2011.11.26 19:00 - Emerging from a swirl of half-thought half-thingies

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

Pema Pera: hi Bert!
Pema Pera: How are you?
Bertrum Resident: Fine, thanks. And you?
Pema Pera: doing well :-)
Bertrum Resident: Busy time of year at the Institute?
Pema Pera: not too much, just part of the mid year
Pema Pera: hi Steve!
Bertrum Resident: hi Steve.
stevenaia Michinaga: sorry, lag issues
Pema Pera: :)
stevenaia Michinaga: hi Pema, burt
Pema Pera: I enjoy reading about your tai chi practice, Steve -- you're still able to be outside, I gather?
stevenaia Michinaga: yes, today was perfect
stevenaia Michinaga: and unexpected
stevenaia Michinaga: post gardening
Pema Pera: :)
stevenaia Michinaga: it;s nice having something that is a daily break, I jsut wish I was more consistant about the time
stevenaia Michinaga: liking the mornings more and more
stevenaia Michinaga: it does not preclude doing it later as well
Pema Pera: yes, I also enjoyed doing tai chi in the mornings, during the time I did it daily
Pema Pera: either before breakfast or some time before lunch
Pema Pera: and indeed it is great to have regularity in a practice, any practice
Pema Pera: hi Eliza!
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Pema :)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Stevie and Bertrum
Bertrum Resident: Hi Eliza.
stevenaia Michinaga: nice to know that , over time you can fit it into your life where you choose
stevenaia Michinaga: hi Eliza
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Paradise :)
stevenaia Michinaga: when I wake up early, I can jsut start with it then
Pema Pera: hi Paradise!
Bertrum Resident: Hi Paradise
stevenaia Michinaga: hi paradise
Paradise Tennant: hiya eliza ..stev .. pema bertrum :) good to see everyone :)
stevenaia Michinaga: I ahve been starting to go back into the logs and read .. hiku's for instance :)
--BELL--
Paradise Tennant: interesting how they capture so many everyday moments those logs :) full of little memories ...
stevenaia Michinaga: (the last line was written minutes ago (lag))
Pema Pera: :-)
Pema Pera: did you find anything you'd like to share, Steve?
stevenaia Michinaga: much like the early 90 second blogs people were keeping
Pema Pera: 90 seconds blogs?
stevenaia Michinaga: It is helping me slowly learn about poetry
stevenaia Michinaga: early on at PaB people were keeping personal blogs of ther experiences
Pema Pera: yes, quite a few did
Pema Pera: (just was wondering about the 90 sec. :-)
stevenaia Michinaga: I don;t rememeber who, exactly
stevenaia Michinaga: but it was quite a commitment
Eliza Madrigal: Storm, Adams... I read many of those when I first came to pab
Eliza Madrigal: the 99 days has that feel for sure
Pema Pera: but more structured
Pema Pera: unlike Adams, I think nobody else wrote every day
stevenaia Michinaga: a diferent piece of our lives
stevenaia Michinaga: bt similar
Pema Pera: also the entries were longer, not tweet like as in the 99 sec
Paradise Tennant: little windows into individual existences
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Pema Pera: :-)
stevenaia Michinaga: I expect at some point I may even re-read my entries
Pema Pera: isn't that interesting, to read what you wrote much earlier?
Pema Pera: if it's long enough ago, you can read it as new, almost
Paradise Tennant: think some people have listed their pages on their individual page in the website ..
stevenaia Michinaga: yes, like reading a dream journal
Pema Pera: ah yes, we have those guardian pages, Paradise
Paradise Tennant: yes and it brings back that moment with clarity or like old letters
stevenaia Michinaga: you were there, but never read it
Pema Pera: but I must admit that I rarely read them, not knowing when something new appears
stevenaia Michinaga: connect to different parts of the experience...again
Pema Pera: yes
stevenaia Michinaga: just as others comments on your own entry connect to different parts of the same event in different ways
stevenaia Michinaga: you see from within, they see the outside in
Eliza Madrigal: if more used them we'd probably get into habit of checking, but I sort of like the secret quality there too, there, but not asking for attention (guardian pages)
Pema Pera: :-)
Paradise Tennant: smiles sorry fading fast here .. think I will have to say good night early ..cannot keep my eyes open :)
stevenaia Michinaga: would be more interesting if there was a "what;s nre
stevenaia Michinaga: new on the wiki
Eliza Madrigal: aw Paradise, lovely to see you
Pema Pera: good night, Paradise, sleep well !
