Pagosa hot springs (southern Colorado): Scott MacLeod, MIT Open Mic poems, Th., April 29, 2021 * Thanks to MIT Libraries, MIT Open Mic, MIT Reads, and to ... MIT Reads celebrates National Poetry Month | MIT Libraries * * Many of my poems have an Actual–Virtual Harbin Hot Springs’ focus. Harbin is a hot springs’ retreat center in northern California, and my actual-virtual ethnographic field site for a long term unfolding ethnographic project

Scott MacLeod, 

MIT Open Mic poems, 

Th., April 29, 2021 

Thanks to @mitlibraries for this #MITOpenMic: Glad to have just read a few poems from 5 books, in a new poetry press @WUaSPress @WorldUnivAndSch.

'Scott MacLeod, MIT Open Mic poems, Th., April 29, 2021'https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2021/04/pagosa-hot-springs-southern-colorado.html ~ http://worlduniversityandschool.org/AcademicPress.htm ~ http://amazon.com/author/scottmacleodworlduniversity ~

Thanks to @mitlibraries for this #MITOpenMic: Glad to have just read a few poems from 5 books, in a new poetry press @WUaSPress@WorldUnivAndSch.
'Scott MacLeod, MIT Open Mic poems, Th., April 29, 2021'https://t.co/p4kHHXPwnx ~ https://t.co/whv5dDhfX1 ~ https://t.co/7KL0INJl4j ~ https://t.co/tV50YbW1xP

— Languages-World Univ (@sgkmacleod) April 30, 2021

https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1387924667751567364?s=20

https://twitter.com/sgkmacleod/status/1387925070442500100?s=20

*

Thanks to MIT Libraries, MIT Open Mic, MIT Reads, and to ...

MIT Reads celebrates National Poetry Month | MIT Libraries

https://libraries.mit.edu/news/reads-celebrates/31990/

*

Celebrate #NationalPoetryMonth with us on April 29 by joining us at our second annual open mic!

MIT Reads welcomes you to share original or favorite poetry, spoken word, or short prose pieces.

All are welcome. http://ow.ly/ePdu50Epsg4 #MITReads

Celebrate #NationalPoetryMonth with us on April 29 by joining us at our second annual open mic!

MIT Reads welcomes you to share original or favorite poetry, spoken word, or short prose pieces.

All are welcome. https://t.co/dRmh9h0w7c#MITReadspic.twitter.com/iK3e9xupsG

— MIT Libraries (@mitlibraries) April 22, 2021

https://twitter.com/mitlibraries/status/1385324409804623872?s=20

* *  

Many of my poems have an Actual–Virtual Harbin Hot Springs’ focus. Harbin is a hot springs’ retreat center in northern California, and my actual-virtual ethnographic field site for a long term unfolding ethnographic project which I’m developing. Many of my poems were written at or on the road to Harbin, and some of my poems also focus on traveling as well as the Rainbow Gathering itself, (a hippy gathering, which began in 1973 in Boulder Colorado, and is still happening). A kind of hippy voice comes out in my poetry – and hence my tie dye coronavirus mask. Some poems touch on an exploration of consciousness, and even ways in which we might visit and realize Harbin virtually – in a realistic virtual Harbin Hot Springs, and from our home bath tubs too, for a meditative aspect paralleling soaking in the Harbin warm pool. My poetry also explores eliciting the neurophysiology of loving bliss.

I'm going to read a few poems from my 5 books in a new poetry and academic press at World Univ & Sch.

http://worlduniversityandschool.org/AcademicPress.html

http://amazon.com/author/scottmacleodworlduniversity ~

*

I read the first 3 poems here, in the 5 minutes we had, having prepared about 8 of them ... 

* * 

book ~

Light, Float, Sit, Watsu ~ Virtually: Bodymind Electricity Sings to Me at Harbin Hot Springs & Other Traveling Poems (2021)

(Watsu is water shiatsu, a form of therapeutic healing dance, originating in the Harbin warm pool; d’eau is French for water).

*

poem ~ 

Light, Float, Sit

Light

lights

Harbin

harmony 

in one, waters warm, 

immense, immersion, milieu d’eau.

Float

flies 

in warm

watery 

ease-me-in present, 

a gift of flight in fluid d’eau, 

where freedom finds releasing in among hug nude friends. 

Sit,  

roots

around,

touch all cells, 

water pool food

intimate naked yes exchange, 

of mind body suit seamlessly freeing we who connect under stars, skies, Harbin-wise. 

