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(Half-Bell)

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(Bell)

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Dear Thay, dear Sangha

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I have a question:

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Sometimes deep down in my soul,

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I feel crazy, really powerful energies.

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That's something I can't really control.

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It feels like...something
really deep inside...

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so shiny, so deep, so strong.

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And I haven't been able at all
to control these energies in my life.

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And it takes me in places and situations
where I cannot control anything.

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Really extreme.

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Because that energy is so strong.
Sometimes I feel a victim of that energy.

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For example, if I want to know
something about the world,

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I go travelling, and I let
that energy guide me

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and I arrive at some places where there is
war or pretty extreme things.

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And I'm not ready to accept that,
but I have my answer.

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My energy gives me that answer.

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I know it's complicated (laughs).

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And now I want to be with the theme
of my own powerful energy that I have.

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I wish that my soul...
I want to be one...

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I want to direct that energy
in one precise point.

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I feel so small to do that,
because the energy is so huge.

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I feel like that energy
is all reversed in me.

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And I don't know how to direct it
as a human being in society,

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to a big, clear point,
like doing something...

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something really concrete.

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I try to do mindfulness during that,
and try to breathe deeply

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and let things come.

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But I want to know if Thay
has some advice about that.

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I hope I am clear (laughs).
Thank you.

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Can you repeat?

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Sum up?

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Our friend says that
she has some very deep

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and very powerful energy inside her

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and sometimes she feels that

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she is at the mercy of this energy.

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It makes her do this and that

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and sometimes maybe not
in the best direction for her.

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And she wants to have more mastery
of the energy.

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She wants to be able to have
a more conscious choice about the direction

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and to focus the energies
to do something concrete and positive.

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And she's trying to practice
mindfulness and breathing with it

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but she still feels that she is
not quite able to master the energies.

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That energy can be very strong

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and maybe our mindfulness

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is not powerful enough

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and we want to control...

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But the practice of Plum Village is

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not to control.

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Because if you want to control,

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you are suppressing somehow

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what you want to control

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Mindfulness is only
to recognize it as it is,

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without trying to control.

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First of all, we use mindfulness

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of breathing and walking

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to recognize that,

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to say hello to it.

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Do not try to control,

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to suppress.

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And we should know that that energy

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may have been transmitted by our father,

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our mother, or our ancestors.

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That is what we have received also from

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our ancestors and from our society also.

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So we want to understand

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the source of that energy,

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where it came from.

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So we are interested in recognising

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and understanding it rather than

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to control it.

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And that energy may be a habit energy,

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a habit that has been formed during

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many generations,

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longer than the period
from our birth until now.

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That habit, that pattern of thinking

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of talking, of acting may have been there

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very long already.

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So, we have inherited it from our parents

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and our ancestors.

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What we have to do is to recognize and

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accept it as it is

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And if we know how to accept them 
as they are,

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we feel better right away,

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Do not be eager to control.

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To recognize, that is called 
simple recognition.

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Breathing in, I recognise it.

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And when you recognise it as it is,

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it cannot push you to do things

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you do not want to do anymore.

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You don't have to remove it.

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You don't have to control it.

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You don't have to suppress it.

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The fact that you recognize it as a habit

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can already bring you a lot of freedom.

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Twenty years ago
there was a young American

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practitioner in the Upper Hamlet.

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One day he was asked by the brothers to go

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shopping for the community.

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We were celebrating Thanksgiving.

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Groups of people belonging to different

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nationalities were supposed
to cook a dish,

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to offer to the altar of ancestors.

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The group of Americans wanted to

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make Pumpkin Pie which is something

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very American.

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And the group of Italians would cook an

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Italian dish.

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And we will place the offerings on the

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altar of the ancestors.

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During the ceremony we get in touch

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with our ancestors inside of us.

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So the young man was sent by the Sangha to

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the town nearby to do some shopping.

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Afterwards he told us that

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when he went to Saint Foy La Grande

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doing shopping, suddenly
he saw that he was

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trying to do the shopping quickly

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in order to finish,

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eager to do it quickly and to

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finish what he was supposed to do.

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But during the few weeks before

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he did not have that kind of feeling,

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because he was staying at the Upper Hamlet

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and was embraced by
the collective energy of the brothers.

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doing everything slowly, mindfully

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and enjoying it.

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So during these two weeks
he was doing very well,

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walking, sitting, cooking,

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with the brothers in the Upper Hamlet.

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He was able to do it
slowly, with mindfulness.

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Everything went well.

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But when he was sent
to Sainte Foy La Grande,

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he was on his own.

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He was not guided and embraced,

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supported by the collective
energy of mindfulness

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That is why he lost himself

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The old habit energy came back and pushed

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him to do the shopping quickly to

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get it over

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And suddenly he remembered that,
he recognized that,

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that energy of being in a hurry

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and he suddenly realised that,

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that's the way his mother used to be.

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She was always like that.

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So the moment when he breathed in and

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recognized the habit energy, he said:

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"Hello Mother"

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"I know you are there, with your habit"

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Suddenly he became calm again

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and he continued to do the shopping

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mindfully and joyfully again.

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So it means that that habit energy

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once recognized, cannot push you anymore

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to do what you don't want to do,

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to say what you don't want to say.

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Because many of us are
victims of that kind of habit

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There are things we don't want to say

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There are things we don't want to do.

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We know that saying that, doing that

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will bring suffering to us and to

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the other person.

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We know that very well.

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We don't want to say or do that.

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But when the situation comes,

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the habit energy pushes us to do it or
say it.

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And after we have done it

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after we have said it,

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we regret it.

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We beat our chest, pull our hair and say:

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"I already knew that
I should not do that,"

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"I should not say that,
but why did I do it, did I say it?"

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So I promise myself that next time when

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this situation presents itself,

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I will not do like that,

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I will not speak like that

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and you are very sincere..

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And yet when the situation comes

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you'll do exactly the same,

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again, again and again.

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That is the habit energy.

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The practice of Plum Village is to use

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mindful breathing, mindful walking

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to recognize that energy.

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Don't try to control it.

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Don't try to destroy it.

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Just smile to it and say:

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"Hello there!"

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"My old friend, I know you are there".

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"You cannot push me to do it anymore".

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"You cannot push me to say it anymore".

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So simple recognition brings you freedom

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and if you continue like that

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your habit energy will transform

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slowly, slowly.

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If there are good energies,
good habit energies,

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we can help them to grow.

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And if in our lives we have a purpose,

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if we have a good volition, a desire,

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to transform ourselves
and to help people

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to suffer less,

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if we know exactly what we want to do,

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then we nourish that kind of willingness.

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And if we keep that intention alive,

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we remind ourselves
of that intention everyday

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and then the other kind of energies can be

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used to nourish this kind of intention.

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That is a kind of nourishment,

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a kind of nutriment, called volition,

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good intention.

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So a person with
a good intention to...create

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a good energy for himself, or herself and

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for the world,

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she will be able to make use of

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every kind of energy in him or in her

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in order to serve that purpose

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So the answer has two aspects:

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the first one is to recognise

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and the second one is to channel it into

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the direction we want it to serve.

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(Half-Bell)

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(Bell)