Welcome to The Pub At the End of the Universe.

[songsfortheotherkind]

Posted by CurtisW (here)
<cricket sounds>

of course, it's all for the greater good and all that.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=dMt0lhnlLL4

:D

[Debra]

Posted by Carmody (here)
You speak of judgment and the lack of it, yet you lay it at everyone's feet in indignation, of an offense - paraded.

One that does not exist.

Like the rest of the phantasm parade.

It is clear that you will only accept your way or the highway, wile you lie there with your 'wound'.

I see narcissistic self affected prattle.

That is the kindest thing I can say.

As for the rest, perhaps it is best that such musings move to the channeling section.

Dear man, why throw mud? I don´t know you but the essence of this post is precisely how I understand the virus at work - in one of it´s many pairs of overalls - sarcasm and denigration.

I see that Songs has responded to this.

Well, I am standing up here because I also took the time to understand some of your perspective and respond, and I see no acknowledgement whatsoever. No effort to engage further to explore together and expand meaning. That was a hard read, but I persisted. Yet I don't see any graciousness here, it is sadly missing and that I find most disappointing.

You can do better than that, surely?

So, another´s perspective does not make sense, or sit with your ideas? I thought that Songs made a HUGE effort to understand what you have to say, and where she does not agree. I think she makes herself very clear and in a respectful way about where she sits with her perspectives, as distinct from your understanding. And where she drills down to explain about the use of language, I think this is of vital importance to understand. From your reaction, you totally miss the point about the position that is trying to be conveyed.

The best way I know how to explain it to you is this, I hope you understand:

Any communication has both content and form. Always, the two are integrated - so it is not just what *I* say, it is how *I* say something, which bears equal if not more meaning. To me, form is a dynamic and highly potent part of communication - whether it is written, sung, danced or spoken. Form is loaded with meaning. It is the architecture, the choice and selection, it is the weight of intent behind what I am really saying, and how I want to affect and make you feel. It exposes the text within the text.

So, I too take this very seriously. It still blows me away at the lack of awareness of this. I accept that some people are not conscious about it - and by the imprint in this last post, I believe you are in the same boat. What do you think creates conflict?

This is your invitation to consider what you are reading here, and question your own resistance. Open up. For me, there are no limits. I don´t believe in them - otherwise how else are we to evolve?

[Cerridwen]

Posted by Carmody (here)

Posted by songsfortheotherkind (here)
There's nothing inherently wrong with your experience and perspective, because it works for you. I'd appreciate a cessation of the suggestion that it applies to everyone else. This is me being nice about it: any language that discounts the experience of the other is founded in abuse, which is founded in the virus. This thread is a verbal abuse free zone. We are consciously cultivating the language of sui generis. You are most welcome to participate in that endeavour if it appeals to you.

You speak of judgment and the lack of it, yet you lay it at everyone's feet in indignation, of an offense - paraded.

One that does not exist.

Like the rest of the phantasm parade.

It is clear that you will only accept your way or the highway, wile you lie there with your 'wound'.

I see narcissistic self affected prattle.

That is the kindest thing I can say.

As for the rest, perhaps it is best that such musings move to the channeling section.

I'm not really sure why you keep coming back to the Pub to play with us.

To me, it kinda feels like everyone at Avalon knows we like to play checkers in here, but for some reason, you keep coming in here and insisting that we must play regulation chess. It's not that we don't know how to play chess, we just choose to play checkers anyway. We enjoy changing the rules and making it up as we go along as well. No two games are ever alike, some are quite silly and others are very serious. But we all enjoy it exactly the way it is. If you want to play checkers with us, then grab a drink and join in, if not, then it might be less frustrating for you to take your chess pieces to another part of Avalon.

Lots and lots of other Avalonians would love to learn how to play the game of chess.

[onawah]

First there was the One.
When the One became aware of Itself, there arose the awareness of the possibility of the Other.
Thus began the Dance of Maya.
The dance of Formlessness with Form, the Goddess with the God, Creation and the Uncreated.
You can join in the Dance, or you can return to the Formlessness.
You can dance with the Other, or you can dance alone.
You are a part of the Other, and the Other is a part of you,whether you are joined in the Dance or not.
When the Dance becomes wearisome, the One rests...
When rest grows wearisome, the One dances yet again...
This is both true and untrue.
For Great Mystery will never be explained.
If we disagree when speaking of Great Mystery, it affects Great Mystery not at all...


I love all the Dune books. Gate to Women's Country is a favorite.
Anything by Cheri S. Tepper, Margaret Atwood, Janet Morris, Ursula leGuin.
Tolkein, of course, and his contemporary E.R.R. Eddison who wrote the wonderful but little known Zimiamvia fantasy trilogy, Mistress of Mistresses, A Fish Dinner In Memison, and The Mezentian Gate.

