01-03 - Reading Your Minds

 by Adams

This is my first time scribing in a little over a year and I was surprised to find how differently I found the experience since then. Much of the change has been in me. The group itself has changed too during that time, the latter more in the names of the people than the content of the sessions. As I hoped when I became reinstated in to scribal practice, I got to know some of your voices a bit better.

I worked with all of your 38,400 words (and 1878,979 characters) that were typed in over the first three days of April and found it hard to cut them down, knowing I was losing some of the essence of your words.(I kept 2500 of your words as it turned out)

I was greatly moved at your words at times. Other time I wanted to get in there and participate along with you.

Note: I left space between lines whenever material was removed between those lines.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

The first day happened to be the second anniversary of Play as Being.

2010.04.01 01:00 - Playing With Stuckness

Zen Arado and Calvino Rabeni had a three hour session together much of it relating to nd 'The Book of Not Knowing'
Calvino Rabeni: My favorite part of the book is on contemplation, starting P 437
Zen Arado: is that like meditation?
Calvino Rabeni: No, contemplation is focused inquiry
Zen Arado: inquiry into what?
Calvino Rabeni: Anything.

Calvino Rabeni: what I believe is that the ability to change these things is based first
on good observation; whereas good observation is hampered by general emotional
attitudes such as wanting things like purity or freedom or to be a good person, etc.

2010.04.01 07:00 - Your account at the Being Bank is ready

It's both April Fool's Day and the second birthday of Play as Being.

Storm Nordwind wonders what he has learnt in 2 years
Eliza Madrigal: oh my.... yes time and learning seem concentrated here....

Pema Pera: hard to believe that soon we will have had 3,000 PaB sessions . . . .
Pema Pera: probably already 2,000 here in this pavilion

Storm Nordwind: And how many, at least potentially, stoppings and droppings in that time?

Pema Pera: hehehe
Pema Pera: let me count the droppings . . . . .
Storm Nordwind: I make it 46720 nine seconds practices!
Bleu Oleander: a lot of space for being!
Storm Nordwind smiles broadly

Eliza Madrigal wonders if Storm figured out what he has learned in 2 years....
Storm Nordwind: I've learned that it's really quite OK to keep my childlike sense of wonder, seeing new things each moment of each day by resting in Being
Eden Haiku: What about you Pema, what did you learn in 2 years?

Pema Pera: a combination of two things, I guess
Pema Pera: one is that I've learned to find words for many aspects of playing with the notion of Being, allowing it to become more and more concrete/direct/integrated
Pema Pera: and the other is that that then stimulates, and is stimulated by, a way of living where Being is an actual resource
Pema Pera: but in a seemingly rather paradoxical way
Pema Pera: not as "providing" anything
Pema Pera: rather as "Being" all you ever need

Storm Nordwind: Another thing I have learned is that the people who take Play as Being to heart have become some of my closest friends ever - real good people! Does it attract such people, I wonder, or does it change them once they're attracted? Are these 'special' people in some way (and not just to me), or are they a representative slice through the world?
Pema Pera: those who join PaB, Storm, are probably much more open to start out with, willing to experiment, to not jump to conclusions; but I also think they then grow into such kind of attitude more and more -- I've seen that happening with myself as well as many others.
Storm Nordwind nods
Eliza Madrigal: yes, perhaps PaB attracts those who also appreciate that "childlike sense of wonder", which is also a nice quality in friendships :)
Pema Pera: Speaking for myself, the whole two years have been a kind of exercise in wu-wei, in letting go of control, in letting be, yet in keeping my eyes open :-)

2010.04.01 13:00 - A foolish anniversary

Eden Haiku: King of PaB with crown/Dropping himself out of joy/ On April's Fool Day

Vertigo Ethaniel: you know, last time i was here, i was sitting alone... big change, PaB has grown

 

 

Pema Pera: yes, slowly but surely, it seems, Vertigo

 

 

Vertigo Ethaniel: anyway, a random did drop by and after reading the info and asking me questions, declared that PaB was a cult

 

Eden Haiku: WE are a cult Vertigoi. look at us, all in black...Scary bunch hey?

 

Eden Haiku: I love being part of such a silly cult!

 

Agatha Macbeth: Don't we all?

 

 

Storm Nordwind: Perhaps your visitor should try looking at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_checklist

 

Eden Haiku: With no other rules than stopping every 15 minutes for 90 seconds or 9 seconds in RL and we forget about it...

 

Eliza Madrigal checks the list...

 

 

Pema Pera also checking the lists, not many handles there for PaB it seems . . . .

 

Vertigo Ethaniel: no, dont recall.. but he was either a very angry person or just a troll

 

Eliza Madrigal: hm... weapons acquisition... we do have lemming shooters

 

Qt Core: are we going to hunt him all in the black pab shirt ?

 

 

Pema Pera: "slave labor" -- "deceptive recruitment" -- does goc recruitment count?

