2011.06.17 06:00 - Time Session: The White Album

Present for today's Magic of Time session, wherein we discussed 2011/06/17: Reports from Exploring the Magic of Time, and also "offering spacious affirmation" as Maxine so graciously put it, were Maxine, Adams, Pema, Bleu, Xirana, Bruce, Eliza, and Riddle. Before the session began there was a visitor, and I chose to move much of that conversation to the end of the log.
 

Eliza Madrigal: http://wiki.playasbeing.org/PaB_Books
Visitor Resident: So what is this book about?
Maxine Walden: hi, Pema, Eliza,
Eliza Madrigal: Pema, I was telling Visitor about the group and about our meetings, maybe you could say a few words in response to her question....
Visitor Resident: Weird topic, "magic of time". I don't believe in magic.
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Maxine :) Hi Pema
Pema Pera: hi everybody!
Eliza Madrigal: hehe
Eliza Madrigal: My feeling is 'taste and see' but of course that's up to you
Maxine Walden: Maybe Visitor would like to sit with us and listen, which might give a better idea overall
Eliza Madrigal: btw, is it okay if I include you in this morning's log ?
Maxine Walden: hi, Adams
Adams Dubrovna: Hello evryone :)

Pema Pera: Well, we have been talking for a year now, almost every week, so it's hard to summarize -- I suggest you can look at the web site http://wiki.playasbeing.org/PaB_Books/Magic_of_Time
Maxine Walden: hi, Xirana
Eliza Madrigal: Morning, Adams and Xirana and Bleu :)
Maxine Walden: Hi, Bleu
Xirana Oximoxi: hi everyone!
Maxine Walden: Hi, Bruce, so good to see you!
Pema Pera: Hi Bleu, and all!
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Bruce :)
Bleu Oleander: hi everyone :)
Pema Pera: Bleu, Kiremimi and I had a fantastic tour, a day ago!
Pema Pera: in the Molecule -- where it's at :-)
Bleu Oleander: how nice Pema!
Bruce Mowbray: Thank you - It's great to be here. Just finishing up my re-reading of the reports....

Bleu Oleander: hoping we can repeat our performances for those that missed it
Pema Pera: yes, that's a great idea -- and it would be nice to include Kira Japan too
Pema Pera: Kiremimi and I will see them in a few weeks
Bleu Oleander: yes
Pema Pera: so I suggest we talk with them and give them the background, and then schedule something for next month
Bleu Oleander: I would love to encourage Kira Japan to use the theater
Pema Pera: they often feel hesitant mingling with groups where the spoken word is central, given that their English, while better than our Japanese by and large, is often not good enough for fast communication
Pema Pera: and performances can bridge the gap
Bleu Oleander: :)
Bleu Oleander: perhaps we need Japanese subtitles
Maxine Walden: :))
Eliza Madrigal nods
Eliza Madrigal: would be a nice idea, to have performances translated that way
Pema Pera: それはいいイデアですよね、本当に、と思います。
Pema Pera: :-)
Xirana Oximoxi: :)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Maxine Walden: (was waiting for that one...:) Pema )
Bleu Oleander: :))
Pema Pera: yesterday, Sunshine and Eliza really put up a great Japanese song and dance
Bleu Oleander: oh did you do your performance?
Eliza Madrigal: was fun to do that again, and for Sunshine to bring you three on stage too
Pema Pera: even if we had not been in Japan, we would have felt transported to Japan :-)
Maxine Walden: lovely :)
Eliza Madrigal: It was impromptu, yes, Sunshine rezzed the setting...

Maxine Walden: Pema, how many more Time sessions are we planning?
Eliza Madrigal: really like walking into a dream
Pema Pera: one more!
Pema Pera: this is the penultimate one . . .
Eliza Madrigal: :::hears dramatic music::::
Pema Pera: one more reading, the last part of the last chapter, which I hope to finish tomorrow (for me, tonight for you)
Pema Pera: hehehe
Maxine Walden: it has been quite a creative effort, especially for you, but somewhat for all of us...

