2012.08.02 19:00 – “Quality from Various Angles” - Theme Session

This was number 5 of an 8 evening schedule of theme sessions – chaired by Pema – participants included Eliza, Twitchy, Bleu, Korel, Paradise, Lucinda, stevenaia, San, Prim and Sophia

TwitchyEars Resident: hi para and korel
--BELL--
Paradise Tennant: hello Twitchy Prim Korel :)) nice to see everyone :)
Bleu Oleander: hi everyone :)
TwitchyEars Resident: hi bleu
Korel Laloix: Heya
Paradise Tennant: smiles hello bleu ;))
TwitchyEars Resident: :)
Paradise Tennant: you are a flower tonight - how lovely :)))
Paradise Tennant: hiya luci :)))
Bleu Oleander: hi Pema, Luci :)
TwitchyEars Resident: hi para and lucinda
Pema Pera: hi everybody!
Lucinda Lavender: Hiya paradise, bleu Pema, Twitchy, Korel
Bleu Oleander: hi Eliza :)
Pema Pera: hey, SophiaSharon, great to see you again!
SophiaSharon Larnia: hi :)
SophiaSharon Larnia: thanks
Bleu Oleander: hiya Sophia
SophiaSharon Larnia: nice to see you all, I hope its okay to sit and listen
Pema Pera: of course!!
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Sophia, Luci, Bleu, Pema, Kori, Paradise, and nice to meet you van and twitchy
Pema Pera: we have just come halfway into an 8-session miniseries of theme sessions
SophiaSharon Larnia: nods
Pema Pera: we've had four, this is number five, and then three more, Monday evenings and Thursday evenings
Pema Pera: (in the Americas, that is :-)
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Pema Pera: (here Friday Morning)
Pema Pera: we have been talking about `quality' from various angles
Pema Pera: and last time we left off with the notion of `layers of quality' and layers of veils
Pema Pera: and also Stevenaia suggestion to focus on music
Pema Pera: would anyone like to share some of their experiences when looking out for quality or anything related in any form?
Pema Pera: hi Steve!
Lucinda Lavender: Hi steve: 0
stevenaia Michinaga: waves
Pema Pera: I was just mentioning your suggestion to focus on music, last time
Bleu Oleander: hi steve
Pema Pera: Eliza already commented on the (as yet empty) session log page for today, about her music experience
Paradise Tennant: smiles and waves
stevenaia Michinaga: it seemed like a nice idea :)
Pema Pera: snippet from Eliza's comment: For instance one hears the prominence of an instrument, or the type of music, march or solo, etc. But then there is another layer of relaxing into movement and interplay - for me here seems where the images were conjured, imagination engaged. Body often responds directly - another layer of I? the swaying and smiling? And then there is a lingering energy or appreciative joy.
Pema Pera: anyone else?
stevenaia Michinaga: I thought the fun thing about this is can be repeatable with varied results depending on how you "receive" the music
Paradise Tennant: smiling at “..the lingering energy or appreciative joy “ :)) just such a compelling description
TwitchyEars Resident: a lot of different sounds can be "music" rain on a lake for instance is mesmerizing
SophiaSharon Larnia: :)
Pema Pera nods
stevenaia Michinaga: yes, and inspirational at times... (annoying at others)
Paradise Tennant: yes :)) always find there is a heart rhythm in it :))
TwitchyEars Resident: I had a really surreal experience with rain on a lake when i was 10. so it stuck with me
Lucinda Lavender: Hi San
TwitchyEars Resident: hi San
Bleu Oleander: hi San
Santoshima Resident: hello everyone, sorry to be late ... please continue
Pema Pera: hi Santo!
Paradise Tennant: smiles and waves at San :)
--BELL--
Pema Pera waves back :-)
Pema Pera: feel free to speak up any time, Prim!
 

Alas  Prim’s comments did not get captured by the log so cut and paste from the chat box here.

