Hang tight while we fetch the video data and transcripts. This only takes a moment.
Connecting to YouTube player…
Fetching transcript data…
We’ll display the transcript, summary, and all view options as soon as everything loads.
Next steps
Loading transcript tools…
Myth Justice & Compassion 21f | Jason File | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Myth Justice & Compassion 21f
Skip watching entire videos - get the full transcript, search for keywords, and copy with one click.
Share:
Video Transcript
Video Summary
Summary
Core Theme
This lecture explores various philosophical and spiritual approaches to confronting life's challenges and achieving inner freedom, drawing parallels between ancient wisdom traditions and modern self-help methodologies. It emphasizes the importance of facing internal "monsters" and reframing one's perspective to find peace and purpose.
Mind Map
Click to expand
Click to explore the full interactive mind map • Zoom, pan, and navigate
so i was curious if any of you have
finished joseph in the way of
forgiveness your final book report for this
class and what your your thoughts on it or
or
kim did you finish it
to be honest i haven't started it yet i
have it on audible
because i just got to alabama
so i am planning on listening to it uh
this week though i'm actually really
excited to listen to it
so yeah let's not do for a while i was
just kind of curious to get feedback
cassie have you uh have you looked at it yet
i actually also have not started yet i
did order it um online so i think it's
coming in monday so i'll have the whole
week to read it and then write the
report but i haven't actually started okay
okay
uh nick or lauren either of you um
i started the first part of the
audiobook but realized i'm not going to
get very good quotes if i don't have the
book in front of me
so i've been trying to find either an
ebook or something like that but i
started like just like the first few
sentences and then realized oh wait this
i have the book and i've i've had it you
but i also haven't started it i was
planning on starting it this weekend yeah
yeah okay
okay
all right well i just wanted to check in
and see if anybody had um actually
gotten through it and
you know nick for the quote stuff you
could just paraphrase you know it
doesn't need i'm not gonna look for exact
exact
you know exact quotes or anything like that
that
is holding up signs he's calling himself
the sign i asked you have you have you
read the have you read the uh
is that backwards to you guys or is it
no but that's hilarious
i said if you guys read it my wife was
like you're an idiot of course they
haven't read it's not due for another week
week [Laughter]
[Laughter]
yeah that's true
so um anyways i'm uh coming to you now
official colfaxion and just leaving it
up here cool place um
um
so this is the last thing we're going to
do we're not going to do one next week
and it's so it will kind of serve as a
wrap-up of the course
and i know things are a little bit
chaotic this semester but
i'll rephrase sort of the logic of the
class for the first eight weeks we we
talked about the natural world and all
reference things like mountains and
caves in the sun and the moon the stars
and plants and animals and all of the
life of of earth and
the materiality the thinginess of
of
of this life
and then in the second half of the
course we
take up the hero's journey which is much
more psychological it's much more
a psychological description of the inward
inward processes
processes that
that
i'm told
throughout um it's it's not like
all these different cultures tell
completely different stories the stories
they tell um
are similar in ways that make us think
and believe
that what they're really talking about
is human consciousness itself
because otherwise how could all these
different cultures tell stories that
were so similar unless they were telling
the story about what it means to be a
human being and to have a human consciousness
consciousness
at these stories and and the uh the ways
that they're common and they overlap we
can learn something about
ourselves really and something that's
actionable you know something that's not
just abstract like
we can see ourselves in the story of the
hero or the heroine and
and
we can use the categories of the hero's
journey to describe parts of our lives
in a big sense in terms of your your
your overall life
ways you know in your day-to-day
existence go to school or
you know the the monster that you face
when you're in line
waiting for your coffee and and
uh you're gonna be late um
um
so in in the large sense and in the
smaller sense we can kind of
access these stories of the hero's journey
journey to
to
reveal to us
the larger processes that
that
grow and develop and to mature
so it's a completely different thing in
the first half of the classroom let's
talk about froggies and things like that
in the second half of the class we're
talking about you know issues that are a
lot more personal and closer to home
i read everybody's papers last week
about monsters and the sorts of issues
that people
are dealing with and um
um
they're significant you know i mean it's
not like everybody's wrestling with
existential issues but uh not it's not two
it's more than two
it's dances
uh in a lot of different in a lot of
different ways
and seeing yourself
into the hero's journey
means seeing yourself as a conqueror
because that's how the stories end
the stories don't end
by the hero just getting defeated and
that's the end of the story the hero overcomes
overcomes
and we overcome
and then earlier um
hesitant in assigning you guys to
reflect on your own monsters if the
class just ended
if that was the last lesson of the class
like what what are the real difficulties
that you're dealing with and you're like
oh real serious stuff like okay thanks bye
bye
like that that
just wouldn't bear a whole lot of fruit
but this last section is why we tell the
monster stories
we tell them monster stories because
they don't own us
um win
we win
it doesn't make it easy or fun or
trivial or anything it just the opposite
it's a it's a heroic
effort in a heroic journey
but the monsters cannot
define us they cannot win
they don't
one of the parts about the previous motif
motif of
of
the hero
by the monster
is really important i think and i think
because mostly it's just because it's
true to life
our biggest monster for all of us is death
death um
um
and death
will get us
you know death
is the reality of what we're doing here
animals don't realize that they die and
and
plants and trees and everything else
realizes that but we do
and so we have to
most people confront it or don't
confront it by ignoring it or pretending
like it's not happening or
you know doing all kinds of ways to go
into denial about it because it's no one
think about it it's like scary and it's
a long ways down the line hopefully
hopefully
um and so it's just not worth thinking
about but the mythologies
don't run away from it i mean we die and
and
that's not
i mean people don't want to deal with that
because they think it's depressing or
whatever it's not declare one of those
things but it's it's just the reality of
our our existences here
that it's finite it ends
and there's a real
there's a real sense in which our
knowledge of the finiteness of experience
experience
opens us up to appreciation of it a
sense of the sacred a sense of being
special that the relationships you have
they're incredibly important
and that you won't see every sunset for
eternity so that this one really matters
and that our experiences are are made
precious and made sacred
by our death
you know i thought about it one time
it's like if if you live forever if you
could live forever
eventually eventually you just have to
get bored wouldn't you
i mean after you had
done i physically pleasured yourself in
possible for billions of years
and seen every sunset and just done everything
everything
there would be a point which you would
kind of be sort of like done with it
right i mean when there's if there's
nothing else to do there's nothing left
so in that sense death is a kind of a
gift it's a gift that forces us to look at
at
our lives and our relationships and
other things that we like to do our
