2013.12.23 13:00 - Where Your Treasure Is

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

--BELL--

Eliza Madrigal: Hi Bruce :))
Bruce Mowbray: Hello!
Eliza Madrigal: Skating at the lake?
Bruce Mowbray: ha ha!
Eliza Madrigal: I was there a short while ago and considered a session there, but realized it is too large a space/chat distance
Bruce Mowbray: the lake?
Bruce Mowbray: I don't think I know where that is.
Eliza Madrigal: yes... frozen over here
Eliza Madrigal: in front of the sacred arts museum, near Cal and Maxine's

Bruce Mowbray: Heya, aggers!
Agatha Macbeth: Hello again
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Agatha!
Eliza Madrigal: Saw your holiday decor...cute
Bruce Mowbray: Oh. Thanks. I will check it out later.
Agatha Macbeth: Doesn't seem five minutes since I left

Eliza Madrigal: it might be nice to skate for a while together, toward the end of session
Bruce Mowbray: Yes!
Agatha Macbeth: Oh right
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Agatha Macbeth: On Lake Stormy?
Eliza Madrigal: haha, yes
Agatha Macbeth: Weeee

Eliza Madrigal: Did you both have a chance to see the video Zen shared at guardians session?
Eliza Madrigal: Eckhart Tolle's ?
Agatha Macbeth: Oh, no
Bruce Mowbray: I've only watched the first part of it.
Agatha Macbeth: Was it good?
Bruce Mowbray: It's on my list of things to catch up on.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...52124786926217   <--Here it is!

Eliza Madrigal: thought it might be nice to pick up on that topic... "being and doing"
Eliza Madrigal: I liked it... being/doing as two sides of a coin
Eliza Madrigal: he mentioned that there are some who are more "being" oriented, and called them the "frequency holders"
Agatha Macbeth: Whoever wins kicks off?
Eliza Madrigal: :) but didn't give preference to being over doing
Agatha Macbeth: Frequency holders eh
Agatha Macbeth: Wonder which frequency
Eliza Madrigal: mhm, thought that was a nice way of saying it... I knew exactly what he meant

Agatha Macbeth: Frequencies are interesting things
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Agatha Macbeth: Red, blue etc
Eliza Madrigal nods...

Agatha Macbeth: Nice scarf Brucie
Eliza Madrigal: what I thought of, was the experience of being with someone who seems to be at a "high" frequency, and how words aren't really necessary... something is imparted
Bruce Mowbray: Thank you, aggers.
Eliza Madrigal: a pleasant green :)
Agatha Macbeth: Ah yes
Bruce Mowbray: Yikes!
Agatha Macbeth: A tuning fork thing
Eliza Madrigal nods
Bruce Mowbray: so, you're thinking of "frequencies" in terms of resonance?
Agatha Macbeth: Resonance
Agatha Macbeth: Snap
Eliza Madrigal: yes!
Bruce Mowbray: snapperooooo!
Agatha Macbeth: Yippie aye ay
Bruce Mowbray: 
Agatha Macbeth: Boing
Bruce Mowbray: Heya, Zen.
Agatha Macbeth: Red & green are very popular colours at this time of year

Agatha Macbeth: Hello Zenny
Zen Arado: Hi Bruce, Eliza, Aggers
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Zen :) we have begun to discuss "being and doing" ... wondered your thoughts on what Tolle expressed
Agatha Macbeth: A Tolle call
Eliza Madrigal: yippieeee
Zen Arado: struck me how important I think doing is
Eliza Madrigal: do you sincerely?
Zen Arado: I seem to always want to achieve things
Agatha Macbeth: A closet yuppie
Zen Arado: but in the long run how important is it?

Eliza Madrigal: is that because people acknowledge or seem to SEE the doings?
Agatha Macbeth: Maybe they just rate achievement too highly
Eliza Madrigal: perhaps doing seems more connecting, gets more feedback

Agatha Macbeth: Well Steve Jobs achieved a lot, but he's still dead at the end of the day
Eliza Madrigal: um...true

--BELL--

Zen Arado: maybe it's our basic makeup
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: but it wasn't that he did things, was it... but that he had a special *way* of doing things
Eliza Madrigal: So his "being" is what mattered
Zen Arado: he also had a drive to do things
Eliza Madrigal nods
Zen Arado: some don't
Eliza Madrigal: I think it has something to do with seamlessness
Zen Arado: in fact maybe most don't
Eliza Madrigal: hm, pretty hard to do nothing :)

