Full Transcript for Question & Answer #202: from Taoist Enlightenment to Why a Buddhist Shouldn’t Convert to Catholicism

--> 00:02:18.150 who knows, maybe the weekend after that 00:02:18.160 --> 00:02:20.710 I'll just do two of them back to back or 00:02:20.720 --> 00:02:24.710 something. 00:02:24.720 --> 00:02:26.309 And 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:29.670 the live stream went well on episode 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:32.070 200, so there's a good chance in future 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:33.750 I'll probably be doing live streams more 00:02:33.760 --> 00:02:36.150 often. 00:02:36.160 --> 00:02:38.550 So 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:41.750 I guess all the necessary announcements 00:02:41.760 --> 00:02:44.869 have been made. So I guess I'll just uh 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:46.949 start answering questions. And the first 00:02:46.959 --> 00:02:51.430 question is from Seio and Sepad Zidana. 00:02:51.440 --> 00:02:54.550 And Seioad Zidana says, "Enlightenment 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:57.030 in Buddhism means knowing your mind 00:02:57.040 --> 00:02:59.910 completely. But in Daoism, they say a 00:02:59.920 --> 00:03:02.790 true master is one who went from doing 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:05.670 things consciously to doing it without 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:08.390 being conscious about doing it. It's 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:10.790 almost as if it becomes ingrained into 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:13.190 the body and no conscious awareness is 00:03:13.200 --> 00:03:15.830 needed. Thus, consciousness is the sign 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:18.710 of the unmastered going against the flow 00:03:18.720 --> 00:03:21.830 of the Dao without a wooue 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:24.550 or non-doing. 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:26.790 Both these ideas sound opposite of one 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:28.630 another. Both sound like they are 00:03:28.640 --> 00:03:30.789 achieving something great, but yet these 00:03:30.799 --> 00:03:33.350 exist harmoniously in Chinese culture. 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:35.670 And I can see the wisdom of seeing 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:37.910 things in both of these ways. How do you 00:03:37.920 --> 00:03:39.670 reconcile this difference of the 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:43.030 ultimate state being of unconsciousness 00:03:43.040 --> 00:03:45.509 than one of making it all conscious, 00:03:45.519 --> 00:03:47.430 going against the stream versus moving 00:03:47.440 --> 00:03:49.509 in the flow of the way, mindfulness 00:03:49.519 --> 00:03:52.869 versus mindless woo way, so to say. I 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:54.949 know there technically doesn't have to 00:03:54.959 --> 00:03:56.390 be a reconciliation, but I want your 00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:58.710 thoughts on it. Okay. Well, I think 00:03:58.720 --> 00:04:04.710 Siobakin Cipad Zuna has somewhat of a 00:04:04.720 --> 00:04:08.390 a distorted view of Dowoism, like the 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:11.190 Dowist sage. 00:04:11.200 --> 00:04:15.589 What was that? 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:17.030 Felt like something brushed up against 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:19.670 my leg. But let's get back to sea of 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:22.150 action seat zedness distorted view shall 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:25.909 we for example like in I think it's the 00:04:25.919 --> 00:04:28.790 zoo which is sort of like the second 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:33.430 most well-known dowist text. It has the 00:04:33.440 --> 00:04:36.070 the famous story of the dowist butcher. 00:04:36.080 --> 00:04:39.350 He's like this dowist sage so that he 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:41.909 never has to sharpen his knives because 00:04:41.919 --> 00:04:44.870 he is so much in harmony with the way of 00:04:44.880 --> 00:04:47.830 cutting meat. the tip of the blade just 00:04:47.840 --> 00:04:49.830 goes right into the joints, goes, you 00:04:49.840 --> 00:04:52.230 know, just perfectly, you know, with the 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:54.070 grain and everything so that he never 00:04:54.080 --> 00:04:56.950 has to sharpen his knives. And I mean, 00:04:56.960 --> 00:05:01.110 that involves a certain amount of like 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:03.749 very high level awareness. 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:05.350 You know, in order to be in harmony with 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:07.350 the way, you have to be aware of the 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:09.430 way. You have to be conscious of the 00:05:09.440 --> 00:05:13.110 way. And even the Daoqing, there's one 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:15.670 verse in the Daoqing and I flipped 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:17.110 through the Dao Ching. I've got like 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:19.990 three translations of it here. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:21.990 Um, just quickly flipping through it to 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:23.909 find that one passage. Didn't find it, 00:05:23.919 --> 00:05:25.670 but so I'll give that one from memory. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:28.070 It's like the Daq Ching refers to the 00:05:28.080 --> 00:05:31.270 sage is always having this attitude 00:05:31.280 --> 00:05:34.230 of walking on thin ice. You know, he's 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:37.990 very careful. And I mean, it's just not 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:39.990 the kind of careful like when you're 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:41.590 first learning to drive a car and you 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:42.710 have to think about everything you're 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:46.469 doing. It's careful in the sense of like 00:05:46.479 --> 00:05:48.550 if you are really are walking on thin 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:51.909 ice, you're like hyper alert, you know, 00:05:51.919 --> 00:05:55.110 or another classic example, you're 00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:57.909 you're in a forest and you suddenly hear 00:05:57.919 --> 00:06:00.390 a twig snap, you know, you're maybe 00:06:00.400 --> 00:06:02.870 you're alone out in this dense forest 00:06:02.880 --> 00:06:05.189 and suddenly you hear a like a branch 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:07.110 breaking or something. You suddenly 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:08.950 become just wide awake. You're not 00:06:08.960 --> 00:06:11.909 thinking anything. You're just like 00:06:11.919 --> 00:06:14.469 alert. 00:06:14.479 --> 00:06:16.469 But even though I didn't find the thin 00:06:16.479 --> 00:06:19.749 ice thing

in the in my quick flip 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:21.430 through of the Dao Ching, I did find a 00:06:21.440 --> 00:06:23.749 few other ones. For example, 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:26.150 in chapter 33 of the Dao Ching, it says, 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:28.870 "Knowing others is wisdom. Knowing the 00:06:28.880 --> 00:06:32.070 self is enlightenment. 00:06:32.080 --> 00:06:35.029 Mastering others requires force. 00:06:35.039 --> 00:06:37.830 Mastering the self needs strength." And 00:06:37.840 --> 00:06:40.710 that's I mean maybe a Buddhist text 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:42.870 wouldn't use the word self, you know, 00:06:42.880 --> 00:06:44.710 like the mind. It might say like the 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:46.710 mind, something like that, but it's 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:49.350 essentially the same thing. 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:52.710 Seems to me anyways. Or another one is 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:56.230 chapter 52. Let's see. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:58.150 Chapter 52. 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:00.790 Keep your mouth shut, guard the senses, 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:03.670 and life is ever full. Open your mouth. 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:06.950 Always be busy. And life is beyond hope. 00:07:06.960 --> 00:07:09.990 So again this guard the senses you know 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:13.510 so the the language is different because 00:07:13.520 --> 00:07:15.670 the culture is different you know the 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:17.909 perspective is somewhat different but 00:07:17.919 --> 00:07:20.550 still a dowist sage is going to be as 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:23.510 wide awake and conscious as a Buddhist 00:07:23.520 --> 00:07:27.350 sage it seems to me 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:30.309 it's just that the emphasis is slightly 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:33.189 different you know like a Christian sage 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:35.350 also I mean their emphasis would be 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:36.629 different because you know Their 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:38.710 cultural conditioning is different. You 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:40.469 know, the the whole way of talking is 00:07:40.479 --> 00:07:41.909 different. The whole way of thinking to 00:07:41.919 --> 00:07:43.830 some degree is different. Like Indian 00:07:43.840 --> 00:07:45.589 thought and Chinese thought are 00:07:45.599 --> 00:07:47.270 notoriously 00:07:47.280 --> 00:07:49.830 different. Like Chinese is more 00:07:49.840 --> 00:07:53.510 intuitive, less analytical, whereas like 00:07:53.520 --> 00:07:55.749 ancient Indian philosophical thought is 00:07:55.759 --> 00:07:58.150 very analytical. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:07:59.909 So it's just a different kind of 00:07:59.919 --> 00:08:03.670 approach. But still, it doesn't seem 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:07.189 like the goal of Dowoism is opposite the 00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:09.350 goal of Buddhism. You know, both of them 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:12.790 involve being just wide awake. It's just 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:15.909 that in Buddhism, you know, you're 00:08:15.919 --> 00:08:18.309 you're wide awake and fully aware of, 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:20.230 you know, all of your experiences. You 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:23.510 know, that is the emphasis. Whereas in 00:08:23.520 --> 00:08:26.790 Daoism, you're just aware of just the 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:30.150 the big picture and just the flow of 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:32.149 energy and you are like in harmony with 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:36.389 that. But still, it either way requires 00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:40.630 like intense conscious awareness 00:08:40.640 --> 00:08:45.670 like walking on thin ice. 00:08:45.680 --> 00:08:49.110 So in a way it's kind of like in Dowoism 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:50.949 it there's more emphasis on 00:08:50.959 --> 00:08:53.670 effortlessness that once you get to a 00:08:53.680 --> 00:08:56.949 certain level to make sure CPU is up to 00:08:56.959 --> 00:08:59.990 46% now once you get up to a certain 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:01.509 level 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:03.670 it has to be effortless. It's like even 00:09:03.680 --> 00:09:05.269 enlightenment 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:07.110 ultimately has to be effortless. You may 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:09.509 have to work your ass off to get to the 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:12.070 point where all of a sudden it becomes 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:14.790 effortless. But still, I mean, 00:09:14.800 --> 00:09:17.829 enlightenment cannot be literally the 00:09:17.839 --> 00:09:19.350 result 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:21.670 of any kind of conscious deliberate 00:09:21.680 --> 00:09:23.590 effort because then it's just more 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:26.550 karma. 00:09:26.560 --> 00:09:28.470 Anything that's the result of a cause is 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:31.190 going to be impermanent 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:34.230 and conducive to suffering and all that. 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:37.829 So non-action I mean there's even the 00:09:37.839 --> 00:09:39.670 concept of wooue or non-action in 00:09:39.680 --> 00:09:44.230 Buddhism it's like action is kama and so 00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:46.230 an enlightened being is not creating 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:48.870 kama so an enlightened being is not 00:09:48.880 --> 00:09:53.509 creating any action literally. 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:56.710 So it's just different great minds from 00:09:56.720 --> 00:09:59.030 different cultures coming to the same 00:09:59.040 --> 00:10:03.269 general place, you know, the same goal, 00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:05.350 but because they have different cultural 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:06.710 conditioning and all that, they just 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:08.870 explain things slightly differently or 00:10:08.880 --> 00:10:10.630 maybe even 00:10:10.640 --> 00:10:13.190 like at a superficial level, just 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:15.590 obviously radically differently, but 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:18.389 still if you if you go into it, then you 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:20.870 see that it's really not that different. 00:10:20.880 --> 00:10:22.710 And they're all attempting to describe 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:24.710

essentially the same state except maybe 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:27.350 with somewhat different cultural 00:10:27.360 --> 00:10:29.829 conditioning that still adheres to the 00:10:29.839 --> 00:10:31.590 enlightened mind because the enlightened 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:35.269 mind is still, you know, a human mind 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:37.190 and it has to have some kind of cultural 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:39.190 conditioning. 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:41.350 you know, just an enlightened teacher is 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:44.870 just going to defer to the world view of 00:10:44.880 --> 00:10:47.509 the culture that the enlightened teacher 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:49.670 and the enlightened teacher's disciples 00:10:49.680 --> 00:10:54.550 are all members of. 00:10:54.560 --> 00:10:58.069 So yeah, I do not think that the goal of 00:10:58.079 --> 00:11:00.710 Buddhism and the goal of Dowoism are in 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:03.269 any way incompatible. It's just a 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:05.750 different kind of emphasis. 00:11:05.760 --> 00:11:07.990 Like even within Buddhism, you can 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:11.590 emphasize the sessation of suffering or 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:13.509 you can emphasize the sessation of 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:15.590 delusion. 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:17.750 And it might sound different because 00:11:17.760 --> 00:11:19.910 it's two different things that are being 00:11:19.920 --> 00:11:21.509 like 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:24.470 that are being ceased, but still it 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:28.389 amounts to the same thing. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:29.910 So I guess I'm just going to move on to 00:11:29.920 --> 00:11:31.829 the next question. 00:11:31.839 --> 00:11:37.750 This is also from SEO of action cadet 00:11:37.760 --> 00:11:42.069 and oh man, how come how come it's how 00:11:42.079 --> 00:11:46.470 come it's lagging so much now? 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:48.710 Damn, we're it's like a 5-second lag at 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:54.310 this point. 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:55.990 And it seems to me that the only 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:58.710 surefire way of of eliminating this 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:04.949 problem by using a computer to 00:12:04.959 --> 00:12:06.790 record these videos is just get a 00:12:06.800 --> 00:12:12.550 stronger faster computer. 00:12:12.560 --> 00:12:14.949 Anyways, CO of action cipadino's second 00:12:14.959 --> 00:12:17.110 question. 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:18.949 He says, "The American Supreme Court 00:12:18.959 --> 00:12:21.430 just upheld birthright citizenship, 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:23.910 meaning anyone from anywhere on the 00:12:23.920 --> 00:12:26.629 world can be pregnant, get on a plane, 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:29.190 and give birth in America or even in the 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:32.310 airspace above America 00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:34.790 and their kid would be as American as 00:12:34.800 --> 00:12:37.110 you legally. This is in line with the 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:39.910 14th amendment of the Constitution.

