this
Bertram Jacobus: bye bleu
SophiaSharon Larnia: me too, bye ALL
Paradise Tennant: take care bleu :)
Eliza Madrigal: Bye Sharon, Steve
Paradise Tennant: thank you wol .. great session ..super idea :)
Wol Euler smiles and blushes. Thank you, and thank *you* for the thoughtful contributions
Eden Haiku: Bye bye all those departing...
Bleu Oleander: sorry to be afk but look forward to reading the rest of the log!
Bertram Jacobus: bye sharon and steve
stevenaia Michinaga: thank you Wol
Zen Arado: teasing out the wu wei knots...
Bleu Oleander: really enjoyed it ... thank you Wol
Wol Euler: this was wu wei in action, it developed as it went along without any planning or pattern
Eliza Madrigal: I should go too... would like to attend the kira film event at 2:30....
Paradise Tennant: take care sharon ..steve :)
Wol Euler: oh damn, I forgot about that :(
Zen Arado: what's that Eliza?
Eden Haiku: Bye Eliza, have a nice day!
Wol Euler: I have to go back to work this evening :(((
Bleu Oleander: yes, that's at 2:30?
Paradise Tennant: smiles at eliza ..enjoyed seeing you :)
Zen Arado: bye Eliza
Wol Euler: oh wait, 2:30SL, I'll be done by then! yay!
Eliza Madrigal: Pema and Shekhar Kapur had a wonderful talk... yes so Gaya set up time to discuss the video,, which can be found on the guardian session log
Paradise Tennant: smiles holiday here I get to go make wu wei blueberry pancakes :)
Eliza Madrigal: MMMMM
Wol Euler: mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Zen Arado: ah yes TY Eliza
Bleu Oleander: saw the video .... wonderful discussion!
Eliza Madrigal: Hugs all around :)) Bye for now
Wol Euler: bye eliza, se you later
Eden Haiku: Happy Queen Victoria Day Paradise!
Zen Arado: must watch video
Paradise Tennant: and to you !
Zen Arado: thanks to all
Bleu Oleander: c u later everyone!
Zen Arado: bye
Eden Haiku: here we call it Patriots Day :-)))
Paradise Tennant: take care zen :)
Bleu Oleander: bye and thanks again Wol
Wol Euler: bye zen, thank you for your contributions!
Eden Haiku: Bye Zen!
Wol Euler: yw, thank you bleu
Paradise Tennant: happy patriots day eden :)
Eden Haiku: Thanks Paradise, I will eat blueberries too! ;-))
Wol Euler has blueberry yoghurt in the fridge.
Pila Mulligan: so the holiday has different names in different provinces -- interesting
Wol Euler: speaking of food :)
Eden Haiku: Mium mium. I add frozen blueberries to plain yoghurt. Delicious!
Paradise Tennant: yum
Wol Euler: I was at a christening party yesterday, we had a lovely lunch in a very fancy restaurant
Paradise Tennant: yes two richly distinct cultures well actually a myriad of richly distinct cultures here
Paradise Tennant: nice !
Wol Euler: dessert was goat-cheese-and-honey sorbet with a pepper-caramel sauce.
Eden Haiku: oh, and the dessert you tweeted seemed great!
Wol Euler: the strangest-tasting thing I ever ate. But it was really delicious
Paradise Tennant: pepper caramel ? hmm interesting ..
Bleu Oleander: sounded good to me!
Eden Haiku: pepper caramel sounds delicious!!!
Wol Euler: goat cheese icecream. Who would think of that?
Paradise Tennant: some chef in wu wei !
Eden Haiku: And goat cheese ice cream yes...with honey...
Wol Euler: yep!
Bleu Oleander: had olive oil gelato that was great recently
Eden Haiku: Yes, wu wei chef Paradise, good point!
Wol Euler: :)
Pila Mulligan: remembering Wol's earlier reference to chocolates on the sofa
Paradise Tennant: had a pistachio gelato in taormina that rocked my world :)
Wol Euler: mmmmmmm
Eden Haiku: Wu wei memories of amazing foods....
Bleu Oleander: recalls many rock-my-world desserts!
Bleu Oleander: food memories are very powerful
Wol Euler thinks that good food is the greatest pleasure.
Eden Haiku: Olive oil gelato and pistachio gelato, and Taormina...Feeling dreamy suddenly...
Bleu Oleander: totally agrees with Wol
Bleu Oleander: need to find some gelato today :)
Wol Euler: :)
Paradise Tennant: smiles yes .. bougainvillea .. the scent of the mediterranean .. warm sun smiles
Bertram Jacobus: *wink*
Paradise Tennant: lol
Eden Haiku: Bougainvillea…ah yes, the warm breeze...in fact, there is one from a fan...
Eden Haiku: Very hot and humid in Montreal today...
Bleu Oleander: have lots of bougainvillea in my backyard
Paradise Tennant: lucky bleu !
Eden Haiku: Ah, Arizona, another dream...
Wol Euler smiles.
Paradise Tennant: yes in january when the dessert is in bloom
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Wol Euler: that's on my lifetime to-do list :)
Bleu Oleander: yes, everything blooming here .... had a wet spring
Paradise Tennant: and the air is a kind of velvet I have never experienced anywhere else
Paradise Tennant: bucket list !
Eden Haiku: The campus of JNU university in New Delhi was filled with boungainvilleas in March.
Pila Mulligan slips away -- lovely to see you again my friends (singing a Moody Blues lyric :)
Wol Euler: goodnight pila, I hope you can get some sleep
Bleu Oleander: bye Pila
Paradise Tennant: smiles boungainvilleas surround us ..