hobbies and our favorite flowers
and our favorite animals and and our
friends and um and just treat those
things as being uniquely meaningful
if we didn't have to die they wouldn't
be uniquely meaningful they would just
be it would be a series of tomorrows
where you could do it all again
so the the defeat of the hero
is true to life we will eventually beat
all of us be defeated by death um
um
and i'll tell you
a couple stories um i find it really
into religion in this last um
section because there's religious
stories that
do a real really good job or
as good as you could do
in describing the kind of person
who in a sense dies to their own
needs and desires
before they their body dies
but there's a way of of dying to the self
self um
um
with it that the religious teachings
taught ain't sages or in the
buddhist tradition they call them bodhisattvas
bodhisattvas
maybe shamans in certain
indigenous traditions
but we we collectively realize that
there are people who are kind of guides
guides and
and um
um
and pathfinders and trailblazers who can
lead us into a better version of ourselves
ourselves
it certainly involves face-to-face
confrontation of our monsters
monsters don't go away by by ignoring
them that's how they that's how they
you know that feed off that
i think i told this
maybe in the last zoom
but it's just such an amazing image to me
me
but when they they're using psychedelic
drugs for therapy
um they they tell the people who are
going to take these psychedelic drugs
when you see a monster
and if you're on psychedelic drugs you
know these monsters are
like like
living in a nightmare you're actually
living a real nightmare when you see the
monster do not run away
plant your feet
and then
look at that monster and say why are you
who are what are you doing why are you here
here
and when you do that the monsters lose
their power they don't have power they
pray off your fear
if you can stand up to them they lose
that they lose they lose themselves and
so
guides help us see this
guides lead us through this
guides can be therapists so you can talk
to your about your your issues and they
can help you
navigate the difficulty
important not to minimize the process fun
fun
and it can feel absolutely overwhelming
like it will just devour you
the fear and the terror are existential
and they're real and they
but there is a way through
go through
rest of us they have a kind of quality
of life look at a couple examples of um
of that um [Music]
[Music]
in this lecture
so uh questions or comments or anything
from anybody before before i do a share screen
i'll pause periodically and ask so if
you have a question or a thought you
know just
jot it down or remember it and we can
come back to anything
i think the first thing i wanted to say
about resurrection and homecoming was
that the fairy tales end with the
happily ever after
and um that
that
is pretty much the way that we you know
end our disney stories and and um
and everything else um
um
and it's not really realistic it's a
little bit of a fantasy and i think a
lot of us are prone to it we think that
once i get that job or once i get
married or once i have kids or once
then it'll just everything will just be
great forever
and that's a just an absolute fantasy
but i think a lot of people are prone to
it the sort of idea that there is a
happily ever after out there and if i
can just get to it then i won't have to
worry about anything more but that's not
true that's not realistic
even people who are enlightened even
buddhas even saints even sages they die
and they get
frustrated and they have emotions
they happen to be quite a bit better than
most of us are dealing with those emotions
emotions
um but it doesn't mean that they that
at the end of the story everything just
becomes perfect forever
uh that's
that's a fantasy world
um and i think it's important to
highlight that that
there will never come a point that you
will get to where the rest of your
future will just take care of itself and
it'll be easy peasy
that that's
that's an illusion
so i mean it's a good way to end the story
or even of course you're not going to
tell a kid that he's a hero dealing with
things after it's all over um
um
but i just wanted to address that um you
know right off that
that
life will always be a process and when
you're 80 years old 85 years old 90
years old whatever
you will still be
so the saints and sages don't just
and like glowing orb of wisdom they
still are susceptible to the things that
everybody else is like i said they're
just almost infinitely better at knowing
um [Music]
[Music]
the first story i wanted to tell was the
story of the resurrection of jesus christ
christ um
um
this is an incredible story and it's
really a powerful and um profound
profound story
and i know
i i'm familiar with my the sorts of
students who do take these classes
and i know that there are a lot of
people out there who don't like
christianity and they just
have no use for it at all
um by the same token i know that there
are a fair number of people who are
christians themselves so a lot a lot of
us most of us probably come to this
particular story with a sort of
loaded set of assumptions
a negative reaction to it right away or
positive reaction to it right away and
it doesn't really concern you whether
you as individuals have negative or
positive reactions to it the story
itself is worth
thinking about
because it's a it's a powerful story
and i can't tell you the full version of
the story because that takes you know a
couple lectures or whatever to really
kind of dig into it at a at a granular level
level
but at a sort of a more of an altitude level
level
the story is of a guy named jesus and now
and jesus of nazareth
when he was 30 years old god got baptized
baptized
and at the moment of his baptism
something happened to him
and he changed
and he spent the next year of his life
teaching people about what had happened
to him
and about a year later he was arrested and
and
um and put and executed by the romans
who ruled the
at his time and
and
what had happened to him is that he he realized
realized and
and
you'd sort of have to kind of
flesh this out to really feel it as a
gut punch is it real it really is a gut
punch though in in
in the story of his life
he realized that god was his father
and that was important to him because he
he didn't have male role models he
didn't have dad
dad
to to come and teach him
and so when he was 30 years old and he
realized that the earthly parents don't matter
matter
the bio dad is
is
not important
that his true father
and then
if my true father isn't doesn't that
mean that everybody's
everybody's
and his his answer was yes
and you can see it in his teachings he
refers to other people as brothers and sisters
sisters um
um
as his brothers and sisters in
children of god he talks about all human
beings being children of of god equally
and regardless of religion and
regardless of race he doesn't doesn't
really talk about raising a little tiny
bit but i mean
the point is not hard to understand that
we are all children of the same creator equally
equally
and the creator doesn't play favorites
he doesn't like some of his kids and
dislike others
and this is a teaching that crops up a
number of times in his uh ministry
ministry
and the same and just as much and
and
for jesus that meant
well then
doesn't that
have an effect on how i treat other people
people
shouldn't i see other people as god's
beloved child
and his answer was yes and that was the
core of the gospel message that's what
he taught that's what people came to
hear him speak about
that when we interact with one another
god that that person to treat him that way
way
with love and kindness and compassion
and respect and dignity
and these
qualities should flow out of us into
our communities and our societies and
the world
it's the basic insight of the gospel of
jesus christ
and i mean he makes points it's not just
his teaching doesn't mean that god just
loves christians that way there's a
famous teaching of a parable of a good
samaritan and the parable is like the the
the
all the people who go to church and do
all the right things and believe all the
right things they see a guy on the side
