10-12 Person, Pattern, and Practice

Calvino Rabeni was Scribe for this series - January 10-12, 2010

2010.01.10 01:00 - Sound of Rock

The Moon Fargis sessions are known for a massive but temporary build-up of virtual "nature" features such as plants, water, ice, and rocks.  In a similar "vein", the discussion was about the power of music as a medium for public expression of emotional and spiritual sensibilities.

Stargate Tone: well...star didn't look at Jimmy either with 'that eye', but loved his spirit and loved to listen to him
Stargate Tone: as well loved to see and listen to this couple, but yes; the girl is the power and the man is the support
Qt Core: you know, during the concert i found myself several time in an almost meditative state with the musing making ripples in my mind
Stargate Tone: and see them to be the most good 'example' of honestly lived music and complete harmony 'working' together

2010.01.10 07:00 - Watch Out for that Chiropractor Following You

About Self, dreams, the UK slang word "poof", the Buddhist Pure Land sect, and chiropractors as a metaphor.

The Self discussion seemed pretty innocent and touched some of the things that may happen with self-reflection.

Adams Rubble: I find it helpful to look at myself from different directions which might be looking at how I am looking at myself
SophiaSharon Larnia: maybe some are made that way, or maybe learned through childhood, a some benefit gained in the past by reacting a certain way
Eliza Madrigal: yes some of us seem to require more tools than others... to set things out and see.. writing, for instance
Geoff Baily: nature vs nurture?
SophiaSharon Larnia: yes but maybe some with a more jumpy nervous system:)
Adams Rubble: It is useful to re-examine the tools we are using to see
Eliza Madrigal: :))
Eliza Madrigal: True, Adams
Geoff Baily: absolutely true Sophia
Eliza Madrigal: Or the proportions we are using, in using the tools... I used to blog and write quite a bit, for instance... doesn't seem too helful right now but I keep going
Adams Rubble: I find writing very important
SophiaSharon Larnia: thats just now, Eliza, maybe it wont stay that way
Adams Rubble: It helps me to discipline my thinking
Eliza Madrigal: sometimes I look back to see that what I write when I don't 'feel' it was useful, was actually more clear
Adams Rubble: I rarely read what I have written (giggles)
SophiaSharon Larnia: :)
Eliza Madrigal: That seems a tool in itself! :)
Geoff Baily: don't think the method matters too much, its the curiousity and continual questioning that maters
Eliza Madrigal: hmmm, yes Geoff
Geoff Baily: and discipline yes that too
SophiaSharon Larnia: I stopped writing because I was telling myself the truth in it, things i didnt know until I started writing, and then I started to lie to myself, because i didnt like what i was seeing
Adams Rubble: we need to change or hone our methods as we go along
Eliza Madrigal: wow.. that's something to see, Sharon
...
Geoff Baily: always changing, eh Eliza??
Eliza Madrigal: Well, maybe not lies but ways in which we fool ourselves maybe :)

2010.01.10 08:00 - Guardian Retreats

During this meeting the Guardians discussed the topic of retreats and the idea of creating a new virtual "cafe" style for informal meetings.  I think the idea is to try to make the Kira SL area support more informal and social "presence" as a reminder basic PlayAsBeing ideas.

2010.01.10 13:00 - Beyond concepts

The topic of self-observation (and its many ramifications) continued in this session.

The Guardian for this meeting commented:

 This meeting was a bit slow to get going but then began to discuss the hesitations toward practice, including self doubt or judgment, but also perhaps the fear of going beyond the concepts and images which seem to offer stability of a sort.
As often occurs, the discussion seemed to become a bit more free-wheeling after the goc (me) left after an hour. 

 Concepts always seem to put in an appearance - at least for a while - when talking about "self."

Maxine Walden: Fael, are you thinking that our attempts to make concepts are ways of trying to 'freeze' things?
Fael Illyar: bound... another expression of permanence :)
Trevor Berensohn: I've had jobs where I really had to alter how I behaved.. almost manage ppls perceptions of me
Trevor Berensohn: It was only fun when I saw it as a game though
Mickorod Renard: breaking from the concept that one has the idea that people expect you to be a certain person,,other than your real self is hard
Trevor Berensohn: Eventually I felt bogged down by the culture there, and moved on
Archmage Atlantis: We are more, more than any concept, yet concepts are useful tools

...

