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Dharma Talk: Living in the World with Your Heart Undisturbed | Dr. Larry Ward

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    (Bell sounds twice)
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    How wonderful to be together. Gesundheit.
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    That was Larry, with a sneeze.
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    Lets start out by getting here.
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    How was your day, huh?
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    Find your place on your chair right now.
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    Let's start out with a little bit
    of vagal nerve connecting with
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    so maybe we can just
    warm up our hands as we settle in
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    and how was our day?
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    Hello body.
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    I am here, and giving some heat.
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    And we're just going to rub our ears
    and make little circles towards the top.
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    We're going to go both directions
    but not pressing
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    but just breathing
    and making a slow general circle.
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    Breathing, settling down.
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    Make sure you go both directions.
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    Feet on the ground for many of us,
    and bum on the chair.
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    And then if you can pull your ears,
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    just not hurting them,
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    but just kinda a
    general tug out to the side.
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    And all the while
    just kinda rubbing the ears.
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    My mother had auspicious signed ears.
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    One of the signs of a Buddha
    is these really long lobes.
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    The Vietnamese community loved my mum.
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    She didn't have to do anything
    except have her ears,
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    so I always think of her ears
    when I do this.
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    I didn't get the
    full auspicious sign myself.
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    Yeah, so just rubbing those ears.
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    And let's go back
    and rub our hands a little bit.
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    We're going to put our hands over our eyes
    and do at least three breaths.
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    And then moving your hands over your jaw,
    same thing, at least three breaths.
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    Kids I work with
    call this the "oh my position".
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    But for us,
    really feel the warmth on our jaw.
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    Then moving our hands to our heart.
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    Let's move one hand to the belly
    and one stays on the heart,
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    with a tilting posture.
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    We're going to do that again.
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    At least three breaths over the eyes.
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    And just notice, what you might notice,
    is your body settles.
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    And we can talk to our vagus nerve:
    "Hello vagus nerve".
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    And then the jaw,
    back to the "oh my".
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    And then the heart.
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    And then one hand on the belly
    and one on the heart.
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    And then one more time,
    hands over the eyes.
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    Just sending the energy of light,
    of loving kindness,
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    giving your eyes a rest.
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    And then the jaw.
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    And the heart.
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    And then the heart and belly.
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    Then you might decide
    you want to keep your hands there,
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    or just take them away just slowly.
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    I'm going to keep mine here.
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    And then we're just going to
    do some more grounding, as we begin.
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    Aware of the vertical energy
    that runs through our body, Earth to sky.
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    Aware of the mid-line of the body.
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    And just feeling like your your full height,
    even if your seated,
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    like your head can touch the clouds.
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    Our hearts lift just a little bit.
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    Sometimes our shoulders
    get reminded to drop.
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    And then aware of the horizontal energy,
    the side-seams of our body,
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    the sides of our feet,
    our hips, our shoulders,
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    and as you're breathing and tuning in,
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    this is what connects us
    energetically with each other,
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    as we build a beautiful container,
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    connects us with people,
    animals, plants and minerals,
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    and the miraculous beloved community
    that came together in this moment.
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    And then aware of the depth of our body.
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    Helps me just to
    tip a little back into my pelvis
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    and really connect
    with the whole back side of my body.
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    Shoulders, spine, bum.
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    And now tune in to the whole body,
    and the shape of the body,
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    the space you take in the room.
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    And then asking yourself three questions:
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    Do I feel safe?
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    And if you don't,
    just softly open your eyes and turning a little,
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    so you can gaze in every direction.
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    Aware of the space you're in and safety.
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    Do I feel comfortable?
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    Your body will tell you.
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    Am I present?
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    And that's said again with objectivity,
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    not a judgement,
    but am I here, right here?
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    And then invite your body to relax
    and settle even more.
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    There's nothing you need to do,
    no place to go.
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    (Bell sounds twice)
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    My pleasure to be with you
    for the first time or more.
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    I hope you are doing well on this day.
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    I want to begin with a poem for you.
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    Stardust is falling,
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    falling on both the wise and the unwise,
    the hopeful and the despondent,
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    and yet the forest
    outside my door is smiling.
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    I remember now, how deep
    the ocean of forgetfulness can be.
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    I keep being pulled away
    from the present moment,
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    by my experience
    of melancholy about the past,
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    or anxiety about the future.
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    I realize myself and my journey
    to the bottom of this ocean,
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    forgetfulness becomes
    a holy veil, removed.
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    I find the cave of the blue dragon.
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    I enter my feelings
    of wonder and uncertainty,
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    that are there with me.
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    I advance in fearlessness.
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    Fearlessness, fearlessness,
    on the Bodhisattva path.
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    This talk this evening
    is inspired by the discourse on love
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    in the Plum Village chant book.
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    There are other versions of this discourse
    throughout Buddhism,
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    but this is the one
    in the Plum Village chant book,
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    which I will read to you now.
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    Anyone who wants to attain peace
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    should practice being upright, humble,
    and capable of using loving speech.
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    They will know how to live
    simply and happily,
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    with senses calmed,
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    without being covetous or carried away
    by the emotions of the majority.
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    Let them not do anything
    that would be disapproved of
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    by the wise ones.
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    And this is what they contemplate:
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    may everyone be happy and safe,
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    may their hearts be filled with joy,
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    may all beings live
    in security and in peace,
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    beings who are frail or strong,
    tall or short, big or small,
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    visible or not visible,
    near or far away,
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    already born or yet to be born.
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    May all of them dwell
    in perfect tranquility.
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    Let no one do harm to anyone.
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    Let no one
    put the life of anyone in danger.
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    Let no one out of anger or ill will
    wish anyone any harm.
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    Just as a parent
    loves and protects their children
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    at the risk of their own life,
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    we should cultivate boundless love
    to offer to all living beings,
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    in the entire cosmos.
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    We should let our boundless love
    pervade the whole universe:
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    above, below, and across.
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    Our love will know no obstacles.
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    Our heart will be absolutely free
    from hatred and enmity,
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    whether standing or walking,
    sitting or lying down,
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    as long as we are awake
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    we should maintain
    this mindfulness of love
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    in our own heart.
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    This is the noblest way of living.
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    Free from wrong views,
    greed, and sensual desires,
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    living in beauty,
    and realizing perfect understanding.
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    Those who practice boundless love
    will certainly transcend birth and death.
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    So this talk, each talk organizes itself,
    however it wants,
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    the same as like writing a poem.
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    So I just kind of
    follow what's happening,
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    and this talk organized itself
    in to twelve points,
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    so that was interesting to me.
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    And so I'll just get right to it,
    with one overarching statement of context.
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    The kind of capacity to live in the world
    with one's heart undisturbed by the world
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    is not a capacity of hiding,
    it is a capacity of embracing.
