2011.04.09 19:00 - Widening Focus

The Guardian for this meeting was Pema Pera. The comments are by Pema Pera.

Pema Pera: hi there, Eliza!
Eliza Madrigal: Aloha Pema :)
Eliza Madrigal: Managing naps between pub visits?
Pema Pera: hi Druth! and Hokon!
Hokon Cazalet: hiya =)
Pema Pera: whenever I get a chance :-)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Hokon, ltns!
Pema Pera: small world
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Druth :))
Hokon Cazalet: =)
Hokon Cazalet: im back
Hokon Cazalet: Yaaaaayyyyyyyy!
Pema Pera: keep running into each other here :-)
Eliza Madrigal: haha, Hokon, where were you that you are 'back' now? :)
Hokon Cazalet: eh, hell lol
Hokon Cazalet: aka philosophy house
Pema Pera: how was that?
Eliza Madrigal: :)) ah, yes familiar with that ring
Pema Pera: hi Steve!
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Steve :)
Hokon Cazalet: =)
stevenaia Michinaga: evening

Druth livens up the conversations with more vivid imagery . . .

druth Vlodovic: I tied her up and wouldn't let her leave until the session started :)
Pema Pera: from pub to house to pavilion -- you're climbing up the social ladder, Hokon!
Hokon Cazalet: hehe
Hokon Cazalet: =)
Eliza Madrigal: :) druth
Pema Pera: wow, Druth, drastic!
Hokon Cazalet: it worked :Þ
Pema Pera: :-)
Hokon Cazalet: it takes drastic methods to restrict a hokon
Eliza Madrigal: must have been an interesting topic ...
Hokon Cazalet: i enjoyed chatting with druth alot =)
druth Vlodovic: ty :)
Hokon Cazalet: =)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Pema Pera: do I dare ask for a summary?
Hokon Cazalet: um hehe
Pema Pera: just the bottom line?
druth Vlodovic: comic books?
Pema Pera: or the top line?
Hokon Cazalet is bad at summerizing personal encounters
Hokon Cazalet: yup comic books came up =)
Pema Pera: or a side line?
druth Vlodovic: only she reads real philosopher which I think is unfair
Hokon Cazalet: aw
Eliza Madrigal: ;-)
Hokon Cazalet: MWHAHAHA!!!
Hokon Cazalet likes to cheat
Hokon Cazalet: =)
Pema Pera: which philosopher is that a quote of, Hokon?
Eliza Madrigal ponders the term 'real' philospher
Hokon Cazalet: um
Hokon Cazalet: me
Hokon Cazalet: :Þ
Pema Pera: and then Spinoza burst out in laughter . . . .
stevenaia Michinaga: hi Paradise
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Paradise :)
Pema Pera: hi Paradise!

We try to sketch the previous conversations from various angles . . .

druth Vlodovic: we were discussion the relationship between philosophy and reality
Hokon Cazalet: hi paradise =)
Pema Pera: and laughter
druth Vlodovic: hi para
Pema Pera: and tying someone down
Pema Pera: you get the picture
Hokon Cazalet: the impossible was ahceived by druth
druth Vlodovic: ah! pictures! I knew I forgot something
Paradise Tennant: hiya pema .. druth .. eliza.. hokon .. stev good to see everyone :)
Pema Pera: good to see you again, Paradise!
Pema Pera: hi Eos, small world!
Pema Pera: and Stoem!
Pema Pera: Storm
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Storm and Eos :)
Paradise Tennant: waves and smiles at Storm and Eos :)
Storm Nordwind: Hello all!
Eos Amaterasu: Hi gang!
Hokon Cazalet: hi =)
Eliza Madrigal read a delightful session about brussel sprouts today...
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Pema Pera: how were they prepared?
Paradise Tennant: smiles .. vegetables can be tantalizing :)
Eliza Madrigal: roasted with a bit of lemon
Storm Nordwind shudders at linking "delightful" with "brussels sprouts"
Pema Pera: pick your delight, Storm :-)
Eliza Madrigal smiles at Storm, so says my son as well
Storm Nordwind is sitting next to his delight in RL :) <3
Eos Amaterasu: as I used to say to my son, open your mouth, close your eyes, and open your mind
Eliza Madrigal smiles some more
Paradise Tennant: smiles at Storm's wise delight :)
Eliza Madrigal: :) Eos

I suggest an exploration.

