B1: Sallies

To introduce the topic, Eos noted that the idea was first introduced by Lia at the Malta Retreat. Eos provided the following exerpts:

http://wiki.playasbeing.org/<wbr>Chat_Logs/2009/07/2009.07.17_<wbr>13:00_-_peace_from_within_<wbr>first</wbr></wbr></wbr>

sophia Placebo: what type of meditation you do ?
Lia Rikugun: I call it my "happy place"
Lia Rikugun: but actually it is more like a sally
Lia Rikugun: i relax and imagine I am in a specific place
Lia Rikugun: and walk around there
Lia Rikugun: and see what happens
Lia Rikugun: always very interesting things
Lia Rikugun: which i didnt expect
sophia Placebo: sounds fun !
Lia Rikugun: actually afterwards I always feel so much more energy
Lia Rikugun: dont know why
sophia Placebo: where have you been to so far ?
Lia Rikugun: in the air, under water, meeting little creatures under the ground
Lia Rikugun: hehe
sophia Placebo: :))
Lia Rikugun: i have an old man to who I can talk
Lia Rikugun: who sometimes answers my questiosn
Lia Rikugun: little crazy... ;)

http://wiki.playasbeing.org/<wbr>Chat_Logs/2010/02/2010.02.04_<wbr>13%3a00_-_Malta_retreat_-_Lia'<wbr>s_report</wbr></wbr></wbr>
\Lia Rikugun: the idea i had when I wanted to come to malta to the retreat
Fael Illyar: Hello Everyone :)
Agatha Macbeth: Hi Fael :)
Lia Rikugun: was to just experiment with my consciousness in a way
Lia Rikugun: i did some exercises which i call going to my happy place
Lia Rikugun: in a way imagining to be on a grass field and walking around there
Lia Rikugun: sot his was something i wanted to concentrate on
Lia Rikugun: pema suggested a similar kind of meditation
Lia Rikugun: where i dont close my eyes and see a different world but where I try to imagine things in the world i see
Lia Rikugun: somehow mixing 2 realities
Lia Rikugun: this was an interesting experience for me
Lia Rikugun: this is what I tried to do during the silent day on wedesday
Lia Rikugun: maybe i tell you more about it
Lia Rikugun: i left the farmhouse to walk around a little bit
Lia Rikugun: and somehow i entered a magical place :)
Lia Rikugun: a magic kingdom
Lia Rikugun: with a dog as king :)
Lia Rikugun: this sounds crazy
Lia Rikugun: but it was fun
Lia Rikugun: stone guards guarding the entrance
Lia Rikugun: and tiny people attacking me
Lia Rikugun: little flower ladies
Lia Rikugun: haha
Wol Euler smiles.
Lia Rikugun: so somehow a very creative experience
Lia Rikugun: and i dont know where this came from
Lia Rikugun: it was very real in a way
Lia Rikugun: i saw it (not with my eyes obviously)
Lia Rikugun: but very interesting
Lia Rikugun: so this is what i like to continue
Lia Rikugun: to mix up both experiences of real world and somehow imagined things

dreaming of meditating

Lia Rikugun: another very interesting experience i had
Lia Rikugun: we talked about this during pemas session already
Lia Rikugun: but i want to talk about this again
Lia Rikugun: i had a very intense dream on wendesday night
Lia Rikugun: after the silent day
Lia Rikugun: and
Lia Rikugun: where i dreamt that we were sitting with the group
Lia Rikugun: and pema was suggesting a meditation
Lia Rikugun: i dont remember the exact words anymore
Lia Rikugun: it is fading more and more
Archmage Atlantis: Could the master also be a participant, or is that individual always the master?
Lia Rikugun: but what i associated with the meditation was to go deeper and deeper
Lia Rikugun: i saw a stairway in the house i lived when i was a child
Lia Rikugun: and this was the meditation to go down the siars
Lia Rikugun: so thats what i did during the dream
Lia Rikugun: and slowly step by step going down
Lia Rikugun: until it got very very loud
Lia Rikugun: and things were happening around me
Lia Rikugun: and my first feeling was to leave
Lia Rikugun: but i stayed i was curious
Lia Rikugun: i wanted to get to know this feeling in a way
Lia Rikugun: it was inbetween being frightened and curious
Lia Rikugun: and i wanted to stay with this feeling for a while longer
Lia Rikugun: but slowly it went away
Lia Rikugun: left each single part of my body one after the other
Lia Rikugun: this was such an intense feeling i cannot put it in words
pema tells me he had a similar feeling during his dream

