2012.04.21 13:00 - Choosing Trance as a Transitional Gate

The Guardian for this meeting was Bruce Mowbray. The comments are by Bruce Mowbray.

Bruce has been thinking a lot about PaB session themes. . .  and we're right now transitioning from a week with the topic of "9-Second Drops" to the topic of "Equanimity" -- if folks choose to have that as their topic for next week.  The notion that "chosen trance" could enable a shift toward Equanimity seemed to be the theme of this session.

Please note that Storm says:

Guardians can kick off a meditation session (at the Karuna-Metta Meditation Temple) "on-demand" so to speak, provided it's not less than 15 minutes before a scheduled session.

Storm Nordwind: Good afternoon Bruce
Bruce Mowbray: Good afternoon, indeed, Storm.
Bruce Mowbray: I do hope you are feeling better now.
Storm Nordwind: Thank you for asking Bruce. yes a lot better today - both of us in fact
Bruce Mowbray: Happy to hear it!
Storm Nordwind: And I got a good amount of sleep. :)
Storm Nordwind: Reminds me of what a teacher, who is well known to us here, once asked his students to do...
Storm Nordwind: and that was: to get an extra hour sleep each night than they were accustomed to.
Bruce Mowbray: Mmmm....
Bruce Mowbray: Sounds like excellent advice.
Bruce Mowbray: I've been thinking of a "transition" between focusing on the 9-sec drops and "Equanimity"....
Bruce Mowbray: and the notion of "trance" as a middle-ground came to me...
Storm Nordwind: oh?
Bruce Mowbray: not "trance" in the sense of blurred-out awareness....
Bruce Mowbray: but in the sense of homeostasis...
Bruce Mowbray: and a 'ground' where we become balanced for a while...
Bruce Mowbray: like the periods BETWEEN the drops.
Storm Nordwind nods
Storm Nordwind: This reminds me of the instructions of a meditation teacher I know (a different teacher to the last one I mention), who describes what he wants students to do during their meditation, but also what he calls the "meditation break" (in other words, all the rest of the time!).
Bruce Mowbray: It's a resting state of consciousness?
Storm Nordwind: It can be, of course. :)
Storm Nordwind: It is certainly a good place for equanimity
Storm Nordwind: Though I wonder if there's doubt as to what is meant by equanimity
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, equanimity -- the next week's focus. . . (should we choose to go there....)
Bruce Mowbray: a bit of a transitional phase seems to be needed.
Bruce Mowbray: and I thought of "trance."
Storm Nordwind: mmm
Bruce Mowbray: the problem, of course, is that when most folks think of trance,
Bruce Mowbray: they think of 'out-of-touch.' -- zombie-like
Storm Nordwind: Yes. And I wonder if some people believe equanimity can only be indifference, or a kind of numbness.
Bruce Mowbray: Actually, I think that trance is where we are most of the time.
Bruce Mowbray: Indeed....
Bruce Mowbray: and THAT was exactly the reason that I thought of trance as a transition.
Bruce Mowbray: because some think of Equanimity as numbness.
Bruce Mowbray: . I remember hearing about a study that concluded well over 90% of the thoughts you have are the same every day....
Storm Nordwind: Well i have seen several masters, teachers, who seem to me to embody equanimity, who really enjoy the taste of their food! ;)
Bruce Mowbray: ;-)
Bruce Mowbray looks forward to a steak dinner for his typist tonight.
 Storm Nordwind: haha!
 Bruce Mowbray: with A1 Sauce.
Bruce Mowbray: so. . . . about the "trance" --- Is this also the "naive" state?
Bruce Mowbray: or is it something else ....?
Storm Nordwind: And people have said to me, "You can't enjoy the highs unless you have the lows." And I explain that the mood-wave they envision can all be above zero, and that as you get to steady it and smooth it, it can still all be above zero!
Bruce Mowbray: The mind unconditioned by experience has the minimal trance . . . . ?    and the most Equanimity?
Storm Nordwind: First, I think I need a little extra clarity (in short words) what you see as this trance. (Please excuse my ignorance!)
Bruce Mowbray: "above zero" means positive emotion or feeling?
Storm Nordwind: yes
Bruce Mowbray: np.
Bruce Mowbray: to begin and maintain a trance is natural
Bruce Mowbray: our bodies and brains naturally want to do it

