WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:06.280 This is a program about changing your life, not in 2 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:08.160 the traditional way that we think of when we think 3 00:00:08.199 --> 00:00:13.919 about changing our lives. Usually that means changing your behaviors, 4 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:18.719 retraining yourself, getting new habits, going out and trying them out, 5 00:00:18.760 --> 00:00:22.920 and changing your life. This is about changing your thoughts, 6 00:00:24.120 --> 00:00:27.920 and then your life will change. Change your thoughts, change 7 00:00:27.960 --> 00:00:30.039 your life. It's the name of this program, it's the 8 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:33.200 name of the book. It is something that I very 9 00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:37.079 very strongly endorse that we have within us the ability 10 00:00:37.159 --> 00:00:40.039 and the capacity, through the way that we use our 11 00:00:40.039 --> 00:00:43.000 minds and the way that we process things and events 12 00:00:43.479 --> 00:00:47.320 to make our lives totally shift and change around. And 13 00:00:47.399 --> 00:00:49.280 I can tell you that it doesn't make any difference 14 00:00:49.320 --> 00:00:52.719 what age you are, whether you're a teenager watching this, 15 00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:56.960 or whether you're someone in your sixties, seventies, eighties, or 16 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:00.679 anywhere along the way. You can make change. And I'll 17 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:04.400 tell you it happened for me two years ago. On 18 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:10.560 the tenth of May, I turned sixty five, and the 19 00:01:10.599 --> 00:01:16.359 next day, on the eleventh of May, I had a 20 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:20.000 life changing thing take place for me. I changed the 21 00:01:20.040 --> 00:01:22.840 way that I was thinking about who I am, about 22 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:25.680 what kind of a man I am, about what kind 23 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:27.599 of a person I intend to be for the rest 24 00:01:27.640 --> 00:01:31.040 of my life and where I'm going, And something began 25 00:01:31.159 --> 00:01:34.040 to resonate with me that I had to make a 26 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:36.439 shift and make a change. At the age of sixty five, 27 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:42.920 I had a wonderful office which was really a townhouse. 28 00:01:43.560 --> 00:01:46.680 It was filled with over twenty thousand books. It was 29 00:01:46.760 --> 00:01:52.439 filled with clothing, It was filled with records of all kinds. 30 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:56.439 It had pictures on the wall. I had awards that 31 00:01:56.519 --> 00:01:59.200 I had received over the years, and everything that I 32 00:01:59.239 --> 00:02:04.200 had accumulated, literally in this physical world, had accumulated in 33 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:09.199 that office. I turned the key and handed it to 34 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:12.319 my manager, Maya, who's been with me for almost thirty years, 35 00:02:12.759 --> 00:02:18.120 and I said, I would like you to sell everything 36 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:22.080 or distribute everything that's in there. Sell the townhouse, get 37 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:25.159 rid of it, take all the records, all the books, 38 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:34.000 got rid of my shoes, and I left it all 39 00:02:34.039 --> 00:02:36.199 behind and turned it over to her to get to 40 00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:38.960 get rid of everything. I detached myself from a lifetime 41 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:43.719 of accumulations, and I moved full time to a place 42 00:02:44.360 --> 00:02:46.840 over in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, on one 43 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:51.080 of our great islands called Maui, And in the next 44 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:55.639 months I began to get a lot of things coming 45 00:02:55.639 --> 00:02:58.000 to me about what my life was, to what was 46 00:02:58.039 --> 00:03:01.560 to unfold things that I wasn't even expecting. And I 47 00:03:01.560 --> 00:03:05.960 think about this idea about what age you are and 48 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.360 whether or not changes and shifts can be made, and 49 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:11.840 how difficult So many people attribute this to They say, 50 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:14.400 it's just that's an impossibility. I couldn't possibly do that. 51 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:16.800 I'm so attached to all of these things, or I'm 52 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:20.319 too old, I've been living in the same place too long, 53 00:03:20.360 --> 00:03:23.639 whatever it might be. Right here in this audience is 54 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:28.000 one of the women that I revere, I think more 55 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:31.280 more than any other woman I can think of in 56 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:36.479 the professional world. At the age of sixty, she changed 57 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:41.039 her thoughts and her life changed dramatically. She started a 58 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:44.639 publishing