Someone said to me as I was going into the room, good luck to you with those people. I don't know what people thought, maybe you. I heard consciousness, which was, oh no. I propose to you, I think I said before, that it seems to me like we're in a crisis. Did I mention that before? And

[01:04]

it seems very much like we're in crisis. So, if we were interested, if we were devoted to or concerned about justice and truth, then in crisis What is the appropriate response that would be appropriate and justice? Now, I also want to mention to you, which we've talked about before, is this between self or identity. and the other or other.

[02:10]

And I often talk to you about the practice of generosity, practice of welcoming, whatever. But tonight I would maybe say welcoming the other. So there's a relationship of self and other, which is consciousness. But now I would also say that consciousness is not just... Yeah, consciousness is a relationship of self, of identity, and the other. a relationship of hospitality, a relationship of welcoming. And then I would say that in this welcoming of the other,

[03:38]

So there also could be a practice of welcoming which would be kind of in line with the nature of consciousness which is welcoming the other. That in that hospitality there's a possibility of realizing justice. And so, as we continue to be in one crisis after another, we also continue to have a relationship with the other. And if in the welcoming of it, this possibility of realizing justice and including everything in this limited identity, possibility of including more,

[05:02]

than I could possibly include. Including things that it's impossible to include, there is a possibility, then there is, in that situation, a transcendence of the limited point of view and the production of the appropriate response. If things go... we still have this other to deal with. If they go this way, we will still have this other to deal with. Slightly different other on this side than this side, but in both cases, we still have that work to do. And we may have a preference for this... rather than that other, but in both cases,

[06:04]

Our nature is that of welcoming this other, this other, this other, any other, and also it's impossible to do so. at some points there's kind of like, this has to be some kind of transcendence, which is part of the deal. Transcendence. Without tampering with our limitedness and our preferences for things being this way or that way. Yes? Does transcendence mean it just becomes easier to have that relationship with the other? You don't ever see the other as the other, but does transcendence mean seeing the other as the other?

[07:07]

If easier is other, then that would be something you'd have a generous relationship with. If harder, hard to have a relationship with the other, This other is easier. So those things would be part of what, there would be other examples of things to welcome. Some difficulties we may feel like aren't other. Like, you know, they're normally my difficulties. Our other. So it isn't so much as easier to deal with the other It's just you will deal with the other and the difficulty or ease of it is just another other. What is transcendence in this context? I think the transcendence of the illusion that you're this little thing, that that's what you are, that this reduced version of your life is true.

[08:18]

and the view that the other is not you. You transcend that. So everybody here wants to make a response to truth and justice. I'm just talking about now there's some things we're having we feel challenged to include. Maybe. Maybe we're thinking of moving to another place. And then maybe there we think, well, there I wouldn't have, I wouldn't have, I wouldn't be able to, I wouldn't have the problems I have here. Or my ideas, my ideas, the ideas that go with me maybe we wouldn't be so oppressed by such a big other.

[09:25]

But the truth is we do let all this other in. Whatever other is coming in, we have let it in, but we're having to be hospitable towards it. By the way, the root host, the word host, originally meant a stranger, a foreigner, like a foreign army. So originally hosts meant stranger, the other, and it got turned into the one who welcomes the other. the place where the others received, is the hotel. The person who receives is the host. But originally the host was the one who wasn't received, or the one to receive. The invading army the stranger. That was the original meaning of host. Now, it still means that.

[10:30]

It could be an army, a hostile army, but it also means the person who welcomes the stranger. And our consciousness does welcome strangers. But sometimes we have trouble seeing that there's welcoming going on. But it's in that welcoming that Anyway, I have this great potential there. On the positive side, Yeah, when you don't know what that power is, you still feel it, you still see it, so if you don't know what the name of it is, when you actually see it and know the name of it and be able to experience it, then you can actually, if it wants to, it doesn't have to stay stuck and you get to experience it.