Fael Illyar: Attachments don't exist without reason. They are sometimes useful.

...

That was the easy part.  The discussion went to another level at that point and looked at the idea of making certain choices about self.  The feeling seemed to be, that it goes beyond easy formulas of the "just say no to identification" variety.  At a certain point the ethical dimensions can't be dismissed.  Near this edge, it was suggested, there is the possibility of worry, madness, demons, compassion, and what sort of choices should be regarded as having integrity.

2010.01.10 19:00 - Dreams, Plans, Places, Pomo

This session seemed nicely "grounded" in relationship, history, place, and profession, and had a comfortable feel.  So grounded, in fact, that I even invoked phenomenology and then - "postmodernism".

Fox Monacular: well, some degree of specificity is often needed when you talk about stuff on a certain level of abstraction....
Fox Monacular: but seriously, who can just sit down and read husserl or guattari without extensive background in academic philosophy?
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, and often for the life of me, I can't find that element
Calvino Rabeni: in which to ground the statements being made

Pomo is the "odd member" of the intellectual family, relative to PaB - Father?  Daughter?  Maiden Aunt?

POMO, if you are listening - come by more often, pull up a chair on the porch, and enjoy the party.  Just remember to speak to us slowly and use short, complete sentences :)

2010.01.11 01:00 - Avatars want to be Human

What does it take to be "real"?   Why do we do what we do?  A simple, focused, two-person discussion that was willing to look at complex questions right where they live:  being a human using an avatar in Second Life.  At the end the avatars were allowed to act out their repertoire of expressive behaviors.

There's a critique of the possible deleterious effects of SL immersion, and some ideas about what do do about that.

And then - curiouser and curiouser:

Calvino Rabeni: Humans have natural curiousity
Tarmel Udimo: yes but I guess I was curious about why you like my curiosty about the 'topic'
Tarmel Udimo: are you curious about the difference between you and your AV?
Calvino Rabeni: Yes a bit, but more than that, I am curious about your intelligence
Calvino Rabeni: As a dynamic thing
Calvino Rabeni: This is what gets people into SL to begin with I think
Tarmel Udimo: that's an interesting idea
Tarmel Udimo: SL+intelligence

2010.01.11 07:00 - In Touch Out There

This session had a nice fullness, like a ripe mango harvested from the tree of life:

Geoff Baily: ah Being me, ......
Eden Haiku: Being you?
Geoff Baily: sometimes everything becomes very clear and brilliantly bright and sparkly
...
Eliza Madrigal: with relationships and settings and words helping us to honor... notice and value
...
Eliza Madrigal: People talk about the abundant resources of the internet, for instance... but it has always been that anything we need is 'everywhere'... does no good at all if we don't see/hear, etc ?
...
Geoff Baily: important to give away ones achievements to others
Geoff Baily: its not for personal benefit or ego boosting
Eliza Madrigal nods...
Eliza Madrigal: generosity
Geoff Baily: that we do what we do here
Eliza Madrigal: it expands us

2010.01.11 13:00 - Retreats, Worry and guilt

PlayAsBeing is about "what is", and how it shows up, rather than aiming to be or look like some ideal.

Mickorod Renard: I am afraid I haven't been feeling very spiritual lately, so if anyone has some nice observations they may like to share it would be nice.

That's ok, nor have I for that matter, but it's a great way to get everyone to think about what it might mean to be "spiritual".

Bertram Jacobus: it´s a question of motivation i think zon - so material aspects can be spiritual and spirituality can be materialistic too -
Zon Quar: hm transcending mundane activities,,,
Liza Deischer: to buddhism what makes something spiritual is motivation
Mickorod Renard: perhaps what makes us so concerning about things is that we question thimngs too much,and complicate life

...

Calvino Rabeni: I think "spiritual" is used by people to mean a concern with almost anything that can't be weighed and measured or pointed to as an object

...

Zen Arado: and we have better access to teachings via the web than monks had in the old days
Zon Quar: yes..so much info available now
Liza Deischer: which can distract us btw :-)
Zen Arado: yes ..too much information maybe

...