of the road and he's suffering and they
don't help him then the samaritan person
who's like not a like a like an atheist
it would be something like that an
atheist came along and an atheist saw
the person that was hurting and took
care of him
and then jesus asked his disciples who
did the right thing
like well the atheists did and jesus was
like yeah that's what we're talking
about we're not making distinctions here
about religion or race or gender or
anything if there's a person that person
is god's beloved child
and you need to treat them that way
period every day
all day
that's a pretty
a pretty radical
profound powerful message and
and
is he went down to celebrate a
festival called the passover festival in jerusalem
jerusalem and
and
when he
got down to jerusalem
he saw people making money off of religion
religion
and he got frustrated
they said people shouldn't be making
money off this this is not about money
not about money at all this is about
something entirely different
and so he got frustrated at seeing these
people that were making money off of
overturned these tables he caused a
little bit of his officers the roman authorities
authorities um
um
arrested him
and when they were sort of asking about
what he who he was and where he was from
and everything like that they
interpreted him to be a political threat
that he was advocating the overthrow of
rome and
you know a military sort of uprising or
whatever that's what they understood his
message to be it wasn't what his message
believed wrongly
wrongly and
and
they crucified him and he died he physically
physically died
died
you know it's it's it's such a powerful
story it's not like we don't see this
story elsewhere either martin luther
king had a similar thing happen to him
so this isn't totally unique but it
doesn't make it that doesn't make it any
less powerful
that jesus got notoriety and fame for
telling us to love each other and that's
so his earliest disciples his friends
and followers they couldn't
process what had happened how could the
world be just how could god be just by
sending us a prophet like this teaching
us such good messages and morals and
you know
and they came to believe
over time
that he hadn't really died that he had left
left
part of himself behind
behind
and so i mean in the christian story the
story is that you know uh the disciples
go marry
magdalene first and then the other
disciples go to the tomb and they see a
uh it's empty and
and
my advisor in grad school by the way i
should probably say this if i have but
that i studied in grad school from
historical point of view i think or false
false
historically inaccurate
and like so i'm not trying to just sort
of preach or whatever i have
have
years of experience dealing with this
story understanding the story from an
historical point of view as historians
do as like my advisor's an atheist so
you know
i this is i'm not trying to just
my advisor said at one point it's good
in the tomb and you went there three
days later and the body wasn't there
you wouldn't immediately go oh my gosh
they got resurrected up into heaven
you know your first response would be
that hey i'm at the wrong tomb
or like somebody stole the body like you
that would be your initial explanation
explanation um
um
so it didn't happen right away that
christians just sort of immediately
resurrected into heaven but he hadn't in
some sense really died
that death didn't ultimately defeat him and
and
the way that they understood that to
work was that jesus left his spirit in
in
the holy spirit in greek it's a hagia sophia
sophia
a holy spirit jesus had left behind
in his followers
his work of treating people as god's children
children
and in that sense
he didn't death wasn't the end that what
he started
moves and still moves to this day
forward through history
in the religion of christianity
that's a
resurrection story
it's a magnificent story it's
really powerful story
the problem isn't the story the problem
is not i mean nobody could have a
story the problem is to flip that story
and say this is what the guy did for you
so you better be grateful and stop being
such a wicked sinner you idiot and they
treat other people as enemies
or try to force their religion on people or
or
are they they're hypocrites they them
this biggest problem really of all is
that people who
say these things then don't live up to
themselves they don't treat their
enemies kindly
they don't treat other people as god's children
children
just the opposite
people have a problem with
the story itself nobody could have a
problem with that how could
you have a problem with that here's a
guy who taught people to love and
respect each other and he died for it
that's how much he believed it his early followers
followers
believed that death didn't conquer him
but that that his ideas can live on
through us
that's magnificent
and it's been believed by christians
all christians and not even maybe most
christians but people like martin luther
king people like the great saints and
sages of the christian tradition
have believed that our job is to serve
others and to help
help
others and that's a that's a magnificent um
um idea
idea
and i don't have any problems seeing why
an entire religion came out of that idea
i mean it's a worthy idea to base your
christian
understand within the world of christian
theology and doctrine
that as a christian you would think
because jesus
recognized my humanity and my worthiness
of love
to the degree that he was willing to
physically die for that
i am obligated to treat other people the
same way right
right that's
that's
who i should be of course i should if he
did that for me shouldn't i turn around
for
my neighbor for the poor people
for i mean for anybody really
so that's the idea and the pr again the
problem is not the idea the problem is
people who fail to live up to the idea
the problem is people who
are judgmental and
arrogant and all that other stuff and
there's plenty of reasons to be
frustrated by the church and by
things that the church has done and said
through the years but you don't want to
necessarily just stereotype all
time because they're not i guess
the christian students that i have that
come through sierra college are very often
often
kind compassionate considerate
non-judgmental sincerely trying to do
the best they can with what their
so it's a very very powerful wonderful story
story
i'll pause and see if there's any
the next story is another story from
religion it's another very very powerful
profound story
and it's the story of the buddha
buddha lived about about 500 years
before jesus in a different part of the
world in um
india northern india
and his life is also
um just absolutely fascinating um
and again it's like
story of his life and you can see how
religions get founded on it
so he was a a prince
jesus was born poor like a peasant and
and illiterate and kind of rejected from
society on the out on the out
side of the cool crowd
buddha was the opposite buddha was
the buddha was the cool crowd
buddha was
handsome and famous and wealthy beyond uh
uh description
grew up in a palace had everything he
wanted whenever he wanted it snatch his
fingers we went for dinner well i feel
like a steak okay here have two
i mean every life was handed to
siddhartha his name was said arthur was
grown up on a silver platter and
and he
he
he came he went through a set of
experiences when he was 30
30
that's another thing about some of these
stories is that the heroes are older
they're not 20 year olds
bro if you're 20
but at the age of 20 you're dealing with
issues that um
you don't have a lot of experience
dealing with issues you just came out of
your childhood mind ten five or ten
years ago right i mean or maybe you're
still in it i don't know but you're an
adult yes but you don't have a lot of
experience with being an adult yet
you don't have things that come
with experience yet
yet so
so
40. but you hear this a lot these are
um which is interesting and probably
worth thinking about too as you sort of
process your own your own stories that
the real journey
may be ahead of you um
um
so he had a series of experiences when
he was in his 30s
where he just
saw death and suffering and sickness and
and realized
that none of his material
