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

Agatha Macbeth: Boo
Agatha Macbeth: ♥
Eliza Madrigal: Hello!
Zon Kwan: heya
Agatha Macbeth: Je suis ici
Agatha Macbeth: Hello Zon
Eliza Madrigal: We're sitting on the 'other side' of the fountain today

Eliza Madrigal: how are you both?
Agatha Macbeth: Yes with the village hall behind us
Agatha Macbeth: I'm well thx, you?
Eliza Madrigal: my mind is a bit overfull, but otherwise quite good thanks
Agatha Macbeth: Nothing new then?
Eliza Madrigal: ha I'm really a very simple, small town girl :P
Zon Kwan: good, how are you?
Agatha Macbeth: Oh sure
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Agatha Macbeth: Miami = 'small town' riiiight
Eliza Madrigal: It was small when I was born here
Eliza Madrigal: comparatively
Agatha Macbeth: Hey you aren't that old :p
Eliza Madrigal: South Miami, the area where I lived, was not quite like growing up in a village, but small enough to walk around everywhere and know almost everyone
Agatha Macbeth: Hm
Eliza Madrigal: anyway, what have I to compare it to? Just where I live now
Eliza Madrigal: Are you both country mice or city mice? lol
Agatha Macbeth: Home is where the heart is i guess
Agatha Macbeth: I'm right on the edge so to speak

Agatha Macbeth: Hi Bleuji :)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Bleu :) I was just looking at your algae a little while ago
Eliza Madrigal: very neat
Bleu Oleander: hi all :)
Agatha Macbeth: Algae?
Bleu Oleander: that was so cool wasn't it?
Zon Kwan: hi Bleu
Eliza Madrigal: http://ht.ly/BSOHB
Eliza Madrigal: algae art
Agatha Macbeth looks in the fountain
Agatha Macbeth: Oh...
Bleu Oleander: lol
Bleu Oleander: did u play the video?
Eliza Madrigal: yes, but I didn't get to the end before realizing it was time for session
Eliza Madrigal: so will return to it after
Bleu Oleander: wouldn't be something I would have the patience to do :)
Agatha Macbeth: What fascinating shapes
Agatha Macbeth: Like something alien
Bleu Oleander: nature keeps surprising us
Agatha Macbeth: Indeed
Eliza Madrigal: weird is normal
Agatha Macbeth: Mother's mysteries

Eliza Madrigal: So, ponderables today?
Eliza Madrigal: life questions?
Agatha Macbeth: Ponder ponder
Agatha Macbeth: Maybe we should ponder algae :p
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Bleu Oleander: :)
Agatha Macbeth: Are we still on for the GM this Saturday?
Eliza Madrigal: that's the plan, yes :))
Agatha Macbeth: OK
Bleu Oleander: 2?
Zon Kwan: GM?
Eliza Madrigal: guardian meeting, Zon
Agatha Macbeth: Guardian meeting
Eliza Madrigal: 2pm SLT
Eliza Madrigal: Sundays have been difficult so we came up with a plan b for this time
Agatha Macbeth: Bit like Sirius B
Eliza Madrigal: :)) although, I'm not sure what the topic for the guardian session should be, outside of checking in with one another
Eliza Madrigal: reading over sessions, not too much jumps out
Agatha Macbeth: Not too many sessions tbh
Eliza Madrigal nods
Bleu Oleander: just seeing who shows up might be interesting :)
Agatha Macbeth: For the whole of September anyway


Agatha Macbeth: Seems like people don't have much to say any more ;)
Bleu Oleander: talked out?
Eliza Madrigal: we talked ourselves out
Eliza Madrigal: hah, yes
Agatha Macbeth nods
Bleu Oleander: :)
Agatha Macbeth: Well we certainly covered a few topics in six years
Bleu Oleander: so is there a plan for PaB going forward?
Agatha Macbeth: Hm, good question
Bleu Oleander: or is it the slow fading
Eliza Madrigal: also, PaB has been nested in a certain SL culture that isn't exactly thriving

Zon Kwan: has the purpose of life been solved?
Agatha Macbeth: 42 Zon
Eliza Madrigal: if it hasn't, would discussing it do so?