There is a rumor that Tom Hanks is involved in a possible production of Stranger in a Strange Land, though I certainly can't picture him as Michael Valentine Smith.
I hope it will be made someday, and justice done to it, as to the movie based on the Wingmaker's material, which Kerry Cassidy has the rights to.
I can't wait for the Hobbit movie to be released!
Stranger was so significant to me when I was in my Flower Child years, as was the 2001 A Space Odyssey movie, which launched me into mysticism, and later Tolkein and the Carlos Castenada books into inner realms and realms of the Other.

When I realized that my spirit guides were leading me to stories which featured characters that resembled real people in my life, so that I could get to know them better in a very vicarious way, it was an inkling to my tiny mind of the vastness of Great Mystery and the playful nature of Maya.
When I began to learn about my past lives and the past lives of people in my soul group, I began to understand what my mission, if I chose to accept it, might be.
And to see that I could invent new missions or refuse missions altogether if I chose to.

I love the Dance, and I love the formless state of rest, I love being in the body and I love being out of the body.
I visited a vastly different and more joyous state of being once on an LSD trip when I got into the White Light, during which I felt as though I had merged with the Sun, and the Sun was nothing but the purest JOY,
and merged with it again briefly in satori and in the Tao when I lived at a small, remote Zen Center in the mountains of Virginia in the late 60s.
I was thrust back to square one by a Near Death Experience that featured no beautiful tunnel to Bliss, but a fearful and very painful dark place where I was trapped until my friends came to the ER and pulled me back into my body with cords of Love and pity.

I gained some psychic abilities due, ironically, to the severe concussion I suffered, and since I was released from the struggle for earning my daily bread by monthly Social Security Disability checks, even though at the cost of being trapped in subsistence poverty, I escaped partially from the pain in my broken body into the world of the Imagination.
And strangely, though my disability kept me apart from my circle of active friends, learning about them through books brought me into a unique kind of intimacy with them.
I became an enigma to them, much to my amusement at times, and at others, to my chagrin!

A psychic once became very upset with me because she thought that I was misusing my powers and in some long distance sort of way, influencing writers to write books for my benefit and entertainment.
I was flattered but found the idea hilarious.
To my mind, it is just a manifestation of the play of Maya dancing through me.

Who can say how Maya might choose to express her Dance through another?

I met a saint once, (Ammachi is the name she goes by now) a chubby, dumpy, very plain brown woman who was a pariah as a child to her own family and to the villagers she grew up among in India.
She would go into blissful trances and the villagers would find her sitting in the mud or in cow dung, singing to herself, drenched in tears of joy, completely oblivious to the world.
When conscious, she would serve her family humbly and tirelessly, though they scorned and spit on her because her skin was so dark and they considered her an idiot because of her trances.
I saw her get up on stage and, swaddled in yards and yards of sari, do an energetic sword dance, leaping, twisting and twirling,singing at the top of her lungs and roaring with laughter, the sharp sword swooping all around her in swift, jabs and thrusts.

Her devotees say that she becomes Shiva when she does that dance of Destruction.
Other times, she becomes a manifestation of the Divine Mother, and spends endless days with thousands of people waiting in line to be pulled into her lap, hugged, kissed, petted and blessed.
Her blood has been tested after doing this and the doctors say it is full of many diseases she has pulled out of the bodies of those she blesses.
But in a day or two, another test will be done and all traces of disease will be gone.
What a touching dance Maya is performing through Ammachi!

In the face of such Grace manifesting on our blue pearl planet, these little squabbles here at the Pub seem very silly.
I have not met a single person here whose perspective I have not enjoyed and benefited from.
Engage in the Dance of Destruction if you will, but remember also the Divine Mother, who embraces ALL.
We are all her children, and we can play or fight together, but which is more fun?

PS Jorr has left his body and is dancing his way onward to his next journey. Dread not, there is no death.
See
https://projectavalon.net/forum4/show...566#post499566

[songsfortheotherkind]

Posted by Cerridwen (here)
I'm not really sure why you keep coming back to the Pub to play with us.

*wicked grin* Oooooooooh, I could have a go at this one! But it's probably going to be unflattering. So I'll be quiet.

To me, it kinda feels like everyone at Avalon knows we like to play checkers in here, but for some reason, you keep coming in here and insisting that we must play regulation chess. It's not that we don't know how to play chess, we just choose to play checkers anyway. We enjoy changing the rules and making it up as we go along as well.

See, that's become some have no appreciation of the way we play checkers-



and they also utterly fail to grasp the evolving way of playing checkers in this fashion by the time the effects kick in half way through. The fine art of playing checkers by throwing them at the board from three rooms away is lost on many. We are a special breed indeed. :D

But we all enjoy it exactly the way it is. If you want to play checkers with us, then grab a drink and join in, if not, then it might be less frustrating for you to take your chess pieces to another part of Avalon.

