2010.08.08 19:00 - Spirit Walks

The Guardian for this meeting was Calvino Rabeni. The comments are by Calvino Rabeni.

Bruce Mowbray: Hello, Cal.
Calvino Rabeni: Good evening Bruce - how are you tonight?
Bruce Mowbray: Well, actually, I am a bit nervous tonight.
Calvino Rabeni: Ah, how are you with that?
Bruce Mowbray: I'm following the flight of a private plane from Eastern Wash. to Seattle's Boeing Field:
Bruce Mowbray: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N567AB
Calvino Rabeni: You know someone on the plane...
Bruce Mowbray: One of the persons on this flight told me that he/she had a dream last night that her deceased grandmother came to her in a dream (last night) and said that she would be coming to get her.
Bruce Mowbray: I'm not a superstitious man -- nor one prone to speculation about dreams...
Bruce Mowbray: and yet, I've been thinking about this all day and following the flight since it took of from the Bay Area.
Bruce Mowbray: off.
Bruce Mowbray: It stopped ion Corvallis, then on to eastern Wash, and is now in the air to Boeing Field.
Bruce Mowbray: due to arrive in about an hour.
Calvino Rabeni: How was your day today, Bruce?
Bruce Mowbray: Well, it was an excellent day -- I sat with my Quaker friends (Friends!) this afternoon.
Bruce Mowbray: Then I went to a sports bar with wi-fi to catch the 1 p.m. session here.
Bruce Mowbray: The power went off in the middle of the session!~
Bruce Mowbray: ha!
Bruce Mowbray: How was YOUR day, Cal?
Calvino Rabeni: Every sunday Friends meeting?
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, at 2 p.m. local time every Sunday.
Bruce Mowbray: We have such a wonderful group of folks.
Bruce Mowbray: There is amazing energy in the group.
Bruce Mowbray: People come all the way from Columbus (40 miles) to sit with us.
Bruce Mowbray: Don't know whether I've shown you our website or not.
Bruce Mowbray: Here it is:
Bruce Mowbray: http://www.circlevillefriendsworshipgroup.org
Bruce Mowbray: I am responsible for maintaining the site.
Calvino Rabeni: thanks, I will have a peek
--BELL--

Calvino Rabeni: Good eve, Ewan :)
Ewan Bonham: Hi guys..
Bruce Mowbray: Hey, Ewan. Good to see you again.
Ewan Bonham: And you as well, Bruce
Bruce Mowbray: Gotta get you trained to be a "claimer" of session, Ewan.
Calvino Rabeni: How was your day, Ewan?
Ewan Bonham: I had a very nice day..
Ewan Bonham: Balanced..
Bruce Mowbray: That's the best sort of day.
Ewan Bonham: Got some time for rest, meditation, activity, friends..
Ewan Bonham: Very nice today..
Bruce Mowbray: wonderful.
Bruce Mowbray: balance is the essense...
Ewan Bonham: i think so..
Ewan Bonham: A bit like having one foot in spiritual world
Calvino Rabeni: Same with me - I put out on my net for a hiking partner - I wanted walk and spirit talk today in nature - it felt good
Ewan Bonham: And one in the rl grind
Bruce Mowbray: Did you know that ALL of the diagnoses in the DSM-IV are either "rigidity" (one end of the spectrum) or "chaos" (the other end)?
Ewan Bonham: Interesting..
Bruce Mowbray: Did you find such a partner, Cal?
Calvino Rabeni: Yes :)
Bruce Mowbray: wonderful.
Calvino Rabeni: It's good to have such community to have the feeling that communion is available as a part of life
Calvino Rabeni: as you do with the friends circle
Bruce Mowbray: we are all hungry for this, I feel -- even though many do not realize it.
Calvino Rabeni: We climbed a small mountain nearby
Bruce Mowbray: great! ;-)
Ewan Bonham: Ooh, neat
Ewan Bonham: One of my nicest memories...hiking..
Calvino Rabeni: about 3 hours round trip - very dramatic deep canyon, cliffs, huge boulders, then up to the summit
Bruce Mowbray: me too!
Bruce Mowbray: ahhhhh. . . . I am there with you now!
Ewan Bonham: thing about hiking..
Calvino Rabeni: I like watching the rock climbers way up there
Ewan Bonham: You have to get back...
Ewan Bonham: So I have to gear myself for the whole trip..
Ewan Bonham: Like pacing..
Bruce Mowbray: yep.
Bruce Mowbray: Don't know if I've lready told you guys this, but I walked alone from St. Louis to Astoria, Oregon -- when I was 34.
Bruce Mowbray: about 2,000 miles -- 89 days.
Bruce Mowbray: Lewis and Clark Trail.
Calvino Rabeni: That is an impressive pilgrimage, I'm inspired to hear about it
Ewan Bonham: Wow...
Bruce Mowbray: It was really a pilgrimage for me, Ewan.
Bruce Mowbray: I was suicidal at the time.
--BELL--

