2011.05.13 06:00 - The Alligator in the Fountain

The Guardian for this meeting was Bleu Oleander. The comments are by Bleu Oleander, sipping gator-aid.

Eliza Madrigal: Good Morning Maxine :)
Bruce Mowbray: np -- I didn't notice because I was zoomed in on the display boards.. reading about Pema and the astronaut.
Eliza Madrigal: ah :)
Bruce Mowbray: Good morning, Maxine.
Maxine Walden: hi, Eliza and Bruce
Maxine Walden: hi, Pema
Eliza Madrigal: Evening, Pema :)
Bruce Mowbray: Good morning, Pema.
Pema Pera: morning, Eliza, and all !
Maxine Walden: oh, yes, good evening, Pema
Maxine Walden: :)
Pema Pera: 10 pm here indeed
Eliza Madrigal: in the morning, in the evening, aint we got fun...
Bruce Mowbray: err, "evening," then, sry.
Pema Pera: :-)
Maxine Walden: The flat earth society does not have much traction here with all these time zones
Darren Islar: hi there :)
Pema Pera: :-)
Pema Pera: hi Darren
Maxine Walden: hi, Darren
Eliza Madrigal: hehe Maxine
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Darren :)
Bruce Mowbray: Hey, Darren. . . Good afternoon (?)
Pema Pera: tea time for Darren :)
Maxine Walden: :). You know in London, UK there is/ or was when I was there an actual Flat Earth Society! Held meetings regularly I understnad
Eliza Madrigal: oh my goodness
Maxine Walden: hmm, hate to give up the 'good old ways of thinking'
Darren Islar: they don't believe the earth is more or less round?
Maxine Walden: sort of like Monty Python I imagine
Maxine Walden: falling off the edge of the earth and all that...
Eliza Madrigal: big conspiracy, like going to the moon?
Pema Pera: from the name alone, it could have many meanings . . .
Pema Pera: haha, yes, all those fakes photos . . .
Bruce Mowbray looks out his window and thinks, Sure looks FLAT from here!
Darren Islar nods to Pera
Pema Pera: hi Bleu!
Eliza Madrigal: Morning Bleu :)
Bruce Mowbray: Good morning, Bleu.
Darren Islar: hi Bleu :)
Eliza Madrigal: :) Bruce
Pema Pera: the moon looks pretty flat too
Pema Pera: always showing the same face
Maxine Walden: :)), and sometimes, depending upon my mood it looks flatter out there than at other times
Pema Pera: hi Xirana!
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Xirana :)
Eliza Madrigal: certainly seems so Maxine
Darren Islar: well, there is something round unmistakable, but that I guess are the edges of the 'pancake'
Maxine Walden: Pema, re the moon's 'same face to the earth' is that due to the grip of gravity?
Darren Islar: hi Sirana
Bruce Mowbray: Good morning, Xir.
Darren Islar: Xirana
Xirana Oximoxi: :) Hi leaping:)
Maxine Walden: hi, Xirana
Xirana Oximoxi: morning Bruce:)
Pema Pera: yes, Maxine, tidal forces of the Earth having a grip on a built-in assymetry in the moon itself
Xirana Oximoxi: hi Maxine:)
Bleu Oleander: hi Xirana
Eliza Madrigal thinks of a favorite book which begins with a group that meets to confirm and discuss, every week, how magic has gone from the world
Pema Pera: Hi Samule
Maxine Walden: thanks, Pema
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Samuel
Darren Islar: hey Sam :)
Eliza Madrigal: Thank you Bleu :))
Pema Pera: yes, thanks Bleu!
Bleu Oleander: yw!
Maxine Walden: oh, thank you again, bleu
Bruce Mowbray: Hey, Samuel.
Pema Pera: so how was the "fast food" of stillness?
Pema Pera: the snacking and such?
Maxine Walden: :), I actually had a little mantra: 'snacking on stillness' which helped me through a sort of sleepless night. I could really feel a slipping toward maybe stage 2 sleep as I focussed on the 'snack'
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Pema Pera: :-)
Darren Islar listens, didnt' do his homework
Pema Pera suddenly getting an idea for marketing a new placebo
Maxine Walden: hahaha
Darren Islar: :)
Pema Pera: "extra strength" placebo!
