So there's a life of living by acts of compassion. And I also said just a little while ago that I pray that we receive stillness and silence in all our actions. So there's a proposal that silence and stillness, if we receive silence and stillness, in silence and stillness we will be able to have our actions be actions of compassion. If when I speak I remember silence, I may be able, in that silence which I receive and remember, I may be able to speak words of compassion.

[01:12]

If I remember stillness and silence, I may be able to listen with ears of compassion. So I have ideas of compassion, you probably do too, and ideas of justice. And I wish to act, I wish to act to realize, not necessarily those ideas, I don't necessarily want to realize my idea of justice. I want to maybe use ideas of justice to realize justice and use ideas of compassion to realize compassion. I don't want to forget, push away my ideas of compassion. I don't want to reject my ideas of justice, which I have.

[02:22]

I want to use them to realize justice and to realize compassion. I do live in a world where there's ideas of compassion and where there's ideas of cruelty. where there's ideas of justice and there's ideas of injustice. I also want to use the ideas of injustice in stillness and in silence to realize justice. I don't wish to realize injustice. And I have a thought that If I try to use the teachings of justice, the teachings of compassion, if I try to use them without remembering and receiving stillness, my own self-centered habits may interfere with the realization of these teachings.

[03:38]

the complacencies and the dwelling in self, if there is any, may interfere with using the principles of justice in a way that will realize justice. And it is a challenge sometimes while moving, while reaching out to move a cushion or roll up a mat to remember compassion as you're rolling up the mat and to remember stillness when you're rolling up a mat.

[04:47]

And when speaking, it also may be a challenge to remember silence. Listening may be a little easier to remember silence and stillness, which is fine. But even so, that may also sometimes be a challenge to listen while receiving silence and stillness. And then there is also, I wish to remember that along with the self, there is an other. I have the thought that in order to realize justice and using the teachings of justice, I need to be in a face-to-face communication, face-to-face meeting with the other in order, again, to realize justice.

[06:19]

So this is kind of a, what do you call it, a setup for a discussion of, further discussion of compassionate action in our daily life. Yes, Cynthia? Are you saying that you can't realize justice without being face-to-face with the other? You need the other? Well, sometimes... Well, in a sense, the other could be the justice as other.

[07:27]

Justice isn't just my idea of justice. Justice is part of what's not just me. So in a way, I do need to be face-to-face with justice, but I also need to be face-to-face with other beings, other, for example, human beings, and be talking to them. And there too, not just talking to them in terms of how I see them, but how they're more than what I can see. Because the way I see them is really me. When I see people, I see a small version of them. And I have to practice with that too. But also, I understand that my version of people is just a small, like we say, a circle of water in the ocean of the person.

[08:36]

So everybody is like an ocean, and what I see is a circle of water. And I want to practice compassion with that circle of water, but I'm also remembering the ocean so that I don't think that the person is... I remember the person is not just what I see them as or what I think they are. And also compassion is another... The ideas of compassion are also circles of water in the ocean of compassion. This wishing to relate to the whole person by talking to them, talking to the person I can see, like you, by remembering that you're far more than I can ever see. I can't actually know the totality of you, the infinity of you.

[09:40]

And that helps me, in a sense, be humble about my My view helps me not be so complacent and abiding in my view of you. But again, I'm not trying to get another view of you because that wouldn't really be the point because that would be another view which I could also be complacent about and say, well, that's who she is. I thought she was this, now she's this. That's fine, but those are just two circles of water of you. wishing to meet all of you, which is like part of being still with you and silent with you. I open to something which challenges my ideas of you. I already know my ideas of you are limited, but the conversation tests to see if I remember that teaching. Like, I remember that you're a very nice person, but that's just a limited version of you.

[10:49]

Okay? I remember that. But then if you actually try to identify, see you or somebody else messing with that thing, which I know is a limited version, I actually might resist it. you know, resist. In other words, I don't really believe that, you know, what I see is a limited version. That teaching has not sunk into me. But if I remember the teaching, it keeps challenging me. And every time I get stuck, I feel like, oh, I got stuck. In other words, I don't really remember. I'm not really talking to the other. I'm talking to my version of the other. so that conversation is necessary in order to realize justice. I'm proposing that. So I'm trying... I've been well impressed by teachings of generosity and ethics and patience and so on.