company called hay House, which is one of the 59 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:50.840 world's largest publishers of spiritual and higher consciousness materials. She 60 00:03:50.919 --> 00:03:54.240 wrote a book called You Can Heal Your Life. She's 61 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:57.039 here today. Her name is Louise. Hey, Louise, would you 62 00:03:57.080 --> 00:04:08.639 stand up being thank you for that? Louise, with a 63 00:04:08.680 --> 00:04:10.759 great number of people from all over the world, just 64 00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:20.879 celebrated her eightieth birthday. So I should look so good 65 00:04:20.920 --> 00:04:25.319 even at sixty, all right, and I'm just so deeply 66 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:29.240 honored that you're here, dear, thank you. What happened for 67 00:04:29.319 --> 00:04:34.759 me in the next few months was absolutely life changing. 68 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:38.360 I had a friend tell me who was severely addicted 69 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:41.600 to all kinds of drugs and alcohol, who was basically 70 00:04:42.279 --> 00:04:46.160 very close to death. He refused all kinds of treatment, 71 00:04:46.199 --> 00:04:48.680 he wouldn't go through the programs and so on. But 72 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:52.000 he read a book, and the book was called The 73 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:56.879 Doo to Ching, the Doo to Ching t Ao te 74 00:04:58.360 --> 00:05:03.079 h i n g to Ching. Dao in ancient Chinese 75 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:08.079 means the way, the great way. Te is the term 76 00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:11.800 that means the application of or the virtue of, and 77 00:05:11.959 --> 00:05:16.639 Ching in ancient Chinese means book, So it's the book 78 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:21.759 for applying the virtue of living the way. That's what 79 00:05:21.879 --> 00:05:24.800 this book means. And he told me that, and I thought, 80 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:27.800 I've heard of the Dao to Chang. I've heard of Taoism. 81 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:30.399 I've I'm familiar with that. I had read about it 82 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:33.360 when I was in college. I'd even lectured a little 83 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:35.439 bit about it when I was teaching at a university 84 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:38.920 in New York City, at Saint John's University. It was 85 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:44.000 something that I had sort of a cursory awareness of, 86 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:48.040 but it wasn't something that I was really profoundly interested in. 87 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:51.079 I was watching a TV show one night and someone 88 00:05:51.160 --> 00:05:54.879 talked about the Doo on there. I walk into a 89 00:05:54.920 --> 00:05:58.120 bookstore and there's a copy of The Doo. This is 90 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:01.759 all happening in the six months or so that between 91 00:06:02.600 --> 00:06:05.120 when I had left and knowing that it was time 92 00:06:05.160 --> 00:06:07.759 for me to detach myself from all of the things 93 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:09.399 that had been so much a part of my life 94 00:06:09.639 --> 00:06:11.759 and move on into a new area of my life. 95 00:06:11.879 --> 00:06:15.360 So I couldn't resist it any longer, and I said, 96 00:06:15.639 --> 00:06:18.040 I'd really want to. I really want to read the 97 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:20.399 dow And I'm going to take the next year a 98 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:23.680 full year, and in that year, what I would like 99 00:06:23.720 --> 00:06:28.639 to do is I would like to read each verse. 100 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:31.680 There are eighty one verses in the dow To to Chain. 101 00:06:32.040 --> 00:06:34.360 You can read it in an afternoon, but you can 102 00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:38.120 study it for a lifetime. And in the studying of this, 103 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:40.079 I said, I would like to just take those three 104 00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:43.240 hundred and sixty five days for the next year, and 105 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:46.839 in every four days, I am going to read one verse. 106 00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:49.279 Some of them are only four lines long, some of 107 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:52.319 them are twelve sixteen lines long. I'm going to create 108 00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:56.639 for myself a way of seeing if I can live 109 00:06:56.920 --> 00:07:00.920 this dow. And what I did was I would read it. 110 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:04.160 Then I would meditate on it. I would walk on it, 111 00:07:04.360 --> 00:07:06.839 I would go swim on it. When I would do yoga, 112 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:09.160 I would practice it, and then I would sit down 113 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:11.920 after the fourth day, and I had a picture of 114 00:07:11.959 --> 00:07:14.600 the man who was considered to be the author of this, 115 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:18.040 although there's no historical actual record of his name, is 116 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:20.879 Lao Su. This