2015.08.01 _ 10

I will be thinking of you all this evening. I will not bs able to be there. Here is a picture of where I am today. Just being.

Last night on PBS-TV I was inspired and entranced by "Virtuosity - The Cliburn" ( http://www.pbs.org/program/virtuosity-cliburn/ ), an international piano competition held once every four years in Fort Worth, Texas. I still vividly remember the day in 1958 when Van Cliburn (1934-2013) became an international sensation as the first American to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

Last night's PBS documentary about the 2013 "The Cliburn" contest scrutinized the individual contestants, revealing much about diverse childhoods, families and upbringing, personality quirks, and the special passion that brought each to the most challenging musical competition in the world.

I especially appreciated the documentary's exploring the theme of "self-reference" - how each contestant necessarily tamed that muse/monster in his/her own mastery of the most technically challenging piano music ever written. Imagine, for a minute, the ramifications of "Monitor/Modify" as your ten fingers play literally thousands of notes per minute before an audience of 2,000 and a bevy of perfection-demanding jurors, realizing all the while that this contest - THIS moment - is literally altering the rest of your life in profound ways.

The self-reference "solution" - independently discovered by each of the finalists (all in their teens or twenties) - was to forget the audience; forget every performance of that piece you'd ever heard; forget the perfectionist jurors; and forget whatever struggles you had to overcome to be on this stage at this moment. Drop it all and invite your authentic being to merge with the indefinable being of the music. - Become the music.

Virtuosity, thy name is Continuity.. edited 16:59, 1 Aug 2015

Very inspiring, Bruce. I will try to find this online soon! I wonder why Cat's didn't show up here but I can imagine the setting and beauty. :)

I tried it again and now the picture is there :-)
I think the first one was too large. It's hard to do on my phone.
Hope you enjoy :-)

Gorgeous, Cat. The ocean is so healing.

As was our last retreat meeting in-world - peaceful and nourishing. Thanks again, everyone.

Oh, and one more thought:

"To earn the trust of your meditation, you have to visit it every day. It’s like having a puppy." – Chelsea Richer edited 22:35, 1 Aug 2015

It's actually Lake Ontario :-) looks a lot like the ocean but fresh water rather than salt :-)

Wow even nicer. I should have figured that out right away! hah :::embarrassed::: :))

I hope you had as fine a time as we did Cat. Thanks again to Eliza, Eos and Darren (and everyone else there who continued to make PaB a fine space.) edited 00:08, 2 Aug 2015

Thx all for SL intersections, which wrapped in retreat intentions seemed both more protected and more open.

Continuing on. The big round moon still rising over the harbour.

Thanks Eos, for your beautiful opening and closing of retreat. If okay with you, I'd like to share just those lines on a page I'll put together as a kind of report.

Babysitting, the moon emerges from the trees. The city cools.
The children sleep peacefully in their beds.
The day was a calming one. Moving from questioning myself to acceptance.
I broke a shovel but bought a new one to bury a chicken.
The stillness of the pause assisted me as each bit of work got
Done.

When I put my picture up it went accidentally onto
Cat's photo:( so I deleted that and did it over.
Cat can yours come back? Please? Sorry!

Lucy I'll try after I'm back home on Monday. My phone doesn't make it very easy to do :-)
I love your picture of the moon :-)

True Eliza, you need to meditate daily if you want the benefits of it and those benefits aren't always what you think it might be.

blue moon <3