WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:05.839
<v Speaker 1>People have an unspecified potential for development educationally obviously with

2
00:00:05.879 --> 00:00:09.240
<v Speaker 1>regards to the skills they have, but also in relationship

3
00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:13.160
<v Speaker 1>to their character. And it's much more encouraging for people,

4
00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:16.519
<v Speaker 1>I think, to concentrate on who they could be rather

5
00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:19.120
<v Speaker 1>than who they are, especially when they're young, because they

6
00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:20.879
<v Speaker 1>still have most of their life ahead of them and

7
00:00:20.920 --> 00:00:24.320
<v Speaker 1>they're not everything they could be yet. And so to

8
00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:26.559
<v Speaker 1>tell people even something like well, you should feel good

9
00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:29.440
<v Speaker 1>about yourself the way you are, it's like, well, that

10
00:00:29.480 --> 00:00:34.159
<v Speaker 1>there's something there that's seriously lacking, because there's so much

11
00:00:34.200 --> 00:00:36.240
<v Speaker 1>more that you could be, that you need to be,

12
00:00:36.679 --> 00:00:38.520
<v Speaker 1>and that you should be aiming at. They're telling you

13
00:00:38.600 --> 00:00:40.320
<v Speaker 1>the problem with being okay the way you are is

14
00:00:40.359 --> 00:00:42.799
<v Speaker 1>that you don't have a goal then, and people need

15
00:00:42.840 --> 00:00:45.759
<v Speaker 1>to have a goal in order to come to terms

16
00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:46.399
<v Speaker 1>with their life.

17
00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:47.960
<v Speaker 2>Pay attention.

18
00:00:48.520 --> 00:00:52.880
<v Speaker 3>Focus on your surroundings, physical and psychological. Notice something that

19
00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:56.039
<v Speaker 3>bothers you, that concerns you, that will not let you be,

20
00:00:56.240 --> 00:01:00.560
<v Speaker 3>which you could fix, that you would fix. Find such

21
00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:03.520
<v Speaker 3>some things by asking yourself, as if you genuinely want

22
00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:05.159
<v Speaker 3>to know three questions.

23
00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:06.640
<v Speaker 2>What is it that is bothering me?

24
00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:10.280
<v Speaker 3>Is that something I could fix and would I actually

25
00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:12.120
<v Speaker 3>be willing to fix it. If you find that the

26
00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:15.079
<v Speaker 3>answer is no to any or all of the questions,

27
00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:19.200
<v Speaker 3>then look elsewhere. Aim lower, search until you find something

28
00:01:19.239 --> 00:01:22.439
<v Speaker 3>that bothers you that you could fix, that you would fix, and.

29
00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:24.519
<v Speaker 2>Then fix it. That might be enough for the day.

30
00:01:25.079 --> 00:01:27.159
<v Speaker 3>Maybe there is a stack of paper on your desk

31
00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:30.000
<v Speaker 3>and you have been avoiding it. You won't even really

32
00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:32.519
<v Speaker 3>look at it when you walk into your room. There

33
00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:35.959
<v Speaker 3>are terrible things lurking there, tax forms and bills and

34
00:01:36.040 --> 00:01:38.920
<v Speaker 3>letters from people wanting things you aren't sure you can deliver.

35
00:01:39.560 --> 00:01:43.680
<v Speaker 3>Notice your fear and have some sympathy for it. Maybe

36
00:01:43.719 --> 00:01:46.480
<v Speaker 3>there are snakes in that pile of paper. Maybe you'll

37
00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:49.920
<v Speaker 3>get bitten. Maybe there are even hydras lurking there. You'll

38
00:01:49.959 --> 00:01:53.120
<v Speaker 3>cut off one head and seven more will grow. How

39
00:01:53.159 --> 00:01:56.760
<v Speaker 3>could you possibly cope with that? You could ask yourself,

40
00:01:57.719 --> 00:01:59.519
<v Speaker 3>is there anything at all that I might be willing