is the visiage that I looked at. 117 00:07:21.079 --> 00:07:24.600 This is the image of an artist drawing of Lao Tsu. 118 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:29.319 In ancient Chinese means old man, old man. He was 119 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:32.199 the old man who was living in China in the 120 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:35.079 time of the Warring States. And he decided he didn't 121 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:37.279 want any more to do with war and violence and 122 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:39.160 hatred and killing and all of the things that were 123 00:07:39.160 --> 00:07:41.319 so much a part of his world. And he got 124 00:07:41.319 --> 00:07:43.920 on his oxen and he left. And before he left 125 00:07:44.040 --> 00:07:48.439 to go off and be by himself, he dictated some 126 00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:52.519 five thousand Chinese characters, these eighty one verses that became 127 00:07:52.600 --> 00:07:55.040 the Dao du Ching. There are some people who call 128 00:07:55.120 --> 00:08:00.759 the daoud to Ching the wisest book ever written. If 129 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:04.879 you google this thing called the Dooda Ching, you'll come 130 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:08.319 up with over one million, three hundred thousand hits on 131 00:08:08.399 --> 00:08:12.040 the daota Ching. Not only that, there are fourteen thousand 132 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:15.319 translations of the Dao du Ching that I have come across. 133 00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:21.319 So what I did is I took ten of those translations, 134 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:23.360 the ones that seem to be the most relevant, the 135 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:25.519 ones that seem to have the most meaning to those 136 00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:27.600 people who lived in this part of the Western world, 137 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:30.279 and I combine them into what I consider to be 138 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:35.120 the most useful translation of the daod Ching. And each 139 00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:38.080 morning I would get up and I would look at 140 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:41.480 this picture, and I would ask, what is it that 141 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:43.639 you would say to the people who are living now 142 00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:46.639 at this time, given the conditions that we have in 143 00:08:46.679 --> 00:08:49.080 our life right here, what is it that you would do? 144 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:53.399 Many people call this a manual for achieving a way 145 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:59.639 of life that literally guarantees integrity, joy, peace and balance 146 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:02.600 our life. Now, there was a man who was a 147 00:09:02.600 --> 00:09:06.600 contemporary of Laotsu. His name was Confucius. He was many 148 00:09:06.679 --> 00:09:10.039 years younger than Laoutsu, but he kept hearing about this 149 00:09:10.120 --> 00:09:13.120 old man who had all of this great wisdom and 150 00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:15.440 one day he decided that he was going to go, 151 00:09:15.720 --> 00:09:20.600 legend says and visit Laoutsu, and he spent a full 152 00:09:20.679 --> 00:09:24.720 day listening to this man. Because Confucius was someone in 153 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:26.919 China who was trying to lay down all the rules 154 00:09:26.919 --> 00:09:29.320 of etiquette and how to conduct yourself and trying to 155 00:09:29.399 --> 00:09:32.919 dictate to the people what they should be. Laoutsu had 156 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:35.360 nothing to do with any of that. And when he 157 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:40.000 went to see Laotsu, he came back and he talked 158 00:09:40.039 --> 00:09:42.519 to all of his people, and this is what he said. 159 00:09:42.799 --> 00:09:47.320 He said, of birds, I know they have wings to 160 00:09:47.399 --> 00:09:51.080 fly with, a fish, that they have fins to swim with, 161 00:09:52.039 --> 00:09:56.159 a wild beasts, that they have feet to run with. 162 00:09:57.080 --> 00:10:02.799 For feet, there are traps for finns, there are nets 163 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:10.639 for wings arrows. But who knows how dragons surmount wind 164 00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:15.879 and cloud into heaven. This day I have seen Laotsu, 165 00:10:16.759 --> 00:10:20.240 and he is a dragon. And there he is a dragon, 166 00:10:21.080 --> 00:10:25.559 and a dragon in ancient Chinese was a picture of 167 00:10:25.559 --> 00:10:31.639 someone or something that was so mysterious and so difficult 168 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:35.200 to comprehend because it could always be something else. There 169 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:37.320 was a great teacher who came many years after that. 170 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:40.480 His name was Rumi, who was a Jelluluton Rumi who 171 00:10:40.519 --> 00:10:44.360 was a great poet, a Persian poet in the fourteenth century, 172 00:10:44.519 --> 00:10:47.919 and he had a line he said, the day that 173 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:52.720 you were born, a ladder was set up to help 174 00:10:52.759 --> 00:10:59.080 you to escape from this world. I believe that the 175 