[11:38]

Yeah, I do sometimes feel a lot of resistance to other despicable things. Yes? Why do you say that's part of nature? I'm talking about that that's what consciousness is like. And consciousness is... When I say consciousness, I mean a subject has somebody there. So I'm not talking about really exactly that our nature is that, but consciousness is that, and me as a subject is like that. to the extent that I'm a consciousness. Yeah. Yeah. I would say... on a fundamental level, consciousness is not just the awareness of the other, which it is, and the awareness of some sense, self here, and the other.

[13:12]

But I'm saying on a deep level, a basic level, consciousness welcoming the other. That was the news of tonight. Usually I talk about consciousness and then there's a practice called generosity. basic act of compassion is to be welcoming. Now I'm saying that actually suggesting that the is to line up with a basic quality of consciousness. I'm adding that in tonight. Partly because of various thoughts I've been having but also the current situation where it's very difficult to welcome the other right now for some of us. But I'm saying, contrary to the difficulty I have of saying thank you very much, which is hard for me, maybe, and I sense hard for a lot of other people,

[14:16]

Contrary to the difficulty? Yeah, not necessarily contrary. Along with the difficulty of saying, thank you very much to this situation that's other than me, I'm also saying, what about... see if I can find welcoming. Because there's something in reality about consciousness being welcoming. If anybody doesn't see consciousness being welcoming right now, feel free to say that you don't see the consciousness being welcoming. I know it's hard to see that sometimes, that you say, welcome. And again, welcome doesn't mean you like such and such. I guess I think of essence as being what's welcoming rather than self necessarily.

[15:33]

I wouldn't say necessarily self during the welcoming. When you used the word consciousness, I thought it was associated with the sense of self. It's associated with the sense of self and other. I said that it's a welcoming of the other. I didn't say the self was doing it. Well, the question was, why are you saying it's our essence to be welcoming? And you said, well, I'm saying it's a property of consciousness. And I'm saying, I think you usually associate consciousness with a self. My sense is more of essence being what is eternally welcome, or connecting, being? Well, maybe, let's just say that you're right.

[16:39]

Essence is also presence in consciousness. Okay. If you want to be an essence, then I would say, well, I think that essence is the way consciousness is. It doesn't always remember, or... Not always the remembering of that and there is a feeling of I don't want to welcome that that other. That could be in consciousness too. Right? Yeah. Here comes a sickness and I could say, I just said I, or it could be said, no thank you, go away. Said.

[17:41]

Okay? So I'm saying, okay, I'm not trying to get rid of that because that's welcome too. That comment is also welcome. But the thing that was not, which was rejected as an opportunity for welcoming, passed up on, I would say, actually, that's what I present to you. Consciousness is like that. It does welcome this thing, even though it also welcomes the argument that it's welcoming, welcomes both of those things. And if you want to say that that's essential and that's an essence, I have no problem with that. You're just saying it's also present in consciousness. I would say that consciousness is? Consciousness is apart from essence. Right, so consciousness would be one place where that could be demonstrated.

[18:48]

And in that welcoming relationship is where some certain things can happen will promote truth and justice. What is justice then? You mean that everything is sort of legitimately there, or that my ideas are many better than anybody else's? That kind of justice? Well, what do you mean by justice? How you use the word? Maybe we can work with that. Do you want justice? Yeah.

[19:56]

Yes. But a definition of it has something. And what does fairness mean? Fairness and equality, I guess, like the ability for differences of opinion to be proven to Did you say differences of opinion present? To be present, yes. Justice is allowing that? Yeah, but it's not that entirely. You feel like it would be a just situation to allow differences of opinion to coexist? You feel that that would be fair? Yes. then what I just talked about would be appropriate to that. It would welcome differences of opinion.

[20:59]

I can't get over the fact that there's, or not that, but my sense that when justice is meted out or something like that, that there's a right and a wrong. It's also associated with the justice system saying, This is, you know, somebody's action is right or wrong, somebody's going to get punished because the justice system says that's not right. Yeah, and is the justice system other to you? It's not something I made up. but I guess I'm in with it do you feel like the justice the so called justice system whatever that to be do you feel that that's other I do feel that it's other yeah so I'm bringing up having a welcoming relationship with that that justice system

[22:17]

And then some other people have different ideas about what the justice system is than you do. And they're other than you. And that part of what you think justice is, is to allow them to have a different opinion than you. So welcoming their different opinion would also, that would be in accord with justice. So my relationship with what I think the justice system is could be just. And my relationship to other people who have different ideas of anything, but in particular justice, that could also promote justice. And you think that would be fair, to treat people like that? And I think, I don't know if I would think it's fair or unfair, but I would think that allowing them would be generous.