--BELL--

Zon Kwan: what is the purpose of the talks then?
Bleu Oleander: I think its morphed into something other than it had initially been?
Agatha Macbeth: Would agree there
Agatha Macbeth: Hiya QT :)
Zon Kwan: hi Qt
Qt Core: Hi all!
Bleu Oleander: hi Qt :)
Eliza Madrigal: Can there be a general purpose of life? is one question. We're each so individual. I think that's one of the reasons in-the-moment explorations, or the intention toward that, was important
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Qt :)
Zon Kwan: every group needs a mission
Agatha Macbeth: Perhaps we need redefining?
Bleu Oleander: I think everyone needs to create their own purpose even if they adopt the purpose of a group perhaps
Eliza Madrigal nods

Agatha Macbeth wonders if Liz is typing a book :p
Eliza Madrigal: Do you see me still typing? :)
Agatha Macbeth: Yes!
Eliza Madrigal: sorry!
Agatha Macbeth: Thought you were doing War & peace over
Agatha Macbeth: Either that or I'm suddenly laggy
Eliza Madrigal: I'd do Anna Karenina before W&P
Agatha Macbeth: Ah
Agatha Macbeth: Good old Anna

Bleu Oleander: you could also have more than one purpose and your purposes could exist within a larger purpose of a group ... perhaps even seeing a global purpose(s)?
Eliza Madrigal: agreed... usually a purpose rests in the heart of a visionary
Agatha Macbeth: Maybe the original mission got lost when Pema stopped coming much
Eliza Madrigal: we did lose a lot
Agatha Macbeth: He was the guiding light so to speak
Eliza Madrigal: so what about individual visions/purposes? do we each have a sense like that about our lives?
Agatha Macbeth: We if I do it seems to have got lost in the shuffle :p
Eliza Madrigal: It wasn't, for me, that I adopted Pema's vision, but that I felt inspired by it, in light of my own
Zon Kwan: thinks so
Bleu Oleander: if we're lucky we do
Eliza Madrigal: :) Agatha
Eliza Madrigal: you do, Zon?
Zon Kwan: nods
Bleu Oleander: purposes evolve and get revised too
Eliza Madrigal nods

Eliza Madrigal: some of the big questions I had years ago, I no longer have
Agatha Macbeth: You found the answers?
Bleu Oleander: because you solved them or lost interest?
Eliza Madrigal: both, depending on the question
Bleu Oleander: or rephrased them?
Agatha Macbeth: Hm
Eliza Madrigal: it feels to me as though they've been transcended
Bleu Oleander: can you share a solved one and a lost interest one?
Agatha Macbeth: Wow
Eliza Madrigal: hm... wonder if I can describe or explain...
Bleu Oleander: only if not too personal
Agatha Macbeth: Maybe it's possible to just outgrow stuff like that
Eliza Madrigal: I had a lot of confusion over spirituality... found it hard to reconcile personal experiences and how I saw/see religions play out in the world
Agatha Macbeth: Does religion and spirituality actually have much in common? :p
Eliza Madrigal: mainly, here, I was always amazed at 'how' we have been able to discuss and explore facets of individual experience
Agatha Macbeth: Mm

--BELL--

Eliza Madrigal: :)) Agatha, I think now, of religion as the outer form(s) of spirituality, with the inner a more mystical form, sometimes even upside down from the outer expression. Like, the religion is the solid form.. often presenting an obstacle
Eliza Madrigal: something like that
Agatha Macbeth: Oh my
Eliza Madrigal: and on top of that, it doesn't matter as much to me anymore
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Agatha Macbeth: Toto isn't in Kansas any more perhaps?
Bleu Oleander: have you come up with an understanding of what spirituality is for you?
Eliza Madrigal: I think so, although I have an open question about group spirituality
Eliza Madrigal: PaB was never meant to be a spiritual group
Eliza Madrigal: but it was for me
Agatha Macbeth: :)

Bleu Oleander: in Sam Harris' new book "waking up" he talks about the root of the word spirit being a translation for the Greek pneuma, meaning "breath"
Agatha Macbeth nods
Bleu Oleander: around the 13th C it became connected with immaterial souls and supernatural beings

Zon Kwan: spirituality means grouping
Zon Kwan: waves
Agatha Macbeth: Bye Zon
Eliza Madrigal: as Zon ungroups...
Bleu Oleander: bye Zon

Eliza Madrigal: humans often externalize concepts
Eliza Madrigal: I think it helps us communicate them
Eliza Madrigal: giving form
Eliza Madrigal: PaB has breathed... 4 times a session, for times a day for a while
Eliza Madrigal: linking breath is something I'd not really thought about our doing before, but it has been sort of like that to pause together
Bleu Oleander: for me a less regimented breathing feels more natural, but perhaps getting a rhythm of every 15 minutes helped establish a routine of sorts
Eliza Madrigal: shared intention
Bleu Oleander: yes
Eliza Madrigal: when I've been good about it, setting the timer in the day, it has really been a wonderful practice
Agatha Macbeth: Ding
Eliza Madrigal: but like a lot of things, even though they feel so good and cultivate feelings of wellbeing, I often don't do them :)
Agatha Macbeth: Busy Lizzie
Eliza Madrigal: I like the idea of secular spirituality
Agatha Macbeth: Maybe they should invent a special practise just for mothers? ;p
Eliza Madrigal: but I hate that any time one tries to purposefully cultivate it, it gets co-opted into something political
Agatha Macbeth: Politics will always be with us (sadly)