Fear, guilt, worries, mistakes, responsibility, ethics... how can you separate the wheat from the chaff?

... I feel worried about things that may come to haunt me, yet I know I have done no wrong
Zon Quar: Perhaps u need a bit "faith " ?
Zon Quar: in life
Liza Deischer: to be worried make you get stuck
Zon Quar: life is intelligent
Zon Quar: we r part of that intelligence

Someone new shows up prompting the PaB story to be told anew:

Roussel Galaxy: Are you busy ?
Mickorod Renard: Hi Roussel
Roussel Galaxy: What is going on here ?
Mickorod Renard: we have just finished
Roussel Galaxy: Finished what ?
Mickorod Renard: we meet here 4 times a day
Mickorod Renard: its called play as being
Mickorod Renard: we chat and discuss things about life

And, we do two things at the very same time - now this is where it gets unconventional:

Roussel Galaxy: What were you doing?
Liza Deischer: playing :-)
Mickorod Renard: we were discussing what spiritual meant
Roussel Galaxy: Some kind of meditation ?
--BELL--
Liza Deischer: no more like a discussion group

...

Roussel Galaxy: I agree. I've already learned quite a lot today
Mickorod Renard: great
Roussel Galaxy: Well, I off exploring. Thanks
Mickorod Renard: there are many strange places in sl,,but here its quite normal

Yes, normal is how we like it.

2010.01.11 19:00 - Empty

"No Data".  Visitors wanted their confidentiality respected, and they got it.

2010.01.12 01:00 - Poetry into Presence

What is Art?  And Performance?  Does expression go (or come from) "beyond" language?

Wester Kiranov: I was thinking just yesterday, that this is because poets constrain themselves
Wester Kiranov: they don't try to say all truth or all beauty at once, they communicate a little bit
Wester Kiranov: and they don't just try to make beautiful words, they write sonnets or haikus
Wester Kiranov: and that actually gives them freedom, it does not take it away
Calvino Rabeni: good points, wester
Calvino Rabeni: I've been contemplating similar questions about poetry
Aztlan Foss: yeah, I think words in poetry, allthought they seem like the point of it all I think it's about their intent
...
Calvino Rabeni: Poetry isn't text-with-funny-rules, as people sometimes think
Wester Kiranov: my husband used to write poetry, and read it for people. But that is a loooong time ago
Calvino Rabeni: It's language-with-conscious-rules
Calvino Rabeni: A much more unrestricted use of language
Calvino Rabeni: Anyway, I liked your point about poetic limits
Aztlan Foss: I kinda think of it as using words that convey ideas and putting them together in such a way that the ideas react with each other to communicate as close as possible what usually can't be communicated
Aztlan Foss: there's things that we think that don't have words
Aztlan Foss: so you say other words that together conveys the idea or builds one
Aztlan Foss: instead of explaining it.
Calvino Rabeni: More than "convey" perhaps, is to bring it into Presence

Calvino Rabeni: A friend of mine belongs to a rant clan, but my own predecessors were artists of the sulk.
Aztlan Foss: well it has to be about something complicated enought to be meaningful but not so important that it is a genuinely big issue
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, a family tradition
Calvino Rabeni: Well practiced and mentored through the generations
Calvino Rabeni: "Rant" as in, going on at length about a pet topic, expressing outrage, concern, etc.
Calvino Rabeni: And usually the audience is well familiar with the Form
Calvino Rabeni: So it's not about the information - its a performance

2010.01.12 07:00 - Googlers and the Delicious Moment

At PaB, history and the future are often folded up into the sense of the present - both in its possibilities and the need for alertness.  Sometimes this thickness itself is the topic of discussion.