Eliza Madrigal: brilliant dress
Eliza Madrigal: :)
stevenaia Michinaga: night Paradise, nice seeing you agian
Paradise Tennant: smiles, waves and hugs all round sweet dreams my friends :)
Eliza Madrigal: stevie, that's why I'm addicted to the 'recent changes' button
Eliza Madrigal: :)
stevenaia Michinaga: will look for that button
Pema Pera: hi Sam!
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: Hello oooO0Oooo
stevenaia Michinaga: oh, there it is, right on top
Eliza Madrigal: Yes :)) it is a marvelous button
Pema Pera: :)
oO0Oo Resident: Hi Pema, Eliza, Bertrum, Stevenaia :)
Eliza Madrigal: should put the droplet up there too
Eliza Madrigal giggles
Pema Pera: good idea!
Eliza Madrigal: think it could be done?
Pema Pera: I'm sure
stevenaia Michinaga: will submit it to the WG TECHIES
Eliza Madrigal: :))ty would be so accessible that way
stevenaia Michinaga: hi Samúð
Pema Pera: for the next 90 sec break, how about just simply watching our thoughts and feelings and memories, etc, come and go?
oO0Oo Resident: okies
Pema Pera: appreciating them, if you like to add that too :-)
Pema Pera: (like in : appreciate the presence of appearance)
Eliza Madrigal: wonderful, nods
--BELL--
stevenaia Michinaga: nice when you ahev those refreshing moment to follow your thoughts
Pema Pera: it's always a pleasure to let impressions swim by themselves, without any need of steering them . . . .
stevenaia Michinaga: It always seem to begin with a clouded mind distracted by its surroundings and ends with peace and quiet inside, even after I may feel that the cloud will never lift...it eventually does
Pema Pera: I find these kind of explorations often so paradoxical, not difficult, yet not easy either
Pema Pera: and the lifting can take so many forms
Eliza Madrigal: always new
oO0Oo Resident: noticed the ambient temperature more vividly.. and noticed recollections of ways I have treated the 90 second breaks
Pema Pera: sometimes you can follow the clearing up -- sometimes you realize after a while that the cloud was gone
stevenaia Michinaga: I remember recently begining meditation with jackhammers outside doing street work, was suprised when they dissappeared and the cloud of sound dicipated inside
Pema Pera: yes, start and end of noises can be equally surprising
Pema Pera: switching of a radio next to a sleeping person is quite likely to wake them up :)
stevenaia Michinaga: you can close your eyes but the mnd can close the ears
Pema Pera: :-)
Eliza Madrigal hears neighbor's party outside.. sounds like they've started playing 'walking on the moon' one dozen or more times
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: different over time Sam? re the breaks?
oO0Oo Resident: "Giant steps are what you take..."
oO0Oo Resident: oh.. hm..
Pema Pera: on the moon?
Eliza Madrigal: yes that one, hah
stevenaia Michinaga: waves to observerm
Pema Pera: hi Observerm
Eliza Madrigal: :)Obs
observerm Resident waves
Pema Pera: how about noticing thoughts and feelings come and go while we do not have a break, right now, while typing, watching, waiting, listening?
Eliza Madrigal: while typing, waiting, listening, OK
Pema Pera: watching the explicit words you type emerging from a swirl of half-thought half-thingies?
Pema Pera: right now?
oO0Oo Resident: :)
Pema Pera: memories, feelings . . .
oO0Oo Resident: good title: "emerging from a swirl of half-thought half-thingies?"