Swimming iguana: Light, Float, Sit

http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2013/09/swimming-iguana-email-to-cynefin-and.html

* * 

book ~ 

To the Dance or the Pools? ~ Virtually! How different it is to soak at Harbin Hot Springs, than to realize it in virtual Reality (2019) 

*

poem ~ 

Under Stars

Under splendid stars,

the smells of oaks

and northern

California tilth,

coming over

the hill from

Napa Valley

to Middletown,

suffuse all air with

earthy fragrance,

welcoming me

back to Harbin land, ~

into the waters soon.

Under Stars

http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2010/01/under-stars.html 

*

poem ~

Firefly: I came upon a feast of lights spread speckle 'cross hill and vale / 78

I came upon a feast of lights

spread speckle 'cross hill and vale,

and reveled

in their evening softnesses.

And from Harbin's redwood,

sleeping deck, below,

I saw Gazebo's

octagonal lights,

on Mainside, -

a tasty, illuminated pie, -

ready to spin-off

in a wee-wee :)

psychedelic-whirligig,

through starry cosmos,

but, instead,

centers this

Harbin-light,

beauty gaze,

in winter,

at night,

from here.

I walked in on that dark,

empty, village path, at night.

No one was around ...

It would have been easy

to stumble upon

some jutting rock,

but I didn't,

and so came to this

way-place

of glimmering,

night-light beauty, -

this redwood deck,

which, so full in the day

with resting,

naked bodyminds,

in solace-ease

from stresses of modernities,

gives forth these

welcoming visions

of la lumière.

Heading now

into the pool area,

I bring this light

show with, and in,

my bodymind,

to venture deeper

into mysteries

of aliveness, -

naked, warm and free -

in Harbin's watery warmth.

Where are you now,

my love,

with whom this all to share,

and rock out in with,

all together?

And, oh, what beautiful orchards

of ripe, fruit, human living! ...

Pools now,

in warm-oneness-ease ...

Heading on in now ....

What delight this night,

in this very warm pool!

Why this particular,

bodymind joy,

this eve?

Nothing special ... don't know ...

Was it because I talked,

and connected,

with a smart, receptive friend,

in words, about loving bliss,

on the phone coming up?

We thought out loud about

this bliss-love:

Ecstasy is MDMA,

methylene di oxy meth amphetamine, -

theoretically,

a love-everything-in-the-world-intensely,

for 5-8 hours,

biochemical, bodymind,

reference experience

for 75% of we ingesters, -

for affective euphoria, -

and one,

of so, so many,

replicable qualities of bliss,

for we who are biological beings, -

symbolizing, human primates,

shaped by evolution

by natural selection.

And we talked further about

Scottish Country Dancing,

which we've done together,

quite long ago,

with bliss,

via its ebullient

series of tones,

its music, movement,

and sociable interactiveness.

It's a related, also replicable -

like technology, - example.

Was it, too, the Ginseng tea,

earlier today, of which

I hadn't drunk in a while?

Still, the weather of my bodymind

hasn't yet found its

cello bow strokes

of loving bliss agency,

of this music-making,

here and now,

when desired.

And as I write,

and while in concert hall,

of this Harbin warm pool, -

my bodymind, yes,

is conducive to such bliss,

yet, I haven't caused

these joys.

What can cause bodymind,

loving bliss, whenever, but,

especially, here now?

I do, though,

like this weather,

here tonight,

in winter,

at Harbin.

Firefly: I came upon a feast of lights spread speckle 'cross hill and vale

http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/03/firefly-i-came-upon-feast-of-lights.html

* * * 

Poems I had gathered together for this, but didn't read 

poem ~

Amboseli: How different it is to soak at Harbin, than to realize it virtually

How different it is

to soak at Harbin,

than to realize it

virtually,

or in bodymind,

by reading,

thinking,

or viewing

multimedia,

interactively.

Writing in Maine,

over a Christmas visit, -

with long walks on beaches,

and family friends,

and red brick Portland,

and the Wadsworth-Longfellow house,

which invited me

in,

to Longfellow's poetry,

'Often I think of the beautiful town

That is seated by the sea ... '

virtually, -

I hearken

to Harbin's waters,

and warmth,

and wholeness

of being there,

from afar, ...

but, while traveling,

I'm not present,

in that place,

in those

warm

waters,

in that milieu.

As I return

west coast-wise,

I draw closer,

but Harbin's

presence,

and oneness,

are in that

fluid,

geothermal

emergence

from the earth,

in that valley,

remote from the metropole, ~

and yet still far.

A virtual Harbin

is emerging, -

like Harbin's waters, -

to generate warmth,

in multimedia,

from your bathtub,

from home,

developing with the internet, ...

but emerging organically,

as process,

in writing an

actual / virtual Harbin ethnography.

