The Host for this meeting was Mick. The Scribe was Agatha Macbeth.

Eden Haiku: Hi Tura!
Tura Brezoianu: hi Eden
Tura Brezoianu: h Mick
Mickorod Renard: Hi Tura
Mickorod Renard: Hi Eden
Mickorod Renard: excuse me a mo while I find something
Eden Haiku: Hi Mick :)
Tura Brezoianu: Hi Storm
Eden Haiku: Hello Storm!
Storm Nordwind: Hello Eden :)
Storm Nordwind: Hi Tura!
Mickorod Renard: Hi Storm
Storm Nordwind: Hi Mick :)
Bruce Mowbray: 's current display-name is "Bruce".
Mickorod Renard: just making a notecard of time table
Storm Nordwind: Hullo Bruce
Mickorod Renard: Hi Bruce
Bruce Mowbray: Hulloooo!
Eden Haiku: Hi Bruce
Mickorod Renard: lovely day here today
Mickorod Renard: sort of fresh and sunny
Bruce Mowbray: a beautiful spring day here, too, Mick.
Mickorod Renard: real spring day
Mickorod Renard: yay, nice
--BELL--
Eden Haiku: Rainy here after three gorgeous days...
Bruce Mowbray: after a powerful thunderstorm last night.
Bruce Mowbray nods.
Mickorod Renard: yes, we had an odd threatening cloud too
Mickorod Renard: I love thunderstorms
Mickorod Renard: scary but so atmospheric
Bruce Mowbray: me too. . . but I'd rather they come in the afternoon - not at two or 3 AM.
Mickorod Renard: he he
Storm Nordwind: 88°F = 31°C here, sunny, light clouds, light breeze.
Bruce Mowbray: :)
Bruce Mowbray: Wow. Hot!
Mickorod Renard: very nice Storm
Bruce Mowbray: Hi, ara!
Mickorod Renard: Hi ara
Eden Haiku: Hello Ara :)
Agatha Macbeth: Evening all
Mickorod Renard: Hi Ags
Eden Haiku: (((Agatha)))
Bruce Mowbray: Hi, aggers!
Storm Nordwind: arabella looks as though she is trying to score the tiles with her heels!
Agatha Macbeth: Is Ara doing a sponsored walk?
Mickorod Renard: he he
Eden Haiku: smiles
arabella Ella: LOL
arabella Ella: Good evening everybody
Eden Haiku: Ah!
Storm Nordwind: Hi ara!
Agatha Macbeth: That rose doesn't work then :P
Storm Nordwind: And Raffi and Agatha :)
Agatha Macbeth: Hi Raff
Eden Haiku: Hello Raffi
Bruce Mowbray: Hi, Raffi.
Mickorod Renard: Hi Raffi
arabella Ella: Sure does not work Aggers, the rose I mean :)
Raffila Millgrove: Hey everyone. good day!
arabella Ella: Hiya Raffi!
Agatha Macbeth: At least you still have your hair
arabella Ella: So far he he
arabella Ella: I feel like a newby!
arabella Ella: Out of practice
Mickorod Renard: we are doing the book reading session today Ara
arabella Ella: yes great
Mickorod Renard: I think you are familiar with bthat?
Bruce Mowbray: http://thekingdomwithin.net/wp-conte...ddin_Attar.pdf
arabella Ella: yes
Mickorod Renard: I can give out a notecard with the time schedule of reading
Mickorod Renard: its in an email sent out
arabella Ella: I have a copy of your email
arabella Ella: ty
Bruce Mowbray: I have also put 11 audio recordings online . . . for those who wish to listen along as they read the text.
Mickorod Renard: anyone who wishes a note card please ask
arabella Ella: ty Bruce I got your emails too
Agatha Macbeth tickles Edie's feet
Bruce Mowbray: Great!
Eden Haiku: shrieks
Mickorod Renard: yes thanks Bruce, I may do so as its dificult for me to find time to sit
Bruce Mowbray understands.
Agatha Macbeth: Aww
Mickorod Renard: I guess there is no Liz today?
Agatha Macbeth: Think she's travelling
Bruce Mowbray looks around for Liz.
Eden Haiku: Still in Vegas I suppose...
Agatha Macbeth: Wonder if she's won anything?
Eden Haiku: Or traveling from...She had work there.
Mickorod Renard: chips must be holding out
Bruce Mowbray: :)
Agatha Macbeth nods
Agatha Macbeth: Dix huit rouge
Bruce Mowbray: or maybe she's taking the slogan literally: "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."