Pema Pera: to remind you, for today the reports are on
http://wiki.playasbeing.org/PaB_Books/Magic_of_Time/Time_Sessions/Weekly_Reports/2011%2f%2f06%2f%2f17%3a_Reports

Eliza Madrigal nods
Pema Pera: oh, absolutely!
Pema Pera: it's been so inspiring to read all of your reports
Pema Pera: also, frankly, I would never have found the time to write all those chapters, had I not had a deadline every week . . . .
Eliza Madrigal: amazing, it doesn't feel like we've written so many but I took a glance yesterday.. wow
Maxine Walden: We really have nourished each other...
Pema Pera: (^_^)
Pema Pera: yes
Bruce Mowbray: So many wonderful "thought experiments"!
Eliza Madrigal: :))
Pema Pera: and I know it has been a lot of work for all of us
Maxine Walden: perhaps not all Einsteinian (thought experiments) but efforts to push our own boundaries

Pema Pera: speaking for myself, I'm always amazed that many of you seem to think that I write rather easily -- while it has been a real struggle, every week, to get started
Pema Pera: only when I get going does it become easy
Maxine Walden: yes, can appreciate that, Pema
Pema Pera: but getting started can take hours or days
Pema Pera: groping in the dark for the light switch . . . .
Adams Dubrovna: I can understand the difficulty getting started writing

Maxine Walden: :) you seem to have found the switch readily, at least from reading; that may be why it seems so 'easy' (our imagining you write to easily) from our perspective;
Adams Dubrovna: your results are great though :)
Bruce Mowbray: perhaps a better way for me to have put that might be -- "experiential explorations."

--BELL--

Adams Dubrovna could not get started the past two weeks
Maxine Walden: That getting started...like going from one state, busy with the everyday, into another where one's mental desk is moreless cleared and the topic of consideration the main focus
Adams Dubrovna: whoops
Eliza Madrigal: agree Maxine, very intuitive Pema, especially sentences like 'don't just throw up your hands and say its too hard' etc
Pema Pera: yes, I was talking to myself too :-)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Pema Pera: especially

Pema Pera: Maxine, you are writing a book -- how about taking your book as the next center piece?

Maxine Walden: (gulp!)
Eliza Madrigal perks up
Pema Pera: hehehe
Maxine Walden: :)
Pema Pera: (or is it a secret?)
Pema Pera: ((in which case I won't mention it to anyone!))
Maxine Walden: hmm, no not a secret, just mostly still in the planning stage
Pema Pera: you have a few more weeks . . .
Eliza Madrigal seeing cats run from bags
Pema Pera: or if we have a summer break, which seems like a good idea, you have a few more months
Pema Pera: we can start in September again, after next week
Maxine Walden: only a couple of chapters written...but most sketched out in previous papers....
Pema Pera: oh, I never was a couple chapters ahead!
Pema Pera: you're way ahead of me!!
Pema Pera: would you like to share the title?
Xirana Oximoxi: about what are you writing maxine, if I may ask?
Maxine Walden: the title is Regarding Reality
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Xirana Oximoxi: ah! thank you:)
Bleu Oleander: nice Maxine
Xirana Oximoxi: sounds also very interesting:)
Maxine Walden: thanks.
Pema Pera: nice evolution from the previous title, Maxine!
Maxine Walden: hmm, yes, Pema :)
Pema Pera: so we have a deal, Maxine?
Eliza Madrigal: thanks for sharing with us Maxine, even if via Pema, hehe
Pema Pera just trying to practice persistence
Eliza Madrigal: :)

Maxine Walden: Ah, just a second; wonder what others think about how we should proceed...might be other ideas...
Eliza Madrigal: sounds wonderful to me, would be very interested
Bleu Oleander: all those in favor ......
Pema Pera: Aye!
Eliza Madrigal: it is like visiting one another's houses, first Pema then Maxine
Pema Pera: then Eliza
Bleu Oleander: Aye!
Xirana Oximoxi: I find really interesting to learn all the precess about writing a book ... and also sharing opinoins and discussiong the content... ebven if I am only a listener. I'm sure I learn a lot from you
Eliza Madrigal: aye (to in favor not then eliza)
Pema Pera: hahaha
Pema Pera: (you asked for it!)
Bleu Oleander: haha
Adams Dubrovna: if you are up to it Maxine, I would be interested of course
Pema Pera thinks we are reaching a consensus here . . . .