those questions
you know like what does it mean to die
and do i have to die and what if i get
sick and um
um
you know those that part of that
that
isn't addressed by having nice clothes
or nice makeup or a nice body or
or
a good boyfriend or girlfriend or cars
degrees or other people's approval and
none of their lives
will ultimately solve the problem of
um or getting old
so he realized that society and and
material life was empty so he gave it up
he just cut he took he put on a simple robe
robe
a wanderer's robe
and he cut his hair and he just went into
you know to try to find himself
who he means that he owned
and you know he goes through there's
some parts of the story or whatever you
know so there's a departure and there's
things he overcomes and he finds a guide
and you know all these other things too but
but
eventually he sits in meditation
and meditation was kind of a new thing
in india at the time actually they just invented
invented
meditation around the buddhist time and
and by meditation
it's pretty kind of um
formal i guess you you you sit
you know with your legs crossed and your
hands folded and your back straight and
your head
tilted slightly forward and your eyes
mostly closed not entirely but mostly closed
closed
and you sit there
for a set period of time traditionally
it was how long it took to burn a jostic
an incense stick so you light it and
then you'd sit there and you just stay there
until
the incense stick burned down and then
you could get up and you're done
um but when you do that when you commit
to a physical posture for your body in a
time frame
then you enter into a situation where
it's just you and your brain
and it's like it's just you and and yourself
yourself
and you're going to be there a while
you're not moving and
and
that can be um
um challenging
challenging
you're kind of like you know you're kind
it's you
confront your own thought processes and
your own um mind
and in the teeth in the teachings of
this tradition they tell you to try to
keep your awareness with your breathing
that the thoughts will come and go
they're not really all that ultimately
nearly as important as we assume they are
are
but what's more important is awareness of
of
the moment and especially through our breathing
and that as you can cultivate an
awareness you can begin to unwind and relax
relax
sure things are gonna happen whatever
they might not be fun but we'll just
handle it
yeah i'm gonna die well okay you know
it's gonna happen sooner or later
if your awareness is centered
then all of the thoughts
don't have any purchase on your brain
you can just relax into the present moment
easier said than done
this is one thing to say how
to describe how it worked is another
thing to cultivate that type of
mentality in yourself you know it's it's
uh for most of us it's a lifetime
project we don't sort of all of a sudden
get to enlightenment and we're like oh
everything's we'll just handle
everything perfectly from now on um
um
for most of us it's a growing process
where we gradually learn
to trust
the process
even when it's difficult and especially
when it's difficult
that we're going through is ultimately
for our benefit
and for our character
character
and then two you get you know sort of
flowers and um
birds and sunsets and good food and
everything else thrown on top of that
right it doesn't mean that life isn't
always a struggle it certainly isn't
always a struggle there's a ton of
things to just be joyful about all the time
time um
um [Music]
[Music]
finding himself in that way
buddha they say became enlightened
and when he taught people he taught them
what he referred to as the four noble truths
truths
and these four noble truths are
are that
that
we all suffer
and it doesn't mean that we suffer like
we all like are crucified like jesus was
or but it's not that's not the suffering
you're talking about he's talking about
the the little tiny suffering the boredom
or the just i don't like my own body i
need food or i need um i i i i need things
things
and i don't have them so i'm suffering
but once i get them
you know then i'll just need something else
else
a lot of the time
by a sort of sense of things aren't just
totally perfect the way they are
i need to fix my hair need to
do this need to do that need to need to
um you know be the star of the football
whatever you know whatever the thing is
but we're sort of driven by this idea
that we need to be
be
be somewhere or something else in order
buddha said that that suffering is
caused by desire
the desire that things be different from
how they are
our body includes our family includes
our relationships includes everything
every every every every single thing
to the degree that we wish things were different
different
we suffer
because they're not because that's
that's the reason why we wanted to be
different because unlike the way they
are so we're suffering
suffering according to siddhartha is
caused by our desire that things be
true
if we want to end the suffering that we experience
experience
then we just end the desire that things
be different from how they are that means
means
loving and appreciating things exactly
how they are
this is an adult table teaching and if
you don't
if you don't sense it you you need to
this is not an easy pill to swallow
because it means
yeah that's
not easy
and and many people would say it's not
even right that's incorrect
you fight those people
you don't love them and just let them be
the way they are
well you can have your own point of view
on whatever you want i'm just trying to
tell you what buddha taught
buddha said everything
everything
everything just as it is warts and all
negative and all everything
just as it is
what about injustice well what about
this what about that well buddha says
that's a hard pill for people to swallow
it really really is and and and it's uh
it's tough
but let me try to explain his reasoning
a little bit
because it doesn't just end there right
i mean it's not just not that's the
the
logic to it so
so
and i'll use an example say for example
that somebody's racist
and you're a buddhist
and you believe that you should accept
people just as they are including their racism
racism right
right
so what happens is there's there's a
racist and somebody walks up to him and
they say who are you and they say oh i'm
a racist and this person says
oh you're evil you're awful how could
uh you're the cause of all the problems
in the world just got rid of people like
you everything would be happy how is
that racist gonna respond
to that approach
approach
well he's going to get defensive and
attack back and then all the whole thing
is just going to turn into a show
show
an argument right
right
so what about the buddhist the buddhist
comes up in the and says hi who are you
buddhist says oh interesting people keep
that a little more secret but i'm
interested i i'm interested in what what
led you to that sort of point of view
like to teach me tell me you know
and then the racist says well you know
this is what i think and whatever and
then you
in the process of
of of loving and accepting that person
just as they are
chance an opportunity to unwind
to be heard to
to
not be so defensive
to learn and to grow
it's it's in the it's in the act of of
of accepting others without needing them
to change that you the that you create
the scenario that they can change
which one of those two people does
actually more to help cure racism in the world
world
is it the people who fight and attack
and yell and scream and and whirl and
even screech
or is it the people who listen and love
which of those two approaches is more
likely to help this person out of their delusions
delusions
and for buddha i mean it's like not even
a real question well
well
i will i will treat every person as
you know
i will i will treat every situation and
as with my full attention except when
you live your life that way things start
changing around you
you're not trying to change things
but things will change under your
guidance under your influence under your kindness
kindness
so
this is what
buddha taught and again i'm not
sunday school either you can believe
whatever you want i'm i'm explaining to
you what how buddha as the guide tried
