Speaker 1: People have an unspecified potential for development educationally obviously with
Speaker 1: regards to the skills they have, but also in relationship
Speaker 1: to their character. And it's much more encouraging for people,
Speaker 1: I think, to concentrate on who they could be rather
Speaker 1: than who they are, especially when they're young, because they
Speaker 1: still have most of their life ahead of them and
Speaker 1: they're not everything they could be yet. And so to
Speaker 1: tell people even something like well, you should feel good
Speaker 1: about yourself the way you are, it's like, well, that
Speaker 1: there's something there that's seriously lacking, because there's so much
Speaker 1: more that you could be, that you need to be,
Speaker 1: and that you should be aiming at. They're telling you
Speaker 1: the problem with being okay the way you are is
Speaker 1: that you don't have a goal then, and people need
Speaker 1: to have a goal in order to come to terms
Speaker 1: with their life.
Speaker 2: Pay attention.
Speaker 3: Focus on your surroundings, physical and psychological. Notice something that
Speaker 3: bothers you, that concerns you, that will not let you be,
Speaker 3: which you could fix, that you would fix. Find such
Speaker 3: some things by asking yourself, as if you genuinely want
Speaker 3: to know three questions.
Speaker 2: What is it that is bothering me?
Speaker 3: Is that something I could fix and would I actually
Speaker 3: be willing to fix it. If you find that the
Speaker 3: answer is no to any or all of the questions,
Speaker 3: then look elsewhere. Aim lower, search until you find something
Speaker 3: that bothers you that you could fix, that you would fix, and.
Speaker 2: Then fix it. That might be enough for the day.
Speaker 3: Maybe there is a stack of paper on your desk
Speaker 3: and you have been avoiding it. You won't even really
Speaker 3: look at it when you walk into your room. There
Speaker 3: are terrible things lurking there, tax forms and bills and
Speaker 3: letters from people wanting things you aren't sure you can deliver.
Speaker 3: Notice your fear and have some sympathy for it. Maybe
Speaker 3: there are snakes in that pile of paper. Maybe you'll
Speaker 3: get bitten. Maybe there are even hydras lurking there. You'll
Speaker 3: cut off one head and seven more will grow. How
Speaker 3: could you possibly cope with that? You could ask yourself,
Speaker 3: is there anything at all that I might be willing
Speaker 3: to do about that pile of paper? Would I look
Speaker 3: maybe at one part of it for twenty minutes. Maybe
Speaker 3: the answer will be no, But you might look for ten,
Speaker 3: or even for five, and if not that for one,
Speaker 3: start there. You will soon find that the entire pile
Speaker 3: shrinks in significance merely because you have looked at part
Speaker 3: of it, and you'll find that the whole thing is
Speaker 3: made of parts. What if you allowed yourself a glass
Speaker 3: of wine with dinner, or curled up on the sofa
Speaker 3: and read or watched a stupid movie as a reward.
Speaker 3: What if you instructed your wife or your husband to
Speaker 3: say good job after you fixed whatever you fixed?
Speaker 2: Would that motivate you?
Speaker 3: The people from whom thanks you want might not be
Speaker 3: very proficient in offering it to begin with, but that
Speaker 3: shouldn't stop you. People can learn even if they are
Speaker 3: very unskilled at the beginning. Ask yourself what you would
Speaker 3: require to be motivated to undertake the job honestly and
Speaker 3: listen to the answer. Don't tell yourself, I shouldn't need
Speaker 3: to do that to motivate myself. What do you know
Speaker 3: about yourself? You are, on the one hand, the most
Speaker 3: complex thing in the entire universe, and on the other
Speaker 3: someone who can't even set the clock on your microwave.