--BELL--

Bruce Mowbray: Failure to achieve a functional waking-world trance can lead to insanity
Bruce Mowbray: When we induce a trance, what we are doing is breaking our default trance.
Bruce Mowbray: So, there's a natural transition -- for me -- between the PaB chat and the 90-sec drops.
Storm Nordwind: Do you mean trance then as a state of focus that excludes awareness of other things outside that focus?
Bruce Mowbray: I'm saying (actually I'm pondering!) that trance is our normal state of consciousness.
Bruce Mowbray: and that this is necessary....
Bruce Mowbray: but that every so often... it is necessary to break it up.
Bruce Mowbray: as the 90-sec drops break it up.
Bruce Mowbray: . . . stopping the spinning pendulum of attention.
Storm Nordwind: What would happen then, if this normal trance state were not present most of the time?   You mentioned insanity. How would that work?
Bruce Mowbray: Although "trance" (homeostasis) is necessary . . .
Bruce Mowbray: an occasional break in the trance is also necessary.....
Bruce Mowbray: and there are many methods for inducing it....
Bruce Mowbray: positive methods....
Bruce Mowbray: rituals, for example...
Bruce Mowbray: the National Anthem.
Bruce Mowbray: and when we get into some activity that seems to totally focus our attention---
Storm Nordwind: So this trance is like a comfort zone, the piece of psychological elastic that keeps us in homeostasis?
Bruce Mowbray: like, say, martial arts -- or Yoga...
Bruce Mowbray: then we willingly have an alternative to our normal trance state.
Bruce Mowbray: by inducing another one.
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, trance is usually a comfort zone -- we can hope.
Bruce Mowbray: But part of my "craziness" in thinking all of this is...
Bruce Mowbray: . . . that we only effectively communicate something to someone when we briefly break their trance.
Bruce Mowbray: get my point?
Storm Nordwind: I see the point, though I'm not yet convinced of it! ;-)
Bruce Mowbray: a personal example, then?
Storm Nordwind: That would be a communication that extended their boundaries.
Storm Nordwind: But other communication may not need to.
Bruce Mowbray: or, perhaps helped to focus/shift their boundaries.
Bruce Mowbray: for example, the Karuna Metta sitting.
Storm Nordwind listens
Bruce Mowbray: A wonderful breaking of normal trance.
Bruce Mowbray: new boundaries.
Bruce Mowbray: new focus.
Bruce Mowbray: new trance.
Bruce Mowbray: new homeostasis.
Storm Nordwind: Only if that's not your normal state! :)
Storm Nordwind: I imagine that is however true for many
Bruce Mowbray: Your spoken directions help focus the trance
Bruce Mowbray: and empower the trance.
Bruce Mowbray: Ritual's power lies in how it affects one's trance state.
Storm Nordwind: But what if you were living your whole life in a conscious state of compassion and loving kindness? Or endeavoring to? What would it be breaking? Perhaps more reinforcing?
Bruce Mowbray: But the point is, I am NOT living that way -- no matter how much I wish that I were....
Storm Nordwind: Ah... I see
Bruce Mowbray: Our experience changes the same way if we change the state our perception is focused in . . .  (what I am calling the "trance" that we're in.)
Bruce Mowbray: and I come to Metta meditation because of that.
Storm Nordwind nods
Bruce Mowbray: so, you have given us all a profound gift.
Storm Nordwind smiles humbly
Bruce Mowbray: Maybe it's a bit like being a horse-whisperer.
Storm Nordwind: haha!
Bruce Mowbray: The horse whisper is in mutual trance with the horse.
Storm Nordwind: I know little of that but I can't imagine you all as horses easily!
Bruce Mowbray: The plant-whisperer is in mutual trance with the plant.
Bruce Mowbray: Even possible to be a metal -- or machine -- whisperer.

