BeautyDialogues

Second Life and the Imaginal Realm

David Sibbet's intriguing Second Life Retrospective catalyzed a response that I posted as a comment on his blog, but the ideas were so engaging to me that I thought I'd write a bit here as well.

One part of David's retrospective that particularly interested me was his exploration of how what I understand as the Jungian idea of active imagination might effect psychological healing and spiritual development within Second Life ...

I've heard that experiencing something in one's imagination is neurologically almost identical to having experienced it in reality. If this is true, it has huge implications for consciously using Second Life to work with all sorts of issues - emotional, psychological, spiritual, social, philosophical and environmental. Second Life could be (and already is) a playground to test and seed all kinds of positive change.*

Lastly, another area I found fascinating was David's recounting of his experiences with Light in Second Life. You have to read his paper to get the fullness of his thinking on this subject, but I wanted to give you all some idea. So this is my SL avatar, Pipi Tinlegs, standing near the rays of the healing light table in David's inworld Story Studio:

* (speaking of seeding positive change, I recently hosted a World Café in Second Life for the Rockridge Institute with the fabulous SingingHeart Amat, aka in 'real' life as Michelle Paradis. I'll write up a proper report on it soon and link to it from this blog)

First Sweet Peas

This morning's beauty walk revealed a sweet pea vine filled with a zillion little fragrant blossoms - they're some of my favorite flowers, and these are the first I've seen this year.

I can't render the nectar of their scent in this medium, tant pis, but here is a scan of one little cluster of blooms...

It's a poor substitute for the real thing, I know, but I hope it triggers a memory (especially of this divine smell) or gives you reason to smile.

Be the Change

I get occasional mail from KarmaTube sharing inspirational videos, and this one was so good I wanted to share it with you here on the Beauty Dialogues. It's 2 minutes of pure 'Yes We Can", set in a traffic jam in India.

Be the Change! Do that seemingly small thing, and see what happens...

Dreaming

Last week about this time I emerged from a four-day Dreaming ceremony in the Santa Cruz mountains I have been doing every year with FireHawk and Pele of Resonance.

This time has become very important to me, as a way to re-calibrate myself with the natural rhythm of nature and the seasons and give myself a chance to re-align with my own internal pace. Entering this dance with time gives me a rare opportunity to slow down and reflect, to remember who I am beneath the busi-ness of my everyday life.

The Power of Simple Design

One of the reason I choose to use TypePad is their obvious care for beauty - from the viewpoint of a designer it is very easy to make a beautiful blog with this software, and from a user's standpoint, the interface has a refreshing clarity and ease.