19:18]  Prim: There was a time when I went to an symphony at the Kennedy center in Washington DC.. it was an open random selection of orchestral works from various composers . I was sitting in the front before the orchestra pit when the eruption of sound pushed a wave through me. I could feel the hairs on my neck stand on end and I closed my eyes letting the music be the focus. It was like a waves passing through you over and over. Some of the works posed strong emotional responses. At one point I was crying and didn’t know why but the feeling of peace was all that filled me. The waves of emotion were very strong and I’ve never experienced anything like that sinc

Paradise Tennant: smiles
Paradise Tennant: a perfect .. moment of flow
Pema Pera: thank you, Prim, what a wonderful thing to happen, out of the blue
Lucinda Lavender: Really nice to heare from eliza and Prim on the experience of listening to music
Eliza Madrigal: ty Luci
Lucinda Lavender: I have to been able to do any observation this week...am happy to listen to others tho
Lucinda Lavender: have not been able
Pema Pera: for me, in high school, music was very formative, songs that opened my eyes to different aspects of world and life with the music growing roots in me with the songs . . . . .
Pema Pera: such a different way of learning, of gaining `knowledge'
Eliza Madrigal nods
Paradise Tennant: I have found music to be like  a healing salve that takes away all the grit and friction of daily life ...
TwitchyEars Resident: music is emotions you feel it in your soul
SophiaSharon Larnia: knowledge of what?
Pema Pera: ways of being/living/seeing differently
Pema Pera: yes, washing over you, Paradise, indeed
Pema Pera: also like what Prim said
Pema Pera: so one central question, for our explorations, is: with all these examples of special quality experiences, what are we to do: wait till they just happen, or is there any way to search for them or invite them or prepare for them?
TwitchyEars Resident: I think they are always there if you’re quiet enough to listen. its when we stay quiet we notice what exists already around us
Pema Pera: like, when you have been looking for quality, these last couple weeks, what did you "do"?
Bleu Oleander: the arts invites them for me
Pema Pera nods at Twitchy and Bleu
Eliza Madrigal: slowed down
TwitchyEars Resident: quality to me isn’t a thing its feelings emotions what I see and sense. usually when I’m in nature cos I’m listening with my soul
Eliza Madrigal: that does seem another 'do'... listening in a softer or more whole way
Bleu Oleander: special state of awareness
Pema Pera: yes, listening, slowing down, opening up -- let's use the next 90 second break to start from scratch, and look for whatever quality we can find, and then share afterwards if we feel like
--BELL--
Paradise Tennant: I was noticing at how lovely bleu looks tonight .. a flower in bloom and thinking what a joy it is to be around creative spirit :)))
Bleu Oleander: awww, ty Para :))
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Pema Pera: :-)
Eliza Madrigal: stirs the imaginative embers
Pema Pera: funny, I was also thinking about the quality of presence here and sharing, just in itself, independent of content
Bleu Oleander: I noticed the special time of dusk .. went outside .. light is beautiful .. sunset
Lucinda Lavender: watching sun and shadows moving in breeze
Eliza Madrigal: :)
TwitchyEars Resident: feeling the breeze thru my window on my skin. its soft and tickles
TwitchyEars Resident: wb san
Eliza Madrigal: wb san
Paradise Tennant: it can be quite moving when our stillness allows us to appreciate others more deeply :)
Pema Pera smiles
Lucinda Lavender: remembered listening to music with a sense of yearning as a younger person that is non-existent  now:)
Pema Pera: or perhaps a bit less accentuated?
Eliza Madrigal: 'yearning'... yes
Pema Pera: or even matured/fermented into different forms?
Pema Pera: different tastes?
Pema Pera: wine from juice?
SophiaSharon Larnia smiles
TwitchyEars Resident: is she gone or is she just hiding under layers of "responsibility"
Pema Pera: (^_^)
Eliza Madrigal: there sometimes feels a loss when something becomes familiar - when you see the gears, but then that's a chance to drop into another level maybe... appreciate the gears, include too
Santoshima Resident: not necessarily hiding under responsibility
Santoshima Resident: matured
Santoshima Resident: and changed
Santoshima Resident: by experience
Santoshima Resident: and by a wider sense of the world
Lucinda Lavender: tastes have changed for me personally...but the remembrance of that yearning...so intense as discovery of important feelings are made...then they dissipated I think...no need to explore them
TwitchyEars Resident: I’m 28 going on 13 going on 97 going on 4 depends what i feel at any given time. I don’t want to ever lose my child wonder of the world
Pema Pera: what a nice way of looking at it, Twitch!