--BELL--

Bruce Mowbray: Every good mechanic is a machine-whisperer.
Storm Nordwind: It strikes me these whisperers come into a profound state of empathy with their subjects. So, for example, I've been advised that the best way to grow broccoli sprouts is to become the seeds. And it seems to work as my wife benefits from the sprouts I grow all the time.
Bruce Mowbray: "Become the seeds...." Wonderful!  That's why group ritual can feel more powerful than solitary ritual . . . perhaps? We become whisperers of each other?
Storm Nordwind: Ah! Maybe so! :))
Bruce Mowbray: For me, "trance" is not at all abstract.
Bruce Mowbray: It is vital and real and here and now..
Bruce Mowbray: My survival depends upon it.
Storm Nordwind: You have to excuse me - I have a long background in magical and mediumistic trance, so the word carries a lot of baggage for me.
Bruce Mowbray: kk.
Bruce Mowbray: Thanks so much for being here.
Bruce Mowbray: oh! sry.
Storm Nordwind: I wasn't going - just asking for understanding! :)
Bruce Mowbray: I thought you were going to leave -- and perhaps plant broccoli.
Bruce Mowbray: ;-)
Bruce Mowbray: np.
Storm Nordwind: That's a twice a day activity :)
Bruce Mowbray: The word 'trance' also brings a lot of baggage for me...
Bruce Mowbray: because my [ex]lady-friend is a hypnotist.
Bruce Mowbray: and trance is her method.
Storm Nordwind: ah - of course that would color things
Bruce Mowbray: yeppers.
Storm Nordwind: And I've known trance mediums
Bruce Mowbray: "Trance" sort of suggests manipulation to me...
Storm Nordwind: And know of the states in magical rituals
Bruce Mowbray: and SL sort of induces trance, for me.
Bruce Mowbray: so . . . there are opportunities for baggage. . .
Bruce Mowbray: and for manipulation...
Bruce Mowbray: and so, I was wondering if maybe folks could become more aware of their various trances . . .
Storm Nordwind: Well the danger of trance in the senses I know it are that you are open (willingly or unwillingly) to manipulation. therefore a pact of trust has to be established first, and not a small measure of protection.
Bruce Mowbray: Yes...
Bruce Mowbray: I am an acute "immersive."
Bruce Mowbray: I go into trance readily.
Bruce Mowbray: and willingly, in SL.
Bruce Mowbray: but. . . .
Bruce Mowbray: I'm wondering if this is mere naiveté.
Bruce Mowbray: or an immersion of quality and choice.
Zon Kwan: we need to go in trance to enjoy life but need to be able to withdraw to it also
Zon Kwan: like reading a book or watching a film
Zon Kwan: we immerse
Bruce Mowbray: yes ;-)
Storm Nordwind: I don't know. My experience was many times one of a protector. I would accompany people into their trance. They were completely immersed in their world, but I was able to have a foot in both worlds, protect them on their travels, and yank them back carefully if they got into too much trouble.
Zon Kwan: but know its just a film

(Bruce must have really been in a trance during this session -- because until posting the chat log he never realized Zon had entered the Pavilion.  My apologies, Zon!)

 
Bruce Mowbray: If you just decide to see the fire as flowers and pick it up, the fire won't behave like flowers.
Storm Nordwind: indeed
Bruce Mowbray: There is more to see and know than what seems obvious to us in our normal trance.
Bruce Mowbray: I'm saying that our awareness of the method of trance induction actually does matter.
Bruce Mowbray: Your favorite trance induction method will shape every other experience you have.
Bruce Mowbray: If you practice Buddhist meditation techniques, everything will look Buddhist . . .
Bruce Mowbray: maybe (!)
Bruce Mowbray: We see the world as we are, not as it is?
Storm Nordwind: I don't know what everything looking Buddhist would look like! :)
Bruce Mowbray: Hey, Bleu!
Bleu Oleander: hiya :)
Storm Nordwind: Well the old saw is, "You are what you perceive"
Storm Nordwind: Hi Bleu
Bruce Mowbray: We perceive according to whatever trance we're in at the time of our perception.
Bruce Mowbray: Whatever method you choose, determines what reality will behave like for you.
Bruce Mowbray: Experience is the mirror of your daily trance method
Storm Nordwind: Because of our filter bubble. Is it not possible to step out of the bubble? And stay out? Or do you think that's just a whole new bubble?
Bruce Mowbray: Oh yes!
Bruce Mowbray: Stepping out of the bubble -- so important!
Bleu Oleander: whole new bubble probably :)
Bruce Mowbray: -- and that's exactly what I was aiming at with this transition from 9-sec drops to Equanimity focus. . .
Bruce Mowbray: stepping form one bubble to another.
Storm Nordwind nods
Bruce Mowbray: An opportunity to step from one bubble to another is coming up in about 1 minute.
Bleu Oleander: equanimity ... is that next weeks topic?

