Beautiful Qualities Rediscovered

0:00 This is what should be done by one who is skilled in goodness and who knows a path of peace. Let them be able and upright. Straightforward and gentle in speech, humble and not conceited, contented and easily satisfied, unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways, peaceful and calm and wise and skillful, not proud and demanding in nature. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:31 Let them not do the slightest thing that the wise would later reprove, wishing in gladness and in safety, may all beings be happy, whatever living beings there may be. Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none, the great or the mighty, medium, short or small, the seen and the unseen, those living near and far away, those born and to be born, may all beings be happy. Report an error in the passage at 0:31 Highlight the passage at 0:31

1:05 Let none deceive another or despise any being in any state. Let none through anger or ill will wish harm upon another. Report an error in the passage at 1:05 Highlight the passage at 1:05

1:37 Outwards and unbounded, freed from hatred and ill will, whether standing or walking, seated or lying down, free from drowsiness, one should sustain this recollection. This is said to be the sublime abiding. By not holding to fixed views, a pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision, being freed from all sense desires, is not born again into this world. Report an error in the passage at 1:37 Highlight the passage at 1:37

2:17 Okay, so I don't really have a plan tonight. I usually do have a plan, but not this time. It was a bit odd. But one of the things that probably would be interesting to talk about is a A deeper part of the practice but also one which is very accessible to everyone and I think very relevant today as well is that deep, deep down we all have the capacity to experience and to develop and to live a life filled with happiness and joy and loving kindness and compassion and all these wonderful, beautiful qualities and yet for the vast majority of us they feel inaccessible. Report an error in the passage at 2:17 Highlight the passage at 2:17

3:01 Disconnected, lost, alienistic even. We don't know how to find them. And sometimes we might feel that we can't even access them or we just don't have the ability at all. Some feel that we may never experience those things. What's interesting about this is that is in itself a bit of an illusion. Report an error in the passage at 3:01 Highlight the passage at 3:01

3:24 Because when we look at emotions in particular, we say greed and hatred. Love and hatred are two sides of one coin. And that is interesting is that if love and hate are two sides of one coin, then to experience one you have to be able to experience the other. They're on a spectrum basically. They are connected. And so the thing is, as long as we have either of those abilities, we have the ability to choose. Report an error in the passage at 3:24 Highlight the passage at 3:24

3:55 But a large part... of the Buddhist practice as such in daily life as well as in meditation is to reconnect and to rediscover in a way those beautiful qualities the happiness the joy all these wonderful things because we never lose them no matter what has happened to us no matter what we do no matter what we're exposed to they're still there the problem is They can be buried very, very deep. They can be buried with all kinds of things. Trauma. They can be buried with bad conscience, bad feelings, regrets, anxieties. Report an error in the passage at 3:55 Highlight the passage at 3:55

4:35 They can be overcovered with so many things that we feel that they might not even be available to us anymore, as if somehow we've lost the ability for the rest of our lives, as if we've been poisoned or destroyed. But the truth is, that's not actually the case. And this is something which... they are still there. And being still there, it's more accessible. We're more familiar with them, and we can find them more easily. Report an error in the passage at 4:35 Highlight the passage at 4:35

5:17 We can bring them into daily life more easily. And this is something which I think it's very, very difficult for people. It's something that we find a lot in monastic life in particular. We can be so caught up in the practice or in our daily life or anything else. We're basically just coping. We're just running along trying to manage life in all its chaos and all its ups and downs and everything else that we sometimes even feel that even if we can find them, we don't have the energy for them. Report an error in the passage at 5:17 Highlight the passage at 5:17

5:48 We're just not really available to experience them. But the reality is, The more and more you find them, the more and more that you're familiar with them, the less effort and energy it is to connect with them. For a lot of people, it's this big trial, this, oh, I must be a good Buddhist. I must wish all sentient beings happiness and all that kind of stuff. And it's theater. It's just a ritualistic thing that we do, hoping one day that it will all kind of connect. Report an error in the passage at 5:48 Highlight the passage at 5:48

6:18 But it never does. Sometimes, for some of us, we might luckily fluke it. And that's okay. Those flukes are quite useful. They're very interesting experiences because they remind us, hang on a minute, how did that happen? But at the same time, it's still a fluke. And that can be very, very difficult for people because they're trying to, you might have a beautiful meditation, perhaps on a retreat, perhaps at home, and everything's wonderful and there's so much contentment and joy and everything all of a sudden seems okay in the world. Report an error in the passage at 6:18 Highlight the passage at 6:18

6:54 The pain has disappeared and we want it so badly we try to get back to it and as we try to get back to it we lose it because our intention is problematic. Report an error in the passage at 6:54 Highlight the passage at 6:54

7:08 We're trying to get to something as if it's something we have to accomplish, something we have to achieve, something we have to own and yet it isn't that at all. And this is I think the amazing thing about the entire practice as such is that the moment that you start to Have room for these beautiful qualities, to include them in your life, so to speak. Report an error in the passage at 7:08 Highlight the passage at 7:08

7:34 It becomes effortless, but it also complicates things slightly, because all of a sudden, these beautiful states give us a bit of a culture shift. They basically expose all the things that we take for granted in our coping mechanisms, our vested interests, all that stuff that we just have in our daily life. Report an error in the passage at 7:34 Highlight the passage at 7:34

7:57 And all of a sudden, it makes them seem more crude, more ugly, more messy, more unsophisticated even. And we have to choose. And sometimes the choice isn't even available to us. It's in our face that, you know, this is the direction we have to go to, is that our daily life as such is missing all these beautiful things. Report an error in the passage at 7:57 Highlight the passage at 7:57

8:22 And all the things that we think will bring us happiness, which don't, all of a sudden are Obviously going to let us down and we lose faith in them. We become disenchanted with them. And this is a very, very important part of the whole Buddhist practice altogether. This disenchantment with the scams, with the cons, with the advertising, all the little fibs that we swallow, all the things that we hope are going to make everything okay. Report an error in the passage at 8:22 Highlight the passage at 8:22

8:53 And yet once we see those scams, it's very easy to let them go. Why would you want to buy into them? It's so obviously not going to work out. It's a lose-lose scenario. And so right view starts to develop. Report an error in the passage at 8:53 Highlight the passage at 8:53