Eliza Madrigal: :) sometimes we say it would be nice to know then what I know now, but in that view one can :)
Pema Pera: !
TwitchyEars Resident: when I was 10 I swam in a lake in a rain shower. followed the shoreline to a tiny barely could be called island just off short. a deer was munching grass there. i sat beside her, normally you cant get close to deer. I didn’t hear the rain his the water so much as feel it. like there was no dividing line between me and everything. that i was part of it. water, grass, dirt, sky. i sat petting this wild deer. watching her fur covered in rain. it seemed such a simple thing to me. it taught me I’m am part of what i feel around me. there is no difference between us
Eliza Madrigal smiles... can feel a bit of what that was like, thank you :)
Paradise Tennant: smiles I had a similar experiences as a young teen -  say an hour in the wild when there was no a dividing line – just was part of the whole :))) something you remember for life
Lucinda Lavender: such lovely experience
Lucinda Lavender: thanks for sharing
Pema Pera: yes, thank you, so nice to hear and feel to be there ourselves!
TwitchyEars Resident: yes para, that was a life changing trip. got to see a wolf one morning hiking by myself. came snout to nose with her :) that’s when I fell in love with the forest
--BELL--
Lucinda Lavender: So I am thinking about how both listening to music and being with wild nature are these peak experiences...unforgettable and life affirming
Paradise Tennant: they both take away the dividing line :)))
Lucinda Lavender: open us up
Pema Pera: no boundaries, nice, yes
Santoshima Resident: wb, stevenaia ~
stevenaia Michinaga: thx
Lucinda Lavender: in music my first realization of this was in 3rd grade orchestra making my contribution which became part of something much bigger
TwitchyEars Resident: wb crashy pants. you need a tail so we can glue you to the sim :)
Santoshima Resident: ? watsa matter with velcro
stevenaia Michinaga: smiles
Pema Pera: inter-world glue . . . .
TwitchyEars Resident: :D
SophiaSharon Larnia: some of my poignant 'clicking' has been with mundane activies such as driving my car. That doesn't sound like what you're sharing here though
Paradise Tennant: what an interesting concept pema :))
Pema Pera: oh, on the contrary, Sophia!
Pema Pera: can you say more?
Eliza Madrigal: Luci, that resonates with other things about your life ... that interplay with offering
Eliza Madrigal: nice
Eliza Madrigal listens
TwitchyEars Resident: how it happens is less important than having it happen sophia :)
SophiaSharon Larnia: hmm, it is almost an experience of disembodiment, being in an autopilot state physical
SophiaSharon Larnia: so am therefore leery of finding it of value
Pema Pera: different kind of "value" perhaps than we normally think of
SophiaSharon Larnia: hmm
Pema Pera: how did you feel when that happened, if I may ask?
SophiaSharon Larnia: whatever my train of thought is, or the object of my attention is very important at that moment
TwitchyEars Resident: does it touch your soul ? do you feel a connection to something ? do you feel a richness of experience ? then it has value
SophiaSharon Larnia: its presense more presensy of the things around it :)
Eliza Madrigal: ah.. yes I get that... sometimes auto-pilot makes way for a kind of opening
Eliza Madrigal: ?
SophiaSharon Larnia: it is more present somehow
SophiaSharon Larnia: more touchable
Lucinda Lavender: thinking about how in driving we are used to being on autopilot...so it is almost like a place one can go to think freely...
