The Guardian for this meeting was Eliza. The comments are by Agatha.

Agatha Macbeth: Herro Riz ♥
Eliza Madrigal waves hello
Agatha Macbeth: On the other side today
Eliza Madrigal: like to mix it up
Agatha Macbeth: Mixed up girl :)
Eliza Madrigal: truer words...
Agatha Macbeth: Hehe
Agatha Macbeth: Evening Tu
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Tura :)
--BELL--1.00
Tura Brezoianu: hi Eliza, Agatha
Agatha Macbeth: Spandex girl
Eliza Madrigal: Just before session I thought to read the Introduction to the Meetings with Remarkable Men book, so as not to begin with the film yet, but it is the longest intro I've ever seen :)
Eliza Madrigal: So I set that aside
Agatha Macbeth: You're sure you didn't read the whole bookby mistake?
Eliza Madrigal: quite sure! I kept thinking, "Hm, did I accidentally miss the end and go to the next?"
Agatha Macbeth: Hm
Agatha Macbeth: Reminds me of the Bonzo Dog band and their ten minute intro
Eliza Madrigal: What is that??
Agatha Macbeth: A ten minute intro :p
Eliza Madrigal: :) sigh
Agatha Macbeth: Think it was them anyway
Agatha Macbeth: Stormy :)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Storm :)
Agatha Macbeth: Yay
Tura Brezoianu: "We welcome Val Doonican as himself. [V:] Hullo there!"
Storm Nordwind: Hi everyone :)
Tura Brezoianu: hi Storm
Storm Nordwind: Intro and Outro :)
Agatha Macbeth: Indeed
Agatha Macbeth: Just listening to the proms
Storm Nordwind: Oh nice. I miss that
Tura Brezoianu: ..as a metaphor for the introduction to "Meetings with Remarkable Men"
Agatha Macbeth: Can't you get it online?
Storm Nordwind: Probably
Eliza Madrigal smiles at Tura
Agatha Macbeth: You can get Radio 3 on iTunes radio
Eliza Madrigal keeps search tab open
Storm Nordwind: Yes. It's a weird time usually. And if I have the time I'll be listening to Radio 4
Agatha Macbeth: Am I going over your head again Liz?
Eliza Madrigal: around the corner of my head
Agatha Macbeth: Your head has corners?
Eliza Madrigal: :) but I love the references, so please go go
Eliza Madrigal: on*
Agatha Macbeth: Hope there are no cobwebs in the corners
Agatha Macbeth: I remember the Go go's
Agatha Macbeth: Belinda Carlisle was in them
Eliza Madrigal nods, fun band
Agatha Macbeth: And Jane Wiedlin I think
Agatha Macbeth: Wow memories
Agatha Macbeth: Always mix them up with the Runaways - that was Joan Jett
Eliza Madrigal: :) I saw Jett live once... at a festival, fun day
Agatha Macbeth: Ooh
Agatha Macbeth: Great
Agatha Macbeth: What a girl
Eliza Madrigal: I'm having to stop myself lately... so many things prompt me to start sentences with, "When I was a teen..."
Eliza Madrigal: Or, "back in the 80s..."
Agatha Macbeth: Aww
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Storm Nordwind: Accompanied by rolling eyes from your younger audience
Agatha Macbeth: Bet you didn't read Gurdjieff then :p
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: Mostly things my son is interested in... cycles of phases or moods I guess
Agatha Macbeth: Oh my
Eliza Madrigal: Storm, I meant to mention that last month I read a book in which Benedict Cumberbatch was the narrator, and Aph is right, I was completely distracted by how similar your reading voices are now
Agatha Macbeth: Dunno him
Storm Nordwind: Oh?! Wow
Eliza Madrigal: no? new Sherlock?
Eliza Madrigal: If she hadn't said that, maybe I wouldn't have been as distracted, but definitely true
Eliza Madrigal: he narrated the Rovelli book Order of Time
Storm Nordwind: I missed my vocation it seems
Agatha Macbeth: Still none the wiser...
