04-06 - Mick has a go

cell phone takes over remembering. eventually cellphone has all information and uses source of knowledge as power. eventually we become slaves to the super race of cellphones

Fael Illyar: it's difficult to hold a weekly slot when you really pay little heed to the name of the day :
Fael Illyar: I might consider having my cellphone remember it ... :)
sophia Placebo: :) magical phone
Fael Illyar: there, now my cellphone remembers it :)
sophia Placebo: The source of success of a claimant is the mediator
Fael Illyar: meep?
sophia Placebo: meep?
Fael Illyar: meaning, I was abit confused about your sentence.
Fael Illyar: can't see how it relates here.
sophia Placebo: i was reading some quotes , i just throw it to brake the silance
Bertrum Quan: I think that's an interesting way to start--to react to a quotation.
sophia Placebo: meep? you mean ?
Fael Illyar smiles
Bertrum Quan: Claimant as mediator...
sophia Placebo: success through the medium
Fael Illyar: umm... that makes even less sense than the original one.
sophia Placebo: hehe :) that what i understand litrally from it , what did you understand fae?
Fael Illyar: well... like I said, it doesn't make much sense.
Fael Illyar: if it means anything, it hints at an easily overlooked fact.
sophia Placebo: i guess , wonders why it is a quote
Fael Illyar: what I see as a point for quotes is that they convey some bit of an information that's easily overlooked :)
Fael Illyar: and good quotes do that in a way that's also understood easily.
Susi Alcott: 'Knowledge is power'
Susi Alcott: as I never could accept that before I added this;
Susi Alcott: 'when you can use it'

2009.06.04 07:00 - What is Essential/A Year at PaB

Adams has a PaB birthday. I love how many folk are even reborn in a loving and compassionate way, often after many years of missing out.

Adams Rubble: It is the first anniversary of the session on Thursday morning thaat I found people exiting the teahouse and they told me the times when

PaB met and I attended my first session Thursday afternoon with Storm
Eliza Madrigal: Happy Anniversary!!
Adams Rubble: thanks :) 
Adams Rubble: It has been a wonderful year
Eliza Madrigal: What are your thoughts about the year that has 'gone by'?
Adams Rubble: What I diid nto say was that I came to figure out to live Buddhism :)
Adams Rubble: How to be more compassionate
 Eliza Madrigal: The overarching theme is Compassion?
Adams Rubble: yes, but now I prefer to use the term Love
Adams Rubble: we can't think love
Eliza Madrigal: and I think I arrived back at it through the word 'Compassion
Adams Rubble: we have to open to it
Eliza Madrigal: I can hear St. Paul talk about love in a buddhist way now
Adams Rubble: We are a bit vulnerable when we are open
Eliza Madrigal: How? I think we trust our intellects and for some reason are suspicious when intellect seems 'open'
Eliza Madrigal: it seems a vulnerable place
Eliza Madrigal: yes
Adams Rubble: Could it be an illusion?
Eliza Madrigal: the vulnerability?
Adams Rubble: the vulnerabvility that is
Adams Rubble: yes

Adams Rubble: http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/2...ve/?8ty&emc=ty
Eliza Madrigal: "When I am weak then I am strong" comes to mind.
Eliza Madrigal: When death is real and even 'alive' to us... it seems to illuminate our experiences somehow.. we notice more
Eliza Madrigal: we appreciate :)
Adams Rubble: yes, the column speaks to that (appreciating life"
Eliza Madrigal: thus, the daily practices and explorations?
Adams Rubble: Yes, help us refocus

Adams Rubble hums softly a Spring song with birds and flowers and rain and sunshine and much green
Eliza Madrigal: Adams, there is such a beautiful energy in your writing this morning :)
Eliza Madrigal: It gushes and makes me smile:)
Eliza Madrigal: Funny to stop and think that when you're in traffic and the guy behind you is blowing his horn
Adams Rubble: well, that is a perfect example...
Adams Rubble: of negative energy in the moment
Adams Rubble: Do we pick that up and carry it into the next m,oment?
Adams Rubble: or can we find a way to leave it in that moment
Adams Rubble: easy to say, hard to do. hehe
Adams Rubble: we can be compassionate for his/her sorry state (giggles)
Adams Rubble: Love is above the clay
Eliza Madrigal nods... Love adds the animation
Adams Rubble: hehe. I think loive is above the animation
Eliza Madrigal: YES
Adams Rubble: it reminds me that Love is of the heart
Adams Rubble: maybe we can't figure out what it is with our minds
Adams Rubble: it is something we feel

2009.06.04 13:00 - A new institute

it doesnt matter if you are negative about religion or positive about it, its not going to go away. IMO the more supression the stronger it gets.