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    Not only is the whole word a stage
    as has been said before
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    but so is our own mind.
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    It's a whole stage:
    that's the first point to remember,
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    and that I'm learning over and over again
    to practice with.
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    When I encounter any form of media,
    information, text, book,
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    any incoming data stream
    in to my consciousness and in to my body,
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    which we need to remember
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    that our data streams
    don't just impact our thoughts,
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    they impact our neurology,
    our hormones, our chemical balances,
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    but what I have learned,
    after realizing that
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    the information I receive
    comes from a character on a stage
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    in that person's mind,
    or that institution's mind,
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    and it's important that I remember
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    it is my mind meeting that mind,
    and that mind meeting my mind.
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    Theater.
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    If you want to look in to
    the deep teachings on this
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    you can look at
    Thích Nhất Hạnh's master degree
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    on Yogachara Buddhism,
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    but it is, in summary it is,
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    nothing can happen
    without our mind being involved
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    (Laughter)
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    in the process,
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    of what goes out or what comes in.
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    It's impossible.
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    It's also impossible to attain
    some kind of purity in data.
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    When I was studying and learning
    Sanskrit and Pali to translate sutras,
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    I learned that everything
    that you're translating
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    has already been translated seven times
    at least before you get it to translate.
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    And so many of us
    look at words as if they're solid.
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    Our words are full of the universe
    and can contain all kinds of energy.
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    The second point I want to make
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    about how I interact
    with data, news, media
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    —and I watch the news, every day—
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    and it's a discipline for me
    to listen to the world.
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    Part of my vow to myself has always been,
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    before I knew it was a vow,
    not to hide from suffering.
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    Not mine, and not yours.
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    So every day
    I take a journey around the planet
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    with the news I can find
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    and what I've been learning is
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    when I am observing someone else's voice
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    someone else's pain, celebration,
    break through, breakdown,
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    presented to me in data form
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    it is a chance for me to experience
    more knowledge about Larry.
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    So I know we've all be conditioned
    to think we're listening to the other
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    but actually (Laughter)
    we're listening to ourselves.
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    And so the first thing
    about understanding
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    how to be undisturbed
    with the world and it's nature
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    —of a moment of thicketed views,
    cacophony of opinion in which we live—
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    is to understand it's all mind.
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    There's nothing solid there,
    unless we think it is.
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    It is information: it is a flow of life.
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    And the third thing I've been learning
    in light of that
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    is to be aware of my own agenda.
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    When I watch a news program,
    or an update on there, or a documentary,
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    I have learned how to pay attention
    to where that impacts my nervous system.
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    The music, the sounds,
    the drama, the choreography,
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    whether it's a news cast
    or a movie or a TV show.
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    I pay attention to how it impacts my body.
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    That gives me a lot of information,
    and what I mean is:
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    is my aggression activated
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    when I read or hear
    or see this information?
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    Is my immobilization,
    is my collapse encouraged?
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    My body wants to just stop and freeze
    when I hear this, read this or see this.
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    Do I want to fight?
    Do I get aggressive,
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    when I encounter this flow of information
    coming in to my frame of reference?
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    Do I experience peacefulness
    when I receive this data?
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    —in my body that is.
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    My nervous system remains calm,
    remains even, remains solid as a mountain,
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    even in the midst
    of horrifying information.
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    So, to learn to be aware,
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    where what I see or hear
    is actually my own voice,
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    my own pain,
    my own suffering, my own confusion.
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    So in a question and answer session
    with a Hindu master many years ago,
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    at the end one student asked
    "what do we do about the others?"
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    And the master said: "what others?"
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    This is how we have to learn to listen,
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    not that
    there's something out there,
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    disconnected from me,
    that I have nothing to do with,
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    that I'm here to judge,
    I'm here to evaluate,
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    I'm here to debate,
    I'm here to argue with.
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    I was asked many years ago
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    —'cause my wife sitting here,
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    she may have
    a different story about this—
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    but I was asked years ago
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    "why didn't we fight
    as often as some couples?"
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    and I said because early
    we realized we were both wrong!
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    (Laughter)
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    And we have trouble
    coming to terms with our minds,
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    and by mind
    I mean to include our heart energy.
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    In the Buddhist tradition
    mind and heart are the same symbols,
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    at least in the Chinese version.
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    So this is called—for sutra reference—
    practicing with the body, in the body.
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    Learning to practice mindfully
    with our nervous system:
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    how it gets activated,
    how we can soothe ourselves,
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    how we can calm ourselves,
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    how we can uplift ourselves
    without harming ourselves.
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    It's just a set of skills.
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    Our ancestors had them,
    they're already in our bodies.
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    We just need to remember
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    and to retrain ourselves
    in our own genius.
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    Be aware of your own agenda
    when you are listening to others.
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    No blame, no judgement, just awareness.
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    Be aware of what would be called
    "the mind in the mind".
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    When you get this information,
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    whether it's watching
    the January 6th Committee report,
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    or any other piece of information
    following this year
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    in the US politically
    and the years before it,
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    pay attention to
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    what seeds or impulses
    in your consciousness
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    get activated when you listen.
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    I haven't got to a point
    —where I tell you the truth—
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    I could not see Donald Trump's face
    without getting activated,
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    but I knew I was being activated,
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    and so I decided
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    I wasn't going to
    let that clown activate me.
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    (Laughter)
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    So we can master our bodies and our minds
    if we decide to take charge,
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    and not just operate
    out of our conditioning or reactivity.
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    Every piece of news,
    every word or smile, or look, or sound,
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    can activate seeds of wholesomeness in us
    as well as seeds of unwholesomeness in us,
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    as well as neutral seeds,
    as well as memory capsules can open,
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    and sometimes they are beautiful
    and blessed when they open,
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    and sometimes we remember pain and agony,
    in our bodies and in our minds.
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    So understand when you—
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    when I'm listening, I am reading, I'm studying,
    I am interacting with my own mind.
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    Third
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    —this is number six
    if you're keeping a list—
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    is something I call society in society.
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    We have got to learn
    —or I'm trying to learn—
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    how to look at society
    from the inside out,
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    and for me that means learning to recognize
    the patterns of our conditioning:
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    learning to recognize the assumptions
    that we've been taught about how to live,
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    how to date, how to love, how to work,
    how to pray, how to celebrate,
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    and be aware of those assumptions,
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    and then you can make a choice
    about those assumptions.
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    But we are so wired for reaction,
    we seldom, or not often, reflect.
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    I find myself learning to reflect,
    to pause, to wait a minute
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    and not be in a rush
    to come up with a response.
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    That's very important.
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    This is true
    in your relationships as well,
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    'cause a relationship
    is constant communication,
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    and communication's not just what's said.