[12:00]

And now I'm adding to that that I need to be in a conversation about them so that I don't get stuck in my view of what they are. Without this conversation with the other, I probably would be sort of complacent about these practices. it's possible that you would try to practice compassion and be complacent about what you're doing, like, I'm practicing compassion, or I know what it is. But I'm not forgetting my what I think it is. I just want to be in dialogue with the other, not just with myself. I mean, I'm already in dialogue with myself, so to speak. I want to do good. Really?

[13:03]

Mm-hmm. Do you have some limited idea of that? Yeah? And then the next minute I act like my idea is not limited. But if I'm in dialogue with somebody, they say, you know, I think maybe that you think your idea of being kind to me is actually being kind to me. And I don't think so. Are you listening to that? They might say to me, and I might say, thank you. Yeah, I think you're right. I was kind of like getting self-righteous about my kindness to you. And did you feel like I was being cruel? No. I could see you were trying to be kind to me, but I kind of had this feeling like you thought you knew what kindness was, which is similar to you think you're better than me.

[14:05]

Because I don't know what kindness is. but I think you think you do right now. And I might say, oh, you caught me. Thank you so much. I'm so sorry. I did think I knew what it was. And so you helped me see that. Now I think, now we're working on realizing justice. Yes. Yes. I don't hear very well, so I will try to tell you what I think I heard. Are you saying that by having a dialogue with another person, it could help in the process of breaking down our fixed idea of what that person could be? Yes. and what compassion is and also what cruelty is.

[15:16]

So it isn't like we should... We do have ideas of compassion and we do have ideas of cruelty. It isn't just that we should not be stuck in our ideas of compassion. We should also not be stuck in our ideas of cruelty. And in dialogue with the other, the limited other and the unlimited other, infinite other and the limited other in our mind, in that dialogue, in that conversation, we can not abide in our ideas of cruelty and not abide in our ideas of kindness. And that will help us practice kindness in a way that realizes it. if you don't have any dialogues with anybody and you have fixed ideas of cruelty, I have the idea that you'll be successful living a life of cruelty. That will be your life.

[16:22]

Whereas if you can not abide in your ideas of kindness and not abide in your ideas of cruelty, you will be successful living a life of justice. And almost everybody I know does have ideas of justice and compassion. Even little children do. That's not fair. And we're trying to help them grow up so that they can, like, not be so narrow-minded about their view of not fair. But when they're little, it's pretty hard for them, with everything that's going on with them, to also be kind of open-minded. But sometimes they can be, or not abide in their views. They're learning these things, and they have to maybe be more mature and have more experience before they can hear these teachings.

[17:27]

and be challenged by not only the work of trying to be kind according to your ideas, but the work of having a dialogue about what they are. But my daughter says to her daughter, be a good listener. And also make good choices, but be a good listener while you're trying to make good choices. and being a good listener will help you talk to me about your choices. I can imagine them having a conversation kind of like that. I hear them talking kind of like that. Jeff and Tracy? Okay, thank you. So when you say dialogue with other, that doesn't have to be like words, right?

[18:40]

Because if you're having a dialogue with injustice, is it open to it, kind of be mindful and not stuff? But I mean, do you actually mean say words and listen to your idea of justice, say words back to you when you say dialogue with other? The place where we're stuck in our view of things, the place where we have self-centered views of justice is the place of language. If there's some communication some other place, Fine. I'm talking about the place where injustice is living. Injustice is living in the realm of language. I propose that to you.

[19:43]

It's not out in the realm, if there's some other realm, you know. We do have, part of our life is not linguistic, I would say. Our unconscious processes have images, lots of images, but not exactly language. The way your images are operating unconsciously is not really conventional language. Up in consciousness, we have this thing called language, which means conventional way of using the images. And that's where we have injustice. We don't exactly have any injustice in our unconscious. cognitive processes. We don't exactly have injustice in our body. However, the effects of injustice register in our unconscious, you know, as trauma. And then the trauma registers in our body.