Bruce Mowbray find it fascinating how some individuals become cultural icons -- and Steve Jobs is one of those. Does this come from one's "being" or from one's "doing" -- or both - or neither?
Zen Arado: combination of things I think
Eliza Madrigal: I think in his case it comes from a few things, one of them being a nonapologetic vision
Agatha Macbeth: Sera QT
Bruce Mowbray: It seems to me that it might also come from one's "having" -- and societies recognition of that, iconically.
Qt Core: hi all
Eliza Madrigal: and implementing that.. such confidence
Bruce Mowbray: Heya, Qt!
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Qt! I'll give you a note
Zen Arado: his paticular talents meeting up with those of the other guy and at the right time
Agatha Macbeth: Quantum entanglement

Bruce Mowbray feels really fortunate to have absolutely NO CHANCE of becoming a cultural icon.
Zen Arado: Hi Qt
Agatha Macbeth: Me too Brucie
Eliza Madrigal: ...but Blub may
Bruce Mowbray: 
Agatha Macbeth: Blub is!
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Bruce Mowbray: speaking of Blubie, where IS THAT DARN fish, anyway?!
Agatha Macbeth: There's no I in fsh
Bruce Mowbray: good point - and also good spelling.
Eliza Madrigal: wise words indeed :P
Agatha Macbeth: I remember that darned cat but not fsh

Eliza Madrigal: partnerships do seem quite important for actualizing vision
Zen Arado: why can't I just rest in being and spiritual meditation and quest now I am old?
Bruce Mowbray: ;-)
Bruce Mowbray: Excellent question, Zen.
Eliza Madrigal: maybe that's a cliche idea, Zen
Zen Arado: seems the right thing to do
Bruce Mowbray: I am asking myself that same question. . .
Zen Arado: or not do as the case may be
Eliza Madrigal: or an idea based on a different time and setting
Bruce Mowbray: but my "answer" keeps coming back that I want to learn and accomplish and DO DO DO!
Bruce Mowbray: more than I want to REST REST REST.
Eliza Madrigal: we have amazing freedoms to stay productive and active until we drop!
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Zen Arado: so we don't have any choice then Bruce?
Qt Core: until those freedoms become needs
Bruce Mowbray: I think we DO have a choice.
Zen Arado: driven by our desire for doing
Bruce Mowbray: indeed, we do.
Eliza Madrigal: yes, good point Qt

Agatha Macbeth:

Do not store up for yourselves
treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy,
and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for yourselves
treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust destroys,
and where thieves do not break in or steal;
for where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also


Bruce Mowbray: We are neither determined beings nor necessarily driven beings. We can choose.
Zen Arado: not so sure
Eliza Madrigal: beautiful, Agatha, thanks for that...
Bruce Mowbray: Thanks for that wise verse, aggers.
Zen Arado: I see myself as driven by my interests and desires more and more
Bruce Mowbray: That's puts the dichotomy between BEING and HAVING.
Bruce Mowbray: and thats a BIG one!
Zen Arado: I only thought I was making choices
Zen Arado: great verse Aggers
Eliza Madrigal: for myself it doesn't seem about the what or the where, but the how
Agatha Macbeth smiles
Bruce Mowbray: The verse just quoted by aggers seems, to me, to reflect Jeff Fosper's "radical acceptance...."
Bruce Mowbray: and to me, that means radical CONFIDENCE in how things are... just as they are.

Agatha Macbeth: I hear a lot of people mention him
Bruce Mowbray: Foster* sry.
Agatha Macbeth: Him too
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Bruce Mowbray: ;-)

Eliza Madrigal: I enjoy the nonduality teachers because they seem to draw from all traditions
Eliza Madrigal: or none
Agatha Macbeth: Remember not to say 'we' ;-)
Eliza Madrigal: "confidence" is what drew me to Trungpa Rinpoche's teachings
Eliza Madrigal: groundless confidence
Agatha Macbeth: Tough that
Eliza Madrigal: yes

Bruce Mowbray: Oh my.... searches his memory for that fellow..... who refused to say "we" --- Who WAS that?
Agatha Macbeth: Dash
Bruce Mowbray: Arch?
Zen Arado: :)
Bruce Mowbray: OH YES!
Bruce Mowbray: Dash!
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Agatha Macbeth grins

(removed)

Eliza Madrigal: :) Okay... one minute until pause...
Eliza Madrigal: shall we...5 minutes this time?
Agatha Macbeth: Yeh
Agatha Macbeth: Jingle bell
Eliza Madrigal: Wonderful :))

--BELL--

Eliza Madrigal wishes him well
Agatha Macbeth: :)
Bruce Mowbray: (will take this drop/silence to see Dash in the Light.)
Bruce Mowbray: I mis-types a common Quaker expression. I should have typed, "I will take this drop to HOLD Dash in the Light."

