2010.09.04 19:00 - Eye of the Beholder

The Guardian for this meeting was Bruce Mowbray. Present were Bruce, Calvino, Archmage, and Paradise.

Bruce Mowbray: Good evening, Arch.
Bruce Mowbray: Good to see you again.
Archmage Atlantis: Good evening to you also,
Archmage Atlantis: Yes, good to see friends
Bruce Mowbray: Wow. I like the shirt!
Archmage Atlantis: K
Archmage Atlantis: It just is
Bruce Mowbray: I trust Koya is also well.
Archmage Atlantis: Koya is a trooper
Archmage Atlantis: So yes.
Bruce Mowbray: Good to know that -- the same for Blub.
Bruce Mowbray: He swims on - regardless.
Archmage Atlantis: There is something on your mind you wish to talk about, that is feeling I have
Archmage Atlantis: I apologize if that is too forward
Bruce Mowbray: Mmmm... Well, Arch, there is much on my mind. . .
Bruce Mowbray: You cannot be "too forward" with me.  I appreciate the directness.
Archmage Atlantis: Much always has a center
Archmage Atlantis: We are alone for now
Bruce Mowbray: This has been a challenging week. . .
Archmage Atlantis: To be direct is acceptable
Bruce Mowbray: a car accident that was nearly fatal,
Bruce Mowbray: a cancer diagnosis,
Bruce Mowbray: some other stuff. . .
Bruce Mowbray: but most of it life-affirming.
Bruce Mowbray: much to be grateful for, actually.
Archmage Atlantis: Your RL body has a cancer?
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, but the simplest case: basal cell carcinoma on the forehead...
Bruce Mowbray: easily treated.
Bruce Mowbray: just one more little item to fit into the schedule
Bruce Mowbray: and the pocketbook.
Archmage Atlantis: Yes, I know both
Bruce Mowbray: I shall also be direct:
Bruce Mowbray: anything you wish or need to discuss tonight, Arch?
Archmage Atlantis: Oh, something I wish to discuss, but it is embarrassing.
Bruce Mowbray: Shall we go to IM?
Archmage Atlantis: No, I will not live my life in the shadows.
Archmage Atlantis: A potential new relationship.
Bruce Mowbray: Nothing human is an embarrassment to me.  I am happy to listen.
Archmage Atlantis: For now, let us talk about the constellations.
Bruce Mowbray: OK. A particular one?
Archmage Atlantis: Orion
Bruce Mowbray: My favorite.
Bruce Mowbray: If I were ever to have a son, I've thought I'd name him Orion.
Archmage Atlantis: Tell me the story of Orion, if you would
Bruce Mowbray: I do not know it. . . The "hunter" I think.
Bruce Mowbray: Shall I look it up?
Archmage Atlantis: Yes, of course
Bruce Mowbray: OK -- Just a sec.
Archmage Atlantis: The collective mind has availability to all nodes
Bruce Mowbray: Well, here's a node...
Bruce Mowbray: http://www.gb.nrao.edu/~rmaddale/Education/OrionTourCenter/mythology.html
Bruce Mowbray: Hello, Calvino.
Bruce Mowbray: Tell us whatever you can about Orion, Cal.
Calvino Rabeni: Hi, Bruce / Archmage
Archmage Atlantis: Hi, Cal
Bruce Mowbray: [quoting] Orion was the son of Neptune. He was a handsome giant and a mighty hunter. His father gave him the power of wading through the depths of the sea, or as others say, of walking on its surface.
Calvino Rabeni: I only know the constellation in the southern sky
Calvino Rabeni: But I'd guess he got double-crossed somehow to end up there?
Bruce Mowbray: more- http://www.online-mythology.com/orion/
Archmage Atlantis: Why do you think of that, Cal.......that he was double-crossed?