--BELL--

Paradise Tennant: take care pila big wave from toronto
Eden Haiku: Enjoy your wu wei Hawaii Pila, Aloha!
Bertram Jacobus: pila pila pila :-) (koan?) :o)
Paradise Tennant: I should go too .. thank you all .. :) may your days be filled with the magic of wu wei !
Wol Euler: bye paradise, take care.
Wol Euler: and issue headscritches :)
Bleu Oleander: bye Paradise, take care
Bertram Jacobus: ty and bye paradise - same same (?) :-)
Paradise Tennant: big waves ! hugs all round :))

Small talk about inventories and closets leads us in a bit of confusion about the topic of our conversation…that leads us into the buddhist prayer "May all beings be happy"

Eden Haiku: Thank you Paradise, take care :) Wonderful skirt by the way :)
Paradise Tennant: smiles so much fun to shop here and the closet space !
Wol Euler grins
Bleu Oleander: :)
Wol Euler: my RL needs an inventory folder.
Bleu Oleander: ha!
Bertram Jacobus: my rl needs more letting go :o)
Wol Euler: heh, well yes.
Bertram Jacobus: or better said : more getting rid of things
Bertram Jacobus: perhaps
Eden Haiku: same same wu wei wish/blessing our day with grace/ flowing with the flow
Bleu Oleander: nice Eden :)
Wol Euler: nice, eden.
Bleu Oleander: bfn ..... cu later :)
Eden Haiku: Expanding closet space definetely a big advantage in SL...
Wol Euler: bye bleu, take care
Bertram Jacobus: bye bleu
Eden Haiku: Bye Bleu take care ;)
Bertram Jacobus: isnt't that wish to take something a contrary to let go ?
Eden Haiku: Holidays for you in Europe also I think?
Wol Euler: for me, yes
Bertram Jacobus: one day off, yess here
Wol Euler: Pfingsten = Pentecost
Bertram Jacobus: ah ! didn't know the english word :-)
Wol Euler: well, I had to look it up too
Eden Haiku: Oh yes! Religious holiday...
Wol Euler: wikipedia is also a great translator of concepts
Eden Haiku: in France also. Your question is interesting Bertram...
Bertram Jacobus: :-)
Eden Haiku: What would you say about wishes and wu wei Wol?
Wol Euler: O.O
Wol Euler: wishing is probably a mild form of attachment, I think
Wol Euler: a form of being dissatisfied with what is.
Wol Euler: having said that, I also think that most people neither can nor wish to live as purely as the Buddha's precepts suggest :)
Bertram Jacobus: i think, both is possible : the form which wol describes, but also a wish from a so to say "free state" - like the bodhisattva ideas may explain it a bit (?) ...
Eden Haiku: I think Bertram meant more like wishing a nice day, with magic wu wei moments as Paradise said when she left, is that what you meant Bertram?
Wol Euler: oh, I took that too literally, I thought Bert was talking about RL inventory wishes
Eden Haiku: smiles
Bertram Jacobus: yes eden - or "may all beings be happy" - not as idea with clinging to it , to them ...
Wol Euler: that is a kind of mini-koan, I think :)
Wol Euler: it suggests the question "but why aren't we?"
Wol Euler: which is good to think about
Eden Haiku: Fluctuating between philosophical issues and inventories and RL closets...;)
Wol Euler: :)
Bertram Jacobus laughs :-)
Wol Euler: and blueberries
Eden Haiku: Why aren't we?
Wol Euler: happy
Wol Euler: [8:23] Bertram Jacobus: yess eden - or "may all beings be happy" - not as idea with clinging to it , to them ...
Eden Haiku: Why aren't we dancing?
Wol Euler: is also a good question.
Wol Euler chuckles at a memory.
Eden Haiku: "May all beings be happy"a good example of a wu wei wish with no attachment and no action.