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    This is the other thing to
    —number 6 on sociality—keep in mind,
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    when you hear news
    about your society,
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    societies of the world,
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    pay attention to what is said
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    but especially pay attention
    to what's not said.
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    Pay attention to whose voice you hear
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    and pay attention
    to whose voices you do not hear.
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    I saw a—
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    I had a memory capsule open this morning
    thinking about a friend of mine.
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    We were working together in India
    when the Peter projection map came out,
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    that actually showed
    the true size of Africa and for
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    (Laughter)
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    hundreds of years people thought
    Africa was the size of, you know, Connecticut.
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    (Laughter)
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    and that's information
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    that conditioned thousands of minds
    about Africa and its value.
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    Don't mis-under estimate
    any of these things.
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    That's why it's used in advertising
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    and people pay millions of dollars
    to have people interact with our minds,
  • 28:49 - 28:50
    with their own intent.
  • 28:52 - 28:58
    So always have your agenda,
    is what I've learned, and I keep learning,
  • 28:59 - 29:00
    always have your agenda.
  • 29:02 - 29:05
    I don't mean a fixed rigid thing,
    I mean have an intention.
  • 29:07 - 29:09
    I decided to spend some time
  • 29:10 - 29:16
    listening to the interviews of people
    who were just at the Wallmart shooting,
  • 29:18 - 29:27
    and I spend sever hours just listening
    to this woman's agony and pain and tears,
  • 29:29 - 29:37
    and I could feel her experience
    of not knowing how to be human again.
  • 29:40 - 29:42
    That lived the shock of what she saw
  • 29:42 - 29:46
    —she was in the break room—
    hiding under the table.
  • 29:46 - 29:52
    The shock of what she witnessed
    discombobulated her nervous system.
  • 29:52 - 29:53
    She could barely speak.
  • 29:54 - 29:56
    Her face was contorted,
  • 29:56 - 30:01
    and I could feel that contortion
    inside of myself.
  • 30:03 - 30:05
    It was not unfamiliar to me.
  • 30:07 - 30:12
    So the more we can practice
    media interactions,
  • 30:13 - 30:18
    whether that's a game
    or a conversation or a movie
  • 30:18 - 30:19
    —all of which I enjoy—
  • 30:19 - 30:21
    or a book
    —for god's sake I have too many—
  • 30:23 - 30:27
    I am learning over and over again
    too about Larry's mind.
  • 30:28 - 30:31
    I'm learning what ideas I'm attached to
  • 30:31 - 30:33
    (Laughter)
  • 30:33 - 30:35
    and what ideas I never thought of.
  • 30:36 - 30:43
    I'm learning to pay attention
    to the mind of the author
  • 30:43 - 30:45
    whose sending me this.
  • 30:48 - 30:54
    And as a person who likes to study
    —it's just, I'm neurotic that way, but—
  • 30:55 - 30:59
    I learn the author's mind,
    not just their words,
  • 31:01 - 31:04
    and so they become friends for me.
  • 31:04 - 31:07
    They become mentors,
    they become companions.
  • 31:07 - 31:13
    And you have books or poems
    or people in your mind space and memories
  • 31:13 - 31:15
    who do that for you too I know.
  • 31:16 - 31:17
    Remember them.
  • 31:20 - 31:23
    You know our brain is wired such,
    is really hard wired such,
  • 31:23 - 31:28
    that we can have
    a wonderful day for 12 hours
  • 31:28 - 31:30
    —wonderful day—
  • 31:31 - 31:37
    and one person, in one car,
    with one gesture can ruin it.
  • 31:38 - 31:41
    Our brain is wired
    to hold on to negativity,
  • 31:42 - 31:46
    and it's wired that way
    as a safety precaution
  • 31:46 - 31:47
    (Laughter)
  • 31:48 - 31:49
    in case you meet that car again
  • 31:49 - 31:50
    (Laughter)
  • 31:50 - 31:54
    So, it's important
    —in neuroscience we've discovered that
  • 31:54 - 32:00
    it takes, for every negative
    unwholesome encounter a person has,
  • 32:00 - 32:01
    moment by moment,
  • 32:01 - 32:05
    it takes five wholesome encounters
    to re-balance the brain
  • 32:06 - 32:11
    in terms of what it remembers
    and how it's wired to respond to life.
  • 32:13 - 32:18
    So we've been taught
    we shouldn't be happy, really,
  • 32:19 - 32:34
    we should strive to win, regret losing,
    and not find joy in our lives.
  • 32:36 - 32:38
    If we do, there's something wrong with us.
  • 32:39 - 32:45
    So you must watch out for the context
    of the information that is being given.
  • 32:47 - 32:49
    Whats the story behind this?
  • 32:49 - 32:53
    Think of every piece of information
    as a visit to the Wizard of Oz,
  • 32:53 - 32:55
    (Laughter)
  • 32:55 - 32:57
    and you want to look behind the curtain.
  • 32:58 - 32:59
    We live in a world in which
  • 33:01 - 33:08
    spell-casters and magicians and goblins
    all work on the Internet.
  • 33:10 - 33:11
    Hello!
  • 33:12 - 33:16
    You can make up anything
    and get a group next week to believe it.
  • 33:18 - 33:21
    This is how disoriented
    our minds have become
  • 33:21 - 33:25
    in terms of not being trained
    how to handle information,
  • 33:26 - 33:29
    in what ever media form
    that information may come.
  • 33:29 - 33:31
    You know society
  • 33:31 - 33:34
    —I heard a great quote
    from Caroline Myss, a few weeks ago—
  • 33:35 - 33:39
    society used to change
    at the pace of literature,
  • 33:41 - 33:45
    society used to change
    at the pace of philosophy,
  • 33:47 - 33:51
    of theology,
    of a new scientific breakthrough,
  • 33:52 - 33:59
    and now society is changing
    by millions of opinions
  • 34:00 - 34:06
    gathered in a neural space online.
  • 34:08 - 34:09
    That's a big shift,
  • 34:10 - 34:17
    and we don't have a collective mechanism
    for functioning this way.
  • 34:18 - 34:21
    This is why we experience
    things being fragmented.
  • 34:21 - 34:25
    We don't—we're at a place
    we've never been as a human race—
  • 34:26 - 34:28
    and part of this is just beautiful
  • 34:28 - 34:32
    because people around the world
    are standing up for Iran
  • 34:32 - 34:33
    and they're not Iranian,
  • 34:36 - 34:43
    people are standing up
    for the women and men in the streets
  • 34:43 - 34:44
    with blood and tears.
  • 34:47 - 34:51
    People are standing up
    for the protesters in China,
  • 34:52 - 34:53
    around the world
  • 34:53 - 34:59
    and holding up blank sheets of paper
    representing the desire for free speech.
