2011.02.02 01:00 - Breathing with Others

The Guardian for this meeting was Susan Aloix. The comments are by Susan Aloix.

          Calvino Rabeni: Hello, Susan, Mick :)

Susan Aloix: Hey Cal :) Hi Mickorod
--BELL--

Susan Aloix: Inhales....
Susan Aloix: exhales
Calvino Rabeni: inhales
Calvino Rabeni: hehe
Calvino Rabeni: exhales
Susan Aloix: :)
Susan Aloix: Is there any theme you'd be curious to explore Cal?
Calvino Rabeni: In the last session we were discussing the movie "The King's Speech" .. have you seen it?
Susan Aloix: No I haven't
Alfred Kelberry: meep!
Susan Aloix: :) hello Boxy
Calvino Rabeni: Meep - Boxter :)
Alfred Kelberry: hello :)
Alfred Kelberry: you two look like a nice couple :)
Susan Aloix: now we look more like a group
Calvino Rabeni: Hmm .. unintentionally, we appear to be colour coordinated
Alfred Kelberry: threesome? :)
Calvino Rabeni: You bring some blocks of color
Susan Aloix: :)
Alfred Kelberry: they're neatly aligned
Calvino Rabeni: Have you considered, Boxy ... what "came in" you?
Calvino Rabeni: I never thought to ask
Alfred Kelberry: what?
Calvino Rabeni: LIke you are an empty box or two, maybe used to ship some product
Alfred Kelberry: could be
--BELL--

Un-nerved by the growing presence of the  Cyclone Yasi on my countries doorstep (Australia) , I logged into SL to host my very first PaB Session. Luckily Calvino was there to show me the technical aspects.

There is something reassuring about sharing with people on the other side of the planet, in those moments one imagines a world not facing disasters, and a kind of deep relief  occurs I think. Luckily the Cyclone did not result in the devastation we were told to prepare for. I noticed the day after  I met the news of the big Freeze in the States with reciprocal empathy notably sharpened and alive. 

Calvino Rabeni: shoes, ... canned goods, ... electronic equipment perhaps ... a van de graaf generator .. lingerie, liquor, who knows ? :)

Susan Aloix: lol
Susan Aloix: Mentions the Cyclone currently on the doorstep of Northern Queensland (Australia)......can't stop checking the news to see how they are going.......
Susan Aloix: Very unnerving
Alfred Kelberry: "People living in far north Queensland are bunkered down this evening as Cyclone Yasi moves inexorably towards the coast."
Calvino Rabeni: Still bearing down then
Calvino Rabeni: It's at the top of the scale in size?
Susan Aloix: yeah.........north of my boxy....we are getting wild wind here......can't help but think its linked
Alfred Kelberry: exciting :)
Susan Aloix: its at the lower end of a Cat 5......they expect it to go to the higher end by the time the eye of it reaches land
Alfred Kelberry: it looks so nice and peaceful from the orbit
Susan Aloix: I just hope people are safe tonight......
Alfred Kelberry: "Analysts believe the cyclone could wipe out a third of Queensland's sugar cane crop - which makes up 90% of Australia's total output of raw sugar."
Alfred Kelberry: ouch
Susan Aloix: Yeah and we are the third largest supplier in the world
Alfred Kelberry: some traders will make good money
Calvino Rabeni: that will ripple through the food industry
Alfred Kelberry: beautiful shore: http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/06/13/Queensland_wideweb__430x286,0.jpg
--BELL--

Susan Aloix: :) yeah beautiful boxy
Alfred Kelberry: the view from your house, susan? :)
Calvino Rabeni: How do I look ?
Susan Aloix: No...that would be tropical queensland boxy?
Susan Aloix: invisible cal
Calvino Rabeni: And now?
Susan Aloix: Full colour
Calvino Rabeni: Cool
Alfred Kelberry: susan, i suppose
Susan Aloix: yeah....looks like it
Alfred Kelberry: thought you might have had a house there :)
Susan Aloix: No......I have friends up there.....they are staying in their home...probably in their bathrooms now.....under mattresses
Calvino Rabeni: Intense ... In the US they require evacuation .. does that happen in AU?
Susan Aloix: Yeah....but the storm is massive......they evaculated the people in the storm surge areas...others have stayed in their homes....
Alfred Kelberry: susan, bathrooms?
Susan Aloix: Bathrooms, hallways laundries are the core of the house. ie. the part of the house that has the least amount of glass, and greatest about of structural support.
Calvino Rabeni: It is very intense ... possibly .. emotionally, to witness such an event
Calvino Rabeni: even without realizing it
Alfred Kelberry: ah
Calvino Rabeni: I learned about that one time
Calvino Rabeni: I was in an earthquake that tore up San Francisco
Calvino Rabeni: and even though it was only mild on my particular house
Susan Aloix: Yes. We went through a disaster in 1974 on christmas eve - cyclone tracey hit Darwin.....killed 71 people. We are told that Tracey is a dwarf compared to Yasi. We are deeply stirred for many reasons.

