2013.02.11 13:00 - One Step Closer to the Heart

The Guardian for this meeting was Eliza Madrigal. The comments are by Eliza Madrigal.

Eliza Madrigal: Hi Kori :))
Korel Laloix: Heya
Eliza Madrigal: working?
Korel Laloix: Yes... so in and out again.
Korel Laloix: How are you today?
Eliza Madrigal: am doing okay thanks... plugging along
Eliza Madrigal: was listening to a billy joel song
Eliza Madrigal: otherwise not much running through
Eliza Madrigal: you?

--BELL--


Eliza Madrigal: Hello again Rosatta, nice to see you
Rosatta Resident: Ty, Eliza. It is good to be here
Eliza Madrigal: am noticing people running around in the field nearby ^.^
Korel Laloix: I know of billy joel, but can't name a song.
Korel Laloix: Plugging along is not the worst option.
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Eliza Madrigal: no it isn't... I can give a link to a Billy Joel song...either one fast paced or one slow
Eliza Madrigal: choose :)
Korel Laloix: i will look him up when I get home.. no audio here... thanks though.
Eliza Madrigal: either one would be fitting for the "power of vulnerability" topic

Eliza Madrigal: Rosatta the orange cushions have quite different poses
Eliza Madrigal: if you prefer the other type just hop to a different color
Rosatta Resident: This one is actually an appropriate pose for a Native American Woman
Rosatta Resident: I was surprised they don't have any in the SIM I've been visiting but I have found one here lol
Eliza Madrigal: ah, interesting... in Japan I guess it is sitting seiza
Rosatta Resident: It is quite elegant

Eliza Madrigal: Hello Eos!
Eos Amaterasu: Hello elegant ladies!
Rosatta Resident: In Native American tradition women sit in their knees or with their legs folded gracefully to one side and men sit cross-legged
Rosatta Resident: Hello, Eos
Rosatta Resident: Eliza told me the topic is the power of vulnerability
Eliza Madrigal: yes, I'll give the link to a TED talk one of the guardians gave... it is quite lovely but 20 minutes... so perhaps good to save for later

Rosatta Resident: I am thinking that Step 1 as used by 12 Step programs seems to fit
Eliza Madrigal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvms...endscreen&NR=1
Rosatta Resident: Ok. ty :)
Eos Amaterasu: What is that, Rosatta?
Eos Amaterasu: (step 1?)
Rosatta Resident: "Admitted we are powerless . . . "
Eliza Madrigal: ah, that's a big first step!
Eos Amaterasu: Admit to ourselves?

Rosatta Resident: 12 Step is the way Alcoholics Anonymouse uses to describe the process they use to get free of alcoholic behavior and thinking
Rosatta Resident: Many other people have used these steps for other problems that are difficult to resolve
Eos Amaterasu: that's the problem with thinking - it's king :-)
Eliza Madrigal: hungry ghostiness
Rosatta Resident: Yes, admit it to ourselves

Eliza Madrigal: I wonder if all the other steps are included in that first one
Rosatta Resident: Yes - if we can get our thinking and beliefs sorted, we would be all sorted out
Eos Amaterasu: :-)
Eos Amaterasu: yay!
Eliza Madrigal: in the program it is important to share with others also, though?

Rosatta Resident: Step 2 is "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity"
Rosatta Resident: Yes, to share with at least 1 other person
Rosatta Resident: Step 3 is making a decision to turn our wills and our lives over to the care of that Higher Power - something we can trust that is smarter and more powerful than we are
Rosatta Resident: But without the admission of powerlessness there are not other Steps
Rosatta Resident: there are no other Steps
Rosatta Resident: And it is very vulnerable to do these things

Eos Amaterasu: Is step 1 somewhat 'I can't manipulate this in any way to fix it'?