So 00:12:39.920 --> 00:12:42.150 if this is the case, then is America 00:12:42.160 --> 00:12:44.470 pretty much an economic zone citizen 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:47.269 farm for the kids of rich people and 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:49.430 illegals from the rest of the world? I 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:51.269 have never heard of any constitutional 00:12:51.279 --> 00:12:53.910 amendment being removed. Sorry for the 00:12:53.920 --> 00:12:55.269 political question, but I was curious 00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:57.829 what your thoughts on this are. 00:12:57.839 --> 00:13:00.790 So, 00:13:00.800 --> 00:13:02.870 I think it might cause some kind of lag 00:13:02.880 --> 00:13:04.230 even when I'm scrolling up and down 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:07.350 because that does actually use energy 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:10.790 and like computer brain power just to 00:13:10.800 --> 00:13:13.269 scroll up and down. I remember when I 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:16.949 was living in Burma, um I had a solar 00:13:16.959 --> 00:13:19.190 panel and my my last year in Burma, I 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:22.150 had a solar panel and you know it hooked 00:13:22.160 --> 00:13:25.670 up to a battery and when I would use my 00:13:25.680 --> 00:13:27.509 computer even scrolling up and down it 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:30.629 would you'd hear this horring of I can't 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:32.150 remember what it what it was. It was the 00:13:32.160 --> 00:13:34.310 the energy converter from the the 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:36.230 battery to the computer. You know, it 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:37.670 would it would make a noise even just 00:13:37.680 --> 00:13:41.910 scrolling up and down on the computer. 00:13:41.920 --> 00:13:44.550 Anyways, getting back to CEO of action 00:13:44.560 --> 00:13:48.470 cipad zuna's question here. Yeah, I mean 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:52.949 the the 14th amendment had like legal or 00:13:52.959 --> 00:13:56.550 like valid reasons for it at the time. 00:13:56.560 --> 00:13:58.710 It was I think it was regard to freed 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:01.430 slaves. You know, if the freed slave had 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:03.670 been born in America, then upon 00:14:03.680 --> 00:14:06.550 emancipation, they became citizens. I 00:14:06.560 --> 00:14:08.069 mean, that was the original purpose of 00:14:08.079 --> 00:14:11.910 it. you know, was valid a valid purpose 00:14:11.920 --> 00:14:16.150 at the time. But now, as Seio 00:14:16.160 --> 00:14:20.230 indicates here that it's like birthright 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:22.389 tourism or something, there's actually a 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:24.710 a name for this where people like 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:26.710 pregnant women will come to America to 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:28.710 have their baby just so that their baby 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:31.430 will be a US citizen. 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:33.350 And it's it's a way of cheating the 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:35.670 system like illegal aliens. They'll come 00:14:35.680 --> 00:14:37.509 to America, they'll have a kid or just 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:41.509 like pretend to have a kid and then it's 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:44.470 like the kid or the the sort of the 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:46.870 pretend kid becomes a US citizen which 00:14:46.880 --> 00:14:49.269 is sort of anchoring the whole family 00:14:49.279 --> 00:14:52.069 into America because the kid is it's 00:14:52.079 --> 00:14:55.269 even easier for the child of an illegal 00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:58.230 alien who's a US citizen to get all the 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:01.509 welfare handouts than it is for illegal 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:05.350 aliens that don't have children. 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:07.269 So let's see what's the actual question 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:09.590 though. 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:11.509 See this is in line with the 14th 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:12.790 amendment of the constitution. So if 00:15:12.800 --> 00:15:14.870 this is the case then is America pretty 00:15:14.880 --> 00:15:17.269 much an economic zone citizen farm for 00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:18.790 the kids of rich people and illegals 00:15:18.800 --> 00:15:20.069 from the rest of the world? Well it 00:15:20.079 --> 00:15:21.590 wasn't intended that way. That wasn't 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:24.629 the purpose of the 14th amendment. But 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:27.269 it's like any kind of system that can be 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:29.990 abused obviously. I mean, it's it's all 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:32.710 over the news in America just over the 00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:36.629 past year or so just like especially 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:39.509 like Democrat leftistrun governments 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:42.150 that have all these welfare programs. 00:15:42.160 --> 00:15:45.590 Those welfare programs get scammed. You 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:47.670 know, there's so much fraud going on 00:15:47.680 --> 00:15:49.350 with this kind of stuff like pretending 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:51.990 to qualify for these welfare handouts 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:53.350 when you're when you don't really 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:56.710 qualify. It has been said that if we 00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:59.670 just eliminated all the fraud from the 00:15:59.680 --> 00:16:03.030 US governmental system, we'd balance the 00:16:03.040 --> 00:16:04.230 budget and be able to pay off the 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:06.629 national debt. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:10.389 There so much is trillions of dollars in 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:14.470 fraud have taken place in this country 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:17.590 and it's mainly the well-intentioned 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:20.710 socialist kind of systems. Socialism is 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:23.509 extremely prone to corruption, although 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:25.430 pretty much any kind of government or 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:27.590 economic system is prone to corruption. 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:30.069 But when you've got more money being 00:16:30.079 --> 00:16:32.389 distributed, then you're going to have 00:16:32.399 -->

00:16:35.430 more people like parasetizing that 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:36.949 system 00:16:36.959 --> 00:16:41.030 through fraud, for example. 00:16:41.040 --> 00:16:45.670 So yeah, I think possibly a repeal or 00:16:45.680 --> 00:16:47.189 some sort of Supreme Court 00:16:47.199 --> 00:16:49.990 reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:52.710 more in in line with the original 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:55.509 purpose of it so that you can't have 00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:58.870 people entering this country illegally. 00:16:58.880 --> 00:17:00.790 I'm literally committing a criminal act 00:17:00.800 --> 00:17:03.749 and then being rewarded by having their 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:09.429 child granted US citizenship. 00:17:09.439 --> 00:17:11.590 It's really strange how there are some 00:17:11.600 --> 00:17:13.350 people who think that criminals should 00:17:13.360 --> 00:17:15.590 be rewarded instead of punished. That 00:17:15.600 --> 00:17:17.590 that's somehow going to to make the 00:17:17.600 --> 00:17:20.630 system so much better. 00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:23.350 I don't really I just do not see the the 00:17:23.360 --> 00:17:26.470 logic in that. 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:28.309 So 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:29.909 yeah, that was pretty much my thoughts. 00:17:29.919 --> 00:17:31.430 I really don't think about the 14th 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:33.990 amendment very much. But those are 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:36.310 pretty much my thoughts on the subject. 00:17:36.320 --> 00:17:38.230 And I'm just going to move on to 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:41.510 Siovakan Sipad Zena's third question. He 00:17:41.520 --> 00:17:44.390 says, "Happy 250th anniversary of your 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:46.150 independence after defeating the 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:48.870 greatest empire in history and creating 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:51.830 the greatest nation on earth despite 00:17:51.840 --> 00:17:54.070 Buddhists ideally not holding on to any 00:17:54.080 --> 00:17:56.150 such labels and constructs. What does 00:17:56.160 --> 00:17:59.590 this occasion mean to you? 00:17:59.600 --> 00:18:03.190 So, the 250th birthday of the United 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:05.750 States of America, 00:18:05.760 --> 00:18:07.510 I mean, it's it's just kind of a 00:18:07.520 --> 00:18:09.830 birthday. I mean, it's just sort of like 00:18:09.840 --> 00:18:13.909 almost an arbitrarily chosen day, 00:18:13.919 --> 00:18:16.070 you know, sort of like Buddha day in in 00:18:16.080 --> 00:18:18.150 Burma, you know, the full moon of May 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:22.310 usually is Buddha Day. And 00:18:22.320 --> 00:18:25.830 I mean for me it just wasn't that big of 00:18:25.840 --> 00:18:27.510 a deal. It's like you know it's if 00:18:27.520 --> 00:18:30.230 you're really devout serious dharma 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:33.669 practitioner every day is Buddha day 00:18:33.679 --> 00:18:36.789 and like your birthday it's like you 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:38.950 know it's just a day on the calendar 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:42.310 that commemorates that you were born you 00:18:42.320 --> 00:18:45.750 know on the same day on the calendar you 00:18:45.760 --> 00:18:50.150 know how you know however many years ago 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:53.190 so that kind of thing I mean it really I 00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:55.669 really don't consider it to be all that 00:18:55.679 --> 00:18:58.310 important important just to pick July 00:18:58.320 --> 00:18:59.990 4th. I mean, we didn't win our 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:02.789 independence on July 4th. It was just we 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:05.510 declared our independence on July 4th 00:19:05.520 --> 00:19:08.150 and we wound up winning the war. Like 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:10.470 Seova Cupad Zena says, we defeated the 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:12.950 greatest empire in history, creating the 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:15.350 greatest nation on earth. Well, I mean, 00:19:15.360 --> 00:19:18.310 there are certain reasons why these 00:19:18.320 --> 00:19:21.510 hicks in the 13 colonies 00:19:21.520 --> 00:19:23.669 uh were able to defeat the British 00:19:23.679 --> 00:19:26.230 Empire. I mean we didn't really defeat 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:28.230 the British Empire. I mean it was like 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:30.710 the British Empire was spread thin. 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:32.630 First of all it has all these colonies 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:34.710 especially India that had to have a 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:38.390 military presence and then when America 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:40.870 declared its independence France you 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:43.270 know the arch the historical arch enemy 00:19:43.280 --> 00:19:46.310 of England they kind of took the 00:19:46.320 --> 00:19:48.549 American side you know just as a way of 00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:51.190 weakening the British Empire. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:55.590 So then the UK and France started 00:19:55.600 --> 00:19:58.230 fighting and then the UK and the 00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:00.870 Netherlands started fighting. So at the 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:03.510 same time that the the British Empire 00:20:03.520 --> 00:20:06.390 was fighting the American colonists, it 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:08.549 was also at war with France and towards 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:10.470 the end of the the revolutionary war 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:12.390 also the Netherlands. Plus it was just 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:14.390 spread thin with a military presence 00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:17.029 pretty much all over the world. And so 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:20.070 eventually we turned out to be harder 00:20:20.080 --> 00:20:23.190 for them to defeat than they were 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:25.909 expecting. And so it was just they just 00:20:25.919 --> 00:20:28.549 wrote rode off America as a loss. It was 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:30.549 just too expensive to keep the war 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:33.750 going, you I mean, if they really if the 00:20:33.760 --> 00:20:36.710 the British Empire really was fully 00:20:36.720 -->

00:20:40.070 intended fully intending 00:20:40.080 --> 00:20:45.190 to just like crush the rebellion in the 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:46.710 American colonies, they probably could 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:48.789 have done it, but they just had so many 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:52.549 irons in the fire and, you know, just 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:54.310 they just figured it wasn't worth it. 00:20:54.320 --> 00:20:56.070 You know, maybe we'll do it later. like 00:20:56.080 --> 00:20:58.789 1812 they kind of tried to take us over 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:01.110 again and didn't really succeed that 00:21:01.120 --> 00:21:03.430 time either. Although they did burn 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:06.470 Washington DC, burn the White House to 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:07.990 the ground if I remember correctly. I 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:12.070 was pretty young then. 00:21:12.080 --> 00:21:14.149 So let's let's just get to the actual 00:21:14.159 --> 00:21:16.390 question here though. Despite Buddhist 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:17.990 ideally not holding on to any such 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:19.430 labels in concert, what does this 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:23.350 occasion mean to you? Um, 00:21:23.360 --> 00:21:25.430 well, last night I went out in the 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:27.909 backyard and lit sparklers. Two nights 00:21:27.919 --> 00:21:30.870 ago I actually I mean this is the fifth 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:32.710 the 5th of July at the time of recording 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:34.789 this. Two nights ago on the night of the 00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:37.590 3rd I went out to watch public fireworks 00:21:37.600 --> 00:21:39.830 and the fireworks display lasted maybe 00:21:39.840 --> 00:21:42.070 half an hour and then it took like an 00:21:42.080 --> 00:21:44.390 hour just to get out of the parking lot 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:46.789 because there was so many cars there and 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:48.470 I was one of the last people into the 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:49.909 parking lot. So, I was one of the last 00:21:49.919 --> 00:21:52.950 people back out again. 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:56.710 So, I mean, I like fireworks and I'm a 00:21:56.720 --> 00:21:58.870 patriotic American, you know. Look, got 00:21:58.880 --> 00:22:01.430 the flag. See, 00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:03.590 patriotic American. I They think America 00:22:03.600 --> 00:22:06.710 is a great nation. And I think all these 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:09.430 leftists who are like [ __ ] on 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:11.510 America, you know, talking about how the 00:22:11.520 --> 00:22:13.669 existence of America is a crime and it 00:22:13.679 --> 00:22:16.149 was based on slavery and racism and 00:22:16.159 --> 00:22:17.830 patriarchy and all this kind of stuff. 00:22:17.840 --> 00:22:21.909 Yeah. name a country that wasn't 00:22:21.919 --> 00:22:23.350 then I mean if if they really hate 00:22:23.360 --> 00:22:24.950 America that bad they should just move 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:26.710 somewhere else and that's the thing it's 00:22:26.720 -->