Calvino Rabeni: I got the flu from stress, just being in the same social sphere
Alfred Kelberry: flu from stress?
Calvino Rabeni: yes
Susan Aloix: oh my Cal. Earthquakes would be scarey.
Calvino Rabeni: An entire freeway collapsed
Alfred Kelberry: i think you just caught a bug
Calvino Rabeni: NO

Calvino Rabeni: I almost never have colds / flu

Alfred Kelberry: hmm
--BELL--

Following on from this meeting I asked Calvino more about his phrase *impotence of empathy*. His description very much matched the disengaged experience I was having with the media fear frenzy and my rising empathic attunement getting overloaded. 

"News creates a rupture or disconnect that might not be natural for humans ... seeing some disaster happening to people, it's natural to feel empathic pain ... but then there's nothing to do with it .. if one doesn't have a role in helping ... just having a feeling without acting means the "feeling" is disengaged and a secondary feeling of either helplessness or numbness can follow..that is, emotions want to engage ... if they are "just a feeling" (a mere feeling) they're disconnected from their social function that's how that experience felt ... "have to just watch, can't do something with it" so the feeling gets lost inside somewhat unresolved."

Also liked Boxys comment on "harnessing nature".

Alfred Kelberry: well, flu requires a virus in your body
Calvino Rabeni: So boxy, where did you get the domain you use for your picture diary? That is an unusual short URL
Susan Aloix: Ponderings here ..........Thing is - we are all dying - i think events like this bring that knowledge to the foreground...and a whole death-angst rears its head.....clearly there are other things it stirs up including deep empathy for the people facing that RIGHT THIS very moment..... it does stir up my pain about the fragility of the earth......
Alfred Kelberry: name.com :)
Calvino Rabeni: What is stirs for me .. is the impotence of empathy as a mere feeling, and secondarily - a disaster really cuts through individualism and shows people actually share a world together
Calvino Rabeni: any kind of thing that brings a positive realization like that will stir the pain of its lack or opposite
Alfred Kelberry: it shows we have some work to do to harness the nature :)
Susan Aloix: yeah i like *share a world*.....
--BELL--

Some wonderful beginnings of conversations here - was getting late... steam running out....and unfortunately I had to get back to the news of the Cyclone! You always know you need to quit when you start pasting wikipedia links :).

Calvino Rabeni: It brings up the realization of a positive kind of existentialism
Susan Aloix: Cal. Do you think we have diminished opportunity for empathy? Being in the *same boat* is essentially one way to ignite empathy. You kinda quickly learn. Do you think in our times - we are separated from each other - and quite physically have fewer opportunities to feel the fragility of ones life?
Alfred Kelberry: what's a negative kind of existentialism?
Calvino Rabeni: Negative existentialism is the feelign that life is meaningless and people just bother each other ... stuff like that
Calvino Rabeni: Not that I've studied the philosophy much
Calvino Rabeni: so that's not a "term"
Calvino Rabeni: Responding to you Susan, I think it has been going in that direction for a while
Susan Aloix: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism
Calvino Rabeni: Perhaps its the combination of technology and postmodernism ... but I would not make a blanket assessment of either of those as alienating
Susan Aloix: getting back to death........
Calvino Rabeni: In that gloss on existentialism it appears pretty embedded in the political arc of the 20th century
Susan Aloix: (liked writing that ) sorry lol
Calvino Rabeni: how could they not be affected by that
Susan Aloix: I was just going to comment on my own experience today....i think there are bigger contexts to place experiences in that give them more meaning.......and also point to some of the contributing factors in the anxiety felt....much of it subconscious
Calvino Rabeni: feels like those factors are mostly subconscious
Calvino Rabeni: and in my opinion mostly transpersonal
Susan Aloix: nods
Calvino Rabeni: which is not of course the idea of the existentialsits, with their focus on individualism
Calvino Rabeni: when you fish for some factors what are they?
Susan Aloix: not all of them were focused on individualism
Calvino Rabeni listens
Susan Aloix: just that.....many are transpersonal - communitarian...relational.....
--BELL--

Calvino Rabeni: Well, this looks like a good time to head out
Calvino Rabeni: Thanks for hosting Susan,
Calvino Rabeni: Bye Boxy, and maybe MIck
Susan Aloix: Thank you Cal. Be well :)
Susan Aloix: Going as well.
Susan Aloix: Bye boxy :) Mick :)