Maxine Walden: maybe I can think about it for a bit...(feeling gentle nudges from friends)

Pema Pera: the only concern (a VERY important one) is what to put on a public web site . . . if Maxine wants to publish it as a regular book, the publisher might object to putting it out on a web site . . . .
Pema Pera: in which case we might have to distribute the text through our closed email group
Maxine Walden: ah, I will know if August whether the currently considered publisher likes the project
Maxine Walden: and it would be imperative for that publisher that it not have been previously 'published'
Pema Pera: one way to coax the publisher is to promise that you put up only the first draft, not the final version
Pema Pera: ah, not necessarily!
Pema Pera: more and more publishers now allow publication on a private web site
Pema Pera: it can stimulate sales
Pema Pera: who wants to read a whole book on a screen?
Pema Pera: I mean publicly visible private web site
Maxine Walden: hmm, feeling a bit pressured here...(needing a bit more elbow room)
Maxine Walden: :)
Pema Pera: no rush!

--BELL--

Bruce Mowbray empathizes with Maxine.
Pema Pera: we can start in September, and we can start by distributing through a private email group, which is sharing among friends, what almost all authors do, not publishing. -- and if and when you also would like to put it on a mroe public web site, you can always do that later.
Xirana Oximoxi: with e-readears, more and more people is getting used reading a whole book in it...Habitudea are changing

Maxine Walden: What I could consider, at least as we sit here right now, is just to open my writing process to this group...but I am aware that I need to not get into a 'must do it by Friday' state of mind, because my connection with my creativity is lost then.

Bleu Oleander is waiting for iPad 3 :)
Xirana Oximoxi: I understand it perfectly Maxine:)
Eliza Madrigal: ah seems good to know and nurture your own process Maxine, of course..
Maxine Walden: But having said that, I am not sure whether I as a group member would like to just watch over someone's shoulder...when they might not be creating something in the moment or by Friday, so to speak....
Pema Pera: oh, that's no problem at all, Maxine
Pema Pera: remember, the previous year we read the TSK book
Pema Pera: which was thirty + years old!
Pema Pera: just having the author there is important
Maxine Walden: yes...ah....well, that is an interesting point, Pema, the author present...
Maxine Walden: if that is of interest...it might be like having a private study group
Pema Pera: yes
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Maxine Walden: then we all would be co-authors...
Pema Pera: ah, a shadow book!
Maxine Walden: :)
Maxine Walden: like a shadow cabinet?
Pema Pera: a bootleg version in an alternative reality (or illusion)
Pema Pera: a "white album" . . .
Maxine Walden: :))
Pema Pera waiting for Bleu to blow her trumpet now
Maxine Walden: hahaha

Eliza Madrigal: Mind if I bring up a line from your report Pema, maybe let Maxine off the hook, hehe
Pema Pera: hahaha
Maxine Walden: :) Eliza, please
Pema Pera: I was just about to ask about the third book, Eliza
Pema Pera: do you have a title?

Eliza Madrigal: " It may sound like a contradiction, but over time I've learned more and more how to see the narrowing tendencies as also part of the wider openings that we tend to strive towards. "

Eliza Madrigal: I'd love for you to go into this a bit more deeply if you might.
Pema Pera: sure, happy to
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, I wanted Pema to expand upon that sentence, also.

Pema Pera: it is important to make distinctions
Pema Pera: but after making it, then also to see that the distinction is not absolute
Pema Pera: so it is important to not blend together what it feels like to be in a keenly open state of mind and in a more closed down state of mind, initially
Pema Pera: to really feel the difference
Pema Pera: best to feel that by alternating, contrasting them
Pema Pera: BUT then it's also good to feel the openness as the always present background for the narrowness
Pema Pera: you can draw a big circle on a piece of white paper, or a small circle -- but the whiteness of the paper is the same
Pema Pera: you first can feel how much larger the larger circle is
Pema Pera: which is "true"
Pema Pera: and then you can also feel how the whiteness is the same in both cases
Pema Pera: which is also "true"
Pema Pera: does that make sense?