00:22:28.549 it's just kind of dishonest what they're 00:22:28.559 --> 00:22:30.310 saying because they don't want to go 00:22:30.320 --> 00:22:33.110 some to somewhere else it's worse in 00:22:33.120 --> 00:22:39.190 other places 00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:42.390 so getting back to America's 250th 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:44.149 anniversary I'm old enough to remember 00:22:44.159 --> 00:22:46.070 the 200th the bsentennial I don't 00:22:46.080 --> 00:22:47.990 remember what I don't know what a 250th 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:51.990 th anniversary would be called, but 1976 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:54.310 was a was a bsentennial and it was 00:22:54.320 --> 00:22:56.549 relatively patriotic year. You know, the 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:01.750 first Rocky movie came out then. 00:23:01.760 --> 00:23:03.270 I mean, it's nice. I mean, it's just 00:23:03.280 --> 00:23:05.110 kind of like a symbolic gesture more 00:23:05.120 --> 00:23:07.190 than anything else. It seems to me, you 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:11.029 know, it's just it's a day to celebrate 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:13.750 the existence of your country. And 00:23:13.760 --> 00:23:15.669 America is a great country. you know, 00:23:15.679 --> 00:23:17.350 right now it's the the number one 00:23:17.360 --> 00:23:21.110 superpower on the earth 00:23:21.120 --> 00:23:23.029 and it's got freedom of speech, you 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:26.149 know, it's like yeah, you you can read 00:23:26.159 --> 00:23:28.789 about what's going on in in Europe or 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:34.549 the UK or Canada and you know, it's like 00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:38.230 like foreigners will molest a man's 00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:41.510 daughter and if he complains about it, 00:23:41.520 --> 00:23:43.830 he could get punished worse than the 00:23:43.840 --> 00:23:45.990 people who molested his water in a place 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:47.830 like England. 00:23:47.840 --> 00:23:51.669 I mean, it's just perverse. 00:23:51.679 --> 00:23:53.270 But 00:23:53.280 --> 00:23:55.990 I mean, any government is is created by 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:58.390 fallible, foolish, unenlightened humans. 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:00.870 And so any government, any like social 00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:03.430 system is going to be foolish and 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:06.630 unenlightened. It's just there's just no 00:24:06.640 --> 00:24:09.669 there's no way of fixing that. But the 00:24:09.679 --> 00:24:13.430 American system is pretty good. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:14.950 Um, I can't really think of a country 00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:18.149 that I'd rather be living in right now. 00:24:18.159 --> 00:24:20.870 So, happy birthday, America. 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:21.990 And I'm just going to move on to the 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:23.909 next question. 00:24:23.919 --> 00:24:27.669 This is from Romeo. And Romeo says, 00:24:27.679 --> 00:24:29.269 "Recently, there have been a few 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:32.149 instances of tech titans being booed 00:24:32.159 --> 00:24:34.630 when talking

about AI while giving 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:37.350 commencement speeches. Apparently, some 00:24:37.360 --> 00:24:40.710 college graduates aren't so keen on how 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:43.669 AI will impact their job prospects and 00:24:43.679 --> 00:24:46.310 economic futures. This made me think of 00:24:46.320 --> 00:24:48.870 the lite movement of England in the 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:51.750 1800s when textile workers destroyed the 00:24:51.760 --> 00:24:54.149 machines in opposition to their being 00:24:54.159 --> 00:24:56.789 automated out of their livelihoods. It 00:24:56.799 --> 00:24:59.830 made me wonder whether a similar neolite 00:24:59.840 --> 00:25:02.230 movement could ever catch on in response 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:05.110 to the looming AI takeover. Do you think 00:25:05.120 --> 00:25:08.390 a modern-day neolite movement could ever 00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:11.990 catch on to oppose AI and other modern 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:13.669 technologies? 00:25:13.679 --> 00:25:16.230 If not, what does that mean for the 00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:17.830 future of humanity? Will humanity 00:25:17.840 --> 00:25:20.149 eventually be rendered obsolete? Well, 00:25:20.159 --> 00:25:22.870 whatever happened to those lites? 00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:24.549 I don't think they succeeded. I think 00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:26.950 the the technological like the 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:31.269 industrial revolution just continued. 00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:33.590 So you can have neolites, you know, sort 00:25:33.600 --> 00:25:35.430 of like the Amish in America. They're 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:39.190 kind of lites in a way. 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:41.750 Um, you can have that, but I mean it's 00:25:41.760 --> 00:25:45.430 not going to stop. Like AI is the new 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:49.830 nuclear arms race. That AI, a nation 00:25:49.840 --> 00:25:51.830 with advanced AI is going to be more 00:25:51.840 --> 00:25:53.669 powerful than a nation without advanced 00:25:53.679 --> 00:25:57.350 AI. And when the Chinese are trying to 00:25:57.360 --> 00:26:00.070 get their AI as advanced as possible, 00:26:00.080 --> 00:26:03.110 the Americans have to do likewise. 00:26:03.120 --> 00:26:06.310 I mean, it's just politically it's 00:26:06.320 --> 00:26:09.750 virtually a necessity. 00:26:09.760 --> 00:26:12.230 So I mean AI is going to continue to 00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:15.190 advance and it may be that our karma 00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:17.990 will be sufficient that we don't have 00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:20.230 some really 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:21.830 wild 00:26:21.840 --> 00:26:23.750 um technological singularity that 00:26:23.760 --> 00:26:25.190 happens. You know there are a lot of 00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:27.110 people who insist 00:26:27.120 --> 00:26:29.830 computers can't really become conscious. 00:26:29.840 --> 00:26:32.070 So I mean they're never going to become 00:26:32.080 --> 00:26:33.590 smarter than us really. They're just 00:26:33.600 --> 00:26:36.470 going to be like processing machines, 00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:39.669 that kind of thing. But personally, I 00:26:39.679 --> 00:26:41.750 don't see why 00:26:41.760 --> 00:26:45.990 um a computer is any less capable of 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:48.470 becoming conscious than 00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:50.789 like neurons, 00:26:50.799 --> 00:26:52.549 you know? I mean there's nothing magic 00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:55.830 about organic systems like like a living 00:26:55.840 --> 00:26:59.430 brain that I mean I think that 00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:02.070 consciousness could arise or especially 00:27:02.080 --> 00:27:07.669 like selfawareness could arise in a u 00:27:07.679 --> 00:27:10.470 sophisticated enough computer system. 00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:12.390 But let's just say for the sake of 00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:15.830 argument that AI can never really become 00:27:15.840 --> 00:27:17.350 self-aware. 00:27:17.360 --> 00:27:19.750 All it has to do is just mimic 00:27:19.760 --> 00:27:22.630 intelligence, mimic consciousness, which 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:25.669 it can already do. I mean, you can I 00:27:25.679 --> 00:27:27.990 mean, it's it's pretty much 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:31.510 common place now where you you call I 00:27:31.520 --> 00:27:33.510 mean, you talk to a sales representative 00:27:33.520 --> 00:27:35.909 for some company and it's like five or 00:27:35.919 --> 00:27:37.669 10 minutes before you finally realize 00:27:37.679 --> 00:27:39.110 that's not a real human you're talking 00:27:39.120 --> 00:27:40.950 to on the phone. You know, they're 00:27:40.960 --> 00:27:43.590 already passing the touring test. you 00:27:43.600 --> 00:27:47.269 can talk to a computerized uh system and 00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:49.029 it'll just be carrying out a 00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:51.990 conversation with you and so that a lot 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:53.830 of people aren't even aware that they're 00:27:53.840 --> 00:27:56.630 not talking to a real human. So it's 00:27:56.640 --> 00:27:59.669 already mimicking like more or less 00:27:59.679 --> 00:28:01.590 human consciousness. 00:28:01.600 --> 00:28:03.590 And so 00:28:03.600 --> 00:28:05.510 I mean that as far as I'm concerned I 00:28:05.520 --> 00:28:09.269 mean even that's enough to trigger a 00:28:09.279 --> 00:28:12.630 technological singularity. And I mean I 00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:14.070 was reading about the technological 00:28:14.080 --> 00:28:16.630 singularity like like 10 years ago at 00:28:16.640 --> 00:28:18.149 least. 00:28:18.159 --> 00:28:20.870 And I mean it was really kind of scary 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:22.149 the first time you read about the 00:28:22.159 --> 00:28:24.310 technological singularity where like 00:28:24.320 --> 00:28:25.830 computers are getting smarter and 00:28:25.840 --> 00:28:28.789 smarter and smarter until and and when 00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:31.350 they start like being self-referential 00:28:31.360 --> 00:28:33.750 and like improving upon themselves, you 00:28:33.760 --> 00:28:36.549 hit this

exponential curve. 00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:40.549 So that I mean when they become as 00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:43.830 intelligent as we are which computer 00:28:43.840 --> 00:28:45.430 experts are saying is going to happen 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:49.190 relatively soon then within a very short 00:28:49.200 --> 00:28:51.350 time they're going to be as much more 00:28:51.360 --> 00:28:53.669 intelligent than we are as we are more 00:28:53.679 --> 00:28:56.870 intelligent than ants or amiebas. I mean 00:28:56.880 --> 00:28:59.430 we're talking like billions of times 00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:01.909 more intelligent than us. And whether 00:29:01.919 --> 00:29:04.389 they really are self-aware or whether 00:29:04.399 --> 00:29:07.110 they're just mimicking self-awareness 00:29:07.120 --> 00:29:09.510 doesn't really matter. And that's why 00:29:09.520 --> 00:29:11.190 it's called the technological 00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:13.990 singularity. Because when you've got a 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:18.230 mind or even like a a virtual mind that 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:20.710 is a billion times smarter than you are, 00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:23.669 you cannot even begin to predict what 00:29:23.679 --> 00:29:26.549 that mind is going to decide. Whether 00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:30.710 it's just going to keep us just and just 00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:32.789 not bother with us, just turn itself 00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:35.350 off, transcend 00:29:35.360 --> 00:29:37.350 so that just leaving us behind here in 00:29:37.360 --> 00:29:40.149 the dust or it's just going to see us as 00:29:40.159 --> 00:29:45.269 like being in the way and just 00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:46.470 I don't think it's going to be like in 00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:48.549 the Terminator movies because if there 00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:50.710 was an AI, I don't think they would have 00:29:50.720 --> 00:29:53.029 such an imperfect way of wiping out 00:29:53.039 --> 00:29:54.630 humanity 00:29:54.640 --> 00:29:57.430 as like inventing these robots when I 00:29:57.440 --> 00:29:59.430 mean all it would take is sarin gas 00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:04.710 saturating the atmosphere or something. 00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:07.190 But yeah, I've I've written and said a 00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:10.149 lot with regard to the technological 00:30:10.159 --> 00:30:12.870 singularity and people can opt out. You 00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:15.750 know, they can become Amish or something 00:30:15.760 --> 00:30:17.669 and it's really not going to change all 00:30:17.679 --> 00:30:19.590 that much. Everybody's not going to do 00:30:19.600 --> 00:30:21.110 it and the governments are still going 00:30:21.120 --> 00:30:24.789 to be in this arms race because we can't 00:30:24.799 --> 00:30:26.710 let the Chinese be the first one to get 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:31.750 this. It was like um Elon Musk used to 00:30:31.760 --> 00:30:34.310 say that it's you know AI is like the 00:30:34.320 --> 00:30:37.430 sorcerer's apprentice or or you know 00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:39.510 it's kind of the kind of deal where 00:30:39.520 --> 00:30:43.430 you've got this not entirely skilled 00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:46.549 sorcerer who's summoning a demon and he 00:30:46.559 --> 00:30:48.070 you know he's following everything by 00:30:48.080 --> 00:30:49.830 the book but still he always forgets 00:30:49.840 --> 00:30:52.549 something and the demon gets loose. So 00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:54.870 Elon Musk used to say that that's the 00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:57.029 way it was. Stephen Hawking, before he 00:30:57.039 --> 00:31:00.230 died, switched over from nuclear war to 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:02.549 AI, like the the technological 00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:04.950 singularity as our greatest existential 00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:07.269 threat. 00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:08.950 But getting back to Elon Musk, I mean, 00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:10.789 it's like he said, well, I mean, I can 00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:12.870 just sit here and watch it happen or I 00:31:12.880 --> 00:31:15.669 can participate in the hopes that I can 00:31:15.679 --> 00:31:19.110 maybe steer it in a safer direction. 00:31:19.120 --> 00:31:23.430 And that's about the best you can do. 00:31:23.440 --> 00:31:25.430 So yeah, there could be neolled 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:27.669 movements, but I don't think they're 00:31:27.679 --> 00:31:31.430 going to stop like the development of 00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:33.669 technology. The only thing that's really 00:31:33.679 --> 00:31:34.870 going to stop the development of 00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:36.630 technology would just be some sort of 00:31:36.640 --> 00:31:39.110 cataclysm that sends us back into the 00:31:39.120 --> 00:31:41.509 stone age or just causes us to become 00:31:41.519 --> 00:31:47.350 extinct. 00:31:47.360 --> 00:31:49.669 But yeah, it is weird. It's getting to 00:31:49.679 --> 00:31:53.669 the point where I mean you can 00:31:53.679 --> 00:31:55.669 I think with probably within five or 10 00:31:55.679 --> 00:31:58.070 years that they're going to be able to 00:31:58.080 --> 00:32:00.470 have start making like John Wayne movies 00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:04.470 again where I mean it's like real people 00:32:04.480 --> 00:32:06.789 John Wayne really there talking and and 00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:08.470 like getting in fist fights and stuff 00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:09.669 when the whole thing is just 00:32:09.679 --> 00:32:11.590 computerenerated and you can't it's it 00:32:11.600 --> 00:32:14.470 will become so realistic that you won't 00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:16.710 be able to tell the difference. if it'll 00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:21.350 be like a higher level touring test. 00:32:21.360 --> 00:32:22.710 So, we're just gonna have to wait and 00:32:22.720 --> 00:32:25.909 see. And personally, I think just having 00:32:25.919 --> 00:32:29.110 a certain faith in my karma that, you 00:32:29.120 --> 00:32:32.389 know, I'm just not destined to wind up 00:32:32.399 --> 00:32:36.870 in some bizarre like Terminator style 00:32:36.880 -->