Waters of wholeness, ...

an inner immersion,

in bodymind fluids,

with relaxation response, -

and at times deeply -

is happening, all the time,

yet unparalleled,

and still awaiting,

the concert

of the Harbin pool.

Amboseli: How different it is to soak at Harbin, than to realize it virtually

http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/12/amboseli-how-different-it-is-to-soak-at.html?m=0

Saturday, December 31, 2011

*  

poem (and book, so this is the title poem of book) ~

To the Dance or the Pools? ~ Virtually! How different it is to soak at Harbin Hot Springs, than to realize it in virtual reality 

Drive them back to the wine-dark taste of home,

The smell of damsons simmering in a pot,

Jam ladled thick and steaming down the sunlight. 

- Seamus Heaney

To the dance, then the pools,

first at actual Harbin, over years,

dancing free, dancing be,

dancing bee, buzzing, its own honey ~

this movement-freedom grows

with warmth and energy 

in concert with the music.

Connecting with dancing begins,

connecting with dancing beings,

singing inside with freedom in rhythm,

I delight in this liberation, ~

but depends on the music too ~ 

Blues, Grateful Dead, jamming, Rock & Roll, 

make it happen for me, actually.

Heat comes, the music closes at evening's end, 

and people head to the pools,

to cool down, 

to complement the body-movement jam,

with serene soaking under starlight

- and the warm waters - ease.

These Harbin warm pool waters,

this elixir of encompassing body suits ~

one's whole being received by

this geo-thermally warmed liquid, ~

we like.

Virtually?

Dancing at home - wearing the Glasses -

I'm there, and so are you,

in the Harbin Conference Center, 

and people be jamming,

this be-music is hop-happening,

virtually. 

I start to move here at home,

Glasses revealing new openings

through which to glide,

and around my body goes,

dancing at home, dancing my home.

How Different it is to dance at home in virtual Harbin, ~

and cool - a realization.

... "Question:

whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, 

And by opposing end them?"

(https://poets.org/poem/hamlet-act-iii-scene-i-be-or-not-be)

Or, to head to Harbin actually or virtually, 

different it is,

to seek and find freedom,

by traveling from the SF bay,

the way, the Napa Valley 

wine way to Harbin,

or to find one's way 

there, Virtually there, 

'as if' and by multimedia,

with gorgeous visuals 

on a screen, currently

what a scream!

Yet beyond this traveling difference -

a big difference - this venturing out

in bodymind, locomotively, to move through, 

to see, to interact with, the world,

The Soaking in warm pool 

actually, in waters there,

while being in Harbin all around,

communicating silently, communing that is,  

with fellow naked soakers, is wondrous.

The Soaking in one's bathtub,

virtually, from home, Glasses on, 

digital screens behind the glass, 

newfangled things,

while surround-seeing in Harbin ~

Brainwave headset too to come

for communication, 

Tan Le's* or

Brainfingers* (only works when able to relax) or

EEG* brainwave 'dreadlocks' ~

still wondrous

yet you don't hang out actually ~

by mingling silently in warm pool ~

or visiting quietly naked 

Sunning on the Sun Deck.

Immersive both, in different ways, 

the warm waters help

meditation deepen ~

release inwardly deeply ~

a relaxation response in both,

and all is one in the here and now,

consciousness changes.

Yet there's more space too 

in the actual Harbin's warm pool 

than in this bathtub.

How best to understand consciousness, 

and this consciousness,

this Harbin consciousness,

this Harbin Heart Consciousness

of HCC - Heart Consciousness Church?

Subjective-Objective accounts,

1st person-3rd person scientific narratives ~

in the warm waters, with the Glasses,

re visually observing,

and beginning to examine neural processing ~ 

as sentience, 

awareness, 

perception and 

feeling 

in the brain the mind, the BodyMind?

So is this, the Body-Mind problem,

moot in the warm pool,

and consciousness all one?

Yet, poetry-wise, we be studying

how brains give rise to mind,

re neural processing,

with brainwave headsets ~

thinking about it.

So then, can minds be bodies, and

is sentience brain-meat or bodyminds?

Virtually!

And how is bodymind

consciousness - importantly - virtual,

or in what ways can we make this more so - to learn?

Further, are these neurophysiological e-states

in these hypothetical virtual brains,

conscious - digitally?

And how far does sentience extend 

down the phylogenetic tree?

Won't study this here now at Harbin, 

yet Tononi's integrated information theory - IIT - holds promise 

- 'that consciousness is identical to a certain kind of information' - 

and measurable as Phi, the symbol for integrated information.