Pema Pera: just a suggestion: for the next 90 sec. break, shall we look at the quality/type/feel/sense of awareness? Like watching the sky and seeing the clouds drift by -- here thoughts and feelings & what not
Pema Pera: (like: images of brussel's sprouts, for example)
Eliza Madrigal: can not resist 'what not' either
Eliza Madrigal: (sorry, sleepy) :)) yes, nice sure :)
--BELL--
Pema Pera enjoyed wathing thoughts do their thinking, lazily . . . . drifting
Pema Pera: *watching
stevenaia Michinaga: hmmm, I tried a number of things, dancing with my senses.... but although I exlored each on.. I could not "taste"
stevenaia Michinaga: explored each one
Eliza Madrigal felt tensions in my neck and shoulders, let it roll away ...
stevenaia Michinaga: sight, sounds, smell, touch... but no brussels spouts (even with mustard sauce)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Pema Pera: :-)
Eos Amaterasu: I was eating an apple (no brussels sprouts), and feeling each bite, how watery and more spacious each is....
Eos Amaterasu: (in RL)
Eliza Madrigal: :))
Eos Amaterasu: I did get some brussels sprouts today, though
Pema Pera wondering which apples are more spacious, in SL or RL . . .
Eos Amaterasu: biting an apple kind of opens it up
Pema Pera: in RL more salacious . . .
Hokon Cazalet: spacious is a fun term to be using
Storm Nordwind: During the 90 seconds, my awareness seemed to be hovering lightly over my physical body.
Paradise Tennant: smiles cocoa here ..very dark .. tasty:)
Storm Nordwind: My body has been feeling under the weather today: thick and heavy and lethargic. Yuk!
Storm Nordwind: So easy to identify with that body and feel as though it is really me that's thick and heavy and lethargic.
Storm Nordwind: But seeing the awareness as separate helped me dismiss that lethargy as not worthy of identification.
Pema Pera: always so interesting to discover more degrees of freedom . . .
Pema Pera: in any situation, in any moment
Eliza Madrigal: :) Storm... that seems a spaciousness recognized...
Storm Nordwind: Actually Eliza, it was more recognition of the onset of an illusion! :)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Storm Nordwind is normally spaciously inclined ;)
druth Vlodovic: "I don't feel bad, it only feels that way" handy :)
Eos Amaterasu: gad
Eliza Madrigal pictures Storm swooping in on illusion of lethargy
Eos Amaterasu: it's like not having the blues, so you can't play the blues
Eliza Madrigal: :)

A new and somewhat unexpected angle is brought in:

Eos Amaterasu thinks of Jessica Rabbit
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: shes just drawn that way
Paradise Tennant: smiles :)
Eos Amaterasu: "I'm not really bad, I'm just drawn that way" :-)
Pema Pera: hahaha
Pema Pera: from "what are we drawn to" to 'how are we drawn" . . .
Storm Nordwind was unaware of this Jessica Rabbit of which you speak... but Google is my friend
Eliza Madrigal laughs and waits for Storm's reaction
Eos Amaterasu: a mixed Real/Toon movie
Hokon Cazalet has Google as her God
Paradise Tennant: thinks we each have our own pencil :)
druth Vlodovic: creating illusions for ourselves, making them reality
Eos Amaterasu: play seems to be acknowledging both reality and illusion
Hokon Cazalet: yup eos
--BELL--
Eos Amaterasu: is that owl I hear real?
Storm Nordwind is sure that the slice of toast that transported him here tonight was quite as real as a magic carpet!

Not visible here in the log is the silence of a few minutes, after which I proposed another exploration.

Pema Pera is in a somewhat experimental mood, so if there is some interest in playing a bit . . . .
Pema Pera: I recently tried the following, in some different situations
Pema Pera: first just to look at a thought, or a sight, or whatever popped up
Pema Pera: we know very well how to focus on something
Pema Pera: but we can try the opposite
Pema Pera: namely trying to widen our focus
Pema Pera: like switching to a wide-angle lens
stevenaia Michinaga: wide awareness
Pema Pera: while keeping the precision (not de-focusing)
Pema Pera: does that make sense?
Pema Pera: shall we try that for, oh, 9 seconds?
Pema Pera: and see what happens, just with one form of appearance?
Paradise Tennant: smiles ok
Pema Pera: a sound, a sight, a memory, anything
Eliza Madrigal: :) sure
Pema Pera: okay!
Pema Pera: 9 seconds done :)

Quite a richness of reports follow:

Pema Pera listend to the sounds of dishes rattling, then widened to music and conversations, and the many shades in the cafe he's in, while keeping the dishes rattling happily :)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal chose a gardenia, widening to the bush outside which is blooming, and also then seeing the tiny ants scurrying around wthin the petals (sort of a few memories in one place)
Eos Amaterasu: this had a me seeing, being seeing pattern: going from focus to space around focus which stayed opened as default larger space
Eos Amaterasu just read that - gak! :-)
Storm Nordwind had just switched on the desk fan to cool the PC, so widened to see its context ... on the desk, and my wife sitting nearby at her PC, and the sound of the fan the same volume of my tinitis and an owl in SL, and the feel of the draft from the fan being isolated as one single feeling all alone, and being aware from the latter that I wasn't feeling 'no separation' at the moment.
Paradise Tennant: sitting in a darkish room illuminated by the colour and light of my computer screen which washes a bluish blush to everything .. just stayed with the light and then widened to the energy that it came from .. seeing how connected it all was :))
--BELL--
Pema Pera: such a nice variety of impressions and expressions!
Pema Pera: often we think in terms of contrasts, focused vs. distracted
Pema Pera: but it is nice to experiment with non-focused yet keeping precision
Pema Pera: and yes, very much related to being seen
Pema Pera: as Eos mentioned
Pema Pera: when we see, we use focus, in one way or other
Pema Pera: but being seen is more open, wider
druth Vlodovic: I found that after focusing on both the object and stuff around at the same time I became more aware of myself
Hokon Cazalet: =)
Hokon Cazalet: thats a common discovery i have as well
Pema Pera: yes, I had that sense, too, Druth, like in the "being seen"
Pema Pera: there is a parallel in martial arts -- knowing that you might be seen from any direction and prepared to respond to anything

again a silence of several minutes . . . very peaceful.