Lots and lots of other Avalonians would love to learn how to play the game of chess.

This is just one of the things I love about you: I write about mind crabs and chapped arses and you are so diplomatic and sweet. I love the diversity here! It means I don't have to be things I suck at being, like nice.

*big cheesy grin, because I'm eating spectacular nachos on a cold and rainy day*

[Debra]

Posted by onawah (here)
First there was the One.
When the One became aware of Itself, there arose the awareness of the possibility of the Other.
Thus began the Dance of Maya.
The dance of Formlessness with Form, the Goddess with the God, Creation and the Uncreated.
You can join in the Dance, or you can return to the Formlessness.
You can dance with the Other, or you can dance alone.
You are a part of the Other, and the Other is a part of you,whether you are joined in the Dance or not.
When the Dance becomes wearisome, the One rests...
When rest grows wearisome, the One dances yet again...
This is both true and untrue.
For Great Mystery will never be explained.
If we disagree when speaking of Great Mystery, it affects Great Mystery not at all...

Good morning to you Onawah - well morning where I am


That is a nice opening post .. open for all to dance in!

In the face of such Grace manifesting on our blue pearl planet, these little squabbles here at the Pub seem very silly.
I have not met a single person here whose perspective I have not enjoyed and benefited from.
Engage in the Dance of Destruction if you will, but remember also the Divine Mother, who embraces ALL.
We are all her children, and we can play or fight together, but which is more fun?

I would say, all part of the process Onawah -- you cannot ignore when an elephant is the room, they say. It needs to be acknowledged and looked after. Squabbles happen but they are for a reason, like everything else. Can´t keep it down if it is toxic below, all has to come up into the light and be sorted. As silly as it may seem from the outside - there´s some deep mining going on.

And when b#lls#it goes down .. it needs to be called on, you bet!

*Jorr comes to memory right now, in a thread about two months ago* Calm, funny, compassionate Jorr became the warrior, I was impressed He called b#sh#t so firmly, cleanly and swiftly to another poster who had made a really outrageous assumption about Jorr's lifestyle. It was dripping in judgement, I thought. I could feel it, not nice. I also learned in Jorr´s reply that it was uninformed and drawn completely from the imagination.

So, no, sorry, cannot abide by this kind of behaviour any longer. Absolutelyfrickingnot !

*grinning at you* Thanks for bringing some sunshine in, your post was a joy to read. LSD, NDE, Zen and more ... man, you have lived some - I look forward to more of your stories

[Curt]

Here's another funny little cartoon, this time, from the genius of Seth Macfarlane. Enjoy

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=fqs9DYisSsg

[Debra]

Hugely appreciated, thank you Curtis. And a good morning to you too!

[onawah]

[QUOTE=Zebra;499599]Good morning, Zebra.
Yes, you're right, of course. Sigh.
It's just a little bit embarrassing, like watching someone in public.
While really, one person's may be another's compost.
It's all just a matter of perspective.
I suppose being an INFP, I just don't like confrontation, though I won't be bullied either, and will fight if I have to, though I certainly avoid it if possible.
(So much more fun to )

(I have to continue this in another post, since we're only allowed 9 smilies and I'm in a smilie mood just now.)

[onawah]

It just seems like people are blowing up at each other for no reason lately, and it's getting tedious.
I really hate it when people get venomous.
It makes it feel so unfriendly here, the more retiring types like me don't feel comfortable enough to come out and play very much.

I have had a pretty unusual life, though, and a lot of adventures in spite of myself.
One of these days I will have to finish writing my life story.
Just to give you a teaser, my nickname growing up was Candy ( my middle name is Candace.)
And there were a lot of parallels between my life and the character in the novel Candy by Terry Southern.
So many characters in the book were showing up in my real life, in very similar guises, it was one of the first tip offs to me that Great Mystery can be much more multi-layered and complex than I had ever dreamed.
Thanks for your appreciative post.
Off to dreamland for me now.

[songsfortheotherkind]

Posted by Zebra (here)
Good morning to you Onawah - well morning where I am
[B]

I would say, all part of the process Onawah -- you cannot ignore when an elephant is the room, they say. It needs to be acknowledged and looked after. Squabbles happen but they are for a reason, like everything else. Can´t keep it down if it is toxic below, all has to come up into the light and be sorted. As silly as it may seem from the outside - there´s some deep mining going on. And when b#lls#it goes down .. it needs to be called on, you bet!

Yes. Absolutely. Letting the bullsh!tters keep on with their stuff is what is giving permission for the low vibration behaviour to continue.

*Jorr comes to memory right now, in a thread about two months ago* Calm, funny, compassionate Jorr became the warrior, I was impressed He called b#sh#t so firmly, cleanly and swiftly to another poster who had made a really outrageous assumption about Jorr's lifestyle. It was dripping in judgement, I thought. I could feel it, not nice. I also learned in Jorr´s reply that it was uninformed and drawn completely from the imagination.