Eden Haiku: laughs
Bruce Mowbray: so maybe she's staying.
Mickorod Renard: ok, perhaps we should start. although there is nothing to bind us to discussing the book
Bruce Mowbray: I have a sort of comment, sort of.
Mickorod Renard: it is also open to all chat
Bruce Mowbray: kk.
Eden Haiku: listens
Mickorod Renard: great Bruce
Agatha Macbeth listens too
Mickorod Renard: listens
Agatha Macbeth: We are all ears...
Bruce Mowbray: The hoopoe seems to feel that some sort of purity and selflessness is required to get THERE.
Bruce Mowbray: so I have a question:
Bruce Mowbray: Does enlightenment care how you get there?
Bruce Mowbray: or may be what the hoopoe means is something other than enlightenment.
Bruce Mowbray: ( to questions, I guess)
Bruce Mowbray: two*
Storm Nordwind: Does enlightenment care about anything. Is enlightenment capable of care?
Mickorod Renard: Great question Bruce, I also have wondered about a similar thing
Tura Brezoianu: Once you are there it does not matter how you got there, but only certain paths will get you there.
Bruce Mowbray: Hmmmm. Ponders.
Bruce Mowbray ponders Tura's point.
Agatha Macbeth: Is the destination more important than the journey?
Mickorod Renard: is it not an internal thing?
Tura Brezoianu: The complaints that the birds make are all examples of hindrances.
Eden Haiku: Not only the hoopoe cares for purity. Saint Rabe'eh thought she was impure when she got to Mecca...
Bruce Mowbray: I tend to feel that the journey itself is where enlightenment lies.
Eden Haiku: "A wave of indecision" flooder her there....
Mickorod Renard: but is it a journey of self reflection?
Mickorod Renard: and discovery within the self?
Bruce Mowbray: if I may, a physical metaphor: I can use the best soaps in the world, I can scrub and scrub, take many baths every day . . . will I ever be totally clean?
Bruce Mowbray: no, I won't.
Bruce Mowbray: so, how about matters of the spirit?
Agatha Macbeth: Maybe not but you'll smell good :)
Bruce Mowbray: or soul, if you will.
Bruce Mowbray dies from laughing....
Mickorod Renard: a great metaphore..there is something about being clean even if phis filthy
Storm Nordwind: Poor Brucie
--BELL--
Bruce Mowbray: It really frightens my Blue Jays when I do that.
Eden Haiku: "Do not despise yourself, for there is none\Who could with you sustain comparison"
Agatha Macbeth: Not surprised
Bruce Mowbray: Is the hoopoe leading the birds to the same place that Jesus called The Kingdom Of Heaven?
Mickorod Renard: Eden, is that a bit that means that we all have diferent histories?
Agatha Macbeth: Hm, good question
Eden Haiku: maybe Mick. I'm not sure of the meaning, as of many stories :)
Mickorod Renard: I always thought the kingdom of heaven was somewhere u go after death
Eden Haiku: LOL
Bruce Mowbray: REALLY!?
Mickorod Renard: I am quite inocent/naive in that area
Bruce Mowbray: the only reference to that that I can think of might be Jesus telling the thief that "Today you will be with me in paradise." Otherwise, I thought that the kingdom of heaven parables referred to this world.
Mickorod Renard: but thought the trip for the birds was some enlightenment trip
Agatha Macbeth: I think the original Kingdom of God was a temporal one (ie Israel) and only got transcendant after Paul came along
Bruce Mowbray: good point, aggera.
Bruce Mowbray: aggers*
Agatha Macbeth smiles @ Brucie
Bruce Mowbray ponders aggers of the agora.
Mickorod Renard: so where are we on that then?
Bruce Mowbray: on transcendence?
Mickorod Renard: yes
Agatha Macbeth: Agoraphobia? :p
Bruce Mowbray: Seems that the hoopoe thinks it is required.
Tura Brezoianu: "Neither shall they say, ‘Lo, it is here!’ or ‘Lo, it is there!’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.”"
Bruce Mowbray: ╔═.♥.═══════════════════╗
Bruce Mowbray: •~-.¸¸,.-~*' BEAUTIFUL !
Bruce Mowbray: ╚═══════════════════.♥.═╝
Tura Brezoianu: But other translations say "among you".
Mickorod Renard: ah great, thanks Tura
Bruce Mowbray: Inside you -- is also a literal translatin in the Aramaic.
Tura Brezoianu: Within you = in your heart, among you = Jesus' presence on earth.
