What We Learn from Our Meetings

...

Pia Iger: We were deeply touched by the concept of “larger entity” Stim brought up.
Pia Iger: associated with compassion
Pema Pera: can you say in your own words what that “larger entity” is?
Pia Iger: would be “more than myself”
Pema Pera: more than yourself, Pia, in what sense of direction, do you feel you have a kind of handle or pointer?
Pia Iger: or beyond myself. I am connected with other people.
Pia Iger: Our experience, or suffering is connected or shared
Pema Pera: yes, that is beautiful to experience that, to know it and see it and feel it . . .
Pema Pera: and I have a deep sense that this is what we are doing here in PaB
Pema Pera: with all the words and actions, it is what you described that is our real base
Adams Rubble: May I add that it was nicely put..
Pia Iger: surely I have heard this kind of sayings before,
Pia Iger: but yesterday it is much clearer to me, and more heartfelt.
Adams Rubble: yes
Pema Pera: that’s wonderful, Pia . . . and I feel the same way, every day things are getting more clear for me too . . .
Pema Pera: there seems to be no end to deepening clarity . . .
Pema Pera: that’s probably why the great teachers of the past just kept practicing.
Pema Pera: the notion of “getting it” or “enlightenment” can be very misleading. We learn, we see, we see better, deeper, fuller. . .
Pema Pera: it just goes on and on . . .
Pema Pera: sometimes more gradually
Pema Pera: sometimes with great breakthroughs
Pema Pera: moving heaven and earth
Pema Pera: but then still going on . . .
Pema Pera: . . . and then you begin to see that there is no time and no moving on . . .
Pema Pera: all very paradoxical
Pema Pera: all this will begin to make more and more sense
Pema Pera: over the months and years while we’re at it here :-)
Pema Pera: we just got started!
Pema Pera: I just feel so grateful to be able to talk with you all about this, several times a day . . .
Terri Holrych: its beautiful
Pema Pera: this has been my dream, to belong to a community like this, on a daily basis of continuous presence, but never in my life got a chance, until now, these last three months
Pema Pera: virtual worlds gave the potentiality
Pema Pera: you all gave the actuality

...

...

Stim Morane: Casually or heedlessly owning the moment (Being) is very different from appreciating and truly joining into it.
Stim Morane: It's not so much owning things (objects) that is the issue here, it's a whole approach to life and the value of life that tends to get distorted by an unconsciously held ownership model.
Stim Morane: It's actually quite difficult to see what is most problematical about "owning". And there are different types of "owning", some of which are fine. So the issue is tricky.
Stim Morane: On the other hand, it's important to stay with what we see, at each step along the way. So I would simply emphasize looking into this area of our existence.
Gambhira Skytower: I liked Dakini's question, "what are the pitfalls of ownership"... do you think this is an important question?
Stim Morane: Yes, I see this as a similar injunction to "see" what we can.
Stim Morane: My point is, it's more important to practice seeing than to simply give a verbal answer to this sort of question. When we discuss something, we can bypass "seeing" what is really going on in our own minds. This is possible even though we feel very clear about what is being said.
Prosper Telling: We begin dealing with the concepts brought up rather than the actual topic?
Stim Morane: Yes, exactly. This happens on many levels.
Dakini Rhode: how is this related to an "ownership model"
Stim Morane: "We" ourselves is just another concept, to a considerable extent.
Stim Morane: We have appropriated reality and turned it into some familiar token
Stim Morane: that's a kind of unconscious ownership and the most pernicious
Stim Morane: we cannot own Being. We need to see enough to let it own us, or Host us.
Stim Morane: Get out of the way ...
Stim Morane: It does in fact Host us, our existence. By clinging to our views, we occlude this fact, deprive ourselves of something fulfilling by the very way we seek fulfillment.
...