Lia Rikugun: and then at the breakfast table on thursday morning
Lia Rikugun: i was telling wol and eos and pema
Lia Rikugun: and pema tells me he had a similar dream before!
Lia Rikugun: :D
Lia Rikugun: weird no?
Lia Rikugun: during the day we wanted to do another meditation
Lia Rikugun: and pema asked around what should we do?
Lia Rikugun: fefonz suggested to do a meditation holding hands
Lia Rikugun: and then i suggested while we do this we can also do the meditation from the dream
Lia Rikugun: and i felt it was very powerful in a way
Lia Rikugun: what do the retreat goes think?
Lia Rikugun: goers
Lia Rikugun: well
Mickorod Renard: was this the going down the steps?
Lia Rikugun: yes with holding hands
Mickorod Renard: I thought it was fun,,I seemed to be being led down
Lia Rikugun: yes i think it is very weird
Archmage Atlantis: You saw a force of compelling, Mick?
Mickorod Renard: in a comfortable way
Lia Rikugun: and it gets weirder
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Mickorod Renard: yes
Lia Rikugun: or what?
Lia Rikugun: who was pullign you?
Mickorod Renard: I ended up popping out into some new born universe
Lia Rikugun: mick, whatz was pullign you?
Mickorod Renard: nothing was really pulling me but perhaps my inquisitness
Lia Rikugun: or maybe this is too personal
Lia Rikugun: ah ok

a materialization of the staircase ... :)

Lia Rikugun: ok so it got weirder
Mickorod Renard: or perhaps some sort of connectedness to something larger
Lia Rikugun: ah wow
Lia Rikugun: :)
Mickorod Renard: I was suprised
Archmage Atlantis: The weird is the word used by humans who would not see
Lia Rikugun: :) i dont see then
Lia Rikugun: i can use the word intersting
Lia Rikugun: it got more interesting
Lia Rikugun: ;)
Eliza Madrigal smiles and listens
Liza Deischer: :-)
Lia Rikugun: pema and arabella i think opened a door
Lia Rikugun: in the farmhouse
Lia Rikugun: in the room where we meditated
Lia Rikugun: we havent opened the door before
Lia Rikugun: and the funny thing was that there was a staircase
Lia Rikugun: everybody had imagined to go do0wn a staircase
Lia Rikugun: and now we really find one
Wol Euler smiles.
Lia Rikugun: i had the serious question that it was maybe not there before
Lia Rikugun: the thing is i can never know
SophiaSharon Larnia: so you guys were kind of at the bottom of this staircase
Pema Pera: :-)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Liza Deischer: :-)
Lia Rikugun: it went down and up
Lia Rikugun: in the middle
Archmage Atlantis: yes, lia, we found one......but it it the correct one
Lia Rikugun: what do you mean arch?
Archmage Atlantis: To me, it means....
Archmage Atlantis: we found the depths of our past
Lia Rikugun: hm
SophiaSharon Larnia: where did this real staircase lead to?
Lia Rikugun: i dont want to give it any interpretation
Archmage Atlantis: Our future is yet to be imangined
Lia Rikugun: we didnt go down :)
Lia Rikugun: because of mice and rats
Lia Rikugun: maybe
SophiaSharon Larnia: smiles
Lia Rikugun: arabella warned us
Lia Rikugun: so i guess i come back with more questions
Lia Rikugun: about what is real and not
Lia Rikugun: somehting eos said was very important to me
Lia Rikugun: that the questioning is more important than the answer
Lia Rikugun: with an answer the question is dead
Lia Rikugun: did i say this correctly eos?
Eos Amaterasu: yes :-)
Lia Rikugun: so in a way i am questioning more the reality i see every day
Lia Rikugun: which keeps my brain working
Lia Rikugun: and fresh in a way
Lia Rikugun: but
Lia Rikugun: there does not seem to be any possibility for any proof of any reality
Lia Rikugun: this is maybe the best part
Lia Rikugun: this keeps you thinking and questioning
Lia Rikugun: maybe i cannot really put it in good words
SophiaSharon Larnia: wonderfully put Lia! ~
Eliza Madrigal nods
Lia Rikugun: so what i want to continue to do
Lia Rikugun: it to just question the things i see and the things i think
Lia Rikugun: to stay open in a way
Lia Rikugun: for other possibilities for other possible realities
Lia Rikugun: but i can never have a proof
Lia Rikugun: maybe this is completely crazy
Lia Rikugun: but on a pratical way
Lia Rikugun: i think this approach lets me think a lot
Lia Rikugun: and be creative
Pema Pera: also, Lia, you didn't yet mention how you took all nine of us to your happy place, earlier that week
Lia Rikugun: everybody on its own would have been different
Lia Rikugun: oh yes thats true
Pema Pera: it became quite crowded there :)
Lia Rikugun: i almost forgot
Lia Rikugun: :)
Lia Rikugun: haha yes
Pema Pera: that was very nice of you, to share that place with all of us
Lia Rikugun: i went to my happy place again
Lia Rikugun: afterwards
Lia Rikugun: and in the little house on the grass field
Lia Rikugun: there is a man i visit from time to time
Lia Rikugun: with the group we almost enetered the house but i stepped outside again
Lia Rikugun: a few days ago he told me that 10 people might have been a little too much :)
Lia Rikugun: HAHA
Pema Pera: :-)
Lia Rikugun: so a short description of what we did with the group in the happy place?
Pema Pera: sure
Lia Rikugun: so it was somehow very difficult for me
Lia Rikugun: with 10 people
Lia Rikugun: usually a walk around meet other people fly around
Lia Rikugun: so i just described the surroundings
Lia Rikugun: there was a field of grass
Lia Rikugun: a tree a little house a forest
Lia Rikugun: and pema started asking questions
Lia Rikugun: and giving suggestions
Lia Rikugun: so at some point i went to the creek
Lia Rikugun: and everybody with me :)
Lia Rikugun: i let myself fall into the water
Lia Rikugun: and it carried me to a canyon
Lia Rikugun: where i just let myself fall
Lia Rikugun: into a white fog
Lia Rikugun: it was more a floating then
Lia Rikugun: no directions of up and down left or right
Lia Rikugun: actually i remember it was very difficult for me with 10 people
Lia Rikugun: i started sweating ;)
Lia Rikugun: haha
Lia Rikugun: in the white fog was a hand holding out for me
Lia Rikugun: and when i took it
Lia Rikugun: everything turned dark
Lia Rikugun: not a bad dark
Lia Rikugun: then soon we stopped
Lia Rikugun: actually i think i heard fefonz snoring
Liza Deischer: :-)
Lia Rikugun: and others told me that they had been very relaxed
Storm Nordwind chuckles
Lia Rikugun: so this was great
Lia Rikugun: the end
Lia Rikugun: :)
Wol Euler applauds
SophiaSharon Larnia: smiles
Eliza Madrigal applauds
SophiaSharon Larnia: and cheers
Stim Morane: thanks very much
arabella Ella: some of what some of us described as grunts and snorts :)
arabella Ella: thanks Lia

