2013.08.18 19:00 - Stone Soup

The Guardian for this meeting was Calvino Rabeni. The comments are by Calvino Rabeni.

Calvino Rabeni: Hello Santoshima :)
Paradise Tennant: hiya cal san :)) how are you two tonight ?
Calvino Rabeni: Hi Paradise :)
Santoshima Resident: hello Paradise & Cal
Calvino Rabeni: Paradise, it looks from where I sit like you are wearing a T-Shift of Invisibility
Paradise Tennant: It is a rigged mesh denim jacket .. you cannot see it ?
Aubergine Mint: hello, is there a meeting tonight?
Paradise Tennant: smiles hiya aubergine ;))
Paradise Tennant: yes the theme is what guides us .. when we are motivated ..
Calvino Rabeni: yes, this is a meeting, but we don't have a topic or agenda :)
Aubergine Mint: ok thank you
Calvino Rabeni: it is like Stone Soup every time
Paradise Tennant: smiles stone soup ?
Calvino Rabeni: there is a folk tale with that name
Paradise Tennant: smiles and listens
Calvino Rabeni: about someone who made soup out of nothing at all, an empty pot
Calvino Rabeni: but people kept coming around and putting a little in
Calvino Rabeni: that they didn't know they had,
Calvino Rabeni: because they didn't have enough for soup either
Calvino Rabeni: they thought
Calvino Rabeni: maybe they started it all off with just water and a stone
Calvino Rabeni: but it ended up a feast
Aubergine Mint: nice story
Paradise Tennant: like that story :)) always believe we are in a feast :))
Calvino Rabeni: it might have been an old folk tale about "crowdsourcing"
Calvino Rabeni: there's nothing new these days
Calvino Rabeni: It's also a version of Chicken-and-Egg problem

Some travellers come to a village, carrying nothing more than an empty cooking pot. Upon their arrival, the villagers are unwilling to share any of their food stores with the hungry travellers. Then the travellers go to a stream and fill the pot with water, drop a large stone in it, and place it over a fire.

One of the villagers becomes curious and asks what they are doing. The travellers answer that they are making "stone soup", which tastes wonderful, although it still needs a little bit of garnish to improve the flavour, which they are missing. The villager does not mind parting with a few carrots to help them out, so that gets added to the soup. Another villager walks by, inquiring about the pot, and the travellers again mention their stone soup which has not reached its full potential yet. The villager hands them a little bit of seasoning to help them out. More and more villagers walk by, each adding another ingredient.

Finally, a delicious and nourishing pot of soup is enjoyed by all. 
Wikipedia: Stone Soup

--BELL--

Calvino Rabeni:
Calvino Rabeni: I've learned, it can be started with a nail, too
Calvino Rabeni: in northern Europe
Paradise Tennant: smiles a lot of levels to that story :) a parable about enoughness :)
Calvino Rabeni: yes , there are some levels :)
Calvino Rabeni: they were motivated by making it have a better flavor
Calvino Rabeni: not by creating it to begin with
Calvino Rabeni: that makes a lot of sense
Calvino Rabeni: if things seem already going, people like to improve them
Calvino Rabeni: in small ways
Calvino Rabeni: (thinks of the book "Nudge")
Calvino Rabeni: just a little push in a good direction
Calvino Rabeni: but don't seize the bull by the horns
Paradise Tennant: Nudge
Calvino Rabeni: thanks
Paradise Tennant: have not read it what is his conclusion ?
Calvino Rabeni: conclusion is I think, to get things done with subtle influence
Calvino Rabeni: rather than heroics, confrontation, guilt or drama
Aubergine Mint: a nudge :)
Calvino Rabeni: Yes
Calvino Rabeni: The Chinese had this figured out too with the I Ching
Calvino Rabeni: wind and wood
Calvino Rabeni: make gradual changes
Calvino Rabeni: (wood like a root, slowly penetrating rock)
Calvino Rabeni: The Gentle, or it might be called, gradual change
Calvino Rabeni: it's an awareness about process
Calvino Rabeni: seen over time, but invisible in the moment, unless you see the effect of what happened slowly
Calvino Rabeni: It seems sometimes stress is like that too, as it can accumulate almost too gradually to notice, but result in being someone other than who one was before
Calvino Rabeni: the negative version of the gradual change story
Calvino Rabeni: meditation would be its slow reversal
Aubergine Mint: in some ways we all change very gradually
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Calvino Rabeni: all the time
Paradise Tennant: yes .. it is the only constant
Calvino Rabeni: and in ways that are hard to notice
Aubergine Mint: until you have some distance and reflect
Calvino Rabeni: yes
Calvino Rabeni: or something happens abruptly at the edge of something, like thin ice
Aubergine Mint: the shock of awareness of change
Calvino Rabeni: actually I sometimes feel that way when the shampoo bottle goes empty ... it seemed like it would last forever, but one day ... hey :)
Calvino Rabeni: or the juice carton, or the printer toner cartridge
Aubergine Mint: or no milk for my coffee :(
Calvino Rabeni: exactly ! :)
Paradise Tennant: lol
--BELL--

Calvino Rabeni: Um ,, or the time passing ... I have dinner at 8
Paradise Tennant: k thanks for the chat .. cal .. aubergine .. I am going to toddle off to bed .. thinking of change :))
Calvino Rabeni slips out ...thanks for the chat, aubergine and paradise :)
Aubergine Mint: nice to talk with you both