Stim: PaB is what we allow it to be

It would have been wonderful to see Gaya and Wol at the PaB retreat.  But I also greatly enjoyed the opportunities that were realized -- seeing Eliza, Gen, Eos and Pema.  I won't attempt to summarize a week's interactions,  but will instead just mention one theme that arose repeatedly, the nature of Being and how we might work with It.

Pema has long sensed the possibility of bringing "Being" into an open, public interaction on an on-going basis.  Traditionally, this would not be done or even considered realistic.  But even in the few traditions that emphasize something at the "Being" level, it is admitted that since by definition Being is present and the nature of all things, Pema's idea cannot be ruled out.

So one aspect of our week's discussion was that for PaB the question is how to respect and rely on Being, even if one is not an advanced cultivator of the Way.  This does not mean "how can one’s practice be as advanced as someone from the traditions” but rather "how can I pay homage to this principle in my own way now?"

Set along side of this central question, seemingly wild but in some ways unavoidable, is the question of how to respect what each person is, how to let that be a Way in its own right.  In one sense, this involves much less concern about the lofty notion of Being mentioned above, but in another, it is exactly that same point, taken really seriously.

Keeping these two contrasting/complementary/identical issues in mind, we discussed how a certain attentive and appreciative engagement in each SL PaB session could be the main PaB "practice".  This point was touched on beautifully in the others’ Retreat wiki pieces, and really is the integration of fully living up to Being while also relaxing, letting It go, taking things as they come.  PaB is what we allow it to be.