Pema Pera: :)
stevenaia Michinaga: thinks of cat sleeping on my right arm and the love we share, not overt, jsut by proximity
Pema Pera: to me right now it feels a bit like letting a light shine in a long darkened room, and seeing the little critters there scurrying away
Eliza Madrigal: interesting dreamy quality to such, for me
--BELL--
Pema Pera: sharing by proximity, by presence, nice, very SL quality . . . .
oO0Oo Resident: Paradox difficult/easy.. and also similar to finding inspiration to meditate.. on the one hand.. always something that could be done in place of it, on the other hand it could just be the absolutely most meaningful thing one could be doing with one's life in that moment. Eac hand every time.
oO0Oo Resident: Each and every*
Pema Pera: that's a great observation, Sam!
Pema Pera: paradox indeed . . .
stevenaia Michinaga: I must go, night all
Pema Pera: bye Steve!
oO0Oo Resident: Bye Stevenaia :)
Bertrum Resident: Night everyone.
Pema Pera: bye Bert!
oO0Oo Resident: Night Bertrum
Pema Pera: wb Eliza!
Eliza Madrigal brushes off
Eliza Madrigal: ty :)
Pema Pera: hahaha
Pema Pera: you went for a walk?
Eliza Madrigal: was unceremoniously booted :)
oO0Oo Resident: wb Eliza :) I was [thinking] about what it might be like to have a career that involved [thinking] creatively, about [thoughts] and new ways of [thinking] and I [thought], how ironic, if the [thinking] led to areas of non-[thought] and the values of not [thinking]
Pema Pera: well, yes, the dangers of Second Life
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Pema Pera ponders Sam's thought flow . . .
Pema Pera: quite a nice meandering!
Eliza Madrigal: indeed... values of not [thinking]... hmmm
Pema Pera: thinking creatively is an interesting notion
Pema Pera: perhaps the so-called creative thought are a by product of creativity
Pema Pera: which may be non-thought itself
Eliza Madrigal: new ways of thinking seem to ask for unhinging from old ways, in some way?
oO0Oo Resident: Pema.. I think you are a shoe in for this job ;)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
--BELL--
Pema Pera: I think I'll shoe out now, though :)
Eliza Madrigal: thought watching while listening does have that quality
Pema Pera: great talking with you!
Eliza Madrigal: OK Pema, hope you are adjusting well, jet lag and such
oO0Oo Resident: Nice talking with you too
Pema Pera: sure, thanks, ELiza!
Pema Pera: by Sam, Obs, Eliza!
Pema Pera: *bye
Eliza Madrigal waves :)
oO0Oo Resident: bfn Pema :)
oO0Oo Resident: So Eliza maybe this is a good time to ask you a bit about Appreciating the presence of Appearnace APA?
Eliza Madrigal: :) sure
oO0Oo Resident: What's your take on it, and how did it come about?
Eliza Madrigal: My first exposure to the phrase was in emails that Pema wrote leading up to the first RL retreat in California
Eliza Madrigal: he had decided that for himself, he would sit each day and roll the phrase around in his mind...
Eliza Madrigal: the phrase itself comes from the TSK book
Eliza Madrigal: I believe...
Eliza Madrigal: I will check that and get back to you
Eliza Madrigal: so in those emails he described hmm,,,
Eliza Madrigal: that each word in the phrase might be its own invitation really...
oO0Oo Resident: TSK=Time Space Knowledge bby Tarthung Tulku?
Eliza Madrigal: but that for himself he often began with the last (of the longer phrase 'appreciate the presence of appearance as a presentation by/of Being'
Eliza Madrigal: yes
--BELL--
Eliza Madrigal: and would consider Being (and of course this was a long time ago so I'm paraphrasing but I remember quite well I think)
Eliza Madrigal: then everything, all that appears as a sheer presentation of/by Being
Eliza Madrigal: Hi San :) Sam asked me about APA ...