Storm Nordwind: So perhaps I should make you a pin to wear
Adams Rubble: hehe
Storm Nordwind: "I survived a year of PaB! (And I'm still sane;)"

kenji Pookes: Actually, I think this is probably the best spot I've been to in SL.
Storm Nordwind: I'm flattered kenji
kenji Pookes: Oh, and I like the Japanese wind bell here. I've spent quite a bit of time in the city where those are made in Japan.
kenji announces a fascinating project of his.

kenji Pookes: If any of you are interested, I will behaving regular meetings to discuss the expression of religion and ritual in SL. The location is called the

Institute for the Study of Religion in virtual Worlds. Aftter I have it more organized, I will create a time for meetings. There is also a group of the same

name.
kenji Pookes: I'm an anthropologist, so I'm interested in function and meaning of religious and ritual activity.
arabella Ella: intruiging
Adams Rubble: Our exhibition called "Sacred Art in a Virtual World" is a good index to many religious sites
arabella Ella: and how they play out on SL u mean?
kenji Pookes: Yes, Arabella, I'm interested in how religion is being used in SL. Right now, I'm interested in evangilism, but also in sites for

meditation--there are quite a few Buddhist meditation sites.

2009.06.05 01:00 - Not fallen

Wol and Fael have a hairy moment

Fael tries on different colours and tones of hair, beginning with a dramatic cascade of auburn and moving rapidly through her inventory.

Stargate Tone: now U look like fallen angel :)***
Stargate Tone: ah
Stargate Tone: Wol donno the saying of red heads ?
Wol Euler: "spicy"?
Wol Euler: that's good
Stargate Tone: as that is that men do fell in love with blonds, marry them brunetts and cheat them both with them red heads *
Wol Euler: ty
Fael Illyar: Ah, Wol's? :)
Stargate Tone: felt that this would be nice with Wol's hair...with a little adjust :)*
Fael Illyar: Yes, true :)
Wol Euler grins. It is! thank you!
Stargate Tone: thank You Wol :)*
Fael Illyar: Ah, interesting hairpin you have, Wol :)
Wol Euler: :)
Wol Euler: Star just gave me this.

2009.06.05 07:00 - Child Play

Mayan medicine wheel? PaB is getting pretty diverse !

shroom Guardian: new to sl, & 1st time here. i recently learnt how to play as a child again
shroom Guardian: we were exploring the south shield of the mayan medicine wheel - the child
quen Oh is curious
shroom Guardian: well
shroom Guardian: the medicine wheel has 4 directions, or shields, south, west, north & east
shroom Guardian: for a health balance in life it's important for the energies to be constantly moving & flowing through these shields
shroom Guardian: so that we can connect with all aspects of our selves
shroom Guardian: south reprosents, amongst other things the child
quen Oh: how do you get the energies flowing through these shields?
shroom Guardian: this was all new to me a month ago, so i'm still learning my place with it all
shroom Guardian: by not leaving blocks behind as you progress through life...
shroom Guardian: understanding the past, dealing with it & allowing things to move on
shroom Guardian: does that help?

2009.06.05 13:00 - No story

lets talk about baseball instead, a good way to deal with time

kenji Pookes: OK, I remember discussing baseball.
Wol Euler: right, that was the session :)
Wol Euler: Pema talked about the nine seconds, you replied that music and baseball were both near-meditative states for you
Wol Euler: it was quite interesting to read
kenji Pookes: Music moreso, since I don't play baseball, jsut watch it. the point about baseball had to do more with the issue of time, if I remember right. It

is a release from the mundane counting of time in terms of seconds, minutes, and hours.
kenji Pookes: The interesting point is that when you got o a baseball game, you are enterring into a framework in which time and space are culturally

constructed in a way quite different from that of normal life.
Scathach Rhiadra: mmm, like cricket
Wol Euler: yes, I was thinking that.
Wol Euler: it takes as long as it takes.
Wol Euler: unlike almost everything else we do...
kenji Pookes: Yes, I think it has much in common with cricket. Baseball moves at a different pace from cricket and the rules are quite different, but the

way in which time is dealt with is similar.