9:10 But what's interesting about this is a much, much deeper level. Psychologically or spiritually, we could say, it's impossible actually to harm someone else. Report an error in the passage at 9:10 Highlight the passage at 9:10

9:24 It's very interesting. Physically, yes, you can harm someone very easily. But on a very, very deep level, You cannot harm someone else. Now, in Western thought, this is interesting because Socrates came up with this one. But it's very much in Buddhism as well. Report an error in the passage at 9:24 Highlight the passage at 9:24

9:42 There's a section called the asavas, which is people debate about what it means whether it's inflowing or outflowing. Basically, it depends exactly where you're looking at it. But it's the stuff where you're reaching out and bringing it back into your own mind. And so deep, deep down, we can harm ourselves very easily by doing wrong to others. Report an error in the passage at 9:42 Highlight the passage at 9:42

10:03 By harming others, by harming ourselves, by bringing in and buying into all these ideas and criticisms and things which sometimes make, you know, are based on other people's projections and have absolutely no reality whatsoever. And we buy into them and they completely disenfranchise us from our happiness, from our wellbeing, from our potential and capacity to be human and to live a good life. Report an error in the passage at 10:03 Highlight the passage at 10:03

10:33 And this is where it gets interesting because in right intention, right motivation, whichever you prefer to call it, right there is ahimsaka, doing no harm, non-violence. Report an error in the passage at 10:33 Highlight the passage at 10:33

10:48 Awayapada, kindness, the compassion. And nekama, the letting go, the relinquishing. And we connect this with right effort, the right effort to do what is good and encourage those good states to arise. And to not do what is harmful and to discourage the harmful states from arising. And the mindfulness for us to tell the difference basically. Report an error in the passage at 10:48 Highlight the passage at 10:48

11:16 But it really comes back to us that connecting with these beautiful states inside, finding the way back home you could say, all of a sudden brings life back together. It feels more whole, more complete. Those beautiful qualities are back in our toolbox you can say. We're no longer this one-side emotional thing of just being trapped in this miserable world, in the frustrations, in the disappointments, in all the things which are very, very prevalent in today's society. Report an error in the passage at 11:16 Highlight the passage at 11:16

11:53 Once you access those more beautiful qualities, because you can find them very easily, all of a sudden you have more choices, you have more insights, you have a much bigger perspective. You don't have to be trapped in these miserable Self-destructive ways, which unfortunately many of us are so used to, we haven't even realized that we're stuck in them. And this is the thing, the more and more we practice, the more and more we kind of, in many ways it is a choice, but ultimately you realize that by perspective, the choice is really kind of a bit on the trivial side. Report an error in the passage at 11:53 Highlight the passage at 11:53

12:32 Eventually it just makes... No sense whatsoever to buy into the negativity, the harmfulness, the self-destruction, the white anting of ourselves. Now, I'm not entirely sure if white anting is in the international world. A white ant is a little termite in Australia. It's about the size of a little black sugar ant, which voraciously eat very hard woods. Report an error in the passage at 12:32 Highlight the passage at 12:32

12:57 And so to white ant ourselves is basically to destroy ourselves from the inside. And we white ant each other. We eat away at their little good qualities to sabotage and destroy and dismantle all our good qualities. White anting is a very common term in Australian English, so I'm not sure if it's wider. But it's still useful to recognize that we do this. Report an error in the passage at 12:57 Highlight the passage at 12:57

13:22 We sabotage ourselves. We disconnect ourselves from our own happiness, from our own beautiful qualities. And because of that, we're miserable. And then we take it out on ourselves or on other people or all of the above. We become basically projecting our own suffering outside when realistically inside we've already got the solution. Report an error in the passage at 13:22 Highlight the passage at 13:22

13:52 We've already had the key in our pocket to open that door. And so for that in particular it really, really comes back down to trying to Well, not even trying. You do have to try initially. Everybody has to try initially. But more sort of seeing that those good qualities were always there. And you cannot actually lose them. And this is something that I deal with quite a lot in the monastery. Very often I have to counsel people who've been very, very traumatized, who've had all kinds of terrible regrets. Report an error in the passage at 13:52 Highlight the passage at 13:52

14:29 They feel that there's no point. You know, they're giving up the will to live. They're giving up the will to stay, you know, all kinds of things. Very, very challenging situations. And yet showing that even though the most terrible things have happened to us, we still have those beautiful qualities. They're not destroyed by those suffering, by those, you know, injustices, by all those things which destroy our lives. Report an error in the passage at 14:29 Highlight the passage at 14:29

15:00 We always have the ability to forgive. But here's the catch. This is where the vested interests come in. This is where the conflicts of interest come in. Because what happens is our identity has become attached to this trauma, to this suffering, to this injustice, to this unhappiness. And it's become something that we've tried to enclose and that we've... Report an error in the passage at 15:00 Highlight the passage at 15:00

15:30 On one hand, trying to resolve, but because it's such an important part of our lives, we can't let it go because it's become who we are. We are the victim or we are the villain. We've been both many, many times, quite honestly. But the thing is, is that if we are trapped in that situation where we buy into this situation that we're the good guy or the bad guy or anything in between. Report an error in the passage at 15:30 Highlight the passage at 15:30

15:57 That actually prevents us from letting it go because it's become so important to us. It's become our entire world. And that actually disconnects us from the happiness, from the freedom, from those beautiful states because there's a priority shift. Report an error in the passage at 15:57 Highlight the passage at 15:57

16:14 This is, you know, better the evil we know, basically. So we prefer to stick with that than to be free of it because to be free of it means that we're released. Report an error in the passage at 16:14 Highlight the passage at 16:14

16:29 To be free of it... means what the ego is afraid of is that we will be diminished. And sometimes what the ego is more afraid of is that if we are happy or if we let this injustice go, we're letting the villain, the bad person who did all this stuff to us, that they will be able to get away with it. They'll be, you know, they'll get away scot-free basically. And it really doesn't work that way. Because as we said before, it's... Report an error in the passage at 16:29 Highlight the passage at 16:29

17:01 Very, very difficult to harm someone else. It's virtually impossible. But we harm ourselves by bringing in that suffering and making it our world. We harm ourselves by listening to other people's projections, which often are misguided because they're angry or upset. Sometimes they're just being nasty. Report an error in the passage at 17:01 Highlight the passage at 17:01