 

Pema Pera still reading cult definitions: "Provide them with instant acceptance from a seemingly loving group"

 

 

Pema Pera still reading Storm's list; I like the Canadian Security Intelligence Service -- the first cult characteristic is "dualism" , certainly not something we can be accused of :-)

 

 

Eden Haiku: Good night Pema. Thanks for PaB, cult or no cult, we love it!

 

 

In the next session, many tried to sum up their experience with PaB. I chose Bleu’s partly for its succinctness. Then there is the little”you all”exchange between Paradise and Pema.

 

2010.04.01 19:00 - PAB What We Have Gained In the Past Two Years

Riddle Sideways: was at the 0 and 1 year anniverserys

Bleu Oleander: I'll start by saying that PaB didn't come easy for me
Bleu Oleander: at first didn't know what to do with the 90 sec
Bleu Oleander: sitting at my computer
Bleu Oleander: sat in on some of Stim's sessions
Bleu Oleander: and started to relax into the rhythm of Kira
Bleu Oleander: It took me a while to stop the chatter in my mind
Bleu Oleander: so I didn't go to PaB for a long time
Bleu Oleander: then I went and was surprised by how much I related to it
Bleu Oleander: met a lot of really nice people
Bleu Oleander: got good refs on books, videos, etc
Bleu Oleander: actually read "Time, Space, and Knowledge"
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Bleu Oleander: now I find myself in a somewhat regular pattern of 9sec breaks


Paradise Tennant: pema what has Pab brought to you :)
Pema Pera: you all :-)
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Bleu Oleander: :)
Pema Pera: and a much better understanding of wu-wei, of not-doing, of letting, being . . .
Pema Pera: never expected to get so many playmates in my practice :)

2010.04.02 01:00 - Now is more difficult than before

Yakuzza Lethecus: today I feel I tricked myself and our environment is always tricking us and still the biggest trick is that nothing is needed to be happy
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: true, and true.
Yakuzza Lethecus: be who you are <- never existed
Yakuzza Lethecus: be who we are

2010.04.02 07:00 - Wol Dreams a Day Off, Decisively :)

Eden Haiku:Yes, I think the cat made the decision. Be decisive, be a cat!:)
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Wol Euler: cats are very good at "I WANT"
Eden Haiku: They know already: know what is.
Eliza Madrigal: My cat is very good at climbinging onto papers I'm working with....
Bleu Oleander: dogs are too!
Eden Haiku: And they see clearly: even in the dark.
Eliza Madrigal giggles
Wol Euler: :)
Bleu Oleander: my puppy is chewing on me as we speak

Eliza Madrigal: I loved this part.... :

Eos Amaterasu:

It's good and bad, happy and sad
sunny weather and rainy weather... you let it all happen,
neither pushing away nor pulling it in, and not ignoring it either
that's a state of being
being like a mountain on which are grasses, and trees, and rocks,
and clouds, and goats, and rain
but the mountain is there

As I read the following session,I found myself joining in, stating my own opinions about my own “alt experience” and our brains. Since I was not there I am resisting the impulse to write them out. I chose a small part of the discussion leaving out much about the alt experience. You can read it here:

2010.04.02 13:00 - Attachement

Bleu Oleander: how about "how do you apply PaB to RL"
Liza Deischer: can you say more bleu?
Bleu Oleander: the concepts we put into practice here and perhaps during the day in rl .... how does it dovetail for you?
Bleu Oleander: are they separate?
Bleu Oleander: inform each other?
Bleu Oleander: mesh totally?
Liza Deischer: to me they are two separate worlds,
Liza Deischer: but they do influence each other
Liza Deischer: sl to me is more experimental
Liza Deischer: sometimes it feels I can separate parts of myself
Liza Deischer: looking more closely at them
Wol Euler nods
Liza Deischer: seeing that more is going around then I imagined
Liza Deischer: because I can experiment with body, clothing, gender, the things I do, the way I act
Wol Euler smiles and nods
Wol Euler: exactly
Wol Euler: there is an overlap, a feedback, between RL and SL for the various Me's
Wol Euler: they influence each other
Bleu Oleander: yes!
Liza Deischer: yes, and it has already clarified a lot to me
Qt Core: one of the little things I notice more now in rl, but i was starting in the months before I found PaB is the new things I see everyday in the streets I drives through ... since '93 to go to work
Bleu Oleander: helps to experiment in sl to realize you can in rl also, maybe in diff ways, but you can

2010.04.02 19:00 - Brainstorming on Art of Being

Calvino Rabeni: there are plans to make, paperwork, lots of other ppl to coordinate with, mistakes to avoid, deadlines
Bleu Oleander: sounds like a lot of life
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, usually I have things pretty simple, then a few times a year money and time and different parties all seem to rush together unpredictably
Calvino Rabeni: You get double / triple booked, others make plans, cancel, or show up unexpectedly
Calvino Rabeni: So, all good, yes :)
Calvino Rabeni: But it rasises some adrenaline.
Bleu Oleander: which can be good
Calvino Rabeni: True, consistency can be a hobgoblin
Bleu Oleander: yes
Calvino Rabeni: PaB as "stress management" -- let's add it to the list :)
Bleu Oleander: yes, great

