19-21 Maxine's appreciations

    Table of contents
    No headers

    Version as of 14:57, 24 Dec 2024

    to this version.

    Return to Version archive.

    View current version

    Perhaps in part due to this being my last Scribe note in the current cycle I looked with fondness upon the various available chatlogs for the window of 19-21 of May, and felt the conversations earnest, alive with inquiry, sharings, wonderings, and for some doubts as we explore  aspects of reality.  Several discussions from this period are excerpted below, and if this is a sampling of what occurs in a three day period just imagine what richness there is among our discussions ongoingly. Below please find some academic considerations, but mostly experience-based sharings, each inspiring in its own way; and perhaps for me at this point I was especially inspired by the explorations of letting go of time, including the 'now' as shared by genesis, which is the last excerpt.

    Beginning with considerations of perception and letting go:

    Eos Amaterasu: Goethe said that any object sufficently contemplated generates its organ of perception
    Pema Pera: yes, he had an interesting angle
    Pema Pera: we talked a lot about that in Kira Summerschools, ten years ago
    Pema Pera: one of our Kira Faculty members, Arthur Zajonc, was deep into Goethe's approach
    Fefonz Quan contemplate what does organ of perception mean. eye?
    Pema Pera: it's on an energy level, not physical
    Eos Amaterasu: Yes, or could be more subtle than that (an eye for certain kinds of art, for ex)
    Pema Pera: or not primarily physical, though of course it also has a physical component
    Fefonz Quan: eye, like 'develop the ear' for improvisation etc.
    Pema Pera: yes
    Eos Amaterasu: especially when we think of non-visual senses it gets closer
    Pema Pera: having the right touch . . . .
    Eos Amaterasu: the boundary gets blurrier
    Fefonz Quan: i see, ok. like the body develops an antidote for certain viruses
    Pila Mulligan: "The human beings knows himself only insofar as he knows the world; he perceives the world only in himself, and himself only in the world. Every new object, clearly seen, opens up a new organ of perception in us."
    Pila Mulligan: more Goethe: "He who sees into the secret inner life of the plant, into the stirring of its powers, and observes how the flower gradually unfolds itself, sees the matter with quite different eyes — he knows what he sees."
    Eos Amaterasu: that appreciation has a quality of freshness, or arising from openness
    Eliza Madrigal: closer to alive
    Pema Pera: yes, and there is a connection with time
    Pema Pera: to really appreciate, we have to live in the presence
    Pema Pera: but not the past-present-future present
    Pema Pera: but a kind of timeless present
    Pila Mulligan: Arthur Zajonc: "Goethe valued the rational as well as the empirical dimension of science. He sought to bring the rational element consciously into science, but not as an autonomous activity operating upon observation. Rather, he endeavored to embue seeing itself with the rational. The result was what he termed a 'gentle empiricism' possessed of perceptive seeing rather than mathematical techniques. "


    And a bit further along in the same session

    Pema Pera: I had an interesting experience two days ago, when I felt just to sleepy to sit for 20 minutes, well past midnight -- but I had made the commitment and did it anyway. At first, sleepiness seemed to prevent me to focus on appreciation, but then somehow something opened up, and the whole shlebang became appreciated and appreciation at the same time, all the obstacles, all the perceived limitations . . . .
    Fefonz Quan: again, the time part didn't feel like working...
    Pema Pera: yes, nature helps a lot
    Eliza Madrigal: and where were you Pema.. not meaning where were you sitting... I mean your attention?
    Eliza Madrigal: in that moment?
    Pema Pera: at first it wandered around aimlessly, then it became one large ball of appreciation, and I naturally stopped fighting the wandering, it was just part of the symphony, so to speak
    Pema Pera: appreciating the seeming lack of appreciation
    Eliza Madrigal: hmm, nice :)

    Check out the whole discussion at http://playasbeing.wik.is/Chat_Logs/2009/05/2009.05.19_19%3a00_-_Large_ball_of_appreciation 

    At another session Pema and Eos again discuss aspects of the practice:


