07-09 - Swirling

It moves, but we do not see it. We see only what it carries with it. We feel it pressing upon us when it flows, and when it is still we feel its crystalline beauty or its heavy oppression. We rely utterly on it, and we would die in seconds without it, yet it changes every second and if we try to close our fist on it, it is gone.

 

Reading three days of chatlogs, I get a similar sense. Like the air, something moves and flows and changes in our lives as a result of Play as Being. It is our breath. As one fellow scribe said, "reading three days of transcripts in a short time I had a direct sense of motion, of going .... not anywhere particular yet moving".

 

I read stories, personal stories, moving stories, of this motion in the lives of friends, of things that might seem insubstantial to others but things that are signs of change and therefore are signs of life. Some examples:

• "I feel the pain of some of the people who get to the point of where they will do violence. I guess that is a form of compassion emerging"
• "I've been noticing that I laugh louder lately...just throwing that out there ... I think it makes me a 'better' parent ... haha...really is those little shifts that have huge reverberations"
• "The value to introspection, is that when you bring attention and appreciation into daily life, it matters a great deal to the big picture, whether we know that or not. ... We can't see the ripples always..."
  

 

As above, so below. As within, so without. Once when the venue had to change, someone said, "this is kind of interesting ... we have changed our setting and our discussion rhythm changes :)"

 

None of this change is forced. It just happens. There is no paradox. It is part of what is. It happens in accordance with Tilopa's six words of advice: "Don't recall. Don't imagine. Don't think. Don't examine. Don't control. Rest." Once again, as within, so without:

• The architect spoke: "the nature of 'place' needs to be thought about. What's included in the short term and ideas for the long term, including how far the vision reaches into the future and how the facility can be sustained. ... Think about a broad concept of what this place will be, even aggregating a listing of word-concepts, and a firm image of the plan will slowly materialize."
• The artist replied: "A sense of place is important. Equally important, in my humble opinion, is a sense of what the place is already like. Without that, we would be imposing our wish on the land. I suggest we also let the land speak to us."

 

When I impose my idea of what should be, I think I know best. And sometimes, when I do that, I take out the life that is already there:

• "I have seen canoes splitting and dying as they dry out in the musuem here. They are meant to be part of life - meant to be in use - not meant to be observed that way."

Neither taking out of context nor imposing concept: these are things we are learning together.

So I see the air in motion, or rather the effects of the air in motion - swirling, full of change and forever changing what it touches. Sometimes searing, sometimes chill. Sometimes clear, sometimes full of dust. Sometimes mystical, sometimes jaunty. Sometimes ponderous, sometimes light. But whichever, the fun is never far away!

• "Asking a child 'What makes fun, fun?' What is the suchness of fun? Lol"
• "'home made' in that I shopped for every single thing myself :)"
  
• "Is this a time to plug PaB?" "lol. like hair plugs, a giant woven mat" "Or pulling the plug and the sinkhole goes down the drain... of course that's a dangerous metaphor" "or maybe the sinkhole is like one of those egg timers with the sand, sand slipping through and pop! you're on the other end :)" "I like that one" "who flips the timer?" "Yeah, I was just about to say that :)" "lol"

And your scribe Storm Nordwind's favourite:

• "I am from USA... so I am concerned I don't know much about Beijing daily life." "This is Play as Being:-)" "Oh... Being"