Eliza Madrigal: Bleu, did Sam's book actually come out?
Bleu Oleander: yes, read it already :)
Eliza Madrigal: Oh, wow. Please give more of your impressions... didn't realize.
Agatha Macbeth: The Bleu review
Eliza Madrigal: hah
Bleu Oleander: well, I hate to do that ... but would love to chat about it after you all read it
Eliza Madrigal: the nice thing about him is that, at least to me, he seems intellectually genuine
Eliza Madrigal: not puffed up
Eliza Madrigal: so, I'll definitely read that
Agatha Macbeth: Like a blowfish?
Bleu Oleander: I learned a lot more about him
Eliza Madrigal: Dawkins was really interesting at first, but then he just seems full of himself
Eliza Madrigal: zzzz
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Agatha Macbeth: XXXX
Bleu Oleander: well .... I think many of these strong personalities are
Bleu Oleander: that's how they get there :)
Eliza Madrigal: true
Eliza Madrigal: I had a real soft spot for Hitchens
Bleu Oleander: Sam is no wall flower
Bleu Oleander: or Hitch

--BELL--

Eliza Madrigal: hard to make a case for someone who writes a book on how terrible Mother Teresa was :P
Bleu Oleander: some truth to that though :P
Eliza Madrigal: I know! Sheeesh, intellectual honestly is painful
Agatha Macbeth: Yes she was awful ;-)
Eliza Madrigal giggles
Bleu Oleander: lol
Agatha Macbeth: (Just realised the bell was on)
Eliza Madrigal: this comes around to the biggest shift for me, as far as that solving of problems question. For me, to open up the shadow side of things, without shutting down the bright side, has been a challenge
Bleu Oleander: I've started reading "the left hand of darkness" Le Guin, and the opening line is " ... Truth is a matter of the imagination."
Agatha Macbeth: Would you want to open it?
Eliza Madrigal: nice
Eliza Madrigal: and, definitely Agatha... but only because that kind of resolution seems to bring forward a more authentic sense of life
Agatha Macbeth: Oh
Eliza Madrigal: even when horribly painful. Don't you think?
Agatha Macbeth: It's a moot point I think
Bleu Oleander: perceptions can always be refined or fine tuned
Agatha Macbeth: Stuff that gets supressed usually does damage in the long term
Eliza Madrigal: indeed
Agatha Macbeth: 'Let it bleed' and all that
Eliza Madrigal: Knowing

Bleu Oleander: "on one level, wisdom is nothing more profound than an ability to follow one's own advice." from Harris' book
Eliza Madrigal: haha... I'm not there yet
Bleu Oleander: reminded me of one of my videos on "wisdom"
Eliza Madrigal: oh?
Bleu Oleander: "isn't wisdom just some other dudes ideas?" ha!
Eliza Madrigal: hahah
Agatha Macbeth: Hm
Eliza Madrigal: maybe "character" is wisdom in play
Bleu Oleander: lots of varieties and colors of wisdom ... might as well follow your own :)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: the trouble is the loneliness
Eliza Madrigal: the alien feeling
Bleu Oleander: loneliness?
Bleu Oleander: of your own wisdom?
Eliza Madrigal: mhm... being particular, not relying on what those around you might understand ... not 'trying to' be unique but, just for myself when I don't edit down, it turns out to be a small group that can accept one's contradictions
Bleu Oleander: of course even one's own wisdom can always and should be revised and open to incorporating others if beneficial
Eliza Madrigal: nothing fixed
Eliza Madrigal: that's part of the problem, hah
Eliza Madrigal: but also the pleasure and the being alive
Bleu Oleander: open, breathing, changing ... that's the fun of it

