http://playasbeing.wik.is/index.php?title=Chat_Logs/2009/07/2009.07.22_-_01:00_-_Me_%26_the_Birds
No one came, no one left, no one wept and no one laughed. All in all a very quiet night, apart from the rain falling outside my balcony door! - Tarmel
Eliza Madrigal: Usually I wake up thinking about something... a theme for the day. Today it is kindness :)
Eliza Madrigal: The reason I thought about kindness this morning, is that in the Harry Potter film (cant remember if the line was in the book),
Eliza Madrigal: At one point in the film Dumbledore tells Harry that he is unfailingly kind, and remarks that it is a quality not appreciated by most...
Eliza Madrigal: So it seems there needs to be an intention toward openness, which does seem to require something like kindness to operate
Eliza Madrigal: Otherwise we end up with a more rude society, which would be ironic considering the vast potential of the internet
Sophia Placebo: newton said that for each act there is a counter act , equal in magnitude opposite in direction right ?
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, yes cause and effect
sophia Placebo: kindess is the same , it is an act and its effect is a counter act to you or to thers
Eliza Madrigal: hm, yes. So you believe it has effects even if they are not immediately seen?
sophia Placebo: sure
Eliza Madrigal: yes, I do too
Eliza Madrigal: At least that is the way I try to live...
sophia Placebo: but i wouldnt wait or look for that effect
Eliza Madrigal smiles
sophia Placebo: i wouldnt even expect a pay back kind of thing
Eliza Madrigal: Sophia made an interesting point : i think kindness if applied as a means for social openness it would become like a manner or tradition , but if kindness perceived as philosophy or as concept accepted and appreciated individually then yes it would make a diffrence
sophia Placebo: and eliza asked :[7:32] Eliza Madrigal: hm, yes. Anytime we try to capture something and set it up as a 'standard' it can lose some value?
Pema Pera: yes, I can see that -- it is much better if everyone (or even some people) would try to be personally engaged rather than following rules
Eliza Madrigal nods
Pema Pera: but even so, rules can have a very positive influence
Pema Pera: I'm always reminded of that, when I visit Japan
Pema Pera: In a Starbucks in Japan, the people behind the cash register look you in the eye, they smile, they pay attention, they really are there and willing to communicate
Eliza Madrigal: That makes a difference, I'd imagine, in the whole day
Pema Pera: and when I go back to New York, half the time those people in the same role are looking at their co-workers and continuing their conversation while ignoring their client even though they are counting out the money for them
Pema Pera: always a shock that lasts a few days before I get used to it again . . . .
sophia Placebo: the spirit of that joy is still living in Japanese culture ?
Pema Pera: oh yes, Sophia, very much so
sophia Placebo: wonderfull!
Pema Pera: appreciation for details, in everything, from electronic manifacturing to wrapping a present
Pema Pera: and receiving a little present: they actually use chakras, probably without being aware of it
Pema Pera: when receiving a present you bow slightly and bring the present to your forehead, and then you straighten and hold the present in from of your heart
Eliza Madrigal: Oh! Nice!!
Pema Pera: clearly connected with chi/prana energy centers
Pema Pera: you can feel it
sophia Placebo: so higly appreciation gesture
Pema Pera: but it's part of their gestures, like shaking hands, I'm sure they don't think about it, but I'm equally sure they do feel it
Eliza Madrigal: The little things. Our life is full of them and yet we rush by
Pema Pera: unless forced to, or willing to adapt to foreigners; normally they bow
Pema Pera: the connections are energetic, through gestures, not physical
Eliza: Shared a little moment here which sticks out to my memory as strongly as a significant holiday might! :)
Eliza Madrigal: I was paying my son's fees one day at his school, and the lady behind the counter and I bowed kind of instinctively. It was such a sweet moment... out of nowhere. I hardly knew her :)
Pema Pera: ... in Japan "watch out" or "take care" literally is said as "use your chi" -- chi is not an exotic word, it's as ordinary as water or stone :)
Pema Pera: so they're quite good at pinning it down, traditionally, to a large extent :-)
Pema Pera: to begin to feel an affection for someone is in Japanese to let someone into your chi -- many expressions like that
Pema Pera: ("chi" is the Chinese word; in Japanese it is "ki")
Pema Pera: oh, I'm not implying that Japanese as a whole are more kind; rather that their language offers them a tool to talk/think/work with energy
Pema Pera: and that their training forces them to pay a lot more attention to each other than in most other countries, which is a condition for the possibility of appreciation -- not a cause, but it sure helps
http://playasbeing.wik.is/Chat_Logs/2009/07/2009.07.22_13%3a00_-_You_Say_Yes%2c_I_Say_No
Questa Blackheart: How about "change" as a topic?