17:21 And if we buy into those things, what do they know about us? What do they know about you? That's the reality. Nobody else knows you but you. Nobody else knows your world but you. And that's the thing. It's very empowering to be able to say, we don't have to buy into this stuff. We don't have to choose to be subjected to other people's opinions who have no qualification whatsoever. Report an error in the passage at 17:21 Highlight the passage at 17:21

17:55 But that's the thing. That's where that vested interest bounces back, which complicates things. Because all of a sudden, if we see we have that choice, It means we have a responsibility. Basically, we can't be doormats anymore. We can't be trapped, you know, to follow the stream of the advertising and all the stuff that goes on, all the politics and blah, blah, blah, all the stuff that goes on that controls our life or attempts to control us. Report an error in the passage at 17:55 Highlight the passage at 17:55

18:26 If you choose all of a sudden not to buy into those things, the ego is going to be a bit afraid of that. It's going to say, well, what else have I got? It's now a bit empty. It's a bit hollow. And that's where we balance it back in. Because funnily enough, by bringing in those good qualities again, the happiness, the joy, the loving kindness, the compassion, the contentment, the forgiveness, all these things, all of a sudden it's not an issue anymore. Report an error in the passage at 18:26 Highlight the passage at 18:26

18:57 Because that wholeness, so to speak, is back with us. Our ability to be happy in spite of all the difficulties. Report an error in the passage at 18:57 Highlight the passage at 18:57

19:09 And we choose to do that because it is far more rational as a way to live. It's a far more compassionate way to live. It's a far more beneficial and practical way to live. It gives you far more options on how you can navigate life and to make something beautiful out of it. Report an error in the passage at 19:09 Highlight the passage at 19:09

19:32 See, this is the problem. When people are suffering so badly, what they try to do is destroy the happiness and the beauty outside. Because it's confronting. It's painful. We see somebody else that's happy. We don't want it. We want them to suffer as well. I'm having a miserable life. How dare they be happy? And such a foolish way of doing it. And we see the beauty in nature. And that confronts us in exactly the same way. Report an error in the passage at 19:32 Highlight the passage at 19:32

19:58 So we must burn it all to the ground and get rid of it. So we're no longer having to be faced with the fact that we're suffering inside. Report an error in the passage at 19:58 Highlight the passage at 19:58

20:08 This escapism from our own internal suffering. is destroying the outside world and it's destroying the people we love and Report an error in the passage at 20:08 Highlight the passage at 20:08

20:20 that's a very very big one to look at because it's unnecessary we don't have to do it we're trying to deal with this unhappiness and what we're doing because we don't know better instinctively we're projecting it out we're trying to do all kinds of things to deal with it It might even just be shopping or spending time on the internet or surfing your latest songs or whatever. All these distractions, all these ways. Report an error in the passage at 20:20 Highlight the passage at 20:20

20:55 How much of our time is spent trying to get away from ourselves? I mean, that's really a big question. How much of our time are we trying to escape from ourselves? We could also ask it the other way. How much of, you know, how many people is their worst nightmare? To be in a room with no one but themselves and their own mind. You might be surprised, a lot of people are terrified of being alone with their own mind. Report an error in the passage at 20:55 Highlight the passage at 20:55

21:28 And that's a tragedy. That's what we've come to. We've basically let ourselves become so buried in our own unhappiness that we've lost the ability to have joy and happiness and compassion and forgiveness. And all these other beautiful things. Appreciating joy. Appreciating the beauty of nature. Celebrating other people's happiness and success. Report an error in the passage at 21:28 Highlight the passage at 21:28

21:59 Because there's so little happiness in this world. When we see somebody that we love who's happy, how wonderful that is. The potential for joy is everywhere. Report an error in the passage at 21:59 Highlight the passage at 21:59

22:12 And yet we choose not to have it. I remember many, many years ago. This is before I became a monk. Probably 16, 17 years ago, something like that. I was talking to a Burmese monk, and I was in a pretty miserable state at that time. And I asked him, why do we do it? Why do we make ourselves so miserable? Why do we buy into all this stuff, all this greed, hatred? Report an error in the passage at 22:12 Highlight the passage at 22:12

22:40 Why are we destroying ourselves? And he looked at me as if I was an idiot. Fair enough. And he said, because we want to. Report an error in the passage at 22:40 Highlight the passage at 22:40

22:53 Now that one's a very, very interesting one. Because I've been telling people that story for many, many years now. And what's interesting as an experiment is to watch what happens in your own mind when we say this. We suffer, we are miserable, because we want to. If we watch our own mind, the vast majority of people, you can see it in their eyes, quite honestly. Report an error in the passage at 22:53 Highlight the passage at 22:53

23:20 They'll either glaze over and sort of say, yeah, I don't get that. That doesn't make sense to me. Or they resisted. Part of us going, no, no, no, no, no, that can't be right. Because all of a sudden it puts everything back on our own plate. But basically, why do we suffer? In other words, first noble truth stuff, because we want to. Second noble truth. It's a real big one. Report an error in the passage at 23:20 Highlight the passage at 23:20

23:48 We choose to make our lives hell. We choose to make our lives miserable. We buy into politics. We buy into all the little games, all the power trips, the dominance games, all trying to get and have and to be and whatever. For what? Ultimately, it doesn't mean anything. It's just a little passing fad in many ways. Report an error in the passage at 23:48 Highlight the passage at 23:48

24:13 And it doesn't give us the happiness that we really want. The vast majority of the time, that happiness was already there. Report an error in the passage at 24:13 Highlight the passage at 24:13

24:26 And we have so many opportunities. To find that happiness, it was already there. I think many people don't really want to be happy in many ways. And it's because, you know, you feel more alive when you're in an unpleasant state. That's the unfortunate thing. Many of us, we want to feel more alive generally. That's why people like to have spicy food and loud music and go on rollercoaster rides and skydiving and bungee jumping and all these high intense experiences. Report an error in the passage at 24:26 Highlight the passage at 24:26

25:03 To make us feel more alive because ordinariness is so unpleasant. We feel irrelevant. We disappear in the ordinariness. It's frightening to many people. And yet, when you have that happiness inside, that contentment, that joy, all those beautiful qualities, there's no reason to do those. It's not going to give you anything. Yeah, you have some spicy food. Yeah, it's nice. But, you know, a couple hours later, it's another mealtime. Report an error in the passage at 25:03 Highlight the passage at 25:03