Eliza Madrigal nods it does... seems then you are bringing the openness to the foreground as well
Maxine Walden: nice description of contrasts which yet compliment...as part of the 'whole picture'
Bleu Oleander: the question is can you then move from paper to awareness?

Pema Pera: actually Bruce provided us with a much better example: the difference between sickness and health is real -- and yet, while ill, we can rise beyond the difference in our awareness -- is that a reasonable one-liner summary, Bruce?

--BELL--

Bruce Mowbray: You said it much better than I did, Pema!
Pema Pera: or putting it otherwise: we don't have to identify with being sick, when having an illness; being is different. An in-your-face difference between having and being
Eliza Madrigal: this closedness as not 'other than' the openness is something I muse on all the time but never feels less of a question :)
Pema Pera: perhaps it's the "you musing" that's the real question :-)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: yes shes persistent too, hahah
Pema Pera: ah, a title for the third book: "Musing All the Time" ?
Eliza Madrigal: =P~
Maxine Walden: :)

Pema Pera: btw, continuing about Bruce's summaries, here is a great quote from his report this week:

Pema Pera: If I am driven, literal, impatient, and dualistic about the details of my life, then how could I be otherwise as Time presents its myriad appearances? All of my up-tight reactive stuff simply accumulates as mounting self-absorption, and ultimately it backfires as self-contempt, dullness, and defensiveness.

Bruce Mowbray: Illness can be viewed as "a series of uncomfortable distractions" -- but I am chosing to view it as a series of opportunities to rest, look more deeply, and open to infinite possibilities.

Pema Pera: that's definitely better than I said it, Bruce! (^_^)
Maxine Walden: wonderful, Bruce
Eliza Madrigal: 'reactive stuff', yes
Bruce Mowbray: ;-)
Bruce Mowbray: Well, right now it is a moment-by-moment "reality" for me, Pema -- with lots of openings both large and small.
Pema Pera: :-)

Maxine Walden: reactive stuff is really a dustcloud that we may view as 'real' unless we can appreciate the wider view. Bruce is taking that wider view
Maxine Walden: it seems

Eliza Madrigal: mmm, nods...
Eliza Madrigal was very moved by your 'nothing - no one - heals alone' , Bruce
Bruce Mowbray: Ken McLeod teaches (unfetteredmind.org ) that we cannot be both "aware" and "reactive" at the same time.
Eliza Madrigal: (hope I didn't misquote) but that was quite striking... including everything
Bruce Mowbray: (I'm I'm still running that one through my grinders.)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Pema Pera: :-)
Maxine Walden: :)
Pema Pera: finely ground awareness . . .
Maxine Walden: creates a wonderful espresso
Eliza Madrigal: aromatic and enlivening
Maxine Walden: essence of awareness

Adams Dubrovna: sometimes with external agendas it is hard to be anything but reactive

Bruce Mowbray: Well, Eliza, the further I go on thi journey, the more I appreciate that NOTHING we do is "separated" -- maybe healing, especially. . . but ultimately there is no separation.

Maxine Walden: so agree, Adams
Pema Pera: yes, it takes practice, Adams
Adams Dubrovna: one is standing in the middle and watching all this stuff
Maxine Walden: and the stuff seems to surround us
Pema Pera: I also very much enjoyed Eliza's description of her daughter experimenting with reality and virtuality, trying to sit on a doll house chair -- and learning separation
Eliza Madrigal: yes Bruce, I could hear that so clearly in your writing, how you are seeing this
Pema Pera: and we have to unlearn
Eliza Madrigal: 'stuff', nods
Bruce Mowbray: yes, I loved the doll house chair image -- I think I've done that a few times myself!
Eliza Madrigal: thanks :) yes I've been smiling about it since writing it, clear moment, that was

Maxine Walden: one of the lovely things about this time together, for me, is our mutual appreciation...offering spacious affirmation which may widen our perspectives...maybe as Eliza's daughter was doing, looking tward her mom checking out whether mom appreciated her experimentation