Questa Blackheart: I have just been told I will likely be made redundant.
Questa Blackheart: The thing I find quite amusing is that most people look sympathetic and ask me if I'm OK.
Fox Monacular: from my experience with immigrants I find that women seem to tolerate change better than men...?
Fefonz Quan: somehow women tend to be more emotionally flexible than Men. maybe they are not expected to be 'tough' all teh time
Fox Monacular: perhaps it has something to do with the fact that women go through intense physical changes... when have babies for example
Mickorod Renard: men build their castles of security,,if u know what i mean,,and dont like having to recalculate the risks all over again
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Fefonz Quan: yes, moving a castle is harder than a tent :)
Fox Monacular: it's also cultural.. for men sometimes it's seen as weakness to express emotions
Fefonz Quan: right.
Fefonz Quan: but then, when the wind blows hard, the tough trees break while the flexible ones bend till it is over
Mickorod Renard: expresing emotions of anger are expected of men,,and when they do, they are critisized for it
Fox Monacular: yes, so resistance is futile really
Eliza Madrigal: So women are Palm trees?
Eliza Madrigal: we were talking a little this morning about how language affects culture, etc. also. So a word like 'kindness' is thought to be weak' or a female quality when it takes much strength inwardly/security to be kind.
Mickorod Renard: I came to realise that the regular person I had debate with was happy to become aggressive with me,,now I record the situation and for some reason they dont want to carry on with the debate..weird
http://playasbeing.wik.is/Chat_Logs/2009/07/2009.07.22_19%3a00_-_Architects_and_Scientists
stevenaia Michinaga: I was just finishing leftovers from dinner with Adams, Wol, and Fefonz last night
Pema Pera: It was such a pleasure to meet Wol in Germany, last month
stevenaia Michinaga: the most interesting thing I have found is accents don't make themselves evident in Sl w/o voice
stevenaia Michinaga: it adds so much to hear someone
stevenaia Michinaga: aside from leaving your avatar in sl
Pema Pera: yes, it is like final meeting the poet, after having read some of her poetry
stevenaia Michinaga: or hearing them read their own work
Pema Pera: :)
Pema Pera: each PaB session is in some sense a joint piece of poetry
stevenaia Michinaga: it was striking the similarities amongst us, all work in some kind of visual field and each has an appreciation for complex databases
<not yet available>
http://playasbeing.wik.is/Chat_Logs/2009/07/2009.07.23_07%3a00_-_The_%22If%22_Koan
genesis Zhangsun: so my tendency is to get a bit obsessive
genesis Zhangsun: I take an idea and my mind chews on it
genesis Zhangsun: far too long
genesis Zhangsun: perhaps even until it has turned to dust :)
genesis Zhangsun: so meditation allows me to let go of that usual thinking pattern
genesis Zhangsun: I drop it
genesis Zhangsun: but it also continues to work in the background
genesis Zhangsun: but in a slower way
genesis Zhangsun: more space for thoughts
genesis Zhangsun: less pressured
genesis Zhangsun: so while I don't focus on "insight:
genesis Zhangsun: in my meditation
genesis Zhangsun: and more "calm"
genesis Zhangsun: I notice that towards the end
genesis Zhangsun: sometimes in a very shocking way
genesis Zhangsun: a little piece of processed information comes to the surface
genesis Zhangsun: in a very neat, beautiful kind of symbolic way
genesis Zhangsun: much more understandable than the garble in my head when I believe I am working on something by thinking about it logically/rationally
genesis Zhangsun: the symbol is very complete
genesis Zhangsun: capturing all of kinds of things I could never put into words
genesis Zhangsun: except maybe in poetry
genesis Zhangsun: :)
genesis Zhangsun: these symbols feel very intimate
genesis Zhangsun: only I could hold them up to myself
genesis Zhangsun: a therapist could never do it for me
genesis Zhangsun: the self exploration also has something so relaxed about it
genesis Zhangsun: I feel trust
genesis Zhangsun: for the process, for myself, in Being
Pema Pera: that's a beautiful summary!
genesis Zhangsun: I suppose the idea is to bring the sitting mentality with you in the movement
Pema Pera: so how do you "stick with it" without getting too tense?