to bring us home to our homecoming and
describe to us what that's like
that when we stop desiring that things
be different and just learn the art i
would say of loving things as they are
appreciating things as they are being grateful
grateful
for things just as they are being
grateful for our dysfunctional family
that's a that's a heavy lift
for learning how to be grateful for your
dysfunctional family
total freedom
they don't own you anymore
you're like well yeah they're pretty
dysfunctional but you know they've got
their good sides and they've taught me a
lot about who i want to be and who i
don't want to be and i'm really grateful
for them
you're free
if you're always fighting oh they need
to change this and i can't believe they
did that
you're working within their their system but
gratitude can free us
from even really dark negative
situations that's what buddha talk
so he also taught what he called the
fourth of the four noble truths which is
the eightfold path which are just sort
of practical guidelines for how to go
about your day you know make sure you
when you use your words you're kind with
your words you say nice things you don't
talk bad about people don't hit or hurt
or steal that's just childish
you don't need to there's nothing you
need to get
the answer is already within you so um
or hurting somebody or hitting somebody
or yelling at somebody or belittling
somebody or i mean it just doesn't get
you anywhere so
so
you know have
good words good deeds
try to find a job that you love
and it's actually a teaching in buddhism
it's really a great great teaching i
know a lot of students are wrestling
with what should i do what should i be
and you'll have options you know you'll
have you'll you'll do something and
you'll have some choices in the matter
buddha would say
that buddhahood buddhists do say that
they would encourage you to find
something that
means something to you on a personal
level that it's not just going to an
office and showing up and making 150 000
a year yeah it's nice to have 150 000 a
year but it's also true that mo many
more problems
that's not that's not a saying that just
sort of coincidentally appears there's a
lot of truth to that and then you have to
to
a day in that cubicle you know something
you dislike so that you can have money
is that the kind of life you want
maybe and if it is go forth buddha's not
gonna stand in judgment over that you do
whatever you want you're free
but buddhist would say it's probably a
little better to take a job for the pays
a little less that you get excited about
you know showing up for every day
it means something to you
you feel like you're contributing and
there's that's different for different
everybody's got their own sort of unique
set of gifts job for your work um
um
maybe it's helping kids maybe it's
teaching maybe it's daycare maybe it's
selling jewelry at the macy's counter
where you're like oh you look really
pretty in those earrings maybe that
makes you feel really good well
that job would
i wouldn't like that job
you know that's not my gifts
but there are people out there who would
really be fulfilled in that sort of
thing cosmetology school oh i'm gonna
make her look really pretty
you know for me that wouldn't do it but
would be just great so
so
find a job that you like you know um
um
there's there's there's other right
contemplation and meditation effort you
know you have to make effort and stuff
like that too
so that's what uh said arthur the buddha taught
taught
so we'll pause now and see if there's
any questions or comments about any of that
a world religions class so if you're
interested in the story and want to
maybe explore world religions we do that
in there
i'm just giving you a little brief little
little
snippet of it here
the last one and this will be
this will be it
um is a self-help person um
um
who i think is fascinating
stephen mitchell the guy who wrote
forgiveness also found her fascinating
and actually with that book
she is a fascinating character her name
is byron katie
byron is her first name and katie is her
last name
um which is weird but whatever it's
it's it's her
she was a miserable mean
mean person
person
until she was 40. she's still alive now
i mean stephen mitch is still alive now
she lived down in barstow california
know that area it's by the mojave desert
i wouldn't want to live in barstow but
it's this kind of city out on the edge
of the mojave desert
and she was a real estate agent and um
had kids and was married and and was
just a profoundly unhappy person
and she you know she says she would just
be mean to her children and
mean to her husband and she
she
wasn't educated she never went to
college she was just this kind of
miserable suburban housewife you know um
and you know throughout her 30s she
she drank a lot and then started getting
into pills
and by 40 she was [Music]
[Music]
you know pretty seriously disturbed
by drugs and alcohol
and suicidal um
you know bad
and she went into a um a halfway house
in los angeles
and something happened to her in that
halfway house and it was one of these
sort of moments kind of like a buddha
enlightenment moment
or a jesus at the baptism moment
um and she just felt all this entire her
entire past just fall away
and the way that she describes it is
situations that she was for that were
frustrating her and she just
thought about it
it sounds really weird but i mean she
just was like well let's
think about this
paul was her first husband and she said
paul shouldn't
whatever i don't know what it was
shouldn't drink
and the fact that paul drank drove her
crazy i mean whatever i can't i'm not even
giving you the exact story but it was
something like this
and she said is it true
that's the first question there's four questions
questions
and by the way she puts on these
seminars and does these retreats and
she's kind of a little new agey and and
they she makes money off of this and
sells books and things like that and so
she's actually transitioned this this
sort of moment at this halfway house in
l.a into kind of a self-help movement
but the four questions the core of what
she does she gives away for free anybody
have these questions and then just look
at situations in your life with them
number one is is it true
um i'll use an example from my own life
you know it's a little bit more helpful
that i used to be married and my
first wife i loved my first wife and was
happily married i was she turned out not
to be
but i had no idea and she went out with
some friends
one night and then called me up the next
morning and said she was never coming
home and
it was very very sudden for me not much
arguing even it was just this this thing
where your world is one way one day and
it's different the next
and i was really you know in that
grieving process you go through anger
and i was angry and i was sad and i was
lonely and i was depressed and i was
drinking a lot and
um it was hard
but i i underst i i wasn't introduced to this
this
and what katie asked you to do you refer
to her by her last name katie she asks
you to find a situation that pisses you
off or frustrates you or creates some
kind of conflict or you know that you're
this frust that's hard that's suffering
and then you ask it
these four questions
and so for me at that time the thought
was my wife shouldn't have left me
that's what was really sticking in my craw
craw
she's that
she should not have left me
one is is it true
and my answer was well of course it's
true we took vows at the altar and she
did it to death to his part and she
didn't do that so yeah it's true she
shouldn't have left me that's my answer
to the first question
the second question has the effect of
just shifting the ground you think
you're standing on can you know for a
fact that it's true
she shouldn't have left me
can i know for a fact that that's not true
true
and then i had to get a little more
i don't know maybe if she stayed
together we'd go out and get in a car
accident the next night or maybe
she would have a kid and then run out on
the kid and i'd be a single dad and with
the kid wouldn't have mom i mean can i
know for a fact
that she shouldn't have left me
and to be honest my answer to that
question is no i really can't know that
