2011.01.29 19:00 - Play as Being Three

The Guardian for this meeting was Pema Pera. The comments are by Pema Pera.  This was one of our four weekly theme meetings on the topic of Being.  The four sessions are at Saturdays, 7 pm, Sundays, 1 pm, Mondays, 7 am, and Tuesdays, 1 am.

Pema Pera: hi Eden, Wiilfrid, O!
Pema Pera: Hi Rrose and Aphrodite!
Aphrodite Macbain: Hello everyone
Wilfrid Resident: Hi Pema :)
Pema Pera: hi Druth!
Aphrodite Macbain: Hello druith
Aphrodite Macbain: druth
druth Vlodovic: hey guys
Wilfrid Resident: Hey!
oO0Oo Resident: hi, druth
Aphrodite Macbain: who are the Bards Wilfrid?
Wilfrid Resident: The poets ...
Aphrodite Macbain: the Romantics?
Aphrodite Macbain: Homer?
Aphrodite Macbain: all of the above?
Wilfrid Resident: Shakespeare and all the others yes :)
Aphrodite Macbain: ah.
Pema Pera: Hi Susan!
oO0Oo Resident: Susan :)
Aphrodite Macbain: Hi Susan - how's your summer going?
druth Vlodovic: hey sue
Aphrodite Macbain: How's your cold Pema?
Aphrodite Macbain: Here's wet and slushy
Pema Pera: oh, I'm fine, thanks!
Pema Pera: I was in a warm place last week, New Orleans
Pema Pera: This session is yet another theme Session, during which we will make one round around the pond, giving everybody an opportunity to talk
Aphrodite Macbain: How was the retreat?
Aphrodite Macbain: Vancouvr
Pema Pera: as we have done the last few weeks at this and a few other sessions
Aphrodite Macbain: er
Pema Pera: We'll have another theme session about the retreat, in a few days -- will announce that soon
Aphrodite Macbain: It's been fun
Aphrodite Macbain: yes- except right now
Pema Pera: would anybody like to start?

Aphrodite:

Aphrodite Macbain: grey grey grey!
Aphrodite Macbain: OK How about Grey, grey, grey- washing the day
Pema Pera: :-)
oO0Oo Resident: more Aph?
Aphrodite Macbain: with its film tinged with sadness
Susan Aloix: :)...(lol aph)
Pema Pera: (to remind you, during our "Being" theme sessions, like this one, we express whatever we feel like concerning "play as Being" right here and now)
Aphrodite Macbain: . Stop
Pema Pera: :-)
Aphrodite Macbain: being gry...
Aphrodite Macbain: gray
Pema Pera: that means its your turn, O :)

oO0Oo:

oO0Oo Resident: OK ty
--BELL--
oO0Oo Resident: come what may play bad hair day and totally OK to be
Pema Pera: wb Eden :)
Aphrodite Macbain grins
oO0Oo Resident: [done]
Pema Pera: (^_^)
druth Vlodovic: hi eden :)
Pema Pera: Susan?

Susan:

Susan Aloix: comment on Being? is that what you're after right now?
Pema Pera: that's what we have been doing the last few weeks during this session (and a few others) -- but you are also free to follow the more playful mode of Aphro and O !
Pema Pera: as you like :-)
Aphrodite Macbain: It all reates to being somehow
Aphrodite Macbain: relates
Susan Aloix: I'm interested in the places between the post modernist fragmented self.......and the modernist sense of a static self with properties...my curiosoty is about the places between these supposed binary positions
Pema Pera: (please feel free to continue, until you finish and pass on the turn to the next person -- after we have made one circle, we open the floor to everybody)
Susan Aloix: oh can i pass now and ponder it some more please
Pema Pera: of course!
Susan Aloix: :)

Pema:

Pema Pera: which means it is my turn
Eden Haiku: ;)
Pema Pera: well, given that I just came back from the retreat, here is one snippet of a report
Pema Pera: one thing we enjoyed looking at was the difference between phrasing explorations in negative or positive terms
Pema Pera: for example: during the 9-sec break we like to say "drop what you have"
Pema Pera: where dropping is an act, something specific you can do, "positive"
Pema Pera: but you also could say "don't hold on to what you have" and there the "don't" is a negative prescription
Pema Pera: similarly you can say "let yourself be seen" versus "don't hide" and so on.
Pema Pera: I'll stop here. Druth?