Bruce Mowbray nods.
Mickorod Renard: I am familiar with the reading and such but this is the mystery
Bruce Mowbray: so, do you think that's what the hoopoe is saying also?
Agatha Macbeth: I thought the Simurgh was the objective of all this?
Bruce Mowbray: Simorgh, yes.
Tura Brezoianu: The hoopoe is preaching a path leading to union with the divine, or entry into the divine presence.
Mickorod Renard: It is what I would have thought, but that has to be a mental realization
Raffila Millgrove: recently I read about ongoing investigations related to a drug supposed to save lives, improve outcomes of stroke, where it appears that the ... intent to prove the efficacy of the drug influenced the studies so much that the data was incorrectly assessed, the control groups unbalanced and many errors made. it reminds me of this book because I think all the questions asked are attempting to prove something .... which seems to carry a high degree of potential error...the attempt to find an answer that We want. Maybe we won't like the answers that are out there.
Bruce Mowbray nods, agrees with Tura, but is transcendence required for that?
Tura Brezoianu: Although (spoiler warning!) it turns out in the end that they're It.
Agatha Macbeth: This is reminding more and more of a Grail quest
Eden Haiku: A mental realization Mick?
Bruce Mowbray listens
Mickorod Renard: the journey so far is telling tales that make us reflect on our own lives
Bruce Mowbray nods, agrees.
Agatha Macbeth: When was CotB written?
Mickorod Renard: or act as a medium for self reflection
Eden Haiku: 12th century Agatha
Mickorod Renard: somewhere in 11c i think
Agatha Macbeth: Interesting...
Mickorod Renard: ty Eden
Bruce Mowbray: a high point in Islamic civilization.
Agatha Macbeth: Same time as the original Grail stories then
Storm Nordwind: 1177
Agatha Macbeth: A coincidence if nothing else
Bruce Mowbray: are you suggesting there may have been communication between the two traditions?

An aside: my point was that Sufic influences on the Grail Romances have been postulated (by Ernest Scott, Evans Lansing Smith et al.) and found the fact that CotB was written just two decades earlier synchronous if nothing else. The Knights Templar may have been in touch with both traditions and could have formed a conduit, but that AFAIK remains speculation. Anyways, onward...

Eden Haiku: I wrote a report I would like to share. May I? (sorry Raffi)
Agatha Macbeth: Thanks Stormy
Bruce Mowbray: Please do, Eden.
Agatha Macbeth: Could be Brucie
Agatha Macbeth: Please Edie
Bruce Mowbray listens for Eden's report.
Eden Haiku: As Mick in Monday session’s log "I will confess something odd if you wish"
Mickorod Renard: listens
Eden Haiku: Mickorod Renard is our hoopoe leader in this book club isn't he?
Bruce Mowbray: :)
Eden Haiku: His sharing of "God type" apparitions years ago and his urge to drink red wine and eat bread with the locals as in communion resonated very powerfully.
Agatha Macbeth: Nice!
Mickorod Renard: :)
Eden Haiku: Here is my own "confession".
Bruce Mowbray: POWERFUL, yes!
Eden Haiku: -A hundred thousand times I bowed down to Gurumayi, a woman guru of the Siddha lineage.
Eden Haiku: Solomon's glance bestowed on the hoopoe brought back hundred thousand memories of Gurumayi's darshan.
Eden Haiku: In Hindu culture, darshan is something similar to Solomon's glance.
Eden Haiku: - A guru is said to lead one from darkness to light and I walked on this path for 9 years, 2 of them in India.
Eden Haiku: A hundred thousand times"My soul drowned in Being" as the hoopoe would say.
Eden Haiku: The guru teachings were nearly the same: " Your soul's an agent of the sacred Whole/ the Way is one"
Eden Haiku: And here I am, a stranded soul, joining a flock of babbling virtual birds studying a Sufi poem from the 12th century in order to grasp "the nature of reality":)
Eden Haiku: -Done
Bruce Mowbray: ╔═.♥.═══════════════════╗
Bruce Mowbray: •~-.¸¸,.-~*' BEAUTIFUL !
Bruce Mowbray: ╚═══════════════════.♥.═╝
Mickorod Renard: wow, very nice Eden thankyou
Eden Haiku: bowing to Mick :)
Bruce Mowbray: So, the journey's the thing?
Tura Brezoianu: thank you Eden
Mickorod Renard: not to me please..he he
Bruce Mowbray bows to Being.