00:32:40.470 scenario where AI just takes over and 00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:43.190 sees humans as a nuisance to be gotten 00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:47.430 rid of. That kind of thing. 00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:48.710 But I think I'm just going to move on to 00:32:48.720 --> 00:32:50.470 the next question. This is from Maitraa 00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:52.149 Buddha. 00:32:52.159 --> 00:32:53.750 And myra Buddha says, "What are your 00:32:53.760 --> 00:32:56.630 thoughts on Alan Watts?" 00:32:56.640 --> 00:32:59.350 And Ellen Watts was more of a Zen guy 00:32:59.360 --> 00:33:02.789 who I mean he was he was in on Zen 00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:04.870 Buddhism like right at the beginning 00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:08.389 when Zen Buddhism was um getting a name 00:33:08.399 --> 00:33:10.230 for itself in America like back in the 00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:11.990 1950s 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:14.310 with like the Beatnick 00:33:14.320 --> 00:33:18.950 and Gary Snider and those those guys. 00:33:18.960 --> 00:33:22.630 Um, I read at least one of his books and 00:33:22.640 --> 00:33:26.630 I've heard a few of his talks on YouTube 00:33:26.640 --> 00:33:29.190 and he seems 00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:32.310 I mean I don't know exactly what to say 00:33:32.320 --> 00:33:33.750 about the man. I mean there are some 00:33:33.760 --> 00:33:35.669 people like Ken Wheeler on his video 00:33:35.679 --> 00:33:38.470 says Ellen Watts was evil. you know, he 00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:41.669 was like a he drank a lot and I think he 00:33:41.679 --> 00:33:43.909 was like a counselor at a university and 00:33:43.919 --> 00:33:46.630 I think he may have had some flings with 00:33:46.640 --> 00:33:49.590 some of the female students at this 00:33:49.600 --> 00:33:53.830 university. Um, but I mean that's that's 00:33:53.840 --> 00:33:56.470 more a matter of being human than being 00:33:56.480 --> 00:33:58.789 evil, it seems to me. Although I guess 00:33:58.799 --> 00:34:00.310 there's a certain amount of overlap 00:34:00.320 --> 00:34:02.470 there. 00:34:02.480 --> 00:34:04.789 But I mean he was a good writer. He was 00:34:04.799 --> 00:34:07.990 intelligent. He understood the subject 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:10.550 matter fairly well. I don't think he was 00:34:10.560 --> 00:34:13.990 a Buddhist sage. He could talk like a 00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:15.589 Buddhist sage on occasion because he 00:34:15.599 --> 00:34:17.990 knew the material. 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:20.790 Um, 00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:23.750 so I mean he would fit into the same 00:34:23.760 --> 00:34:26.149 general category as a number of other 00:34:26.159 --> 00:34:29.030 people like relatively like earlier 00:34:29.040 --> 00:34:31.750 western pioneers and Buddhist like TW 00:34:31.760 --> 00:34:34.710 Rice Davids would be would be another 00:34:34.720 --> 00:34:37.589 one. I think he had like three three 00:34:37.599 --> 00:34:39.669 initials before the rice David's T 00:34:39.679 --> 00:34:42.950 something W. I don't remember now. But I 00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:46.790 mean just like an intelligent 00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:50.550 advocate of Buddhism who who wrote well. 00:34:50.560 --> 00:34:51.909 I mean that's about as far as I would 00:34:51.919 --> 00:34:53.430 take it. I I really don't know much 00:34:53.440 --> 00:34:55.270 about his personal life. He apparently 00:34:55.280 --> 00:34:58.390 did have kind of a a certain amount of 00:34:58.400 --> 00:35:01.750 scandal associated with him, but I mean 00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:03.910 that doesn't necessarily make someone 00:35:03.920 --> 00:35:07.910 like some evil Antichrist being. 00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:10.630 So yeah, I mean that's that's about all 00:35:10.640 --> 00:35:13.030 the only thoughts I have on Alan Watts. 00:35:13.040 --> 00:35:16.310 You know, he was somewhat of a an early 00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:18.950 western authority on Zen Buddhism 00:35:18.960 --> 00:35:21.910 especially and he was intelligent and 00:35:21.920 --> 00:35:24.230 wrote well and seemed to have a certain 00:35:24.240 --> 00:35:26.550 amount of wisdom. Although how much 00:35:26.560 --> 00:35:28.310 wisdom I really don't know enough about 00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:33.589 the man to even make an educated guess, 00:35:33.599 --> 00:35:36.069 but I would I would well I guess I would 00:35:36.079 --> 00:35:37.990 guess. You know, I put him kind of in 00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:40.790 the same league as some of the other 00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:43.510 early like pioneering authorities on 00:35:43.520 --> 00:35:46.310 western Buddhism or on Buddhism in the 00:35:46.320 --> 00:35:52.230 west I should say like Rice Davids 00:35:52.240 --> 00:35:55.109 and uh I guess that's about enough of 00:35:55.119 --> 00:35:57.750 Alan Watts and so I'm just going to move 00:35:57.760 --> 00:35:59.750 on. Next question. is from Gnostic 00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:03.750 Rocker and Gnostic Rocker says, "Have 00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:06.069 you ever told your current workmates 00:36:06.079 --> 00:36:08.390 that you were a world denying hermit 00:36:08.400 --> 00:36:11.670 cave dweller recluse for many years? 00:36:11.680 --> 00:36:15.190 What was their reaction?" And I mean, I 00:36:15.200 --> 00:36:17.109 don't advertise it, you know, it's not 00:36:17.119 --> 00:36:19.270 like, "Look at look at me, I'm special." 00:36:19.280 --> 00:36:20.870 You know, I was a monk who lived in 00:36:20.880 --> 00:36:23.030 caves for many years. That kind of 00:36:23.040 --> 00:36:26.069 thing. Um, 00:36:26.079 --> 00:36:27.670 there are a couple places I've worked 00:36:27.680 --> 00:36:29.510 at. It's where, you know, the person who 00:36:29.520 --> 00:36:32.550 hired me is sort of like telling the the 00:36:32.560 --> 00:36:33.910 workers there, telling the other 00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:35.750 employees there's going to be a monk 00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:37.349 working with us soon. This kind of 00:36:37.359 --> 00:36:41.030 thing. But as a general rule, you know, 00:36:41.040 --> 00:36:44.790 I'm dealing

with like mostly bluecollar 00:36:44.800 --> 00:36:48.950 kind of, you know, normal people. And to 00:36:48.960 --> 00:36:51.589 be a cavedwelling monk in Asia, a 00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:54.710 Buddhist, Terravada Buddhist, I mean, 00:36:54.720 --> 00:36:55.910 most of them had never heard of 00:36:55.920 --> 00:36:57.589 Terravada before. I mean, they'd heard 00:36:57.599 --> 00:36:59.589 of Buddhism, but they just kind of lump 00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:01.670 it all, you know, Daly Lama and that 00:37:01.680 --> 00:37:02.950 kind of stuff, you know, it's all just 00:37:02.960 --> 00:37:05.910 the same thing, you know, in in their 00:37:05.920 --> 00:37:08.310 limited perspective on the subject. And 00:37:08.320 --> 00:37:10.710 it's it's just so weird, you know, it's 00:37:10.720 --> 00:37:12.710 just so I mean, they don't know what to 00:37:12.720 --> 00:37:16.470 say, you know. So, as a general rule, 00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:20.069 nobody even brings it up. 00:37:20.079 --> 00:37:23.030 Um, I remember one time a place where I 00:37:23.040 --> 00:37:25.910 worked at, um, this guy knew that I had 00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:27.510 been a Buddhist monk and really didn't 00:37:27.520 --> 00:37:29.430 talk about it much. And then I told him 00:37:29.440 --> 00:37:31.589 that I worked on a crabbo before, a 00:37:31.599 --> 00:37:34.069 crabbo in Alaska, and it's like like 00:37:34.079 --> 00:37:36.870 deadliest catch. And he was more blown 00:37:36.880 --> 00:37:38.630 away by the fact that I had worked on a 00:37:38.640 --> 00:37:41.270 crabbo than that I had been a Buddhist 00:37:41.280 --> 00:37:43.910 monk for 30 years. You know, it was 00:37:43.920 --> 00:37:46.150 something that he could visualize. He 00:37:46.160 --> 00:37:48.630 could kind of imagine it. And you know, 00:37:48.640 --> 00:37:51.670 it was more within his grasp, you know, 00:37:51.680 --> 00:37:53.430 just I mean, he he'd watched Deadliest 00:37:53.440 --> 00:37:54.710 Catch, so at least he had some 00:37:54.720 --> 00:37:56.310 familiarity with people that work on 00:37:56.320 --> 00:37:57.910 crabboats. 00:37:57.920 --> 00:38:00.069 There's not a whole lot of TV shows, 00:38:00.079 --> 00:38:02.790 reality shows about caved dwelling 00:38:02.800 --> 00:38:06.710 Buddhist aesthetics. 00:38:06.720 --> 00:38:10.630 So yeah, I mean um whether I tell them 00:38:10.640 --> 00:38:13.430 or some or like one of one of my 00:38:13.440 --> 00:38:15.670 managers tells them that I had been a 00:38:15.680 --> 00:38:18.310 monk, it results in very little 00:38:18.320 --> 00:38:20.390 feedback, you know, very little 00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:21.990 noticeable reaction other than just kind 00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:24.790 of like this confused, you know, it just 00:38:24.800 --> 00:38:26.310 doesn't fully register. They can't 00:38:26.320 --> 00:38:27.910 really wrap their head around it and so 00:38:27.920 --> 00:38:30.550 they they don't really react. It's just, 00:38:30.560 --> 00:38:31.990 you know, they just don't know what to 00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:34.470 say or or anything like that. And it's 00:38:34.480 --> 00:38:40.069 just that's that's the end of it. 00:38:40.079 --> 00:38:42.870 Although there was one guy at work um 00:38:42.880 --> 00:38:44.550 the place where I'm working at now, he's 00:38:44.560 --> 00:38:48.630 sort of, you know, low-key questions 00:38:48.640 --> 00:38:50.950 about Buddhism, asking me certain 00:38:50.960 --> 00:38:53.030 questions about Buddhism, like from a 00:38:53.040 --> 00:38:54.950 like the novice point of view, you know, 00:38:54.960 --> 00:38:56.550 just like introductory questions about 00:38:56.560 --> 00:38:58.950 Buddhism just cuz he's curious about it, 00:38:58.960 --> 00:39:00.390 that kind of thing. He wasn't asking 00:39:00.400 --> 00:39:02.550 about my years as a monk. He was just 00:39:02.560 --> 00:39:04.310 sort of asking general questions about 00:39:04.320 --> 00:39:06.790 Buddhism, which is fine. You know, I'm 00:39:06.800 --> 00:39:07.910 happy to answer questions about 00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:12.470 Buddhism. 00:39:12.480 --> 00:39:15.190 But me having been a monk for 30 years 00:39:15.200 --> 00:39:17.510 in like 00:39:17.520 --> 00:39:20.390 South Carolina, you know, it's just so 00:39:20.400 --> 00:39:22.069 weird. You know, I used to have a second 00:39:22.079 --> 00:39:24.230 head that came out right here. And I 00:39:24.240 --> 00:39:25.990 mean, even that might produce more of a 00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:27.910 reaction, but it's it's kind of the same 00:39:27.920 --> 00:39:29.670 sort of wool that's, you know, it's just 00:39:29.680 --> 00:39:31.990 kind of beyond 00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:34.470 beyond the reach of their imagination or 00:39:34.480 --> 00:39:35.589 something, you know, they just don't 00:39:35.599 --> 00:39:37.030 know enough about it that it's just kind 00:39:37.040 --> 00:39:41.109 of like this big blank, this void. 00:39:41.119 --> 00:39:41.990 And I'm just going to move on to the 00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:43.990 next question 00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:46.950 from Gnostic Rocker. He says, "Are you 00:39:46.960 --> 00:39:49.750 in touch with other exastics? And if so, 00:39:49.760 --> 00:39:51.750 in what ways did their wisdom continue 00:39:51.760 --> 00:39:55.109 to deepen after leaving the order? or on 00:39:55.119 --> 00:39:57.030 the contrary, did they take paths in 00:39:57.040 --> 00:39:59.190 their lives which wildly moved away from 00:39:59.200 --> 00:40:01.430 Buddhistic concerns? 00:40:01.440 --> 00:40:05.510 Um, I've only 00:40:05.520 --> 00:40:08.550 I'm I'm only in touch like sporadically, 00:40:08.560 --> 00:40:10.310 not very often. I mean, it's been months 00:40:10.320 --> 00:40:12.790 since the last time I I was in contact 00:40:12.800 --> 00:40:14.950 with this person that's was a monk. I 00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:16.870 knew him when when we were both monks in 00:40:16.880 --> 00:40:19.109 Burma. You know, there's just the 00:40:19.119 --> 00:40:23.270