--BELL–

Bruce Mowbray: There is clearly a "double-cross" in the myth, it seems.
Archmage Atlantis: I asked Cal, but ok Bruce....what do you see?
Bruce Mowbray: No -- you go with it, Cal.
Archmage Atlantis: Ah well, when one storms a fortress, one cannot expect it to fall on first contact.
Bruce Mowbray: I had not realized, until now, that Orion is related to the Pleiades.
Calvino Rabeni: Sorry, I was distracted by 2 cats
Archmage Atlantis: How is Blub doing, Bruce?
Archmage Atlantis: Must be difficult to swim around with no H2O
Bruce Mowbray: Blub is fine -- all things considered.
Archmage Atlantis: Must be a parrot fist / parrot genetic combination
Bruce Mowbray: He enjoys swimming in the air. He's a bit of a narcissist - and loves to be seen.
Archmage Atlantis: Koya likes him.....only thinks of him as dinner if no one else is left
Archmage Atlantis: And she would eat me first
Bruce Mowbray: Ahhh. . .
Bruce Mowbray: To each according to her nature.
Calvino Rabeni: The tiger hateth not the fawn
Bruce Mowbray: The lion shall lie down with the lamb. . . or was that the leopard with the fish?
Archmage Atlantis: When we begin to meet the others from beyond the stars, we will need this practice with our own                                
Bruce Mowbray: Indeed we shall. . . and more, yet.
Bruce Mowbray: This summer, a group of 14 people from Columbus came to this farm -- for the clear sky - no light pollution - to "vector" for extraterrestrials.
Bruce Mowbray: They stayed for two hours or more, with their vectoring.
Bruce Mowbray: It was a true blessing to the land, to my dog Bear, and me.

--BELL–

Archmage Atlantis: Namaste, Blessings and L'Chaim Bruce
Bruce Mowbray: From an email following the vectoring: "On behalf of our "field group" we want to say thank you so much for your warm, kind and generous welcome to the farm. You and Bear outdid yourselves in making us feel comfortable and welcome. Even though the ET's did not manifest in the form that we had hoped, we know they were there. Your land is "sacred ground" and we all were touched by the beautiful energy there."
Archmage Atlantis: l'chaim
Bruce Mowbray: Cal, I've been assimilating the "underground river" - - -
Bruce Mowbray: and now realize that's what I've missed most about my men's group.
Bruce Mowbray: or rather, from having NO men's group anymore.
Bruce Mowbray: Now I must find my rivers by myself, if I can.
Calvino Rabeni: The river is still there for you to find
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, I trust that to be true. . . but sometimes it's a lonely quest.
Calvino Rabeni: but it's sweet to have others around
Calvino Rabeni: certainly
Bruce Mowbray: In my sweat lodge, only one man. . .
Archmage Atlantis: That is the def of a quest, a lonely journey
Calvino Rabeni: And you've no doubt about it brought some of the underground river into this pocket of second life
Calvino Rabeni: May your lodge prosper
Bruce Mowbray: I've built a "sweat lodge" into my home -- which most folks would call a "sauna" but for me, it is a sweat lodge.
Bruce Mowbray: Hello, Paradise.
Archmage Atlantis: Hello Paradise......You turn the focus.
Paradise Tennant: sigh hello three little cushions all that I can see .. hiya arch .. bruce .. cal :)))
Paradise Tennant: just took Aph shopping .. :)
Calvino Rabeni: Paradise :)
Bruce Mowbray: I'm sure Aph loved that -- good of you, Para.
Paradise Tennant: hm she looked like she was having fun :) there are lots of pluses to being female :)
Archmage Atlantis: Oh, really?
Archmage Atlantis: What are they, pray tell?
Bruce Mowbray is confused, as usual.
Paradise Tennant: lol
Bruce Mowbray listens.
Paradise Tennant: well you get to wear colour ..
Calvino Rabeni scratches his head
Paradise Tennant smiles
Paradise Tennant: and men's clothes are just not as fun :)
Bruce Mowbray: Mmmm. . .
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, but functional :)
Paradise Tennant: anyway, sorry to interrupt the flow of what I am sure was much more .. focused conversation :)
Bruce Mowbray feels that he'd much rather be naked in a sweat lodge than wearing pretty clothes.
Calvino Rabeni: To each his / her own, I suppose
Paradise Tennant: well, functional can be also beautiful
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, that was a big discovery, wasn't it?
Bruce Mowbray: Which, Cal? The pretty clothes or the preference for nakedness in the lodge?