00:10:59.159 --> 00:11:03.600 doubt of chang and this thing that I have done, 176 00:11:03.720 --> 00:11:06.639 this change your thoughts, change your life. Effort that I've 177 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:11.279 spent one full year on every single day doing exactly 178 00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:15.320 what I just said, is a ladder that will help 179 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:19.879 you to return. In the Dow, there's a very famous 180 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:24.200 line the fortieth verse of the Doo says, returning is 181 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:27.919 the motion of the Dow. Returning is the motion of 182 00:11:27.960 --> 00:11:30.200 the Doo. So that all of us came from a 183 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:35.519 divine spiritual essence invisible. Everything in the world of form 184 00:11:35.960 --> 00:11:39.320 emanated from something that is formless. There was a split 185 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:45.879 second when you went from non being to being. And 186 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:49.600 what L'aotsu was trying to teach was to be able 187 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:54.279 to return to that place from which you came and 188 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:59.679 live your life from the spiritual perspective and become a 189 00:11:59.720 --> 00:12:05.279 god realized being. Another great poet, T. S. Eliot once said, 190 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:11.279 we shall not cease from exploration and at the end 191 00:12:11.399 --> 00:12:15.679 of all of our exploring will be to arrive where 192 00:12:15.720 --> 00:12:20.639 we started and to know the place for the first time, 193 00:12:21.320 --> 00:12:25.600 for the first time. What I'm asking you to do, 194 00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:28.759 and what Laotsu seemed to be saying, was learn to 195 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:34.519 die while you're alive, because you will ultimately return. All 196 00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:37.440 of us have a return trip, a round trip ticket 197 00:12:37.720 --> 00:12:40.559 when we came in, didn't we But if you could 198 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:43.879 learn to die while you're alive. And there's a great 199 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:46.799 story I have to tell you this story. I want 200 00:12:46.840 --> 00:12:50.240 to read this story to you. It's a way to 201 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:54.000 look at this idea of dying while you're alive. It 202 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:58.639 goes like this, to die while we are alive gives 203 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:02.440 us the only opportunity we will ever have to get 204 00:13:02.519 --> 00:13:08.080 outside of this package that houses us temporarily. There's an 205 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:13.120 ancient parable that repeated generation after generation by the spiritual 206 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:17.120 masters of India which illustrates this point. Listen to this 207 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:21.440 wonderful story. A traveler from India went to Africa to 208 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:25.240 acquire some local products and animals, and while in the jungle, 209 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:30.879 he saw thousands of beautiful, multicolored talking parrots. He decided 210 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:33.320 to capture a talking parrot and take it back as 211 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:36.559 his pet. At home, he kept his parrot in a cage, 212 00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:39.480 and he fed him, and he gave him wonderful seeds 213 00:13:39.480 --> 00:13:42.240 and honey, and played music for his pet, and generally 214 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:44.919 he treated him very well. When it was time for 215 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:47.879 the man to return to Africa two years later, he 216 00:13:47.960 --> 00:13:50.799 asked his parrot if there was any message that he 217 00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:52.919 could deliver to the parrot's friends who were back in 218 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:56.559 the jungle. Well. The parrot told his master to say 219 00:13:56.600 --> 00:14:00.399 that he was very happy in his cage and that 220 00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:05.360 he was enjoying each day, and to convey his love well. 221 00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:07.960 When the traveler arrived back in Africa, he delivered the 222 00:14:07.960 --> 00:14:11.519 message to the parrots back in the jungle. Just as 223 00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:14.759 he finished his story, a parrot with tears welling up 224 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:18.879 in his eyes, fell over dead. The man was alarmed, 225 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:21.399 and he decided that the parrot must have been very 226 00:14:21.399 --> 00:14:24.039 close to the parrot in the cage, and that this 227 00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:27.120 was probably the reason for the sadness and for his demise. 