Bruce Mowbray: mistyped*
Bruce Mowbray: mis-typed*
Bruce Mowbray: sigh.
Agatha Macbeth: { }
Eliza Madrigal: :)

Bruce Mowbray: If you can do absolutely nothing else for someone, you can still hold them in the Light.
Bruce Mowbray: (Being vs. having/doing?)
Bruce Mowbray: I don't know.
Agatha Macbeth: Dong

Eliza Madrigal: seems the heart : "I don't know."
Eliza Madrigal: beyond any dichotomy of doing/being 
Eliza Madrigal: "leave the gaps in your life where you find them"
Bruce Mowbray holds dichotomies and those who suffer from their consequences, in the Light.
Eliza Madrigal: (Tagore)
Zen Arado: it's just how each of us manifest
Agatha Macbeth: Oh I like him
Agatha Macbeth: Old Rab
Zen Arado: with our own particular blend of abilities and interests
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal nods Zen
Eliza Madrigal: here is a little about nonduality from J. Foster. I appreciate his sentiment...very Longchenpa-like. Longchenpa wrote about "wholly positive" awareness - which, sounds like positive as opposed to negative, but isn't that exactly....

"So, what the word non-duality actually means is really very difficult to describe or put into words. In fact, you could say it’s impossible. For we are not talking about non-duality as opposed to something called duality, we are not talking about pro-duality as opposed to anti-duality.In fact the non-duality we speak of is not the opposite of anything. This is impossible to understand logically or rationally. To see what is being spoken of, we must go beyond our ordinary way of thinking and seeing.

‘Non-duality’ is actually a translation of the Sanskrit word ‘Advaita’, which simply means ‘not two’ and points to the essential oneness (wholeness, completeness, unity) of life, a wholeness which exists here and now,prior to any apparent separation. It’s a word that points to an intimacy, a love beyond words, right at the heart of present moment experience. It’s a word that points us back Home. And despite the compelling appearance of separation and diversity there is only one universal
Eliza Madrigal: essence, one reality. Oneness is all there is – and we are included."

Agatha Macbeth looks for Liz's lost letters
Eliza Madrigal: they seem to be there... just added into another line :)
Bruce Mowbray: Yes! When we fixate on witnessing our states of awareness, we separate ourselves --- but separation is really not possible . . as Eliza's quote points out.
Eliza Madrigal: I'm not sure about these words like "essence" or even "reality" as sure things.. but somehow it feels we are getting closer to contemplative communication
Eliza Madrigal: "we" in the "mankind" sense of the word :P
Zen Arado: or all of nature
Eliza Madrigal: yes!
Bruce Mowbray: It is perfect as it is. Even our "errors" and "mistakes" are perfect. . . . but perhaps one needs to get just a bit off the ground to appreciate that.
Bruce Mowbray: and maybe appreciation of what is - is one way of getting a bit off the ground!
Bruce Mowbray: 
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Eliza Madrigal: yippieeee

Eliza Madrigal: Aggers, are you still reading about sufism?
Zen Arado: listens in a non-doing way
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Agatha Macbeth: Oh, haven't really had much time lately
Agatha Macbeth: 'Tis the season
Agatha Macbeth: I might get back to that in the NY
Eliza Madrigal: :) am curious... would love to hear more
Agatha Macbeth: (New Year not New York)
Eliza Madrigal: yes :)

Bruce Mowbray: ;-) --- 5-min drop coming up.
Zen Arado: N York would be fun
Eliza Madrigal: thanks, Bruce...yes.....here we go....
Agatha Macbeth: It's a wonderful town

--BELL--

Eliza Madrigal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeisCvjwBMo

Eliza Madrigal: Anyone care to skate for a while?
Agatha Macbeth: Yeh
Bruce Mowbray: oh yes!
Eliza Madrigal: yay :)
Eliza Madrigal: the lake near Aggers' place
Eliza Madrigal: is frozen over nicely
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Bruce Mowbray: I will follow.
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Kori... we're heading to the lake
Agatha Macbeth: OK
Bruce Mowbray: Heya Kori!
Korel Laloix: oh ok.. smiles.. just on for a sec anyway
Zen Arado: Hi Kori

Song from Qt that accompanied our skating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEwzFF4HeB8