  • 35:00 - 35:00
    So also
  • 35:00 - 35:09
    when you receive information and news
    don't get sensationalized about it,
  • 35:10 - 35:11
    'cause that's a gimmick.
  • 35:12 - 35:16
    You know, it's like somebody says
    "there'll be a train wreck at 12 o'clock"
  • 35:16 - 35:17
    (Laughter)
  • 35:18 - 35:19
    "on this corner"
  • 35:19 - 35:22
    and at 12 o'clock
    there'll be hundreds of people there,
  • 35:22 - 35:24
    waiting to watch the train wreck,
  • 35:24 - 35:26
    whether a train comes or not.
  • 35:26 - 35:27
    We don't have time for that.
  • 35:31 - 35:34
    Remember to look at society
    from the inside out.
  • 35:34 - 35:38
    What are the archetypes
    that are operative in that society?
  • 35:41 - 35:46
    And if the rivers don't rise,
    my grandmother would say,
  • 35:46 - 35:47
    I hope to next year
  • 35:47 - 35:53
    do some work and retreats
    on the four core archetypes of Carl Jung
  • 35:53 - 35:57
    and relate those to
    the hidden forces of social change.
  • 35:58 - 36:00
    The anima—animus.
  • 36:00 - 36:01
    Oh boy, we've got to miss
  • 36:01 - 36:02
    (Laughter)
  • 36:02 - 36:03
    we've got miss there.
  • 36:04 - 36:07
    It sounds funny until you see
    young men everywhere killing people...
  • 36:08 - 36:12
    then you begin to recognize
    the imbalance of that archetype.
  • 36:14 - 36:17
    We have destroyed the capacity
    of some of these young men
  • 36:17 - 36:20
    to recognize their own
    feminine energy inside
  • 36:21 - 36:22
    —if I can use that word—
  • 36:23 - 36:26
    their own soft energy,
    their own kind energy,
  • 36:28 - 36:34
    and no training in how to handle
    anger, or frustration, or fear.
  • 36:38 - 36:41
    Also we have to
    take a look at the persona
  • 36:41 - 36:42
    (Laughter)
  • 36:42 - 36:47
    which really has,
    in the last 25 years, become a business.
  • 36:49 - 36:51
    Now Hollywood left Hollywood
    and came in to the house
  • 36:51 - 36:58
    and so now all of us are on TV,
    all of us are on a screen.
  • 36:58 - 37:02
    We're all in the world
    of flat screen consciousness,
  • 37:03 - 37:04
    and that means
  • 37:04 - 37:08
    everything on the flat screen
    appears of equal value,
  • 37:09 - 37:10
    and it's not.
  • 37:12 - 37:16
    This is why discernment
    is an important part of spiritual practice.
  • 37:17 - 37:22
    Not everything is worthy of
    your time, you energy, your thought.
  • 37:23 - 37:27
    Use that for your own agenda,
    for your own sense of purpose,
  • 37:27 - 37:30
    for your own sense of destiny,
  • 37:30 - 37:35
    for your own sense of healing,
    and justice, and a better world.
  • 37:35 - 37:37
    Don't just waste your energy.
  • 37:38 - 37:44
    So I do look at
    a lot of different news reports, on purpose,
  • 37:44 - 37:47
    but I make a conscious choice
    I'm going to do that,
  • 37:48 - 37:52
    and some news reports
    I'll only look at for certain reasons,
  • 37:53 - 37:55
    to get certain kinds of information.
  • 37:55 - 38:00
    Be selective in what you decide
    to invite in to your mind:
  • 38:01 - 38:04
    the content
    that will come flooding in,
  • 38:05 - 38:08
    the emotional energy
    that comes flooding in to your mind.
  • 38:11 - 38:14
    And if you want to look deeply
    in to a topic or an issue
  • 38:14 - 38:19
    because it's aligned with your vocation,
    or your sense of work in the world,
  • 38:19 - 38:23
    or your purpose in life,
    do so,
  • 38:23 - 38:25
    but look deep.
  • 38:27 - 38:30
    Look in to
    the causes and conditions of these things.
  • 38:31 - 38:34
    You know, if one is to look at,
    for example,
  • 38:34 - 38:38
    the reaction going on
    in the streets of China,
  • 38:38 - 38:40
    the reactions going on in Iran
  • 38:41 - 38:44
    —and these are just two big things
    we keep track of—
  • 38:44 - 38:47
    but this is going on around the world,
    it's going on in Mexico,
  • 38:47 - 38:50
    and what is it
    that's going on around the world?
  • 38:50 - 38:54
    People are rejecting patriarchal ideology.
  • 38:56 - 38:57
    That's what's happening.
  • 38:58 - 39:01
    If you want to know why men are upset,
    that's why.
  • 39:03 - 39:11
    They're loosing their mind hold
    over the planet; loosing a sense of power.
  • 39:13 - 39:16
    This is archetypal energy,
    it's not just personal,
  • 39:16 - 39:19
    and so we have to work
    at deeper and deeper levels
  • 39:20 - 39:25
    in order to reach places
    where we can and are ready to heal.
  • 39:28 - 39:30
    A shadow, oh boy.
  • 39:30 - 39:31
    (Laughter)
  • 39:33 - 39:36
    That's a life of work.
  • 39:38 - 39:41
    That's my biggest critique of the world
    based on my own experiences,
  • 39:41 - 39:49
    the most difficult thing is to admit
    that we are not perfect, in a healthy way.
  • 39:52 - 39:53
    We have this,
  • 39:54 - 39:59
    what in Buddhism Thích Nhất Hạnh
    liked to call the Self Esteem Complex,
  • 40:00 - 40:03
    where I am better than you
    or you are better than me
  • 40:03 - 40:04
    or we are equal
  • 40:04 - 40:07
    or I'm up and you're down
    or I'm down and you're up.
  • 40:08 - 40:12
    None of that is an adequate description
    of the miracle of being a human being
  • 40:13 - 40:15
    so we have to just
    stop being stupid about it,
  • 40:17 - 40:20
    if we are to understand our own wholeness,
  • 40:23 - 40:28
    at least in part enough to create
    the nuance of wholeness our planet needs,
  • 40:29 - 40:32
    and then that journey will continue
    through generations of course.
  • 40:33 - 40:36
    We're not the penultimate
  • 40:36 - 40:37
    (Laughter)
  • 40:38 - 40:39
    solution to things,
  • 40:39 - 40:50
    we're not saviors, we are adventurers,
    learning how to navigate our inner worlds,
  • 40:51 - 40:57
    because I'm convinced learning to navigate
    our inner worlds is the work of the future.
  • 40:58 - 40:59
    It's certainly the work now,
  • 41:00 - 41:03
    but is the work of the future,
    we just don't know it yet.