How could we code this in virtual brains,

yours and mine,

film-to-3D app at the street level, cell and atomic levels,

where the 'digital' corresponds 1-1

to the brain cells and neurons and processing,

and the 'virtual' - as if with multimedia,

to the mind, - somehow conscious.

Thus we might distinguish between the

Actual-Virtual, and the Physical-Digital. 

And how could brainwave headset devices best turn their 

information gathering inwardly 

in these regards - and from the Harbin warm pool?

Phi! ~ actual, physical, that is ~

how can we simulate this? 

To virtual Phi? 

And further to digital Phi?

Qualia, infinite qualities, 

('the internal and subjective component of sense perceptions, 

arising from stimulation of the senses by phenomena' too),

perceived by many, 

in myriad ways, in many bodyminds? 

At actual Harbin in the warm pool, 

with brain wave headsets monitoring the brain, 

might one be able to study these anew?

At home with Glasses,

and brainwave headsets,

people could talk more readily, 

adding a language element 

to the 'subjective,' 

their 1st person accounts, - and 

in studying the brain technologically, 

actually-virtually & physically-digitally, 

where the 'as-if' virtual experience 

created by multimedia and 

perceived in the brain could be 

digitally developed 

in virtual brains ~ 

in a realistic virtual earth for STEM

and brain science, 

and of species, and individuals,

like you and me, 

soaking, soaking, soaking 

in the warm pool at Harbin, 

in the bath tub at home

in real virtual Harbin,  

... and yet conscious:

"To the Dance or the Pools? ~ Virtually!

How different it is to soak at Harbin Hot Springs,

than to realize it in virtual reality"!

And loving bliss neurophysiology,

uniquely Harbin warm pool generated

as it bubbles up, While soaking, 

how to model thee ~

and to learn from, like a musical score?

So how to measure this with headsets,

distinguishing even between,

objectively, 

the relaxation response,

the relaxation response 

in the Harbin warm pool,

and brain chemistry 

of neural cascades of pleasure,

and then also, Subjectively, I say,

in words?

And with machine learning, further,

on the objective, 3rd person 

scientific accounts' side,

could we add cameras to cells, 

wee antennae, or cameras, to atoms, 

articulate DNA with awareness,

(and have George Church,* Ed Boyden* and

Karl Deisseroth* already done this?),

as well as send opto-genetic signals 

in from the headsets, 

by further examining consciousness, 

via the virtual and the real thinking, 

thanks to David Chalmers* 

while

in the warm pool,

or In the bath tub ~

at Harbin soaking?

And subjectively, when we're blissing,

after releasing into meditation, 

after eliciting the relaxation response ~ 

self reported, ~

use language to talk about this?

I know it consciously when I'm blissing

in the Harbin warm pool, 

when bliss is simply bubbling up.

So can we measure such,

like your conscious bliss for sure, 

and bring this together with what we say about this ~

with our awareness, consciousness that is, 

in an account of infinite qualities, as information?

Long way to go to measure

integrated information Phi in the brain,

to code it in virtual brains,

to hypothesize this further,

and then objectively and 3rd person-wise 

observe this scientifically (& consciously) 

in the brain,

but maybe nakedness, 

Actually, and

Virtually,

and examining desire,

further, too, will open ways ...

So first the dance, then the pools

this time, and,

How Different it is to Soak at Harbin, than to Realize it in Virtual Reality.

Understanding consciousness

and realizing bliss further,

connectedness, 

in complement with scientific sentience,

thanks to Harbin. 

To the Dance or the Pools? ~

Virtually!

How different it is to soak at

Harbin Hot Springs,

than to realize it in virtual reality.

Chameleon vision: Poem ~ "To the Dance or the Pools? ~ Virtually! How different it is to soak at Harbin Hot Springs, than to realize it in virtual reality"

https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2019/11/chameleon-vision-poem-to-dance-or-pools.html

* *  

book ~

Winding Road Rainbow: Harbin, Wandering & the Poetry of Loving Bliss

(2018)

(where Rainbow here refers much to the Rainbow Gathering, that hippy gathering which began in 1973 in Boulder Colorado)

*

poem ~

In The Night I Traveled North To Harbin 

In the night,

I traveled north

to Harbin,

to Harbin.

Crescent moon,

starry night,

I traveled along

a new way,

from Canyon,

to Harbin.

Redwood tunnels,

now misty night,

the road opens,

from Canyon,

to Harbin.

Come now,

in-world,

and explore

the place

which is Harbin,

oh, Harbin.

It's freeing here ~

such beauty, too ~

in the waters,

at Harbin,

oh, Harbin.

