2010.10.28 19:00 - The Tao of Stevenaia

The Guardian for this meeting was Paradise Tennant. The comments are by Paradise  and Stevenaia

Paradise Tennant: smiles hiya steve :)
stevenaia Michinaga: quiet night or has everyone left
Paradise Tennant: quiet night :)
stevenaia Michinaga: yes, same last night, just Storm
Paradise Tennant: been drinking ginger tea, looking out the window and watching the clouds chase across the moon :)
stevenaia Michinaga: lovely
Paradise Tennant: is that a pumpkin hat :)
stevenaia Michinaga: yes, seasonal ware :)
stevenaia Michinaga: nice dress
Paradise Tennant: smiles at you :) lovely choice
Paradise Tennant: thanks

Paradise Tennant: how are you :)
stevenaia Michinaga: I am good, getting ready for a trip to Washington tomorrow
Paradise Tennant: oh cool .. business or pleasure :)
stevenaia Michinaga: pleasure
Paradise Tennant: bigsmile :)
stevenaia Michinaga: nods
Paradise Tennant: getting away for a few days
stevenaia Michinaga: yes, should be a good time, then I return to a Tai Chi retreat on Sunday
stevenaia Michinaga: should add to the relaxation
Paradise Tennant: will be a great way to wind it down :)
Paradise Tennant: how long will be you away for do you need a cover for next week ?
stevenaia Michinaga: Just Sunday
Paradise Tennant: ahh kk :)
Paradise Tennant: what do you do on a tai chi retreat .. what usually happens
stevenaia Michinaga: I actually have a very busy week, so this should be a good start
stevenaia Michinaga: This is my first with my teacher, it's at a local retreat, it will be some Chi Gong
stevenaia Michinaga: She will have a guest lecturer who will be discussing Taoism
stevenaia Michinaga: and some tai Chi, it's just 10 to 4
stevenaia Michinaga: I suspect some meditation
Paradise Tennant: smiles Taoism .. that is a pila topic too :)
stevenaia Michinaga: yes, I seem to be drawn there too :)
Paradise Tennant: what draws you
stevenaia Michinaga: good question
stevenaia Michinaga: seems the more I learn about it, the more is fits
stevenaia Michinaga: It seems to inform myself, like iChing
Paradise Tennant: in what way
stevenaia Michinaga: the action through inaction, seems I can relate to that in the way I act... or don't act
Paradise Tennant: nods and listens
stevenaia Michinaga: I notice its effectiveness in how people react
--BELL--
Paradise Tennant: to what you do by non doing :)
stevenaia Michinaga: I was reading about a Greek monk a few weeks ago and who assembles a huge land and financial empire but taking whatever was presented to him, like a "No" and working with that to create something bigger
Paradise Tennant: how does a no become a huge empire
stevenaia Michinaga: any response you can work with can result in something bigger through combining things
Paradise Tennant: how do you work with those responses
stevenaia Michinaga: I suspect though acceptance and reforming the question
stevenaia Michinaga: as long as the dialogue continues there are places to go
stevenaia Michinaga: if not this, then that
Paradise Tennant: smiles ...
stevenaia Michinaga: I find people work better when there are potential solutions
Paradise Tennant: kind of the approach a child takes
stevenaia Michinaga: hmmm
Paradise Tennant: they never close the door
stevenaia Michinaga: they are just persistent
Paradise Tennant: yes is persistence part of the Tao
stevenaia Michinaga: I suppose maybe I am to
stevenaia Michinaga: in a tai chi flowing kind of way
Paradise Tennant: smiles lol
stevenaia Michinaga: take the force applied and redirect it
Paradise Tennant: good to be everything in a tai chi flowing kind of way
stevenaia Michinaga: yes, that is another aspect of the Dao that appeals
stevenaia Michinaga: so has it changed anything, perhaps not, yet it has given a name to the things that I know
Paradise Tennant: a basic human joy giving things names
stevenaia Michinaga: node, PaB has given names to many things I never realized had names
Paradise Tennant: smiles and listens
stevenaia Michinaga: Buddhist things, Daoist things, Hindu things, there is much thinking from the past and from the East that has never been repeated in the West :)
Paradise Tennant: yes
Paradise Tennant: wisdom
stevenaia Michinaga: even in architecture, yes, Vastu, and Fung Shui
