end-game

The plan for the end-game is generally to relax and enjoy. To conduct all of my favourite activities, I shall be living beside the sea, rurally, with internet connection, with access to public transport to a major polity -- the best of all worlds. To swimming, tango, tai chi, GO, meditation, XQ, writing, jaxing, tron, making love, I shall continue selling my books, tutoring, learning_upgrades and adding music composition, doubling, gardening, reading.

I'd like to spend a reasonable amount of my time engaging nature. Swimming, especially along a coast with interesting underwater architecture. Beaches are dull, but rock formations are interesting. I may indulge myself with a little cliff-running, and climbing up rocks that face the sea. I'd like to pick up tai chi practice again, preferably conducted outdoors.

Virtually, I'd like to be reading more especially around the topic of XQ. While I don't know what will happen after Tron Legacy comes out, I think I'd still like to play tron. If the mood takes me, I might explore writing the psy-fi I have been presearching. I'd like to continue jaxing, doubling, and may even invest in some major time composing music.

Along a more work-orientated vein, I'd like to garden, preferably with trees, tending fruit trees, slowing down to match their seasonal pace. I might do a little tutoring, maths and english and anything else, ala the demands of learning up_grades, though this may relax as I get older, content myself with just helping someone get from A to B. Life will get easier in either of two ways, both of them predicated on people knowing the B they are aiming to get to. First, their idea of B is a simple thing, something I can provide easily; second, their they don't really know what B is since it is something which I have offered in tango or XQ maths or whatever. The second case is more demanding for them, but not for me, since gone are the days where I am trying to push for them. Then there's selling my books.

I'd like to continue tango, though in a more relaxed way, more socially. The chances of finding other tango dancers in the middle of nowhere is slim, so I may have to find a woman, play, and then gradually introduce it to the community if anyone is interested. Or just await the times I return to a big city.

There are a couple of practices which are quite demanding requiring a certain quality of partner. Exploring the martial aspect of tai chi with someone willing to follow a rather rigourous methodology. Tango, perhaps more deeply, more subtly. Playing GO with someone who is better than me. Tron players willing to form a strong team, the tronic monkeys. If another writer appears, I'd be happy to explore the psy-fi together, or even co-author some multiple narrative text. Perhaps a meditation partner would spur me to deeper regions of contemplation.

And should anyone turn up and show an interest in 2020worldpeace related ideas and practice, I'd simply like to reflect 2020 back to them and their current efforts.

reality games

Because of the troubles approaching christmas, coming up with a new genre of social art: reality games. This was going to be my final year of the direct approach, after which I can give up with 2020worldpeace whatever the result. Considering the results of the direct approach, I am playing around with a whole range of approaches, which involve stories, roleplaying, and fun experiences.

When I played roleplaying games as a teenager, our group seemed very different from others because we did not invest in imaginary characters, we didn't want superpowers etc. It was just us, the same kids, imagining ourselves in different scenarios. It was generally realistic, and it was generally the players falling out of one disaster into another.

I started writing up opening scenarios for a psy-fi last year, hoping that I had made enough connections with writers to perhaps enable a multiple-authored text. This got scuppered right at the beginning of the year, and I haven't looked at it since. A year goes by, and I read some of it, and I wonder who on earth wrote it. Interesting possibilities.

So, in the same way I was thinking of facilitating the writing of a multiple-authored text, what about inviting people to participate in alternative experiences? Pimp and biatches clubbing, pitching a CSR department with actors, ESPRA, all kinds of reality games where people are participants in creating reality as we go along. I am not one of the players, per se, but a facilitator.

This is early idea formation, but I think I can get more of a handle on it over the holiday season. What is important is to realise that it is not important for people to get it. It's not about getting their fully-informed conscious decision. I have done this far too much. What is better is that we get the experience, based on which we can think about it. Wrt any reality game situation/scenario, any specific consciousness will be considering a particular aspect of it, and they will have a library of perceptions/thoughts on it too. This is not what is engaged. It's whether it is fun, unknown, a surprise, a learning experience. The appeal is at a deeper level. It's not about mind and judgement.

This is the bit I have to shift in my own head. It involves a whole system of thoughts: selfless, words are the listeners', moment is blinkered, emotive engagement, (not looking for acknowledgement, or an equal presently, if they are present, they will engage later...).

mindstream 090909

Woke up at 4am or so and eventually had to wake enough to make some notes, and eventually had to get up. Came up with the following thought-streams:

• phases of social realisation
• enlightenment next: first-last to latest
• pay the individual, not the group
• times table, and fractions there-of
• conditions for exponential social explosion, in eg tango
• cycles: heartbeat, breath, mind
• mistaken associations and fine vibes
• comprehending the lotus flower

Is that enough? I'll describe them each a little, more for my own thinking than to explain. Oh, and speaking to Sofia, giving the last one and the second, reminded of plastacine sculptures.

phases of social realisation

0 oh...

to notice an idea

a possible event

create a class

1 ah!