Bleu Oleander: the invention of writing screwed up everything
Eliza Madrigal: maybe I'm just a lonely person, which is a really odd thing to say if one looks at my life from the outside
Agatha Macbeth: That Caxton!
Eliza Madrigal: what a peculiar and interesting statement Bleu!
Eliza Madrigal: go on?
Bleu Oleander: used to be more fluid until it got written down
Bleu Oleander: just try to change the constitution lol
Eliza Madrigal: oy
Agatha Macbeth: Vay
Bleu Oleander: or the holy books
Eliza Madrigal: true
Eliza Madrigal: what about just symbols?
Eliza Madrigal: gestures?
Bleu Oleander: was a very fluid process in the begining
Agatha Macbeth: Hieroglyphs are good :p
Eliza Madrigal giggles
Eliza Madrigal: words words words
Agatha Macbeth: In the beginning was the word
Bleu Oleander: spoken words are ok its the written ones that are hard to change

--BELL--

Eliza Madrigal notices that Agatha's cookie has rendered her arm invisible
Eliza Madrigal: words to paper has perhaps given a false gravity?
Agatha Macbeth: The idiot who made the blouse attatched to my hand for some arcane reason!
Eliza Madrigal: haha
Agatha Macbeth: Makes sense...
Bleu Oleander: of course many good things about the written word too :)
Eliza Madrigal: someone might suggest attachment without questioning to be the culprit
Bleu Oleander: like computer cookies :)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Agatha Macbeth nods
Agatha Macbeth: I'll blame Aph

Eliza Madrigal: "form and emptiness"
Qt Core: I need to go, bye all
Eliza Madrigal: a practice of balance, questioning both sides
Bleu Oleander: bye Qt
Eliza Madrigal: you were so quiet today QT, wasn't sure you were here :)
Eliza Madrigal: have a nice nite
Agatha Macbeth: Ciao QT
Qt Core: :-)
Agatha Macbeth: Mr Shy Guy
Eliza Madrigal: not with Wol :)
Agatha Macbeth: Ah dear Wollie
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Agatha Macbeth: And her orcs
Eliza Madrigal: see... that's the thing. I find it hard to reconcile my idea of Wol with much time killing orcs
Eliza Madrigal: as much as anyone who knows some aspects of me would find it hard to see me binge watching k-dramas
Eliza Madrigal: lollol
Agatha Macbeth: Well yeh
Bleu Oleander: not sure I understand that one lol
Agatha Macbeth: Gangnam style
Eliza Madrigal: what do you do that some friends might not fit into your personality?
Eliza Madrigal: that kind of question :)
Agatha Macbeth waits for Bleu to answer :p
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Bleu Oleander: ha ha!
Bleu Oleander: not sure what my personality is lol
Agatha Macbeth: Something to do with purple cowboy boots maybe...
Eliza Madrigal: ha ha
Eliza Madrigal: yeah... waiting for that photo
Bleu Oleander: be a long wait lol
Agatha Macbeth: Aww
Eliza Madrigal: we see what we see, I guess. People present certain faces, as do life questions.. with background that may or may not come to the fore but still has a say

Agatha Macbeth: When you assume you make an ass out of u and me
Bleu Oleander: :)
Eliza Madrigal: :) you were friends with my 7th grade English teacher obviously :P
Bleu Oleander: haven't heard that in a long time :)
Agatha Macbeth grins
Eliza Madrigal: go out and come back in the right way
Bleu Oleander: ha!
Agatha Macbeth: Backwards
Eliza Madrigal smiling widely

Eliza Madrigal: thank you both for today
Bleu Oleander: ty!
Eliza Madrigal: Hope to see you Saturday at 2
Agatha Macbeth: I didn't make it :p
Bleu Oleander: fun to c u both
Eliza Madrigal: am off to order a book :)
Agatha Macbeth: Yay
Bleu Oleander: will try to make 2 on sat
Bleu Oleander: should work
Eliza Madrigal: yay, great
Bleu Oleander: ok girls
Bleu Oleander: have a nice afternoon, evening
Eliza Madrigal: you too....

Eliza Madrigal: oh, and for Agatha...
Agatha Macbeth: Or all three
Eliza Madrigal: ♬ 오빤~~강남 스~타일~~ ♪♪
Bleu Oleander: lol
Agatha Macbeth: Oh my
Eliza Madrigal: -«☁ »- 옵.옵.옵.옵. -«☁ »-
Eliza Madrigal: ♬ 헤~이 Sexy Lady~~ ♪♪
Agatha Macbeth: Love that
Eliza Madrigal laughs... it has been long enough that I can hear this again and enjoy it
Bleu Oleander: ha ha!
Bleu Oleander: ok byeee
Eliza Madrigal: bye for now
Eliza Madrigal: ♥ ♥ ♥
Agatha Macbeth: TC ♥
Bleu Oleander: . ♥ . ♥ . ♥ . ♥ . ♥ .