--BELL–

Bruce Mowbray remembers from the session preceding this one: ‘The bell was made for us, not we for the bell.'
Calvino Rabeni: I meant, when industrial design started making functional products beautiful and that became their primary attraction.
Calvino Rabeni: And only the elders remember when it was not so
Paradise Tennant: wait a minute. artisans have been melding beauty and function since we began
Calvino Rabeni: Or was it a return to an image of an earlier unity?
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, but industrial production took time to mature to be able to capture artistry
Calvino Rabeni: My parents' generation hardly cared what a product looked like
Bruce Mowbray: . . . the gestation of stylish plumbing fixtures. . . (just an example, sorry).
Paradise Tennant: believes there is a unity in beauty .. an ability to heal .. to bring into balance :)
Calvino Rabeni: or any intrinsic qualities - materials or design
Calvino Rabeni: it was function and price only
Archmage Atlantis: IMO, utility first, followed by beauty
Calvino Rabeni: And a material that looked (somewhat) like wood was pretty acceptable
Bruce Mowbray: Agrees with Paradise that beauty heals - - and is necessary for survival of the soul.
Paradise Tennant: hmmm yes .what we find beautiful often describes our soul :)
Calvino Rabeni: I could not accept the faux materials - I'll take wood, or plastic, but not plastic masquerading as wood
Bruce Mowbray wonders whether he'd prefer beauty over function - if pressed into that choice.
Archmage Atlantis: I like polycarbonite, since I drop most everything, the acrylic breaks
Paradise Tennant: lol I am looking at buying ceramic tiles that look like hardwood . and are gorgeous .. and functional if you have a dog who digs when he is happy and he is happy a lot :) function and beauty!
Calvino Rabeni: For instance, one can choose natural materials for a kitchen, that don't "perform" as well as the synthetics
Calvino Rabeni: So is it true beauty, if it is a simulation of a natural material?
Paradise Tennant: smiles at arch :)
Calvino Rabeni: That is, is beauty surface-deep, a matter of appearance?
Calvino Rabeni: OR is part of the beauty, the fragility and vulnerability of the material, it's way of aging and getting character?
Bruce Mowbray: For me, natural things are beautiful -- so, my soul requires plenty of plants inside and out - visible everywhere. . . and touchable everywhere.
Archmage Atlantis: As a gardener since pre-teen, knows plants
Paradise Tennant: hmm likely there is beauty in everything and we simply need the eyes and the heart to see it
Calvino Rabeni: Touchable might imply some vulnerability
Paradise Tennant: ahh the cushions have arrived!
Archmage Atlantis: know the uses of diversity
Calvino Rabeni: Well Paradise, I remember we talked about this very same idea a while back :)
Paradise Tennant: with mitzi !
Paradise Tennant: smiles really like mitzi !
Calvino Rabeni: :)
Calvino Rabeni: Tomorrow night :)
Archmage Atlantis: And you solved it Cal, how nice.....give us the true answer please
Calvino Rabeni: The true answer, or the beautiful one?
Bruce Mowbray wonders which idea we are talking about.
Archmage Atlantis: your choice
Archmage Atlantis: as long as
Archmage Atlantis: you tell us which it is
Calvino Rabeni: There are such ceramic tiles now made with images upon their surfaces of other materials like hardwood - they look pretty good - but I'd still feel like I was standing on a picture
Calvino Rabeni: and the beauty question would be whether the picture were beautiful, not the material, for me