2009.06.06 01:00 - Words and Philosophies

IMO PaB is like window shopping,checking out what looks good or interesting but then realising that those on the other side of the window are doing the same in reverse.

Yakuzza Lethecus: i am still spending too much time in front of this computer, i am still trying to understand what is senseful and what can for example

2nd life really provide
Yakuzza Lethecus: It is a great tool to get in contact with people out of many fields, from philosophy to people with more scientific experiences
Scathach Rhiadra: mmm, interacting with other people with the same interests?
Yakuzza Lethecus: sure
Yakuzza Lethecus: ah, sometimes it also provides me with new topics i should read about
Scathach Rhiadra: yes, I find that too
Yakuzza Lethecus: yeah, i am scared of starting to construct things in this ,,virtual world"
Scathach Rhiadra: can you say more?
Yakuzza Lethecus: because it is virtual
Yakuzza Lethecus: because when i leave 2nd life one day all those things are gone and those items would bind me more to 2nd life
Scathach Rhiadra: but do we not construct 'virtual worlds' in our minds anyway?
Yakuzza Lethecus: that is true, take plato´s cave
Scathach Rhiadra: but we have our own experience, really that is all anyone has, no matter how expert!
Scathach Rhiadra: sometimes we have to keep stopping, in a discussion, and asking people what they mean by something, because you suddenly realise

that you may mean something completely different, or understand something different
Scathach Rhiadra: like trying to get to the root, or a common understanding
Scathach Rhiadra: see through the words, so to speak
Yakuzza Lethecus: yes, that is especially a problem for me since i don´t know anybody who´s talking about emotions and identity, the when you don´t

understand someone like that it´s even likly to consider that as mumbo jumbo :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: But i don´t know who to talk about peceptions, my senses, if i am really thinking in language, emotions very well.
Scathach Rhiadra: or you have to understand yourself first maybe:)
Yakuzza Lethecus: Yeah, that seems to be the main issue for me.
Scathach Rhiadra: and for everyone else too:)
Scathach Rhiadra: maybe we restrict the things that make us happy, and persue them too much, so we become unhappy without them
Yakuzza Lethecus: i agree
Scathach Rhiadra: so letting go our desires and wants, may open up for more real happiness

2009.06.06 07:00 - Ways of Knowing -1rst theme session

Gratefulness for what we have, Love for fellow people and Good Intentions are a foundation for a happy life (and good religion)

Pema Pera: Thank you, Sophia, for joining us today for a theme session on Ways of Knowing, triggered by the interesting texts that you sent me!
Pema Pera: I am in a coffeeshop in Paris
Tarmel Udimo: Lucky you Pema, wish i was in a coffe shop in Paris!

similarities between perceptible things as 'signs' in Islam and our PaB sentence "appreciate the presence of appearance

Pema Pera: To start off, I was intrigued by a sentence in the text you sent me:
Pema Pera: The Holy Qur'an describes the perceptible things as 'signs'. In other words everything in its turn is a sign of an Infinite Being and His

knowledge, power and will.
sophia Placebo: where ever you look you see him through his creation

"seeing everything as signs can be very liberating and joyful"

Pema Pera: perhaps a better and more direct question is: I get a sense that seeing everything as signs can be very liberating and joyful -- is that how you

experience it? Can you say something about how that feels, in practice?
sophia Placebo: :) everything is alive
Pema Pera: alive in which way, Sophia?
sophia Placebo: in showing how great this universe is created
Pema Pera: and seeing the Source in all appearances?
sophia Placebo: in showing that everything has a meaning
sophia Placebo: yes
sophia Placebo: mercy , fairness, wisdom

sophia Placebo: human ,children of adam to be precise are the caliph on earth
sophia Placebo: they should make costruction not distruction
Wol Euler: wikipedia says "'Caliph' is used in the Qur'an to establish Adam's role as representative of Allah on earth."
Eos Amaterasu: What is the role of such a ruler?
sophia Placebo: what im talking about is a verse in quran at the begining of human creation
sophia Placebo: it is the responsibilty spirit , everyone is responsible
Wol Euler: so we are the caretakers, not the owners :)
Eos Amaterasu: So it also could be the Caliph's role to show the being in the appearance, so to speak?
sophia Placebo: yes wol exactly
sophia Placebo: thats true eos