Pema Pera: hi Adams!
Maxine Walden: hi, Adams
Bleu Oleander: hi Adams
Bruce Mowbray: Hey, Adams.
Maxine Walden: Lovely reports, I thought
Adams Rubble: hello everyone :)
Darren Islar: hi Adams :)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Adams :)
Xirana Oximoxi: hi Adams:)
Pema Pera: yes, I found it intriguing to read how Bruce had such different responses to "resting" practice and "stillness" practice
Bruce Mowbray: quite different, yes.
Pema Pera: is the "ing" in resting perhaps a barbed hook?
Bruce Mowbray ponders "ing"
Bleu Oleander: ingness
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Pema Pera: rest-ing is almost a contradiction . . . being engaged in resting
Bruce Mowbray: a continuous doing-ness. . . rather than a snack.
Pema Pera: chewing gum?
Bruce Mowbray: dangers of gluttony, perhaps in "ing-ing"
Darren Islar: I think that goes for most things Pema
Darren Islar: it's where you find duality

--BELL--
Pema Pera: I also liked Eliza's "so busy on even the laziest days" :-)
Maxine Walden: yes!
Eliza Madrigal: thank you... that seemed to be what stood out so far, that
Eliza Madrigal: when one stops there is a 'wow I didn't realize I was going so much in the first place'
Eliza Madrigal: and deeper settling into that each time
Pema Pera: yes
Eliza Madrigal: (for me)... and speaking of which, I felt soothed and settled reading Maxine again this week....
Eliza Madrigal: grazing the reports
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Maxine Walden: hmm...:)
Maxine Walden: grazing is an apt term, snacking on stillness, grazing on the reports
Bleu Oleander: we are hungry
Maxine Walden: shared stillness is often quietly delightful for me; such as even here when we share the space but in gentle silence, without the need or pressure to 'talk...etc'
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Pema Pera nods
Maxine Walden: not suggesting we do that now, in particular, just 'grazing' around re stillness amidst company
Eliza Madrigal: sustenance
Pema Pera was also wondering about alligators nipping at ankles -- I take it that alligators are very very still before they start nipping :-)
Maxine Walden: :) so stillness may not always run deep?
Bruce Mowbray: ;-)
Pema Pera: but of course that's a focused stillness, with a goal, not an open stillness -- in fact the opposite though they look similar
Maxine Walden: different types of snacks?
Pema Pera: open stillness is allowing, letting yourself be seen -- whereas closed stillness is predator-like, seeing without wanting to be seen
Darren Islar: ??
Eliza Madrigal: hm, like "taking what is not given"?
Darren Islar: or concentration
Pema Pera: a cat or lion or alligator is still with a goal: to catch something, and is looking very focused
Darren Islar: which you btw also need in open stillness
Eliza Madrigal: just needs a snack maybe
Pema Pera: whereas contemplative stillness is open, without focus
Adams Rubble: sometimes not wanting to be seen is less predatory and more a feeling of uncertainty :)
Pema Pera: :-)
Darren Islar: I can't place the not wanting to be seen
Pema Pera: an alligator doesn't want to be seen
Darren Islar: in closed stillness
Pema Pera: hence hiding in the water
Bruce Mowbray has a keen sense of 'not wanting to be seen.'
Pema Pera: eyes only sticking out :)
Darren Islar: :) Bruce
Bruce Mowbray: sometimes not even the eyes.
Bleu Oleander: "the better to eat you with" hehe
Darren Islar: but if you take closed stillness as a word?
Pema Pera: :-)
Eliza Madrigal laughs
Darren Islar: without frying the aligator :)
Pema Pera: I just made up the word "closed stillness" as describing the attitude of a predator, as very different from the attitude that I intended in my "open stillness" that I wrote about -- even though they may look similar, superficially

--BELL--
Pema Pera: the bodies look similar, that is -- the eyes look very very different :-)
Bleu Oleander is still pondering frying an alligator :)
Darren Islar nods, I guess it just resonates differently with me, but maybe that is in the word predator and not wanting to be seen
Eliza Madrigal: 'closed' can also describe the habits and habitrails
Pema Pera: hi Arch!