Eden Haiku: My brother told us a very funny story yesterday...
Wol Euler: mm?
Eden Haiku: A story about his dog reading his mind...
Bertram Jacobus listens - reads ... thankfully ... :-)
Bertram Jacobus: ah ! ;-)
Eden Haiku: Like the dog being in the same continuum of meaning. My brother is scientific so he was telling the story tongue in cheek...
Bertram Jacobus: had such an experience once , too ... ;-)
Wol Euler: but we do communicate, it's a fact
Eden Haiku: So the story goes like this: he was taking out dandelions from his huge lawn.
Wol Euler: (with animals,and with each other without words)
Eden Haiku: 5000 of them he said, buckets of 500 (he counted them).
Wol Euler: wow
Eden Haiku: A long process...
Eden Haiku: At one point, he notices his dog is lying in the shade, enjoying her day of leisure"..
Eden Haiku: As he and his wife work like beasts taking out the dandelions...

--BELL--

Eden Haiku: So he turns to the doing and says: "Hey Pookie, you should come and help us, eating some dandelions!"
Eden Haiku: And the big golden stands on her feet, trots towards him and starts eating the dandelions!
Wol Euler: wow
Eden Haiku: He talks a lot about parallel universes too...
Bertram Jacobus: :-) ...
Eden Haiku: Yesterday, was the last episode of "Lost"of which he is a big fan...
Eden Haiku: I am not but I looked at the last 40 minutes or so.
Eden Haiku: The end was AMAZING!
Bertram Jacobus: ah ?
Wol Euler: mmmm?
Bertram Jacobus smiles widely
Eden Haiku: Yes, the clue is that they all died in that plane crash...
Bertram Jacobus: hehe
Wol Euler: yeeeees?
Bertram Jacobus: similar to dallas ? only the other way round ? : boobies death was only a dream ? ...
Eden Haiku: So all they have been doing together on this island is they learnt how to remember, helping each other to do that so they can prepare to go where they have to go.
Bertram Jacobus: ah - okay - a bit more ...
Eden Haiku: laughing at Bertram's remark. A bit deeper I think...
Wol Euler: huh
Bertram Jacobus: great - same idea ! 5 eden ! :-)
Eden Haiku: A powerful metaphor. I even took notes for my Art of Being picture...
Wol Euler: so they were in limbo/bardo?
Bertram Jacobus: bit more = bit deeper :-)
Eden Haiku: In bardo yes.
Wol Euler: wow
Wol Euler: how surprisingly thoughtful.
Wol Euler: my impression of the level of American TV has been changed for the better :)
Eden Haiku: I didn't watch the show so I guess I missed a lot of the ending significance.
Eden Haiku: I found it too violent but the last minutes were not...they were all smiling and peaceful.
Eden Haiku: When my mother died, 2 years ago, I had this dream.
Bertram Jacobus: i may be wrong, but ... although there are also very heavy aspects ... it seems to me as if the times really get more spiritual ... hm - hope, that is a correct view ... ;-)
Eden Haiku: In which she was with a group of people, at the National Film Board (Wol would know what it is) . She was at an orientation meeting.
Eden Haiku: She told me I should not worry about her but she needed to listen carefully because they were all preparing for something...
Eden Haiku: Yes, I would think so too. Both things happening at the same time maybe: a darkening of the Light as in Kali Yuga and a turning of the wheel towards a new era, a new paradigm, 2012 as in the Mayan Calendar (not the apocalyptic vision though)
Bertram Jacobus: yes - may be really a change of era ...
Bertram Jacobus: quite interesting
Eden Haiku: What do you think Wol?
Bertram Jacobus: and amazing often
Eden Haiku: She is eating blueberries...
Wol Euler: I hope so, eden.
Wol Euler: god knows the world needs people who look beyond today's extra penny profit or loss
Eden Haiku: Wu wei will bring us there anyway...
Wol Euler: if we let it.
Bertram Jacobus: :-)
Eden Haiku: Getting out of the way, yes...
Wol Euler: btw apropos Lost, http://tumblr.com/xxoacga6u :)))
Wol Euler: a bit childish but amusing
Bertram Jacobus: i'll look later at it - can't multitask very well - sry ... ;-)
Eden Haiku: Looking at it...
Eden Haiku: Sounds funny...
Eden Haiku: Do they swear a lot in 'Lost'?