Take off your clothes,

and enter the water

in the warm pool, ~

feel the warmth

in the heart pool,

at Harbin,

oh, Harbin.

Be with these folks ~

these hippies,

these brothers

and sisters,

these children

of hippies,

these flower~loving beings ~

who cuddle,

naked,

and snuggle,

in the water,

at Harbin, ~

be, at Harbin.

Into the hot pool,

now slow,

so slow ~

for, from

the whale's mouth

flow waters hot

at Harbin,

from Harbin.

The woman's bust,

that sculpture

above the whale's

water spout,

sprouting forth

beautiful,

fresh flowers

from her head,

inspires, ~

earth's fires,

~ the water

is hot!

Too hot, too hot, ~

to the cold pool,

to plunge,

amidst forest

and flowers

all around,

in the water, ~

to tingle,

oh, mingle.

MMmmm ...

Now back to

the warm pool,

to your love,

to cuddle,

with your love,

and snuggle,

at Harbin,

yes, Harbin.

What emerges

from our

bodyminds

is bliss ~

oh, bliss ~

bringing us

close, together,

oh, gather

together.

Welcome, bliss,

as you come,

when you come, ~

that neurophysiology ~

this lovely

neurophysiology,

in our bodies,

oh, our bodies.

To the tent now,

to our tent,

to live love,

to touch ease, ~

to make love,

together, ~

to our tent, now,

at Harbin,

be, at Harbin.

To our tent, love, ~

To love ...

In The Night I Traveled North To Harbin

http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2008/12/in-night-i-drove-north-to-harbin.html

* * 

book ~

Haiku~ish: And Other, Loving, Hippy, Harbin Poetry 

(2017)

*

poem ~ 

Whale: Harbin Poem Haiku-ish

A Harbin poem

Light in the whale room

Hot water! – cool – go deep inside

Up to the cold pool.

Whale: Harbin Poem Haiku-ish

http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2008/08/whale-harbin-poem-haiku-ish.html

* * 

book ~

Naked Harbin Ethnography:

Hippies, Warm Pools, Counterculture, Clothing-Optionality and Virtual Harbin

(2016)

*

poem (and the beginning of chapter 9, too) ~ 

(from the poem "Bodymind electricity sings to me, o thee, who are pair)

Chapter 9 

HARBIN AS A VIRTUAL, ACTUAL WORLD

Harbin virtuality in the pools and the erotic - This Harbin, alternative culture in virtual Harbin – Simulation – Fiction and design – Many Harbin residents in-world – Toward an anthropology of actual and virtual Harbin in the Information Age.

In the warm pool,

This vision vessel,

Nudity frees,

And they cuddle~puddle,

Dance Watsu Contact Improv,

Breasts, bottoms,

Bodymind shapes,

Skin and curves,

Beautiful people,

One man and three women

With nice bosoms,

Happy, naturally, nature-ally,

Erotically, and serene,

Otter-like, -

Haven't seen this in a while, -

Play,

And I sit,

Relaxation-'sponse-wise, ~

And, aware, find a kind of

Unfolding freeing oneness.

O, warm waters,

And beauties of Harbin.

The mind, the bodymind, as 3-D

Holographic, imaging machine, ...

How to turn it on, welcome it, electricity-alive,

With a cello bow stroke,

With loving bliss,

In all these myriad qualities? …

Bodymind electricity sings to me, o thee, who are pair

http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2012/04/bodymind-electricity-sings-to-me-o-thee.html

-- 

- Scott GK MacLeod  

Founder, President, CEO & Professor

World Univ & Sch (WUaS) - PO Box 442, Canyon, CA 94516 

1) non-profit World University and School - http://worlduniversityandschool.org  

2) for profit general stock company WUaS Corporation in CA - http://worlduniversityandschool.org/AcademicPress.html

(o) 415 480 4577 - sgkmacleod@worlduniversiryandschool.org 

(m) 412 478 0116 - sgkmacleod@gmail.com 

World Univ & Sch Innovation Research -  scottmacleod.com 

*

World Univ and Sch Twitter - http://twitter.com/WorldUnivandSch

WUaS Press - https://twitter.com/WUaSPress

Scott MacLeod - https://twitter.com/scottmacleod

Languages - World Univ - http://twitter.com/sgkmacleod

“Naked Harbin Ethnography” book (in Academic Press at WUaS) - http://twitter.com/HarbinBook

OpenBand (Berkeley) - https://twitter.com/TheOpenBand

*

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagosa_hot_springs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagosa_Springs,_Colorado

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hot_springs_of_Colorado

...