Pema Pera: playing without "practicing" and without getting sloppy?
genesis Zhangsun: I try to think of it like brushing my teeth
genesis Zhangsun: it is something I do for maintenance
genesis Zhangsun: I don't try to "add" any extra dimension
genesis Zhangsun: of ambition
genesis Zhangsun: or hard discipline
Pema Pera: can you say more about the notion of "maintenance"? You mean this as opposed to reaching/adding/perfecting, right?
genesis Zhangsun: I once described it as starting with something as coarse and overblown like a bat to hit a marble
genesis Zhangsun: eventually you are playing ping pong
genesis Zhangsun: and then just a flick of your finger
genesis Zhangsun: than no finger at all
Pema Pera: what you have just outlined, this whole path from bat to ping pong to flicking to nothing -- all that still has a flavor of a path, a process, a program, a kind of agenda
Pema Pera: do you think it would be possible to drop EVEN THAT ?
Genesis: The "if" koan is something Pema and I have been discussing. "If" you see then it is enough...what about dropping the "if" condition, what happens?
Pema Pera: that's the "if" we have been talking about
genesis Zhangsun: yes it is
genesis Zhangsun: the elusive if
Pema Pera: any path glorifies an "if" -- if you don't take this path it won't work
Pema Pera: you'll be doomed
Pema Pera: not enlightened
Pema Pera: but if you don't take any path, then what -- most likely you're even more stuck
Pema Pera: so what gives?
genesis Zhangsun: hmm yes tricky koan
genesis Zhangsun: still pondering it
Pema Pera: Stim and I have given it a code name : "Namkhai Norbu's if"
Pema Pera: If Namkhai Norbu would walk into this room (we were sitting in my office in Princeton)
Pema Pera: and would join the conversation, the he would likely say something in response to the Time, Space, Knowledge vision
Pema Pera: "sure, IF you can see what TSK points to, THEN that would be equivalent to chan/zen or dzogchen"
Pema Pera: meaning that the essence is similar, and that it is all a question of whether or to what extent you get it
Pema Pera: Now Stim added, cautiously as you know his way:
Pema Pera: maybe TSK is different. Maybe there is no "if"
Pema Pera: . . . . . . . . . . . .
genesis Zhangsun: play as being seems to build off of that precisely
If we are at the end why practice?
genesis Zhangsun: why do we practice, why explore using these methods?
Pema Pera: no reason
genesis Zhangsun: so if they are not to see better
genesis Zhangsun: they are to celebrate the seeing?
Pema Pera: that's the koan
http://playasbeing.wik.is/Chat_Logs/2009/07/2009.07.23_13%3a00_-_Remain_in_Light
Eos: Pila captures the IF Koan by the tail, knowingly or not, and rides the tiger home
Shyama Sheryffe: may i ask what is ur approach Pila
Pila Mulligan: my approach to huna?
Shyama Sheryffe: to life..lol
Pila Mulligan: :)
Pila Mulligan: ah, i am happy :)
Shyama Sheryffe: lol
Pila Mulligan: seems the easiest thing to do
Pila Mulligan: i ching is attributed to Fu Xi, maybe 5000 years ago
Pila Mulligan: it is an excellent teaching tool
Pila Mulligan: I do not use it as an oracle, that is a lesser role if you ask me
Shyama Sheryffe: i have tried it sometimes and it was so fitting
Pila Mulligan: yes, it has that element of being timely
Shyama Sheryffe: how do u use it then ?
Pila Mulligan: I begin my day (usually at 4:00 am) with a silent meditation, then an i ching meditation, then tai chi -- takes about an hour
Pila Mulligan: so I use it as a daily meditation
Pila Mulligan: and it keeps its timeliness each day, it seems :)
Shyama Sheryffe: wu wei ?