http://wiki.playasbeing.org/<wbr>Chat_Logs/2010/02/2010.02.07_<wbr>13%3a00_-_Malta_review%3a_Eos</wbr></wbr>
Eos Amaterasu: We played a lot with stories, and imagery, and dialoguing with those
Eos Amaterasu: such as through Lia's explorations
Eos Amaterasu: Fefonz had a great line, "stories are more sculpting reality than describing it"
Calvino Rabeni: :)
Eos Amaterasu: so in that way Being is not some thing to be described, but something dynamically encountered, including oneself re-sculpted
Eos Amaterasu: Wol also talked about architecture as embodying a kind of story

http://wiki.playasbeing.org/<wbr>Chat_Logs/2010/02/2010.02.27_<wbr>13%3a00_-_Final_Retreat_Theme_<wbr>Meeting</wbr></wbr></wbr>
Eos Amaterasu: I've also been inspired by Lia's pioneering PaB work :-)
Lia Rikugun: ?? what did i do?
SophiaSharon Larnia: :)
Liza Deischer: :-)
Eos Amaterasu: with a kind of visualization, reverie
Eos Amaterasu: it's a new way of exploring, which I have not done much of in the past, comparatively
Eos Amaterasu: playing with visualized, imagined, somehow perceived reality
Eos Amaterasu: walking down that staircase
Lia Rikugun: pema suggested that :)
Eos Amaterasu: putting that out, and then seeing what comes back
Eos Amaterasu: and something does come back
Eos Amaterasu: being is plastic
Pema Pera: (but it was your dream in which I suggested that, Lia :-)
Eos Amaterasu: see what I mean?
Pema Pera: :-)
Lia Rikugun: :)
Pema Pera: very plastic!
Pema Pera: enchanting visualization seems to be a direction that PaB is offering, naturally appearing in our RL sessions . . . .
SophiaSharon Larnia: can you describe plastic?
Eos Amaterasu: responsive
Pema Pera: malleable
Mickorod Renard: what sort of objectives to you hope we may encounter in this sort of meditation Pema?
Pema Pera: no objectives :-)
Pema Pera: but many possible perspectives!
Agatha Macbeth grins
Pema Pera: there is a strong devotional quality that comes with these sallies
Eos Amaterasu: if you actively investigate, put something out, more comes back than you might expect
Pema Pera: a willingness to follow the unknown
Pema Pera: as Lia is a master in
Pema Pera: (including tracing unknown chat logs that have not yet been posted :-P )
Wol Euler: heh
Agatha Macbeth: :)
Wol Euler: I've greeted RudeNoob2 too.
Mickorod Renard: is this a sort of awake dream state with perhaps some of those qualities where the mind works free of its confinements?