--BELL--

Bertram Jacobus: i'm no lost expert, too
Wol Euler: well, that was a bit tasteless. sorry bout that
Wol Euler: I remembered it differently
Eden Haiku: No problem, I think I'm too young and naive to understand what they say :))
Eden Haiku: Maybe I misinterpreted the end totally too :)
Wol Euler: heheheheh
Bertram Jacobus giggles
Eden Haiku: My father rang just like 5 minutes before the end... it was late but he wanted to tell me something. (He lives downstairs.)
Eden Haiku: I let him in and had him watch the last 5 minutes of "Lost" in English...
Eden Haiku: We had his birthday party at brunch today. He is turning 86. For him, this is something that will happen in a not so far future.
Wol Euler nods
Bertram Jacobus: whaow - 86 ! ...
Eden Haiku: But his mind was full of the Robin Hood movie he went to see with his lady friend. So I told him the ending of "Lost" and he told me the story of Robin Hood. A weird conversation we had around 11 o'clock at night!
Wol Euler: :)
Bertram Jacobus giggles again ... :o)

Oups! I suddenly noticed I had relapsed into "doing too much" talking…not very wu wei :(

Eden Haiku: We stranded far away from wu wei it seems...
Wol Euler: hehehe
Bertram Jacobus: not necessarily ...
Wol Euler: or perhaps it's all wu wei in action
Eden Haiku: Trying to fix it...
Eden Haiku: Synchronizing in strange ways...
Eden Haiku: Aren't we getting in tune with wu wei, is it what we do?
Eden Haiku: Feeling the flow, playing with it?
Wol Euler smiles and nods.
Eden Haiku: You must experience it quite often in your work as an architect Wol, do you?
Wol Euler: mmmmmm hard to say.
Wol Euler: not specific to architecture, it happens all around
Eden Haiku: When looking for solutions maybe and then suddenly, seeing things in another angle?
Wol Euler: well, yes; but again that is pretty common. I find that most problems benefit strongly from me putting them aside and *not* thinking about them for a few days
Wol Euler: when the time is right, they will surface by themselves, and they usually have found a solution to show me
Eden Haiku: Good example, yes!
Wol Euler: but that is really true of everything, from scripting to writing translations of essays
Wol Euler: I wish I'd thought of that example for Bleu an hour ago.
Eden Haiku: I see creation as a yellow river flowing about 1 meter over my head. I grow antennas to synthonize it and when the time is right I hear something!
Bertram Jacobus: i'll take a pause, a rest. enjoyed it one more time very much here - ty ! may all beings be happy please (!) ... :-)
Wol Euler: bye bert, see you later
Eden Haiku: Bleu will read the log Wol, no worries. I'm sure she will appreciate your example.
Wol Euler: I should go too, I need to get back to work.
Bertram Jacobus: yes plz (!) :-)
Eden Haiku: Bye Bertram.
Wol Euler: see you anon, eden. take care
Bertram Jacobus: byeee *wave*
Eden Haiku: Bye Wol, thank you so much for this theme session!
Wol Euler: my pleasure, thank you for your excellent contributions
Eden Haiku: Have a nice day!
Wol Euler: you too, and best wishes to your father
Eden Haiku: Thanks!