Storm Nordwind: How do you feel now about that journey of darshan, Eden?
--BELL--
Mickorod Renard: I bow to you Eden, very nice..there is something hiden that resonates
Eden Haiku: I'm like the goose who follows the first moving object in her sight :)
Bruce Mowbray: :)
Eden Haiku: Darshan wasn't a journey Storm, More a "searing glance",
arabella Ella: I don't think you are like the goose at all Eden you sound like a very discerning person who reflects on stuff
Storm Nordwind: right
Eden Haiku: I meant gurus are verywhere for me now Ara :)
Agatha Macbeth smiles @ Edie
Bruce Mowbray: ahhhh, YES!
Storm Nordwind: But you feel stranded, Eden?
Eden Haiku: Bowing to Agatha, the finest guru of all :)
Mickorod Renard: The funny thing is, it may be my ignorance..but I cannot let go of the search for understanding in this type of subject..but its also due to being shown a sampler that makes me hungry
arabella Ella: I think life for us humans is full of different quests, searches for whatever, searches that never end
Agatha Macbeth: Moi?
arabella Ella: and the never ending bit is part of our human nature
Agatha Macbeth: True that Ara
Bruce Mowbray ponders Mick's bread and wine sampler in France.
Mickorod Renard: very true Ara
Eden Haiku: Stranded many times a day Storm, I do. When a new update comes, I shudder...
Agatha Macbeth: Mick's mind seems to work in the same left field way as mine
Bruce Mowbray: That was the purpose of my cleanliness metaphor: No matter how much I clean myself, my human nature remains.
Agatha Macbeth: Scrubbing a soul is difficult
Agatha Macbeth: Think they call that catharsis
arabella Ella: well Bruce your cleansing ritual is like part of a journey which you hope leads you on the right path but in reality it is never ending
Eden Haiku: "never ending bit is part of our human nature" as Ara just said
Bruce Mowbray: may be the scrubbing is enough.... the intention, the dedication, the sincerity....
Agatha Macbeth: Ah...intention
Agatha Macbeth: Good word
Bruce Mowbray: I keep coming back to the concept of Dharma Gates being infinite....
arabella Ella: the journey is what is important
Bruce Mowbray: anything could be a Dharma gate?
arabella Ella: there is no immediate on/off switch
Eden Haiku: laughs
Bruce Mowbray: Anything could give the gurus glance?
Eden Haiku: Yep!
Bruce Mowbray: :)
Agatha Macbeth: What is one of those Brucie?
Bruce Mowbray: I'm afraid you'll have to ask Eden.
Eden Haiku: Saw this 2 yo kiido withb his Dad in the park this morning.
Agatha Macbeth looks at Edie
Eden Haiku: His pure joy at running down a small hill was a delight!
Agatha Macbeth: Kids eh
Bruce Mowbray: I was with Muknananda in 1975 - and he glanced at me a lot, but I never GOT it.
Mickorod Renard: I have been angry today..and for all this stuff we do in pab I should have been able to control myself.........I still think there is meat in equanamity,,is that when you cross over into acceptance, through understanding the mytery
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, Eden, the two year old with his father - THAT is the guru.
Eden Haiku: Equanimity yes...
Eden Haiku: That,s hard...
Bruce Mowbray: Equanimity is one of the four abodes, to be sure.
Mickorod Renard: That may be my goal
Mickorod Renard: before I have a heart attack
Eden Haiku: Sad Bruce. Never met Muktananda (he had passed away).
Bruce Mowbray: a worthy goal, to be sure.
Bruce Mowbray: yes I saw him shortly before he passed.
Bruce Mowbray: in Columbus, Ohio.
Eden Haiku: Wasn't you goal to feel the immensity of love or something like thatt Mick?
Bruce Mowbray: he blessed my mala beads
Storm Nordwind: People do seem to run from equanimity. They may seem to run toward. But you have to drop so much to BE there/

Mick on anger

Mickorod Renard: yes Eden, without a doubt,,but I am hindered by my uncontrolled emotions
Eden Haiku: What were you angry about Mick?
Eden Haiku: That might me a "dharma Gate" ;)
Mickorod Renard: wow, that would take a whole session eden
Eden Haiku: *be
Mickorod Renard: :)
Agatha Macbeth: The Tories? :p
Storm Nordwind chuckles
Eden Haiku: We have all our time :)
Mickorod Renard: usual family stuff,
Agatha Macbeth: Ah
Agatha Macbeth: Nuff sed
Eden Haiku: Ah, yes, the hardest stuff...