41
00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:02.319
<v Speaker 3>to do about that pile of paper? Would I look

42
00:02:02.439 --> 00:02:06.079
<v Speaker 3>maybe at one part of it for twenty minutes. Maybe

43
00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:09.840
<v Speaker 3>the answer will be no, But you might look for ten,

44
00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:12.240
<v Speaker 3>or even for five, and if not that for one,

45
00:02:12.919 --> 00:02:16.520
<v Speaker 3>start there. You will soon find that the entire pile

46
00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:20.120
<v Speaker 3>shrinks in significance merely because you have looked at part

47
00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:22.159
<v Speaker 3>of it, and you'll find that the whole thing is

48
00:02:22.199 --> 00:02:25.000
<v Speaker 3>made of parts. What if you allowed yourself a glass

49
00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:27.560
<v Speaker 3>of wine with dinner, or curled up on the sofa

50
00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:31.000
<v Speaker 3>and read or watched a stupid movie as a reward.

51
00:02:31.560 --> 00:02:33.840
<v Speaker 3>What if you instructed your wife or your husband to

52
00:02:33.879 --> 00:02:36.240
<v Speaker 3>say good job after you fixed whatever you fixed?

53
00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:37.960
<v Speaker 2>Would that motivate you?

54
00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:42.120
<v Speaker 3>The people from whom thanks you want might not be

55
00:02:42.280 --> 00:02:45.039
<v Speaker 3>very proficient in offering it to begin with, but that

56
00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:49.319
<v Speaker 3>shouldn't stop you. People can learn even if they are

57
00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:52.759
<v Speaker 3>very unskilled at the beginning. Ask yourself what you would

58
00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:56.759
<v Speaker 3>require to be motivated to undertake the job honestly and

59
00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:59.960
<v Speaker 3>listen to the answer. Don't tell yourself, I shouldn't need

60
00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:03.280
<v Speaker 3>to do that to motivate myself. What do you know

61
00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:06.960
<v Speaker 3>about yourself? You are, on the one hand, the most

62
00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:10.039
<v Speaker 3>complex thing in the entire universe, and on the other

63
00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:13.120
<v Speaker 3>someone who can't even set the clock on your microwave.

64
00:03:13.879 --> 00:03:18.439
<v Speaker 3>Don't over estimate your self knowledge. Let the tasks for

65
00:03:18.520 --> 00:03:22.560
<v Speaker 3>the day announce themselves for your contemplation. Maybe you can

66
00:03:22.599 --> 00:03:24.560
<v Speaker 3>do this in the morning, as you sit on the

67
00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:28.080
<v Speaker 3>edge of your bed, maybe you can try the night before,

68
00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:31.360
<v Speaker 3>when you are preparing to sleep, ask yourself for a

69
00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:36.280
<v Speaker 3>voluntary contribution. If you ask nicely and listen carefully, and

70
00:03:36.360 --> 00:03:40.000
<v Speaker 3>don't try any treachery, you might be offered one. Do

71
00:03:40.199 --> 00:03:43.439
<v Speaker 3>this every day for a while, then do it for

72
00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:46.120
<v Speaker 3>the rest of your life. Soon you will find yourself

73
00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:50.280
<v Speaker 3>in a different situation. Now you will be asking yourself habitually,

74
00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:53.360
<v Speaker 3>what could I do that I would do to make

75
00:03:53.400 --> 00:03:56.479
<v Speaker 3>life a little better. You are not dictating to yourself

76
00:03:56.479 --> 00:03:59.919
<v Speaker 3>what better must be. You are not being a totalitaire

77
00:04:00.840 --> 00:04:04.599
<v Speaker 3>or a utopian, even to yourself, because you have learned

78
00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:07.439
<v Speaker 3>from your own experience that being a totalitarian is a

79
00:04:07.479 --> 00:04:11.599
<v Speaker 3>bad thing. Aim high set your sights on the betterment

80
00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:16.040
<v Speaker 3>of being. Align yourself in your soul with truth and