2010.04.03 01:00 - Closer than your skin, as distant as the faintest star

Bertrum Quan: Night Cal. An urban setting is no less a good place to stop and reflect than a remote nature preserve. It is one's inner nature after, al
Bertrum Quan: It's one inner--true-- nature that one is seeking.
Scathach Rhiadra nods
Bertrum Quan: In one sense it is impossible to retreat from self and yet self is equally difficult to truly know.
Scathach Rhiadra nods, closer to you than your skin
Bertrum Quan: but also as distant as the faintest star
Bertrum Quan: In its own way it's a paradox.
Scathach Rhiadra: yes, it seems like the greatest mystery of being is how to just be
Bertrum Quan: That is the issue, isn't it? It's always attainable--closer than your skin--and like a dream it's just our of one's grasp no matter how close one comes to it.
Scathach Rhiadra nods
Bertrum Quan: Day after day, it is worth the effort to clear one's mind--to attempt to anyway.
Scathach Rhiadra: yes, and even instant by instant if we can remember
Bertrum Quan: Yes. While one is alive there is always an opportunity... it's certainly a richer experience than having one's life set on default.
Bertrum Quan: I think it's an undertsanding that has come to some of us over time, with age.

2010.04.03 07:00 - Chickens Life

sophia Placebo: wonders whats wrong to be a chicken , you eat produce food then you would be eaten , living a nice stress free place in between , isnt it wonderfull !
Eliza Madrigal: hehehe
Yakuzza Lethecus: we’re all all going to be eaten some day
sophia Placebo: true
Riddle Sideways wonders is chickn thinks life is not stressful
sophia Placebo: but chicken do it in more glamoures way , being served on silver plates and so on
SophiaSharon Larnia: I suspect it is Riddle
Yakuzza Lethecus: at least it´s good that the chicken doesn´t anticipate the reason of its existence
Yakuzza Lethecus: so in some way it´s good to be chicken :)
Eliza Madrigal: yes, it doesn't torture itself thinking if it layed enough eggs that day, probably
SophiaSharon Larnia: do you anticipate the reason for your existance?
Riddle Sideways: not sure of the chicken belief in the afterlife

Yakuzza Lethecus: fortunatly right now i think that human beings are reasons in itself and we don´t play a bigger role in the foodchain of worms

2010.04.03 13:00 - Enlightened Nudity, Sex and Food

Bertram Jacobus: many years ago i asked a very experienced buddhist practitioneer : if you could choose between enlightenment and a woman like out of the nicest dreams - what would you choose - and he said instantly "that woman" - didn´t forget it , have the impression, that was a real adult answer (!) ...
Zen Arado: an honest man
Sonia Tehani: well, it depends on what kind of thoughts he was doing with this woman
Liza Deischer: trying to bring her to enlightenment ?
Liza Deischer: tantra-sex
Sonia Tehani: i think maybe enlightment is also accept someone in front of you as it is, maybe nude... where's the problem?

Bertram Jacobus: if i understand buddhas teachings correctly he explained that all limited and relative aspects in their limitation are combined with suffering ...

Bertram Jacobus: i think, that he was simply serious and very aware - may be he knew, he is not so far yet ... and we all may not be. buddhas last temptations were girls and warriors ... as the legend tells ...

2010.04.03 19:00 - Feels Like Old Times

stevenaia Michinaga: I've found that a wonderful thing about relationships, the time between encounters seems meaningless and is simple the "next" time
Paradise Tennant: smiles at steve ..so very true
Eos Amaterasu: yes, you can pick up after 30 years without missing a beat, I've noticed :-)
doug Sosa: The woman i am with, we dated incollege, then a forty five year break. Just wonderful.

Lucinda Lavender: if it is beyond time and space is it them something on beyond the experience we have of love?
Riddle Sideways: hard to answer that for you

doug Sosa: I like taking a Pab attitude towards love. then the cateogories of time and space are not very relevant, they get in the way of the experience and hint at too much thinking.
Lucinda Lavender: ok...
Riddle Sideways: love might be a perfect medium to experience our wishing to drop space and time resrictions
Paradise Tennant: smiles .. yes
Riddle Sideways: so much research already done into the subject :)
Eos Amaterasu: I think there is a moment of discovery in love that is timeless
Eos Amaterasu: a quantum of wonder :-)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Riddle Sideways: you can feel both connected and distance at the same moment
Eos Amaterasu: like light meeting life in photosynthesis
stevenaia Michinaga: I don't think distance matters
doug Sosa: to see it as "timeless" to my ear still makes time very important. In the experience of love time is not necessarily present, and if we bring it in, it seems to dilutte, distance us' from the experience.
Riddle Sideways: our love takes so many shapes over time, yet there was not a time without love

Paradise Tennant: love heals .. so much .. the best medicine really
Riddle Sideways: without answering aloud... what, who, how have you loved today?
Riddle Sideways: Thank you all,
Paradise Tennant: riddle that is a really worthwhile question to practise on :)