Speaker 3: Don't over estimate your self knowledge. Let the tasks for
Speaker 3: the day announce themselves for your contemplation. Maybe you can
Speaker 3: do this in the morning, as you sit on the
Speaker 3: edge of your bed, maybe you can try the night before,
Speaker 3: when you are preparing to sleep, ask yourself for a
Speaker 3: voluntary contribution. If you ask nicely and listen carefully, and
Speaker 3: don't try any treachery, you might be offered one. Do
Speaker 3: this every day for a while, then do it for
Speaker 3: the rest of your life. Soon you will find yourself
Speaker 3: in a different situation. Now you will be asking yourself habitually,
Speaker 3: what could I do that I would do to make
Speaker 3: life a little better. You are not dictating to yourself
Speaker 3: what better must be. You are not being a totalitaire
Speaker 3: or a utopian, even to yourself, because you have learned
Speaker 3: from your own experience that being a totalitarian is a
Speaker 3: bad thing. Aim high set your sights on the betterment
Speaker 3: of being. Align yourself in your soul with truth and
Speaker 3: the highest good. There is habitable order to establish and
Speaker 3: beauty to bring into existence. There is evil to overcome,
Speaker 3: suffering to ameliorate, and yourself to better. It is this,
Speaker 3: in my reading, that is the culminating ethic of the
Speaker 3: Canon of the West. It is this, furthermore, that is
Speaker 3: communicated by those eternally confusing glowing stanzas from Christ's Sermon
Speaker 3: on the Mount. The essence in some sense of the
Speaker 3: wisdom of the New Testament.
Speaker 2: This is the attempt of the spirit of.
Speaker 3: Mankind to transform the understanding of ethics from the initial
Speaker 3: necessary thou shalt not of the Child and the Ten
Speaker 3: Commandments into the fully articulated positive vision of the true individual.
Speaker 3: This is the expression not merely of admirable self control
Speaker 3: and self mastery, but of the fundamental desire to set
Speaker 3: the world right. This is not the cessation of sin,
Speaker 3: but sins opposite good itself. The Sermon on the Mount
Speaker 3: outlines the true nature of man and the proper aim
Speaker 3: of mankind. Concentrate on the day so that you can
Speaker 3: live in the present and attend completely and properly to
Speaker 3: what is.
Speaker 2: Right in front of you.
Speaker 3: Do that only after you have decided to let what
Speaker 3: is within shine forth so that it can justify being
Speaker 3: and illuminate the world. Do that only after you have
Speaker 3: determined to sacrifice whatever it is that must be sacrificed,
Speaker 3: so that you can pursue the highest good. Realization is dawning.
Speaker 3: Instead of playing the tyrant. Therefore you are paying attention.
Speaker 3: You are telling the truth. Instead of manipulating the world.
Speaker 3: You are negotiating instead of playing the martyr or the tyrant.
Speaker 2: You no longer have to.
Speaker 3: Be envious, because you no longer know that someone else
Speaker 3: truly has it better. You no longer have to be
Speaker 3: frustrated because you have learned to aim low and to
Speaker 3: be patient. You are discovering who you are, and what
Speaker 3: you want and what you are willing to do. You
Speaker 3: are finding that the solutions to your particular problems have
Speaker 3: to be tailored to you personally and precisely. You are
Speaker 3: less concerned with the actions of other people because you
Speaker 3: have plenty to do yourself. Attend to the day, but
Speaker 3: aim at the highest good. Now your trajectory is heavenward.
Speaker 2: That makes you hopeful.
Speaker 3: Even a man on a sinking ship can be happy
Speaker 3: when he clambers aboard a lifeboat, and who knows where
Speaker 3: he might go in the future. To journey happily may
Speaker 3: well be better than to arrive successfully. Ask and ye
Speaker 3: shall receive. Knock and the door will open. If you
Speaker 3: ask as if you want, and knock as if you
Speaker 3: want to enter, you may be offered the chance to
Speaker 3: improve your life a little, a lot completely, and with
Speaker 3: that improvement, some progress will be made in being itself.
Speaker 3: Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who
Speaker 3: someone else is today.
Speaker 1: If you start with the presumption that there's a baseline
Speaker 1: of suffering in life, and that that can be exaggerated
Speaker 1: by as a consequence of human failing, as a consequence
Speaker 1: of malevolence and betrayal and self betrayal and deceit and
Speaker 1: all those things that we do to each other and
Speaker 1: ourselves that we know that aren't good. That amplifies the suffering.
Speaker 1: That's sort of the baseline against which you have to work.
Speaker 1: And it's contemplation of that often that makes people hopeless
Speaker 1: and depressed and anxious and overwhelmed.
Speaker 2: And all of that.