for a fact
i believe it's true but i don't
and then the third one is how do i react
when i believe the thought when just looking
your own day and you think i get
frustrated i get i get
indignant i get self-righteous i get
defensive i have reactions real rea
emotional reactions to the thoughts
that i've just admitted i don't even
know if that's totally true or not
so all of the emotions
could be just totally entirely pointless
maybe it's just an entire term of wasted energy
you start sort of
applying this to your own situation my
co-worker she shouldn't she shouldn't
talk about people is that true can you
know for a fact that's true
how do you react when you're like she
shouldn't do that
i get frustrated i get angry i wish she
was different i mean you you have these this
this
to a thought
when you look at it honestly maybe
maybe
maybe it's something we believe that
we're reacting to and not not something
that we know
so is it true can you know for a fact that it's true how do you emotionally
that it's true how do you emotionally react when you believe it that it's true
react when you believe it that it's true and then how who would
you be without the thought and for me it was like i was in grad school at chapel
was like i was in grad school at chapel hill if i didn't if i woke up in the
hill if i didn't if i woke up in the morning and ate some breakfast and went
morning and ate some breakfast and went to school and i didn't have this thought
to school and i didn't have this thought she shouldn't have left me
she shouldn't have left me if that just what if i could magically
if that just what if i could magically take that thought away what would what
take that thought away what would what would my day be like
would my day be like well it would be great
well it would be great i get to go to school and i get to meet
i get to go to school and i get to meet people and you know
people and you know maybe talk to a cute girl or something i
maybe talk to a cute girl or something i don't know i'd be it would be wonderful
don't know i'd be it would be wonderful if i didn't have the thought
that gives us a picture of what's possible
how it's possible to mother shouldn't do that
to mother shouldn't do that my mother shouldn't do that
my mother shouldn't do that my boyfriend or girlfriend shouldn't do
my boyfriend or girlfriend shouldn't do that my body should be x y or z
if we don't have those thoughts if they literally don't come into our mind
literally don't come into our mind what does our day look like then
it's it's freedom you're free
you're free you can do whatever you want
you can do whatever you want there's no
monsters to fight [Music]
[Music] you can do it you can do what you love
you can do it you can do what you love so then she does uh the final thing
so then she does uh the final thing which is called a turnaround and this
which is called a turnaround and this was just
was just so transformative to me
so transformative to me she asked you to take the initial
she asked you to take the initial statement that you made and for me was
statement that you made and for me was my wife shouldn't have left me and make
my wife shouldn't have left me and make it into the opposite and see if you can
it into the opposite and see if you can find reasons why the opposite is true
find reasons why the opposite is true so my wife shouldn't have left me
it becomes she should have left find reasons why that might be true
reasons why that might be true and when i did it i was like okay my
and when i did it i was like okay my wife should have left me let me play
wife should have left me let me play with that thought she should have left
with that thought she should have left me why i thought well because she didn't
me why i thought well because she didn't want to be with me and when i had that
want to be with me and when i had that thought i just it's like i just
it's hard to describe
describe but something
but something gave way
gave way when i
realized that she did exactly what she should have
she did exactly what she should have done
done i mean it's just like the it's just
i mean it's just like the it's just perfect
perfect what i want to share my house and my
what i want to share my house and my living room with someone who didn't want
living room with someone who didn't want to be there for the next 50 years
to be there for the next 50 years is that am i such a masochist that that
is that am i such a masochist that that that's what i want for my life is to
that's what i want for my life is to force someone to be around me that
force someone to be around me that doesn't want to be around me and then
doesn't want to be around me and then deal with that forever
deal with that forever as my life
as my life you know experience
you know experience of course not
of course not if she
didn't want to be with me not only should she have left but thank
not only should she have left but thank you
you for leaving
for leaving like oh my gosh you have saved me so
like oh my gosh you have saved me so many headaches down the road
many headaches down the road because you're honest because you knew
because you're honest because you knew what you wanted out of life and i wasn't
what you wanted out of life and i wasn't it so you went somewhere else okay
it so you went somewhere else okay that that sets me free
that that sets me free the alternative is pretty grim
the alternative is pretty grim so i you know i went back to my original
so i you know i went back to my original statement she shouldn't have left me and
statement she shouldn't have left me and i was like well
i was like well the original statement just fell apart
you know she of course she should have did i not you know know for a fact that
did i not you know know for a fact that it wasn't true but it turns out to be
it wasn't true but it turns out to be just almost completely false
and that is
is then i was free i didn't have to i
then i was free i didn't have to i didn't have to blame her i'd have to
didn't have to blame her i'd have to blame myself i didn't have to get
blame myself i didn't have to get defensive or angry or whatever it's the
defensive or angry or whatever it's the process was still hard i'm not going to
process was still hard i'm not going to say that it just happened one time i had
say that it just happened one time i had a thought and then everything was just
a thought and then everything was just you know like like a fairy tale at the
you know like like a fairy tale at the end of a fairy tale after after that it
end of a fairy tale after after that it wasn't
it was still lonely and i still miss things and i mean there's there's it's a
things and i mean there's there's it's a process
process but in my mind i knew that it was okay
but in my mind i knew that it was okay and that there was the right thing
and that there was the right thing that the right things were happening
that the right things were happening and i was okay with even the hard parts
and i was okay with even the hard parts of it
you know i just uh it's hard to uh you know it's hard to put into words how
you know it's hard to put into words how liberating uh liberating that is
liberating uh liberating that is and that's the entire thing that's her
and that's the entire thing that's her you know that's
she doesn't read spirituality she doesn't like she didn't learn this from
doesn't like she didn't learn this from a book she didn't like
a book she didn't like study anything or like whatever see this
study anything or like whatever see this is just what she came up with in that
is just what she came up with in that halfway house in l.a and it worked for
halfway house in l.a and it worked for her
her she said like paul shouldn't drink is
she said like paul shouldn't drink is that true i don't know maybe you
that true i don't know maybe you shouldn't drink
shouldn't drink maybe that's exactly what he should be
maybe that's exactly what he should be doing how would i know what i mean maybe
doing how would i know what i mean maybe he needs to drink until he gets so drunk
he needs to drink until he gets so drunk that the next day he wakes up and was
that the next day he wakes up and was like