228 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:31.039 When the traveler returned to India, he told his pet 229 00:14:31.080 --> 00:14:35.320 what had happened. As he finished his story, the pet 230 00:14:35.399 --> 00:14:39.519 parrot's eyes welled up with tears and he kneeled over dead. 231 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:43.159 In his cage. The man was astounded, but he figured 232 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:46.279 that his pet died from the despair of hearing of 233 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:48.600 the death of his close friend back in the jungle. 234 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:51.759 The trader opened up the cage and tossed the dead 235 00:14:51.799 --> 00:14:56.639 bird outside onto the trash heap. Immediately, the pet parrot 236 00:14:57.039 --> 00:15:00.159 flew up to a branch on the tree outside. The 237 00:15:00.200 --> 00:15:03.360 trader said to him, so, you're not dead after all. 238 00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:06.720 Why did you do that? You tricked me when the 239 00:15:06.759 --> 00:15:11.639 parrot responded, because that bird back in Africa sent me 240 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:16.399 a very important message. What was the message, the trader 241 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:20.480 wanted to know. He told me that if you want 242 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:25.200 to escape from your cage, you must die while you're alive. 243 00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:32.440 We must indeed die while we are alive, in order 244 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:35.200 to be able to look back at our waking consciousness 245 00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:39.080 and see ourselves trapped in our cage, which in our 246 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:41.960 case is our body, and then we will see how 247 00:15:42.120 --> 00:15:46.799 unnecessary it is to remain caged. Not a great story. 248 00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:53.039 I love that story. Yeah, you can applaud. What I 249 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:57.840 encourage you to do is to create for yourself a 250 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:01.600 sacred space. And in this sacred space, I'd like you 251 00:16:01.639 --> 00:16:07.879 to place everything that has energy value to you photographs. 252 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:10.879 I have this photograph that I looked at every day 253 00:16:10.919 --> 00:16:13.600 for one year and began to talk to after a while. 254 00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:19.440 It's a little weird, but you begin to get this idea. 255 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:25.120 And those of you who wonder why I am wearing 256 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:30.600 no shoes, I'd like you to know that where I live, 257 00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:35.159 you never walk into a sacred space with your shoes on. 258 00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:39.000 It would be considered dishonorable to do so. And to me, 259 00:16:39.879 --> 00:16:45.200 this stage, this setting, this beautiful place, and this beautiful 260 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:50.159 symbol is a sacred sacred space. I live without shoes. 261 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:52.759 I heard it said once that if you wear shoes 262 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:56.120 everywhere you go, the whole earth will feel like leather. 263 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:00.639 And it's nice to feel what the earth feels like 264 00:17:01.159 --> 00:17:05.200 and to feel that naturalness. So in that sacred space, 265 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:09.359 you will feel the energy of the photographs, of any 266 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:13.519 mementos that you have, of pictures of your children, of drawings, 267 00:17:13.559 --> 00:17:17.640 of statues, of anything at all that you can think of. 268 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:20.559 I have a beautiful sacred space and it calls me. 269 00:17:21.319 --> 00:17:23.519 And as it calls me, when I go into that 270 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:28.119 place that is so profoundly sacred to me, the most 271 00:17:28.200 --> 00:17:31.680 beautiful things begin to happen for me, particularly in the 272 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:34.119 middle of the night when no one else is up, 273 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:37.519 and I feel closest to God, and I feel closest 274 00:17:37.559 --> 00:17:42.799 to this beautiful old man who sent so many important 275 00:17:43.480 --> 00:17:46.440 messages to me through his dow to Chin and in 276 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:51.160 my meditations to help me to create this program. Change 277 00:17:51.160 --> 00:17:55.319 your thoughts, change your life, living the wisdom of the dow. 278 00:17:56.359 --> 00:17:59.319 What I would like to do now is to look 279 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:02.960 at the some of the key thoughts that I would 280 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:08.680 like you to think about and consider changing as you 281 00:18:08.759 --> 00:18:13.039 become a person who becomes more God realized. That is 282 00:18:13.960 --> 00:18:17.880 someone who has died but stayed alive and returned and 283 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:20.640 went back on that return trip. The first of these 284 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:25.200 thoughts to change is to change the idea that I 285 00:18:25.240 --> 00:18:30.599 can't trust in my own nature too, I trust in 286 00:18:30.680 --> 00:18:34.440 my own nature. Did it ever occur to you that 287 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:38.839 you have a nature? That that nature is so profound 288 00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:43.279 and is always calling you. You know it. No one 289 00:18:43.319 --> 00:18:45.240 else can know it, No one else can impose it 290 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:47.599 on you. No one else can tell you what it 291 00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:49.720 is that you feel in here that you know is 292 00:18:49.799 --> 00:18:52.720 why you're here and what you're doing here? Does no 293 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:56.759 one else can explain that or explore that with you. 294 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:59.960 You can't share it. Everything in the universe has a nature. 