A. Month of July

In July there was a big jump in the number of guardians. Adelene Dawner, Avastu Maruti, Delani Gabardini, doug Sosa, Gaya Ethaniel,  Meesha Cuttita, Neela Blaisdale, Prosper Telling, Quilty Bookmite, and Wol Euler joined the troop. There were 32 guardians by the end of July.

The group settled into the new pavilion. A logo was created by Moon and re-made as a forehead tatoo. A crisis, which began in late June, carried into early July forced the group to consider how far it should go in tolerating distractions to the sessions. People naturally were divided in their opinions and there were some intense discussions but the group survived and became stronger for the experience.Sylectra started up the PaB Flickr page on July 20 and also made a video of Stevenaia and the nine-second experience.

We learned to do the YSBS and ESBS exercises. The first is You See Being Sees and the second is Enlightened you Sees Being Sees.

Avastu brought a taste of  Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and Hindu philosophy into the sessions and for a while perplexed many of us with his insistence that we already ARE and nothing else was needed. Avastu was to remain with us until September.

Pema introduced the language of the absolute and the language of the relative to the group:

Pema Pera: there are two languages, two ways of dealing with the world
Bertrum Quan: Inherent part of Being
Pema Pera: the language of the relative and the language of the absolute
Pema Pera: within the language of the relative (lor) there is no Being
Pema Pera: there are only beings
Pema Pera: within the language of the absolute (loa) there are no beings
Pema Pera: there is only Being
Pema Pera: so a sentence “we are all inherently part of Being” is almost correct
Pema Pera: but perhaps better “we are all Being” or “each of us is all of Being”

Taste of July:

 Steve described an experience about Being on July 17 19:00

Pia Iger: what is your defining moment? Curious...
stevenaia Michinaga: in this moment I was underwater which represented Self to me

stevenaia Michinaga: the I emerged above the surface , springing out of the water straight up... which represented Being
stevenaia Michinaga: not flying, just head above water
stevenaia Michinaga: an interested contrast

Pia Iger: then how do you feel, in each case, under and above the water?
stevenaia Michinaga: fresh air, clear sight of distance
stevenaia Michinaga: under water was self reflective and somewhat contained.. defining self as somewhat introspective and contained
stevenaia Michinaga: but head above water was externally focused
stevenaia Michinaga: refreshing
Adams Rubble: that sounds great Steve
stevenaia Michinaga: worth the wait of not doing 9 second moments for that one