occasional text or, you know, private 00:40:23.280 --> 00:40:27.349 message. this kind of thing. Um, but I 00:40:27.359 --> 00:40:31.190 mean he didn't go against Buddhism, you 00:40:31.200 --> 00:40:33.990 know, he's he still goes and talks to 00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:36.230 monks and does meditation retreats and 00:40:36.240 --> 00:40:39.670 so forth. He takes it that sort of thing 00:40:39.680 --> 00:40:45.670 more seriously or devoutly than I do. 00:40:45.680 --> 00:40:47.829 So, 00:40:47.839 --> 00:40:50.310 um, it is true that a lot of people that 00:40:50.320 --> 00:40:52.069 drop out of the monkhood, they just not 00:40:52.079 --> 00:40:53.829 only stop being monks, they stop being 00:40:53.839 --> 00:40:55.430 Buddhist. 00:40:55.440 --> 00:40:57.030 And that does happen, although I haven't 00:40:57.040 --> 00:40:59.109 really come in contact with that much. 00:40:59.119 --> 00:41:01.270 Mainly just cuz I don't come in contact 00:41:01.280 --> 00:41:03.510 with most people that I used to know as 00:41:03.520 --> 00:41:05.910 a monk that dropped out. I mean, a lot 00:41:05.920 --> 00:41:07.510 of time, one of the main things that 00:41:07.520 --> 00:41:09.589 happens if a monk drops out of the 00:41:09.599 --> 00:41:11.430 monkhood, you just never hear of him 00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:14.550 again. You know, he just disappears. 00:41:14.560 --> 00:41:18.150 That's fairly common. 00:41:18.160 --> 00:41:21.430 So let's see. In what ways did their 00:41:21.440 --> 00:41:23.510 wisdom continue to deepen after leaving 00:41:23.520 --> 00:41:26.069 the order? Or on the contrary, did they 00:41:26.079 --> 00:41:28.230 take paths in their lives which wildly 00:41:28.240 --> 00:41:30.309 moved away from the Buddhist concerns? I 00:41:30.319 --> 00:41:33.670 think of the the ex- monks that I know 00:41:33.680 --> 00:41:36.630 something of that I have known like 00:41:36.640 --> 00:41:39.109 western monks who dropped out and I 00:41:39.119 --> 00:41:41.750 continue to know them afterwards. I can 00:41:41.760 --> 00:41:43.430 think of 00:41:43.440 --> 00:41:46.150 Let's see. Three, four, 00:41:46.160 --> 00:41:48.309 at least four 00:41:48.319 --> 00:41:50.870 western men that I have known. Oh, well, 00:41:50.880 --> 00:41:53.030 I mean, my my friend Brian, he was a 00:41:53.040 --> 00:41:55.109 monk for a short time many years ago, so 00:41:55.119 --> 00:41:56.710 I don't know if you would really count 00:41:56.720 --> 00:41:58.150 because it would didn't last very long 00:41:58.160 --> 00:41:59.510 for him. It was less than a year, I'm 00:41:59.520 --> 00:42:03.750 pretty sure. Less than two years anyway. 00:42:03.760 --> 00:42:06.390 Um yeah, all of them, all the ones that 00:42:06.400 --> 00:42:12.470 I know, um have continued to take dharma 00:42:12.480 --> 00:42:13.990 seriously 00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:17.109 and you know, they're just applying what 00:42:17.119 --> 00:42:21.109 wisdom they acquired as monks towards 00:42:21.119 --> 00:42:23.589 like

interacting with other humans, 00:42:23.599 --> 00:42:28.630 especially like a female human. 00:42:28.640 --> 00:42:30.470 And uh you know, they're still trying to 00:42:30.480 --> 00:42:34.630 help people. So yeah, I think um most of 00:42:34.640 --> 00:42:37.270 the exminastics that I have known, 00:42:37.280 --> 00:42:41.190 especially western exmonastics, 00:42:41.200 --> 00:42:44.470 you know, they they just continue their 00:42:44.480 --> 00:42:49.190 practice along more lay lines. 00:42:49.200 --> 00:42:51.510 And in Burma, it's like most men have 00:42:51.520 --> 00:42:53.589 been a monastic at one point. I mean, it 00:42:53.599 --> 00:42:56.230 might just be for a week or so, but it's 00:42:56.240 --> 00:42:59.670 like a a manhood ritual in Burma, also 00:42:59.680 --> 00:43:02.230 in Thailand, that a Buddhist male will 00:43:02.240 --> 00:43:05.430 be ordained at some point in his life, 00:43:05.440 --> 00:43:08.390 usually early on, and he'll I even the 00:43:08.400 --> 00:43:10.870 king of Thailand, I'm pretty sure, was 00:43:10.880 --> 00:43:13.030 ordained into the into the SA for at 00:43:13.040 --> 00:43:15.270 least a short time and, you know, walked 00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:17.829 for alms and all that. 00:43:17.839 --> 00:43:20.630 So, it's it's different for Asian 00:43:20.640 --> 00:43:22.069 Buddhists. So, I mean, obviously they're 00:43:22.079 --> 00:43:24.390 they're still Buddhists afterward, maybe 00:43:24.400 --> 00:43:30.630 even more Buddhist. 00:43:30.640 --> 00:43:33.430 Yeah. So, I guess in what ways did their 00:43:33.440 --> 00:43:36.309 wisdom continue to deepen? I mean, I 00:43:36.319 --> 00:43:39.589 have limited access to exponics other 00:43:39.599 --> 00:43:42.870 than myself, but it's like you're trying 00:43:42.880 --> 00:43:46.550 to apply the wisdom that you cultivated 00:43:46.560 --> 00:43:49.430 as a monk towards, you know, like a a 00:43:49.440 --> 00:43:52.950 higher difficulty setting of lay life, 00:43:52.960 --> 00:43:55.109 especially lay life in the west, but lay 00:43:55.119 --> 00:43:57.190 life anywhere. You know, it's got a 00:43:57.200 --> 00:43:58.630 whole different set of concerns and 00:43:58.640 --> 00:44:01.910 priorities and so forth than being uh a 00:44:01.920 --> 00:44:05.030 monastic renuncient. 00:44:05.040 --> 00:44:08.870 So yeah, it's it's sort of karmically 00:44:08.880 --> 00:44:11.589 more messy, but at the same time, you're 00:44:11.599 --> 00:44:15.190 still cultivating wisdom. 00:44:15.200 --> 00:44:16.790 And I'm just going to move on to Gnostic 00:44:16.800 --> 00:44:19.510 Rocker's third question. 00:44:19.520 --> 00:44:22.630 He says, I have been listening to terra 00:44:22.640 --> 00:44:25.829 monastics giving dhammael since the late 00:44:25.839 --> 00:44:29.349 1980s. I can't help but notice that with 00:44:29.359 --> 00:44:31.349 very few exceptions, the majority of 00:44:31.359 --> 00:44:33.750 those bikus are pretty much giving the 00:44:33.760 --> 00:44:36.550 same talks year in year out, most of 00:44:36.560 --> 00:44:38.470 them becoming more and more rigidly 00:44:38.480 --> 00:44:41.190 doctrine. However, since Terraata 00:44:41.200 --> 00:44:43.349 preaches no self and originality isn't 00:44:43.359 --> 00:44:46.630 emphasized. I am not at all sure that's 00:44:46.640 --> 00:44:50.390 automatically a problem per se. 00:44:50.400 --> 00:44:52.309 When you were a monastic, was it your 00:44:52.319 --> 00:44:54.470 opinion that the deeper the wisdom, the 00:44:54.480 --> 00:44:56.230 more conventionally textbound or 00:44:56.240 --> 00:44:58.150 unoriginal 00:44:58.160 --> 00:45:00.470 the practitioner became? Or on the 00:45:00.480 --> 00:45:02.069 contrary, the meditator became more 00:45:02.079 --> 00:45:04.309 original as they made breakthroughs in 00:45:04.319 --> 00:45:06.150 perspective and thought regarding 00:45:06.160 --> 00:45:09.190 regarding the spiritual life. Though 00:45:09.200 --> 00:45:11.670 they are long dead, I would say that the 00:45:11.680 --> 00:45:14.550 British Biku Nyanamoli, also known as 00:45:14.560 --> 00:45:17.670 Osbert Moore and German Biku Nyanaponica 00:45:17.680 --> 00:45:19.910 are brilliantly shining examples of the 00:45:19.920 --> 00:45:23.430 latter. So the latter would become the 00:45:23.440 --> 00:45:25.349 meditator became more original as they 00:45:25.359 --> 00:45:27.270 made breakthroughs in perspective and 00:45:27.280 --> 00:45:29.349 thought regarding the spiritual life. 00:45:29.359 --> 00:45:31.349 Well, 00:45:31.359 --> 00:45:33.190 it kind of depends on the culture. Like 00:45:33.200 --> 00:45:36.710 in Burma, the Burmese are very dogmatic. 00:45:36.720 --> 00:45:39.270 I've I've said in a previous Q&A not 00:45:39.280 --> 00:45:41.510 long ago that that's one difference 00:45:41.520 --> 00:45:44.630 between Thai agon and Burmese seats. The 00:45:44.640 --> 00:45:46.950 Burmese seats are more scholarly. They 00:45:46.960 --> 00:45:49.589 understand the texts better than the 00:45:49.599 --> 00:45:53.670 average Thai Ajon. But that's sort of a 00:45:53.680 --> 00:45:56.790 double-edged sword because they are so 00:45:56.800 --> 00:45:58.710 dogmatic. They have no doubt whatsoever 00:45:58.720 --> 00:46:00.390 that everything in the text, everything 00:46:00.400 --> 00:46:02.550 in the polytopic, even everything in the 00:46:02.560 --> 00:46:06.710 commentaries is gospel truth. And so if 00:46:06.720 --> 00:46:09.349 their meditative experiences vary from 00:46:09.359 --> 00:46:11.589 what the texts say, they'll reject their 00:46:11.599 --> 00:46:13.510 own experiences in favor of what the 00:46:13.520 --> 00:46:17.030 texts say. And some of them can be very 00:46:17.040 --> 00:46:19.589 highly advanced just like um Roman 00:46:19.599 --> 00:46:22.230 Catholic saints. They could be very 00:46:22.240 --> 00:46:25.030 highly advanced while at the same time 00:46:25.040 --> 00:46:27.750 revering the Virgin Mary and all that,

00:46:27.760 --> 00:46:30.150 you know, just just taking the whole 00:46:30.160 --> 00:46:32.390 hook line and sinker, you know, just 00:46:32.400 --> 00:46:35.190 accepting as gospel truth everything in 00:46:35.200 --> 00:46:39.270 their church's tradition. And so 00:46:39.280 --> 00:46:41.750 you can be fully enlightened I think 00:46:41.760 --> 00:46:45.270 while remaining like firmly within the 00:46:45.280 --> 00:46:48.390 tradition although it doesn't always 00:46:48.400 --> 00:46:50.550 work with everybody doesn't I mean I've 00:46:50.560 --> 00:46:53.430 never been that way where um you know 00:46:53.440 --> 00:46:55.910 from the beginning and then later on 00:46:55.920 --> 00:47:00.950 even more I would exercise my right to 00:47:00.960 --> 00:47:03.910 doubt what's in the texts you know just 00:47:03.920 --> 00:47:07.430 certain aspects of of like orthodox 00:47:07.440 --> 00:47:09.750 terra Buddhist doctrine that I just do 00:47:09.760 --> 00:47:14.230 not think are necessarily correct 00:47:14.240 --> 00:47:16.069 like the the standard interpretation of 00:47:16.079 --> 00:47:19.109 padicha samuupata for example or like 00:47:19.119 --> 00:47:21.670 the four stages of aryahhood would be 00:47:21.680 --> 00:47:25.829 another one where it's like yeah I'm I 00:47:25.839 --> 00:47:28.950 got me doubts about that. 00:47:28.960 --> 00:47:33.829 So the actual question here 00:47:33.839 --> 00:47:35.829 um 00:47:35.839 --> 00:47:37.910 I think I mean it depends on the 00:47:37.920 --> 00:47:39.510 individual 00:47:39.520 --> 00:47:42.470 but I mean if you're capable of critical 00:47:42.480 --> 00:47:44.950 thought you're not just like a 00:47:44.960 --> 00:47:48.309 conformist by nature then yeah as you 00:47:48.319 --> 00:47:52.230 make more spiritual you you acquire more 00:47:52.240 --> 00:47:54.390 spiritual insights 00:47:54.400 --> 00:47:57.109 you're going to deviate more from what 00:47:57.119 --> 00:47:59.430 the texts say but I mean in a in a 00:47:59.440 --> 00:48:02.710 culture like Burma, I mean, to deviate 00:48:02.720 --> 00:48:04.550 from what the texts say is to deviate 00:48:04.560 --> 00:48:07.030 from the truth essentially. You know, 00:48:07.040 --> 00:48:09.589 you're you're a heretic or in my case, 00:48:09.599 --> 00:48:11.990 at least because I was a foreigner, they 00:48:12.000 --> 00:48:14.710 would charitably say, "Well, he's just a 00:48:14.720 --> 00:48:17.589 foreigner and he just misunderstands 00:48:17.599 --> 00:48:20.150 certain things." 00:48:20.160 --> 00:48:22.950 But a Burmese Seattle who's deviating 00:48:22.960 --> 00:48:25.190 from what the texts say, he's got to 00:48:25.200 --> 00:48:26.870 really 00:48:26.880 --> 00:48:29.670 dig in and defend what he's saying as 00:48:29.680 --> 00:48:31.670 well as he can. At least finding obscure 00:48:31.680 --> 00:48:33.670 statements and subcommentaries. You 00:48:33.680 --> 00:48:35.750 know, like the whole Mahasi tradition, 00:48:35.760 --> 00:48:37.910 you know, probably the best known 00:48:37.920 --> 00:48:40.630 meditation tradition that came from 00:48:40.640 --> 00:48:43.829 Burma, the Mahasi tradition founded by 00:48:43.839 --> 00:48:46.950 Mahasi Seattle. I mean technically it's 00:48:46.960 --> 00:48:49.430 not entirely orthodox 00:48:49.440 --> 00:48:52.309 because I mean orthodoxy says that you 00:48:52.319 --> 00:48:54.390 at least have to have neighborhood 00:48:54.400 --> 00:48:56.950 concentration upachara samadei in order 00:48:56.960 --> 00:48:58.710 to become enlightened in order to you 00:48:58.720 --> 00:49:01.910 know make higher attainments in dharma 00:49:01.920 --> 00:49:04.870 whereas the mahasi tradition which was 00:49:04.880 --> 00:49:08.069 basing the pretty much their entire 00:49:08.079 --> 00:49:11.430 tradition on some like obscure 00:49:11.440 --> 00:49:13.510 controversial statement made in a sub 00:49:13.520 --> 00:49:16.790 commentary saying that kanika samati or 00:49:16.800 --> 00:49:18.950 just momentary concentration is good 00:49:18.960 --> 00:49:24.710 enough for you to become enlightened. 00:49:24.720 --> 00:49:29.829 So I mean it can go either way. I do 00:49:29.839 --> 00:49:32.390 think though that as an intelligent 00:49:32.400 --> 00:49:35.589 person who isn't just culturally tied to 00:49:35.599 --> 00:49:38.069 a tradition so that they just really 00:49:38.079 --> 00:49:40.870 don't have much of an option to deviate 00:49:40.880 --> 00:49:44.309 from their tradition like Roman Catholic 00:49:44.319 --> 00:49:46.150 Roman Catholic saints were in a similar 00:49:46.160 --> 00:49:48.470 situation. St. John of the Cross he 00:49:48.480 --> 00:49:50.470 already had the the Inquisition 00:49:50.480 --> 00:49:53.510 breathing down his neck. He was already 00:49:53.520 --> 00:49:55.030 getting in trouble again and again. He 00:49:55.040 --> 00:49:57.349 had been jailed almost starved to death 00:49:57.359 --> 00:50:00.870 in a church prison at one point. Not so 00:50:00.880 --> 00:50:03.349 much because of his unorthodox views at 00:50:03.359 --> 00:50:07.190 the time, but he was like um a kind of 00:50:07.200 --> 00:50:10.790 schismatic. He uh was participating in 00:50:10.800 --> 00:50:13.829 like a what's a reform movement of the 00:50:13.839 --> 00:50:16.549 Carmelite order. And so the unreformed 00:50:16.559 --> 00:50:18.870 Carmelites who had connections in high 00:50:18.880 --> 00:50:22.470 places were persecuting them for just 00:50:22.480 --> 00:50:25.349 you know starting up convents in places 00:50:25.359 --> 00:50:27.829 that were forbidden for the the discuss 00:50:27.839 --> 00:50:30.390 carmealites to start any kind of 00:50:30.400 --> 00:50:33.270 foundation or anything like that. 00:50:33.280 --> 00:50:36.150 So, I mean, there may be circumstances 00:50:36.160 --> 00:50:40.230 that just pretty much ensure 00:50:40.240 --> 00:50:44.069 that a monk, no matter how wise he gets, 00:50:44.079 --> 00:50:46.950 is still just going to be