295 00:19:00.279 --> 00:19:03.599 Your dog has a nature, A crocodile has a nature, 296 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:06.400 a duck has a nature, a crow has a nature. 297 00:19:06.519 --> 00:19:10.319 Everything has its nature, Everything has a dharma, including you. 298 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:12.920 But what we've learned, and we've grown up to believe, 299 00:19:13.079 --> 00:19:15.759 is that I can't trust in that nature, my nature. 300 00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:19.039 To trust in your nature, to know that you came 301 00:19:19.079 --> 00:19:22.279 from a divine place of well being, and to trust 302 00:19:22.279 --> 00:19:24.920 in it. Listen to this verse thirty eight of the 303 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:29.599 doll a few lines. The great Master follows his own 304 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:34.640 nature and not the trappings of life. A truly good 305 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:41.160 man is not aware of his goodness, and is therefore good. 306 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:47.279 Think about yourself the first, the first moment of life, 307 00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:51.160 the very first moment that speck when you went from nowhere? 308 00:19:52.279 --> 00:19:58.759 WHI to now here? N ow hi, from nowhere to 309 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:02.839 now here? Same thing, Just a little question of spacing, 310 00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:05.839 just a little different spacing. Sow you went from nowhere. 311 00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:07.920 Now you're in now here. And where do you think 312 00:20:07.960 --> 00:20:14.519 you're going? Nowhere? Right back to nowhere? Who out there watching, 313 00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:17.519 who in this audience isn't going back to nowhere? That's 314 00:20:17.559 --> 00:20:20.559 where we're all headed, back to nowhere. So in that 315 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:24.720 split second. Then you lived inside your mother's womb for 316 00:20:24.839 --> 00:20:28.000 nine months, and in that nine month period of time, 317 00:20:29.319 --> 00:20:33.599 you trusted your nature. You didn't have a sonogram and say, 318 00:20:33.640 --> 00:20:37.799 my god, I don't have a nose. This is very scary. 319 00:20:37.799 --> 00:20:40.920 What if it doesn't show up on time or you 320 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:44.119 didn't do any of that. You trusted completely in your 321 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:47.440 own nature, right, and so does your mother's very little 322 00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:50.319 that you can do because what you were to become, 323 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:54.480 everything that this physical body needed was all handled in there, 324 00:20:54.599 --> 00:20:58.400 and also beyond what was needed for your physical world. 325 00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:00.920 And what Laudsu called the the world of the ten 326 00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:06.640 thousand Things, the ten thousand things. There's ten zillion things 327 00:21:06.720 --> 00:21:09.440 obviously in the physical world, but that's how he named it, 328 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:11.720 the world of the ten thousand things. And in that 329 00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:16.640 world of the ten thousand things, everything returns back to 330 00:21:16.759 --> 00:21:20.279 its source. But while you're in that place, and why 331 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:23.000 wouldn't you believe, even maybe for a second, that not 332 00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:27.359 only was my physiology all handled for me, but everything 333 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:29.839 else that I needed. If I could just stop interfering 334 00:21:29.880 --> 00:21:32.640 with it and stop other people from doing it, that 335 00:21:32.839 --> 00:21:35.839 everything I needed. And that's a big part of understanding 336 00:21:36.039 --> 00:21:38.640 change your thoughts change your life. It's a big part 337 00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:42.480 of that, the idea that I have a nature that 338 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:45.559 I can trust, not something that I have to be 339 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:48.559 afraid of, and I can stop letting other people interfere 340 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:51.319 with it as well. So what happens We go through 341 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:55.640 those nine months totally uninterrupted, We have no questions, everything 342 00:21:55.680 --> 