C. Month of August

Play as Being was now four months old and growing. August opened with Gaya and Pema sitting quietly talking about fragility:

Pema Pera: and I believe that elsewhere I said that I feel fragile at every session
Pema Pera: and I could add that I also feel invulnerable at every session
Pema Pera: both
Gaya Ethaniel thinks Pema's a sensitive person
Pema Pera: on a relative level, as a being, a human being, I am fragile
Pema Pera: any moment anything can happen
Gaya Ethaniel nods
Pema Pera: while on an absolute/ultimate level what I am is invulnerable

 Later that same day at the 13:00 session, Pema talks about  Being:

Pema Pera: Being is such a tricky concept
Pema Pera: it will take three years for us to reach a real common understanding I think
Pema Pera: but that will be a fascinating three years!
Pema Pera: to come closer, experientially
Pema Pera: while using words like tourist tokens
Pema Pera: little memorabilia of where we have traveled and are traveling
Pema Pera: so we'll start out with very different understandings of Being
Pema Pera: and in our experience we will all let Being speak
Pema Pera: and we will help each other to listen
Pema Pera: and slowly we'll converge
Pema Pera: since there is only one Being

In the same session, Religion and PaB:

Pema Pera: The reason normal religions work is that they use a "God" figure to do this exercise
Pema Pera: anthropomorphic
Pema Pera: and they work well if you do it seriously
Pema Pera: what we explore here is a high-grade distillation of religions
Pema Pera: not on the rocks
Pema Pera: but straight up
Pema Pera: just let Reality/Being/It see
Pema Pera: see the world
Pema Pera: see you
Pema Pera: see everything
Pema Pera: the whole story
Pema Pera: don't try to analyze what I am saying now
Pema Pera: just do it
Pema Pera: you'll be surprised
Pema Pera: and then we can talk about what you experience

In early August the first meeting of real life Play as Being avatars was held in in Berkely, CA. 

The Longest Session 

Toward the end of July and in the beginning of August there began to be some firendly competition over who could attend the most sessions in a row and some of us started to sit for longer and longer sessions. Finally, the ultimate single session possibility was achieved on August 5 07:00 when a session lasted six hours going right into the following session. It is fun to se the new group of avatars arriving for the 13:00 session at the end of it.

Appreciate the presence of appearance as a presentation by Being (APAPB)

Pema waited until the middle of the fifth month of Play as Being to introduce us to APAPB. The Ways of Knowing group had played with this topic previously. As often happened in paB, the topic was introduced to us through one of the rgoup. Pema often did that. One of us would be struggling with something, or near some insight, and Pema would see this tool as being useful. then he would use that group member to help introduce it. In this case it was Doug who was the catalyst and first user of the APAPB exercise. Pema and Doug talked about it at the 07:00 session on August 23:

Pema Pera: for example what I suggested, Doug, a few weeks ago, when we meet in RL in Berkeley
Pema Pera: this sentence about appreciation
Pema Pera: which is pretty independent of states of awareness, in principlePema Pera: I suggested to focus lightly on the sentence:
Pema Pera: appreciate the presence of appearance as a presentation by Being

Pema Pera: approaching everything from the Being side rather than the body/brain/mind side
doug Sosa: It took me a week to understand it, a week to practice, and .. now working with it as a friend.

The following exerpt is from the August 25 07:00 session:

Pema Pera: Being is every point
Pema Pera: completely
Pema Pera: and also All
Pema Pera: in the widest sense
Pema Pera: perhaps we can go back to that sentence?
Pema Pera: APAPB for short :)
Pema Pera: *any* appearance is presented by Being
doug Sosa: so by all we mean, not just "this Screen" bu all screens, all projectors, all viewwers, all movie makers?
Pema Pera: everything -- without looking at it as things
Pema Pera: All is a whole -- and All is completely there in every (seeming) part
doug Sosa: so why does it still seem "local"?
Pema Pera: that is part of a presentation, an appearance
Pema Pera: anything can appear, also the sense of local
Pema Pera: without being less fully Being
Pema Pera: Being is not limited by its appearing local
doug Sosa: got it. glad i asked.
Pema Pera: but this is something to be explored
Pema Pera: accepted only temporarily as a hypothesis to be tested
Pema Pera: for example through the APAPB sentence

Autologging

The autologging project was begun and the meetings began in early August. Storm pointed out the listening range of the present pavilion included other people's lands. In other words, their private conversations might be picked up on the log. The solution was to build a new structure in Bieup in the middle of what had been the forest. Storm, Adelene, Fael, Pema and Wol took part in the original planning. Wol eventually was tapped to lead the effort and it was fael and Wol who eventually completed the project but that was a bit later.

Exerpts

It was becoming evident that with 120 chat logs a week, it was impossible for new particpants to find many of the more important exchanges. Pia Iger, with a group of volunteer readers, began in mid August, to extract exerpts from all the previous logs. Eventually it was split into two categories :short exerpts" and "lonh exerpts". The latter might be a complete session.

New Guardians:

Rowan Masala and Threedee Shepherd became guardians in August.