25:37 It's never going to give you that happiness. It's never going to give you the satisfaction, the completeness, the wholeness, all those words that we bounce around. It's never going to give you it. Report an error in the passage at 25:37 Highlight the passage at 25:37

25:52 It always comes back down to that. How we choose to live ultimately is based on what our priorities are, what our vested interests are. Do we really want to be happy? Do we really want to be free? Do we want to live a life filled with Beauty and happiness. Do we want to live our lives filled with making good decisions, making pragmatic decisions, decisions that are going to improve our lives, to help our families, our loved ones, the society as a whole, to do good in the world, so to speak? Report an error in the passage at 25:52 Highlight the passage at 25:52

26:33 Not for the sake of owning it, not for the sake of being a little do-gooder or a good little Buddhist saint or whatever, but for the beauty of it. Because why not? Why waste life? Life is short enough. Because when we consider it this way, none of us are getting any younger. Report an error in the passage at 26:33 Highlight the passage at 26:33

26:54 The famous saying in Buddhism, the days and nights are relentlessly passing. How well am I spending my time? What are we doing with our time? Report an error in the passage at 26:54 Highlight the passage at 26:54

27:07 It's really a choice on that one. We've never lost the ability or the capacity to make our lives beautiful and to have a beautiful life. Report an error in the passage at 27:07 Highlight the passage at 27:07

27:21 And? The half an hour is virtually up. Shall we go on to the meditation? Report an error in the passage at 27:21 Highlight the passage at 27:21

27:31 Uh-huh. Report an error in the passage at 27:31 Highlight the passage at 27:31

27:35 Okay. Well, assuming that we are, as usual, everybody, please stand up. Give yourself a bit of a stretch. Adjust your clothes and do all the things. Adjust your cushion if you need to and do all the things you need to do. Report an error in the passage at 27:35 Highlight the passage at 27:35

27:48 It's always important when you start your meditation to loosen yourself up a bit because we've already been sitting for half an hour. We don't want to bring this stiff enclosed into a meditation. It's good to freshen up a little. Report an error in the passage at 27:48 Highlight the passage at 27:48

28:08 And when you're ready. You can settle in and close your eyes. And Report an error in the passage at 28:08 Highlight the passage at 28:08

28:27 of course, the theme for the meditation tonight will be reconnecting with these beautiful qualities, rediscovering them. Report an error in the passage at 28:27 Highlight the passage at 28:27

28:38 And so what we're going to do is relax, is settle in, is to give ourselves the gift of a little bit of happiness, of a little bit of rest, a Report an error in the passage at 28:38 Highlight the passage at 28:38

28:59 time that we can forget about all the troubles, about all the stuff that's happening outside. Forget about the past and the future and all that stuff. That we can just be here. That Report an error in the passage at 28:59 Highlight the passage at 28:59

29:20 we can build that beautiful relationship with ourselves. It Report an error in the passage at 29:20 Highlight the passage at 29:20

29:44 doesn't matter how you do it. Report an error in the passage at 29:44 Highlight the passage at 29:44

29:49 Whether you settle in feeling your body, or watching your breath, or using a mantra, or anything that you use. It really doesn't matter. All Report an error in the passage at 29:49 Highlight the passage at 29:49

30:29 we have to do is connect. Report an error in the passage at 30:29 Highlight the passage at 30:29

30:34 Connect to that sense of relaxing. That sense of ease. That sense of relief. Report an error in the passage at 30:34 Highlight the passage at 30:34

30:54 And to bring in a little bit of joy, the joy of doing something beautiful. Connect Report an error in the passage at 30:54 Highlight the passage at 30:54

· · · silence, 1 minute

32:05 deeper by being aware of the feedback your body and mind is giving you. Perhaps Report an error in the passage at 32:05 Highlight the passage at 32:05

32:16 your body is saying, just adjust this or just relax this. Be more engaged with that to settle in and Report an error in the passage at 32:16 Highlight the passage at 32:16

· · · silence, 1 minute

33:39 connect more with the part of your mind, the part that wants to let go, that wants to relax. And Report an error in the passage at 33:39 Highlight the passage at 33:39

· · · silence, 2 minutes

35:32 as we settle in more. Report an error in the passage at 35:32 Highlight the passage at 35:32

35:36 Whatever positive feeling or emotion you have, whether it's joy, loving kindness, compassion, contentment, it doesn't matter which one it is, just a feeling of peace even. Report an error in the passage at 35:36 Highlight the passage at 35:36

35:55 Spend time with that. Become familiar with that. Now Report an error in the passage at 35:55 Highlight the passage at 35:55

· · · silence, 18 minutes

54:27 let us give us some fuel for these beautiful qualities, to share them, to let them expand. To give them purpose and a place in our lives. Report an error in the passage at 54:27 Highlight the passage at 54:27

54:50 Whichever beautiful quality you developed, share it with those you love. And imagine spreading it. It Report an error in the passage at 54:50 Highlight the passage at 54:50

55:04 doesn't matter if you have a name or a face, or whether you just spread it like air. Report an error in the passage at 55:04 Highlight the passage at 55:04

55:17 Spend the next few minutes sharing this quality with the world. And Report an error in the passage at 55:17 Highlight the passage at 55:17

· · · silence, 1 minute

55:59 as we do this, see how it reacts, what messages it sends us. Report an error in the passage at 55:59 Highlight the passage at 55:59

56:15 Try to connect with the part that wants to expand, that wants to share the joy, to Report an error in the passage at 56:15 Highlight the passage at 56:15

56:28 share the delight. And Report an error in the passage at 56:28 Highlight the passage at 56:28

· · · silence, 2 minutes

58:21 as we bring the meditation to a close, remember Report an error in the passage at 58:21 Highlight the passage at 58:21

58:28 this relationship. Remember this beautiful friend that's always in our hearts. Report an error in the passage at 58:28 Highlight the passage at 58:28

58:39 And so that we can connect with these beautiful states at any time. And Report an error in the passage at 58:39 Highlight the passage at 58:39

59:12 when you're ready, you can open your eyes. And Report an error in the passage at 59:12 Highlight the passage at 59:12