Pema Pera wondering whether the last few minutes we were all preparing to respond to anything . . . (^_^)
stevenaia Michinaga: seems in dreams you are prepared for anything
Pema Pera: interesting point!
Hokon Cazalet: not in my dreams, sometimes i suprised and feel lost
stevenaia Michinaga: was just floating in and out of sleep :)
Hokon Cazalet: =)
Eos Amaterasu: seems also that to be prepared for anything is also to be liable, subject to, anything.
Hokon Cazalet: ive had fun experience on that border =)
Storm Nordwind: A child may not be prepared to meet a nightmare for years
Pema Pera: yes
druth Vlodovic: yes, you become aware of being part of everything around, but then you become aware of everything around, you'd better like what you see :)
Pema Pera: closing down is like a protective measure
Pema Pera: often unconsciously so
Pema Pera: turtle instinct
Pema Pera: hi observem!
--BELL--
observerm Resident: hi Pema
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Obs :)
Pema Pera: thank you all for joining us on this dark Saturday night!
Pema Pera: I'll see some of you again in two hours, in the pub :)
Pema Pera: perchance
Eliza Madrigal: thanks for the explorations Pema
Storm Nordwind chuckles
Pema Pera: bfn
Storm Nordwind waves
Hokon Cazalet waves
Paradise Tennant: smiles and waves at observerm :)
druth Vlodovic: have fun pema
Pema Pera: thank you all !

Eos and I are taking off, and the session would continue for a little longer.

Eos Amaterasu: bye all, and thanks for the enchanting evening
Hokon Cazalet: =)
Eliza Madrigal: Bye Eos, Storm
Eliza Madrigal: re the drawing thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrse3WqmNv4
Eliza Madrigal: (for later)
Paradise Tennant: smiles and waves at all those departing ')
Eliza Madrigal: I'm nodding too, but the group explorations are rather energizing
stevenaia Michinaga: have to stay till dryer is done
Eliza Madrigal: :) Steve
Eliza Madrigal: dutiful
stevenaia Michinaga: :)
Paradise Tennant: lol
Hokon Cazalet: i feel quite energized tonight =)
druth Vlodovic: I tried defining the object instead of just observing it, then doing the same thing, didn't give the same sense of awareness
Hokon Cazalet: it shouldnt give the same sense
Paradise Tennant: hmm
druth Vlodovic: "shouldn't"?
stevenaia Michinaga: ponders awareness...
stevenaia Michinaga: when isn;t there waraeness, or is it jsut flavors
stevenaia Michinaga: *awareness
Paradise Tennant: yes .. almost could call it catching the full colour of the moment
Eliza Madrigal: hmm
Hokon Cazalet: well you altered the context, applied a concept to detemine an object (regulatory), even if you suspend the determination, an echo would remains for a bit i think
Paradise Tennant: like there is a spectrum a range of layers
Eliza Madrigal: at different speeds almost...
stevenaia Michinaga: yes, but there always awarness
druth Vlodovic: oh, made the object more a part of my mind, so the whole scene became more imaginary then percieved
Hokon Cazalet: ive had states close to no awareness, though i suspect its impossible to lack any awareness
Hokon Cazalet: ohhh sorry i misunderstood =)
Eliza Madrigal: ah, so a kind of concentration...
Eliza Madrigal: lovely exploring with you all :) Think I'd better zzzzz...
Hokon Cazalet: =)
Hokon Cazalet: /mje waves
druth Vlodovic: 'night eliza
Paradise Tennant: nite nite eliza :) sweet dreams :)
stevenaia Michinaga: night Eliza
Eliza Madrigal: NIght and Pleasant sleeps
Eliza Madrigal: ty :)
Paradise Tennant: sleepy here too :)
stevenaia Michinaga: yes
Hokon Cazalet: =)
stevenaia Michinaga: was napping before
druth Vlodovic: I think I'll head as well
stevenaia Michinaga: (here)
druth Vlodovic: have fun guys
Hokon Cazalet: =)
Paradise Tennant: nite nite druth
stevenaia Michinaga: will do better at a pink floyd concert if anyone is interested
stevenaia Michinaga: (at staying awake
Paradise Tennant: ?
Paradise Tennant: where
Paradise Tennant: ?
stevenaia Michinaga: SL, ofcourse
stevenaia Michinaga: :)
stevenaia Michinaga: happy to tp you
Paradise Tennant: blinks okies ..
Paradise Tennant: hokon ?
Hokon Cazalet: naw ill hang out here, ty though =)
Paradise Tennant: smiles ok if you change your mind shout :)
Hokon Cazalet: sure
Hokon Cazalet: =)