Darren Islar: hye Arch :)
Bruce Mowbray: hery, Arch!
Eliza Madrigal: that we get into, the patterns that seem to repeat thoughtlessly.... until we allow ourselves to stop
Xirana Oximoxi: maybe bodys look also differently..one is still but with tension, the other is relaxed
Eliza Madrigal: HI Arch :)
Adams Rubble: Hello Arch :)
Xirana Oximoxi: hi Arch
Darren Islar nods at Liza, but i wouldn't call that closed stillness
Pema Pera: yes, Xirana, very much so
Bleu Oleander: each has a goal in a way, albeit subtle
Darren Islar: *Eliza, hahaha
Eliza Madrigal: well there is a kind of 'non activity' in thoughtlessness?
Maxine Walden: agree, Eliza
Eliza Madrigal: so seems hidden, not seen....
Darren Islar: all the descriptions has a negative tone to me, but I wonder if that is really the case....
Eliza Madrigal: I love alligators, in their own context, heh :)
Archmage Atlantis: Hello to you all
Bleu Oleander: :) Eliza
Adams Rubble: I think we can spearate open/closed from the stillness/non-still
Adams Rubble: if we are closed the stillness does not benefit us much
Eliza Madrigal: mmm
Bruce Mowbray: For me, there's a question about "being seen" by WHT or by WHOM?
Darren Islar: I'm not sure about that Adams
Darren Islar: actually I think we need both
Bruce Mowbray: There can be no humnas around for miles, and yet I can allowmyself to be seen.
Darren Islar: the closed and the open one
Pema Pera nods at Bruce
Darren Islar: the focussed one and the allowing one
Archmage Atlantis: Ich bin ein alligartor, Ich bin ein dinosaur of brds.......* I chukdle *
Darren Islar: using both gives insight
Bruce Mowbray: als, I can be on Times Square and no one sees me --
Archmage Atlantis: Ick is so close to ich
Bruce Mowbray: in either situation I can be still or not, snacking on stillness or not, . . .
Adams Rubble: except the pickpockets Bruce. hehe
Archmage Atlantis: icu, friend
Bruce Mowbray: icu, too, Arch. ;-)
Darren Islar: Shamata Vipashana is actually based on both 'concepts', as far as I can see :)
Bruce Mowbray: stillness - seeing ( Shamata Vipasshana) -- good, thanks Darren... very good indeed.
Archmage Atlantis: cats seem to be winning over dogs......yet both are of us
Darren Islar: yw :)
Bleu Oleander notices her dogs ears perk up
Darren Islar: :)
Bruce Mowbray ponders "winning" and whether that would be the same thing for dogs as it would be for cats.
Bruce Mowbray: the same thing for alligators as for humans?
Archmage Atlantis: I have been dreaming of other animals
Eliza Madrigal: the thing is not to try to get rid of alligators I guess but to allow them to have their own way and space, to appreciate what they are....
Archmage Atlantis: I think, Bruce, they live in different worlds
Pema Pera: Bruce, you mentioned stillness awareness being more difficult during walking
Pema Pera: can you say more about that?
Bruce Mowbray: yes, Pema?
Bleu Oleander: "the alligator in the room"
Bruce Mowbray: ok.
Pema Pera inspecting the pond for alligators . . .
Bruce Mowbray: well, I seem to be more distracted when I walk -- although walking is also a form of meditation practice for me....
Archmage Atlantis: Dr Hook
Bleu Oleander: note to Storm ...
Bruce Mowbray: the beathing is different --
Darren Islar: (hmmm, not sure Eliza)
Darren Islar: (will keep quiet now :))
Archmage Atlantis: tic tock\

--BELL--
Bruce Mowbray: and perhaps the capacity for breathing in stillness (snacking on stillness) while I walk still needs to be developed (by me).
Bruce Mowbray: all I know is there is a different quality to the snacking if I am in different settings and doing different things.
Archmage Atlantis: tY...Bell
Bruce Mowbray: and I noticed that while walking.
Pema Pera: if you sit down in the same situation as walking, with the same sounds, would the "stillness snacking" become easier?
Bruce Mowbray: I will take that to the laboratory, Pema.