[23:43]

And generosity, I think, is in accord with justice. I guess maybe fairness might be an asset or an example of generosity. Like you let things be the way they are as a gift. Maybe that's the way you mean fair. So the way you're using fair sounds a lot like being generous and welcoming and being generous. So by coincidence you brought this up and one of the examples you used about justice was very similar to generosity, I feel. And then you brought up the justice system thing, but the justice system, I don't think you think that's justice. It's just other from you. And I'm saying if you welcome this justice system,

[24:50]

if you let it be, then you're maybe enacting justice. And also you could have an injustice system, also a system of injustice that somebody set up. And that would be other from you too. And your consciousness actually is letting that be and letting... You could join that generosity of your consciousness or the generosity of essence. And that would be just? Just. I think that would... It's not such that that would be just, but that would realize justice. That would be a way to realize it. This is a suggestion to you for tonight. Under these... Let's both talk louder, okay, Kim? Yeah, you talk louder and I'll talk louder.

[25:56]

And then you'll be able to... That would be justice. Huh? That would be justice. I don't have to shout. Well, let us know if we're talking too loudly, okay? We'll calm, we'll quiet down if you need us to. Okay, so I see. And Barry, ladies first. For some reason, the word justice being connected with enabling, enabling the creative or correct function of a system in the universe Something that labels doesn't procate. Nice over there. She said nice.

[26:59]

That was nice. What is that? No. Barry? So it's just, it's so exciting because, as I understand it, there's generosity to other. To start with, I'm thinking, well, that's kind of opportunistic because I want other to actually be the way I see it. But in fact, a true generosity to other... Wait a second. Did you say something about what did you want to be the way you see it? Well, I didn't actually say it. It's so exciting because the generosity to other... Yes. is actually, when I first caught myself saying, yeah, that's right, it was kind of opportunistic that I was thinking, well, if I'm really generous to others, then they'll actually see things my way. Oh, I see. But I passed that to realize that the generosity to others is actually going to be for the benefit of all beings.

[28:07]

Yeah. Is that right? I don't know if it's right, but it's really good. LAUGHTER To be generous with people is not trying to get them to switch to my view. To be generous to the other is not trying to get them to change their vote. However, I mentioned the... That's a practice for you, and that practice will realize enlightenment. We can just say it that way. But I'm also saying it another way, which is it's the way consciousness is, is that it does welcome the other. And that welcoming the other is the place where this kind of almost impossible thing called justice can happen. where you include everybody.

[29:11]

Because justice is not just for those people on this side of the room. The generosity makes it possible for us to include and contain more than we can possibly contain. It's like the transcendence is we join a process to bring justice beyond my ideas and other people's ideas of justice, actually to realize it. What if other is not inclusive of you? Let's say other wants to destroy you. Well, generally speaking, we don't think other includes us. And then even if other didn't say that they wanted to destroy us, we are sometimes afraid that if we would include other, if we would allow other to be, that might destroy us.

[30:22]

And even if we didn't go that far as to think that it might destroy us, if we just simply said, that other is not included here, then we might become afraid, have aversion to the other. Did you follow that? What if we don't have aversion to the other? No, I'm saying, if I cannot include the other... if I don't allow myself, if I'm not generous to allow myself to include the other, then I become kind of, not just momentarily, but kind of have aversion to it, which can turn into fear, and like the aversion can turn into, well, I think that might destroy me, or something like that. I see you guys. So, And also, if I can't see myself in the other, then I have greed.