Storm Nordwind: Actually I did do radio work, but I can't act for toffee
Agatha Macbeth: Now you're over my head
Eliza Madrigal: seems you missed many vocations but also experienced many vocations along the way
Agatha Macbeth: Maybe experience is what you get when you look for something else
Eliza Madrigal: :) like that
Eliza Madrigal: Anyway, talk to me about Gurdjieff!
Agatha Macbeth: He was Armenian I think
--BELL--1.15
Tura Brezoianu: I watched the film today (directors cut version), and I've begun rereading the book (skipping the intro).
Agatha Macbeth: Went looking for the Sarman brotherhood
Agatha Macbeth: Opinions vary as to whether he found them
Agatha Macbeth: I think a lot of his stuff is allegorical
Eliza Madrigal: Great, Tura. That's the version I'll watch this week too
Tura Brezoianu: And doubts about whether they exist. The whole thing is an enigma. And yet, there is Gurdjieff. He definitely existed, and had something to teach.
Eliza Madrigal: Who were/are the Sarman Brotherhood?
Tura Brezoianu: Maybe in a few hundred years people will say that Gurdjieff never existed.
Agatha Macbeth: Opinions vary
Agatha Macbeth: They seem to be everywhere from Afghanistanistan to London, depending on who you listen to
Tura Brezoianu: The Sarmoung Brotherhood are (allegedly) a manasti group who preserve ancient tahings and promulgate them covertly to those few who are able to receive them
Tura Brezoianu: *monastic
Tura Brezoianu: "teaching
Tura Brezoianu: s
Agatha Macbeth wonders if Tura has a dragon
Eliza Madrigal: similar to Taoists? There are teachers of Taoism, but some say you can't really encounter a true Tao mystic practitioner anymore
Tura Brezoianu: (looks around) I don't see one
Agatha Macbeth: Well the T'ao you know isn't the real T'ao :p
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: is the question whether he made up the stories to give support to the insights he wanted to teach?
Agatha Macbeth: G went looking for the SB initially nearer home in Kurdistan, his friend got bitten by a spider and while it was being treated he found a map of Egypt and went there instead
Eliza Madrigal: oooh, that's very familiar
Agatha Macbeth: So there are Egyptian links too
Eliza Madrigal: What did they teach him?
Agatha Macbeth: What he called his system, the dances and such
Tura Brezoianu: They ran into a dead end in Egypt though, after which G went to Bukhara in search of a dervish he had encountered earlier.
Tura Brezoianu: And eventually he's is introduced to the Sarmoun Brotherhood
Agatha Macbeth: Where did he find them eventually?
Tura Brezoianu: In a secret place in Central Asia he is sworn never to reveal
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, what was he/his life like, before the quest?
Agatha Macbeth: Shambala maybe
Tura Brezoianu: Chapter 1. Skip the intro :)
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Agatha Macbeth: And the outro
Eliza Madrigal: my impression is that his teachings are 'immediate'
Tura Brezoianu: "Immediate"? Can you say more?
Eliza Madrigal: practice/experiment or experience oriented
Eliza Madrigal: so they maybe don't strictly need a long traceable lineage except to nudge people to try, or enter into a certain mindframe?
Eliza Madrigal: but, maybe I'm wrong, just throwing out what may be common impressions
Tura Brezoianu: Yes, in his system people talk about "the work". Rather than just being a matter of studying and thinking.
Tura Brezoianu: Real knowledge cannot be obtained like that.
Eliza Madrigal: indeed, quite PaB-y on the face of it
--BELL--1.30
Eliza Madrigal: did the teachings fall out of favor along the way, or did they require his charisma?
Agatha Macbeth: Ouspensky went his own way in the end I think
Agatha Macbeth: Developed his own system
Tura Brezoianu: I've read that that's because G has having an affair with O's wife.
Agatha Macbeth: •✠• Øh Μч ɢøɖ •✠•
Tura Brezoianu: But Ouspensky does give detailed accounts of G's teachings, more than G does
Agatha Macbeth: No question he existed then! :P
Agatha Macbeth: Right
Tura Brezoianu: There are other offshoots, all claiming to have the true teaching.