Pema Pera: :-)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Darren Islar: :)
Pema Pera: and how about when you're standing on your head?
Pema Pera: (for completeness)
Maxine Walden: Pema, trying to keep in mind that the stillness is an entree or is it entry (something to eat or an entryway) to appreciation of Awareness...
Bruce Mowbray: My sense, though, is that if I am truly "open" with the still-awareness, then it will be different in every setting - and every behavior - sitting or walking...
Pema Pera: nice, Maxine :-)
Maxine Walden: :)
Eliza Madrigal: mmm, nods Maxine....
Eliza Madrigal: like the last line of Pema's report...
Pema Pera: oh yes, Bruce, amazing spectrum of stillnesses!
Darren Islar: and every different moment in time
Eliza Madrigal: "Just here and now, in a coffeeshop, I look at the wood of the chairs and tables, and the more quiet I become, the more the wood takes on a shine, a vividness and naturalness -- as if it had been shy before, waiting for me to give it my full attention before being ready to come out, allowing itself to be seen. "
Darren Islar: :)
Eliza Madrigal: snapshot of a stillness moment ?
Pema Pera looking up what I wrote . . . ah yes, I got that from John O'Donohue, I think
Maxine Walden: yes, just looking at those last lines of Pema's report...
Pema Pera: who said that the divine is a light sleeper
Pema Pera: easy to arouse
Pema Pera: (Irish poet and Catholic)
Maxine Walden: as if when we become still we can note the animation of of our surround
Eliza Madrigal: mmm, nods
Pema Pera: yes!
Archmage Atlantis: Having grown up in the land of gators, gone to the university of gators, had gator tail in a restaurant.....I only know 1 thing.......they will eat their children....they do not think...in these things we differ
Bruce Mowbray: O'Donohue has profound thoughts about beauty . . . wrote a whole book about beauty and consciousness.
Bleu Oleander: is beauty in the eye of the beholder ... or in the wood of the chair ... or both?
Maxine Walden: interesting pondering, bleu :)
Bruce Mowbray: Hey, Luci.
Pema Pera: perhaps in the whole context
Pema Pera: hi Luci!
Eliza Madrigal: Morning Luci :)
Bleu Oleander: hi Luci
Darren Islar: hi Lucy?
Maxine Walden: hi, Luci
Xirana Oximoxi: hi Lucinda:)
Eliza Madrigal: Maxine earlier in the session, about 'flat earth' : Maxine Walden: :)), and sometimes, depending upon my mood it looks flatter out there than at other times
Lucinda Lavender: Morning to all...:)
Darren Islar: I men : Hi Lucy :)
Eliza Madrigal: hehe
Adams Rubble: Hello Luci
Archmage Atlantis: Nice dress, Luci
Lucinda Lavender: thanks arch:)
Bruce Mowbray peers out his window again -- Hmmmm.... not as flat as it was a few minutes ago (!)
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Eliza Madrigal: there is a conversing, it seems
Pema Pera: this weekend I'll weave another piece to the tapestry of chapter 13, probably ready by Sunday morning
Pema Pera: I'll send an email
Bruce Mowbray: I must be off to SOul's Journey to led meditation now.
Eliza Madrigal: Wonderful Pema, Thank you
Bruce Mowbray: Thanks to all of you.
Bleu Oleander: ty Pema!
Eliza Madrigal: Bye Bruce :)
Pema Pera: bye Bruce!
Adams Rubble: bye Bruce
Xirana Oximoxi: bye Bruce:)
Darren Islar: bye Bruce :)
Bleu Oleander: bye Bruce
Maxine Walden: great, Pema.
Lucinda Lavender: nice to see you Bruce!
Archmage Atlantis: Till we speak again, Bruce
Maxine Walden: bye Bruce
Lucinda Lavender: I hear Koya's purring:)
Archmage Atlantis: I must also go....In 3 minutes I have an obligation.....now 2 minutes
Adams Rubble: I am afraid I must go too. bye everyone. nice to see you all :)
Bleu Oleander: bye all :)
Xirana Oximoxi: bye Adams and Arch:)
Pema Pera: good to see you all -- and sorry, Lucid, for disappearing so quickly