sophia Placebo: everything as it run in its course in this universe quran describe there working as praising allah so the earth in its spinning , the heart in its

beating , the birds in its singing and humans as they are doing good
Mickorod Renard: therefore there is no need to add as that is spoiling?
sophia Placebo: the intentions count here mick
arabella Ella: what about destiny sophia? are we free or is there pre-destiny for each one of us? can we break the chain?
sophia Placebo: yes ara we are in the middle btw being destained and being free
sophia Placebo: natural lows are the destained parts , human creativity and ability to creat new possibilities, new choices are aour free will

Wol Euler thinks about the difference between signs and symbols...
Eos Amaterasu: Symbols are said to participate in the reality they point to
sophia Placebo: when you hears a hear beat in uncoucsouse person that is a sign for a life not a symbol to it
Wol Euler: yes, good example
Wol Euler: so a sign has real existence in and by itself
sophia Placebo: heart pic though is a sign for health care in modern days
Eos Amaterasu: and then, the image of a heart can stand for love, et al....
Wol Euler: whereas a symbol is a representation of another thing
sophia Placebo: true wol :)

2009.06.06 19:00 - Meditation to Extinction

Meditation....goes down better with a spoonful of sugar. You all know it does you good (even though it may be nothing)

Hana Furlough: but if we don't talk about it, how do we access it?
kenji Pookes: I struggle with this issue, because I enjoy talking about these things, but I have also practiced zen meditation in Japan and I've got a pretty

good sense that talking about it wont' get me anywhere.
kenji Pookes: Hana, you hit the nail on the head. You access it by doing.
kenji Pookes: IF enlightenment is the goal, there isn't any point in talking. Anyone ever seen a daruma doll?
kenji Pookes: Yes, actually this issue has been argued within Buddhism quite a bit. If you set out to become enlightened, then you are already screwing

up.
kenji Pookes: A daruma doll is a round red, black, and white doll that one can buy for good luck at Buddhist temples in Japan. It has no arms and legs.
kenji Pookes: The reason it has no legs is because Bodhidaruma is said to have sat and meditated in front of a wall for someting like eight years until his

arms and legs fell off.
kenji Pookes: A very insular and individual form of meditation.
Eliza Madrigal: I do like thinking about enlightenment, though really Play as Being isn't a buddhist group
kenji Pookes: No it's not, of course.
Adams Rubble: Play as Being assumes we already are enlightened
SophiaSharon Larnia: I think of it as being awake, awake to being
Adams Rubble: nice Sophia
Eliza Madrigal nods
kenji Pookes: I actually see enlightenment much more along the zen line--elimination of clinging to the world and elimination of self.
Eliza Madrigal: Perhaps
kenji Pookes: I'm not saying I'm right, but that is how I see it.
kenji Pookes: As I understand zen, the best real path to enlightenment is not to meditate or to do anything in particular, it is just to be and not to cling to

the fact of being or the being of otehr things.
kenji Pookes: I think that approach makes a lot of sense.
kenji Pookes: You need to stop thinking.
kenji Pookes: Just sit.

Eliza Madrigal: Sophia, do you have a moment to say more about the Hindu idea?
SophiaSharon Larnia: i dont mean it to be hindu, it is just what i feel
Eliza Madrigal: I ask because I love this idea...or at least the picture it paints...
Eliza Madrigal: Of 'god' dreaming the world and experiencing the world in players playing
Eliza Madrigal: worlds I should say
SophiaSharon Larnia: the way I see it, Our bodies are animated by a consciousness that becomes corporeal, to function in this plane,
SophiaSharon Larnia: it is part of something much much larger
SophiaSharon Larnia: but delibertly veiled
SophiaSharon Larnia: delibertly
Eliza Madrigal: yes...an intentional dreaming and forgetting

SophiaSharon Larnia: yes, i want to be awake a iwant to see things as they really are. and am trying to remove the filters from my view, so i can see

clearly
Eliza Madrigal: the trying can get in the way
SophiaSharon Larnia: yes
SophiaSharon Larnia: so examined the filters
SophiaSharon Larnia: and got lost