Eliza Madrigal: :)) yes it was a safe moment, Maxine...
Eliza Madrigal: seeing inner spaces in a way
Maxine Walden: yes, an exquisite example of such, I thought
Eliza Madrigal: as this has often been, very lovely
Bruce Mowbray was wondering whether the little girl was identifying with the dolls -- and not just trying the chair out for size.
Bleu Oleander: hi Riddle
Bruce Mowbray: Riddle!
Eliza Madrigal: interesting question Bruce.. in this case the dolls were the side issue, not really in play :)
Riddle Sideways: Morning All
Pema Pera: hi Riddle!
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Riddle :)
Xirana Oximoxi: hi Riddle:)
Maxine Walden: hi, Riddle, Riddle
Adams Dubrovna: Hello Riddle :)

Pema Pera: and I really enjoyed Maxine's sentence "I can only glimpse 'reality' via my impressions or illusions" -- like a sound bite preview of her book !!
Eliza Madrigal: hehehehehhehe
Riddle Sideways whispers, sorry could not get up this morning
Maxine Walden: :)
Bleu Oleander: :)

--BELL--

Pema Pera: np, Riddle, to quote Riddle: "Not packing a lunch, it is already"
Riddle Sideways: :)
Eliza Madrigal: I love that, not packing a lunch!
Maxine Walden: have to go, all. Momentary reality tugs at the sleeve...bye for now
Eliza Madrigal: :)) Bye Maxine, thanks so much
Pema Pera: :-)
Maxine Walden: see you next time
Bleu Oleander: bye Maxine
Riddle Sideways: bye maxine
Adams Dubrovna: bye Maxine
Eliza Madrigal: Maxine exemplifies grace under pressure this morning :)
Xirana Oximoxi: bye Maxine:) I also go... nice time to all
Bleu Oleander: have to check into RL also
Bruce Mowbray: Have a happy day, everyone. Thank you all for this stimulating discussion.
Eliza Madrigal: Bye Xirana and Bleu, nice to see you both
Adams Dubrovna: bye everyone :)
Bleu Oleander: bye all ... take care :)
Eliza Madrigal: Thanks very much Bruce and Adams too
Pema Pera: bye all who are leaving!
Eliza Madrigal: I'll wait a few minutes for Luci to arrive
 

Conversation with "Visitor" pre-session:

Eliza Madrigal: HI Visitor, welcome
Visitor Resident: hi
Eliza Madrigal: We're going to have a meeting here in a few minutes
Eliza Madrigal: please stay if you like :)
Visitor Resident: Oh, then I won't get in the way. Sorry.
Eliza Madrigal: Oh, would not be in the way
Eliza Madrigal: at all
Eliza Madrigal: would be nice for you to join us if interested
Visitor Resident: Well, if you having a meeting, one would think you would have something to discuss.
Eliza Madrigal: hehe... maybe I made it sound too 'official'

Visitor Resident: What is this place?
Eliza Madrigal: :) We are actually here four times a day, different groups of avatars in "Play as Being"
Eliza Madrigal: Fridays we come early for a discussion about 'the magic of time'
Visitor Resident: I can't read the sign here because the font is too small on a laptop
Eliza Madrigal: but every day we're here at 1,7,1,7
Visitor Resident: the magic of time?
Eliza Madrigal: let me give you a clearer note
Eliza Madrigal: yes :) the note will be about the group, but we have a whole wiki...
Eliza Madrigal: the group has been gathering for over three years
Eliza Madrigal: and we discuss all sorts of things, like the nature of play and of reality
Visitor Resident: It would seem to me that we are always "exploring reality"
Eliza Madrigal: :)))
Eliza Madrigal: yes
Eliza Madrigal: the time session is about a book the group founder has been writing, while getting input from everyone
Visitor Resident: Is this some sort of New Age type of thing?
Eliza Madrigal: you may like it here
Eliza Madrigal: I wouldn't characterize it that way
Eliza Madrigal: but you may want to sit in and see
Visitor Resident: What sort of book is he/she writing?
Eliza Madrigal: We record every session onto the wiki as well so you can get a taste across sesssions

--BELL--

Eliza Madrigal: Ah, and the bell is a main part of the community as well (we take pauses together for micro-meditations) I'm interrupting :))