81
00:04:16.120 --> 00:04:19.800
<v Speaker 3>the highest good. There is habitable order to establish and

82
00:04:19.839 --> 00:04:23.519
<v Speaker 3>beauty to bring into existence. There is evil to overcome,

83
00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:28.439
<v Speaker 3>suffering to ameliorate, and yourself to better. It is this,

84
00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:32.000
<v Speaker 3>in my reading, that is the culminating ethic of the

85
00:04:32.040 --> 00:04:35.399
<v Speaker 3>Canon of the West. It is this, furthermore, that is

86
00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:39.920
<v Speaker 3>communicated by those eternally confusing glowing stanzas from Christ's Sermon

87
00:04:39.959 --> 00:04:42.759
<v Speaker 3>on the Mount. The essence in some sense of the

88
00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:44.199
<v Speaker 3>wisdom of the New Testament.

89
00:04:45.399 --> 00:04:47.360
<v Speaker 2>This is the attempt of the spirit of.

90
00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:51.279
<v Speaker 3>Mankind to transform the understanding of ethics from the initial

91
00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:55.000
<v Speaker 3>necessary thou shalt not of the Child and the Ten

92
00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:59.360
<v Speaker 3>Commandments into the fully articulated positive vision of the true individual.

93
00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.519
<v Speaker 3>This is the expression not merely of admirable self control

94
00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:08.199
<v Speaker 3>and self mastery, but of the fundamental desire to set

95
00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:11.879
<v Speaker 3>the world right. This is not the cessation of sin,

96
00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:16.439
<v Speaker 3>but sins opposite good itself. The Sermon on the Mount

97
00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:19.319
<v Speaker 3>outlines the true nature of man and the proper aim

98
00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:22.720
<v Speaker 3>of mankind. Concentrate on the day so that you can

99
00:05:22.759 --> 00:05:25.639
<v Speaker 3>live in the present and attend completely and properly to

100
00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:25.959
<v Speaker 3>what is.

101
00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:26.839
<v Speaker 2>Right in front of you.

102
00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:30.199
<v Speaker 3>Do that only after you have decided to let what

103
00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:33.959
<v Speaker 3>is within shine forth so that it can justify being

104
00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:37.279
<v Speaker 3>and illuminate the world. Do that only after you have

105
00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:40.639
<v Speaker 3>determined to sacrifice whatever it is that must be sacrificed,

106
00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:44.959
<v Speaker 3>so that you can pursue the highest good. Realization is dawning.

107
00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:49.120
<v Speaker 3>Instead of playing the tyrant. Therefore you are paying attention.

108
00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:52.920
<v Speaker 3>You are telling the truth. Instead of manipulating the world.

109
00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:56.720
<v Speaker 3>You are negotiating instead of playing the martyr or the tyrant.

110
00:05:56.920 --> 00:05:57.959
<v Speaker 2>You no longer have to.

111
00:05:57.879 --> 00:06:00.879
<v Speaker 3>Be envious, because you no longer know that someone else

112
00:06:00.920 --> 00:06:03.600
<v Speaker 3>truly has it better. You no longer have to be

113
00:06:03.639 --> 00:06:06.519
<v Speaker 3>frustrated because you have learned to aim low and to

114
00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:10.040
<v Speaker 3>be patient. You are discovering who you are, and what

115
00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:12.839
<v Speaker 3>you want and what you are willing to do. You

116
00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:16.480
<v Speaker 3>are finding that the solutions to your particular problems have

117
00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:20.600
<v Speaker 3>to be tailored to you personally and precisely. You are

118
00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:23.480
<v Speaker 3>less concerned with the actions of other people because you

119
00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:27.560
<v Speaker 3>have plenty to do yourself. Attend to the day, but

120
00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:32.199
<v Speaker 3>aim at the highest good. Now your trajectory is heavenward.

121
00:06:32.759 --> 00:06:33.920
<v Speaker 2>That makes you hopeful.