--BELL--

Storm Nordwind smiles
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, Bleu. Equanimity is the suggested topic . .
Bruce Mowbray: and I thought I'd give it a bit of a send-off.
Bruce Mowbray: by introducing the idea of 'trance...'
Bruce Mowbray: and how focusing on Equanimity brings a different trance...
Bruce Mowbray: - - one where nothing is judged
Bleu Oleander: what do you mean by "trance"?
Bruce Mowbray: and where there is no preference or prejudice.
Bleu Oleander: a state of mind?
Bruce Mowbray: By trance, I mean whatever state of homeostasis we are in - in chosen attention.. or lack of it.
Bleu Oleander: are all states then trances?
Bruce Mowbray: And my premise is that trances are both natural and necessary.
Bruce Mowbray: All states of consistent attention (or lack of it) are trances, by my definition.
Bruce Mowbray: and the 90-sec drop breaks this state.
Bleu Oleander: wide definition :)
Bruce Mowbray: To state it very radically:
Bruce Mowbray: We have to lose our trance to find our heart.
Bruce Mowbray: Metta-Karuna does this.
Bruce Mowbray: 90-sec drops could also do it.
Bruce Mowbray: Equanimity is a bridge,
Bruce Mowbray: a gate.
Bleu Oleander: the trick is to sustain it?
Bruce Mowbray: Hmmmm...
Bruce Mowbray: Don't think so, actually.
Bleu Oleander: well at least for longer than 90 sec
Bruce Mowbray: Sustaining it . . . yes, hopefully... but there are so many other things vying for our trance.
Bruce Mowbray: Equanimity can be a bridge from one state to another.
Bruce Mowbray: or -- (actually, I don't like the term "state" at all!) --
Bruce Mowbray: how about transition from one trance to another -- with Equanimity.
Bruce Mowbray: Is this making sense?
Bleu Oleander: it's the first time I have heard "trance" used this way
Bruce Mowbray: Yeah. I understand.
Bruce Mowbray: But I'm remembering that about 90% of what we think-feel is repetitive.
Bruce Mowbray: - - -the same stuff we thought-felt yesterday.
Bruce Mowbray: and perhaps that's necessary...
Bruce Mowbray: to maintain consistency and sanity.
Bruce Mowbray: an equilibrium and a continuum.
Bruce Mowbray: That's basically what I am calling "trance."
Bruce Mowbray: Our trances can be coffins or palaces.
Bruce Mowbray: One can design her trance to be open-ended - - and that seems to be that's what Equanimity is about.
Bruce Mowbray sits on hands.
Bleu Oleander: so trance meaning habitual existence?
Bruce Mowbray: Habit is a BIG part of it, yes.
Bruce Mowbray: comfort zones....
Bleu Oleander: running on automatic so to speak?
Bruce Mowbray: also, what we have been conditioned to.
Bruce Mowbray: yeppers. running on automatic...
Bleu Oleander: interesting new book on habit
Bruce Mowbray listens.
Bruce Mowbray reads in order to open the door to a neighboring reality.
Bleu Oleander: http://bloggingheads.tv/
Bleu Oleander: good discussion there on the book
Bruce Mowbray: Thanks!
Bleu Oleander: yw!
Bruce Mowbray: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/9538?...4:02&out=08:01
Bruce Mowbray: "Breaking the cookie habit."
Bruce Mowbray: "Charles Duhigg, author of the new book The Power of Habit, explains the surprisingly complex method he used to stop snacking."
Bleu Oleander: if it's chocolate ... I'm in trouble :)
Bruce Mowbray: I'm thinking now that "nation of addicts" might actually be thought of as nation of folks in trance.
Bruce Mowbray: Important to honor the trance in order to shift out of it.
Bruce Mowbray: oh my!
Bruce Mowbray: I'm in a trance myself.
Bruce Mowbray: I must attend to RL duties!
Bleu Oleander: ok bye for now
Storm Nordwind waves
Bruce Mowbray: Bye for now, Bleu and Storm!

--BELL--

Bleu Oleander: Storm I saw you working on your meditation temple ... are you adding something to it?
Storm Nordwind: No. I've been improving the voice message that are played during meditation sessions.
Bleu Oleander: great, I will have to try it soon
Storm Nordwind: Some were duplicating or being missed.
Storm Nordwind: It's the perennial problem of sound sync in SL
Bleu Oleander: ah yes
Storm Nordwind: So hard
Storm Nordwind: And I ended up with a terrible "kludge" that seems reasonably reliable - though from a systems design point of view, Linden Lab should be ashamed I had to do this!
Bleu Oleander: :)
Storm Nordwind: You are welcome to try it at any time. :)
Storm Nordwind: There are four scheduled sessions a day, but...
Bleu Oleander: I will .... will be back later
Bleu Oleander: have some errands to run
Storm Nordwind: ...guardians can kick off a meditation session "on-demand" so to speak, provided it's not less than 15 minutes before a scheduled session.
Bleu Oleander: great
Bleu Oleander: thanks for doing all this :)
Storm Nordwind: Just touch the sign and follow the blue menus (first making sure your active group is playasbeinghere)
Bleu Oleander: ok will do
Storm Nordwind: I'm so pleased that people have reported that they enjoyed it and/or found it useful.
Storm Nordwind: There seem to be a number of regular visitors too.
Bleu Oleander: yes, nice addition indeed
Bleu Oleander: have a nice afternoon
Bleu Oleander: c u later :)
Storm Nordwind: You too. Must retrieve the bread from the oven anyway!