Druth:

druth Vlodovic: if you don't mind my continuing
druth Vlodovic: "dropping" can be a bit negative as well, in that you're getting rid of
druth Vlodovic: "releasing" might be an interesting way of citing it
Pema Pera: yes!
Aphrodite Macbain: nice
druth Vlodovic: will?

Wilfrid:

Wilfrid Resident: Well...
Wilfrid Resident: If I feel very very postmodern fragmented selves right now.
Pema Pera: :-)
Susan Aloix: :)
Wilfrid Resident: My twin sisters Rrose and Eden and I are spread out on two computers
Wilfrid Resident: And three viewers
Pema Pera: you all must be very busy !!
Aphrodite Macbain wonders what Rrose will say
Wilfrid Resident: Eden is upset she got here last with the wrong clothes
Pema Pera: (*^_^*)
Susan Aloix: :)
Aphrodite Macbain: ah!!
Aphrodite Macbain: /wonders whateden will say
Pema Pera: :)
Wilfrid Resident: I'm very awkward with vieuwe 2 and Rrose well,,,Rrose, it,s your turn! Laptop...
Pema Pera: hahaha
Aphrodite Macbain grins

Rrose:

Rrose Millar: Thank you Wilfrid dear. Play as Beimng three is quite demanding. A matter of dropping simplicity maybe? Done :)
Pema Pera visualizing a traffic controller somewhere with three screens.....
Pema Pera: Eden?
Aphrodite Macbain reaches to scoop up simplicity
Pema Pera: (as part of the Trinity)

Eden:

Eden Haiku: Ah, ity's me already...
Eden Haiku: Ok... well, this is very very strange.
Eden Haiku: Playing as Being me with me and me.
Eden Haiku: But I feel Eden is the real me.
Eden Haiku: But she's not.
--BELL--
Eden Haiku: Who am I...I don't know. I dropt myself somehere in between identities, places between as Susan was talking about.
Eden Haiku: Droppped...Done :)
Aphrodite Macbain: Perhaps I should divide myself into three. It might be easier to carry the burden of being and appreciate appearances more
Pema Pera: for Ms. Haiku:

Eden, Rrose, Wilfrid
are playing a trinity
Being three beings

Eden Haiku: ;)
Susan Aloix: :) eden

All together now:

Pema Pera: thank you all -- and the floor is open!
oO0Oo Resident falls through endless space
Susan Aloix: i think its a wonderful goal to be able to drop the value of an act (as either positive or negative)....and to engage in *creative indifference* not be attached to the *why* and see it as an experiment...I think its an attempt to support the seeking part of our nature. But i think its context - where one decides on positive/negative. I think we all tend toward one or the other. I think its good practice to try and drop our epistemological leanings.
Pema Pera: dropping, letting go, wearing lightly, playing with .. . so many variations :)
Pema Pera: as opposed to denying, suppressing, getting rid of -- which is very different
Aphrodite Macbain: It would require discipline susan and constant awareness
Aphrodite Macbain: to change our linguistic habits
druth Vlodovic: but we wear things throughout ourselves, not on top, sometimes it is good just to feel them inside ourselves
Aphrodite Macbain: perhaps in that 9 seconds...
Susan Aloix: Yeah Aph.
Susan Aloix: Well said.
Pema Pera: Hi Elia!
Elia Scribe: Hi Pema!!
Susan Aloix: Hi Elia :)
Eden Haiku: Hello Elia :)
Elia Scribe: Hey Susan. Hello all.
druth Vlodovic: hey elia
oO0Oo Resident: Elia :)
Rrose Millar: Hi Elia :)
Elia Scribe: Eden, Druth!! oOOOo and Rrose
Wilfrid Resident: Hello Elia!
Elia Scribe: What are you all discussing?
Pema Pera: yes, Druth: perhaps the I that is wearing is itself being worn
Elia Scribe: Hi Wilfrid
Aphrodite Macbain: nice hat Elia
Susan Aloix: nicely expressed druth....*throughout ourselves*
Elia Scribe: Hmmm. Hat? You see one?
Wilfrid Resident: We are talking about what is Playing as Being is for us right now.
Aphrodite Macbain: hmmm it's disappeared!
Elia Scribe: What does that mean?
Aphrodite Macbain: beats me. you are a closet hat head
Elia Scribe: Ahh
Eden Haiku: For me it means being here in this virtual world now.
Aphrodite Macbain: ?
Elia Scribe: Ahh. OK.
oO0Oo Resident: lol
Pema Pera: :)
Elia Scribe: Got it, in the simple form anyway.
Eden Haiku: Would you ike to sit with us Elia?
Aphrodite Macbain: There are times when I dont appreciate either being or appearances and am happy to drop everything for simply breathingnd
Elia Scribe: ure Eden.
Elia Scribe: Sure