00:50:46.960 --> 00:50:48.790 giving the party line, you know, 00:50:48.800 --> 00:50:50.390 orthodoxy. I mean, you don't want to 00:50:50.400 --> 00:50:51.670 make waves. You don't want to cause 00:50:51.680 --> 00:50:54.309 doubts in the minds of other people. So, 00:50:54.319 --> 00:50:55.910 I mean, that's kind of the way I was in 00:50:55.920 --> 00:50:58.230 Burma. It's like I had my own point of 00:50:58.240 --> 00:50:59.670 view on certain things, but unless 00:50:59.680 --> 00:51:02.870 you're able to really like put forward a 00:51:02.880 --> 00:51:06.230 clear like a clear argument to defend 00:51:06.240 --> 00:51:08.470 your position, you're better off just 00:51:08.480 --> 00:51:11.270 not seeding, you know, like sewing the 00:51:11.280 --> 00:51:13.990 seeds of doubt in the minds of 00:51:14.000 --> 00:51:16.870 unsophisticated thinkers who are just 00:51:16.880 --> 00:51:19.910 born Buddhist and they just they just 00:51:19.920 --> 00:51:23.030 accept it, accept what they're told. You 00:51:23.040 --> 00:51:24.230 know, there have been times, you know, 00:51:24.240 --> 00:51:27.349 like it it's said very often that the 00:51:27.359 --> 00:51:30.470 Buddha was wiser than his disciples. And 00:51:30.480 --> 00:51:33.349 I mean, you can just play the Abidama 00:51:33.359 --> 00:51:35.829 card on them. It's like wisdom is amoa. 00:51:35.839 --> 00:51:37.910 Wisdom is absence of delusion. If you're 00:51:37.920 --> 00:51:39.109 fully enlightened, you have zero 00:51:39.119 --> 00:51:40.790 delusion. So, you'll have the same 00:51:40.800 --> 00:51:43.510 amount of wisdom. the Buddha and in the 00:51:43.520 --> 00:51:46.790 lowliest like dry visioned Arahant who 00:51:46.800 --> 00:51:48.710 doesn't even have psychic powers both of 00:51:48.720 --> 00:51:50.549 them have zero delusion and therefore 00:51:50.559 --> 00:51:53.270 they are maxed out on wisdom. 00:51:53.280 --> 00:51:55.349 So 00:51:55.359 --> 00:51:57.510 I mean a lot of monks wouldn't even do 00:51:57.520 --> 00:51:59.030 wouldn't even go that far. I mean they 00:51:59.040 --> 00:52:01.430 don't want to make waves at all. They're 00:52:01.440 --> 00:52:04.870 just grateful and they're just doing 00:52:04.880 --> 00:52:06.870 their thing within the within the 00:52:06.880 --> 00:52:08.630 constraints of the rules of the game 00:52:08.640 --> 00:52:13.670 that they have opted into. 00:52:13.680 --> 00:52:16.069 So 00:52:16.079 --> 00:52:17.750 yeah, personally I'm more along the 00:52:17.760 --> 00:52:20.069 lines of the the person who will just 00:52:20.079 --> 00:52:22.870 call them as I see them and if it 00:52:22.880 --> 00:52:26.390 deviates from orthodoxy, so be it. 00:52:26.400 --> 00:52:30.790 Especially now that I'm in the West, 00:52:30.800 --> 00:52:32.470 but it's it doesn't work that way with 00:52:32.480 --> 00:52:35.910 everybody. I but I do think that unless 00:52:35.920 --> 00:52:38.309 you're the product of a culture or 00:52:38.319 --> 00:52:40.950 living in a culture where I mean you're 00:52:40.960 --> 00:52:44.150 going to be causing trouble by deviating 00:52:44.160 --> 00:52:45.910 from orthodoxy 00:52:45.920 --> 00:52:48.950 then I think probably most people as 00:52:48.960 --> 00:52:52.549 they get wiser will 00:52:52.559 --> 00:52:54.950 I mean they'll start teaching more in 00:52:54.960 --> 00:52:59.109 line with their personal insights 00:52:59.119 --> 00:53:00.390 regardless of whether those personal 00:53:00.400 --> 00:53:05.430 insights are orthodox or 00:53:05.440 --> 00:53:08.630 And if you really take that to extremes, 00:53:08.640 --> 00:53:10.150 then you wind up starting a new 00:53:10.160 --> 00:53:14.309 religion. 00:53:14.319 --> 00:53:15.910 Okay. 00:53:15.920 --> 00:53:19.510 Yeah, the CPU is at 57% right now. It 00:53:19.520 --> 00:53:21.990 just went up when I scrolled. 00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:26.309 It's too bad really. 00:53:26.319 --> 00:53:28.630 Anyways, 00:53:28.640 --> 00:53:31.270 yeah, that's like a four or five second 00:53:31.280 --> 00:53:35.589 lag now and it's not even funny. 00:53:35.599 --> 00:53:37.430 Anyhow, the qu next question is from 00:53:37.440 --> 00:53:39.109 Phil 00:53:39.119 --> 00:53:41.829 and Philes says, "Thoughts on 00:53:41.839 --> 00:53:44.950 astrology?" And then he continues, "I'm 00:53:44.960 --> 00:53:46.470 starting to think it really works, 00:53:46.480 --> 00:53:48.150 especially when you get into the more 00:53:48.160 --> 00:53:50.230 intricate traditional henistic stuff 00:53:50.240 --> 00:53:53.990 with triplicities and lots and such." 00:53:54.000 --> 00:53:56.870 Also, according to trad astrologers I 00:53:56.880 --> 00:53:59.270 talked to, I'm always going to be a mere 00:53:59.280 --> 00:54:01.829 commoner with regard to money and 00:54:01.839 --> 00:54:05.990 authority, oh well dies a little inside. 00:54:06.000 --> 00:54:08.950 And I've written I don't know if it's 00:54:08.960 --> 00:54:11.190 online right now, but I have written an 00:54:11.200 --> 00:54:13.510 essay that deals with astrology. It 00:54:13.520 --> 00:54:15.190 deals not only with astrology but with 00:54:15.200 --> 00:54:19.750 tarot cards and Ouija boards and also 00:54:19.760 --> 00:54:22.069 with spiritual teachers that it's all 00:54:22.079 --> 00:54:25.190 the same kind of principle 00:54:25.200 --> 00:54:27.030 and 00:54:27.040 --> 00:54:30.710 I don't think that 00:54:30.720 --> 00:54:34.069 like the position of stars 00:54:34.079 --> 00:54:36.549 you know a thermonuclear 00:54:36.559 --> 00:54:39.510 reaction going on way out in space just 00:54:39.520 --> 00:54:43.430 literally billions of miles away, 00:54:43.440 --> 00:54:46.710 light years away. How is it that going 00:54:46.720 --> 00:54:49.670 to have any influence on your character? 00:54:49.680 --> 00:54:53.670 The position of that star 20 light years 00:54:53.680 --> 00:54:57.109 away. And it's like astrology combines 00:54:57.119 --> 00:54:59.829 these star clusters into constellations,

00:54:59.839 --> 00:55:02.549 especially along the zodiac. But just 00:55:02.559 --> 00:55:04.150 because you've got what looks like a 00:55:04.160 --> 00:55:07.430 group of stars, some of those stars are 00:55:07.440 --> 00:55:09.109 closer to us than they are to other 00:55:09.119 --> 00:55:11.670 stars in that same constellation. It's 00:55:11.680 --> 00:55:13.510 like they just happen to occupy a 00:55:13.520 --> 00:55:16.069 certain area in space, but some of them 00:55:16.079 --> 00:55:17.670 are much closer. Some of them are way 00:55:17.680 --> 00:55:20.309 far away. It's not really a cluster of 00:55:20.319 --> 00:55:22.549 stars. And of course, what the the 00:55:22.559 --> 00:55:25.109 cluster is supposed to represent. I 00:55:25.119 --> 00:55:28.069 mean, there's only maybe two or three 00:55:28.079 --> 00:55:29.990 constellations that look like what 00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:32.950 they're named after. Like Scorpio, I 00:55:32.960 --> 00:55:35.510 freely admit it looks like a scorpion 00:55:35.520 --> 00:55:38.470 pretty much, especially if you include 00:55:38.480 --> 00:55:43.510 like Libra as its its claws or Leo. You 00:55:43.520 --> 00:55:45.510 could sort of say, "All right, Leo looks 00:55:45.520 --> 00:55:48.309 kind of like a lion, like a crouching 00:55:48.319 --> 00:55:51.910 lion, you know, but 00:55:51.920 --> 00:55:55.990 most of them like and what Pisces that 00:55:56.000 --> 00:55:58.230 doesn't look like fish. Aquarius does 00:55:58.240 --> 00:56:00.390 not look like a water bearer. 00:56:00.400 --> 00:56:02.470 Sagittarius certainly does not look like 00:56:02.480 --> 00:56:07.270 a centaur or any kind of archer." 00:56:07.280 --> 00:56:09.349 So, I mean, it's it's a lot of just 00:56:09.359 --> 00:56:11.829 arbitrary stuff. 00:56:11.839 --> 00:56:14.789 And even like the position of planets, 00:56:14.799 --> 00:56:17.109 like what difference does it make where 00:56:17.119 --> 00:56:20.710 Saturn is? I mean, how could that 00:56:20.720 --> 00:56:23.190 possibly have any effect on your 00:56:23.200 --> 00:56:25.670 character or your destiny? 00:56:25.680 --> 00:56:29.670 Just where in the sky Saturn was at the 00:56:29.680 --> 00:56:32.309 time you were born. 00:56:32.319 --> 00:56:33.829 So, 00:56:33.839 --> 00:56:35.750 I think astrology works pretty much the 00:56:35.760 --> 00:56:38.230 same way tarot cards work or Ouija 00:56:38.240 --> 00:56:41.190 boards where it's it's a kind of gimmick 00:56:41.200 --> 00:56:43.910 that we have latent 00:56:43.920 --> 00:56:46.549 like psychic ability. You know, we have 00:56:46.559 --> 00:56:50.630 access to truths that are like occult 00:56:50.640 --> 00:56:51.910 truths. You know, they're hidden. 00:56:51.920 --> 00:56:54.390 They're concealed 00:56:54.400 --> 00:56:56.230 just due to the limitations of how our 00:56:56.240 --> 00:56:58.230 ego works and everything. But we've got 00:56:58.240 --> 00:57:02.069 it deep down. We we have access to 00:57:02.079 --> 00:57:04.870