Geoff Baily: been looking at the first logs.
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, from the earliest days of PaB, Geoff? Have thoughts?
Geoff Baily: Fun to do
Geoff Baily: lots of concern about talking publicly
Geoff Baily: same feels as new people here now
Geoff Baily: Pema of course
Geoff Baily: giving so much support
SophiaSharon Larnia: :)
Eliza Madrigal nods, yes he really does/has
Geoff Baily: and Storm
Geoff Baily: and all the others
Eliza Madrigal: Yes for sure. Of course when one begins to talk about such personal things with people as pixels from all over the world, there is a hesitation and questioning....
Eliza Madrigal: boundaries are shifting... "What do I want to share?" "What can I not help but share.." :))
Eliza Madrigal: I guess it is is like that in any new relationship?
Geoff Baily: true
Geoff Baily: several relationships all at once
Eliza Madrigal: yes!
Geoff Baily: the group "here"
Eliza Madrigal: many levels of interraction
Geoff Baily: the readers
Eliza Madrigal: yes, that too... the unknown element

The Googlers...

Geoff Baily: and the Googlers

Editor's note - this was a preview to 2010.01.13 01:00 - consciousness, the universe and a message to the future

The discussion continued along interesting lines:

Geoff Baily: there are some presuppositions here usually
Eliza Madrigal: yes?
SophiaSharon Larnia: oh?
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Storm :)
Geoff Baily: people tend to be serious questers

Geoff Baily: a collection of collaborating seekers
Geoff Baily: searching together
Geoff Baily: for they know not what!
SophiaSharon Larnia: laughs
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Storm Nordwind: only guided by a sense of numinous 

There are many ways of doing that...

Eliza Madrigal: thinking about the strong commitment... that comes from having a sense of care of what deeply resonates....
Eliza Madrigal: a personal responsibility/urge to dig in...
Eliza Madrigal: it IS very inspiring to see how things have developed... settled
Storm Nordwind: An intuitive impulse to support the growth, no matter what

SophiaSharon Larnia: for me its a much more helpless feeling thing, the knowledge is out there, taking me with it
SophiaSharon Larnia: i am not able to not see it, or not notice
SophiaSharon Larnia: not seek
Eliza Madrigal: hmm... what an interesting way to say that Sharon...

2010.01.12 13:00 - Ecosia, the green search engine

This is a quietish session in which we are struck, part way through, by Bertram's announcement about a new search engine called ecosia (http://www.ecosia.org/) that seems to have worthwhile green credientials.

I think it's great to call attention to the idea that

Information is not an immaterial and weightless substance.

I load the Ecosia search tool into the browser.  The bottom line says:

You saved: 0.0 m^2.  All users saved: 13,331,155 m^2

Then brazenly, wantonly, I put "PlayAsBeing" into the search box and pressed return, thus causing a do-nothing search to be launched in the Ecosia data center, located in a cavern in the cold north of Europe.  The bottom line immediately changed to:

You saved: 3.8m^2.  All users saved: 13,501,801m^2.

Ouch - that's 3.8 square meters of nominal rain forest, just to do nothing useful.  I wonder what a phone call costs.  Or to add another sentence to this document.

I'm sceptical about the numbers, but like the concept.

2010.01.12 19:00 - Fountain in Still Water

Starting the session with poetry this time...

Eos Amaterasu: 
Let it be known
    There is a fountain
    That was not made
    By the hands of man

Calvino Rabeni: OK - It is not I, that makes the flow, of the fountain that is I

 The following struck me as a pretty grounded discussion of non-conceptual experience.  See the log for more.

Paradise Tennant: hmm often think the more you push against something ..the stronger you make it

Calvino Rabeni: What if, you could "drop" all manner of paradoxes? ... resist nothing, open everything

Calvino Rabeni: Would that "unwind" what you were referring to, Paradise?
Paradise Tennant: hm the edginess?
Calvino Rabeni: yes including that
Paradise Tennant: I think that would make you experience what you are .. underneath
Paradise Tennant: I find it easier to not resist .. with practise .. focus alot on surrendering to the moment
Paradise Tennant: whatever it is
Calvino Rabeni: understand yes
Paradise Tennant: that feeling of open everything .. sort of a biproduct of being aware
Paradise Tennant: do you find so ?

Eos Amaterasu: could be a painful experience.... you could be an ouch-cube
Calvino Rabeni: Not ouchy, Eos, to me
Calvino Rabeni wonders, about the "underneath" place, ?

Paradise Tennant: no because there you are so stretched out .. there is no container .. reference for pain
Paradise Tennant: it is peace