2020.02.11 07:00 - Smiles and Inner Silence, shhhhh-ing the despair

The Guardian for this meeting was Riddle Sideways. The comments are by Riddle Sideways.

Adams Rubble: Good morning Riddle :)
Riddle Sideways: Howdee Adams
Riddle Sideways: sorry to be a bit late. everything is starting slow today
Adams Rubble: that's OK, my day has not started well
Adams Rubble: gave me a chance to catch my breath

Adams Rubble: Already this week I have been to a lecture on the Jews of Turkey at a Turkish restaurant and a talk by Mark Weitzman at an Orthodox Synagogue
Riddle Sideways: takes a breath
Adams Rubble: in RL
Riddle Sideways: wow
Adams Rubble: the first was energizing and the second was concerning
Adams Rubble: I have heard Mark Weitzman on youtube and was impressed
Adams Rubble: last night he seemed to feed the divisions that exist in our town
Riddle Sideways: oh dear
Adams Rubble: seemed to encourage people to embrace Trump
Adams Rubble: debunked the idea that the US today is like 1930s Germany because of the institutions, no institutionalized ant-Semitism, no pogroms, no laws against Jews, etc.
Adams Rubble: but did not mention that we have institutionalized racism, laws against blacks, pogroms against blacks, etc
Adams Rubble: made it sound like Trump was supporting world-wide efforts to reduce anti-Semitism
Riddle Sideways: hmmm
Riddle Sideways: cameras everywhere, facial recognition, police state
Adams Rubble: I was honored to accept a broad invitation to the synagogue
Riddle Sideways: good
Adams Rubble: we sat in the women's section because of the overflow :)
Adams Rubble: the one time I went to a Muslem Friday service in SL I sat with the women in the back :)

Adams Rubble: maybe that's why I am here instead of the other avatar :)
Riddle Sideways: maybe
Adams Rubble: we were not sure who was going to come until the log in
Riddle Sideways: flip a coin
Riddle Sideways: either are welcome
Adams Rubble: thank you Riddle :)
Riddle Sideways: ㋡

Adams Rubble: Weitzman makes some very good points about Christian anti-Semitism and that would be a very good place to begin a dialogue
Adams Rubble: Dan Rather wrote a column recently that basically said that if we despair we will lose. We must stand up and fight
      https://www.newsandguts.com/dan-rath...ng-on-despair/
Adams Rubble: forgot to mention that it was very interesting to learn about the different Jewish groups in Ottoman Turkey. Some I had not heard of. It all made sense historically
   --BELL--
Riddle Sideways: hear a lot of despair lately

Adams Rubble: then if all that is not enough I am reading the book "The Nun's Story" which was what Audrey Hepburn's movie was based on
Adams Rubble: The key goal of their practice was "Inner silence"
Adams Rubble: shhhh
Riddle Sideways: Inner Silence, shhhhh-ing the despair
Riddle Sideways: searched for Mark Weitzman and got a lot about a local DDS office
Riddle Sideways: some about being a director of the Task Force against Hate and Terrorism
Adams Rubble: yes

Adams Rubble: the nun's practice reqired them to stop whatever they were doing when the bell rang which included not putting a tail on a 'y' they were writing
Adams Rubble: I would need lots of practice to do that
Riddle Sideways: interesting practice
Riddle Sideways: hmmm, when a bell rings
Adams Rubble: I don't have my sound on :)

Adams Rubble: bye Bruce
Riddle Sideways: bye Bruce, yes
Riddle Sideways: put on calendar to go to the meditation that Bruce and Elan go to
Riddle Sideways: one of these days ㋡
Adams Rubble: :)
Adams Rubble: I've been a few times
Adams Rubble: they send out a notice in email
Adams Rubble: a good place to practuce inner silence
Riddle Sideways: email? can't take anymore emails. lately have been purging and unsubscribing to emails
Adams Rubble: :)
Riddle Sideways: ok, need to go to meditation
Adams Rubble: noise of the 21st century
Adams Rubble: yes?
Riddle Sideways: so much noice
Riddle Sideways: noise
Adams Rubble: buy me buy me
Riddle Sideways: so sad

Adams Rubble: I got a phone call about the hacking of my apple device the other day. I don't have one
Riddle Sideways: hey, got one of those calls too
Adams Rubble: they are not that discriminating
Riddle Sideways: you need to let them take control of your Apple device to fix it
Adams Rubble: well, that was fine with me but they did not stay on the line
Riddle Sideways: impatience
Adams Rubble: who is impatient
Adams Rubble: shhhh
Adams Rubble: the bell is impatient
Riddle Sideways: yes, bell was almost 3 minutes early. It could not wait
   --BELL--
Riddle Sideways: the idea of a con artist calling you and being impatient over the time it is taking to steal from you
Adams Rubble: you must help them with the con
Riddle Sideways: years ago, let one of those calls get on an old laptop that was going to be cleared
Riddle Sideways: just to report what they did
Adams Rubble listens
Riddle Sideways: can't remember full story, but wrote it up, somewhere
Riddle Sideways: put on a forum that was collecting those stories
Adams Rubble: :)

Riddle Sideways: back to imagining a bell going off every 15 minutes
Riddle Sideways: if that happened enough times
Riddle Sideways: it might become a habit
Riddle Sideways: wondering about the affects
Adams Rubble: of course the convent bell went off for prayer
Adams Rubble: the "hours"
Riddle Sideways: one might need to jot down some shorthand of what state things were at
Riddle Sideways: then go to prayers
Adams Rubble: the nuns could not do that-had to stop in mid pen stroke
Riddle Sideways: might not get back to writing whu
Adams Rubble: there was an example when a nun nurse was holding a drink to the lips of a deaf mute child and when the bell went off the child pushed the drink away becuase the nun-nurse had to stop