Agatha Macbeth: Like Jesus all over again
Eliza Madrigal: maybe that's the natural way of things once they are 'out of the jar' so to speak, to mingle and change
Agatha Macbeth: Wish Bruce would come back
Eliza Madrigal: but what is interesting about him is that he was, or seems to have been a great mingler in the first place
Eliza Madrigal: just message him Agatha :)
Agatha Macbeth: Don't want to intrude
Agatha Macbeth: He's a hermit remember :p
Agatha Macbeth: (So am I come to that)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Storm Nordwind: And not intruding is a very English attitude. :)
Agatha Macbeth: But I'm sure he'd like this
Eliza Madrigal: Sometimes, after so many conversations, one thinks, "What have I to offer?" Or waits until they are sure there is something particular.
Storm Nordwind: Hence my being away for three years
Eliza Madrigal: yes, even though for the rest of us it is unimaginable you could have felt that :)
Agatha Macbeth: Indeed
Storm Nordwind blushes
Storm Nordwind: There is no escaping Impostor Syndrome in all its manifestations
Eliza Madrigal: indeed, the friend that comes along everywhere
Agatha Macbeth: Will the real Storm please stand up :P
Eliza Madrigal grins
Storm Nordwind: I'll pass that message on to him for you
Eliza Madrigal: go stand by the sign
Agatha Macbeth grins
Eliza Madrigal: well, back to Gurdjieff, is his quest is still a worthy one?
Eliza Madrigal: *is
Eliza Madrigal: -
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Agatha Macbeth pokes Liz
Agatha Macbeth: Guess it all depends what you're looking for
Tura Brezoianu: I believe so, although I only have a bunch of reading and thinking to go on.
Eliza Madrigal: it is about bridging a gap between knowing about and knowing
Eliza Madrigal: or enacted knowing?
Eliza Madrigal: like, was the dancing about embodiment in a tangible way? a kind of processing?
Agatha Macbeth: It was about breaking free as far as I know
Tura Brezoianu: I still don't know what to make of the dances in the film.
Agatha Macbeth: Focusing
Tura Brezoianu: Watching it today reminded me of something I came across a couple of years ago, Shiva Nata yoga. The movements look very similar. It's googleable, there's a lot of stuff on Youtube.
Agatha Macbeth: Interesting
--BELL--1.45
Eliza Madrigal: "dance of Shiva"
Agatha Macbeth: This journey to the East thing seems archetypal to me
Eliza Madrigal: say more, Agatha?
Agatha Macbeth: Nicholas Roerich and Ferdinand Ossendowski did it too, among others
Agatha Macbeth: Maybe people gravitate towards the sun or something
Eliza Madrigal: or shedding the familiar
Eliza Madrigal: the dance forces that too
Agatha Macbeth: Having said that some do the opposite and go to California :p
Agatha Macbeth: Yes like bees
Eliza Madrigal: retraining, or redrawing
Tura Brezoianu: Bees? Another (not so) secret symbol of wisdom.
Agatha Macbeth: Yes they do a kind of sun dance
Agatha Macbeth: To locate nectar
Agatha Macbeth: Amazing really
Agatha Macbeth: I like bees
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Eliza Madrigal: that's wonderful
Agatha Macbeth nods
Agatha Macbeth: Actually I've always found insects amazing
Agatha Macbeth: I can understand why Bryn likes them
Storm Nordwind: Bees and their home are very important to a neighboring state (to the west)
Eliza Madrigal: we all need them very much
Agatha Macbeth: West of Colorado?
Storm Nordwind: Yes
Agatha Macbeth: Hm
Storm Nordwind: The beehive state
Agatha Macbeth: Geography isn't my thing...is that Oregon?