Storm Nordwind: It is
Mickorod Renard: being took for a twit and being disrespected and abused
Eden Haiku: Anger might be part of the love maybe?
Agatha Macbeth: Aww
Mickorod Renard: no, it destroyes me inside
Agatha Macbeth hugs Mick
Eden Haiku: Ah! You anger was love for you, that's excellent Mick!
Agatha Macbeth: Those closest to us hurt us most
Mickorod Renard: yep
Eden Haiku: The guilt is destroying you...
Eden Haiku: Not the anger.
Bruce Mowbray cannot imagine love without hate being in there somewhere. Cannot imagine joy without anger being in there somewhere.
Eden Haiku: Anger can be healthy
Mickorod Renard: its dificult..like chastizing children, its needed but hurts
Agatha Macbeth cringes
Bruce Mowbray ponders: For every Yin a Yang.
Storm Nordwind: *And you can't force anyone to respect you - or anyone else
Mickorod Renard: but I would prefer to be less inflamable
Eden Haiku: understands. I have the same tendency...
Mickorod Renard: with others one can walk away,
--BELL--
Mickorod Renard: but somewhere in this is a link to what we are doing I feel
Storm Nordwind: PaB can be your bolt-hole. We can at least listen and understand :)
Mickorod Renard: for sure, but i like the idea of becoming Equanimic
Mickorod Renard: I feel I am sometimes
Bruce Mowbray: you are speaking of a habit of emotional reactivity, Mick?
Agatha Macbeth: Isn't that something to do with horses?
Bruce Mowbray: Equs-animic?
Raffila Millgrove: I can accept that a child has not been loved wholeheartedly just for arriving. in the world. but I will never understand it. why they aren't loved in that way.
Mickorod Renard: it could be, I am good at re inventing the wrong meanings
Agatha Macbeth: Equa...oh never mind
Bruce Mowbray: (2 "u" perhaps)
Eden Haiku: Mick as a strong inner Tibetan monk :)
Bruce Mowbray: for sure, Eden!
Raffila Millgrove: when others tell me the stories of unhappy childhood. I understand what they are saying, but I don't "understand". i can sympathize but not understand why this can happen.
Mickorod Renard: it could be Bruce, although most folk around me think I am the calmest person on the planet
Bruce Mowbray: I would agree with them, Mick.
Bruce Mowbray: but I cannot see inside you.
Mickorod Renard: he he
Bruce Mowbray: I prefer Edens notion of a inner monk when I think of you.
Agatha Macbeth ponders a transparent Mick
Eden Haiku: [13:45] Mickorod Renard: but somewhere in this is a link to what we are doing I feel
Mickorod Renard: so where have we got to in the book?
Bruce Mowbray: Is the hoopoe asking the birds to be transparent to themselves?
Agatha Macbeth: Good question that
Mickorod Renard: ah, great question
Agatha Macbeth is lost
Eden Haiku: The shorter excerpt was a good idea Mick :)
arabella Ella: ponders Mick as a sensitive person with cruel barbs that get under his skin
Tura Brezoianu: This weeks section ends with the hoopoe's answer to "an indecisive bird"
Agatha Macbeth: We love you Mick

Here, Tura raises an interesting point

Tura Brezoianu: I am not sure what to make of some of the hoopoe's answer
Mickorod Renard: there is a piece about that,,and what was the word
Storm Nordwind thinks we maybe talked more about the book itself in Monday's session
Eden Haiku: (((Mick)))
Agatha Macbeth listens to Tura
Mickorod Renard: listens
Eden Haiku: listens
Tura Brezoianu: Oh,ok, here's a Twitter-sized report:
Agatha Macbeth: :)
arabella Ella: listens too
Tura Brezoianu: In this section, Attar says: Many are called, but few are chosen. Divine grace can be bestowed in an instant, unlooked for. Remember the shortness of life and the urgency of the task, and face fear with resolution. Put aside feelings of unworthiness, for the gate of God's mercy stands open to all. For love of God one must throw over everything else in the desperate quest.
Bruce Mowbray remembers that when he sat with Muktananda, he (M) brushed a peacock feather across his (Bruce's) head.
Tura Brezoianu: I'm not sure about the story of Shebli though, and what Attar is saying with it
Bruce Mowbray: bird. . . grace . . . glance. . .
Mickorod Renard: great peice Tura ty
Mickorod Renard: piece*
Eden Haiku: Also put a BIG question mark on Shebli"s story...