  • 41:05 - 41:08
    We are creatures of 10,000 capacities,
  • 41:09 - 41:10
    and many of us live our whole lives,
  • 41:10 - 41:15
    if we're lucky enough
    to live long in this world,
  • 41:17 - 41:20
    operating as if
    we only have 10 capacities.
  • 41:23 - 41:26
    We get trapped in to thinking
    everything is material,
  • 41:27 - 41:29
    and we forget it is not just material.
  • 41:29 - 41:34
    The universe is not just material,
    it's also energetic—it is also energy.
  • 41:34 - 41:36
    Don't get trapped
    in to the Newtonian paradigm
  • 41:36 - 41:38
    that everything is separate
  • 41:38 - 41:42
    and nothing really affects anything else
    unless it's in direct physics.
  • 41:43 - 41:45
    Everything affects everything.
  • 41:45 - 41:48
    This is part of what
    we're experiencing in the world.
  • 41:48 - 41:49
    That's why it's crazy.
  • 41:50 - 41:51
    (Laughter)
  • 41:51 - 41:56
    That's why it is
    —we don't have a story to hold this.
  • 42:00 - 42:03
    We're in a place
    we never imagined as a species,
  • 42:04 - 42:06
    over the last 200,000 years,
  • 42:06 - 42:09
    but because of the 200,000 years
  • 42:09 - 42:15
    we have within ourselves what we need
    to take the next stage of evolution,
  • 42:16 - 42:19
    with courage,
    which is what this is, people.
  • 42:20 - 42:25
    We are in a metamorphosis journey,
    we're in the cocoon
  • 42:25 - 42:26
    (Laughter)
  • 42:26 - 42:30
    and trying to figure out
    the next shape we are becoming
  • 42:31 - 42:35
    with no instructions that appear clear,
  • 42:36 - 42:37
    but there are instructions.
  • 42:40 - 42:46
    The first one is to, if you see some news
    and it's not beneficial to you, ignore it.
  • 42:48 - 42:49
    That's what I do.
  • 42:49 - 42:50
    (Laughter)
  • 42:50 - 42:53
    If you see something,
    hear something, read something,
  • 42:53 - 42:56
    that is beneficial to you,
    take it to heart.
  • 42:58 - 43:00
    Make it a part of your practice,
    or your journaling,
  • 43:01 - 43:04
    or your music, or your dance, or your art.
  • 43:04 - 43:06
    Make it a part of your life,
  • 43:06 - 43:10
    so that you continue
    to be nourished by the good,
  • 43:12 - 43:18
    because we live in a world
    of tabloid media as an art form,
  • 43:20 - 43:23
    we are presented
    constantly, and daily,
  • 43:23 - 43:29
    no matter what we're talking about,
    as extremes.
  • 43:30 - 43:32
    Just look at our language.
  • 43:32 - 43:35
    Later turn on the television,
    and look at our language
  • 43:35 - 43:38
    across networks, across countries:
  • 43:38 - 43:44
    it is doom, it is savage, it is—
  • 43:44 - 43:48
    I'm talking about words used today
    to introduce clips in the news,
  • 43:49 - 43:55
    and so learning how that word,
    savage, doesn't get stuck on me.
  • 43:55 - 43:57
    It just goes straight through.
  • 43:58 - 44:02
    Learn what to hold on to
    and what not to hold to,
  • 44:02 - 44:03
    when it comes to you.
  • 44:05 - 44:10
    So many of us actually have been
    living our lives in extreme exhaustion
  • 44:10 - 44:14
    because we have been
    carrying other people's anxieties.
  • 44:17 - 44:20
    You know it's like
    the old joke about Atlas,
  • 44:20 - 44:23
    who's holding the world,
    runs by you and says "hold this",
  • 44:23 - 44:24
    (Laughter)
  • 44:24 - 44:27
    and without thinking
    you hold it and he's gone.
  • 44:28 - 44:34
    Literally many of us are just exhausted
    holding other people's fears and anxieties,
  • 44:36 - 44:39
    and what we need to be holding
    is each other's broken hearts,
  • 44:41 - 44:42
    and brilliant minds.
  • 44:46 - 44:50
    If we want to hold each other accountable
    lets hold each other accountable
  • 44:51 - 44:54
    for a higher calling in this world.
  • 45:00 - 45:13
    There's discipline involved in how we, how I,
    learn to read, interpret, reflect on, the news,
  • 45:13 - 45:16
    but I just don't ever
    watch the news by itself.
  • 45:18 - 45:19
    When I get up in the morning,
  • 45:19 - 45:22
    before I even get out of bed,
    I have a meditation I do.
  • 45:24 - 45:25
    It's about aging.
  • 45:25 - 45:26
    (Laughter)
  • 45:26 - 45:28
    So, before I put
    my feet on the floor,
  • 45:28 - 45:31
    I don't forget who's
    putting their feet on the floor,
  • 45:32 - 45:35
    and then I,
    I have options,
  • 45:35 - 45:39
    I spend some time
    just in listening to birds,
  • 45:43 - 45:48
    watering plants,
    walking slowly on the Earth,
  • 45:49 - 45:51
    saying to myself
    "Mother Earth, here I am".
  • 45:53 - 45:57
    Greeting this blue sky,
    letting it fall on me,
  • 45:58 - 46:01
    'till I can feel myself
    standing on the blue sky,
  • 46:02 - 46:06
    and standing under the blue sky
    at the same time.
  • 46:11 - 46:16
    I study other people's insights,
    teachings and learnings,
  • 46:17 - 46:22
    so I try to keep my mind as
    —life long learner is a popular phrase—
  • 46:23 - 46:27
    across disciplines:
    evolutionary psychologies, astrophysics,
  • 46:28 - 46:32
    Buddhist psychology, sociology,
    anthropology, mythology.
  • 46:33 - 46:36
    All these things are of interest to me,
    what can I say.
  • 46:36 - 46:40
    And it keeps my mind from getting fixated,
  • 46:40 - 46:45
    'cause at least once a week I read something
    or I study something from someone else,
  • 46:46 - 46:47
    and it can be from long ago.
  • 46:47 - 46:54
    It can be Plato and his allegory of the cave
    which I think everybody should read again,
  • 46:56 - 46:59
    because that's what we are experiencing
    right now,
  • 47:00 - 47:02
    We've been conditioned so well
  • 47:03 - 47:06
    that we don't even know
    we've been conditioned,
  • 47:06 - 47:08
    now that is skill.
  • 47:10 - 47:13
    And I don't mean somebody sat down
    and planned this out.
  • 47:15 - 47:17
    I'm talking about a natural occurrence
  • 47:17 - 47:25
    that happens in society,
    in any organization, in any group.
  • 47:26 - 47:27
    It's fine.