Santoshima Resident: APA?
oO0Oo Resident: Hi Santo shima
Santoshima Resident: hi eliza, hi sam
Santoshima Resident: ud
Eliza Madrigal: appreciate the presence of appearance (as a presentation of/by Being)
Eliza Madrigal: a little phrase that Pema introduced and became a group exploration
Santoshima Resident: i see
Eliza Madrigal: it underlies much of the discussion historically actually
Santoshima Resident: the discussion at PaB
Santoshima Resident: or the discussion this evening
Eliza Madrigal: brb I'm going to see if the email is in the Chronicles
Santoshima Resident: k
oO0Oo Resident: http://is.gd/zKxSMr
Eliza Madrigal: :) here is Adams describing it... very nice....
Eliza Madrigal: Being was another subject that often came up with this time. It was a perplexing word to me. Moon told me that it was part of the word for awareness in German and maybe it just meant “be”. Fael told me it was something at the core of PaB. During this time Pema introduced to some of us what he says is almost a mantra “Appreciate the presence of appearance as a presentation by Being”. It would only be later we would learn this phrase predated PaB.
Eliza Madrigal: (that was Adams writing, will post link momentarily)
Eliza Madrigal: Pema Pera: “Appreciate the presence of appearance as a presentation by Being” Pema Pera: The way to read this is from the end Pema Pera: There is Being — Being is all there really IS Pema Pera: Being presents Pema Pera: What does Being present? Pema Pera: appearance Pema Pera: more specifically: Pema Pera: the presence of appearance Pema Pera: and what can we do with that? Pema Pera: Appreciate it Pia Iger: so easy
Santoshima Resident: right, easy ~
Santoshima Resident: ty
Eliza Madrigal: http://wiki.playasbeing.org/Chronicles/Chapter_05%3a_My_Subsequent_Weeks_in_the_Month_of_June
Santoshima Resident: for finding that
Eliza Madrigal: most welcome
oO0Oo Resident: yes ty so much feels rich
Eliza Madrigal: I don't see the emails themselves but they were ongoing so perhaps too much
oO0Oo Resident: looking forward to more
Eliza Madrigal: thanks for asking Samúð
Eliza Madrigal: find it really pleasurable to revisit
Eliza Madrigal: and also, don't want to be speaking too much in code, etc
Eliza Madrigal: although the peculiarity of the phrase is what attracted me
oO0Oo Resident: yes.. my thought is to make this kind a little more obvious and accessable to us newer folks
Eliza Madrigal: then dawning over time
Eliza Madrigal: thank you for that
Eliza Madrigal: we'll talk about topics a bit in the guardian session tomorrow... wonder a non-intrusive way to have something like that here in the pavilion
Santoshima Resident: non-intrusive in the sense of ...?
Eliza Madrigal: well the idea that was brought up was to have a board
Eliza Madrigal: that guardians could choose from if they wanted a topic but felt stuck etc
Eliza Madrigal: not having to, but as a resource
Santoshima Resident: not sure what you mean
Santoshima Resident: with typed topic suggestions?
Santoshima Resident: for reference
Eliza Madrigal: yes, perhaps including some of the constants of pab, such as those Samúð was asking about, nods
--BELL--
Eliza Madrigal: another treasure of a page: http://wiki.playasbeing.org/Chronicles/Chapter_06%3a_The_Rest_of_Summer/C._Month_of_August
Eliza Madrigal: sure
Eliza Madrigal: :) ty
Santoshima Resident: as that in response to the notecard eliza?
Santoshima Resident: was that ..
Eliza Madrigal: yes
Santoshima Resident: ok, ty
Santoshima Resident: appreciated
Santoshima Resident: IMing?
Eliza Madrigal: most welcome, looking forward to seeing what you will do
Santoshima Resident: sure
Eliza Madrigal: the project you began at the prim workshop was really interesting
oO0Oo Resident: Thanks for this material Eliza.. a good start.. helpful.
Santoshima Resident: see you bella
Santoshima Resident: ciao ~
Eliza Madrigal: Thanks so much Sam it is a good project :)
Eliza Madrigal: Night
oO0Oo Resident: Night
oO0Oo Resident: night Santoshima
Santoshima Resident: night sam
Santoshima Resident: 8 months
Santoshima Resident: stil miss you