[31:27]

But what if you can't see yourself in the other? What if you can? Yeah, if you can't see it, and you don't have the vision of the other, it still doesn't make sense. Well, then... Yeah, I think that the person who doesn't include me, they say to me that they don't include me. Yeah, so if I can include them, then we can have justice. And if I can't, then I would say the generosity is blocked. And then Bill and Jeff... Bill? Sure. All right.

[32:27]

Well, you have to talk to Linda about that. I didn't bring Linda's word. If that's the case, that it's an essence, fine. I wasn't saying it's an essence. I was just saying consciousness actually does welcome the other. So all of us have a consciousness here and we all have another available to that consciousness. There's an identity here too. And then if you want to talk to Linda about the essence thing, she's available. She has office hours. You can check in with her. I'd rather not get into that. So Bill, you're going to let Charlie go first? At the kindness of Bill? I mean, Jeff? And Bill? The kind of welcoming that consciousness always does is not... liking or disliking.

[33:35]

It's not like, oh good, I welcome this, this is just what I hoped for. That's right. And you say that that happens always. Well, I would say that's the kind of consciousness we have. And there can also be likes and dislikes in that same consciousness. But the likes liking something is not the same as receiving it. And, of course, hating it isn't the same as receiving it. But the liking and disliking could be two or more examples of the other that consciousness would welcome on those occasions. So consciousness welcomes everything. Is that different? No, it welcomes the other. It doesn't very often welcome the self. By the way, in case I didn't mention that, I don't think the self is welcomed.

[34:45]

The self is kind of like the identity of the consciousness. So it doesn't need to be welcomed. It's like, well, this is my consciousness. This is my house. This is me. Consciousness. So it doesn't welcome everything, it welcomes the other. So when you say consciousness welcomes the other, is that, in that use of the word welcome, is that essentially synonymous with consciousness receives of it? Maybe I won't even say consciousness welcomes, maybe I say consciousness is welcoming the other. Is that synonymous with saying consciousness is receiving the other? Pretty much, yeah. Receiving in a hospitable, warm and generous way. Is it always hospitable, warm and generous? That's what I'm suggesting, that that's consciousness. If you have something that's not hospitable, then I would say that's an other which the consciousness would welcome.

[35:53]

If you have any counter-examples, that would be on my part. It is a sleight of hand. The sleight of hand of making other is one of the tricks of consciousness. And I've got one, so I'm using it, doing these tricks. But I can't necessarily welcome, I can't necessarily join the welcoming party So here I am to perhaps develop a welcoming party in this group of people, a welcoming party for the new world, and then the next one, and the next one. And we have consciousness actually will be doing that, but we may or may not be joining the program. we may say, I don't want to have this kind of consciousness.

[36:57]

And I would say, I've got a consciousness here which has welcomed you not wanting to. So if nobody wants to join such a consciousness, then if all those who want to do it is other than some particular consciousness, then that consciousness would welcome all those others. Do you want to say something now, Jeff? Pass. And we have King. And then we have Eric. Is the welcoming that we're discussing here significantly more than simply acknowledging, fully acknowledging the existence? Something more? Isn't this another risk? Yeah. Yeah. And you're open to it, and it isn't like you're open to it and then you close down on it.

[38:03]

Open to it and let it be. That's welcoming. And that makes possible some stuff which we want to make possible called enlightenment, called justice and realizing justice and truth. Eric? We're part of acting as a kind host. You set the table. People come to your door. You open the door. And you receive this person. You say, I'd like you to come into my table. The next person who comes in, they say, I'd like you to stay outside. Yeah. And this discernment, first of all, like setting the setting, the kind of environment that people want to do it.

[39:27]

Also, I guess that now is not a good time. I missed a beat there. I heard you say something about somebody comes, you say welcome, they come in and have... Next person, you say, I don't want you to come in the house. Is that right? And then what happened after that? So there's a stream of visitors, and you're making decisions on what type of welcoming party they want, or what kind of welcoming party you feel would enact that. Yeah, I've seen stories like that. So you're making, what King's talking about, acknowledging the presence of God. If somebody shows up at the door, Could happen that way?