I go back to what Druth said about "we wear things throughout ourselves, not on top":

Pema Pera: Druth, the question of who is wearing what I find one of the most fascinating -- do I wear habits, or do my habits wear a sense of "self" as one of their habits?
oO0Oo Resident: don't drop that Aph!
Aphrodite Macbain: which art Samuo?
Aphrodite Macbain: part
Pema Pera: yes, Aphro, that's a nice and direct approach!
oO0Oo Resident: breathing Aph
Susan Aloix: Pema....that twists um my brain trying to get around that idea lol
Aphrodite Macbain: yes- it's like a ffresh cold glass of ater
Susan Aloix: *up
Pema Pera: (and similarly, do I have awareness or does awareness have me?)
Aphrodite Macbain: water
Aphrodite Macbain: Pema- they are inseparale
Pema Pera: does a wave have an ocean or does an ocean have a wave?
Aphrodite Macbain: have is the wrong word
druth Vlodovic: you talk about experience as being a process with object and subject ends, but I wonder if I am not the experience itself, standing between my body and the world, being part of each
Pema Pera: yes indeed, Aphrodite
Pema Pera: yet we use "have" all the time
Wilfrid Resident: Ah yes, the metaphor of the wave in the ocean is very powerful Pema :)
Susan Aloix: nice.......particle./wave
Aphrodite Macbain: "is" is a better wrd I think
Pema Pera: yes, Druth
Aphrodite Macbain: the wave is the ocean and the ocean is the wave
Pema Pera: yes, Aph, but saying that the wave is the ocean, which is true in one way, can also obscure the differences
Pema Pera: it's not that the two are exactly the same
Aphrodite Macbain: is "part of"
Pema Pera: not that the two words can be used interchangeably
Aphrodite Macbain: perhaps
Pema Pera: perhaps :-)
Aphrodite Macbain: yes, I see what you mean Pema
Pema Pera: hi Paradise!

O posed an intriguing question, which I didn't get a chance to respond to, with many other lines coming in.