Pila Mulligan: wu wei is a popular expression often interpreted as non-action
Pila Mulligan: it is a little deeper than that however
Pila Mulligan: it is closer to being in harmony with nature
Pila Mulligan: not acting, as an alternative to acting
Pila Mulligan: sometimes it is appropriate not to act, and that is more often than we may think
Shyama Sheryffe: hm..witnessing
Pila Mulligan: more going with the flow, letting events happen
Shyama Sheryffe: nods
Pila Mulligan: but this involves a much lesser known idea called the dao of i, or the way of change
Pila Mulligan: the flow of events is described by the dao of i
Eos Amaterasu: Since we come out of nature, perhaps one approach is to rest in nature's lap
Pila Mulligan: nature is full of reality, and as Eos just said, it is not just a simple place
Eos Amaterasu: which is kind of resting in the question
Pila Mulligan: yes, that is kind of the idea of wu wei, lap resting
Eos Amaterasu: I think the 9 secs practice is a bit of letting go, not immediately grasping on, answers or intentions or anything
Pila Mulligan: a lap pause :)
Eos Amaterasu wonders how far this metaphor (?) will be taken
Pila Mulligan: several laps at least
Eos Amaterasu: argh!
Pila Mulligan: :)
Eos Amaterasu: actually that is a lovely image used in the Dzogchen and Mahamudra traditions:
Eos Amaterasu: that realization is like the child luminosity returning to the mother luminosity
Eos Amaterasu: like a child jumping back into its mother's lap
Eos Amaterasu: how do you find wu wei in your life, PIla?
Pila Mulligan: this was what we talked about earlier
Pila Mulligan: wu wei is deeper for me than just non-action
Eos Amaterasu: non-action is probably as full of surprises as resting in wu wei's lap
Pila Mulligan: yes, it is a dynamic idea -- it requires consciousness as a consistent activity :)
Eos Amaterasu: Finding non-action in action is the thing
Pila Mulligan: yes, the harmonious moment
Eos Amaterasu: it probably helps to be coming from non-action to the extent there is contrast
Pila Mulligan: well, there is a lot of contrast, for most people, in our cultures
Eos Amaterasu: so that as things arise they do so from empty/fullness
Eos Amaterasu: you think you're falling into the gaps
Eos Amaterasu: but sometimes you find things rising out of the gaps
Eos Amaterasu: sudden turns are also in there (witness Gretzky, Zidane, Bird....)
Pila Mulligan: [Michael Jordan] could tell when the nature of the game shifted and he surfed it with strong chi
Pila Mulligan: there is a chinese term 'dragging your wheels'
Pila Mulligan: that is to avoid letting the ground get out from under you :)
Eos Amaterasu: nice image!
Pila Mulligan: so MJ would drag his wheels when the flow was contrary, then let them loose when the time came
Eos Amaterasu: so you churn into your actual experience, rather than trying to avoid it
Eos Amaterasu: and if you churn with empty hands/wheels
Eos Amaterasu: you get into the whole field
Pila Mulligan: yes, that is where wu wei likes to stay, in the whole field
Pila Mulligan: and a great deal of it is done with breathing :)
Eos Amaterasu: What would you suggest re breathing in terms of the 9 secs, if anything?
Pila Mulligan: a deep breath takes me about 20 seconds
Pila Mulligan: so do a full breath, however long it takes
Eos Amaterasu: You also kind of perceive with your breath (especially the "per" part)
Pila Mulligan: yes
Pila Mulligan: that is the light of the breath
Pila Mulligan: it is the connection to the interrelatedness, the light
Eos Amaterasu: "Remain in Light" (Talking Heads album)
http://playasbeing.wik.is/Chat_Logs/2009/07/2009.07.23_19%3a00_-_Opening_the_mind's_eye
Playing with the 9-second pause - What's the magic word?
Sylectra Darwin: Solobill, pretend I am a complete newbie.
Solobill Laville: Ah, er, OK
Sylectra Darwin: Tell me why I would want to try the practice.
Solobill Laville: Often we miss what is right in front of us
Solobill Laville: And often it is quite beautiful
Solobill Laville: Pema said something a few weeks back
Solobill Laville: about sitting on the edge of the Grand Canyon
Solobill Laville: If all you think about is how much you want a hamburger, you won't see it
Sylectra Darwin: Monkey mind, isn't that one way to describe it?
