I said I would come back between 5 and 5.30. Because I assumed you might be taking a break at that time. So I got to the... log house and said, my best non-German, has anybody been here for the break yet? So I indicated drinking a cup, you know. Yeah, so, anyway... Anyway, so I suggested we could do whatever you wanted this afternoon. What would you like me or us to do right now? So we were dealing with the question how consciousness becomes conscious of consciousness.

[01:29]

It would be nice if you could say something about that. I said something all day about it. Well, one thing I noticed while I was sitting here and Eric was whispering to me the secrets. I found myself, hey, this is a good way to find secrets. topics to speak to tomorrow. And of course, one would be, is the self dissolved in prison, or is the self How is it supported in Buddhism or supported in psychotherapy? That's something obvious if we've talked about it and we've had to in all these years, but still, you know, I don't know.

[02:32]

It might be useful to look at it some more. And then there's the question of... You're debating whether you should take a bath or not. For example. And you don't really know whether you're thinking, I don't want to take a bath, I don't have time. But you notice that during breakfast you didn't get dressed, you put on a bathrobe instead of getting dressed. So it seems like your body has figured out you don't take a bath anyway. And it already knows very precisely that there's enough time.

[03:44]

Now does that mean the body is making decisions? Or does that mean there's some other... territory of knowing, thinking, deciding, other than consciousness, getting the body that's manifesting through the body. And that's a very relevant topic within Zen practice. And I think of what Krista said a few minutes ago. Something came up. What mind decided what to say? So, how to... To feel into that territory, there are ways to do it in Buddhism, and I thought maybe that might be a topic that relates.

[05:17]

And then Srikirishi states that you're anchoring enlightenment. Are we anchoring, helping each other anchor self too? So I thought that was also possible. But that's all I gleaned from the last few minutes of your discussion. Gleaned means like when you sort the... Glean means you take the grain away. And another would be the role of posture in establishing an awareness or a mind in another person.

[06:24]

Because it's assumed in Buddhism that you communicate a mind primarily through posture. I mean, it's very difficult to sleep standing up unless you're a horse. Unless you're driving. Usually we sleep horizontally and awake, standing up. And so the interaction of posture during a psychotherapeutic session must be extremely important, or at least for a Buddhist practitioner it would be extremely important.

[07:31]

Yeah, I noticed riding a bicycle, for instance, is somewhat different. Is that, you know, when I'm in Freiburg, I... Can ride bicycles, can I pray? I get more exercise in the city than I do in the mountains. So I get all nice. Do all my errands on a bicycle. While I think of it. Christian Dillow, I spoke to yesterday at some length. Who's the director and treasurer of Creston Mountain Center? Schatzmeister. Schatzkister and Schatzmeister. Yeah, I understand, yeah. He wanted to really come again this year because he treasures the relationship with you.

[09:05]

But he's applying for a green card, and a lawyer told him, if you leave the country while you're applying, you might lose your place in the green card. Well, anyway, the reason the bicycle came up. Because one very easy way to shift your... modality of mind is bring attention to your ears to sound and on a bicycle you kind of have to do it to ride safely And you bring the feeling up through the spine to the ears. And so you can do that.

[10:14]

You can have a feeling of bringing attention through the spine to the ears and you create a spacious view. One of the instructions I give people when they study koans are written for another state of mind. This read with your ears. That doesn't mean to sound the text, it means to create have your attention in your ears as you read. So all of those little things maybe we can talk about if you want.

[11:15]

Anything I missed, I missed everything, so is there anything you want to add to the list? Why are you smiling like that? What's on that smiley mind? I don't know. No, okay, that's probably good. I just feel so lost. Okay, anyone want to... Add something to what we might try to consider. Or subtract. Well, I have to go sit over there again, I guess.

[12:38]

Yeah. Yes? Wow. I wish I could have a poetic summary of the field that you are just now experiencing. A poetic summary of the field I am just now experiencing. He's on display. Well, let's say that if you really want to know, you should assume a posture similar to mine and open your antennas. Easiest way. begin to feel you tune in the other person's same station.

[13:54]

And, you know, I actually, if you had taken a break, the way you did it is just fine, you know, that stone got warm. But I was kind of looking forward to getting in the middle of you somewhere and having a mixed English and Deutsch conversation. Because the change in the overall posture also changes what I would speak about. So should we sit a minute and stop?

[15:16]

We've got very slow flies here. I understand, yeah. I always... It's like the little one-line poem of the New England poet, what's her name, Emily Dickinson. Long before She died. She wrote a little line which I remember long after she died.

[16:18]

I heard a fly buzz the day I died. Which makes me think of another book story I could tell you. Another book I talked about the other day. James Agee's book, To Death and the Family. A very close old friend of mine had read the book. And he tried to finish it before he had to go out and see some people.

[17:25]

Yeah, so he, you know, did finish it and went out to the Cedar, not the Cedar Street, San Remo Bar in North Beach, not North Beach, in a village in New York. And he was supposed to meet Frank O'Hara and some other people, the poet Frank O'Hara. So he was standing around waiting for a booth. And someone said, you know, I'm almost finished, you can... Sit here if you want, wait for your friends. A guy was just finishing his. And my friend Earl didn't know what to talk about, so he said, you know, I just finished this really wonderful book, A Death in the Family.

[18:37]

And the guy said, oh, really? How is it? Do you recommend it? What did you like about it? So Earl told him how deeply moved he was by the book. And finally the guy said, I've got to go now. And Earl said, it was nice to talk to you. What's your name? James Agee. No, it's true. It's really true. Just two months later, James Agee was dead. He died in a taxi after that. Rehearsal of a play on Gordon.

[19:53]

Another death in our family.

[19:55]

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