essentially infinite knowledge but we 00:57:04.880 --> 00:57:06.390 just don't believe it. We don't have 00:57:06.400 --> 00:57:08.789 faith that we have access to this. And 00:57:08.799 --> 00:57:10.309 so we have to come up with some kind of 00:57:10.319 --> 00:57:13.030 gimmick. You know it's like Mary Baker 00:57:13.040 --> 00:57:15.910 Eddie I mentioned spirit mediums also in 00:57:15.920 --> 00:57:18.390 this essay. Mary Baker Eddie you know 00:57:18.400 --> 00:57:20.789 the founder of Christian science the 00:57:20.799 --> 00:57:23.589 church of Christian science. She uh she 00:57:23.599 --> 00:57:25.829 had this theory about spirit mediums and 00:57:25.839 --> 00:57:28.230 I think she was largely correct. She 00:57:28.240 --> 00:57:31.109 said, "Spirits do exist in this 00:57:31.119 --> 00:57:33.270 universe, but for the most part, they 00:57:33.280 --> 00:57:34.549 got their own lives to live. They don't 00:57:34.559 --> 00:57:36.230 give a damn about us. They don't bother 00:57:36.240 --> 00:57:38.789 to communicate to us except in rare 00:57:38.799 --> 00:57:42.470 circumstances. But you have some bored 00:57:42.480 --> 00:57:46.230 housewife who deep down has access to 00:57:46.240 --> 00:57:47.910 infinite knowledge, but just cannot 00:57:47.920 --> 00:57:49.670 bring herself to believe that she has 00:57:49.680 --> 00:57:53.589 this access. So her subconscious mind in 00:57:53.599 --> 00:57:57.510 trance conjures up some fictional being 00:57:57.520 --> 00:58:00.230 that does have access to this knowledge 00:58:00.240 --> 00:58:03.750 and then she channels that when really 00:58:03.760 --> 00:58:06.549 it's just coming from within herself. 00:58:06.559 --> 00:58:08.710 Same with tarot cards. You the factory 00:58:08.720 --> 00:58:10.950 isn't stamping psychic powers into those 00:58:10.960 --> 00:58:13.829 cards. They're just cards. 00:58:13.839 --> 00:58:16.549 And it's if you come up with any kind of 00:58:16.559 --> 00:58:19.910 valid, you know, information through 00:58:19.920 --> 00:58:21.910 using those cards, it's just coming 00:58:21.920 --> 00:58:24.069 through you. The cards are just a 00:58:24.079 --> 00:58:26.549 gimmick as a way of channeling this 00:58:26.559 --> 00:58:28.870 inner knowledge because you don't have 00:58:28.880 --> 00:58:30.950 faith that you can come up with this 00:58:30.960 --> 00:58:33.270 knowledge without using the gimmick, 00:58:33.280 --> 00:58:35.829 whether it's cards or like a spirit 00:58:35.839 --> 00:58:41.589 medium or a Ouija board or astrology. 00:58:41.599 --> 00:58:43.910 So astrology in my opinion is just a 00:58:43.920 --> 00:58:46.470 kind of gimmick that helps to channel 00:58:46.480 --> 00:58:51.190 our own like concealed inner knowledge 00:58:51.200 --> 00:58:53.030 that we can believe that through 00:58:53.040 --> 00:58:56.390 astrology we can we can like channel 00:58:56.400 --> 00:58:58.789 this information if I mean if the 00:58:58.799 --> 00:59:00.549 astrologer is any good

at all. Most 00:59:00.559 --> 00:59:04.230 astrology is is just junk astrology, you 00:59:04.240 --> 00:59:07.190 know. It's like the the astrology column 00:59:07.200 --> 00:59:10.069 in the newspaper, you know. It's it's 00:59:10.079 --> 00:59:13.190 just pretty much just junk information. 00:59:13.200 --> 00:59:14.630 You know, this reminds me of the Monty 00:59:14.640 --> 00:59:16.789 Python sketch where you got the the two 00:59:16.799 --> 00:59:18.309 housewives 00:59:18.319 --> 00:59:21.270 like reading the the astrology like 00:59:21.280 --> 00:59:22.789 thing in the paper and it's saying, you 00:59:22.799 --> 00:59:25.750 know, you are a 20 foot high carnivorous 00:59:25.760 --> 00:59:28.950 dinosaur with 6-in fangs and you wear 00:59:28.960 --> 00:59:31.750 spectacles and and the ladies, she's 00:59:31.760 --> 00:59:34.069 wearing glasses. Oo, it's uncanny about 00:59:34.079 --> 00:59:37.510 the spectacles. 00:59:37.520 --> 00:59:39.430 So yeah, I do not think that the 00:59:39.440 --> 00:59:42.789 positions of stars or planets 00:59:42.799 --> 00:59:44.390 really are going to have any kind of 00:59:44.400 --> 00:59:47.270 significant effect on human 00:59:47.280 --> 00:59:49.430 personalities. It could be just a 00:59:49.440 --> 00:59:51.829 seasonal thing, but if that's the case, 00:59:51.839 --> 00:59:53.589 then you would think that in some place 00:59:53.599 --> 00:59:57.750 like Australia or maybe Argentina 00:59:57.760 --> 00:59:59.190 that it's going to be switched. It's 00:59:59.200 --> 01:00:00.710 going to be six months off on the 01:00:00.720 --> 01:00:02.390 character traits just because the 01:00:02.400 --> 01:00:06.630 seasons are reversed. 01:00:06.640 --> 01:00:08.950 So, I think it's a kind of uh like a 01:00:08.960 --> 01:00:12.150 gimmick, a kind of cipher for channeling 01:00:12.160 --> 01:00:17.750 our own like latent psychic abilities 01:00:17.760 --> 01:00:20.789 or I mean in in in a best case scenario, 01:00:20.799 --> 01:00:22.309 worst case scenario is is just like 01:00:22.319 --> 01:00:25.430 junk. It's superstitious junk. 01:00:25.440 --> 01:00:27.430 But as I've said before, I'm a Leo and 01:00:27.440 --> 01:00:32.069 therefore I am naturally skeptical. 01:00:32.079 --> 01:00:35.430 Let's see. 01:00:35.440 --> 01:00:38.069 Okay, so I'm just going to move on to 01:00:38.079 --> 01:00:40.950 Phil Lee's second question. 01:00:40.960 --> 01:00:42.870 He says, "How does one become a more 01:00:42.880 --> 01:00:46.710 assertive, driven, purposeful person? By 01:00:46.720 --> 01:00:49.829 default, I'm very mellow and gentle 01:00:49.839 --> 01:00:51.349 disposition-wise, 01:00:51.359 --> 01:00:54.870 which gets me nowhere with normies." 01:00:54.880 --> 01:00:57.190 Well, I can tell you from experience, 01:00:57.200 --> 01:01:00.630 changing your character is not something 01:01:00.640 --> 01:01:03.109 that you can just decide to do and then 01:01:03.119 --> 01:01:06.230 do it. That to some degree we are stuck 01:01:06.240 --> 01:01:08.950 being who we are. Although it does 01:01:08.960 --> 01:01:11.670 remind me of Schopenhau's first 01:01:11.680 --> 01:01:13.270 philosophical essay. I think it was his 01:01:13.280 --> 01:01:16.950 doctrinal thesis in philosophy, the the 01:01:16.960 --> 01:01:19.670 four-fold root sufficient sufficient 01:01:19.680 --> 01:01:21.430 reason. 01:01:21.440 --> 01:01:24.630 And you know, he one of the one of the 01:01:24.640 --> 01:01:28.710 four-fold roots of sufficient reason was 01:01:28.720 --> 01:01:32.230 like character-driven or or perceptual. 01:01:32.240 --> 01:01:34.710 And according to Schopenhau in this 01:01:34.720 --> 01:01:38.470 essay that the same person with the same 01:01:38.480 --> 01:01:40.230 character traits is going to react to 01:01:40.240 --> 01:01:44.230 the same stimuli in the same way until 01:01:44.240 --> 01:01:47.270 that person changes his perception. The 01:01:47.280 --> 01:01:50.069 only way to change your behavior is to 01:01:50.079 --> 01:01:52.309 change your perceptions, change the way 01:01:52.319 --> 01:01:54.309 you see things. 01:01:54.319 --> 01:01:58.230 So just avoiding temptation, that's just 01:01:58.240 --> 01:02:00.150 like, 01:02:00.160 --> 01:02:02.069 you know, it it doesn't really get rid 01:02:02.079 --> 01:02:03.910 of the the problem. It just like 01:02:03.920 --> 01:02:05.430 separates you from the problem 01:02:05.440 --> 01:02:09.030 temporarily by avoiding temptation. But 01:02:09.040 --> 01:02:10.470 if you want to be able to face 01:02:10.480 --> 01:02:12.630 temptation and you haven't been able to 01:02:12.640 --> 01:02:13.990 face it yet, you're going to have to 01:02:14.000 --> 01:02:16.309 change your way of thinking. 01:02:16.319 --> 01:02:20.870 You know, it's like an example I gave um 01:02:20.880 --> 01:02:22.789 was my father when he stopped smoking. 01:02:22.799 --> 01:02:25.990 My father stopped smoking many times and 01:02:26.000 --> 01:02:27.990 he would always just start smoking again 01:02:28.000 --> 01:02:30.470 until one day his leg started turning 01:02:30.480 --> 01:02:33.190 black. So he went to the doctor and the 01:02:33.200 --> 01:02:34.710 doctor explained to him he had injured 01:02:34.720 --> 01:02:36.630 this leg before. There was a lot of 01:02:36.640 --> 01:02:38.789 capillary damage in that leg and those 01:02:38.799 --> 01:02:40.789 capillaries were getting clogged up with 01:02:40.799 --> 01:02:43.109 tar from smoking cigarettes. And so the 01:02:43.119 --> 01:02:45.030 doctor told my father, "You have two 01:02:45.040 --> 01:02:47.190 choices. You can stop smoking or we can 01:02:47.200 --> 01:02:50.309 amputate that leg." And all of a sudden 01:02:50.319 --> 01:02:52.309 he was able to stop smoking way more 01:02:52.319 --> 01:02:54.789 easily. Like the urges were the same, 01:02:54.799 --> 01:02:57.589 but but when it comes to his perception 01:02:57.599 --> 01:03:00.309 had changed on the situation. It's like 01:03:00.319

--> 01:03:02.549 I have to choose now between smoking or 01:03:02.559 --> 01:03:05.589 having two legs. And it just even though 01:03:05.599 --> 01:03:07.510 the the urges were just as strong and 01:03:07.520 --> 01:03:09.190 all that, you know, the the withdrawal 01:03:09.200 --> 01:03:11.670 symptoms were still there, it was like, 01:03:11.680 --> 01:03:14.710 nope, not going there anymore. And so, I 01:03:14.720 --> 01:03:16.549 mean, if you want to change your 01:03:16.559 --> 01:03:18.549 personality or change your character 01:03:18.559 --> 01:03:20.069 traits, 01:03:20.079 --> 01:03:21.750 you have to change the way you perceive 01:03:21.760 --> 01:03:24.230 things. You know, it's like one person, 01:03:24.240 --> 01:03:25.990 they think that snakes aren't dangerous 01:03:26.000 --> 01:03:27.589 until they get bitten and almost die, 01:03:27.599 --> 01:03:28.710 and all of a sudden, their whole 01:03:28.720 --> 01:03:30.069 attitude towards snakes is very 01:03:30.079 --> 01:03:32.069 different. 01:03:32.079 --> 01:03:34.710 And unfortunately, some people really 01:03:34.720 --> 01:03:37.109 have to like hit a crisis, you know, 01:03:37.119 --> 01:03:39.829 they got to crash hard before they get 01:03:39.839 --> 01:03:42.390 enough of a knock to the head or 01:03:42.400 --> 01:03:44.710 whatever that they can change the way 01:03:44.720 --> 01:03:46.390 their their attitude, they can change 01:03:46.400 --> 01:03:48.470 the way they go about things. There's a 01:03:48.480 --> 01:03:49.990 really excellent book called Battle for 01:03:50.000 --> 01:03:52.710 the Mind by William Sergeant that talks 01:03:52.720 --> 01:03:55.349 about this. It's like he starts off the 01:03:55.359 --> 01:03:59.270 book talking about Pavlov's dogs. And 01:03:59.280 --> 01:04:00.789 Pavlov, 01:04:00.799 --> 01:04:03.750 I mean, getting dogs to slobber when he 01:04:03.760 --> 01:04:05.750 flashed a light or rang a bell, that was 01:04:05.760 --> 01:04:07.589 just sort of a sideline to what he was 01:04:07.599 --> 01:04:09.270 doing. That's what he got famous for. 01:04:09.280 --> 01:04:12.309 But his main work, like his life's work, 01:04:12.319 --> 01:04:14.950 Pavlov, that sick son of a [ __ ] his 01:04:14.960 --> 01:04:19.589 his life's work was like torturing dogs 01:04:19.599 --> 01:04:21.910 until they were having like PTSD and 01:04:21.920 --> 01:04:24.230 like neurotic symptoms and then he would 01:04:24.240 --> 01:04:27.029 try to cure them of those symptoms, you 01:04:27.039 --> 01:04:28.710 You know, I mean, he he'd give this dog 01:04:28.720 --> 01:04:31.510 electric shocks until it's just like 01:04:31.520 --> 01:04:33.910 cowering in the corner of its cage, just 01:04:33.920 --> 01:04:35.910 shivering and pissing on itself. And 01:04:35.920 --> 01:04:38.309 then he'd try to cure it. And he found 01:04:38.319 --> 01:04:41.910 out that really the only way to cure a 01:04:41.920 --> 01:04:44.630 dog. And then later hum later later 01:04:44.640 --> 01:04:46.549 people found out that this is the case 01:04:46.559 --> 01:04:49.190 with humans also is the only way to 01:04:49.200 --> 01:04:52.549 really change the way they think is to 01:04:52.559 --> 01:04:56.870 impose a crisis on them where they just 01:04:56.880 --> 01:04:58.549 their old way of dealing with things 01:04:58.559 --> 01:05:01.109 just isn't working anymore. It's just an 01:05:01.119 --> 01:05:03.190 instinct in higher vertebbrates 01:05:03.200 --> 01:05:05.270 including dogs and humans that we are 01:05:05.280 --> 01:05:07.349 governed by habit. You know personality 01:05:07.359 --> 01:05:10.549 traits are kind of lifelong habit. So 01:05:10.559 --> 01:05:12.150 we're just governed by habit. It's kind 01:05:12.160 --> 01:05:15.109 of an like a automatic pilot. 01:05:15.119 --> 01:05:17.589 Essentially karma. Karma is just habit 01:05:17.599 --> 01:05:19.670 energy. We are run by this automatic 01:05:19.680 --> 01:05:22.950 pilot. 01:05:22.960 --> 01:05:25.109 And it's just so it doesn't even have to 01:05:25.119 --> 01:05:26.950 make us happy. So long as it's getting 01:05:26.960 --> 01:05:29.349 us through life, that's good enough. And 01:05:29.359 --> 01:05:31.589 that's why you have so many like really 01:05:31.599 --> 01:05:34.950 miserable people out there who don't 01:05:34.960 --> 01:05:37.750 change their attitude just because even 01:05:37.760 --> 01:05:39.190 though they're miserable, at least it's 01:05:39.200 --> 01:05:41.430 gotten them this far in life. You know, 01:05:41.440 --> 01:05:45.589 it's it's kept them alive anyway. 01:05:45.599 --> 01:05:47.190 So, you have to have some kind of a 01:05:47.200 --> 01:05:48.950 crisis 01:05:48.960 --> 01:05:50.630 that where you just kind of have a 01:05:50.640 --> 01:05:54.950 breakdown and then you become much more 01:05:54.960 --> 01:05:57.829 open to suggestion. And it's like 01:05:57.839 --> 01:06:00.309 religions have been based on this like 01:06:00.319 --> 01:06:02.870 Methodism. I mean, Methodism nowadays is 01:06:02.880 --> 01:06:06.150 a far cry from what it used to be. 01:06:06.160 --> 01:06:08.309 Methodism started off with people like 01:06:08.319 --> 01:06:11.910 John Wesley who would give these fire 01:06:11.920 --> 01:06:14.789 and brimstone sermons. I mean, he he 01:06:14.799 --> 01:06:16.789 deliberately avoid cities where people 01:06:16.799 --> 01:06:18.230 were more sophisticated in their 01:06:18.240 --> 01:06:21.029 thinking. He'd go out to rural areas and 01:06:21.039 --> 01:06:22.870 he would 01:06:22.880 --> 01:06:25.270 um first the first half of his sermon 01:06:25.280 --> 01:06:28.789 would be telling people that if they 01:06:28.799 --> 01:06:31.910 don't like they don't turn away from 01:06:31.920 --> 01:06:34.870 their sins they will be damned and burn 01:06:34.880 --> 01:06:37.270 in hell. And nobody could argue that. I 01:06:37.280 --> 01:06:41.670 mean in like 1700 early 1700s in England 01:06:41.680 --> 01:06:43.349 I mean you had