Solobill Laville: oh, yes
Sylectra Darwin: I like to think of it as monkey mind - because it seems a comical and loving way of thinking about it.
Sylectra Darwin: I do best when I have a gentle sense of humor about my states of distraction, like, Oh, there goes my silly mind, racing ahead of the present again. Hi! Come on back!
Eos Amaterasu: It would be interesting to buld it into social situations
Eos Amaterasu: (like the one we're in)
Eos Amaterasu: I was just recalling another analogy to what we're doing that came up in another session - the 5 times daily call to prayer in Islam.
Eos Amaterasu: Or more mundanely like as part of meeting structures.
Eos Amaterasu: where you say ahead of time there will be little gaps.
Pila Mulligan: there is something somewhat similar to the 9 second pause in I Ching chapter 31, and I've done that one for many years -- no one has ever noticed it (the pause) in a social setting as far as I can tell.
Pila Mulligan: the second yao (verse) of gua (chapter) 31 in the I ching says if you feel an influence on your calf, tarry to avoid misfortune -- it has to do with balance.
Pila Mulligan: so when I feel it i pause
Pila Mulligan: no one notices :)
Eos Amaterasu wonders if that is like the drag of the wheels (discussed in previous session) that gets you "into the field"
Pila Mulligan: it is not mystical :)
Pila Mulligan: maybe Eos, I had not thought of it, but it could be
Sylectra Darwin: It's sort of the opposite of that game on PeeWee's Playhouse where, if he says the secret word, everybody cheers.
Sylectra Darwin: I think the idea was something which would come up unexpectedly or randomly in conversation.
Eos Amaterasu: a friend of mine had a parrot that said, "wake up!"
Sylectra Darwin: Good one.
Solobill Laville: nice
Eos Amaterasu: (I guess we could script that in SL :-)
http://playasbeing.wik.is/Chat_Logs/2009/07/2009.07.24_01%3a00_-_At_the_point_of_sleep.....
Scathach Rhiadra: you have an interest in the process of dreaming Bertrum, do you know anything about the transition from conscious to unconscious in sleep?
Bertrum Quan: Are you thinking about moving between sleep and no consciousness?
Scathach Rhiadra: maybe, or actually being aware of the process of losing consciousness, like external senses, then internal senses closing down as it were, but still fully aware, if that makes sense
Bertrum Quan: Yes, intuitively, I think that's possible. But in terms of the neuroscience, I don't know. I did witness something along the lines that you are suggesting. I witnessed the final moments of someone on their deathbed. They were deeply unconscious--not responseive to any stimulation, cold (losing oxygen and turning blue) and yet at the moment of death (perhaps for a few seconds beyond), they suddenly came to consciousness--essentially bid farewell. What you suggest, is what I believe I observed,
Bertrum Quan: I'm just not sure entering the sleep state equals entering a state of no consciousness. What's interesting about the sleep state is how memory functions for most of us. That is to say, there are large segments we don't recall. But that does not equate in my mind with a lack of counsciousness.
Scathach Rhiadra: well, exploring may not be the word I would use, it is a sort of accidental exploration
Scathach Rhiadra: it started with something Wol mentioned, a full anaestethic, during which I 'woke up', but had no sesnse of being located anywhere, or having a body
Wol Euler: ooooh
Wol Euler: tell us more?
Scathach Rhiadra: it was just like being aware, but not of anything, there were not thoughts or feelings. then I became aware of sound, like murmuring, still no location or direction.
Scathach Rhiadra: ah, but there seems to be a remnant which carried over to to the sleeping process, or the going to sleep part. Instead of drifting off to sleep as normal, sometimes I just don't lose awareness during the process
Scathach Rhiadra: it is usually when my mind is very still anyway, so not much thinking
Bertrum Quan: How has this experience changed you? added to your understanding of consciousness? of reality?
Scathach Rhiadra: I suppose is has made me think that being conscious is not the fundamental state we think it is, there is something more basic to our nature
Scathach Rhiadra: maybe it encompasses consciousness, like it is there all the time, even if we are not aware of it, and consciousness/unconsciousness can arise within it or from it
Scathach Rhiadra: and certainly thought or feelings or perceptions are part of what I call consciousness, but there is still this awareness that is very alive, maybe not the right word, but difficult to describe
Bertrum Quan: Yes, I think I know what you mean.