Riddle Sideways: seeing the glass hang in space
Riddle Sideways: the act of putting the glass down or the putting the quill down is still doing work
Riddle Sideways: after the bell
Adams Rubble sees Riddle getting stern glance from Mother nun
Adams Rubble: :)
Riddle Sideways: whoooops
Riddle Sideways: notes that slapping a ruler across knuckles is also work
Adams Rubble: interesting point though
Adams Rubble: stopping what one is doing is different than doing no work
Riddle Sideways: the strangeness of refrigerators that allow the light to always stay on during shabot
Riddle Sideways: yet the door can be opened
Riddle Sideways: and closed
Riddle Sideways: also thinking of the 5 prayer times a day that Muslims stop and pray
Adams Rubble: There is a similar practice in Christianity but not sure how many times it is
Adams Rubble:
Matins (during the night, at about 2 a.m.); also called Vigil and perhaps composed of two or three Nocturns Lauds or Dawn Prayer (at dawn, about 5 a.m., but earlier in summer, later in winter)
Prime or Early Morning Prayer (First Hour = approximately 6 a.m.)
Terce or Mid-Morning Prayer (Third Hour = approximately 9 a.m.)
Sext or Midday Prayer (Sixth Hour = approximately 12 noon)
None or Mid-Afternoon Prayer (Ninth Hour = approximately 3 p.m.)
Vespers or Evening Prayer ("at the lighting of the lamps", about 6 p.m.)
Compline or Night Prayer (before retiring, about 7 p.m.)
   --BELL--
Adams Rubble: The medieval Books of Hours were used in this practice
Riddle Sideways: are they hourly and change with Day Light Savings?
Riddle Sideways: or stay were current-local sunrise?
Adams Rubble: God did not believe in daylight savings time in the Medival Times
Adams Rubble saw the Mother of the convent give Riddle another stern look about the daylight savings time
Riddle Sideways: ah
Adams Rubble: :)
Riddle Sideways: puts hand over mouth before asking about that writing that said to wait to see 3 stars in the sky
Riddle Sideways: the older religions did not have wristwatchs
Riddle Sideways: so had to go by sunrise and sunset
Riddle Sideways: hey, nice words for a song
Adams Rubble: :)
Adams Rubble: we have much tied to time
Riddle Sideways: is ok if follow only one set of time rules
Riddle Sideways: trouble comes when 2 clocks are involved
Adams Rubble: in the case of our nun, it is the practice of the bell, not time. Time is kept by the person ringing the bell
Riddle Sideways: always worried about those sand hourglasses
Riddle Sideways: what if the bell ringer was not looking when the last grains of sand went down
Adams Rubble: /me tries not to notice the mother of the nuns
Adams Rubble: :)
Riddle Sideways: Riddle is being pulled out of the pavilion by one ear for asking tooooo many questions
   --BELL--
Riddle Sideways: it is not good to ask tooooo many whu

Adams Rubble: our value of our practices comes from their effect on us
Adams Rubble: Shantideva had a fear of women distracting him but there is much value in his practice for men and women
Riddle Sideways: the rule of turning the head left when reading the prayer
Riddle Sideways: might give the effect of a stiff neck
Adams Rubble does know about that
Riddle Sideways: plus the not being able to read the book
Riddle Sideways: interesting different practices
Riddle Sideways: to get to the same effect
Adams Rubble: yes, the inner silence
Riddle Sideways: need to get to the inner silence, inner peace of the Trumpers
Adams Rubble: the Trumpers are a dot on the pages of history

Riddle Sideways: if we All could just agree, there would be no divisions
Adams Rubble: every religion preaches love
Riddle Sideways: Mother Nun is seeing that Riddle is agreeing
Adams Rubble: Mother nun knows Riddle has a good heart :)
Riddle Sideways: Terrorism will stop when there is no one to hate
Riddle Sideways: All ya need is Love

Riddle Sideways: went to Election Poll Worker training yesterday
Adams Rubble: :)
Riddle Sideways: almost every 3rd sentence was about Smiling
Adams Rubble smiles
Riddle Sideways: and working it out for every voter
Riddle Sideways: and Smiling
Adams Rubble does not remember people smiling at polling oplace
   --BELL--
Riddle Sideways: you might not be as funny looking as Riddle. They all smile here
Adams Rubble: nice practice though
Riddle Sideways: yes! the start of Loving and Giving starts by smiling
Riddle Sideways: yourself
Adams Rubble sings "Wish they all could be California......voters
Riddle Sideways: sings along

Adams Rubble: Thank you for the discussion this morning
Adams Rubble: Unfortunately I need to go
Riddle Sideways: Mother Num is back to removing this avi
Adams Rubble: I like the idea of smilling at the polls
Riddle Sideways: yes, or smiling everywhere
Adams Rubble: The stereotype is that NJ voters prefer a brawl
Riddle Sideways: then a whiskey
Adams Rubble: Hey, I'm voting here
Adams Rubble: Have a very good day.
Riddle Sideways: you too
Adams Rubble prays no one gets killed in 2020 and the Democratic convention does not turn into a brawl
Riddle Sideways: yes
Riddle Sideways: a good prayer
Adams Rubble: bye for now