59:25 welcome back. Give yourself a bit of a stretch. Loosen up a bit. Hopefully you weren't tired at all. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 59:25 Highlight the passage at 59:25

59:40 Any questions? Bring them on. Report an error in the passage at 59:40 Highlight the passage at 59:40

59:50 Yeah, go for it. You just mentioned something. I kind of know what you mean, but I would be good at more. You said that we can harm ourselves, but we can harm other people physically, but not psychologically. Can you explain that? Yeah. Part of this is to do with anattā. Report an error in the passage at 59:50 Highlight the passage at 59:50

1:00:17 that the connection that we have to other people in many ways is not the kind that we think it is. So we can harm ourselves, but it's actually very, very difficult to harm someone else. If we send all this hatred and violence and horrible words to other people, they can bring it in. So they can bring that into their own lives, but it's not a direct connection. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:17 Highlight the passage at 1:00:17

1:00:44 If If something somebody, happens to you, you know, there's... Quite a number of sort of classic stories about this. One that Ajahn uses is that someone walks through a market and bumps into this guy who is all of a sudden insulting him and saying all these horrible things about it. And this guy gets all upset and goes home. And his wife says, why are you so upset? And he said, this guy in the market. And she said, don't worry about him. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:44 Highlight the passage at 1:00:44

1:01:12 He's crazy. He does this to everybody. And then all of a sudden, oh, you can realize that. something that he was bringing in. So we harm ourselves really by doing wrong to other people, but that it's really something that spends a while to look quite deeply into. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:12 Highlight the passage at 1:01:12

1:01:32 interesting discovery you could say is that we can't really harm others but we can harm ourselves and that this these arsivers as they're called this reaching out and pulling in If you really, really study what's going on, if you really, really watch, the mind is choosing to reach out to these poisonous words that we hear or these horrible images that we see. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:32 Highlight the passage at 1:01:32

1:02:00 We're choosing to reach out to them and we're choosing to bring them in and we're choosing to hold on to them. There's an intention every step of the way. So in this one in particular, the moment you start seeing that pattern happening, you can actually choose. we don't have to connect to this at all. We don't have to bring this poisonous stuff into our lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:00 Highlight the passage at 1:02:00

1:02:24 but it's very hard to put into words sort of how we believe that we can affect somebody else. It's actually quite an illusion, but this is more deeper stuff that takes a while to investigate, but it is worth investigating. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:24 Highlight the passage at 1:02:24

1:02:43 So, unfortunately... Unfortunately, Report an error in the passage at 1:02:43 Highlight the passage at 1:02:43

1:02:45 I don't have a perfect answer for this one. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:45 Highlight the passage at 1:02:45

1:02:51 Okay, Skye, go for it. That reminds me of Report an error in the passage at 1:02:51 Highlight the passage at 1:02:51

1:03:01 a girlfriend of mine Report an error in the passage at 1:03:01 Highlight the passage at 1:03:01

1:03:08 being very human and going, so-and-so said something about me or blah, blah, blah. I don't remember what I said. And this girl who's still my friend, how are you going to get it? I said, what do you mean? What people think about you is none of your business. I don't know, somehow that liberated me. You know, because we can take it home, you know, what we think and all these negative things. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:08 Highlight the passage at 1:03:08

1:03:44 You know, I think humans are just prone to make it worse, or not every human, of course. You know, like the story of the lady who puts on a beautiful dress. She goes to the gala. Her husband likes the dress. Everybody loves the dress. At the way home, one lady says, that dress makes you look fat. One person out of a hundred. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:44 Highlight the passage at 1:03:44

1:04:12 She never wears the dress again. You know, there's a... And Report an error in the passage at 1:04:12 Highlight the passage at 1:04:12

1:04:21 I wrote something in the comments, too, something about how we feel at times that we're either the prey or the predator. You know, because we are animals first and foremost, you know, I think, but we have this great consciousness. And the only time we're really, really happy is when we're young, maybe, if you're lucky, and have a lovely childhood and have some childish... Report an error in the passage at 1:04:21 Highlight the passage at 1:04:21

1:04:50 memories without the pressure of life where you have pure happiness maybe that's why jesus says something like uh be like a child you know look for that simplicity uh choose choose like you said uh on john sampan choose the happiness I mean, I think there's a bumper sticker for that. No, but it's a very good one. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:50 Highlight the passage at 1:04:50

1:05:25 During the meditation and I had to stop because for some reason I was thinking about my mother. She was always wanting, when I was around, when she had me around, she was always wanting to make sure she kissed me hello, kissed me goodbye, kissed me goodnight, kissed me good morning. And I wrote to her every week in my adult life and every month and I called her every week. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:25 Highlight the passage at 1:05:25

1:05:54 but she gave me the sense of impermanence and that you know kiss me now because I may not be here later love me now because you may not be here later so those were my thoughts during your talk and your um Thank you. The thing that's interesting about this is because of Anattā, And Anicca and Dukkha and everything else, we're constantly trying to build up our identity, firstly to determine who we are, but also as a way to navigate the life, to navigate the world and all the chaos and all the stuff that's in it. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:54 Highlight the passage at 1:05:54

1:06:39 And the building blocks of choice are the biggest, most solid ones we can get our hands on. And they tend to be some of the worst ones. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:39 Highlight the passage at 1:06:39

1:06:50 The suffering, the victimhood, the villainhood, all this kind of, I did this or he did this to me and da da da da da, all these regrets and everything else are fabulous building blocks for the ego. But all they do is they build a prison. And a lot of the time, unfortunately, we're geared to choosing these prison blocks because we don't have that connection with the happiness, the joy, the freedom that was always there. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:50 Highlight the passage at 1:06:50

1:07:17 So it's kind of... This is the ignorance of Buddhism, so to speak. That's the central problem. Because we haven't realized what happiness is, we choose the worst possible outcome to build our life around. And unfortunately, look what happens when people who have these poisonous building blocks get into positions of power. It's pretty much self-evident. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:17 Highlight the passage at 1:07:17

1:07:44 evident, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:44 Highlight the passage at 1:07:44

1:07:49 Okay, any more questions? Report an error in the passage at 1:07:49 Highlight the passage at 1:07:49

1:08:09 notion that we can't really hurt anybody else, but that's only after adulthood. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:09 Highlight the passage at 1:08:09

