Cosmos Café [12/11] - Holiday Edition

Temporary video link: GMT20181211-185250_Cosmos-Caf_1280x720.mp4 - Google Drive


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Cosmos Café is a weekly virtual dialogue series that focuses on deep questions of cosmology, consciousness, and culture. Our conversations are designed (and intended) to be open-ended, inclusive, and creative—going nowhere in particular (or seemingly everywhere) yet arriving at the heart of the matter over time. These are performative experiments in cooperative intelligence, grounded in deep reading, mutual listening, embodied experience, and speaking our minds!

Each week, members of the Café crew put their minds together (if only, to take them apart) to discuss an organically chosen topic from the frothy ideas bubbling up on the Infinite Conversations forum. Sometimes we invite special guests, or try creative experiments in sense-making and conversational practice. If you’re following our sessions and would like to offer feedback or make a suggestion, we’re open to ideas. If you’d like to join the conversation, we’d love to hear from you! Please add your thoughts on any topic here on the forum—or message the @ccafe crew to get in touch.

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Is the Darkness at this Time of Year a Tomb or a Womb waiting to POP?Can we learn to Move & Play in the Darkest time of the Year,it seems to be a source of Creativity?Ho-Ho,He-He lets go for a Sleigh ride in CyberSpace.

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Or we could go sledding:


I will be at this Cafe for at least the first hour. I will be bringing in hibernative thoughts from KY.
I am interested in the recent education topics. If no one else shows, I will be Cafe carolling. :musical_note:

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That Really Great Doug!

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So we will be caroling? My favorites are … “We Three Kings” and … that would be fun - a live performance of we oddballs and misfits. Any musicians? I beat sticks and my voice, well, not so good.

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Christmas cheer and sadness over the (your) lifespan. I still can’t figure out/navigate this forum/site. Seems like we ought to have a joyous celebration …

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You forget, this whole forum was inspired by Infinite Jest. Also: Borges. If you can find the center, you are probably beyond any circumference.

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I felt the Center to be in my Navel,then I read Alan Watts & the Center was Every-Where & Now-Here,I Feel Right at Home In-At Cosmos Cafe’

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I have no idea what that/you means, other than the inspiration of IJ was real, but only a part of you. Can’t we just sing some songs on line? Get stupid for a @ccafe session? Love those close to us and so on and so forth? Am I invited for Christmas dinner? Just kidding … … I’d bring a bottle(s) of wine, or weed. Just fucking with you. I’m fine. “ehhh” you know?
Cheers & Happy holidays,
love to you and yours, @madrush

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I’m feeling up for anything for this upcoming café. Hope to see a few of you… :christmas_tree:

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I think we should talk about the Crisis of the Frame, which seems to be what is happening. It used to be called ‘post modern drift.’ I think the Cafe has a bad case of it and the symptoms are getting worse. I am not interested in rescuing the Cafe as I feel a strong tendency to do that. I have a hundred things to pay attention to and I am willing to let go of all of that and direct my attention where? To what? Someone please direct my attention. Point to something. Show me something. Has anyone learned anything about anything? If the Cafe is running out of gas and no one has a direction, perhaps we should just accept that as a fact, and move on. I have library books to turn in or I will get a fine. So that motivates me to go in a certain direction. To the library. If there was a compelling reason to hang out here I would. I like everyone a lot and appreciate how smart we are but I don’t get a lot of enthusiasm for anything in the Open Frames. Good improvs can happen but I find they tend to need to be prepared for. I expect that we will be more focused in the next year. I will gladly watch the video when it comes out and share some views. Surprise me!

I have learned a lot this week and would love to share but I have other obligations and so must watch out for the signs of burn out. And
I wish everyone great seasons of jolly whatever. Ho! Ho! Ho!

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I would like to think that we have different vehicles. We mentioned our bus in the past ran out of gas, no transportation alas…yet _we remained fueled all the same _. I would like to think that we have a great opportunity here to introduce something. I see the Cafe (or perhaps this particular Cafe as good place for the barcamp method, a didactical foundation @MarcoMasi mentions in his synopsis of his book Free Progress Education for our “education” here.