122
00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:36.519
<v Speaker 3>Even a man on a sinking ship can be happy

123
00:06:36.519 --> 00:06:39.560
<v Speaker 3>when he clambers aboard a lifeboat, and who knows where

124
00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:44.000
<v Speaker 3>he might go in the future. To journey happily may

125
00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:47.680
<v Speaker 3>well be better than to arrive successfully. Ask and ye

126
00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:51.319
<v Speaker 3>shall receive. Knock and the door will open. If you

127
00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:54.480
<v Speaker 3>ask as if you want, and knock as if you

128
00:06:54.519 --> 00:06:57.480
<v Speaker 3>want to enter, you may be offered the chance to

129
00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:01.759
<v Speaker 3>improve your life a little, a lot completely, and with

130
00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:04.720
<v Speaker 3>that improvement, some progress will be made in being itself.

131
00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:07.879
<v Speaker 3>Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who

132
00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:09.000
<v Speaker 3>someone else is today.

133
00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:13.160
<v Speaker 1>If you start with the presumption that there's a baseline

134
00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:16.600
<v Speaker 1>of suffering in life, and that that can be exaggerated

135
00:07:16.680 --> 00:07:19.600
<v Speaker 1>by as a consequence of human failing, as a consequence

136
00:07:19.639 --> 00:07:22.600
<v Speaker 1>of malevolence and betrayal and self betrayal and deceit and

137
00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:24.920
<v Speaker 1>all those things that we do to each other and

138
00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:27.959
<v Speaker 1>ourselves that we know that aren't good. That amplifies the suffering.

139
00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:30.639
<v Speaker 1>That's sort of the baseline against which you have to work.

140
00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:35.680
<v Speaker 1>And it's contemplation of that often that makes people hopeless

141
00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:38.160
<v Speaker 1>and depressed and anxious and overwhelmed.

142
00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:38.040
<v Speaker 2>And all of that.

143
00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:41.560
<v Speaker 1>And they have the reasons, but you need something to

144
00:07:41.639 --> 00:07:45.319
<v Speaker 1>put up against that. And what you put up against

145
00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:48.759
<v Speaker 1>that is meaning, is actually the instinct that helps you

146
00:07:48.920 --> 00:07:52.680
<v Speaker 1>guide yourself through that catastrophe. And most of that meaning

147
00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:56.879
<v Speaker 1>is to be found in the adoption of responsibility. So

148
00:07:57.000 --> 00:07:58.839
<v Speaker 1>if you think, for example, if you think about the

149
00:07:58.839 --> 00:08:01.240
<v Speaker 1>people that you admire, while you think about when you

150
00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:03.759
<v Speaker 1>have a clear conscience first, because that's a good thing

151
00:08:03.800 --> 00:08:06.160
<v Speaker 1>to aim at, which is something different than happiness.

152
00:08:06.199 --> 00:08:09.399
<v Speaker 2>Right, A clear conscience is different than happiness.

153
00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:13.600
<v Speaker 1>You feel that you've justified, you've justified your existence, right,

154
00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:15.279
<v Speaker 1>and so you're not waking up at three in the

155
00:08:15.319 --> 00:08:17.439
<v Speaker 1>morning in a cold sweat thinking about all the terrible

156
00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:20.839
<v Speaker 1>things that you've involved yourself in, the opportunity you lost,

157
00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:23.519
<v Speaker 1>or the things that you've let go that you should

158
00:08:23.560 --> 00:08:27.160
<v Speaker 1>have capitalized on all of that. And so if you

159
00:08:27.240 --> 00:08:30.279
<v Speaker 1>think about the times when you're at peace with yourself

160
00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:32.840
<v Speaker 1>with regards to how you're conducting yourself in the world,

161
00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:37.080
<v Speaker 1>it's almost always conditions under which you've adopted responsibility. Right

162
00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:40.960
<v Speaker 1>at least, the most guilt I think that you can experience,

163
00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:45.320
<v Speaker 1>perhaps is the sure knowledge that you're not even taking