i'm never gonna do that again maybe that's exactly what he needs to be doing
that's exactly what he needs to be doing right now
right now for him to realize that it's not
for him to realize that it's not ultimately what he wants his life to
ultimately what he wants his life to become
become maybe
maybe maybe not how would you know who knows
maybe not how would you know who knows it's just not our place to judge and
it's just not our place to judge and then she just went through every single
then she just went through every single thing in her life like this person
thing in her life like this person should treat me with more respect is
should treat me with more respect is that true
that true my kids should should should appreciate
my kids should should should appreciate anymore is that true i mean
anymore is that true i mean when you
when you go through all of the stressors in your
go through all of the stressors in your entire life everything that that effect
in a negative way and you just look at it and go
it and go hmm i don't know let's play with it a
hmm i don't know let's play with it a little bit and see
little bit and see i mean i'm not saying that your answers
i mean i'm not saying that your answers are going to be formulaic there may be
are going to be formulaic there may be issues that you're like yeah it is true
issues that you're like yeah it is true they should that should not happen you
they should that should not happen you get stuck in in certain situations that
get stuck in in certain situations that happens all the time that's fine also
happens all the time that's fine also but a lot of times
but a lot of times and for katie all the time
and for katie all the time and for myself all the time also
and for myself all the time also when you look at something deeply enough
we don't know what's best hurt us so deeply
hurt us so deeply um
um maybe they're doing the best they can
and maybe how if we respond to them by accepting them just as they are
accepting them just as they are without needing them to change maybe
without needing them to change maybe that's the key that will help them start
that's the key that will help them start to heal
not not by telling other people how to
not by telling other people how to behave
behave but
but by
by but by loving them anyways
but by loving them anyways regardless
so it's a it's a powerful
it's a powerful uh set of teachings
uh set of teachings and you know she's got a uh
and you know she's got a uh a website
a website it's called thework.com
and you know i send students over there especially if
send students over there especially if you're interested in human psychology or
you're interested in human psychology or whatever she has these videos of people
whatever she has these videos of people you know going through with people like
you know going through with people like oh people shouldn't be anti-gay she's
oh people shouldn't be anti-gay she's like is that true
like is that true i mean nothing is off the table there's
i mean nothing is off the table there's no politically correct thing here people
no politically correct thing here people shouldn't be racist really
shouldn't be racist really let's look at it is it true
let's look at it is it true they are
they are so
so you know
turn it around people shouldn't be racist what's the opposite
racist what's the opposite i shouldn't be racist
oh hmm well there's a problem you might be
hmm well there's a problem you might be able to actually work on
able to actually work on like getting up in someone else's face
like getting up in someone else's face in the neighborhood but like something
in the neighborhood but like something that maybe i'm part of the problem
that maybe i'm part of the problem you know
you know uh
uh she she goes through these conversations
she she goes through these conversations with people dealing with all kinds of
with people dealing with all kinds of issues a lot of times really major
issues a lot of times really major issues
issues but in going through the questions she
but in going through the questions she sort of points us away forward into
sort of points us away forward into what is ultimately just best described
what is ultimately just best described as as complete freedom
you don't need anybody's approval you don't need anybody to change
don't need anybody to change you don't need yourself to be different
you don't need yourself to be different you don't need your body to be different
you don't need your body to be different you don't need your career to be
you don't need your career to be different you don't need anything to be
different you don't need anything to be anything
because you're you're happy with what is
you know it's really interesting and worth pointing out and then maybe i'll
worth pointing out and then maybe i'll uh i'll pause and see if there's
uh i'll pause and see if there's questions or comments
it's worth pointing out that our capacity for you can find people in
capacity for you can find people in really really crappy situations
really really crappy situations and if you ask them what they're
and if you ask them what they're grateful for you'll be astonished at the
grateful for you'll be astonished at the things that they can come up with
things that they can come up with we
we have it within us
have it within us to be profoundly deeply grateful even in
to be profoundly deeply grateful even in really difficult situations
really difficult situations and people are it happens all the time i
and people are it happens all the time i can't tell you how many times i meet
people in really difficult situations i'm so thankful for
i'm so thankful for and they just have
and they just have like lists
like lists of
of of things that they're grateful for
so this work leads you into a sort of freedom
freedom where those things that you're grateful
where those things that you're grateful for is really all you ever really think
for is really all you ever really think about
about you don't really need to think about
you don't really need to think about anything else because it doesn't really
anything else because it doesn't really matter
matter i like my
i like my i like my
i like my my game or i like my cap
i like my i like i like milk and cookies or you know just anything really but you
or you know just anything really but you can actually live your life in a way
can actually live your life in a way that's just completely tied up with what
that's just completely tied up with what makes you happy and grateful
and it's also a way of being really non-judgmental i mean how who am i to
non-judgmental i mean how who am i to judge this person's path they drink
judge this person's path they drink they're they're mean they're racist
they're they're mean they're racist they're what i mean whatever who am i to
they're what i mean whatever who am i to judge
judge do i know that they don't need to go
do i know that they don't need to go through that process for themselves so
through that process for themselves so that they can really truly see
that they can really truly see you know the others
no i don't know what their future holds i tell their people who they need to be
i tell their people who they need to be and how they need to do it and blah blah
and how they need to do it and blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah oh well they hurt me well maybe i needed
oh well they hurt me well maybe i needed to be heard
to be heard maybe that hurt is my teacher
maybe the hurt is the thing that introduced me to my freedom
maybe the difficulties are the things to be most grateful for
be most grateful for and again i don't want to make that
and again i don't want to make that sound trivial because the difficulties
are real but maybe
so that's it for uh the slideshow will pause and see if there's any questions
pause and see if there's any questions or um
or um comments or anything you guys want to
comments or anything you guys want to talk about with respect to um
talk about with respect to um the lecture or the class or anything
the lecture or the class or anything else
i just find it really funny um [Music]
[Music] all the similarities between
all the similarities between um byron katie's
