01-03 - Dear Grandma

February 6, 2009

Mrs. Bea Ingg
1 Little TeaHouse
Reiul, Second Life

Dear Grandma,

I really enjoyed our last conversation.  I can't believe you're almost 100.   I thought I would write a little letter and tell you about my friends and what we did the last few days.   

We all really like food and at breakfast we have bagels.  It's snowing at some of my friends houses, one had an operation, some aren't sleeping well.  A couple of us lost track of time or are tired.  One of my friends when to the movies.  Some of us were talking about a recent study on culture and consumerism.  Everyone seems pretty affectionate.  We tell jokes and thwack each other on the head and giggle.

We have a cool playground called SL and we hang around at the white pagoda.  It's kind of a weird, surreal place where time stretches and bends and things goooo realllly slllooooowwww if it's too busy.  One of our friends doesn't like the playground anymore and decided she won't come around.  Sometimes the playground breaks when we're playing or is broken and we can't go.  We have different playgroups and lots of stuff to play with like hair and clothes.  Sometimes we look like glowing balls.

Some friends are putting on a big exhibit about sacred art and structures.  I think you would like it.  Remember that bird we saw down at the river, the Mexican eagle called a Cara Cara?  Some of us hang around in a group called Kira Kira.  I always think of when we saw that bird when I say that.  We have workshops about theatre, dreams, phenomena, stuff like that.

All my friends come and go to sessions where we talk about being.  Some are full of chaos, some are quiet, sometimes you sit there own your own.  Lately there are less people coming so it is slower.  All the session talks are put in chatlogs so some people are careful what they say.  We talk about all kinds of things but mostly about what happens when we do the 9sec practice I was telling you about.  There were so many things the last few days I wrote you a poem based on the flow of the words in the talks so you could get a sense of it.  Here it is, I call it 9 Seconds in 3 Days:

9 Seconds, 3 Days

take breaks come back
the schedule
wanting to pause pausing 
on schedule off schedule
 
below the surface
always there
rising soon
it'll pass it'll come

lawyery words legal-y words
stuck or attached
playing at being
mad at interuption

buddhists meditate
empty minds
in this context
merely semantics

in that state
mind intervenes
vicious circle
alleging and alluding

infers possibility
he prays
can't free our minds
see something new

free our minds
not possible
see something new
focus more fully

stop thinking
just for a second
open one's self
what is it

asking for something
prayer as a dialog
more like a hug
you see god

undeterminable
the uncaused cause
prime mover
that is being too

reach outside our biology
explain ethics
beyond ego
not into science

over my head
science plays
periodic table
I like it

you can try anything
see what it's like
tip about writing
keep writing

just like being
good on you
major drama
chemical reactions

dramatic
love chemical reaction
biology canvass
spirit picture

beauty of painting
we convince ourselves
wonder about love
biggest love

self to being
lesser love
one to self
a person can't love
themself

love a relationship
sin of pride
self love
too self-focused

love of children
no obsession
nurturing
selfless love

seeking meaning
in life
morality
moral code

religious conversion
convert your beliefs
secular and religious
release your beliefs

We are going to the river soon.  The one where all the giant cypress trees are.  I remember you told me you are part Druid because you love trees.  I think of you when I see those trees.  Thanks for sending the cookies, they were my favorite kind.  Love and hugs.  Cal