[20:47]

So the effects of our conscious mind, which is the realm of language, Even in conscious mind we have the language of, you know, we have the language of the language of mountains and we have the language of something beyond language. We can talk about that. And there is a realization. There is realization beyond language. There is realization free of language. I'm talking about, but are you equating language with dialogue? We need to use language in dialogue to liberate our life from language. But who are you having a dialogue with? Linguistic beings, you know, other consciousnesses. Like right now, we're doing it, right now.

[21:48]

Now you're having a dialogue with beings. Yeah, and you're a linguistic being. So you could engage with other? I'm talking to you, but you're not just my idea of the person I'm talking to right now. So I'm actually talking to you, and I'm also talking to two parts of you. One part I can see, and another part that's invisible to me. So I'm talking to... I'm actually talking to the other, which is right there with the you that's in my mind. I'm also talking to the other. And she comes back with questions that I could never think of and comments and problems that I can't make up in my mind, in my conscious mind.

[22:51]

And that challenges and liberates my conscious mind. That liberates me from the... not from having an egocentric view, it liberates me from that egocentric view. I can imagine all that in person. I'm just still trying to ask if you're talking about having dialogue with an idea. Like the concept of justice. You can have an idea, you can have a... In my mind, it wouldn't be a person, in my mind I can have dialogues with language in my mind and those images in my mind are also more than I can see. I can see the image but I can't see all that makes the image. So part of it is internal work dialogue inwardly and also dialogue between humans, face to face.

[23:54]

Jeff? What I'm having trouble putting together is that I understand that at some point we act. We don't just have dialogue ourselves or with others about our compassion or justice. We actually act in the world. And I can see what you're saying is we should, even as we act on what we think will be justice, that we recognize that we deal with and . We'll always have one word of that. We may not be completely right, but we do need to act. And I guess that's where I'm having trouble, because sometimes you need to act and do things which are not necessarily I mean, if you can understand where the other person is coming from and feel compassion for them, you still have to act. Well, yep, just an example. You mean like voting? Well, like voting or like your profession.

[25:00]

You have to try to go change something, whatever it is, whatever you do in the world, not just voting. You have to try to act in the world to... try to realize justice or compassion okay i mean i'm probably a little slanted on this because i'm a lawyer i represent people who are being screwed so i put ashes towards him and try to get justice from there i understand where they just make visuals who work for some big corporation that's not paying them or coming from them but i still have to act in a way that actually confronts it And I think that's my narrative, but I think people do that in all kinds of professions, jobs, who just look at you as... How does that help? For so long as you remain kind of humble in how you view yourself. Being humble would help because being humble probably would make you open to dialoguing while you're doing these actions.

[26:01]

So like, you know, if you were humble and you were exercising some legal action, somebody might be able to say to you, Jeff, could I ask you a question? And you might say, mm-hmm. And then they might give you a different point of view on what you're doing, and you might be open to that. And then you might still feel like, you might still have this view but you might become somewhat more or actually quite free of your view and you still might express that view but without being stuck in your self-centeredness, you might express the same judgment or discernment, but from a place of not being attached to your view. And then that, I would say, is where justice comes in.

[27:06]

So I'm saying, if I do what I think will promote justice for me, you know, on the street, in a temple, in a class, in a courtroom, if I express what I think is just, if I express an action which I think is an action that is just, and I'm stuck in my view, I think that being stuck interferes with the realization of justice. And my action is for the purpose of realizing justice. I don't want to just try to do something that would... I don't want to say, well, I tried to do something that would promote justice or realize justice. I would like to do something that realizes justice. And I'm suggesting that if I'm humble, maybe I'm open to, well, maybe if my actions to realize justice are in dialogue

[28:11]

that that will help me not be stuck in my view. And then the same words and the same actions might realize justice. It might look almost like the exact same hand gesture or voice. Maybe the voice would even sound the same. Maybe my facial expression would look the same. I don't know for sure. But you can say, I think this should happen. I request that such and such happen on behalf of this person who I want justice for this person. I request this. This is what I'm asking for. This is what I think will be just. And you don't have to say it to anybody. but you are open to in a process of not being stuck in your view. And if I am stuck in my view of what is just, that being stuck interferes with that view coming true.