oO0Oo Resident: so are habits also observing the habits pema?
Eden Haiku: The wave is the wave is the ocean is the waves is the wave is the ocean
oO0Oo Resident: what is noticing
oO0Oo Resident: evaluating?
Paradise Tennant: smiles and waves all round :)
Paradise Tennant: listening
oO0Oo Resident: Hi Para
Susan Aloix: very much agree druth.....the position of the "me* as being *skin-bound* versus at the place between ......i think it swims between the two in a felt way for pragmatic purposes only
Pema Pera: noticing may be noticing -- to go back to what Druth said
Aphrodite Macbain: Hiya Para
Elia Scribe: Hmmm. A wave is a strange thing for sure.
Susan Aloix: Hello Paradise :)
Wilfrid Resident: Hi Paradise :)
--BELL--
Aphrodite Macbain: it is a small particle or a larger particle
Aphrodite Macbain: of a
Paradise Tennant: hiya pema, o000o,Eden, Susan, druth, Aphrodite, Elia, Rrose, Wilfred :) gtsy everyone ;)
Susan Aloix: :)
Rrose Millar: :)
Aphrodite Macbain grins at Paradise
oO0Oo Resident: generous paradise :)
Aphrodite Macbain: a perfect entity
Aphrodite Macbain: a place for longing and belongig
Pema Pera: yes, from one perspective, the wave is a very small part of an ocean; from another perspective it is just as watery :-)
Aphrodite Macbain: It is made up of the same stuff but smaller
druth Vlodovic: a manifestation of what the ocean can do
Elia Scribe: Well, I thought the wave was something other than the water, even though the water shows it.
Aphrodite Macbain: and moved by outside forces like winds, tides and currents
Pema Pera: perhaps both points of view are possible, Elia :)
Aphrodite Macbain: It is part of a larger whole
Elia Scribe: Which two Pema?
Pema Pera: wave as other than water and as not other than water
Susan Aloix: So during the *dropping* that you mentioned earlier Pema....we metaphorically remember our ocean-ness and pause on being a wave?
Aphrodite Macbain: that hurts my head
Rrose Millar: waving to the wave
Pema Pera: manifesting is a nice term here, Druth
Susan Aloix: lol
Aphrodite Macbain: wavering
Pema Pera: that would be one way, Susan -- there are many ways!
Rrose Millar: ;)
Paradise Tennant: lol
oO0Oo Resident: lol Rrose
Pema Pera: but yes, that's a nice way
Susan Aloix: :)
Pema Pera: :-)
oO0Oo Resident: and profound too
Aphrodite Macbain: unlike the fountain which repeats itself in sound and ction, both the wave and he ocean are constantly changing
Aphrodite Macbain: action
Elia Scribe: Well, in a vain effort to make sense, Buddhists would say that the wave has no independent existence from its own side.
Aphrodite Macbain: never repeating
Elia Scribe: what you are also syaing I think.
Aphrodite Macbain: own sid?
Aphrodite Macbain: side

I tried my hand at another haiku, picking up on Eden Haiku's sister Rrose's "waving to the wave":

Pema Pera: for Ms. Haiku:

wave waving to wave
water playing water waves
waves weaving water

Elia Scribe: Own side, the place of existence of the wave.
druth Vlodovic: a wave is a force, the water only lets us see it pass, perhaps we are just a method for our tendedncies to show themselves to the world
oO0Oo Resident: nice Pema
Elia Scribe: That makes good sense to me Druth.
Aphrodite Macbain: a wave iis a manifestation of another force, yes druth,
oO0Oo Resident: maybe not 'ours' though?
Elia Scribe: As it moves along it is made of different water.
Aphrodite Macbain: are we klke waves, ? being shaped byother orces?
Aphrodite Macbain: grr. like waves
Elia Scribe: I think that happens to people.
Elia Scribe: Dictators and the like.
Susan Aloix: yeah druth...i like the simplicity in that.....deep as well.....showing to the world
Aphrodite Macbain: yes- that's what I was trying to say!
Pema Pera: yes, Elia, nice point
Rrose Millar: ::::::a rose is a rose
Elia Scribe: They are raised up by the people beneath them.
Aphrodite Macbain: The deeper the ocean the greater resistance to force
Eden Haiku: ::::::is a wave is the ocean
Aphrodite Macbain: what is that noise?
Pema Pera: A Rrose is a rose is an Eden is a Wilfrid . . .
oO0Oo Resident: lol
Wilfrid Resident: ::::::is wavering is
Elia Scribe: Wilfrid is speaking.
Aphrodite Macbain: someone is blowing! The wind?
oO0Oo Resident: an ocean of names
Pema Pera: :-)
Aphrodite Macbain: the answer my friend....
Pema Pera: hahaha
Wilfrid Resident: That was Wilfrid trying to locate the enter on Viewer 2...
oO0Oo Resident: lol
Susan Aloix: lol
Aphrodite Macbain: Ah. Sounded scary!
Rrose Millar: Sighs
Eden Haiku: Sighs
Aphrodite Macbain: Dont be sad Rrose
Aphrodite Macbain: Eden
Susan Aloix: lol
Pema Pera: :)
Aphrodite Macbain: Yikes!
Wilfrid Resident: You don't like Wilfrid sighs Aphrodite ?
Aphrodite Macbain: They sound morelike sneezes!
--BELL--
oO0Oo Resident smiles
Aphrodite Macbain must leave as the clock strikes 8
Aphrodite Macbain whispers goodby
Paradise Tennant: smiles and hands her slipper :) good nite sweet dreams :)
druth Vlodovic: have fun aph
Susan Aloix: Bye bye Aph
Elia Scribe: bye aphrodi

I got up as well.