1:08:29 And meditation groups, but I am. as children, I don't think we have, I know we don't, I study these things. wanted to reduce suffering in this lifetime for families and children and people who are so young they're not able to make a conscious. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:29 Highlight the passage at 1:08:29

1:08:49 able, I don't think, to choose happiness and choose life, if you will. I do have a question, though. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:49 Highlight the passage at 1:08:49

1:09:01 can either make this situation better or worse. I can make my heinous situation even more heinous Report an error in the passage at 1:09:01 Highlight the passage at 1:09:01

1:09:11 with it but I do sometimes think some of these things are written from a male perspective most of the big books in spirituality or written from a male perspective and let me just take it down to like a sexual thing Most of the time, men are the aggressors in sexual situations. And if you know what it's like to be raped, y Report an error in the passage at 1:09:11 Highlight the passage at 1:09:11

1:09:40 'all have a little bit more power than we do. I don't know. I think when men get raped, it's because somebody's misusing a hole on them also. It's not as easy to rape a man, but it puts a different perspective on things. And I say that only because we can't really hurt others. But you think about Precious and that movie. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:40 Highlight the passage at 1:09:40

1:10:11 painful. Anyway, that's not really what I wanted to say. I'm sorry that I went off on that. I'm a little bit distracted because I'm stressed out right now, and it is because of this. I'm looking at this book over here, What the Buddha Taught. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:11 Highlight the passage at 1:10:11

1:10:27 first one, the Shakyamuni, I believe it was, from the first Buddha, which was the Indian Buddha, where it originated in India, and it's talking about the original teachings of the Buddha, and it talks about how, and this is from the, I don't even know how to pronounce it, and I haven't had any training in this, and that's why I'm interested to see if y 'all have, it's the Kaka. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:27 Highlight the passage at 1:10:27

1:10:49 Kakavadi Sihannada Sutta of the Dhammakaya number 26, and it talks about how Buddha did not take life out of the context of social and economic background, and that Report an error in the passage at 1:10:49 Highlight the passage at 1:10:49

1:11:02 Leading to happiness is not possible without leading a pure life based on moral and spiritual principles. this book taught that in order to do that you have to have favorable financial and social emotional conditions that it's very difficult to lead a life of happiness Report an error in the passage at 1:11:02 Highlight the passage at 1:11:02

1:11:26 requires good moral behavior if you don't have financial and social emotional supports. So anyway, point is to recognize the need of a certain minimum. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:26 Highlight the passage at 1:11:26

1:11:42 social emotional conditions in order to have spiritual success and without that for example we have things like poverty and it causes it says right here poverty is the cause of immorality and crimes such as theft Report an error in the passage at 1:11:42 Highlight the passage at 1:11:42

1:11:58 falsehood violence hatred and cruelty and that in ancient times like in governments today we try to suppress crime through punishment but that if we were really Report an error in the passage at 1:11:58 Highlight the passage at 1:11:58

1:12:13 I don't know if Report an error in the passage at 1:12:13 Highlight the passage at 1:12:13

1:12:46 you have any thoughts about that, because to me, What that says is we can't really hurt anybody else, but yet people who do cause poverty are causing not just poverty, but also crime on everyone else. I don't know if you have thoughts about that. Thank you very much. I very much appreciate it. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:46 Highlight the passage at 1:12:46

1:13:16 It's a tricky one on this one because firstly, yes, the conditions are very, very important. You know, if we're starving, if we're... if we're fighting for where the next meal is going to come from, that can put us in very, very terrible places. And so the conditions are very, very important. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:16 Highlight the passage at 1:13:16

1:13:38 But there's a little bit of it that says, in spite of the difficulties that we face, we still have to discover the roots inside ourselves for inner strength. Because there's some things in life we just cannot change. Some things in life we cannot snap our fingers and make everything all be all right. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:38 Highlight the passage at 1:13:38

1:14:01 So a lot of the time it is working with the conditions that we have, even when they are so horrible, and to, in many ways, to learn from them. Because by understanding our conditions, understanding the pain we're in, the social conditions, Report an error in the passage at 1:14:01 Highlight the passage at 1:14:01

1:14:39 many ways, it can kind of sound that, oh, I need certain conditions before I can practice. And in many ways, we're actually disenfranchising ourselves even further by sort of saying, oh, only when I have X, Y, Z, I'll be able to let go. But deep, deep down, we come to a point that we realize that this is kind of a rational and compassionate position that we really have no choice but to let go, but to improve our life. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:39 Highlight the passage at 1:14:39

1:15:13 Because the alternative is a lose-lose situation, that it is irrational to keep harming ourselves and harming each other. But that requires a great deal of firstly inner strength, but also maturity as a person to recognize our humanity. And the problem basically is when we're in a very, very difficult position, starving, lonely, lost. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:13 Highlight the passage at 1:15:13

1:15:41 Homeless, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. It is a lot harder to do that because the instincts overrule. The priorities kick in for us. The survival instinct takes over. The fight or flight response takes over. And a lot of the time it's being mindful to develop that relationship with ourselves. The compassion for ourselves say, yes, this is a situation we are in, but what can we do with this? So it's a very, very big conversation, that one. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:41 Highlight the passage at 1:15:41

1:16:13 And thank you for bringing it up. But we could be talking all night about this one. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:13 Highlight the passage at 1:16:13

1:16:23 So Simran, would you like to? Yeah, I agree with you. There's a line in Stokes being with family because he wasn't able to, because he had to do manual labor on behalf of others. This has been happening since time immemorial. He said without that livable wage, he had to make a choice between. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:23 Highlight the passage at 1:16:23

1:16:56 His life, as in, I'm going to die if I keep doing this, this manual labor in the hot weather with unsafe conditions. I have to choose between my life, soul. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:56 Highlight the passage at 1:16:56

1:17:12 He's Report an error in the passage at 1:17:12 Highlight the passage at 1:17:12

1:17:16 going to have to engage in some sort of criminal behavior in order to make a livable wage. So, anywho, thank you for this. I Report an error in the passage at 1:17:16 Highlight the passage at 1:17:16

1:17:28 can't believe I haven't turned to life. Okay, Report an error in the passage at 1:17:28 Highlight the passage at 1:17:28

1:17:44 Simran. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:44 Highlight the passage at 1:17:44