[29:20]

Not the view, but what the view is about, justice. There's a view of justice, it's limited, but still this is my view. And some people When they express their view of justice, a lot of people say, okay, let's go with it. And those are often people who are not, what do you call it, they're not morally superior to people. They're people who have authority, but not moral authority, but not moral superiority. And people who have moral superiority, sometimes they overpower people. but they're not in a learning process. And other people have moral authority, and they have it because they're trying to learn what justice is by expressing their views, making their suggestions, and not abiding in their positions. So they're in an ongoing process of learning and realizing justice.

[30:22]

and they're talking, they're writing letters, they're raising their hands, they're saying, I object. But they say it from a place of authority which is not like, I object and I'm better than the people I'm objecting to. They don't have that feeling, they're humble. And they're kind of in dialogue with everybody. not just the judge. They're in dialogue with the other lawyers and all that. So, yes, how to make our actions realize our highest goals, justice and truth and justice. So we have this truth and justice thing. Well, I think I agree. Those two go together. And the truth is that we're, you know, we're including each other.

[31:27]

So dialogue kind of acts that out. Yes, Barbara Joan? Yes. Me too. This idea that what we're challenged with is continuing to question ourselves and our worldview, and that the same I guess I'm asking about gayness. That's true. That's a really good thing. If you want justice in the world, if you want compassion in the world, questioning yourself is really helpful.

[32:34]

Questioning yourself in what you think is a kind way, in a respectful way. And then if you're questioning, some people come and they demonstrate their self-questioning in my presence and sometimes then I will be in dialogue with them about whether their questioning process is kind. Because if they question themselves harshly, that makes it harder for them to enjoy the dialogue. So, yeah. The questioner understands that in doing that and in the other, that's also the pivoting that he's put. So whether it may be our question of justice or kindness or the idea that we're not alone,

[33:41]

But there is others. There is the justice and not justice. Yeah. And also we're not alone. Yes, I agree. We don't, none of us exist by ourself. But then to amplify that is we include everybody. We who are working for justice include all forms of injustice. And we are included in all forms of injustice. We also include all forms of justice. And we are included in all forms of injustice. Injustice is a pivot. Justice is a pivot. I am a pivot. You are a pivot. practicing justice helps me realize that I'm a pivot and that justice is a pivot.

[34:43]

Injustice tends to promote not realizing that we're pivots. It's unjust for me to think I exist by myself. That's unjust. And a lot of the injustices that we see in the world look like they have something to do with somebody who thinks they don't have anything to do with other people. So it kind of looks like that. And we don't want to be stuck in that, but there is that appearance that the people who feel like other people are included in them and vice versa, they seem to be inspiring and reminding everybody of justice, encouraging people to work for it, kind of showing that it's fun to work for justice in a way. It's a joy. It's hard, but it's a joyful hardship. Doralee?

[35:51]

I'm having this experience lately, if I'm in a dialogue with somebody and that person is you, is narrative of the mind. Yes. And so in the process of expressing my view, I begin to realize that I'm really not understanding narrative. Good. I'm already reacting to what I'm thinking. That's great that you noticed that. But then, in that noticing, well, I have to then challenge my own... But it seems like it drops below the language because it's sort of like at a certain moment of this realization, everything becomes so good. That ocean, the water, nothing's clear for that moment. So it's sort of like in a bottle, you know, everything is shaking up.

[36:53]

And then out of that, shaking up. And then both ends, sort of. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I agree. And this conversation, however, was in language. This conversation we just had wasn't in language. You just described how non-linguistic dimensions of your life are playing into your linguistic dimensions. So our body is not really a language. And the unconscious processes that work with it aren't really language. However, when we question ourselves in our language department, when we notice that we're attached to our view and not listening to other people in the language space,

[37:54]

that has effects on our unconscious processes, which are not linguistic. It stirs them up. And then it stirs up the body. And we want to stir up We want to stir that situation up to heal the body in the unconscious process. And the way we stir up the unconscious process, which is not linguistic, and the way we stir up the body, which is not linguistic, is generally speaking healing when we stir it up from compassion and dialogue and noticing that we're not dialoguing and noticing that we're attaching to our views. Noticing that stuff stirs things up. in usually healing ways. Not noticing that and just being self-centered, that sort of reinforces the status quo of the unhealthiness. It has effects too, but it's often like effects that have been going on for a long time.