Bruce Mowbray: My friends told me to give it one last try.
Ewan Bonham: Wow..must have been a life changer..
Bruce Mowbray: I made a "deal" with them: I would walk to the West Coast, and if I still felt like killing myself, I would. They agreed to the deal. They WON!
Bruce Mowbray: A life-changer is putting it well, Ewan.
Ewan Bonham: Here you are to tell about it..
Bruce Mowbray: Not really. Just to mention that I was/am a long-distance hiker.
Bruce Mowbray: I've hiked the C&O Canal towpath three times -- that's 186 miles.
Bruce Mowbray: (all in Maryland -- from Washington DC to Cumberland Maryland).
Bruce Mowbray: FLAT!
Ewan Bonham: That seems unusual for that area..
Bruce Mowbray: Yep -- It's the towpath for the canal -- so it ios flat -- althougha lot fo the terrain of that area is NOT flat.
Bruce Mowbray: is.
Ewan Bonham: i imagine..
Bruce Mowbray: I walk to re-alighn my balance--- as you said earlier -- that your day was balanced.
Bruce Mowbray: align.
Ewan Bonham: yes..interesting combination of activity and also focus..
Calvino Rabeni: What is there to say about the inner life of the long distance hiker / runner - a lot, potentially
Bruce Mowbray: yes.
Ewan Bonham: nods
Bruce Mowbray: It is an interesting phenomenon that - if we throw ourselves off-balance intentionally - (by walking across the country, for example) there will emerge a natural balance out of it.
Bruce Mowbray: This, I feel, is what pilgrimmages are for.
Ewan Bonham: hmmm..interesting
Bruce Mowbray: Something is keen to the fact that our natural tendency is toward balance.
Ewan Bonham: gives me a chance to do whatever i do with renewed energy..
Bruce Mowbray: as I said earlier: ALL literally ALL of the DSM-IV diagnoses have to do with being off-balance,.
Bruce Mowbray: ALL.
Bruce Mowbray: either "rigid" or "chaotic."
Calvino Rabeni: Every hike can be a contemplative experience, a meditation or pilgrimage
Bruce Mowbray: absolutely so, Cal.
Bruce Mowbray: and any real hiker knows this.
Ewan Bonham: Oh....interesting way to summarize it..
Calvino Rabeni: Yes
Bruce Mowbray: mmmmm. mellow.
Calvino Rabeni: It is not about getting somewhere
Bruce Mowbray: not at all about getting somewhere.
Bruce Mowbray: There is always a dark night of the soul involved, also.
Bruce Mowbray: night.
Calvino Rabeni: One thing I discovered, is that there are as many ways of hiking as there are of being in the world
Bruce Mowbray: oh. Fascinating concept. Let me live with that one a while.
Ewan Bonham: i guess so...pace, attentiveness, inner focus..
Bruce Mowbray: mmmmm.
Calvino Rabeni: For instance, an "ask nature" journey
Bruce Mowbray: oh -- please say more, Cal.