stevenaia Michinaga: great wisdom
stevenaia Michinaga: ideas of great depth and history
Paradise Tennant: yes
Paradise Tennant: there is continuity
stevenaia Michinaga: I realize I am just standing on the surface of it all, but it's a nice place for me to be
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Paradise Tennant: yes
Paradise Tennant: always feels to me like my understanding of these things is the comic book version :)
stevenaia Michinaga: in what way, as an observation
Paradise Tennant: hmm
Paradise Tennant: I get the funny bits best :)
stevenaia Michinaga: :)
Paradise Tennant: often .. only the simple parts too :)
stevenaia Michinaga: humor = Joy
stevenaia Michinaga: works well with your name
Paradise Tennant: yes for me .. very important .. laughter is light it makes you feel light !
--BELL--
Paradise Tennant: smiles I really like my name .. funny it is kind of odd .. but I am very attached to it :)
stevenaia Michinaga: well you picked it
Paradise Tennant: yes I did :)
Paradise Tennant: funny how some things you pick you do not end up liking .. has a drawer of clothes with their tag still on
Paradise Tennant: that seemed great at the time but later maybe not :)
Paradise Tennant: our wants and desires are as fickle as the wind
Paradise Tennant: sometimes
Paradise Tennant: been reading a book by the dalai lama
Paradise Tennant: a technical explanation of emptiness
stevenaia Michinaga: :)
Paradise Tennant: smiles
stevenaia Michinaga: explanation of emptiness almost sounds bizarre
Paradise Tennant: yes it really does
Paradise Tennant: right up there with hungry ghosts
stevenaia Michinaga: it could take volumes until it no longer need explanation
stevenaia Michinaga: some things simply need to be experienced, not explained or grasped
Paradise Tennant: hmmm
Paradise Tennant: sort of like everything has a secret non life so to speak
Paradise Tennant: yes .. it has this physical form that we perceive and touch .. but it has a shadow side
stevenaia Michinaga: but some know the secret in time :)
Paradise Tennant: like our minds are just screens where the images just flicker as so much light and movement
Paradise Tennant: our concept of time ...does it really exist?
stevenaia Michinaga: what concept of time serves you?
Paradise Tennant: well I do not wear a watch
stevenaia Michinaga: no
stevenaia Michinaga: I don't either
Paradise Tennant: find .. my work so absorbing . that I pour my first cup of coffee and blink and it is 7 pm
Paradise Tennant: just think it is funny stuff - sometimes drags  sometimes evaporates
stevenaia Michinaga: nice to be in that deep a concentration
Paradise Tennant: yes really enjoyable
Paradise Tennant: i guess .. i look around sometimes and think this is interesting and real on one level and not at all real on another
stevenaia Michinaga: nods, your mind on paper, an interesting place to put it, in any form, words, drawings, art, poetry
stevenaia Michinaga: like sharing a bit of frozen consciousness
Paradise Tennant: yes
Paradise Tennant: one thing that the Buddhist believe is real is your mind
Paradise Tennant: that is all you really are
Paradise Tennant: no body ..
Paradise Tennant: no self
stevenaia Michinaga: you can hand someone whatever thought is on that paper and someone else give it new meaning
stevenaia Michinaga: how that works with paper (or words) is amazing to me
--BELL--
Paradise Tennant: yes like .. there is some kind of circulation system .. that carries ideas across space ,,sort of like one of the old fashion tube mailing systems you express a thought to the universe and there is always some kind of echo . response .. spark to the next thought
stevenaia Michinaga: yes, magic
stevenaia Michinaga: like time
Paradise Tennant: but I think my next thought has to be bed :)
stevenaia Michinaga: smiles
stevenaia Michinaga: I hope this makes sense in the morning
Paradise Tennant: sorry really sleepy .. wishing you a wonderful journey full of magic ..
Paradise Tennant: lol
stevenaia Michinaga: night
Paradise Tennant: good night steve :) namaste my friend :)
stevenaia Michinaga: great dresses together
Paradise Tennant: yes :)
Paradise Tennant: she is so gifted :)
Paradise Tennant: smiles at you and poufs