Rosatta Resident: But AA has a statement that says that Step 1 is a door and on the other side of the door there is a path and beside the path is a sign that says "This is the way to a faith that works"
Rosatta Resident: That is avery good way to interpret Step 1 , imho
Eliza Madrigal: seems designed to keep one humble... if one thinks they are incapable of relapse - more likely
Rosatta Resident: Yes. Thank you for such quick and accurate understanding
Eliza Madrigal: and also showing the faultiness of self-will, as Eos implies
Rosatta Resident: Yes

Rosatta Resident: This mental state could also be compared to teh buddhist concept of mindfulness - at least I find I need that to be able to do Step 1
Rosatta Resident: And I found Eckahrt Tolle's book "The Power of Now" was helpful in understanding these things
Eos Amaterasu: vulnerability as mindfulness?
Rosatta Resident: I think I see a connection

--BELL--

Rosatta Resident: When I am mindful, I am not trying to control things
Eliza Madrigal: how would you describe the difference between mindfulness and control?
Eliza Madrigal: both have an intention perhaps?

Eos Amaterasu: one aspect may be that through being mindfulness you're not trying to go elsewhere

Rosatta Resident: When I am not being mindful I am worrying about the past and the future. I am often wishing I could change things that have happened and cause thing to happen that I think are good for me and others

Eos Amaterasu: (being mindful)
Eos Amaterasu: yes
Rosatta Resident: Eos, yes. I hadn't thought it that way before. Ty
Eliza Madrigal: not wishing?
Rosatta Resident: I think so. But I don't think I do midnfulness very well so I do a lot of wishing lol

Eos Amaterasu: not wishful thinking, but maybe closer to the heart of "wishing" as what the heart is really feeling for
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Eos Amaterasu: beat beat beat skip beat
Eliza Madrigal: nicely articulated
Rosatta Resident: I think mindfulness allows for seeing what the heart truly wants. Ty, Eos

Eliza Madrigal: a pretty vulnerable place, that... seeing
Rosatta Resident: It feels very vulnerable
Rosatta Resident: Trying to help myself get a mental image that will help me be in mindfulness more easily, it seems to me that
Eos Amaterasu: but maybe also the giving in quality, of not wishing to be elsewhere, is a kind of strength
Rosatta Resident: it is like the mental state one must have to cross a moving funhouse floor without falling
Rosatta Resident: I agree, Eos.
Eos Amaterasu: have a sense of seat
Eos Amaterasu: your bottom is heavy so when you tip down you tip back up
Rosatta Resident: Are you an equestrian, Eos?
Eos Amaterasu: No.... I haven't ridden in ages :-)
Eos Amaterasu: My daughter is an equestrian, though
Rosatta Resident: lol Your words sounded like someone who rides :)
Eliza Madrigal: firmly seated and open

Rosatta Resident: To have a good seat means to be able to ride the horse without falling - and I right?
Eos Amaterasu: riding a horse is a great analogy!
Eos Amaterasu: yes,
Eos Amaterasu: plus the horse has such power
Eos Amaterasu: greater power
Rosatta Resident: YES!!!
Eos Amaterasu: amazing to see a tiny girl on top of a horse so large
Eliza Madrigal: :) higher power?
Rosatta Resident: Your mental image has gotten me all happy :D
Rosatta Resident: Ty, everyone
Eliza Madrigal: thank you Rosatta, a pleasure for you to return today... am really musing with these images

Rosatta Resident: An image that I love that goes along with these things . . .
Rosatta Resident: If you have seen the animated movie "Resucers Downunder"
Eos Amaterasu: no
Eliza Madrigal: hmmm, have not but listening...
Rosatta Resident: There is a scene where the boy cuts a giant eagle loose from where it has been tied down by a poacher
Rosatta Resident: In its struggles to get free, the eagle knocks the boy off a cliff
Eos Amaterasu: ack!
Rosatta Resident: It then catches him and takes him on a breathaking ride
Rosatta Resident: Including dropping him and catching him
Rosatta Resident: And the boy loves every minute of it
Eos Amaterasu: (speaking of vulnerable!)