Pema Pera: it's time for me to go too
Pema Pera: thank you all for a fun conversation!
Paradise Tennant: good nite pema :)
druth Vlodovic: 'night pema
Susan Aloix: SMiles.....bye Pema :) thank you
Paradise Tennant: happy lunch time :)
Elia Scribe: bye Pema
Pema Pera: no, I'm back in New York City
Paradise Tennant: ahh kk
Pema Pera: so bed time again :-)
Paradise Tennant: sweet dreams
Elia Scribe: 11pm
Pema Pera: see you all soon again
Pema Pera: yes
oO0Oo Resident: bye Pema, Aph
Wilfrid Resident: Goodnote Pema!
Susan Aloix: :)
Pema Pera: bfn
Eden Haiku: Sweet dreams:)
Susan Aloix: Glad to make a PaB at this time - usually can't make these times bein g in australia. I'm off on my walk here now......my head feels like its bobbing in water now LOL....
Susan Aloix: bye bye
Paradise Tennant: enjoy the day susan :) namaste :)
Eden Haiku: Bye Susan;)
Elia Scribe: Bye Sue
Susan Aloix: Namaste all :))
oO0Oo Resident: bye Susan
Paradise Tennant: hello johnnie ..welcome :)
Eden Haiku: It,s quiet...
Rrose Millar: Very quiet
Paradise Tennant: yes .. just the fountain the fish and us :)
Eden Haiku: Indeed
Wilfrid Resident: Realllly quiet
Paradise Tennant: funny how stillness feels a bit different here
Elia Scribe: Like listening :))
Wilfrid Resident: It does feel different
Paradise Tennant: more complete .. like there is nothing really missing
Rrose Millar: Texture of stilness is different, yes Paradise, nothing missing. Whole.
Paradise Tennant: in rl .. sometimes it feels incomplete ..instead of spaciousness there is simply the lack of words like a vacuum
Eden Haiku: Being comfortable with silence takes time :)
druth Vlodovic: it's an old test of a person to see how they handle silence
Rrose Millar: an old test? What do you mean Druth?
druth Vlodovic: well, they'll even use it in job interviews, give a minute of silence to see if you fill it, and with what
Rrose Millar: ah, I see :) Thanks.
--BELL--
Paradise Tennant: like the silent days on the retreats best .. they are .. kind of golden in a way .. full of companionship but also a reverent kind of stillness :) that almost shines
Eden Haiku: Nice :)
oO0Oo Resident: noble silence
Elia Scribe: I hitched across Canada withut speaking for 10 days once. gave me a strange sense of power and insight into the people I met. I thought cause I wasn't complicating things, so I could understand them better.
Paradise Tennant: it is interesting to see how much you can communicate just with your presence :)
Paradise Tennant: smiles at elia ..you wrote notes :)
Paradise Tennant: ?
Rrose Millar: Oups! I notice SL is eating up the laptop battery really quick...
Rrose Millar: Good night everyone!
Elia Scribe: Ahh. No notes, but I remember the experiences very well. That time was, what do you call it?, when things are more salient.
druth Vlodovic: cya rose
Elia Scribe: Gnite Rose.
Paradise Tennant: good nite rrose :)
Paradise Tennant: sweet dreams
Eden Haiku: Bye, see you soon :)
oO0Oo Resident: nite RRRRose
oO0Oo Resident: tes Para, what we communicate in silence, and Elia, the vividness of being in freshness of travel
oO0Oo Resident: yes*
Elia Scribe: I was wandering a lot back then.
Elia Scribe: Miss it, but I'm too old to sleep by the highway :)))
Paradise Tennant: often think if you just visualize whatever it is .. that you want to express in your mind .. there sometimes is little need to express it
Eden Haiku: tiptoes quietly...
Elia Scribe: Gnite Eden
Paradise Tennant: smiles yes fun to be a wanderer
Paradise Tennant: good nite eden sweet dreams :)
oO0Oo Resident: bye Eden
Paradise Tennant: the words are not that necessary if the thoughts are there :)
Wilfrid Resident: Goodnight everyone :)