    Pema Pera: in order to open up, by stopping and dropping, I find it helpful first to make the move to viewing everything as appearances
    Pema Pera: we are normally so caught up in dealing in a pragmatic way with all we are immersed in
    Pema Pera: things, ideas, wishes, hopes and fears
    Pema Pera: but stepping back, and just watching them, like sitting on a bench in a park and watchng who/what moves by, helps
    Pema Pera: or like watching a film, yes
    aurel Miles nods
    Eos Amaterasu: or being in SL
    Pema Pera: yes, very much so
    Eos Amaterasu: different kinds of immersivity


    And further along:


    Eos Amaterasu: appearance discloses Being
    Pema Pera: yes!!
    Eos Amaterasu: Yesterday we were talking about the space between the notes
    Pema Pera: in and as each appearance
    Eos Amaterasu: but also the notes are also space
    Pema Pera: yes
    Pema Pera: stripping all that we experience down to the bare bones fact of their appearance, their presence as appearances is the negative direction
    Pema Pera: the positive direction is to see those in turn as presentations by Being
    Pema Pera: but it is hard to let Being shine through as long as we haven't done the house cleaning first of the more negative step
    Eos Amaterasu: Yes, that's an interesting aspect of the "discipline", or impeccability, of such a practice
    Pema Pera: and as you said, our body and mind are also appearance -- and as such we ourselves are both presentations by Being and Being itself in a way that needs to be unpacked or seen
    Pema Pera: so we "play as" Being in order to help see that


    Again, the whole discussion can be found at http://playasbeing.wik.is/Chat_Logs/2009/05/2009.05.20_19%3a00_-_Body_and_mind_are_dropped%3f_Body_and_mind_are_indeed_dropped. 

       

    And then the nearly ever-present question from ourselves and others is addressed by Fefonz and I offer an edited version of his question as it unfolded.  Still the issue of how to think about and respond to questions posed by varying earnest voices and interests is expressed:

    Fefonz Quan: yesterday, sitting by the lunch table at the dining room with my wife's academic coleages, i was asked what we are doing in our SL meetings
    Fefonz Quan: or more precisely, what 'project' are we working on as a team
    Fefonz Quan: So i found my self wondering how to answer this question
    sophia Placebo: is it a correct question ?
    Fefonz Quan: well, when asked on a big table, it is hard to ask that one back...
    sophia Placebo: but was is a correct question?
    Fefonz Quan: well, if it was the people in my buddhist group, just for example, asking, they would phrase differently and i would answer differeently, and i would find it more easy to answer to that sort of audience
    Fefonz Quan: but talking to academy people, infact their question is reasonable witin the way they see 'work', etc.


    Find the whole discussion at http://playasbeing.wik.is/Chat_Logs/2009/05/2009.05.20_07%3a00_-_What_are_we_doing_Here%3f


    And then an endearing admission about diversions away from the practice, how difficult it is at times, with some suggestions as to why (again excerpted):

    Eliza Madrigal: This may sound funny... but sometimes I want to turn off the expanded view
    Eliza Madrigal: I want to pretend I dont see what I see... and cut through something in the 'old way'
    Eliza Madrigal: :)
    Adams Rubble: we can step out and look from outside
    Eliza Madrigal: yes... the movie analogy is helpful to seeing through the fear
    Eliza Madrigal: seeing the changing contrasts...
    Eliza Madrigal: letting them move by
    Adams Rubble: :)
    Eliza Madrigal: I'm thinking about times in my life when it was difficult to see another way to approach someone who was difficult...
    Eliza Madrigal: so maybe I mirrored them, rather than trusting myself...
    Eliza Madrigal: or I fell in line with a group rather than seeing more
    Eliza Madrigal: all kinds of scenarios we grow up with
    Eliza Madrigal: Most of the time, I have to say, I've fallen on the sword
    Adams Rubble: the movie script
    Susi Alcott: but you spoke about some choices; which kind
    Eliza Madrigal: Hm... give me moment Susi....
    Susi Alcott: I'm asking because you said that 'we all have made'
    Eliza Madrigal: yes, because I think we all have stepped on other's hearts
    Eliza Madrigal: without necessarily intending to
    Eliza Madrigal: we didn't see them laying out there...
    Eliza Madrigal: or weren't watching where we were going :)
    Eliza Madrigal: those are still choices
    Eliza Madrigal: thoughtlessness
    Susi Alcott: that still does not tell about what kind of choices you spoke about
    line-height: normal; ">Eliza Madrigal: I'm sorry Susi, doing my best :)
    Susi Alcott: ok
    Eliza Madrigal: :)
    Adams Rubble: I think Eliza is talking about the choices that are made by following the script