The rampant and toxic levels of judgement and rancid, destructive undermining of the freedom of speech, thought and Being that are in both micro and macro are calling to be remedied. I have recently experienced some amazing revealings of the steel and fire that lies beneath some individuals that, at least initially, seem to simply be too laid back for either. It's beautiful, seeing these stands for integrity. I really liked those qualities in Jorr, all the ones you mention.

So, no, sorry, cannot abide by this kind of behaviour any longer. Absolutelyfrickingnot !

*looks over the vast Pub interior from one of the mezzanines, grinning at you* So, the Pub is a bullsh!tz and abuse free zone, eh? Sounds pretty good to me: perhaps we could make up a neato sign for the front door. :D

[songsfortheotherkind]

In memory of Jorr, the first individual to post in the Pub:



from here https://projectavalon.net/forum4/show...l=1#post446744

A first class Being that was part of the Clan of Pub. Long may his 3.0 expression have a home here.

Deep support to his beloved Marie right now.

[songsfortheotherkind]

Posted by CurtisW (here)
...So, anyway....

...Songsy, brilliant posts. You've created an apologia for Sui Generis.

...And for me personally, these latest posts have helped deepen my understanding of the concept.

...Thank you.

I particularly loved the tumbleweeds. :D

I also loved that video you once posted somewhere else about stupidity. I wish I could remember the title of that one, it's priceless.

I love being a part of true evolution, in communication and in everything else.

[songsfortheotherkind]

Posted by CurtisW (here)
Here's another funny little cartoon, this time, from the genius of Seth Macfarlane. Enjoy

Your subtlety, deftness and exquisite nuance reminds me of someone else I greatly appreciate-



*grins over at you*

I'm still laughing at the tumbleweeds here...

[PurpleLama]

Bullsh!t is ever and always in the eye of the beholder.

[Katyani]

This Pub is an extraordinary place, dreamed into existence by a certain Songs. It's a zone of freedom where uncommon people can come together to create and explore. People with minds and hearts dripping with the brightness of stars. For those with ears to hear, there is a very beautiful frequency to tune into here.

As Cerridwen pointed out, we put down the pieces of chess a long time ago. There are so many other places, both in 3D and on Avalon, where those black and white games and ways of being are played out with tiresome regularity and predictability. We are not interested in dogma here. Trying to figure this place and its patrons out from that vantage point doesn't work. To suggest some inside knowledge into who we are, where we have been or where we are going is simply laughable.

Borden stated a few pages ago that we are ourselves here. Some people seem to find this irresistibly problematic.
We will remain ourselves here, works in progress, works of art. (Yes, Zebra, art is very powerful!)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=S_oMD6-6q5Y

[Dennis Leahy]

Upon further review...

I am retracting the link I posted as too sexually explicit, crude, raunchy...and, considering some of the energies flying around the pub right now, I'd have to add "ill-timed"and inappropriate.

Bartender, the next round is on me!

Dennis

[Sierra]

Ah! Onawah! A fellow lover of Eddison! I've read those books over and over! Have you read the Charles Williams books? He was also a member of The Inklings.

My favorite Frank Herbert books (while I do love the Dune series) are Whipping Star and The Dosadi Experiment. The latter is a story that could be interpreted as what we are going to be when we are released from our prison.

Terrifying ... hehehehe.

Sierra

[onawah]

Wow, I didn't expect anyone would have even heard of Eddison; thank you for being a fellow admirer of his work and for letting me know.
It's rare to meet another fan.
I've read that trilogy over and over again too.
What an amazing world he created, with such memorable characters, and the way he portrayed the Goddess just took my breath away.
Yes, I've read all of Charles Williams that I could get my hands on.
Also Lord Dunsany, Dion Fortune and many others of the early masters and mistresses of fantasy.
Fantasy used to be my favorite genre, until women started writing more science fiction and the field became so much more imaginative and interesting.

I want to say that my complaint about the conflicts on the forum of late were not limited to the Pub, or even to Avalon in general.
It just feels to me like the energies on the planet are so intense now that everyone is feeling it, though not everyone feels it or reacts to it in the same way, of course.
It seems some of the more intellectual folks are having a harder time in this Venus transit energy, when emotion and intuition are forcing intellect out of the driver's seat.
I'm seeing people here in my home town having melt downs, and I suspect they will regret things said and done in extremis, once they've calmed down again.
We are living in interesting times, no doubt about it, and this month sure looks like it's going to be a doozy.

[Cerridwen]

Posted by PurpleLama (here)
Bullsh!t is ever and always in the eye of the beholder.

That's a very true statement. It just seems that a number of us were smelling the same thing in here though. That's why I chose to open a window.