[38:58]

This new thing you're noticing here, this is like the revolution of truth and justice in your mind, which includes that you're noticing I'm... self-conscious, I'm self-righteous about my understanding of justice. And I know that's not right, but I admit it, that's justice. When I admit that I'm being self-centered about my, self-righteous about my view of justice, that's justice. And that transforms the non-linguistic realms, and then they support new conscious life. where you can kind of consciously notice, hey, things are really getting shaken up here or stirred up. And then consciously you might be a little afraid of it, but it might be coming from a healing. Again, you said something like down low. What comes to my mind in the realm of linguistics is when they have burns, you know, they heal on the surface, but not down below.

[40:04]

but they do have, you know, and then they take away the healed part, which is painful, but then the healing goes deeper. And then that heals, and then they kind of open that up again so it goes deeper. So this process of healing sometimes is really hard, but it also sends up messages like, this is good work. Somehow like, we need to do this. And again, we need dialogue there too from other people who encourage us to keep having these revelations which aren't just linguistic. So we have revelations in the realm of linguistics coming from the non-linguistic, transforming the non-linguistic leading to more revelations until the linguistic realm is liberated, which also heals the body and the unconscious.

[41:09]

So they're also pivoting on each other. And it's as if the realm of form is that. It might feel like forms are breaking up and you might have some linguistic support saying that someone might say, this is all right, this breaking up is okay. I often say to people when they're telling me about... various messes of things breaking up, I say, this is normal. This is a normal part of the process. It's not a bad thing. It's just a difficult and potentially scary thing, but it's actually... almost everybody goes through what you're going through now. Like, you know, rowers, these guys who do the rowing, those boats and teams, they have to go through, the initial part of their rowing is very painful.

[42:10]

They have to go through this pain threshold in order to get into the thing. And after they go through it, it's not continuously painful, but they have to go through this initiation. So, and they know it's not unhealthy. And so we learn what pains are okay and what pains mean that are kind of like signals that we should change what we're doing. And that's why we also need to be in dialogue with other people who are working on the same process which we're doing. Yes, Robin? Yeah, well, like I said, my granddaughter's not ready for this. Yeah, it seems threatening, yeah. Being with some big people, I had to kind of push it away.

[43:17]

Just like, oh, that's really great. You said that really eloquently. OK, I have to go now. Yeah. Yeah, right. Yeah, right. Yeah. I don't know. I want to continue having those conversations, but it seems really hard. Yeah. It's hard for me too. It is hard. And sometimes we're not up for hard stuff sometimes. And if we say to somebody, you know, I have something to say to you. Do you want to hear about it? They very well might say, well, I have a headache or I'm kind of busy right now. If you say, well, I have something that's... I want to say to you, but it's kind of difficult. Do you want to hear about it? They might say, well, actually, not really. Or the other story would be, I have something kind of difficult to say.

[44:20]

Do you want to hear about it? You say, really? And they say, well, no. What also popped in my mind when you said that was, I remember one time I had been away from my spouse for a long time, and I was driving to see her and looking forward to seeing her. I really wanted to see her and thought it was going to be really great. And I noticed that when I came in and saw her, of course I was very happy to see her. Yeah, and it was great to see her. And then I noticed I went over to, this was quite a while ago, to an answering machine to check my messages. I did not drive hundreds of miles to listen to my answering machine, ladies and gentlemen. I was not saying, oh, I'm going to get home and I'm going to listen to the answering machine. Oh, great.

[45:21]

Or I'm going to open my mail It's going to be so much fun I can hardly wait. What a thrill. No, I wasn't at all interested in that stuff on the way up. I wanted to see this person and have this meeting. And then when you actually see the person, you feel the challenge of this intimacy and you start getting interested in side trips. It's hard. And so that's why we have to have actually some people who say to us, you know, well, whenever you're ready, I'm here. You said you wanted to talk to me. Do you still want to? Yes. Okay, let's do it. Yeah. So we... we sometimes have to make appointments with people.