[40:27]

Yeah. So we sort of said something like, well, maybe acknowledging them and letting them be sounds compatible with justice. Sounds good. So in the scenario where you're acknowledging one person and saying, come in, another person, and not, like you're a security at the club, and you're deciding who comes in and who doesn't, is there this welcoming of the other? And if there is, I would say, this is where the infinite possibilities of our being will be consummated. This is where we become free of this self-other thing. But it could be that you say, you can come in, you can't.

[41:29]

Or, you're welcome, and you're welcome to not come in. and then deal with those responsibilities. Tracy, David, and you're not crying wolf, are you? Okay. Tracy, then David, then Jeff. Me too. And so far tonight, I feel like I'm just on another planet with everybody, and everyone is talking about the other, and it gives us this amazing esoteric conversation, and I feel like I'm in nursery school, pre-nursery school.

[42:36]

how to just fight fear, not, you know, I'm the astrologer, how to listen to this talk, but like Harriet said, it's useful. I just cannot hear it. I'm so not understanding how to welcome other when I fear the other. Are you welcoming the fear? Do you want to welcome the fear? Do you aspire to welcome the fear? Do I want to welcome fear?

[43:45]

Do you think I want to welcome fear? Do you think I want to? You're right. And do I want to welcome the fear to be a good student? No, I do. I want to. And the fear to be a good student of the bodhisattva way. Because that's what bodhisattvas do. They welcome fear. And so that's what they do. And then that's one of the ways they're good students. And then there's another aspect of that is that they teach other people how to welcome fear. I don't know how. You ever heard about that? I vowed to be a refuge for those who have no refuge. I'm talking now, not you. I vowed to be a refuge for those who have no refuge. I want to be a refuge, a place where fear is welcome.

[44:51]

If I welcome fear, I have a refuge. It's not the fear isn't my refuge. So I can be a refuge for those who don't know how. I want to be a protector for those who do not have a protector. I want to do a protective thing with the fear, which is be generous with it. I want to be a friend who don't know how to be a friend and don't think they have a friend. I want that. I want to welcome uncompassionate people. But they'll hurt people then. If we welcome, if we... But you think you need to welcome people for them to hurt people? Can't they hurt without you welcoming them? Yeah, I think so. But the question is, do you want to be compassionate to people who do not want to be compassionate?

[45:56]

No, you don't want to be. It is. You don't want to be. I'm suggesting that your mind actually is welcoming anything that you don't want to welcome, that your mind actually is welcoming. And if you don't want to be welcoming, which is a basic act of compassion. It's the basic compassion thing, is welcoming. Then you do ethics in terms of being careful, patience, and so on. It's the fundamental act of compassion, is to let somebody who has a badge on, which is, I hate so-and-so, and I do not... Compassion is for for wimps or something, people like that, people who say, I want my guns and I don't want any foreigners in my hometown, people like that, I'm saying we actually are welcoming them and... vows to join that welcoming party.

[47:03]

They don't necessarily say that it's easy all the time. Like I said, in my mind there were these, oh no's coming up. Oh no, oh no, not that. Those are just, you know, more to welcome. This is the context I'm offering you, which is the basic context of practice of justice. when the other appears to be unjust. Of course practice justice when the other appears to be just. Practice compassion when the other is uncompassionate. And of course when they're compassionate. In other words, welcome the other even when the other is such and such a way which is really other and looks like a potentially dangerous So I'm saying that the resources for transformation, transcendence, and realizing truth and justice, I'm suggesting come from this approach.

[48:15]

If somebody has another approach, they can talk now. Yes? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. and traffic stop, whatever it is. And are you saying it's enough to just sort of, in terms of realizing justice, to feel compassion for them and kind of understand that other? Or where's action? Is there any place for action in what you're saying? Trying to do things to stop those people from hurting other people. Because you're not going to stop even just by feeling compassionate with a lady even longer, over a thousand years. You survived that long. But the fact is, my feeling of compassion is for Donald Trump.

[49:16]

And his supporters are not going to stop them. These are women. So where does action fit with what you're saying? Well, like I said to Eric, you might say, well, you can come in and you can't. But the question is, are those two examples of the same practice of generosity? No, I'm not saying they're different. I chose different examples. Those are actions, right? You let somebody in the house or you don't let somebody in the house. Those are two different actions in the world. Could be cows also, or whatever, or bats, or rats. Lots of different things which you can do that with. That's why I use that example.