  • 47:28 - 47:29
    We just have to be mindful
  • 47:30 - 47:34
    that our minds and our bodies
    are not separate from our social existence.
  • 47:35 - 47:37
    So many of us have been conditioned
  • 47:37 - 47:40
    to believe when someone
    walks in to a grocery store
  • 47:40 - 47:42
    and starts shooting people
  • 47:42 - 47:44
    there's something wrong with them.
  • 47:45 - 47:46
    And there is.
  • 47:47 - 47:50
    But in order for something to be wrong
    with them like that,
  • 47:50 - 47:53
    there is something wrong
    with the rest of us too.
  • 47:56 - 47:58
    There's something wrong with our minds,
  • 47:58 - 48:05
    and how we condition ourselves
    to be violent, how we glorify it,
  • 48:06 - 48:08
    how we worship it,
  • 48:09 - 48:13
    We're not much further from really just
  • 48:13 - 48:14
    (Laughter)
  • 48:14 - 48:15
    primitives,
  • 48:17 - 48:24
    unless we do the spiritual work
    to learn to live without doing harm,
  • 48:25 - 48:36
    as our first response
    to frustration, to fear, to being alive.
  • 48:37 - 48:44
    There's a word from
    —I learned from my research training—
  • 48:45 - 48:48
    it's called, you may have heard,
    it's called titration.
  • 48:48 - 48:56
    So whatever input you're going to get,
    whether it's a book, a movie, a TV show,
  • 48:56 - 49:03
    a friend, a conversation,
    take little bits at a time.
  • 49:03 - 49:05
    It's the old phrase:
  • 49:05 - 49:09
    "How do you eat an elephant?
    One spoonful at a time."
  • 49:10 - 49:11
    When your looking,
  • 49:11 - 49:16
    especially some place
    that your curiosity has been piqued,
  • 49:16 - 49:20
    don't give up your curiosity,
    it's a very important quality of you,
  • 49:21 - 49:24
    but take a little piece at a time.
  • 49:25 - 49:27
    And the same if you want to look in to
  • 49:27 - 49:31
    the causes and conditions
    that created suffering.
  • 49:32 - 49:39
    Know what you can handle emotionally
    without getting re-traumatized yourself.
  • 49:41 - 49:43
    Okay. Take care of yourself.
  • 49:44 - 49:48
    Take things a little bit at a time
    but take them deeply:
  • 49:48 - 49:53
    that's the difference in consumption,
    in transformation with information.
  • 49:56 - 50:02
    Recognize your own heart and mind
    in what you hear, in what you see,
  • 50:02 - 50:03
    and the more I work with this,
  • 50:03 - 50:08
    I realize this is how I'm learning
    to practice with all phenomenon.
  • 50:09 - 50:14
    The bee, the bird, the tree, the fox:
  • 50:15 - 50:23
    I am learning to recognize what is there,
    in a non-judgemental way: it's just there.
  • 50:24 - 50:28
    I had a great professor in my PhD work,
    the name of Dr Lawki (?).
  • 50:29 - 50:34
    He passed away by now
    but he was a stickler on methodology
  • 50:35 - 50:38
    and the one word he used in every class
  • 50:38 - 50:40
    —he wrote it really big on the blackboard—
  • 50:40 - 50:42
    was evidence
  • 50:42 - 50:43
    (Laughter)
  • 50:43 - 50:44
    and he says:
  • 50:44 - 50:48
    "don't turn a paper in to me
    with no evidence"
  • 50:48 - 50:49
    (Laughter)
  • 50:49 - 50:51
    "I don't care what you believe,
  • 50:52 - 50:55
    I don't care what your teacher
    told you to believe,
  • 50:55 - 50:57
    I want evidence for your thought,
  • 50:58 - 51:01
    and why you reached
    the conclusion you reached."
  • 51:01 - 51:05
    Why you reached that view,
    why you appreciated that practice,
  • 51:05 - 51:13
    explain, understand how you are interacting
    and changing with all the phenomena of life.
  • 51:14 - 51:15
    So everything
  • 51:15 - 51:21
    —I met four small,
    almost baby, doves today—
  • 51:22 - 51:26
    they were sitting on our fence
    watching us
  • 51:26 - 51:32
    and I appreciated
    their communication of safety.
  • 51:33 - 51:36
    They felt safe enough to rest here,
  • 51:37 - 51:42
    and so I was able to ask myself
    "How's my safety meter today, Larry?"
  • 51:45 - 51:51
    and not being disturbed by a disturbing world
    is the essence of the practice,
  • 51:53 - 51:56
    and it does not mean being indifferent.
  • 51:57 - 52:03
    It does not mean turning your head aside,
    it does not mean hiding from anything.
  • 52:04 - 52:07
    It means fearlessly looking
    at the whole of life,
  • 52:09 - 52:13
    and understanding that you
    are at the center of it.
  • 52:14 - 52:18
    There's some great comments years ago
    by Stephen Covey, coming to my mind,
  • 52:18 - 52:20
    to know the difference between
  • 52:21 - 52:25
    your circle of concern
    and your circle of influence.
  • 52:27 - 52:33
    Those are two different things in his thinking
    —and I heard about this a long time ago—
  • 52:33 - 52:37
    and the thing I want to remind myself
    and you of:
  • 52:37 - 52:41
    that you're not just a circle of concern,
    though you are;
  • 52:42 - 52:45
    not just a circle of influence,
    though you are;
  • 52:45 - 52:49
    but you are a circle of energy
    that can go in either direction.
  • 52:51 - 52:53
    Understand this about yourself:
  • 52:54 - 52:56
    You're not just a clump of matter
  • 52:58 - 53:01
    with the visitation from a train of thoughts
    from time to time,
  • 53:03 - 53:04
    you're cosmic being,
  • 53:07 - 53:10
    and boy oh boy what would happen
    if we started to act that way?
  • 53:11 - 53:14
    Think that way?
    Care that way?
  • 53:15 - 53:16
    Approach justice that way,
  • 53:17 - 53:20
    and wellness that way,
    and community that way?
  • 53:20 - 53:21
    We are cosmic beings.
  • 53:22 - 53:27
    We are manifestations of a reality
    we don't understand.
  • 53:27 - 53:32
    We cannot even get our mind around,
    and we don't have to.
  • 53:32 - 53:36
    All we have to do
    is to learn how to be present.
  • 53:42 - 53:44
    Peggy and I had
    the luxury of having breakfast
  • 53:44 - 53:48
    with Thích Nhất Hạnh one time
    when he received difficult news.
  • 53:50 - 53:54
    This was a time he was still exiled
    from Vietnam and could not return.
  • 53:55 - 53:56
    He had a family member pass away
  • 53:56 - 54:03
    and he could not go back
    for the funeral ceremonies.