164
00:08:45.320 --> 00:08:48.279
<v Speaker 1>care of yourself, so that you're leaving that responsibility to

165
00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:52.039
<v Speaker 1>other people. Because that's pretty pathetic, and unless you're psychopathic

166
00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:54.759
<v Speaker 1>and you know, and you're living a parasitical life, and

167
00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:58.039
<v Speaker 1>that characterizes a very small minority of people, and an

168
00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:01.519
<v Speaker 1>even smaller minority think that's justified. But most of the

169
00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:06.960
<v Speaker 1>time you're in guilt and shame because you're not only

170
00:09:06.960 --> 00:09:09.080
<v Speaker 1>are you not taking care of yourself, let's say, so

171
00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:12.120
<v Speaker 1>someone else has to, but you're not living up to

172
00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:15.159
<v Speaker 1>your full potential. And so there's an existential weight that

173
00:09:15.200 --> 00:09:19.600
<v Speaker 1>goes along with that. Consider your circumstances. Start small.

174
00:09:20.200 --> 00:09:23.440
<v Speaker 3>Have you taken full advantage of the opportunities offered to you?

175
00:09:23.960 --> 00:09:27.159
<v Speaker 3>Are you working hard on your career or even your job,

176
00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:30.600
<v Speaker 3>or are you letting bitterness and resentment hold you back

177
00:09:30.639 --> 00:09:33.679
<v Speaker 3>and drag you down. Have you made peace with your brother?

178
00:09:34.200 --> 00:09:36.759
<v Speaker 3>Are you treating your spouse and your children with dignity

179
00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:40.159
<v Speaker 3>and respect? Do you have habits that are destroying your

180
00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:44.679
<v Speaker 3>health and well being? Are you truly shouldering your responsibilities?

181
00:09:45.240 --> 00:09:46.919
<v Speaker 3>Have you said what you need to say to your

182
00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:50.200
<v Speaker 3>friends and family members. Are there things that you could

183
00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:52.960
<v Speaker 3>do that you know you could do that would make

184
00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:56.759
<v Speaker 3>things around you better? Have you cleaned up your life?

185
00:09:56.919 --> 00:10:01.360
<v Speaker 3>If the answer is no, here's something to try. Start

186
00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:04.519
<v Speaker 3>to stop doing what you know to be wrong. Start

187
00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:08.720
<v Speaker 3>stopping today. Don't waste time questioning how you know that

188
00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:11.559
<v Speaker 3>what you're doing is wrong if you are certain that

189
00:10:11.639 --> 00:10:16.679
<v Speaker 3>it is an opportune questioning can confuse without enlightening, as

190
00:10:16.679 --> 00:10:19.360
<v Speaker 3>well as deflecting you from action. You can know that

191
00:10:19.399 --> 00:10:23.039
<v Speaker 3>something is wrong or right without knowing why. Your entire

192
00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:25.519
<v Speaker 3>being can tell you something that you can neither explain

193
00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:29.519
<v Speaker 3>nor articulate. Every person is too complex to know themselves

194
00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:32.960
<v Speaker 3>completely and we all contain wisdom that we cannot comprehend.

195
00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:37.039
<v Speaker 3>So simply stop when you apprehend, however dimly, that you

196
00:10:37.080 --> 00:10:43.159
<v Speaker 3>should stop. Stop acting in that particular despicable manner. Stop

197
00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:46.360
<v Speaker 3>saying those things that make you weak and ashamed, Say

198
00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:49.840
<v Speaker 3>only those things that make you strong. Do only those

199
00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:52.200
<v Speaker 3>things that you could speak of with honor. You can

200
00:10:52.279 --> 00:10:55.440
<v Speaker 3>use your own standards of judgment. You can rely on

201
00:10:55.519 --> 00:10:59.440
<v Speaker 3>yourself for guidance. You don't have to adhere to some external,

202
00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:03.039
<v Speaker 3>arbitrary code of behavior. Although you should not overlook the