[50:22]

They're different. They're actions and they're different. But I said, could they both be done as acts of generosity? And that's for you to find out. If you let somebody in to try to convert them to your point of view, then that's not really letting them be. That's not generous. If you let them in, yeah, or if you keep them out to convert them to your point of view. That kind of thing we do plenty of, I suppose, but I'm just saying if you're actually joining the welcoming party, And I'm suggesting that that's the nature of your mind, and it's also a recommended practice. Yes? Can you help me understand what you mean by wealth?

[51:23]

Like, be a good hostess. Take care of the thing. But, you know, let's... So, how is it different from acknowledge? So, you come to my door and... You could acknowledge and then try to acknowledge somebody and try to get them to be different. No, that doesn't seem welcoming. No, it doesn't. I'm just saying, the difference between acknowledging and welcoming is you not only acknowledge... I see Barbara Carol, Barbara Joan. I see her. I acknowledge her. But I could also not accept you, you know, not welcome you. So it's acknowledging, and then it's welcoming you. But is welcome accept? It's accept. It's let you be. It's give you to... So it's... I reflect on you.

[52:28]

You perceive me. I perceive you as you. And I accept that you are you. And I look at how I act around that letter. I invite you into my world or ask you not to come into my world. that doesn't disrupt the welcoming. Yeah, it wouldn't necessarily disrupt it. ...acceptance of your existence as a separate you with a whole new perception that that's the welcoming. Yeah, it's acknowledging me and also acknowledging me who is an other, who is not you. which, you know, without talking or moving, by making a gesture, and you can also do it with speaking. Like you can say, please come in, please don't come in.

[53:31]

But then, if you're saying please come in, in accord with being generous, you're not saying please come in to control the person. You're not saying please come in to get them to come in the house. You're just giving them the gift of your speech along with your basic generosity towards them. And if you say, don't come in, you're not doing that to try to control them, keep them out. You're just giving them that. And in fact, sometimes you say, don't come in, and they don't. And sometimes you say, don't come in, and they do. But this is, you're not trying to control people. What are you trying to do? You're trying to practice compassion. because maybe you believe that practicing compassion will realize justice. And it may take a but again, another part of compassion is to have kind of an outrageous amount of energy and say, you know, like when people say, Jeff, would you please move that mountain?

[54:34]

And you say, mm-hmm. And if I, maybe you don't tell me, it's probably going to take me a thousand years. You just say yes. I say, how long will it take? You say, a thousand years, depending on whether people are helping me or not. But basically I'll do it. That's part of this thing about, I will keep practicing compassion until everybody joins the compassion group. And all the unhappy people who think they need lots of weapons to protect themselves, I want to welcome them as my, you know, their other, but I want to welcome them in order to realize justice. There's only one person left. Who needed it? Well, that might be especially a difficult person that they held out that long. Okay, so there's lots of interest. I'm going to call on people who have not called on yet.

[55:35]

Catherine? No, no. Candice? So, it seems like you're speaking about why well we may ask it, but then that person or whatever makes a response. Yes. They respond... Those two? Cynicism and Oham. What? Oh, one second. I thought you were talking about the other person's response to your generosity. No. No, no, no. It's back and forth. Yes. No. I'm overwhelmed by this.

[56:58]

So are you talking about an example where I welcome somebody and then after I welcome them I feel overwhelmed? Yeah, like, this is something I can't... I have my good intention, but now it's too much for me. Yeah. Well, that sounds like another other. Overwhelm means this other. First of all, I said, welcome to this. Now I see another other, which I feel is going to overwhelm me. It's your response, but now you see the other as overwhelming, potentially. So now... Your last welcoming's done. Now you got, as a result of your last welcoming, you got this response. And then you looked at it and you said, I have a new other, which is more overwhelming than I, which is bigger or more difficult to deal with than I realized a moment ago.