  • 54:04 - 54:06
    And we were with him
    when the phone call came
  • 54:08 - 54:10
    and the information was passed on
    to his ear,
  • 54:11 - 54:13
    and we watched his energy change.
  • 54:16 - 54:24
    He slowly got up, bowed to us,
    and went out and did walking meditation,
  • 54:27 - 54:33
    slowing everything down,
    calming everything down.
  • 54:34 - 54:39
    Stepping in the wonders of noble silence.
  • 54:41 - 54:46
    He came back in thirty minutes or so
    a different person;
  • 54:47 - 54:48
    face different, energy different,
  • 54:49 - 54:53
    and Peggy leaned over to me and said
    "that would have taken me six years."
  • 54:53 - 54:55
    (Laughter)
  • 54:56 - 54:58
    This is the benefit of practice.
  • 54:59 - 55:01
    This is why I do it every day.
  • 55:02 - 55:07
    It's not that I don't get disturbed,
    but this being disturbed never becomes me.
  • 55:10 - 55:12
    You understand what I'm saying?
  • 55:12 - 55:15
    We were just in Minneapolis
    a few weeks ago,
  • 55:16 - 55:21
    working with Zen centers
    and Buddhist dharma communities there,
  • 55:21 - 55:26
    and went to the places of the riots
    and George Floyd square,
  • 55:26 - 55:32
    and I cannot even think about that
    without being activated,
  • 55:36 - 55:41
    but my activation
    now moves me even more
  • 55:42 - 55:48
    in the direction of
    'what does it mean to have a well society?'
  • 55:50 - 55:53
    Most of our language about everything
    is prescriptive
  • 55:54 - 55:58
    and analytical and we're sick,
  • 55:58 - 55:59
    (Laughter)
  • 55:59 - 56:03
    and we have very little feedback
    from our media,
  • 56:03 - 56:08
    from what we read and what we write
    —most of us—that affirms our existence,
  • 56:11 - 56:16
    that affirms our right to be here
    on this precious planet.
  • 56:16 - 56:18
    So when you interact with the media,
  • 56:18 - 56:23
    and when you interact with the news,
    don't be taken at the flood.
  • 56:26 - 56:35
    The flood of opinion,
    the flood of misperception.
  • 56:37 - 56:39
    You know it's like the women in Iran
  • 56:40 - 56:44
    and the people in the streets of China
    and Colombia and France,
  • 56:44 - 56:48
    and you can go around the world,
    are like they're waking up from a trance.
  • 56:50 - 56:53
    It's like one morning people woke up
  • 56:53 - 56:57
    and went "Hey, wait a minute,
    this doesn't make any sense,
  • 56:58 - 57:05
    to live this way, to be treated this way,
    to be harmed this way"
  • 57:08 - 57:12
    and so what is happening
    is the world stands up
  • 57:13 - 57:15
    and people from everywhere
    stand up for one another,
  • 57:15 - 57:17
    like we belong here together.
  • 57:22 - 57:25
    Places that think they're in power
    are shaking.
  • 57:29 - 57:30
    It's like deer in the forest
  • 57:31 - 57:34
    that can tell a new wind
    is already in the air.
  • 57:37 - 57:40
    So please my friends
    put your energy in to the new wind.
  • 57:46 - 57:51
    I had what I thought
    was an ear infection here
  • 57:51 - 57:54
    and a friend of mine took me
    to one of his ear specialists
  • 57:54 - 57:57
    —a very funny Cuban physician—
  • 57:58 - 58:01
    who did all the tests,
    cleaned my ears and everything,
  • 58:01 - 58:06
    and he said "you don't have an ear infection,
    that's the good news,
  • 58:07 - 58:09
    the bad news is
    you have something worse"
  • 58:09 - 58:10
    (Laughter)
  • 58:10 - 58:12
    and he started laughing
    and so did I
  • 58:12 - 58:15
    and what he said was "you have, you know,
  • 58:15 - 58:18
    there's a bone in your ear
    that's connected to your balance,
  • 58:18 - 58:19
    it's disintegrating."
  • 58:20 - 58:23
    So I thought, well,
    that goes along with the rest of me
  • 58:24 - 58:25
    (Laughter)
  • 58:25 - 58:29
    so I don't have a problem with disintegrating,
    that's why I'm here.
  • 58:31 - 58:35
    The question is, what do we emit?
  • 58:37 - 58:40
    One of the things
    in the Yogachara tradition
  • 58:40 - 58:46
    is they talk about our energy,
    and our words, and our thinking,
  • 58:46 - 58:49
    and our behavior perfumes the world.
  • 58:56 - 58:59
    The question is:
    what are we perfuming the world with?
  • 59:04 - 59:08
    And more and more people
    around the world are stating to realize
  • 59:09 - 59:20
    "You know, we don't like this smell,
    this death, this violence, this horror,
  • 59:21 - 59:28
    this oppression, this rape,
    this casual murder, this brutality.
  • 59:29 - 59:34
    We don't like it,
    we don't need it, to be fully human."
  • 59:35 - 59:36
    We've somehow been convinced
  • 59:37 - 59:42
    that we have to guarded by giant gorillas
    not to become giant gorillas ourselves.
  • 59:42 - 59:44
    That doesn't make any sense.
  • 59:46 - 59:49
    A new sensibility is in fact emerging,
  • 59:50 - 59:57
    and so when you receive information
    hold on to yourself,
  • 59:59 - 60:02
    hold on to your precious soul and heart,
  • 60:02 - 60:03
    don't lose yourself,
  • 60:05 - 60:07
    because whatever the information is
  • 60:07 - 60:08
    —this is probably
  • 60:08 - 60:12
    the most uncomfortable thing
    I realized about learning something—
  • 60:14 - 60:20
    whatever it is I learn
    I will one day forget, permanently.
  • 60:21 - 60:25
    And that helps me from getting
    too wired about stuff,
  • 60:26 - 60:30
    to uptight about things,
    too fixed about things,
  • 60:30 - 60:35
    too extreme and certain about things.
  • 60:36 - 60:39
    The other wonderful thing
    that I've been practicing with
  • 60:39 - 60:42
    as I go through the world we live in,
  • 60:46 - 60:50
    which the Buddha sometimes called
    the world of a thicket of views.
  • 60:52 - 60:54
    We live in a world
    of billions of opinions.
  • 60:54 - 60:57
    Now we have 8.9 billion people
  • 60:59 - 61:04
    and (?) most of us have difficulty
    sorting the opinions in our own head.
  • 61:06 - 61:12
    To imagine that we can together
    sort our way in to the future,
  • 61:13 - 61:19
    lead each other in to the future,
    for me, is why were here.
  • 61:20 - 61:22
    It's why we were born.
  • 61:23 - 61:25
    This is our great work.
  • 61:27 - 61:30
    We will not finish it,
    and we are not supposed to.