1:17:49 My question is about the topic of choices and how... It's like we choose to suffer because I definitely agree with that and I have feel that I've definitely seen that to the point where I don't really enjoy choices. I honestly have gone so deep into that focusing on it in the past year that I prefer when choices are made for me. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:49 Highlight the passage at 1:17:49

1:18:17 and if somebody just tells me what to do versus me having all these choices because i know what choices lead to and the craving it causes versus just being told and sometimes there is that resistance because my mind oh would i want that and i was no you don't that one thing is so painful just whatever you get just accept it and that has been quite freeing but that is an example of something i've only seen scene after of the probably phone bleep. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:17 Highlight the passage at 1:18:17

1:18:48 And similarly with trying to deal with physical pain, for example. I was trying to shut out this, because I have a medical condition, extreme physical pain that caused me to yell out, it's really painful. And I would just shut it out by numbing the mind, watching stupid YouTube videos, what they might call doom scrolling, for example. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:48 Highlight the passage at 1:18:48

1:19:13 And then it's not until it was just causing pain to my eyes. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:13 Highlight the passage at 1:19:13

1:19:50 And so my question is about, you know, even being disgusted by the body and seeing that it's not sexually attractive, all these sort of practices, and I'm talking especially even what's in the school. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:50 Highlight the passage at 1:19:50

1:20:06 I wonder if there is a way to develop in terms of worldly things in a manner that doesn't require to sort of go to such extremes of pain. I mean, like even in meditation retreats. see people crying and getting out of the fire when they see it. It's different for each person actually. Sometimes what we need is the proverbial kick up the behind. And these deep states of pain basically are getting us to that point where we have no choice but to let go. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:06 Highlight the passage at 1:20:06

1:20:56 Thank you. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:56 Highlight the passage at 1:20:56

1:21:12 Thank you. to accept the way things are the problem basically is that there certainly is plenty of other ways it's not necessary to go through all this pain the problem is is that the mind has vested interest it's not going to let go until it's really pounded into it. And unfortunately, that's more of a character thing rather than a practice thing. So a lot of this is more Report an error in the passage at 1:21:12 Highlight the passage at 1:21:12

1:21:22 And for sure, I've met plenty of people who have told me straight that they look for the pain intentionally. They make themselves suffer because they believe that is the only way to experience some freedom. But when you really look closely, what they're doing there, unfortunately, is that they're entrapping themselves in that pain so that their mind has no choice. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:22 Highlight the passage at 1:21:22

1:21:44 But what it does is it raises the threshold of pain tolerance. And then you need to go further and further and further. It becomes almost like a drug addiction pattern. So the thing is, is that it doesn't matter at all which pathway you choose. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:44 Highlight the passage at 1:21:44

1:22:02 One of the ways I often describe this is that if I give you a tray of water to make ice, It doesn't matter if you put it in your kitchen freezer. It doesn't matter if it's freezing outside and you put it outside overnight. It doesn't matter if you build yourself a rocket to the dark side of the moon and freeze it there. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:02 Highlight the passage at 1:22:02

1:22:19 Any of these ways work to make ice because it's a cause and effect. So many of these situations, pain is not necessary, but it can be very, very attractive to the ego because it's such an intense experience. And unfortunately, the entrapment arises in this belief that by forcing the mind, by punishing the body, by forcing it to submit to my will, is very, very engaging. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:19 Highlight the passage at 1:22:19

1:22:49 It's a huge power trip. And the fact that it never works, you know, forces us to try harder. It almost like hears the enemy. It grows bigger and bigger. It's a bigger trip. Unfortunately, that's why the ascetic Extreme just does not work, but it's an incredibly addictive one. So the difficulty is more sort of a matter of inner strength, is that a lot of the time we're trying to get away from the ordinariness. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:49 Highlight the passage at 1:22:49

1:23:21 We're trying to get away from the everyday meh-ness or the unpleasantness and all the doom scrolling and all the information where we just want to crawl into a hole and just... bed rotters you know as you said which is a you know i think the word of the word of the time so the difficulty is is that we're still trying to do this as a way to escape and Report an error in the passage at 1:23:21 Highlight the passage at 1:23:21

1:23:47 we're trying to escape because we haven't got those beautiful qualities inside because they give us so much strength the compassion the joy the contentment the forgiveness all these things They don't require us to punish ourselves or to be in these terrible, terrible situations. And sometimes, yes, they thrive in seeing the suffering because compassion arises very easily when we can recognize, yes, we are in pain and our loved ones are in pain and unhappy and are struggling and everything else. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:47 Highlight the passage at 1:23:47

1:24:21 The compassion can arise very, very easily, very effortlessly, but it's more a matter of are we open to that? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:21 Highlight the passage at 1:24:21

1:24:31 And that's kind of a bigger question. Are we really open to that yet? And so it's a lot of the time is to build that kind of maturity. So hope that helps. But again, this is a very big conversation. So is this more in the direction that you were thinking? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:31 Highlight the passage at 1:24:31

1:24:52 Yeah, because Report an error in the passage at 1:24:52 Highlight the passage at 1:24:52

1:25:05 there's so much joy to be had, so much beauty to discover, and that we don't need to suffer at all. That's the real... Big thing. So I wish you all the best on that. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:05 Highlight the passage at 1:25:05

1:25:24 Any more? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:24 Highlight the passage at 1:25:24

1:25:33 actually don't feel like I want to meditate, but your talk inspired me. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:33 Highlight the passage at 1:25:33

1:25:39 meditate anyway so thank you so much and because your talk talk about like Report an error in the passage at 1:25:39 Highlight the passage at 1:25:39

1:25:51 And I personally have thought about this. long time like what does that mean like what does it mean by letting go of trauma and I think I find my answer in my meditation just now and I think it's like for me it's like Letting go of trauma is like, because I have a feeling like I wish they didn't happen. Like I wish those things didn't happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:51 Highlight the passage at 1:25:51

1:26:19 I wish those people were different. I wish my life was different. This kind of feeling underlying everything. But I think I have increasingly like able to look at things in terms of cause and condition. Because I read about Adan Jayatharo's article the other day and then he said that Report an error in the passage at 1:26:19 Highlight the passage at 1:26:19