Rosatta Resident: I wish I could be that brave with the concept of trusting and a Higher Power and being mindful
Eliza Madrigal: well if the boy had been asked whether he minded being knocked off a cliff he might not have been brave enough
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Rosatta Resident: True :)
Rosatta Resident: Once the eagle caught him, though, he was delighted
Eos Amaterasu: rejoice rejoice we have no choice... ""
Eliza Madrigal: he was compelled to free the creature
Rosatta Resident: The movie starts out with showing that is who he is
Rosatta Resident: He rescues creatures

--BELL--

Eliza Madrigal: I had an experience like this... of seeing a golden eagle in recovery, who never recovered... still tethered for most of the day after many years and so powerful
Eos Amaterasu: our earth is like that
Eos Amaterasu: tethered by us
Rosatta Resident: Oh, Eliza. What an amazing experience
Rosatta Resident: I know your heart ached for it to heal and be free, but to see it so closely
Eliza Madrigal: what I was struck by... he never lost his eagleness... still so grand
Rosatta Resident: :)
Eliza Madrigal: appreciating your analogy Eos, very much

Rosatta Resident: Yes, Eos. Our earth deserves better than what we humans are doing to it
Rosatta Resident: Steve Erwin was doing so much good. I still grieve his loss
Rosatta Resident: There is a woman who is a mermaid professionally - Mermaid Melissa
Rosatta Resident: She educates people about the oceans and the need to protect them
Eliza Madrigal: what a great idea
Rosatta Resident: Her logo says "before all creatures become mythical"

Eos Amaterasu: a mermaid is a kind of female water snake/naga
Rosatta Resident: Please explain to me what a naga is
Eos Amaterasu: in buddhist mahayana mythology, naga (water snake) guards the treasury of the perfection of wisdom (prajnaparamita), who is the mother of all the buddhas

Eos Amaterasu: Happy New Year!
Eliza Madrigal: :))) Happy New Year... so, Year of the Naga?
Eos Amaterasu: Year of the female water snake, yes
Eos Amaterasu: or "Mom Lady", to use the Calvin & Hobbes term
Rosatta Resident: lol :)

Rosatta Resident: Are Nagas then givers of knowledge and wisdom?
Eos Amaterasu: they seem to be close to how dragons are sometimes described, guarding treasures, in this case yes, of knowledge and wisdom
Eliza Madrigal: in sutras such as the Lotus Sutra, there are many gathered around Buddha .... bodhisattvas and arhats, and including nagas
Eos Amaterasu: (that's how Nagarjuna got his name...)
Eliza Madrigal: strange to visualise them there when they seem so otherworldly but then... hah

Rosatta Resident: The European dragon kept its treasures to itself - like the one in 'The Hobbit'
Eos Amaterasu: we need to make friends with the guardians of our own self-undisclosed secrets
Eliza Madrigal: dragon with the pearl...

Rosatta Resident: Ah, Asian dragons
Eos Amaterasu: guardianship perhaps in this case as protecting vulnerability, creating a boundary, so you are softened by the time you get inside
Rosatta Resident: That is very thought-provoking. ty

Eliza Madrigal: I'm still thinking of the "open dojo" quality of a support meeting like you described at first Rosatta...
Rosatta Resident: To approach with preconceived ideas . . .
Eliza Madrigal: coming in and dropping guards, admitting powerlessness among supportive, powerless "others"
Rosatta Resident: Here is very much like that :)
Eliza Madrigal: :) happy you feel that

--BELL--

Eliza Madrigal: so the treasures disclose themselves Eos?
Eos Amaterasu: through giving in
Eos Amaterasu: maybe that's what protects them also - if you don't give in, if you stay hard, you can't really access them
Eos Amaterasu: it becomes armor vs armor

Rosatta Resident: Yes. I didn't say it very well, but it seems they must be 'allowed' or 'approached' without preconceived ideas
Eliza Madrigal: very different way of being

Eos Amaterasu: Hi Aph!
Aphrodite Macbain: Hi
Aphrodite Macbain: nice grass
Eliza Madrigal: Hello Aph :) ty
Eliza Madrigal: planted it myself
Aphrodite Macbain: Hello Rosattaa
Rosatta Resident: Eliza, is this your SIM?
Aphrodite Macbain: wow
Eliza Madrigal: oh no...
Aphrodite Macbain: you must have had to water it too
Rosatta Resident: Hello, Aphrodite :) welcome
Aphrodite Macbain: Hiya Kori
Eliza Madrigal: The grass is actually accessible to all guardians but I tend to use the option more than most
Aphrodite Macbain: I forget how
Rosatta Resident: Oh I like grass :)
Eliza Madrigal: well the snow had melted so it seemed appropriate now