--BELL–

Calvino Rabeni: I'm a fan of the SL dresses Para wears here :)  They have beauty
Bruce Mowbray: In a graduate philosophy course in aesthetics, I wrote a paper on the thesis that ALL man-made beauty appeals to one of three things:  Love, Power, or Freedom.
Calvino Rabeni: Maybe more than, if they were recreated as material objects
Bruce Mowbray: So. . . taking Cal's point about Para's dresses. . .
Bruce Mowbray: are they an appeal to Love, Power, or Freedom. . . ?
Bruce Mowbray: or some combination...
Archmage Atlantis: Youse are stil chauvinist
Bruce Mowbray: how so?
Calvino Rabeni: As a mere image of light, they may have more beauty than as a construction of gossamer, satin, feathers, and all
Archmage Atlantis: yea
Archmage Atlantis: but women seem to like that
Calvino Rabeni: Because of modesty, perhaps
Bruce Mowbray: I feel Freedom in Para's dresses.
Paradise Tennant: lol
Bruce Mowbray: inner and outer freedom. . .
Bruce Mowbray: and I am envious of that.
Paradise Tennant: smiles they .. are free .. in a way beauty opens you up :)
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, doesn't it?
Bruce Mowbray: indeed, Para, in contrast to some men's clothing which seems to be an appeal to Power.
Bruce Mowbray: or some sort of armor.
Paradise Tennant: find men's clothes more an expression of repression
Paradise Tennant: inner repression
Paradise Tennant: except maybe kilts!
Bruce Mowbray: hmmmm. . . I have a kilt.
Calvino Rabeni: When you choose your own items while shopping in RL, what criteria are you motivated by?
Paradise Tennant: that it works well and pleases my eyes :)
Calvino Rabeni: Given the available variations, differences, what tips the balance of decision?
Archmage Atlantis: So does my last rl lover....he was really into kilts
Paradise Tennant: smiles at arch :)
Bruce Mowbray: I also have an SL kilt -- one of the first things I bought here.
Paradise Tennant: hmm, decisions to buy ..
Paradise Tennant: I find are always somewhat emotional
Paradise Tennant: if it is a big ticket item .I walk around the block .. get a coffee..
Bruce Mowbray: but to answer Cal's question, I would first, unfortunately, have to consider price -- then function, and lastly beauty -- sad to say.
Calvino Rabeni: I don't put price first - I'd say function, beauty, then price
Paradise Tennant: wait a minute there are wonderful beautiful items that are inexpensive .. maybe often used but the beauty is still there
Calvino Rabeni: function including comfort, in clothing,
Archmage Atlantis: 85% of the time, yes dice, but 15% of the time....one dreams, buys, and is
Calvino Rabeni: I bought a microwave oven one time - searching for one that did not have a digital keypad, only a dial
Paradise Tennant: lol
Paradise Tennant: I think we have too many things in general
Calvino Rabeni: and had I not found one, I would have been happy without it rather than to have a functional but non-beautiful item
Paradise Tennant: I have a rule where I have take out something from my home every day
Archmage Atlantis: Pardon me, but I may need to change
Bruce Mowbray: ok.
Bruce Mowbray: I sort of had to make a decision along these lines this week: whether to spend $3,000 having my smashed car repaired. . .
Paradise Tennant: that is the intriguing thing about beauty it really is in the eye of the beholder .. I would have opted for the key pad over the dial
Bruce Mowbray: or whether to drive it as it is -- with passenger side bashed in from Thursday morning's accident.
Bruce Mowbray: I decided to go with bashed-in rather than spend $3,000 on repairs.
Calvino Rabeni: Ah, Tempis Fugit - some RL considerations intrude

--BELL–

Bruce Mowbray: OK, Cal. Good night.
Calvino Rabeni: Thanks everyone, take care, have a good night
Paradise Tennant: good nite cal :)
Paradise Tennant: people would give you more room on the road Bruce :)
Bruce Mowbray: Snow leopard!
Paradise Tennant: wow arch
Archmage Atlantis: yes Bruce, it is my heart
Paradise Tennant: you are beautiful !
Bruce Mowbray: I believe you, Arch.
Archmage Atlantis: ty
Bruce Mowbray: a shaman knows who his 'familiar' is.
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Paradise Tennant: how
Paradise Tennant: ?
Paradise Tennant: how do they know ?
Bruce Mowbray: and is also known by his familiar.
Archmage Atlantis: How do you know you love your children, Paradise?  It is the same
Bruce Mowbray: I am not a shaman - [although I wish I were] - but I have talked to shaman(s) who have told me this is true.
Paradise Tennant: so they recognize each other
Paradise Tennant: on some level
Bruce Mowbray: Arch has just said, "the heart". . .
Paradise Tennant: yes think we see best with our hearts ;)))
Bruce Mowbray: same for children and parents, and for the shaman and familiar.
Bruce Mowbray: Cal might call this, "the underground river" -- something that connects, deeply.
Bruce Mowbray: Also, one way of recognition might be the loss of the familiar. . .
Bruce Mowbray: One feels that loss deeply.
Bruce Mowbray: They name constellations after such losses.
Archmage Atlantis: The stars are our fiduciary responsibility
Bruce Mowbray: ?
Paradise Tennant: there is a wee bit of stardust in us all :)
Archmage Atlantis: Fiduciary | Define Fiduciary at http://www.Dictionary.com - Fiduciary definition, a person to whom property or power is entrusted for the benefit of another.
Bruce Mowbray: This interests me a lot -- being one who feels himself embraced by galaxies.
Bruce Mowbray: Is there an ethical relationship between the stars and us, do you think?
Paradise Tennant: speaking of duties ..it seems like a I should thank you both and say good nite .. I have a pup who would like spend some time outside ;) seeing and smelling beauty :)
Bruce Mowbray: wonderful, Para.
Bruce Mowbray: Good night, and thanks!
Paradise Tennant: Namaste, my friends :)
Archmage Atlantis: I would not be here if that were not true, Mr. Mowbray
Bruce Mowbray: Mmmmm.
Archmage Atlantis: Need to return. Bye all
Bruce Mowbray: Good night, then, and be well, Arch.