[46:23]

Like, mother, there's something I'd like to talk to you about, I could make an appointment to talk to you about it. Because I don't want it to be like, I have to go do something, you know. So with my daughter, as she grew up, she asked me, what do you want for your birthday? And I said, I want a walk and a talk. not just a talk because if we're talking in the house there's a television, the telephone, the refrigerator. So we take a walk where there's none of that stuff and even then it's hard to get to the talk. There can be lots of chatter, which isn't really a talk. It's just like... And then finally, we get to the talk. But you have to sort of set up a space for it where it's hard for you to get out of it and hard for your mother to get out of it.

[47:29]

Not impossible, but you set it up for this purpose and eventually we kind of say, okay, let's talk. Let's do it. Now, as we say, let's do this thing. But without the structure, especially with somebody that you really want to be intimate with because you really are, like your mother, to face that intimacy and to dialogue in that intimacy, it requires a lot of energy and a lot of attention and a lot of courage. And of course, it's the most wonderful thing in the world when you realize it. but we have a tendency to go away from it. So we need a lot of support. It's normal. And, of course, you could all say it's normal to realize intimacy. I would say, yes, that's really normal, but it's also rare.

[48:32]

It's rare to realize the intimacy which is really normal. We are normally intimate. but we rarely realize it because we don't put enough energy into it, into the practices. But the game's not over. We can still do it. We can still do it in this lifetime. We can work on this. It's a wonder we have this great opportunity with everybody we meet and with strangers and with that people have the most contact with. And we know with strangers, if we're going to work on this, we have to make an appointment. I cannot walk down the street and walk up to people and say, you know, do you want to talk to me? I have some stuff I'd like to tell you. Crazy? Yes.

[49:33]

What about when you would like very much to have a dialogue with somebody about justice, injustice, and that person is no longer alive? So too bad, goodbye, and missed out? No, I wouldn't do that. If I want to have a dialogue with my mother or father, I think, that's great. I'm more alive if I want to dialogue with them than if I would say, that's not possible. And I do want to have a dialogue with them. So am I going to make a space to do that? Is it important enough today or tomorrow to do that? And let's say it is. So then I could actually sit down, Tonight when I get home, my wife and I are going to offer incense for her father who died on Halloween nine years ago.

[50:48]

We didn't do it on Halloween, but she said today that she wants to do that tonight. So we're going to dialogue with her father. I'll probably put his picture on the altar, and we're going to offer incense to him probably and bow to him, and she'll probably talk to him. I usually don't, but she probably will, and I'll be there while she talks to her father. She will dialogue with him. And I don't think we'll regret it. I think it will be a good thing. Just for example. Yes, he is dead, but she still is relating to the other. Not she can't, the invisible other father. She's still relating to it. But she doesn't do it all the time, but she does it sometimes. And she could do it more, and she actually, she doesn't just do it on the anniversary, she actually wrote a paper some time ago about filial piety and how that applied in her relationship with her father.

[52:04]

So that paper that she wrote was a dialogue with her father, who is deceased. So I think, yeah, we can still dialogue. We can make offerings. We can say, I love you, Fred, to Fred. I can say I love you, Fred, to Fred. I can dialogue with him. And maybe I will. I mean, I just did. But maybe I will more. And I actually do sometimes think about him. And in that sense, my mind is, my being is dialoguing with Fred. So I think we can. If we want to. They can't really argue anymore. They can't get away. They're just like sitting ducks for our offerings.

[53:05]

Maybe they try to resist, but we can still go ahead with the ceremony. No, no, it's not necessary. You don't have to make any offerings to me. I don't want to take up any of your time. You're too busy. But even if they say that, you say, please, could I do it? I know you won't want me to do it, but please, could I do it? Okay. It occurs to me that in thoughts of a situation, an extreme example, I suppose, of taking action, when you don't really know if it is that the best action. In the same way that Jeff was talking about his trying to work toward justice and making a decision that, well, this is what I think is the best to do, whether it's making an offering to somebody who may or may not really be receptive to it, or

[54:18]

I think that it's just hard to make a decision about something, and I don't know whether my view is the very right view, and I don't know if the other person's view is the very right view either, but we can sort of agree that for now we'll make this decision, and... see how that goes, how it goes. It might not be ultimately the perfect decision, but it's the way that we're going to try to go right now. There's a freedom to think that, yes, I don't know if it's ultimately the most compassionate thing or if it's really compassion that we're that's going to result in this. But that the attempt is there, and that seems comforting.