Eliza Madrigal nods
Eliza Madrigal: insight can pop up, like in dreams
SophiaSharon Larnia: :) I was concentrating on more embodiment, and then I put it down for a while :) It is kind of hard to think like this again
Eliza Madrigal: :) nice to hear your angles again Sophia
Eliza Madrigal: I have to get going, but appreciate this session. Thanks everyone
Pema Pera: thank you, Sharon! I'll have to leave now, but how about looking for quality & presence, the coming few days, inspired by Sharon's description?
TwitchyEars Resident: take care eliza
TwitchyEars Resident: thank you everyone :)
Eliza Madrigal: nice to meet you Twitchy, Prim
Pema Pera: yes, nice to meet you both
stevenaia Michinaga: bye Pema
TwitchyEars Resident: nice to meet everyone too
stevenaia Michinaga: Eliza
Pema Pera: and thank you all for a wonderful evening!
--BELL--
Pema Pera: bfn
Bleu Oleander: night all
SophiaSharon Larnia: hmm  and what was that description again? lol
Santoshima Resident: bye Pema, 'nite Eliza
stevenaia Michinaga: nice to see you again Sophia
Eliza Madrigal: Night stevenaia, everyone :))
Santoshima Resident: bye Bleu
Eliza Madrigal grins at Sophia
Bleu Oleander: take care ... bye bye
Eliza Madrigal: lol, guess we get to interpret individually?
SophiaSharon Larnia: bye all who are leaving, thank you
Eliza Madrigal waves
stevenaia Michinaga: I could stay but I will sleep
Lucinda Lavender: nice to see you Sophia and meet prim, Twitchy and Van...
TwitchyEars Resident: I’m a zombie lol
SophiaSharon Larnia: me too :) good night all
TwitchyEars Resident: I will sleep when Im dead
TwitchyEars Resident: purrs goodnight to sophia
Santoshima Resident: night Sharon
SophiaSharon Larnia: waves :)
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Paradise Tennant: getting sleepy too :))
stevenaia Michinaga: finally I don’t see through you w/ new browser, Paradise
stevenaia Michinaga: :)
Paradise Tennant: yay :))
stevenaia Michinaga: but it's very slow
Lucinda Lavender: which browser?
Lucinda Lavender: I may need it...
stevenaia Michinaga: Firestorm
stevenaia Michinaga: also sees Prim's shirt too
Lucinda Lavender: thx
Paradise Tennant: and glitcky my left foot keeps showing up on a my backside and I wearing two sets of hair and I cannot take off the extra one ..
Lucinda Lavender: ah...they are invisible to me:)
TwitchyEars Resident: if you get firestorm get 4.0.1 the latest version is a bit buggy
stevenaia Michinaga: looks normal to me Para
Santoshima Resident: I am wondering if anyone else sees a car of the NDR passing directly through the fountain circle?
Santoshima Resident: I  have seen this many times over the past weeks
Santoshima Resident: and it happens so quickly that I can't snap a pic
Santoshima Resident: verification, please?
stevenaia Michinaga: nice to meet you Prim, hope to see you again
Lucinda Lavender: wow...not I
TwitchyEars Resident: yes I’ve seen it
Paradise Tennant: yes me too
Santoshima Resident: 'nite Prim
TwitchyEars Resident: its a SL glitch
stevenaia Michinaga: nods
Santoshima Resident: really?
TwitchyEars Resident: you going now sweetie ?
stevenaia Michinaga: you using firestorm San?
Santoshima Resident: nope
Santoshima Resident: 'night sweetie
stevenaia Michinaga: night all
Paradise Tennant: nite nite stev :))
Lucinda Lavender: night steve:)
Santoshima Resident: bye bye stevie
Lucinda Lavender: sweet dreams
stevenaia Michinaga: :
stevenaia Michinaga: 0
stevenaia Michinaga: :)
Lucinda Lavender: :)
TwitchyEars Resident: sweet dreams to those leaving
Paradise Tennant: nite nite luci :))
Lucinda Lavender: night for now:)
Lucinda Lavender: back at 7 am:)
Paradise Tennant: smiles nite nite twtichy lovely to meet you prim sweet dreams :))
TwitchyEars Resident: nini nice to meet you