Marco's Barcamp description

The ‘barcamp’ or ‘un-conference’ modality might play a role in a future higher education environment also. A barcamp might be defined as an alternative way with which people could communicate their ideas, projects, studies, and even dreams. It works as follows. In the beginning, all the people convene in a hall, and everyone is allowed to present in a minute or two his or her session. And ‘everyone’ means just that: everyone. There is no hierarchy of sages, teachers, or professors. Also a perfectly unknown person could rush in and present a speech. ‘Mister nobody’ can propose for instance to discuss with those who like to attend ‘The future of humanity on Mars’, or instead of presenting his own project he/she might ask for solutions to questions such as how to find funds to publish a book on hand surgery, or discuss how far didactical and pedagogical optimism is justified, and so on. Once the session has been briefly presented, and if among those present some raise their hands to show interest, a room and a time segment for a discussion are assigned. The same procedure repeats itself for all the others who present a topic. In this fashion, several sessions will have been programmed, without any previous intervention or approval by a commission. On a board, in less than a half an hour, a huge programme of sessions is set. Then everyone attends those which are considered the most interesting. What follows is not a talk by the proponent of the session, but only a brief introduction, after which an informal discussion is opened to all those present. The idea is that the classical seminar format might be occasionally replaced also by ‘un-seminars’. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the traditional seminar is going to die. However, in several situations a barcamp-style seminar might be a better solution because seminars are used primarily to convey information. Instead, an un-seminar can function as a platform to ask for information. For example, one might have an idea for a research project, and might want to hear what other students and faculty members might think of it. Another might want to set up a research group, and to look for members wishing to join in. Yet another might wish to share opinions and impressions about a new discovery, and so on. The barcamp, un-conference, and un-seminar formats might prove to be a great tool for communicating among students and university members ideas, projects, findings, news, etc. That would also foster a real socialization and new forms of group work, which are not forced and imposed from above, as they are at the present time.

For example: If we see fit, we would all lay out some ideas or projects we would like to work on. I could state that I want to start CosmosKids, @madrush would state he wants to read x book, @Mark_Jabbour would state that he wants a Readers Underground group to form for his new book to receive feedback and spark a great discussion, @achronon states that he need help on learning to combat his curmudgeonous personality and wishes to have a one-on-one session to discuss plans on how to go about this. @KPr2204 wants everyone to visit Virginia and host a weekend retreat to discuss a re-writing of the Bible (KJV -Katina’s Jivin’ Version). @Michael_Stumpf wishes for everyone to bring their best images of metaphorical mapping to the next Cafe so he can compile a list of metaphors to suit his fluid personality.

It may be that only one proposal leads to a separate project. @Mark_Jabbour’s request is met and we make the RU group happen. Everyone elses request didn’t find the followers needed to bring the project into fruition…so they are on the backburner, perhaps. Or forgotten. But not neglected…it may just need the right time…the right place.

I see the Cafe as for EVERYONE (edit: EVERYONE who wishes to participate). Everyone must be here to have voices heard or not, to create a direction or not. or just to chat…that is partly what the Cafe is. To plan separate projects, the Cafe is a great place to try out the barcamp style. But Tuesdays at this particular time to try and cram in everything is not fruitful. We haveany other time available and the skills as adults to start our own projects. We have the tools here to make shit happen, to make projects real. All it takes is a Zoom link and a processing buddy. And a little bit of event planning. The Zoom link is easy enough. The processing needs a bit of work if we were to handle a load of 10+ individuals and their projects. But I believe that we can make things happen.

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I like this, Doug, and thanks for showing some signs of life. We arent dead yet!

Yeah, I think we have developed that on the Social Dreaming meet up, And that is a good strategy, for developing a project that requires more attention that can be given at an open frame cafe.

Please note. I have studied improv. A good improvisor always has a purpose and they act upon that purpose with others who also have a purpose. To improv well is a very hard thing to pull off. When you have a processing buddy you can chunk down and chunk slow as we have demonstrated.

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They also serve who stand and wait. And I have waited long enough. I still have a lot of living to do.

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I would add it is for everyone who wants to participate. Some people may prefer to observe. And that is fine. As long as they keep that preference out in the open. If you are shy and want to protect your ideas you should be careful for they will get used by others here. We are willing to share. That is an aspect of the Culture we have developed here. If you want to be in observer mode that is okay too. But obviously we can’t all be observers all the time. We have to do something once in awhile unless you are extremely privileged.

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I can’t wait for bar camp! Going out for a run & will be back with O2 in my blood :wind_chime:

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KV: one of my absolute favorites. Even wanted to write a novella involving him. Go figure.

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It was a simple/complex question: What is “cosmic time”? and out of that erupted a heated exchange and subsequent accusations, denials, and retreats. @madrush has labeled me the “DJ” (and I can’t recall if that was in private or a personal communication); and that in of itself (w/r/t labels) can/would/should lead to other “infinite conversations”.
Cheers, Merry Christmas etc., and so on and so forth …

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My question about Cosmic Time has to do simply with how we would conduct our moment to moment, day to day, week to week (would we still have “weeks”?) or other forms and patterns of time, if our ultimate horizons were infinite and divine. How would we consider our days, and our lives, if we were (as we are) living in the 4th (or even 5th) dimension? What would that practically and concretely mean? And then what if a society organized its own cultural and productive activities in accordance with cosmic time (inclusive of bio, mental, subtle, virtual and other time-forms)—beyond money-time? What would our calendars be like? How would we divide things up…or not? When would everything happen, and by what inner logic or rhythm?

I would like Cosmos (the organization) to sponsor some kind of Cosmic time, which is actualized in our systems and rituals. What if we integrated and transcended mental-rational, as well as magic and mythic time, to establish a new temporal order (out of chaos)? What if we come from the future? What will the world be like then?

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