Eliza Madrigal: nice conversation we've been having Aph...
Aphrodite Macbain: listens
Eliza Madrigal: guarding vulnerability, admitting powerlessness
Eos Amaterasu: mindfulness as vulnerabiltiy
Aphrodite Macbain: wow
Aphrodite Macbain: excellent subject
Eliza Madrigal: celebrating the New Year of the nagas
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Aphrodite Macbain: Right - the year of the snake--- in the grass?
Eliza Madrigal: lol

Eos Amaterasu: at home in this very pond
Aphrodite Macbain: what do snakes symbolize?
Aphrodite Macbain: patience? stealth?
Aphrodite Macbain: flexibility?
Eliza Madrigal: [13:36] Eos Amaterasu: in buddhist mahayana mythology, naga (water snake) guards the treasury of the perfection of wisdom (prajnaparamita), who is the mother of all the buddhas
Eos Amaterasu: mom lady :-)
Aphrodite Macbain: well, we all began in water
Rosatta Resident: We were exploring the idea of naga/snakes as gaurdians of treasures of wisdom and knowledge
Eliza Madrigal: yes :)
Aphrodite Macbain: I wonder what it is about snakes that gives them those powers
Aphrodite Macbain: cthonic deities
Eliza Madrigal: snakes symbolize kundalini as well... in yoga... potential
Eliza Madrigal: and in medicine
Eliza Madrigal: and the staff of moses?
Aphrodite Macbain: moses?
Aphrodite Macbain: I forgot he had a staff - the cadeuceus?
Rosatta Resident: And the Greek caduceus (probably didn't spell that right)
Aphrodite Macbain: medicine
Eliza Madrigal: one of you spelled it right I'm sure :)
Aphrodite Macbain: Kori- do snakes represent naything in Comanche culture?
Rosatta Resident: I don't think Moses' staff was the caduceus, but his was a healing staff with a snake at the top that people could look at it when bitten by a poisonous snake and be cured
Eliza Madrigal: she is at work so back and forth today
Aphrodite Macbain: kk
Rosatta Resident: I would have to google that
Eliza Madrigal: yes Rosatta... and later Jesus made a reference to that

Aphrodite Macbain: I will have to look for representations of moses. He also had two hirns in his forehead...
Eliza Madrigal: all pretty interesting
Aphrodite Macbain: horns - according to Michaelangelo anyway
Eliza Madrigal: in terms of symbolism that shows up over and over
Rosatta Resident: I believe that pueblo dwellers belived that snakes carried messages to the underworld for them, but I've not incounted any beliefs like that from plains tribes
Aphrodite Macbain: Yes- they are often reps of earth, the underworld, the hidden

--BELL--

Aphrodite Macbain: also of tempation - god banished the snake to the earth after the snake had tempted Eve

Aphrodite Macbain: Got to go. see you all later
Eliza Madrigal: bye Aph, thanks for peeking in
Rosatta Resident: By, Aphrodite
Rosatta Resident: Thanks for stopping in]
Eliza Madrigal: I'll need to go too actually, almost time for my son's tutoring
Rosatta Resident: It has been very nice being here with you, Eliza
Rosatta Resident: Ty
Eliza Madrigal: Have really appreciated this session and want to say sincere thanks
Eos Amaterasu: Thank you all, :-)
Rosatta Resident: Ty, Eos
Eos Amaterasu: must slither away
Eliza Madrigal: nice for you to be here too Eos

Rosatta Resident: What are the SL times of meeting again?
Eliza Madrigal: and Kori (in spirit) :))
Eliza Madrigal: Oh, we're here every 6 hours
Eliza Madrigal: mostly there are guardians, though I won't be hosting tonight
Rosatta Resident: What are the start times?
Eliza Madrigal: 1,7,1,7
Rosatta Resident: Ty. You are a sweetheart
Eliza Madrigal: there is a board in front of you with the ideal schedule but we keep flexible as possible :)
Eliza Madrigal: You are Rosatta, a real treat
Eliza Madrigal: bfn :)