noticing another person's idea, event, or class

by plusing it wrt espian tent, or retweeting it

and allocating some pecus to it

2 o

threshold of interest

when the sum of interest > x

(x specified by the originator)

the originator or whoever defines the projection and applies will to it

3 k

people who noticed originally are reinformed of threshold

and define their own projection

and apply a k-value of enthusiasm

4 !

the event actually occurs

with various threshold calculations based on the sum of k

or a set number of k-10's

or whatever

enlightenment next: first-last to latest
It's the latest people who join a group that define it, not the pioneers, the early ones. Older, original followers get bored... it's like watching the same film. Also, the power of prototype, allows peeps to define the idea they have just been told... their response is essential!

pay the individual, not the group

Obvious really. Pay a group, and it lives. Pay an individual, and it pays.

times table, and fractions there-of
Eg 3 6 9 12... 6 is 1/2 of 12, 9 is 3/4 of 12... do this with all the tables, at different amounts of a table, as it were... ie, don't think of a table as complete. Just runs of multiples. AMAZINGLY SIMPLE. Always wondered how to introduce fractions, and this is it. Making relationships between the multiples. So simple.

conditions for exponential social explosion, in eg tango

If people invited must bring along two partners, this may create clumps of 4, since each dancer is inviting two opposite sex partners. This is like a neutron being absorbed in a carbon atom. The trick is to enforce externalisation. That is, you can't invite someone who has already been invited. For this to work, you could simply say invite one partner. Two makes it a lot faster. Keep track of this using prototype?

cycles: heartbeat, breath, mind
Heartbeat 60 bpm, breathing 10 bpm... what about mind? Emotions also have a different period. They all have period. Flux.

Also, dancing when the music is inside, whereas moving to an enforced rhythm becomes machine-like. The reason why modern dance music was offencive to older generation is because the music was outside and could not believe it was possible to internalise that speed.

The meme-period, daily routine, cleaning teeth, etc, calling ourselves certain names...

mistaken associations and fine vibes
To contemplate the body as having a history, even from birth, from the first DNA formation from male female parents, is amazing. To think of the genotype history, mammals, fish, amoeba, life is astounding too. And this is mostly physical, even if we consider structure and energistics. We can also think about memes, language forms, parental patterns, cultural forms, also finding themselves in history, eg cities, money, wording, astounding range too.

However these are all observing the stream as it passes, and thinking about the source and the result... whereas one is just here and now. This instant. Nice vibe though.

May be an association of this contemplation, and vibration, and the finer petals of the lotus flower.

comprehending the lotus flower

This, or not this, what is left? Sure, not sure, what is left? Male, not male, what is left? Brother, not brother, what is left? A petal is a thought of association, often positive, attachment. A petal is also a thought of not, often negative, imaginary, aversion.

As the petals open, as we become aware and do not associate ourselves, so what is left becomes free as it were. There is nothing at the end of it, no thing, no heart, just the open space above the lotus flower, the revealing of itself.

If we peel apart these layers, we are analysing, whereas if we let them unfold, we are becoming.

I associate this with a torus, smoke ring... and the inverse mind-drop solution.

everything is self-organised

A little note about Just In Time.

Was drifting in/out of sleep and this thought came into my head regarding how we only have a week of normal living if things hit the fan. Lack of oil, foodstuffs, etc, everything collapses in a short period of time. So the illusion that we are part of a thing that is solid, with hundreds of years of solidity and will exist forever, is so convincing that many people feel disempowered. But really, when it comes down to it, the disempowerment is not in the face of history or the future, but in the lack of trust and proper engagement right now, day to day.

Tav recollected the appropriate term, Just In Time, and I am including it in the prezi I am producing on psycho-social dynamics.

TRON: strategic nexus

I shall use this post and one in the play fortress blog to outline the strategic importance of TRON.

deepening on twitter

Twitter is mostly for shallow engagement. The 140 character limit enforces a conciseness which I welcome, and it happens to align to the minimalism we find in buddhism. We have a tendency to multiply out of all proportion the simple lessons that wise bods have come up with over 2000 years of exploration and experience. I'd like to use this post to expand on the first little experiment we've had on twitter with @JimWray @HaumanaDao @eve11@zhibDe and others with the tag #budsci for buddhist science.

So with this in mind, can we use the letterbox protocol (defined in the previous post below) and apply it to twitter in order to deeper our engagement meaningfully?

rule #1: tweet with the invitation for another to follow

This principle is simple. You are not allowed to write more than one tweet at a time.

rule #2: respond with the tag #budsci

We can use various filter or search facilities of nambu, tweetdeck or seesmic, or use tweetag. This enables new people to join in.

rule #3: refer to this post for new posters

It may also be useful to have a link to this post every so often just to explain the format, where we can continue discussion in the comments if necessary. Also, if a new tweeter just starts blethering, or one of us breaks a rule, or we think it is veering off, one of us can post a link to this blog to clarify the rules and to emphasise the ideals we are attempting to realise.