Tura Brezoianu: Shebli secretly visited male prostitutes, a scandalous thing, but Attar elsewhere praises love that flouts convention
Agatha Macbeth: 0.0
Mickorod Renard: thank goodness
Tura Brezoianu: The index of names (Penguin edition) says that Shebli (died 946) was a well-born member of the Baghdad court, who later joined the Sufis. He became known for his extravagant behaviour, for which eventually he was confined in an asylum.
Agatha Macbeth: Wow
Agatha Macbeth: That's kind of enlightened for the 12th century!
Eden Haiku: Oh yes, the one sitting among catamites...
Storm Nordwind: visited them, or perhaps became one of them during his visits (it's unclear I think)
Bruce Mowbray: what Shebl was criticized for was pride in wearing a luxurious coat . . . if I remember correctly.
Tura Brezoianu: And also the weird way the indecisive bird itroduces itself.
Tura Brezoianu: "As you can see, I lack the organs of virility."
Eden Haiku: Text says "he resisted love",,,
Bruce Mowbray nods, a eunuch.
Mickorod Renard: ah
Agatha Macbeth: Hm
Bruce Mowbray: Hm, indeed.
Tura Brezoianu: So 'm not sure how all that fits together to make a point.
Eden Haiku: Good questions though Tura :)

Mickorod Renard: not wishing to stray from this thread, the earlier part of this read section seemed to have all the birds going into some wilderness
Agatha Macbeth: Glad you noted that Tu, thanks
Mickorod Renard: which I think is also critical
Bruce Mowbray: Dark Night of the Soul, maybe?
Agatha Macbeth: Dark night of the something :p
Bruce Mowbray: :)
Tura Brezoianu: Yes, the Way is desolate and empty, "among a hundred thousand there is one" who succeeds.
Storm Nordwind: The first stage of brainwashing: disorientation. >;)
Eden Haiku: Loves so much "the hundred thousand" expression.
Agatha Macbeth: Again, Grail-ish
Bruce Mowbray: Not having overcome physical hungers - yet - Bruce excuses himself to scrape up supper.
Storm Nordwind waves
Bruce Mowbray: bye for now, good people.
Agatha Macbeth: Scrape well Brucie
Eden Haiku: You are excused Bruce :)
Raffila Millgrove: waves bye as well. tc all.
Tura Brezoianu: Three of the ROund Table achieved the Grail, which must be better odds :)
Agatha Macbeth: Love to the squirrels
Mickorod Renard: bye Bruce, thankyou for everything
Agatha Macbeth: Bye raff
Eden Haiku: Bye Raff
Tura Brezoianu: bye Bruce
Agatha Macbeth: R*
arabella Ella: bye Bruce and Raffi
Mickorod Renard: bye Raffi
Tura Brezoianu: , Raf
Mickorod Renard: well, I was worried for this session as I hadnt got my head straight, but you all saved me
--BELL--
Storm Nordwind: Team PaB!
Mickorod Renard: thankyou
Eden Haiku: We are your hoopoe too Mick :)
Agatha Macbeth: Anytime Mick
arabella Ella: smiles
Mickorod Renard: its an interesting point you made Storm, re brainwashing
Agatha Macbeth: 'We all need somebody to lean on'
Mickorod Renard: there may be a link there too
Storm Nordwind: yes maybe. It was said in jest from an atheists point of view. :) But that doesn't mean there's no truth in it
Mickorod Renard: may years ago i was sent on anti brainwashing skills course
Eden Haiku: Listening to a Nw York Times podcast about "The Caliphate", Young djihadists are endoctrinated the same way we are by the "conference ";)
Agatha Macbeth: Many a true word Stormy
Tura Brezoianu: Submission to one's sheikh is a common theme in Sufism, and submission to a guur in Hinduim and Buddhism
Tura Brezoianu: *guru
Mickorod Renard: hard to recall now about it, but cleaning the slate is prepping
Mickorod Renard: we must choose an opposite book next time to re regulate ourselves
Eden Haiku: Sleep deprivation and desorientation are part of brainwashing for sure.
Agatha Macbeth: What would an opposite book be?
Eden Haiku: But we are reading on our own accord, aren't we?
Mickorod Renard: athiests handbook
Eden Haiku: Until it beacomes unbearable ? Giggles
Agatha Macbeth: Is there such a thing?
Eden Haiku: An atheist handbook, hum....
Mickorod Renard: yes Eden, we can call God being or whoever
Tura Brezoianu: Richard Dawkins?
arabella Ella: Htchens
Eden Haiku: Blessed be the Fruit Loops says one of the handmaids in the last espisode...