[58:08]

And now I feel like this is too much, this other. And maybe I say, it's too much. I cannot welcome it. Even if I did welcome pretty much a related being a moment ago, now the other that appears now seems like too advanced for me to welcome, or too challenging, so then I can't join the welcoming practice. If I want to practice welcoming practice, let's say I want to, let's say I vow to Bodhisattvas say, I vow to practice generosity. They say that. And then somebody comes and they say, I can't be generous with this person. I can't allow them to be in my life. I'm not practicing generosity now. Then we acknowledge that and we confess that we do not feel capable of welcoming this thing.

[59:14]

And then maybe we feel like, and I'm kind of sorry I can't welcome this thing. because I would like to, but I can't do it. And that practice is another practice of compassion. And that practice of compassion will bring the other one that you couldn't do to fulfillment. That's the theory. It's back and forth, it's faith. What am I talking about? This is face to face. This is realizing justice and transcendence of our limited traps that we live in by this kind of face-to-face interaction. And we've got, again, if the election goes this way, we still have to do this work. If it goes that way, we have to do this work either way.

[60:16]

It's just that if it goes We'd be less, maybe, less fear to deal with. Less fear of certain things happening because we may feel like they're less likely. Certain dangers may seem less probable. And that might be... into those slightly less probable dangers. So either way we have the same, I'm suggesting either way I have the same work. I have this work, I live in the same world as you, sort of, you know. I voted today too. So this is what I'm sharing with you as the way I intend to deal with this universe that I live in, with these dangers And so we have, second time around, Bill and Emerald and King and, huh?

[61:25]

And Kim. Okay. You want to go first? This is a question that my son has to ask you. And I frankly never felt that I was going to do it. But, and I'm not sure if it's the right moment, but I think it is. Whatever. He said during the mass with these people, you know, killing all these other people, the Jews. Should the United States have become, if the United States, he said, had not been involved in the war, then Hitler would have probably prevailed and would have gone all over the world killing people and so on.

[62:31]

So he said from the standpoint of Zen, what is justice? He asked me to ask you. I am proposing that to find out what is justice in this world, means to this face-to-face dialogue with the other. That's what I'm proposing. I'm not saying, what is justice in that case? I don't know if justice really occurred. Some people think, like I know this story of this rabbi, this Viennese rabbi, who helped 120,000 Jews escape from the not-got-to-get-out-of-the-cunt out of Germany.

[63:32]

He helped 120,000 escape, and a lot of Jews think he was unjust. And I'm not saying, well, he was, but I did... Why? Huh? Why was he unjust? I think that they accused him of abuse of power. He told one story about, he was talking to this, you know, most of these people he got out before, you know, before the Nazis really started shoving the people into the camps. And he spent eight years hanging out with Adolf Eichmann. What do you call it? Working closely together the whole time. You know, he was negotiating with Adolf Eichmann at the same time he was like getting people out of Germany, 120,000.

[64:33]

And so one time he was talking to a British embassy and he said, if you just get these people out, I won't ask you for any more people for a week. And so the embassy guy got this guy out, and then he came back the next day and asked for somebody else. And the guy said, that was not very gentlemanly of you to, you know, you lied to me. He said, you wouldn't ask, and that's not very gentlemanly. And he said, you know, for a Jew in my position, we can't afford being a gentleman. And he did somehow, he arranged... for these people to go to the country, which means he arranged for them to get papers, get on trains, go through various, you know, go through from Germany to France to Spain. He arranged all that stuff to happen. So, you know, through all that Nazi checks and stuff like that.

[65:39]

And he had to push some stuff around to have that happen. I'm not saying it was justice, but I do think it was really wonderful that he did that for those people. But some of the Jews, looking at the way he used his power, because he was very powerful to get 120,000 people out of Nazi Germany, you have to use a lot of power, and he did. He played a lot of tricks on Adolf Eichmann. Like, for example, When Adolf Eichmann came running into his office with a gun and pointed at him, he was scared, but he didn't let Adolf Eichmann know it. But war itself, from the standpoint of Zen, is not justified. The way it was, the way it happened. Okay, let's talk about war. War basically makes it really difficult to practice compassion. So what we're really trying to do is not figure out some, you know, if you can practice compassion in war, great.