    For the whole log please see  http://playasbeing.wik.is/Chat_Logs/2009/05/2009.05.21_07%3a00_-_Exposure 

    And then an inspiring example of working with the 'no time' dimension


    genesis Zhangsun: I recently about two months ago had an experience when I finally could
    genesis Zhangsun: it was amazing, I myself have been working with the same "problem"
    genesis Zhangsun: you tell yourself you are really in a dimension of "no time"
    genesis Zhangsun: and yet you see the passing of time everywhere
    genesis Zhangsun: like the water
    genesis Zhangsun: like the birds chirping, like the cars going by
    Fefonz Quan: yes, like reality hitting you on the head
    genesis Zhangsun: yes and yet the idea that there really is no time makes sense on some intuitive level
    genesis Zhangsun: thinking back to times when you felt like hours had passed and it was only minutes
    genesis Zhangsun: or the other way around
    Fefonz Quan: that is just differences in measurement, i find it very hard to jump from this to no time.
    genesis Zhangsun: so here is how I began "resolving" the competition between my intution and my observation
    enesis Zhangsun: shall we try a time experiment?
    sophia Placebo: sure
    Mickorod Renard: yes please
    Fefonz Quan: yes
    arabella Ella: ok
    genesis Zhangsun: okay so lets get into a 9 second like mode
    genesis Zhangsun: I will first describe
    genesis Zhangsun: and then we can do it together
    genesis Zhangsun: perhaps you have done this Fefonz
    genesis Zhangsun: so when I say 9 second like mode
    genesis Zhangsun: I mean dropping what we "have"
    genesis Zhangsun: to see what we are
    genesis Zhangsun: drop our self concepts, our perceptions, our prejudices, our assumptions as much as we can
    genesis Zhangsun: just be
    genesis Zhangsun: like being seeing
    genesis Zhangsun: drop the you grasping to see
    genesis Zhangsun: okay so starting from there (may take a couple minutes at least always does for me)
    genesis Zhangsun: okay now drop the past
    genesis Zhangsun: bring forth the images that lurk in the background
    genesis Zhangsun: of all the things you were just doing
    genesis Zhangsun: a minute ago, an hour ago, a year ago
    genesis Zhangsun: the past
    genesis Zhangsun: can you see somehow the unreality of it
    genesis Zhangsun: that it isn't here now?
    genesis Zhangsun: that you are not bound by that
    genesis Zhangsun: it doesn't define you
    genesis Zhangsun: so return to now
    genesis Zhangsun: do you feel yourself anticipating the next moment?
    genesis Zhangsun: thinking about the future?
    genesis Zhangsun: drop the future
    genesis Zhangsun: collect together the images again- the lists, the planning
    genesis Zhangsun: where you think you should be in one hour
    genesis Zhangsun: what should happen the next minute
    genesis Zhangsun: drop that
    genesis Zhangsun: so return to now
    genesis Zhangsun: water falling, birds chirping
    genesis Zhangsun: looking at your screen
    genesis Zhangsun: now drop the now
    genesis Zhangsun: what do you see?
    genesis Zhangsun: yes dropping the now I also feel is the trickiest
    genesis Zhangsun: being now is already tough enough
    arabella Ella: yes
    genesis Zhangsun: I feel pretty good lighter if I can drop the past and the future
    genesis Zhangsun: I sort of ask myself why drop the now?
    arabella Ella nods
    Fefonz Quan: yes, the future was easiest for me, past much harder
    arabella Ella: and not just why but how too
    Fefonz Quan: drop the now - made me feel dizzy, i didn't understand what that means
    sophia Placebo: its like following the water wave -single one- and moving with it, so no now because now is ongoing , no past because im still with the same wave no future because the wave would still be a wave
    genesis Zhangsun: yes sophia that is a nice image
    arabella Ella: lovely way of describing it