Speaker 1: And they have the reasons, but you need something to
Speaker 1: put up against that. And what you put up against
Speaker 1: that is meaning, is actually the instinct that helps you
Speaker 1: guide yourself through that catastrophe. And most of that meaning
Speaker 1: is to be found in the adoption of responsibility. So
Speaker 1: if you think, for example, if you think about the
Speaker 1: people that you admire, while you think about when you
Speaker 1: have a clear conscience first, because that's a good thing
Speaker 1: to aim at, which is something different than happiness.
Speaker 2: Right, A clear conscience is different than happiness.
Speaker 1: You feel that you've justified, you've justified your existence, right,
Speaker 1: and so you're not waking up at three in the
Speaker 1: morning in a cold sweat thinking about all the terrible
Speaker 1: things that you've involved yourself in, the opportunity you lost,
Speaker 1: or the things that you've let go that you should
Speaker 1: have capitalized on all of that. And so if you
Speaker 1: think about the times when you're at peace with yourself
Speaker 1: with regards to how you're conducting yourself in the world,
Speaker 1: it's almost always conditions under which you've adopted responsibility. Right
Speaker 1: at least, the most guilt I think that you can experience,
Speaker 1: perhaps is the sure knowledge that you're not even taking
Speaker 1: care of yourself, so that you're leaving that responsibility to
Speaker 1: other people. Because that's pretty pathetic, and unless you're psychopathic
Speaker 1: and you know, and you're living a parasitical life, and
Speaker 1: that characterizes a very small minority of people, and an
Speaker 1: even smaller minority think that's justified. But most of the
Speaker 1: time you're in guilt and shame because you're not only
Speaker 1: are you not taking care of yourself, let's say, so
Speaker 1: someone else has to, but you're not living up to
Speaker 1: your full potential. And so there's an existential weight that
Speaker 1: goes along with that. Consider your circumstances. Start small.
Speaker 3: Have you taken full advantage of the opportunities offered to you?
Speaker 3: Are you working hard on your career or even your job,
Speaker 3: or are you letting bitterness and resentment hold you back
Speaker 3: and drag you down. Have you made peace with your brother?
Speaker 3: Are you treating your spouse and your children with dignity
Speaker 3: and respect? Do you have habits that are destroying your
Speaker 3: health and well being? Are you truly shouldering your responsibilities?
Speaker 3: Have you said what you need to say to your
Speaker 3: friends and family members. Are there things that you could
Speaker 3: do that you know you could do that would make
Speaker 3: things around you better? Have you cleaned up your life?
Speaker 3: If the answer is no, here's something to try. Start
Speaker 3: to stop doing what you know to be wrong. Start
Speaker 3: stopping today. Don't waste time questioning how you know that
Speaker 3: what you're doing is wrong if you are certain that
Speaker 3: it is an opportune questioning can confuse without enlightening, as
Speaker 3: well as deflecting you from action. You can know that
Speaker 3: something is wrong or right without knowing why. Your entire
Speaker 3: being can tell you something that you can neither explain
Speaker 3: nor articulate. Every person is too complex to know themselves
Speaker 3: completely and we all contain wisdom that we cannot comprehend.
Speaker 3: So simply stop when you apprehend, however dimly, that you
Speaker 3: should stop. Stop acting in that particular despicable manner. Stop
Speaker 3: saying those things that make you weak and ashamed, Say
Speaker 3: only those things that make you strong. Do only those
Speaker 3: things that you could speak of with honor. You can
Speaker 3: use your own standards of judgment. You can rely on
Speaker 3: yourself for guidance. You don't have to adhere to some external,
Speaker 3: arbitrary code of behavior. Although you should not overlook the
Speaker 3: guidelines of your culture. Life is short and you don't
Speaker 3: have time to figure everything out on your own. The
Speaker 3: wisdom of the past was hard earned, and your dead
Speaker 3: ancestors may have something useful to tell you. Don't blame capitalism,
Speaker 3: the radical left, or the iniquity of your enemies. Don't
Speaker 3: reorganize the state until you have ordered your own experience.