[66:48]

But basically we're trying to not have war, you know, and have peace. We have a much better chance of practicing compassion when we think that there's a possibility even if there is war. But if there isn't war, we even have more of a possibility. So we're trying to promote peace so that we can have justice, because it's hard to have justice which is short for, you know, compassion. not killing, not slaughtering, these are modes of compassion. And it's easier to practice them when there's peace. But even when there's peace, it's still hard to practice them because people still, like, hurt your feelings or something or say, boo. You know, it's still hard to practice it, but you have a better chance. So we're trying to practice and when there's peace, practice compassion. as much as possible. Anyway, I don't know what happened there.

[67:51]

I'm proposing how to find justice and peace. This is my proposal. Well, from his standpoint, if this war where America intervened, ego would have... I don't know that. It seems like we intervened... I'm asking you. Yeah, I'm saying we intervened, but somehow six million Jews got killed and there were no more Jews to kill. except all the other ones pretty much got out. So we intervened, but it didn't stop that. We would have liked to have stopped it, but we didn't. And a lot of people, those people could have come to America, but didn't for various reasons. Was that just? Doesn't sound like it. Anyway, Hitler might have gotten killed by his own people, you know, a week after he committed suicide. Or he might have got, he might have, you know, if we hadn't gone over there, who knows what would have happened, how that whole thing, the Russians might have taken care of them.

[68:56]

I don't know how it would have happened. And all over Germany, and I don't know what that would have led to. I don't know how this all works. So not knowing how it all works, not, I don't know how cause and effect works. So this is why I'm teaching this way, as the mode to realize justice. Saying if the Americans hadn't gone, or if they'd gone earlier, that this or that would have happened, I don't know. I don't know if we'd never gone, what would have happened, you know, with the Nazi empire, I don't know what would happen. Maybe it would have lasted One more year, maybe it would change. I don't know. But I think there's a good chance that if we hadn't gone, things would have gone another way that would be just as horrible as the way it went. Thank you. I'll give him your answer. King? Not really going to start it.

[70:02]

I can't think of a better time to think about the crafts that are out there right now. I have some of those others that are out there now, definitely. So it's pretty difficult for me to figure out how to evoke them. And truthfully, it seems to me it's a little bit like you link to a picture, like you try to shut it out, just get bored of certain things. Try to come up with stories about it. That doesn't help. But somehow it has to be fixed. I'm welcome to it, but... Yeah.

[71:07]

Whatever way this lecture goes, I think basically the same practice is what I would suggest. There's so many unhappy people in this country. In the red states, did I mention this to you? The red states are the states where the people get the highest level of government support and where they most distrust the government. In the blue states, they get less government support and they trust the government. This is part of the paradox of our country. And so many suffering people in the country and so many suffering people trying to get into the country. and that's going to continue. And so how are we going to promote peace and compassion? And we're going to continue to have this ongoing relationship with the other.

[72:13]

And so I'm saying to you that it is the nature of consciousness going on already, it's just that it's hard for us to be there for it with these other voices saying, get that person out of here. But that's another other to welcome the get that person out of here. I don't like that person. I don't want that person. That's another thing to welcome. That's another. I don't want that thing is not me. That's just what I said. That's other than me. and I haven't said I don't want this thing for two weeks. So lately I've been saying I do want this thing, I do want that thing. That's what I'm talking about now, but that's not me either. Me, I'm always here. It's always kind of basically the same thing. That same I is relating to the not I, the other. And the other is not just the opposite of me.

[73:17]

and I include it. It's all included in me, and of course I can't include it. There's nothing about me that includes it, and yet I include it. It's not the way I am that includes it. I include it. It's just... And that's where there's tremendous spiritual possibilities in that. And I just used the word tremendous, which I've been trying not to use. This is how I'm talking to myself in these challenging times of crisis. This is my faith. Thank you very much. And I do want to be a good student.

[74:32]

I do want to be a good student. I want to be a good disciple of the Buddha.

[74:48]

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