um byron katie's um teachings versus the buddha's
um teachings versus the buddha's teachings basically
teachings basically in a way accepting things
in a way accepting things as they are
as they are and kind of taking you know like shitty
and kind of taking you know like shitty situations or people or whatnot kind of
situations or people or whatnot kind of twisting it into a new perspective to
twisting it into a new perspective to where
where it almost makes it
it almost makes it okay and acceptable to the point where
you know you can continue living your life and still you can like have it but
life and still you can like have it but still be happy and be content
still be happy and be content with who you are and what you have
with who you are and what you have i just found it i thought that was
i just found it i thought that was really interesting it was basically like
really interesting it was basically like you're just
you're just restating the buddha story all over
restating the buddha story all over again pretty much
yep i mean so let me tell you that when buddhists
and this is fairly common
fairly common when buddhists are introduced to byron
when buddhists are introduced to byron katie
katie they go
they go oh yeah we this is what we're saying too
oh yeah we this is what we're saying too you're saying it in a different way very
you're saying it in a different way very very powerful way that you're saying
yeah this is the same point we make also they by buddhists see byron kate as
they by buddhists see byron kate as very buddhist
very buddhist so you're 100 right to connect those two
so you're 100 right to connect those two yeah that's really i just thought that
yeah that's really i just thought that was really interesting
was really interesting like it's basically the same
like it's basically the same kind of different but basically the same
kind of different but basically the same take on it
take on it and it's difficult because you have to
and it's difficult because you have to confront really things that you're you
confront really things that you're you know
example but like saying people on the solution
the solution [Laughter]
[Laughter] but if you if you reverse engineer the
but if you if you reverse engineer the process you could start to see
process you could start to see how
how treating people even when they're racist
treating people even when they're racist as as valuable
as as valuable might be a way to actually heal their
might be a way to actually heal their racism
yeah it's hard it's an adult table yeah for sure
yeah a while ago and this is definitely a
a while ago and this is definitely a challenge but i believe it's true i
challenge but i believe it's true i believe that the boot is correct i
believe that the boot is correct i believe that barn katie is correct i
believe that barn katie is correct i believe that that the
believe that that the the where they're appointing us
the where they're appointing us is the way to heal the world
good other um
other um questions or comments or
questions or comments or anything
if you're talking you're muted oh no i wasn't talking but uh
oh no i wasn't talking but uh i also agree with what kimberly said i
i also agree with what kimberly said i thought the relation of buddha and katie
thought the relation of buddha and katie was just like perfect it almost seemed
was just like perfect it almost seemed like it was the same thing
yeah and like i said buddhists agree and
and like i said buddhists agree and katie doesn't really care
katie doesn't really care [Laughter]
he doesn't read buddhism or she just does not she's on her own thing
she just does not she's on her own thing and people say you're like well i like
and people say you're like well i like buddhists and she go well okay she's
buddhists and she go well okay she's she's just does her own does her own
she's just does her own does her own deal but certainly the buddhists
deal but certainly the buddhists all look at katie's point of view and
all look at katie's point of view and say yeah that's pretty much what we've
say yeah that's pretty much what we've been saying too
um nothing in particular although um i did find just like the different
i did find just like the different approaches all to be like really
approaches all to be like really interesting
interesting um in terms of like
um in terms of like facing or like attacking like one's
facing or like attacking like one's monsters
monsters like whether that was through um
like whether that was through um like christianity and how you should
like christianity and how you should like
like um approach it through religion
um approach it through religion or um even like buddhism if you were to
or um even like buddhism if you were to like face it
like face it from almost like a spiritual stance
from almost like a spiritual stance and then the last one and byron katie's
and then the last one and byron katie's i think was more of like psychological
i think was more of like psychological and a lot more
and a lot more i guess like current to what people
i guess like current to what people would would try to think to do today
would would try to think to do today um especially because it wasn't derived
um especially because it wasn't derived from any type of like religious stance
from any type of like religious stance or anything where anyone could take part
or anything where anyone could take part in that so i think that like including
in that so i think that like including all of those different tactics were like
all of those different tactics were like really important and like really
really important and like really eye-opening
yeah it kind of almost kind of goes without saying but you don't need to be
without saying but you don't need to be a christian or a buddhist or a jew or an
a christian or a buddhist or a jew or an atheist to appreciate byron katie in
atheist to appreciate byron katie in fact you could be any of them and people
fact you could be any of them and people are it doesn't that kind of has nothing
are it doesn't that kind of has nothing to do with religion really
to do with religion really um it's just a way of
looking at the things that piss us off and like
and like starting to try to deal with this right
starting to try to deal with this right and against the id either process
and against the id either process they don't have to it doesn't have to be
they don't have to it doesn't have to be that way
that way good
good lauren uh questions or comments
no i've just been enjoying listening along
good i'm enjoying having you listen along so
i'm enjoying having you listen along so thank you for coming
thank you for coming all right well that's all for today um
and that's all for the class um to leave on
to leave on that
that there are guides to help us
to the final stage of the journey and the final stage of the journey is
the final stage of the journey is characterized by freedom
characterized by freedom that you can be free
that you can be free and that's real
and that's real and when you attain that freedom you
and when you attain that freedom you will effortlessly begin to manifest
will effortlessly begin to manifest compassion for others who are suffering
compassion for others who are suffering and a sense of justice for the
world that the world is [Music]
[Music] a damaged place
a damaged place and that we can help heal it
and that we can help heal it not by telling it to heal or get mad at
not by telling it to heal or get mad at it because it's broken but by healing
it because it's broken but by healing ourselves
in the process we can help heal the world
world [Music]
[Music] that's a good point and that's the point
that's a good point and that's the point we'll end on
we'll end on all right i'm gonna go ahead and stop
all right i'm gonna go ahead and stop recording
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
Share:
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps
Paste YouTube URL
Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript
Transcript Extraction Form
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
Get Our Chrome Extension
Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.