203
00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:06.519
<v Speaker 3>guidelines of your culture. Life is short and you don't

204
00:11:06.519 --> 00:11:09.320
<v Speaker 3>have time to figure everything out on your own. The

205
00:11:09.399 --> 00:11:12.159
<v Speaker 3>wisdom of the past was hard earned, and your dead

206
00:11:12.200 --> 00:11:16.840
<v Speaker 3>ancestors may have something useful to tell you. Don't blame capitalism,

207
00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:21.519
<v Speaker 3>the radical left, or the iniquity of your enemies. Don't

208
00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:25.080
<v Speaker 3>reorganize the state until you have ordered your own experience.

209
00:11:25.559 --> 00:11:28.840
<v Speaker 3>Have some humility. If you cannot bring peace to your household,

210
00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:31.919
<v Speaker 3>how dare you try to rule a city. Let your

211
00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:35.279
<v Speaker 3>own soul guide you. Watch what happens over the days

212
00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:37.879
<v Speaker 3>and weeks when you are at work. You will begin

213
00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:40.399
<v Speaker 3>to say what you really think. You will start to

214
00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:43.480
<v Speaker 3>tell your wife or your husband, or your children, or

215
00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:46.799
<v Speaker 3>your parents what you really want and need. When you

216
00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:50.000
<v Speaker 3>know that you have left something undone, you will act

217
00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:53.320
<v Speaker 3>to correct the omission. Your head will start to clear

218
00:11:53.399 --> 00:11:56.960
<v Speaker 3>up as you stop filling it with lies. Your experience

219
00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:00.840
<v Speaker 3>will improve as you stop distorting it with inauthorit actions.

220
00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:04.799
<v Speaker 3>You will then begin to discover new, more subtle things

221
00:12:04.840 --> 00:12:05.960
<v Speaker 3>that you are doing wrong.

222
00:12:07.080 --> 00:12:08.320
<v Speaker 2>Stop doing those too.

223
00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:12.360
<v Speaker 3>After some months and years of diligent effort, your life

224
00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:16.159
<v Speaker 3>will become simpler and less complicated. Your judgment will improve,

225
00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:20.679
<v Speaker 3>You will untangle your past. You will become stronger and

226
00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:24.399
<v Speaker 3>less bitter. You will move more confidently into the future.

227
00:12:24.919 --> 00:12:28.159
<v Speaker 3>You will stop making your life unnecessarily difficult. You will

228
00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:31.120
<v Speaker 3>then be left with the inevitable bear tragedies of life,

229
00:12:31.399 --> 00:12:34.240
<v Speaker 3>but they will no longer be compounded with bitterness and deceit.

230
00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:39.600
<v Speaker 3>Perhaps you will discover that your now less corrupted soul,

231
00:12:40.200 --> 00:12:43.279
<v Speaker 3>much stronger than it might otherwise have been, is now

232
00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:49.440
<v Speaker 3>able to bear those remaining necessary, minimal, inescapable tragedies. Perhaps

233
00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:51.480
<v Speaker 3>you will even learn to encounter them so that they

234
00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:56.720
<v Speaker 3>stay tragic, merely tragic, instead of degenerating into outright hellishness.

235
00:12:57.080 --> 00:13:01.200
<v Speaker 3>Maybe your anxiety and hopelessness, and resentment and anger. However

236
00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:06.799
<v Speaker 3>murderous initially will recede. Perhaps your uncorrupted soul will then

237
00:13:06.840 --> 00:13:10.519
<v Speaker 3>see its existence as a genuine good, as something to celebrate,

238
00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:14.320
<v Speaker 3>even in the face of your own vulnerability. Perhaps you

239
00:13:14.360 --> 00:13:18.600
<v Speaker 3>will become an ever more powerful force for peace and

240
00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:21.720
<v Speaker 3>whatever is good. Perhaps you will then see that if

241
00:13:21.799 --> 00:13:25.039
<v Speaker 3>all people did this in their own lives, the world

242
00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:29.440
<v Speaker 3>might stop being an evil place. After that, with continued effort,