Scathach Rhiadra: anyway, it is just a curiosity I suppose, I just never knew what to do with it, if anything, the sleep experience I mean
quen Oh: funny that in SL we know that what we see is individual, dependent on pc, graphics card, your sl-viewer and so on
quen Oh: in rl it is too I think, but less evident
quen Oh: interesting Eliza. APAPB-exerise?
Eliza Madrigal: I was hesitant at first, but it seemed like the space opened for it now
Eliza Madrigal: yes, sitting with 'appreciating the presence of appearance as a presentation by Being" ... hehe sounded so complicated to my brain at first
Eliza Madrigal: SL at first was a great enhancement to practice... had been sitting a lot but access to teachings seemed far away. Then SL and a flood of teachings to sort, but then sitting and reading dwindled. 'Balance' doesn't seem exciting goal though .. guess one can drawn a bit to the excitement of extremes.
Eliza Madrigal: for me at least, is helpful to realize even when I 'think' I'm getting 'ahold' of things, I'm actually not.
Eliza Madrigal: and rest
Eliza Madrigal: inwardly
sophia Placebo: :)
Eliza Madrigal: "there's nothing I can do" can be a liberating place?
Yidam Nightfire: Sl gives us opportunties to re-identify ourselves ...a common technique in therapy i'm told
sophia Placebo: hmm
Eliza Madrigal: hmm
sophia Placebo: to identify something is to put the borders for it
sophia Placebo: you can't frame what you cant see though
Eliza Madrigal: So, what would the borders be for the naked friend ?
sophia Placebo: you might see nothing here or in rl sometimes ^^ clarity moments are so precious and few , sustaining them is what meditation is about i guess
Bertram Jacobus: could one say, that irony, in general, is good or bad ? - sry
Fael Illyar: I do find it pretty ironic that being afraid of certain things is the number one way to make them happen.
Fefonz Quan: similar to doubting the placebo effect :)
Fael Illyar: yep, being afraid that the pill doesn't work makes that more likely it doesn't :)
Fael Illyar: fear comes from believing that what you fear will happen.
Fefonz Quan: and from un-willingness to accept that option
Wol Euler: one can definitely fear the future, things that have not happened yet
Lia Rikugun: because as for me usually when i am in the situation i feared i can think clearly
Wol Euler: (unless you want a different word for that?)
Fael Illyar: the fear we imagine is usually worse than the fear of the actual situation.
Fefonz Quan: i believe fear is of the things most driving us and giving us suffering.
sophia Placebo: im suffering
Fefonz Quan: can you say more Sophia?
sophia Placebo: rl stuff , i need to boss many poeple
sophia Placebo: im not good boss
Wol Euler nods
Fefonz Quan: why not?
Wol Euler: could you learn to be a better one?
sophia Placebo: i turn to a monster
sophia Placebo: fear of failure is what makes me suffer , i don't like to think as a fauilure and i don't to give that sensation to others whom i would boss, but it is a habit and i keep trying to not bring it up until i explode one day
sophia Placebo: what i would do to people is what i fear
Fael Illyar: The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable - Paul Tillich
http://playasbeing.wik.is/Chat_Logs/2009/07/2009.07.24_19%3a00_-_Science_and_Reality
Resting Thor: dakini was explaining pab's scientific approach to knowing
Vajra Radikal: sounds interesing
Resting Thor: i suppose she was going to tell me what science is and what is knowable ?
Pema Pera: for me the core of science is not math, or quantitative measurements, important as those two sure are
Pema Pera: but rather the notion of "radical conservatism"
Pema Pera: you get brownie points both for radical new ideas and for showing those to be wrong :-)
Pema Pera: including sometimes showing yourself to be wrong
Pema Pera: working with a working hypothesis
Pema Pera: such as "playing as Being is a worthwhile way to get deeper insight into reality"
Pema Pera: we are radical and conservative
Pema Pera: radical in talking about Being and skipping preliminary stages, common in most traditions
Pema Pera: we are conservative in not taking anything for granted, wanting to really test everything
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