[55:20]

The attempt is there, and while you're making the attempt, you can notice whether you're self-righteous about the attempt. And you might feel like, if I'm making this decision, I want it to be compassionate, I want it to be beneficial, and I think there's a taint of self-righteousness here, which I also, I want to confess that. And I feel that that will help unhinder any compassion that's here. Mm-hmm, or noticing, that helps. that you know what it looks like when something sticks and then you admit it and maybe feel sorry and that again frees up your good will. I would say makes it like truer, you know, like fly truer.

[56:26]

You're not distorting it. Well, you're distorting it a little bit, but then you rectified it by admitting you were distorting it, by tightening up around it. Yes, Carmen? I find this sort of practice particularly challenging when I'm on the receiving end of self-righteousness. Uh-huh. And, you know, I try to remind myself to live with it the same way as when I'm on the other seat, and I'm leaving myself not to be self-righteous, but I find this part of it much harder.

[57:34]

Yeah, I think when you feel that someone is self-righteously relating to you, that's a big challenge. So then, how can I remember? How can I receive stillness? I really need stillness when somebody is giving me self-righteousness. And again, right now we're being exposed to a lot of self-righteousness coming flying at us. Have you noticed? It's very hard for us to receive this intense self-righteousness that's flying all over the place. Right? It's very hard. It's very hard to say, I include that guy. He's part of me. It's very hard. and I'm part of him.

[58:40]

It's very hard. And in stillness, I have a chance to do that. By the way, you can do that with somebody who is, you know, I don't know, behaving in a way that's very difficult for you to see that you're included in that. Like a child who wants to drive a car. You know? And they really want to, and they're being very self-righteous about it. You know, saying, I can do it. I can drive the car. And it's really hard. And then they might say some stuff about you too while they're at it. And so you got this child who you, by the way, love. And you feel that they are included in you and you in them. But you still may say, I'm sorry I can't give you the keys because I cannot give you the keys.

[59:46]

Also, I can't control you from getting the keys, but I cannot joyfully give you the keys to drive a car because I don't think you can. And you who cannot drive the car are part of me. And I can drive a car. And you're part of me too. But I do not feel you're qualified to do this thing. But I love you. And I love you and you're being very self-righteous and that's very painful for me. But I'm not excluding that from myself. But still, I don't think, I can't myself give you the car keys. Yeah. That you feel this way, but you love the person who is not qualified for the job.

[60:55]

You pivot with them. You're like a Buddha. You're pivoting with everybody, everybody including everybody. You're pivoting with them. You do not have a life separate from theirs. Their existence is yours. And you say, I cannot let you do this job. Also, I can't stop you from doing this job. I'm not in control, but... In certain realms, if the keys are in my hand, I'm not going to give them to you because I think it would be harmful. But that doesn't mean you're not going to take the keys, knock me down or kill me and take the keys from me and drive off. I'm not in control of this universe. But I do feel like I'm not going to give you this gift because I want to give you good gifts and this is not a good gift for you.

[62:01]

So I'm not going to give it. And then I have to look, am I being self-righteous? And am I being attached? And if I am, then I confess that I'm sorry for what I was. And then I still feel that way, but no longer attached to it. Yeah, so that's what I'm talking about. And this is hard, really hard. We're having a hard time now. We're in crisis. And it's not going to stop. So I'm trying to not get into this next week. And I know you'd like us to make sure to come next. Yeah, let's share the night. Because I don't want to be in the class all by myself while you're watching TV. Yeah. Okay, here's your next test. So, I presume you'll say compassion, stillness, and silence when fear comes up, you know, between now and next Tuesday, and maybe after next Tuesday.