--BELL--

Calvino Rabeni: The contemplation is - Hike with no preconception, then ask nature - "what medicine is it I need at this time, or what is nature offering?"
Calvino Rabeni: Then walk that "way"
Bruce Mowbray: Nature always has the best medicine.
Ewan Bonham: And you gravitate to it?
Bruce Mowbray: I AM it!
Bruce Mowbray: (and only need to remember that).
Ewan Bonham: A moment at a time..
Bruce Mowbray: Yes. Precisely so, Ewan.
Bruce Mowbray: We were NEVER OUTSIDE of Nature.
Calvino Rabeni: Yes it is an offering, with just the right quality needed for that time
Calvino Rabeni: (which is the "medicine")
Bruce Mowbray: We were always right there -- AS Nature, but we denied our identity.
Bruce Mowbray: yes, Cal.
Bruce Mowbray: Thank you.
Calvino Rabeni: and to walk with receptiveness and devotion
Bruce Mowbray: Thanks.
Bruce Mowbray: a prayer.
Bruce Mowbray: infinite numbers of layers.
Calvino Rabeni: It might be of ANY quality
Calvino Rabeni: like fiery, or in huge swooping chunks, or lyrically gliding
Bruce Mowbray: Oh! Yes!
Bruce Mowbray: SUCH a dance!
Calvino Rabeni: nature's symphony has many movements and great dynamic range
Calvino Rabeni: and asks you to dance with it, to dance it
Hokon Cazalet: hi =)
Calvino Rabeni: Hello Hokon:)
Ewan Bonham: Hi Hokon..
Bruce Mowbray: Hello, Hoken.
Hokon Cazalet: =)
Bruce Mowbray: Hokon.
Hokon Cazalet: .
Bruce Mowbray: ;-) welcome.
Bruce Mowbray: We are dancing tonight.
Ewan Bonham: As part of nature..
Bruce Mowbray: Nature is what we are.
Bruce Mowbray: Beauty is what we are.
Calvino Rabeni: Another dance is the "string of pearls" - on the trail - every step is perfect and complete in itself, and the moments are strung together by a continuous filament of unbroken attention, like a pearl necklace
Bruce Mowbray: The great lie is that we are "information" or "power" or "professional football" -- NO we are Beauty!
Bruce Mowbray: we are one beautiful step at a time.
Bruce Mowbray: Thank you, Cal.
Ewan Bonham: Reminds me of waking meditation..
Ewan Bonham: or walking..
Bruce Mowbray: yes, Ewan -- perfect.
Calvino Rabeni: Nicely put about the big lie and the beauty
Bruce Mowbray: How are YOU, Hokon?
Hokon Cazalet: im doing ok
Hokon Cazalet: you?
Bruce Mowbray: ok --- good!
Hokon Cazalet: Weeee! ^.^
Calvino Rabeni: It was a cloudy day - just now at sunset the sun has lit the trees from under the cloud layer, with a maxfield parrish glow effect
Hokon Cazalet: cool =)
Calvino Rabeni: And now it is gone
Bruce Mowbray: The Eagle has landed -- and I am so relieved. (That's a bit of a private thing betwewen Cal and me.)
Bruce Mowbray: and so I shall bid you beautiful folks good night.
Hokon Cazalet: byes
Calvino Rabeni: :) Bruce
Ewan Bonham: bye, Bruce...nice seeing you...:)
Bruce Mowbray: ahhh. To the beauty of dreams!
Bruce Mowbray: very good seeing all of you too!
Calvino Rabeni: Bye, Bruce :)
Ewan Bonham: Folks, i am ready to go as well...very touching convo tonight..
Hokon Cazalet: bye, lol when i arrive everyone leaves
Calvino Rabeni: Good to sit with you Ewan, good night :)