Storm Nordwind: Bees are important to Mormon people it seems
Storm Nordwind: Utah
Agatha Macbeth: Oh
Agatha Macbeth: Ah
Agatha Macbeth: Yes
Agatha Macbeth: Salt Lake bees :)
Agatha Macbeth: I wonder why
Eliza Madrigal: these themes actually come together in interesting ways, because, in various kinds of yoga, one of the reasons you sustain one movement for a long while is to 'break into it' or 'break through'... one could say, 'to the nectar' in a certain sense, too :)
Eliza Madrigal: go from looking at something, to experiencing it
Tura Brezoianu nods
Agatha Macbeth: Remind me what yoga means again? I asked this before I think
Eliza Madrigal: union, it is a yolking
Agatha Macbeth: Yoke - right
Agatha Macbeth: I remember
Eliza Madrigal: lol, yes
Eliza Madrigal: San and other could say more than I could
Agatha Macbeth: Yes I'll ask next time I see her
Eliza Madrigal: my experiences are a handful, but I'm thinking of this amazing exercise in kundalini yoga where after a while, with eyes closed, you really feel like a powerful bird
Eliza Madrigal: probably a lifetime of teaching is in that one experience!
Agatha Macbeth: Probably
Eliza Madrigal: that's what some masters say about dream yoga as a practice, too
Eliza Madrigal: but I'm guilty of synthesizing everything too much
Agatha Macbeth nods
Agatha Macbeth: So when do we begin talking about the film?
Eliza Madrigal: next week :)
Agatha Macbeth: OK
Agatha Macbeth: Sounds good
Eliza Madrigal: I'll send another message to remind of course
Agatha Macbeth: Course :)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Storm Nordwind: Are we watching it together or just individually and then discussing at a fixed time?
Agatha Macbeth: You are diligent as always :)
Eliza Madrigal: the latter, OR is it possible to watch together?
Storm Nordwind: Yes
Eliza Madrigal: would someone need to link their amazon to sl or... how might it work?
--BELL--2.00
Eliza Madrigal: that would be neat actually
Storm Nordwind: No you use the free website called watch2gether
Storm Nordwind: One person controls the video
Storm Nordwind: We all watch with our popcorn
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Eliza Madrigal: so not from inside of SL, but on the computer together?
Storm Nordwind: On a browser
Storm Nordwind: You can have SL going at the same time
Storm Nordwind: Or Discord or some other backchannel
Eliza Madrigal: beware chatty avatars, haha
Tura Brezoianu: Does that work for sharing streaming video? I can imagine copyright reasons why not...
Storm Nordwind: They will stop that
Storm Nordwind: Anyway, it's an option. very easy to use and setup and operate
Eliza Madrigal: Why don't we try that for a next film? I think my son knows how to work with it, and it would be fun
Agatha Macbeth: Interesting
Agatha Macbeth: Yes call A in as technical director :p
Eliza Madrigal: was picturing us watching a film in the pab theater :)
Agatha Macbeth: That would be good you know
Eliza Madrigal: Storm could narrate subtitles
Eliza Madrigal: :)))
Storm Nordwind splutters
Eliza Madrigal giggles
Tura Brezoianu: or MST3K commentary
Eliza Madrigal laughs
Agatha Macbeth: I could do the log from chat
Eliza Madrigal: perfect
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Agatha Macbeth: Or we could watch first and talk later maybe
Eliza Madrigal nods
Eliza Madrigal: If i haven't seen a film before, I'm pretty focused and quiet
Eliza Madrigal: on second viewing, much different
Eliza Madrigal: unless it is something like.... hm, Train to Busan (Korean zombie film ;-)
Eliza Madrigal: So for now, we'll plan to have seen Meetings with Remarkable Men for next session :)
Eliza Madrigal: Thanks for being here, and for sharing your knowledge today
Agatha Macbeth: Woot
Tura Brezoianu: Thank you all
Agatha Macbeth: Should be fun
Agatha Macbeth: Thanks Tu
Eliza Madrigal: hugs all around <3
Agatha Macbeth: For the insights
Storm Nordwind: :)
Agatha Macbeth: TTFN