http://wiki.playasbeing.org/<wbr>Chat_Logs/2010/04/2010.04.28_<wbr>13%3a00_-_Stories_and_<wbr>storytelling</wbr></wbr></wbr>
Wol Euler: I wanted to take part in a few more visualizations, what was Lia's word?
Wol Euler: and I'd have liked to talk a little more about storytelling
Wol Euler: more like the sally porte in a fortress: voyaging out to explore
Agatha Macbeth: Yo ho
Pema Pera: we didn't do any sallies this time; in fact, that was something we've only done that time in Malta, spontaneously
Wol Euler nods.
Pema Pera: as for storytelling, yes, I enjoyed the way you described the architect side of story telling
Pema Pera: how you view things, buildings, uses thereof
Darren Islar: what is storytelling?
Wol Euler: I'm hesitating between storytelling as a way of creating the world, like the Old Ones singing theworld into being in the Dreamtime, or God speaking the words of creation
Wol Euler: and the feeling that this might not be compatible with mindfulness and dropping
Agatha Macbeth starts playing her dijeridoo
Pema Pera: :)
Pema Pera: for starters, we can acknowledge that we are all engaged in storytelling, any moment of the day . . . .
Agatha Macbeth: Can you guesss what it is yet?
Pema Pera: independent of what the world really is like, if that even makes sense as a question
Wol Euler: I've noticed a common thread in what I'Ve been reading lately, telling stories about storytelling, speaking hte world into being.
Wol Euler nods to pema
Pema Pera: even if the world is exactly the way science describes, or any religion for that matter, in any of those cases we still have to make ourselves at home in that world by telling our own story
Wol Euler: mmhmm
Pema Pera: so at the very least we tend to live out a kind of "own story" -- at least most of the time
Pema Pera: and the question is to what extent we can wake up from that story
Pema Pera: or at least see beyond its boundaries . . . .
Agatha Macbeth: And who is the editor?
Pema Pera: a collaboration between us and the world perhaps?
Pema Pera: in some shifting way?
Wol Euler: yep, that sounds about right
Pema Pera: stepping on someones toes edits his/her story quite clearly :)
Wol Euler: like two pens writing at once on a single page
Wol Euler: (at least two)

http://wiki.playasbeing.org/<wbr>Chat_Logs/2010/09/2010.09.21_<wbr>19%3a00_-_Directed_Sallies_at_<wbr>Plastic_Reality</wbr></wbr></wbr>
Eos Amaterasu: and some people use active imagination in a very dream like manner
Hana Furlough: eos, can you say more about that?
stevenaia Michinaga: creativity is very dreamlike
Eos Amaterasu: Well, we've talked about making little excursions into the imagination, as one way of exploring being, actually
Archmage Atlantis: The giver of this workshop talked about "directed dreaming".....setting a concious purpose before the dream state in order to achieve a personal change.
Archmage Atlantis: That is something that I want to explore
Eos Amaterasu: Yes, Arch, reality, including dream reality, seems responsive to us :-)
Hana Furlough: plastic?
Ewan Bonham: Including dream reality?
Eos Amaterasu: yes, I think dream reality can very definitely be responsive. Lucid dreamers clearly report this.
Eos Amaterasu: every perception has a kind of flexible quality, tunable in various dimensions
Eos Amaterasu: I think the little exercises we do, like APA, are directed sallies at a plastic reality
Lila Darkmatter: oh wow, what a sentence to walk into

Hana Furlough: do you ever find that your perceived degree of the plasticity of reality changes?
Hana Furlough: wow that sounded weird
Hana Furlough: sorry
Lila Darkmatter: sounded great