option #1: bid for several tweets

We can break with the single-post limit by requesting two or three or even more in order to convey a system of thoughts. Simply state a number, and it must be followed by an agreement by the number of people equal to the request less one's self. Eg, if I ask for 2 tweets, then all I need is one OK for me to go ahead and produce two sequential tweets. If I ask for 3 tweets, two other people must say ok in sequence, because in effect we are asking for their 'tweet-time'.

option #2: number statements

In order to keep track of them, and perhaps to refer to them. Perhaps all of them, perhaps just specific ones we wish to mark. If we feel there is a continuity; an amazing achievement may be that three statements follow one after another even though they come from different people.

option #3: colour threads

Using colours to indicate different threads. This is of course a category system and prone to all the problems thereof. Red (physical), orange (emotional), yellow (knowledge), green (will), blue (communication), indigo (insight), violet (god). Could allow individuals to create a specific colour, eg aquamarine, to pursue a particular line of thinking.

In this way, we avoid the pitfalls of standard communication, which I believe prohibit us from sharing our insights meaningfully. We are not thinking oppositionally, we are not presenting an argument leading to a conclusion, nor are we persuading. We are merely remarking, observing. We also shy away from making beautiful or poetic statements because it is not the word combination that interests us, but what how it helps us reflect upon our own experiences and insights. Also, there is no need to agree to disagree. Be very careful with questions, since they tend to shift focus to a past statement or to lead the reader to something the writer wants to continue with; consider using option #1 for a question-answer pairing.

Ideally, statements are reflective: it is not what is written that matters, rather what is read. Ideally, statements follow one another: it does not matter from which person they come, because accurate reflections of our conditional existence are true. Ideally, we go with the flow of the statements: always mindful that there are more people listening than there are 'talking', and that by making a statement we are directing everyone's attention. Ideally, we enable a deepening by remaining on a point/concept/topic; instead of flitting from one to another, with whatever our mind comes up with that is not the statement. Ideally, we are patient: whatever we have in our minds, what we know to be true, will come up at some point. Ideally, we are not pressing on, but drawing attention to: there is nothing being transacted, only resonate. Ideally, each statement has an ending to it; we should tend away from using words in such a way that they invite necessary specific explication.

Are we capable of this? I am sure to fail, but... I like the idea of trying. Imagine we are sitting together deep in meditation. Be mindful of the effect of words. Give plenty of space. And if we are lucky, over a few weeks, with perhaps only a dozen statements, we will be satisfied with our statements or at the least we will have learned lessons about our conduct.

Be well!

the letterbox protocol

Just spoke to Sofia regarding Chris. Chris is the guy who funded me to live in london in summer 2007. He's a genius, however his social interaction with people is so bad it's scary. Which means, his genius is not being correctly and usefully influencing the current world flows as much as it should. Sofia was burned by him, and she's super patient and tried for years. My solution has been heard but has not been acted on. It's a sore point, because there is danger that she will enter into engagement with him, and this will lead to the same dynamics as before.

With this in mind, Sofia suggested we talk about the problem using the Letterbox Protocol. From Confluence Consultancy:

"Having done this with my brother and with Sofia to my benefit and theirs, it is something I would like to encourage especially with people who are ahead of themselves. The protocol consists of changing how we speak in a simple way, specifically, each person says one sentence only.

"The intention at the end of the sentence is to invite the other to continue. This is the default state. A person is not allowed to continue unless the other comprehends, is following, is ready, and enables one to say the next sentence.

"The practice of this means that speaking is divorced from the speaker. Because we are sophisticated and we know about multiple perspectives, we tend to fall into the trap of our real-time truth that we have different perspectives. The objective is to acknowledge and practice the truth that we are talking at a deeper level than perspective. Hence, it does not matter who actually is talking. The emphasis is not on will, on grabbing attention, on being entertaining, nor sparkling with some wit, or bringing to bear some fact, etc. It is based on simple sharing. Also, little feedback loops like, dis/agreement, are jettisoned in the same way individually they are jettisoned for the sake of individual personal fluency. Also consider bids to say more than one statement which requires consensus again.

"This is relatively easy with two people, and requires greater practice with more than two. If people become practiced at this, then there is a chance that the speed might increase, where a collective of ten speak as if they are one."

It worked! We also included a time limit of 20 mins. Good engagement. Although a tricky subject, the protocol prevents a collapse into standard behaviours and social dynamics. Sofia and I talked about this tricky subject well, and we both felt good at the end of it, even though there is a confrontation right at the heart of it. Tav automated the process for Twitter, but his server is not up and running at the mo. However, even when it does, what people need is the real-world experience of it before it is transposed into the virtual world.

A similar dynamic happened when Dougald located various disorders of communication in me, and when I asked for engagement in a polite way, we effected something like the Letterbox Protocol. He is very eloquent, and produced some excellent and accurate descriptions as well as demonstrating lightness of attention. This has a tendency to run on, which makes listening and addressing specific points tricky. I believe by introducing the invitational ethic after every sentence, I do believe he will absolutely shine.

This is a protocol to improve listening, and thereby following, and thereby the emergence of appropriate leadership, that is, to truth. It helps us confront what needs to be confronted, well. It's a buddhist protocol, I think.