druth Vlodovic: one by one... bye will
Elia Scribe: Speaking can complicate things. I think when yo become a part of what you speak about. Gets confusing :)) An infinite regression of a sort.
Paradise Tennant: good nite wilfrid :)
oO0Oo Resident: Para, that's an interesting quandry for me, the intention itself
oO0Oo Resident: pure
oO0Oo Resident: purer
druth Vlodovic: they fill your head to compose, again to speak, again to hear
Paradise Tennant: always think the intention is the flow
oO0Oo Resident: and yes Elia... the confusing that can come with proceeding from thought
Paradise Tennant: yes but trip you up in the understanding true listening without distraction of any kind is a rare commodity
oO0Oo Resident: truly
oO0Oo Resident: please sit with me when i die
Elia Scribe: Yes Para. I might have found that from time to time. And concluded that I needed to speak to participate in the social experience we were creating together.
Elia Scribe: When will you die?
Elia Scribe: I'll make time in my claender.
Elia Scribe: calender
oO0Oo Resident: no plan Elia
oO0Oo Resident: just imagine it could be a space for deep being
Paradise Tennant: often do ton glen for friends and friends of friends who are facing death
Paradise Tennant: yes a portal
Paradise Tennant: much harder for those staying behind than those who are going I believe
Elia Scribe: When we die to know we love and are loved?
oO0Oo Resident: yes Para
oO0Oo Resident: I think that quality of awareness that senses if someone is preoccupied or truly listening with presence is magnified near death
oO0Oo Resident: so, getting out of ones own way, makes way for those flowing on
Elia Scribe: Have you been there OooO? With someone?
--BELL--
Paradise Tennant: there is a lot you can do to ease their time passing .. surround them with love
oO0Oo Resident: Yes Elia, Yes Para
oO0Oo Resident: Your Tonglen practice shows para
Paradise Tennant: when I first started it .. i use to find it draining . now not really at all
Paradise Tennant: more like a peaceful flow .. exchange .. drawing out ..
oO0Oo Resident: I appreciate so much that you do that
Paradise Tennant: it seems our thoughts are our most powerful bits ..they leash or unleash our energies
oO0Oo Resident remembers the depth of the ocean, and the waves
Elia Scribe: "We are as the result of all we have thought." is the first line in the Dhamapada.
Paradise Tennant: yes and truly believe it ..every thought you have changes you
oO0Oo Resident: :)
druth Vlodovic: "be careful little mind what you think..."
Calvino Rabeni: Good evening everyone ..
druth Vlodovic: hi cal
Elia Scribe: Hi Calvino.
Calvino Rabeni: Hi .. actually I just dropped in to see how everyone is doing, but can't stay :)
oO0Oo Resident: love surrounds us
Calvino Rabeni: That's true 0
oO0Oo Resident: hehehehehe
Paradise Tennant: hiya cal :)
Calvino Rabeni: Namaste
Calvino Rabeni: _/!\_
oO0Oo Resident: good timing Cal
Paradise Tennant: namaste :)
Calvino Rabeni: Goodbye again :)
druth Vlodovic: cya :)
oO0Oo Resident: Namaste
druth Vlodovic: I'm off too, have fun all
Paradise Tennant: good nite druth :) sweet dreams
oO0Oo Resident: Druth you said so many interesting and helpful things for me... ty
Paradise Tennant: smiles and nods :) so much good listening here
oO0Oo Resident: mmhmm
Paradise Tennant: sigh well my ginger tea is gone and my eyes are getting heavy .. so I think I will bid you two good nite .. thank you
Paradise Tennant: for the conversation and the company :)
--BELL--
Elia Scribe: Gnite P
oO0Oo Resident: ty Para, such a pleasure to be with yu
Paradise Tennant: namaste my friends ..may you dream well :) .. of still wonders :)
oO0Oo Resident: :)