00:21:59.279 works out, and then what we say, the very first 343 00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:02.480 thing we pop up after nine months, we'll take over 344 00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:07.079 from here. That was good work, nice work, thank you 345 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:09.160 very much. And so what we'll do is just sort 346 00:22:09.160 --> 00:22:11.400 of edge you out of here, you know. So we 347 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:16.079 edge God out, we take on an ego, ego, and 348 00:22:16.119 --> 00:22:19.119 we edge out, and we say we'll take over. And 349 00:22:19.160 --> 00:22:21.559 we have an ego and this ego. What this ego 350 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:24.839 does is it takes on a set of beliefs. And 351 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:28.920 these beliefs are that I am what I have, that 352 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:31.559 I am what I do, that I am what other 353 00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:33.920 people think of me. So we're raised to believe that 354 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:36.359 the more stuff I accumulate, the more more things that 355 00:22:36.400 --> 00:22:38.680 I get, this is who I am. The more that 356 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:41.480 people like me, this is what I'll get, And on 357 00:22:41.640 --> 00:22:44.680 and on it goes. I want to tell you a story. 358 00:22:45.400 --> 00:22:48.599 It's the story of one of my children. Her name 359 00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:53.319 is Tracy. We lived in Detroit when she was born. 360 00:22:53.640 --> 00:22:55.519 She came in as a little rebellious. She came in 361 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:58.599 the middle of the Detroit riots when they said nobody 362 00:22:58.680 --> 00:23:00.799 is allowed to go out. Anybody that goes out is 363 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:02.839 going to be arrested. And she said, this would be 364 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:06.119 a good time for me to show up. Which is 365 00:23:06.119 --> 00:23:12.759 this actually what she did? So when she showed up. 366 00:23:13.279 --> 00:23:15.920 After about the second or third year, Tracy went to 367 00:23:15.960 --> 00:23:18.759 preschool and she came home from preschool she was about free. 368 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:21.680 And in that time she came home and she said, 369 00:23:23.319 --> 00:23:25.720 she handed me a paper and it had a gold 370 00:23:25.799 --> 00:23:28.680 star at the top of the paper. And I looked 371 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:31.640 at it and I said, She said, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, daddy, 372 00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:33.319 I got a gold star. I got a gold star. 373 00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:36.920 I said, I'm not really interested in gold stars. I said, 374 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:41.759 but what are you doing? What is this? She said, Well, 375 00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:44.440 we did something in school called adding, and I got 376 00:23:44.440 --> 00:23:46.440 them all right, and I know how to I said adding. 377 00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:49.880 I can't believe you're free. You can't learn to add 378 00:23:49.920 --> 00:23:51.559 when you're three. And I went to this whole long 379 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:53.519 thing about adding and how terrific it was. And she 380 00:23:53.559 --> 00:23:56.680 could say daddy the gold star. Excuse me, but I 381 00:23:56.759 --> 00:23:58.000 was the only one in the class. I got a 382 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:01.720 gold star. I got him, all right, I said, you know, Tracy, 383 00:24:01.799 --> 00:24:04.960 I said, honey that, I said, some people just need 384 00:24:05.079 --> 00:24:07.680 to have gold stars, and teachers sort of like to 385 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:10.640 give it out and make that the reason why you're 386 00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:13.559 doing something, I said, and set you apart from everybody else. 387 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:16.039 I said, but your dad doesn't really care much about 388 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:18.559 that and how you stack up with others, and they're 389 00:24:18.599 --> 00:24:21.039 going to be uh. I'm more interested in what you're learning. 390 00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:23.319 And she said, okay. She was used to that. She 391 00:24:23.319 --> 00:24:26.279 had a weird daddy and she knew that. So about 392 00:24:26.279 --> 00:24:29.720 another month or so, she came home with a with 393 00:24:29.799 --> 00:24:31.920 a paper that had looked like it had had a 394 00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:33.759 gold star on it, but it had obviously been taking off. 395 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:35.519 Her little thumbprints were all over, but there was a 396 00:24:35.559 --> 00:24:36.920 place that there had been a gold star that was 397 00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:39.319 taken off. And I said, what's this. Oh, she said, 398 00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:44.039 we're now doing subtraction. And I said, subtraction. That's amazing. 399 00:24:44.200 --> 00:24:45.759 And I took over by her dresser. I said, you 400 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:47.440 know that money you got in your pigureback put it 401 00:24:47.480 --> 00:24:50.119