243
00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:33.200
<v Speaker 3>perhaps it could even stop being a tragic place. Who

244
00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:35.879
<v Speaker 3>knows what existence might be like if we all decided

245
00:13:35.879 --> 00:13:39.720
<v Speaker 3>to strive for the best. Who knows what eternal heavens

246
00:13:39.799 --> 00:13:43.759
<v Speaker 3>might be established by our spirits purified by truth aiming

247
00:13:43.799 --> 00:13:47.480
<v Speaker 3>skyward right here on the fallen earth. Set your house

248
00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:50.919
<v Speaker 3>in perfect order before you criticize the world. The self

249
00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:54.080
<v Speaker 3>is everything you could be across time. So imagine that

250
00:13:54.279 --> 00:13:57.240
<v Speaker 3>there's you, and there's the potential inside you. Whatever that

251
00:13:57.440 --> 00:14:00.200
<v Speaker 3>is you know, and potential is an interesting idea, yeah,

252
00:14:00.200 --> 00:14:03.399
<v Speaker 3>because it's represents something that isn't yet real. Yet we

253
00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:05.720
<v Speaker 3>act like it's real because people will say to you

254
00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:08.559
<v Speaker 3>you should live up to your potential, and that potential

255
00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:11.399
<v Speaker 3>is partly what you could be if you interacted with

256
00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:13.960
<v Speaker 3>the world in a manner that would gain you the

257
00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:17.120
<v Speaker 3>most information, right, because you build yourself out of the

258
00:14:17.159 --> 00:14:20.399
<v Speaker 3>information in the Phetian sense. But it's deeper than that too,

259
00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:22.480
<v Speaker 3>because we know that if you take yourself and you

260
00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:25.360
<v Speaker 3>put yourself in a new environment, new genes turn on

261
00:14:25.399 --> 00:14:28.159
<v Speaker 3>in your nervous system. They encode for new proteins, and

262
00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:32.000
<v Speaker 3>so you're full of biological potential that won't be realized

263
00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:35.399
<v Speaker 3>unless you move yourself around in the world into different

264
00:14:35.480 --> 00:14:39.080
<v Speaker 3>challenging circumstances, and that'll turn on different circuits. So it's

265
00:14:39.080 --> 00:14:42.080
<v Speaker 3>not merely that you're incorporating information from the outside world

266
00:14:42.120 --> 00:14:45.440
<v Speaker 3>in the constructivist sense. It's that by exposing yourself to

267
00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:50.200
<v Speaker 3>different environments, you put different physiological demands on yourself all

268
00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:53.240
<v Speaker 3>the way down to the genetic level, and that manifests

269
00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:56.159
<v Speaker 3>new elements of you. And so one of the things

270
00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:58.240
<v Speaker 3>that happens to people, and this is a very common

271
00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:01.840
<v Speaker 3>cultural notion, that you should go on a pilgrimage at

272
00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:04.720
<v Speaker 3>some point to somewhere central, and that would be say

273
00:15:04.840 --> 00:15:07.480
<v Speaker 3>like the rock in the Pride, Rock in the Lion King,

274
00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:10.120
<v Speaker 3>because you take yourself out of your dopey little village

275
00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:13.000
<v Speaker 3>and that's just a little bounded you that everyone knows

276
00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:15.559
<v Speaker 3>and that isn't very expanded. And then you go somewhere

277
00:15:15.639 --> 00:15:18.440
<v Speaker 3>dark and dangerous to the central place, and while you

278
00:15:18.519 --> 00:15:21.200
<v Speaker 3>do that, you have adventures, and they toughen you and

279
00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:25.399
<v Speaker 3>pull more out of you, like partly because you're becoming informed,

280
00:15:25.799 --> 00:15:29.919
<v Speaker 3>which means information. It means you're becoming more organized at

281
00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:31.120
<v Speaker 3>every level of analysis.

282
00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:32.559
<v Speaker 2>But there's also more of you too,