[63:17]

Yes. Any other tips? Those are the three. Yes, there will be. Other tips are coming. The tips will keep coming because we're in dialogue. The dialogue will go on. We're going to keep dialoguing from now until next Tuesday, and we're going to dialogue afterwards because there's so many... Like I heard this thing, I got this new information. I never thought of this. But I realized today on the radio that the red states are the states where people get the most help from the federal government. The blue states, they get less per capita help. In the red states, they get the most help and they don't trust the help they're getting. That paradox. That paradox. You know, it's really, I was, yeah, wow.

[64:21]

Yes. Say, say I'm Donald Trump, and I feel like all kinds of meats and calories, excuse me, self-righteous. And, you know, I go out and perform on a TV show, and live in this little world where everybody's telling me, like, I'm saving America. And there's just this really entrenched camp that felt maybe like the dollar bomb in the Chinese government. They have these ideas of justice. They have these ideas of what could make peace in the situation. And both feels like they're incredibly self-righteous to that person. In that kind of climate, what do you suggest? What do I suggest?

[65:26]

It's not so much I suggest it, I pray for it. I pray that we remember silence and stillness, that we receive it. It's being offered to us, and if we can receive it and remember it, we can work for justice under these we're extremely difficult, crisis, we're in crisis, crisis, crisis, all these dangers around us all day long. And then the actions that come, and then we try to do compassionate acts, but we need to remember that context. which will help us notice if we're, you know, being manipulative, trying to control, being self-righteous, attaching to our views. All those things get exposed in the stillness. You can feel the difference between something that wells up sort of from your horror into your arms and something else that comes from, you know, a nervous impulse when you're still.

[66:35]

You know what I mean? When you're sitting still, you know, you can feel like when you're trying to, you know, get away from here versus the bell rings and you get up. And it's like, just like, you know, it's not like running away from the situation. So if someone is, if some part is saying, you're so self-righteous. To me. And that you're, you know, there's this continuing huge chasm in self-registerment. Yeah. You're saying just that the authentic action can only come from really receiving, receiving feedback, receiving doubt. But if you're just trying to Yeah, kind of.

[67:40]

Again, we're in crisis. Where does the appropriate response come from? It comes from this pivotal activity. It comes from letting the person completely be in you and letting yourself completely be in the person. That's who you really are. You really are the center of the universe. And there's all kinds of self-righteousness coming into the center of the universe and all signs of hostility. They're already included. That's where you are. And if you can't accept it in and also let yourself pervade it, then you're actually moving.

[68:47]

And then the corporate response is more or less hindered or sticks. The Buddha, through training this body and mind, has become a pivotal, this pivotal activity. And from the pivotal activity the proper responses just keep flying up. But the Buddha can, like, not get stuck when all this stuff comes flying. And also the Buddha's gifts do not get stuck either. They keep flying out and pervading everybody. And that's Buddha's wisdom and that's Buddha's radiance. And that's Buddha's appropriate response. And it's different for every situation and every person. Okay, well it's 9.15. You want to talk to me later or you want to end?

[69:54]

Is it okay if he asks a question, makes a comment? Jeff? Yeah, go ahead, Jeff. Well, just to follow up on that, the fact that self-righteousness is coming at us from all sides. It doesn't mean everything is everything. We should just not choose to act in terms of... I think we should do it in the ways that we've talked about tonight. But it doesn't mean to sit back and say... It doesn't mean to sit back. It means to sit up. Not sit back. And not lean forward. It means sit upright. And everything is everything. And if you realize that, you won't sit back. If you realize that, you would be, you know, Mr. Buddha, Jeff Buddha. And all these great appropriate responses would be coming up out of you every moment.

[71:01]

You'd always be acting compassionately and skillfully. You're not just sitting back. You're receiving and giving. Receiving and giving. And again, we have to train to do that. Otherwise we say, no, no, or no. And that's what attracted me to Zen. Somebody who, when they came to get his stuff, he didn't go, he went, and when they attacked him, he went, he didn't, and when they praised him, he went, We can learn that, and that response, that brings justice. And we have to train to do it, though, because, you know, getting slapped in the face, we sometimes forget the whole program. But that's not the end of the game. You say, oh, I forgot, sorry. I'm sorry I forgot. That was a really good slap. Thank you.

[72:02]

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