Mickorod Renard: :)
Storm Nordwind: Well, I am not reading Birds because I want to at all. I may have been interested in 1974, but I don't enjoy it now. I am here to listen to the pecking and songs of my fellow birds!
Eden Haiku: *episode
Agatha Macbeth tweets
Eden Haiku: retweets
arabella Ella: pecks
Agatha Macbeth pokes Edie
Mickorod Renard: well, this is the point, a stimulous for discourse
Eden Haiku: tickles Agatha
Agatha Macbeth: Indeed
Storm Nordwind: I gave up on Twitter, I now use Mastodon, where one toots instead! ;)
Agatha Macbeth: Nyan
Agatha Macbeth: Yay
Agatha Macbeth: Good to hear they're still around
Mickorod Renard: Nyan
Agatha Macbeth: Not just frozen in Siberia
Mickorod Renard: we were poised to do Gilgamesh next
Agatha Macbeth: Oh right
Agatha Macbeth: Good old Gil
Mickorod Renard: but open to sugestions
Agatha Macbeth: Don't think he was an atheist was he?
Storm Nordwind: He's a leader in Civilization VI though :)
Mickorod Renard: aha
Agatha Macbeth: Is that anything like Babylon 5?
Storm Nordwind: Nope!
Agatha Macbeth: OK
Agatha Macbeth: Just wondered
Mickorod Renard: I tried at one point to do sidhatha but noone came
Agatha Macbeth: Siddharta?
Mickorod Renard: yes
Eden Haiku: Bye birds, I'm going to complete my 10,000 steps walk. The rain stopped :) Thank you so much Mick.
Agatha Macbeth: Oh that would be good
Mickorod Renard: thankyou Eden
Eden Haiku: Bye everyone!
Storm Nordwind: "Bye Eden", said the erne :)
Agatha Macbeth: A bientot Edie ♥
arabella Ella: bye Eden
Tura Brezoianu: bye Eden
Mickorod Renard: yes, I thought we were all doing deep buddhist stuff but didnt know the basics so sid was an idea
Agatha Macbeth: Or Steppenwolf even
Mickorod Renard: yeh
Storm Nordwind: "deep buddhist stuff"... hmm.. :)
Agatha Macbeth: For madmen only
Mickorod Renard: there was agood kids version
Storm Nordwind: .I'd rather stay here With all the madmen Than perish with the sadmen roaming free And I'd rather play here With all the madmen For I'm quite content they're all as sane as me
Mickorod Renard: ok, deep for me, which wasnt that deep
Agatha Macbeth: :P
Mickorod Renard: wow thats cool Storm, like that
Storm Nordwind: David Bowie
Agatha Macbeth: Yay
Storm Nordwind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb7Xdu7STx8
Mickorod Renard: its funny that although I listened to lots of music I never really listened to the words
Mickorod Renard: do that more so now
Agatha Macbeth: Just looked at the pictures ;-)
Mickorod Renard: yes, even better when videos came out
Agatha Macbeth nods
Agatha Macbeth: Video killed the radio star
--BELL--
Mickorod Renard: be grateful for what you've got, massive attack
Mickorod Renard: is everyone ok with the next section to read?
Agatha Macbeth: Which is that? :p
arabella Ella: yes I'll try to make it and hope to find time to read
Storm Nordwind: Sure. Despite what I said, I will still read it. :)
Mickorod Renard: I can post it now
Agatha Macbeth grins @ Stormy
arabella Ella: it's great to see you back here too Storm!

Mickorod Renard: Prologue..etc....finished line 616 Conference of the birds to line 1596 finished read from 3rd may line 1597 p86 (Birds set on a journey, pause then choose a leader) to line 1960 ish (A bird complains of the self) read from 10th may line 1960 ish p106 (A bird complains of the self) to line 2318 (The Pheonix) read from 17th may line 2318 p128 (The Pheonix) to line 2743 (A bird Questions the hoopoe about audacity) read from 24th may line 2743 p153 (A bird Questions the hoopoe about audacity) to line 3170 (Zuleikha has joseph whipped) read from 31st may line 3170 p177 (Zuleikha has joseph whipped) to 3693 ish (The Valley of Unity) read from 7th June line 3693 ish p206 (The Valley of Unity) to 4130 ish (The Journey) read from 14th June line 4130 p229 (The Journey) to 4455 The end

Agatha Macbeth: Great to see you both back!
arabella Ella: smiles
Storm Nordwind: Thank you ara - it's good to see you too
Mickorod Renard: just for the log
arabella Ella: good thing the system worked somehow
Mickorod Renard: ok, I am going,,thanks to you all
Mickorod Renard: bye for nowwwww
Agatha Macbeth: Have fun Mick
Agatha Macbeth: Don't be angry
Storm Nordwind: Bye Mick!