1:26:43 a lot of the time we think that those people's behaviors are offensive because we have like it shouldn't be like this but Report an error in the passage at 1:26:43 Highlight the passage at 1:26:43

1:26:54 if they get that kind of condition cause and condition and if they behave in such a way why not why not their behavior is is normal like in their causing condition is normal and i was like i think it's just during a meditation i have i have this feeling like Report an error in the passage at 1:26:54 Highlight the passage at 1:26:54

1:27:18 if those terrible things happen like why not i mean like if the cost and conditions are there um it's like they're part of like they're they're not part of i don't know how to say but it's not like they're part of me they're like they're increasingly not become important to me anymore but i recognize them as like a part of like the cause and conditions and they're normal like they're they're not really abnormal it's like it's not like they shouldn't happen but they happen and it is normal i don't know how to say that but i want to say thank you for your talk and thank you for your meditation i think recognizing my goodness and recognizing my practice on the path um helped me a laws Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:18 Highlight the passage at 1:27:18

1:28:20 It's one of the challenges we actually have because at the beginning we kind of want everything to be happy and nice and pleasant and it shouldn't be like this it shouldn't be like that and when all this unpleasant stuff it's like why is this happening I don't want this go away you know why are these people like this and then we discover yeah they're exactly like this because of their causes and conditions because of all the stuff they've been through and how they've In some ways been educated how they can deal with this stuff or not, how they've been unable to deal with this stuff shapes them who they are. And because they deal with more stuff internally, they launch out sometimes to other people. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:20 Highlight the passage at 1:28:20

1:28:58 And we can recognize actually that's their story. That's who they are. And it doesn't need to poison us. We can have compassion for them in that situation. Maybe we won't be able to help them. There are cases where people are emotionally insecure, manipulative narcissists. They exist and they're trapped in a world which is a nightmare for them and they take it out on other people to try and control and to get and have and cause so much destruction in the meantime. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:58 Highlight the passage at 1:28:58

1:29:32 And it's a really, really big world to be getting into to see this is normal. That's a very big world to be getting into. And a lot of people, they... I kind of don't want to go there because it basically means, you know, we have to accept people as they are and also that we don't have to buy their story. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:32 Highlight the passage at 1:29:32

1:29:56 So it's a big one, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:29:56 Highlight the passage at 1:29:56

1:30:17 Well, Report an error in the passage at 1:30:17 Highlight the passage at 1:30:17

1:30:22 I Report an error in the passage at 1:30:22 Highlight the passage at 1:30:22

1:30:30 hope Report an error in the passage at 1:30:30 Highlight the passage at 1:30:30

1:30:41 it helped. Thank you for having me. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:41 Highlight the passage at 1:30:41

1:30:55 If we really ponder about it or contemplate on the emotion, the feeling, the memory perception, the mental formation and all that. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:55 Highlight the passage at 1:30:55

1:31:12 interesting really very interesting is is that it just come and it just go based on condition Sometimes Report an error in the passage at 1:31:12 Highlight the passage at 1:31:12

1:31:23 it can be so funny, sometimes it can be so evil. Sometimes can be so comical, sometimes can be so sad, sometimes can be so happy. It's interesting and it just come and it just happen because of condition. Even whether we like it or we don't like it, we hate it or whatsoever, it's happen because of condition and we react to it. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:23 Highlight the passage at 1:31:23

1:31:57 Like what Ajahn said, actually technically speaking, if we choose... And if we really understand anattā, actually there's no one can hurt us, make us feel if we see it, put it into words, but it's really true. It's just like that day when I asked the question and the condition as such that is a bit offensive for me and that mental formation, that mental volition, it just come back. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:57 Highlight the passage at 1:31:57

1:32:38 And the next day it came back again. And the next day it came back again. It's like continuously three days. And it happened again and again. I watch it. I find it so comical. It's like it's already over. It's like three days ago. Yes, it makes me feel very uncomfortable. It's not agreeable. But so what? But because of condition, as such it happened. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:38 Highlight the passage at 1:32:38

1:32:58 Because we are in the world, in the saṃsāra, with so many different people, so many different type of beings around us. This interesting Report an error in the passage at 1:32:58 Highlight the passage at 1:32:58

1:33:27 thing Report an error in the passage at 1:33:27 Highlight the passage at 1:33:27

1:33:36 is, we actually talked about this last time we were together, that one of the biggest happinesses, one of the biggest freedoms, if we look at it and we just observe it. It just comes and it Report an error in the passage at 1:33:36 Highlight the passage at 1:33:36

1:33:45 is to just leave the whole thing alone, that we don't have to fix it. It's just stuff coming and going. It really has next to nothing to do with us. It's all causes and conditions. And that is very, very freeing to get ourselves to that point that it doesn't matter what comes into your head, what comes into your life. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:45 Highlight the passage at 1:33:45

1:34:06 They're just thoughts. They're just feelings. They come, they go. They're just experiences. They come, they go. Our perception of them is conditioned. And we can change our perception, but ultimately it doesn't matter what pops into our head. It doesn't matter at all because it is all anattā. The problem is because we grab hold of it, because we project what we expect it to be, what we believe it should be, and because of our own pain we hold on to and then we take it outside or harm ourselves even further. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:06 Highlight the passage at 1:34:06

1:34:45 It's a really fascinating world to be into and this is the big adventure, really. This is sort of the stuff to be really interested in because you can see how subtly all this is, how we are triggered by tiny little things that we grab onto and yet we never needed to grab onto anything at all because when we found... Report an error in the passage at 1:34:45 Highlight the passage at 1:34:45

1:35:10 Those beautiful qualities that were already there, when we restore that beautiful relationship to ourselves, all of a sudden we don't need this stuff. We don't need to grab onto this stuff to fill that hole because it was never a problem in the first place. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:10 Highlight the passage at 1:35:10

1:35:26 In many ways, as you said, sometimes it's really comical, but also sometimes it's a real tragedy that we buy into some really crazy ideas and do such terrible things with them. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:26 Highlight the passage at 1:35:26

1:35:42 So, yeah, thank you for bringing that up. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:42 Highlight the passage at 1:35:42

1:35:48 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:48 Highlight the passage at 1:35:48

1:35:58 So, may you all find that good relationship with yourselves so that you found what you're looking for. Thank you. And thank you for having me. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:58 Highlight the passage at 1:35:58