  • 61:31 - 61:33
    We're supposed to be the bridge,
  • 61:35 - 61:36
    so that our future ancestors
  • 61:36 - 61:40
    and past ancestors,
    who are always along for the ride,
  • 61:40 - 61:41
    (Laughter)
  • 61:41 - 61:43
    can finish it too.
  • 61:45 - 61:49
    There's a discipline involved
    in not being disturbed by a disturbing world.
  • 61:51 - 61:55
    And the most important part
    of this discipline for me is silence.
  • 62:02 - 62:04
    I start the day by silence.
  • 62:04 - 62:07
    I start the day by listening
    to the sounds of the world.
  • 62:08 - 62:11
    So I don't think I'm isolated,
  • 62:12 - 62:14
    so I'm in touch
    with the wonders of life,
  • 62:15 - 62:21
    and then noble silence throughout the day,
    just here or there,
  • 62:21 - 62:28
    taking time to stop running around
    for whatever reason, and pause,
  • 62:29 - 62:32
    and as this happens
  • 62:32 - 62:34
    we become more and more
    stilled in ourselves,
  • 62:38 - 62:43
    and that stillness in ourselves, that solidity
    like mount Fuji within ourselves,
  • 62:44 - 62:47
    it's what we need
    to transform our world.
  • 62:51 - 62:54
    It's what protects us
    from falling in to hate,
  • 62:54 - 62:56
    as a motivator for changing our world.
  • 62:59 - 63:01
    Equanimity guards us
  • 63:04 - 63:08
    from using the energy of jealousy
    in the hopes of changing our world,
  • 63:09 - 63:11
    or the energy of greed,
  • 63:15 - 63:19
    though all of these things
    are in our own consciousness.
  • 63:21 - 63:25
    It is our skillfulness
    in learning to recognize ourselves
  • 63:27 - 63:31
    that will free ourselves from ourselves,
  • 63:32 - 63:34
    and as we free ourselves from ourselves
  • 63:34 - 63:38
    we become more capable
    of freeing each other.
  • 63:42 - 63:47
    In neuroscientific terms we become capable
    of profound coregulation,
  • 63:50 - 63:55
    which is the ground of co-creativity,
    which we are wired for,
  • 63:57 - 64:04
    we have just been convinced
    that we are not, that we are only shadow.
  • 64:06 - 64:10
    I'm talking about the fourth archetype now,
    the soul, wholeness.
  • 64:11 - 64:14
    We're not just this,
    we're not just that,
  • 64:15 - 64:22
    we're the whole of life
    in the present moment.
  • 64:26 - 64:29
    The tears I cried watching the women
    march in the streets of Iran
  • 64:29 - 64:33
    were my tears and their tears.
  • 64:34 - 64:42
    And as I realized that
    I went beyond cause,
  • 64:44 - 64:50
    I went beyond politics,
    I went in to depth humanity,
  • 64:52 - 64:54
    and it's from this depth
  • 64:55 - 64:58
    —which we all...
    it's a well we can all fall in—
  • 64:59 - 65:01
    is available,
  • 65:03 - 65:05
    but you have to develop a discipline
  • 65:05 - 65:07
    —and many of you have I know—
  • 65:07 - 65:10
    of nourishing this,
    nourishing this, nourishing this,
  • 65:10 - 65:12
    but nourishing yourself
  • 65:12 - 65:17
    please minimize your judgement
    upon yourself.
  • 65:18 - 65:23
    So many of us—there's a friend of mine
    who wrote a book many years ago.
  • 65:23 - 65:24
    His name was Marty Selman.
  • 65:25 - 65:28
    It was on communication
    —he was a super-salesman kind of guy—
  • 65:29 - 65:31
    and his research showed
    that the average person
  • 65:31 - 65:34
    speaks to themselves
    over two thousand times a day.
  • 65:37 - 65:39
    You talk mostly to yourself.
  • 65:41 - 65:42
    I talk mostly to myself,
  • 65:42 - 65:48
    so it's very important to know
    who we invite to have a conversation with,
  • 65:48 - 65:49
    who we invite in,
  • 65:50 - 65:53
    and how we receive our guest
    —in thinking of Rumi—
  • 65:54 - 65:55
    how we be the host.
  • 65:58 - 66:01
    And sometimes being the host
    means to let things be.
  • 66:03 - 66:04
    You know this.
  • 66:04 - 66:05
    (Laughter)
  • 66:05 - 66:08
    Sometimes being the host
    means to let things go,
  • 66:09 - 66:13
    and sometimes being the host
    means simply to let things flow.
  • 66:15 - 66:20
    So we don't have to grasp
    after information, images,
  • 66:21 - 66:23
    as the definition of our lives.
  • 66:24 - 66:31
    We endure our experiences, of our senses,
    our sights and sounds, and movements,
  • 66:31 - 66:38
    of our body and our mind,
    but we don't intend to be lead astray.
  • 66:44 - 66:49
    I want to end with a favorite poem of mine
    that is connected
  • 66:49 - 66:52
    to what I think is the core practice
  • 66:52 - 66:59
    of not being carried away
    by the world, suffering and craziness.
  • 67:03 - 67:04
    Pablo Neruda
  • 67:06 - 67:08
    It's called 'keeping quiet'
  • 67:10 - 67:14
    Now we will count to twelve
    and we will all keep still
  • 67:16 - 67:22
    for once on the face of the earth,
    let us not speak any language;
  • 67:23 - 67:29
    let's stop for a second,
    and not move our arms so much.
  • 67:30 - 67:36
    It would be an exotic moment
    without rush, without engines;
  • 67:38 - 67:41
    we would all be together
    in a sudden strangeness.
  • 67:43 - 67:46
    Fishermen in the cold sea
    would not harm whales
  • 67:47 - 67:50
    and the man gathering salt
    would not look at his hurt hands.
  • 67:52 - 67:56
    Those who prepare green wars,
    wars with gas, wars with fire,
  • 67:57 - 68:01
    victories with no survivors,
    would put on clean clothes
  • 68:02 - 68:08
    and walk about with their brothers and sisters
    in the shade, doing nothing.
  • 68:09 - 68:13
    If we were not so single-minded
    about keeping our lives moving,
  • 68:13 - 68:16
    and for once could do nothing,
  • 68:17 - 68:23
    perhaps a huge silence
    might interrupt this sadness
  • 68:23 - 68:31
    of never understanding ourselves
    and of threatening ourselves with death.
  • 68:33 - 68:44
    Now I'll count up to twelve
    and you keep quiet and I will go.
  • 68:46 - 69:02
    (Bell sounds four times)
Title:
Dharma Talk: Living in the World with Your Heart Undisturbed | Dr. Larry Ward
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Duration:
01:09:02

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