    genesis Zhangsun: I can decribe what very strong experience I had with dropping the now
    Mickorod Renard: so the now is still there but only a moment of ever recuring new nows?
    genesis Zhangsun: yes one way to think about it mick
    sophia Placebo: no , no now as a fixed point in the vedio tape ,
    genesis Zhangsun: even to create a packaging by calling it "now" is limiting
    sophia Placebo: it is just moving wave from no whare towards no whare
    Mickorod Renard: a bit like a fly hitting the front of a moving train
    genesis Zhangsun: so here is my experience
    genesis Zhangsun: I was at the beach really "trying" to get this time thing
    sophia Placebo: assuming that the fly is blind , yes or that the train is in the outerspace
    genesis Zhangsun: I have been really "trying" for awhile
    genesis Zhangsun: in a non "trying" way ;)
    genesis Zhangsun: so I am at the beach
    genesis Zhangsun: looking at the waves
    genesis Zhangsun: and I go through this exploration
    genesis Zhangsun: I drop the past
    genesis Zhangsun: I feel that I can do that somehow
    genesis Zhangsun: when I recall the images of my past
    genesis Zhangsun: I can recognize that they are just pictures
    genesis Zhangsun: they really have no bearing on reality
    genesis Zhangsun: or very little
    genesis Zhangsun: just slices
    genesis Zhangsun: shadows
    genesis Zhangsun: I look at the water again
    genesis Zhangsun: I return to now
    genesis Zhangsun: I can feel the spray of the waves
    genesis Zhangsun: the freshness of the air in and out of my nostrils
    genesis Zhangsun: the birds squawking
    genesis Zhangsun: sand beneath my feet
    genesis Zhangsun: I am in the "now"
    genesis Zhangsun: I think about the future
    genesis Zhangsun: I can already picture myself
    genesis Zhangsun: walking away from this spot
    genesis Zhangsun: returning to my car
    genesis Zhangsun: driving away
    genesis Zhangsun: back home
    genesis Zhangsun: I can see all that
    genesis Zhangsun: and yet I stop and remember that none of that may happen
    genesis Zhangsun: that it really is figment of my imagination
    genesis Zhangsun: I drop the future
    genesis Zhangsun: I return to the waves
    genesis Zhangsun: I am in the now
    genesis Zhangsun: and it is pleasant there in the now
    genesis Zhangsun: and yet I can see that "now"
    genesis Zhangsun: is a limiting measurement just like past and just like future
    genesis Zhangsun: I am still trying in a very subtle way to hold on
    genesis Zhangsun: to something
    genesis Zhangsun: so I drop the now
    genesis Zhangsun: and I felt the world in a new way
    genesis Zhangsun: not as time
    genesis Zhangsun: but as energy
    genesis Zhangsun: the waves lapping on the shore
    genesis Zhangsun: they were not measures of time
    genesis Zhangsun: minutes passing
    genesis Zhangsun: but energy
    genesis Zhangsun: time as energy unfolding space
    genesis Zhangsun: revealing something
    genesis Zhangsun: revealing nothing
    genesis Zhangsun: it felt like blood rushing back into my veins
    genesis Zhangsun: everything was "alive" with time as energy
    genesis Zhangsun: it was a view of the world going from small nicely bite sized morsels
    genesis Zhangsun: artificial packaging of time
    genesis Zhangsun: to something raw, living, oxygenated
    genesis Zhangsun: thats it


    The whole discussion is available at

    http://playasbeing.wik.is/Chat_Logs/2009/05/2009.05.20_13%3a00_Time_Exploration

    And so, dear reader, perhaps you share my appreciation for these glimpses into the minds and hearts of those involved in earnest explorations into various aspects of reality.  It has been a pleasure, as well as a time-consuming task to read and to gather the nuggets from these explorations.  But one I am so pleased to have engaged in for my learning has and continues to be immense. 

       

       


    Powered by MindTouch Core