Speaker 3: Have some humility. If you cannot bring peace to your household,
Speaker 3: how dare you try to rule a city. Let your
Speaker 3: own soul guide you. Watch what happens over the days
Speaker 3: and weeks when you are at work. You will begin
Speaker 3: to say what you really think. You will start to
Speaker 3: tell your wife or your husband, or your children, or
Speaker 3: your parents what you really want and need. When you
Speaker 3: know that you have left something undone, you will act
Speaker 3: to correct the omission. Your head will start to clear
Speaker 3: up as you stop filling it with lies. Your experience
Speaker 3: will improve as you stop distorting it with inauthorit actions.
Speaker 3: You will then begin to discover new, more subtle things
Speaker 3: that you are doing wrong.
Speaker 2: Stop doing those too.
Speaker 3: After some months and years of diligent effort, your life
Speaker 3: will become simpler and less complicated. Your judgment will improve,
Speaker 3: You will untangle your past. You will become stronger and
Speaker 3: less bitter. You will move more confidently into the future.
Speaker 3: You will stop making your life unnecessarily difficult. You will
Speaker 3: then be left with the inevitable bear tragedies of life,
Speaker 3: but they will no longer be compounded with bitterness and deceit.
Speaker 3: Perhaps you will discover that your now less corrupted soul,
Speaker 3: much stronger than it might otherwise have been, is now
Speaker 3: able to bear those remaining necessary, minimal, inescapable tragedies. Perhaps
Speaker 3: you will even learn to encounter them so that they
Speaker 3: stay tragic, merely tragic, instead of degenerating into outright hellishness.
Speaker 3: Maybe your anxiety and hopelessness, and resentment and anger. However
Speaker 3: murderous initially will recede. Perhaps your uncorrupted soul will then
Speaker 3: see its existence as a genuine good, as something to celebrate,
Speaker 3: even in the face of your own vulnerability. Perhaps you
Speaker 3: will become an ever more powerful force for peace and
Speaker 3: whatever is good. Perhaps you will then see that if
Speaker 3: all people did this in their own lives, the world
Speaker 3: might stop being an evil place. After that, with continued effort,
Speaker 3: perhaps it could even stop being a tragic place. Who
Speaker 3: knows what existence might be like if we all decided
Speaker 3: to strive for the best. Who knows what eternal heavens
Speaker 3: might be established by our spirits purified by truth aiming
Speaker 3: skyward right here on the fallen earth. Set your house
Speaker 3: in perfect order before you criticize the world. The self
Speaker 3: is everything you could be across time. So imagine that
Speaker 3: there's you, and there's the potential inside you. Whatever that
Speaker 3: is you know, and potential is an interesting idea, yeah,
Speaker 3: because it's represents something that isn't yet real. Yet we
Speaker 3: act like it's real because people will say to you
Speaker 3: you should live up to your potential, and that potential
Speaker 3: is partly what you could be if you interacted with
Speaker 3: the world in a manner that would gain you the
Speaker 3: most information, right, because you build yourself out of the
Speaker 3: information in the Phetian sense. But it's deeper than that too,
Speaker 3: because we know that if you take yourself and you
Speaker 3: put yourself in a new environment, new genes turn on
Speaker 3: in your nervous system. They encode for new proteins, and
Speaker 3: so you're full of biological potential that won't be realized
Speaker 3: unless you move yourself around in the world into different
Speaker 3: challenging circumstances, and that'll turn on different circuits. So it's
Speaker 3: not merely that you're incorporating information from the outside world
Speaker 3: in the constructivist sense. It's that by exposing yourself to
Speaker 3: different environments, you put different physiological demands on yourself all
Speaker 3: the way down to the genetic level, and that manifests
Speaker 3: new elements of you. And so one of the things
Speaker 3: that happens to people, and this is a very common
Speaker 3: cultural notion, that you should go on a pilgrimage at
Speaker 3: some point to somewhere central, and that would be say
Speaker 3: like the rock in the Pride, Rock in the Lion King,
Speaker 3: because you take yourself out of your dopey little village
Speaker 3: and that's just a little bounded you that everyone knows
Speaker 3: and that isn't very expanded. And then you go somewhere
Speaker 3: dark and dangerous to the central place, and while you
Speaker 3: do that, you have adventures, and they toughen you and
Speaker 3: pull more out of you, like partly because you're becoming informed,
Speaker 3: which means information. It means you're becoming more organized at
Speaker 3: every level of analysis.
Speaker 2: But there's also more of you too,