Tura Brezoianu: bye Mick
arabella Ella: nite Mick
Agatha Macbeth: Night Tu
Tura Brezoianu: I'll be going too
Storm Nordwind waves
Tura Brezoianu: goodnight all
arabella Ella: I'll be off too bye everyone and nite nite those of you in my part of the world :)
Agatha Macbeth: TC Arababe

Storm and I now reminisce....

Storm Nordwind: Bye for now!
Agatha Macbeth: Stay warm, swim well
Storm Nordwind: Staying warm is currently not one of my problems!
Agatha Macbeth: Well nor hers in Malta :p
Agatha Macbeth: Certainly warmer than here
Storm Nordwind: Nor here in Colorado today
Agatha Macbeth: Weather can be fickle at that altitude I hear?
Storm Nordwind: Always.
Agatha Macbeth: Mile high
Storm Nordwind: Yes
Storm Nordwind: And higher here
Agatha Macbeth: Wow
Storm Nordwind: Thickens the blood though to compensate :)
Agatha Macbeth: Would have to I guess
Storm Nordwind: extra red blood cells to cope with 17% less oxygen around
Agatha Macbeth: Wow
Agatha Macbeth: Just imagine what the top of Everest must be like
Storm Nordwind: Inbearable!
Storm Nordwind: *Un
Agatha Macbeth: Could you actually breathe unaided up there?
Storm Nordwind: Not really. Not most people who weren't acllimatized anyway
Agatha Macbeth nods
Agatha Macbeth: Maybe different for Sherpas
Storm Nordwind: For example you shouldn't fly unpressurized aircraft above 12,500 ft
Agatha Macbeth: Oh my
Agatha Macbeth: Less than half the height of Everest then
Storm Nordwind: But I can drive to the top of Mount Evans just down the road from here and it's 14,200ft. I guess I'm used to it
Agatha Macbeth: Certainly easier to drive than walk I'd think :)
Storm Nordwind: http://i.imgur.com/HmlOd.jpg = Mount Evans from my road
Agatha Macbeth: Lovely
Agatha Macbeth: Good old permafrost
Storm Nordwind: Oh it melts in the summer. That was March
Agatha Macbeth: Ah right
Agatha Macbeth: Interesting that the tops of mountains are so often considered sacred places
Storm Nordwind: Yes
Storm Nordwind: I think Stim wrote about that once in TSK. Though my memory's not what it was!
Agatha Macbeth: Oh
Agatha Macbeth: Wonderful
Agatha Macbeth: I largely missed Stim sadly
Storm Nordwind: I sympathize
Agatha Macbeth: Yeh
Agatha Macbeth: Always regret not finding SL earlier
--BELL--
Storm Nordwind: But celebrate that you found it when you did. We celebrate that you did!
Agatha Macbeth: Indeed!
Agatha Macbeth: And even better found PaB first :)
Agatha Macbeth: Talk about serendipity
Storm Nordwind: I remember first meeting you, hanging around the northeast of the sim!
Agatha Macbeth: Your observatory was the first thing I found
Storm Nordwind: haha!
Agatha Macbeth: Then the Kwan Yin gardens
Agatha Macbeth: I found it fascinating
Storm Nordwind: SL has been very good to me for the people I've met. Where I am now is totally because of it.
Agatha Macbeth nods
Agatha Macbeth: Serendipity indeed
Storm Nordwind nods
Agatha Macbeth: Right place, right time
Agatha Macbeth: Lucky you
Storm Nordwind: That sounds a little wistful
Agatha Macbeth: Nah
Agatha Macbeth: I like to see others happy that's all
Storm Nordwind: Warm hearted :)
Agatha Macbeth: Or a schmuck :p
Storm Nordwind: haha!
Storm Nordwind: Well dear friend, it's Thursday. Off now to the local diner for massive burritos that will feed us all through Friday too.
Agatha Macbeth: Mmm
Agatha Macbeth: Lovely
Agatha Macbeth: Bon appetit
Storm Nordwind: Thank you. And nighty-night!
Agatha Macbeth: Be well
Agatha Macbeth: Love to J