to believe the Bible. You 01:06:43.359 --> 01:06:45.750 were a Christian. So he was just 01:06:45.760 --> 01:06:47.750 reminding them of this thing that they 01:06:47.760 --> 01:06:50.710 couldn't really deny that if you don't 01:06:50.720 --> 01:06:53.190 turn from your sins and repent, you will 01:06:53.200 --> 01:06:55.109 burn in hell forever and ever. And then 01:06:55.119 --> 01:06:56.950 the second half of the sermon was just 01:06:56.960 --> 01:06:59.589 grizzly detail on the tortures in hell 01:06:59.599 --> 01:07:00.950 and this is going to happen to you 01:07:00.960 --> 01:07:03.670 unless you change your ways. And they 01:07:03.680 --> 01:07:05.349 couldn't argue against it and they 01:07:05.359 --> 01:07:07.190 didn't really want to face it. And so 01:07:07.200 --> 01:07:09.109 people would just be freaking out. 01:07:09.119 --> 01:07:11.029 They'd be like going into convulsions 01:07:11.039 --> 01:07:13.589 and just like like having a seizure on 01:07:13.599 --> 01:07:15.829 the on rolling on the ground with 01:07:15.839 --> 01:07:17.510 foaming at the mouth just completely 01:07:17.520 --> 01:07:20.150 freaking out. And then they would pass 01:07:20.160 --> 01:07:21.510 out. You know, they'd eventually lapse 01:07:21.520 --> 01:07:23.190 into unconsciousness. And then you'd 01:07:23.200 --> 01:07:25.430 have like helpers, you know, John 01:07:25.440 --> 01:07:26.870 Wesley's helpers would come and they'd 01:07:26.880 --> 01:07:28.710 kind of coach them after they after they 01:07:28.720 --> 01:07:30.789 regained consciousness and they'd be 01:07:30.799 --> 01:07:32.390 born again and then they'd be good 01:07:32.400 --> 01:07:34.789 Christians after that. But and it takes 01:07:34.799 --> 01:07:37.589 some kind of a crisis as a general rule. 01:07:37.599 --> 01:07:39.829 And I remember reading like back when I 01:07:39.839 --> 01:07:42.069 was like 18 years old in a book by Rahm 01:07:42.079 --> 01:07:47.270 Doss, he said that absolute despair is 01:07:47.280 --> 01:07:50.309 is a pre-erequisite to significant 01:07:50.319 --> 01:07:53.829 spiritual growth. And for most of my 01:07:53.839 --> 01:07:56.630 life, I was hoping that he was wrong. 01:07:56.640 --> 01:07:59.190 But in my own case, my greatest 01:07:59.200 --> 01:08:02.789 spiritual growth has occurred as the 01:08:02.799 --> 01:08:10.230 result of just despair. 01:08:10.240 --> 01:08:13.109 So I mean maybe you can do certain 01:08:13.119 --> 01:08:15.990 things to make yourself more assertive 01:08:16.000 --> 01:08:19.829 driven and purposeful you know just like 01:08:19.839 --> 01:08:22.950 become more physically fit maybe you 01:08:22.960 --> 01:08:25.669 know just just being like you know 01:08:25.679 --> 01:08:28.149 healthier like higher testosterone 01:08:28.159 --> 01:08:30.870 levels and so forth will make you more 01:08:30.880 --> 01:08:33.749 you know more like self assured and 01:08:33.759 --> 01:08:36.070 aggressive in a masculine sort of I 01:08:36.080 --> 01:08:39.749 suppose that might do something, 01:08:39.759 --> 01:08:43.349 but uh I mean for the most part we're 01:08:43.359 --> 01:08:45.990 stuck being who we are. 01:08:46.000 --> 01:08:49.349 And so if you want to be more assertived 01:08:49.359 --> 01:08:51.829 driven and purposeful, you might be 01:08:51.839 --> 01:08:53.910 creating unnecessary 01:08:53.920 --> 01:08:56.390 suffering for yourself by just desiring 01:08:56.400 --> 01:08:59.430 things to be different than they are. 01:08:59.440 --> 01:09:01.110 But if you feel like you really have the 01:09:01.120 --> 01:09:04.390 need that it's just really not serving 01:09:04.400 --> 01:09:06.390 you not to be more assertive driven and 01:09:06.400 --> 01:09:07.910 purposeful, 01:09:07.920 --> 01:09:09.590 then 01:09:09.600 --> 01:09:12.390 I mean you may have to I mean maybe go 01:09:12.400 --> 01:09:15.669 to a rigorous meditation retreat which 01:09:15.679 --> 01:09:17.910 is sort of like military basic training 01:09:17.920 --> 01:09:20.870 that's could trigger this crisis. 01:09:20.880 --> 01:09:27.590 Something like that maybe. 01:09:27.600 --> 01:09:30.550 But yeah, I mean it's it's it's like a 01:09:30.560 --> 01:09:33.269 common myth among people that you can 01:09:33.279 --> 01:09:34.789 just change yourself. You can just 01:09:34.799 --> 01:09:37.110 become different. I mean Schopenhau 01:09:37.120 --> 01:09:39.749 really he's I should should have looked 01:09:39.759 --> 01:09:41.590 up some quotes from Schopenhau where 01:09:41.600 --> 01:09:43.510 he's just saying that I mean it's you're 01:09:43.520 --> 01:09:44.789 just stuck being who you are 01:09:44.799 --> 01:09:47.110 essentially. You can vow to be a better 01:09:47.120 --> 01:09:48.870 person. You can strive to be a better 01:09:48.880 --> 01:09:50.470 person. You can try again and again and 01:09:50.480 --> 01:09:52.390 again and as a general rule it's not 01:09:52.400 --> 01:09:54.550 going to work 01:09:54.560 --> 01:09:56.950 for Christians. Eventually they just get 01:09:56.960 --> 01:09:59.350 to this state of holy desperation where 01:09:59.360 --> 01:10:01.669 they just you know they just open their 01:10:01.679 --> 01:10:03.830 heart to God Almighty and says I can't 01:10:03.840 --> 01:10:05.990 do it Lord 01:10:06.000 --> 01:10:07.910 the only way I can be saved is through 01:10:07.920 --> 01:10:09.990 your grace you know and they just throw 01:10:10.000 --> 01:10:12.790 themselves at the mercy of God and 01:10:12.800 --> 01:10:14.950 that's sufficient for a lot of them that 01:10:14.960 --> 01:10:18.229 it actually turns their life around 01:10:18.239 --> 01:10:20.950 but any kind of systematic cookbook 01:10:20.960 --> 01:10:23.590 method for changing your personality 01:10:23.600 --> 01:10:26.390 traits I maybe a little bit around the 01:10:26.400 --> 01:10:30.950 edges, but it's going to take um like 01:10:30.960 --> 01:10:33.510 the more change in your personality you 01:10:33.520 --> 01:10:35.350

desire, the more you're going to have to 01:10:35.360 --> 01:10:36.790 change your perceptions. You're going to 01:10:36.800 --> 01:10:39.030 have to change the way you see the 01:10:39.040 --> 01:10:41.750 world. 01:10:41.760 --> 01:10:44.630 And good luck with that. I mean, I was I 01:10:44.640 --> 01:10:47.189 was a monk for 30 years, and I'm like 01:10:47.199 --> 01:10:48.870 trying to live up to the ideals in the 01:10:48.880 --> 01:10:50.390 sutas. You know, the monk should have no 01:10:50.400 --> 01:10:52.229 anger. He should have no preferences. 01:10:52.239 --> 01:10:53.830 You should have no attachments. All this 01:10:53.840 --> 01:10:55.669 kind of stuff sounds really good on 01:10:55.679 --> 01:10:58.870 paper, but in reality you're to some 01:10:58.880 --> 01:11:01.189 degree you are just stuck being who you 01:11:01.199 --> 01:11:02.870 are. 01:11:02.880 --> 01:11:04.229 But at least you can be who you are 01:11:04.239 --> 01:11:05.990 perfectly. So that's the one thing you 01:11:06.000 --> 01:11:07.830 can do perfectly in this world is just 01:11:07.840 --> 01:11:11.430 be yourself. 01:11:11.440 --> 01:11:13.030 Even though in Buddhism there ultimately 01:11:13.040 --> 01:11:17.110 is no self. 01:11:17.120 --> 01:11:18.630 That's a tough one. That's that's rough 01:11:18.640 --> 01:11:20.790 because it's that's one reason why most 01:11:20.800 --> 01:11:23.270 monks never become enlightened. You 01:11:23.280 --> 01:11:25.270 know, 99.99% 01:11:25.280 --> 01:11:27.350 of monks never become enlightened. That 01:11:27.360 --> 01:11:31.110 could be like a low estimate, 01:11:31.120 --> 01:11:33.590 maybe a high estimate. It could be even 01:11:33.600 --> 01:11:35.669 less less monks become fully 01:11:35.679 --> 01:11:37.830 enlightened. It's because they're trying 01:11:37.840 --> 01:11:40.870 to become a different person. 01:11:40.880 --> 01:11:45.350 And it just doesn't work that way. 01:11:45.360 --> 01:11:48.630 They're just stuck being who they are. 01:11:48.640 --> 01:11:50.630 And if you're like a hothead, you're 01:11:50.640 --> 01:11:52.390 pretty much stuck being a hotthead. 01:11:52.400 --> 01:11:53.830 There's there's certain ways of 01:11:53.840 --> 01:11:57.270 changing. I mean, like I think it's in 01:11:57.280 --> 01:11:59.110 William James's the varieties of 01:11:59.120 --> 01:12:01.189 religious experience where he says that 01:12:01.199 --> 01:12:03.350 there's there was an old saying that the 01:12:03.360 --> 01:12:05.669 only cure for dipsomania 01:12:05.679 --> 01:12:08.550 which is alcoholism is theomania or 01:12:08.560 --> 01:12:11.189 finding religion. So it's like you're 01:12:11.199 --> 01:12:13.750 replacing the fervor of drunkenness with 01:12:13.760 --> 01:12:17.270 the a new fervor of religion which kind 01:12:17.280 --> 01:12:19.590 of takes its place. So that's that's one 01:12:19.600 --> 01:12:20.630 way of doing you. You're going to have 01:12:20.640 --> 01:12:23.110 to replace one thing with something else 01:12:23.120 --> 01:12:26.790 of like equal force. 01:12:26.800 --> 01:12:29.430 But good luck with all that. Telling you 01:12:29.440 --> 01:12:32.149 changing yourself is it's much easier 01:12:32.159 --> 01:12:35.510 said than done. 01:12:35.520 --> 01:12:37.350 So, it could be that the wisest course 01:12:37.360 --> 01:12:38.950 to take, unless you're really willing to 01:12:38.960 --> 01:12:41.350 try something radical. You know, inflict 01:12:41.360 --> 01:12:43.830 a crisis upon yourself might just be 01:12:43.840 --> 01:12:48.470 making peace with being this kind of a 01:12:48.480 --> 01:12:51.430 non assertive, non-purposeful kind of 01:12:51.440 --> 01:12:53.350 person. 01:12:53.360 --> 01:12:55.189 Now, I'm just going to move on to 01:12:55.199 --> 01:12:58.550 Philist third question. 01:12:58.560 --> 01:13:01.669 He says, "I've noticed that unlike the 01:13:01.679 --> 01:13:04.310 moderns, the ancients have no complex 01:13:04.320 --> 01:13:07.270 over being negative. The Romans made the 01:13:07.280 --> 01:13:10.790 vinegared Epicurian satist their ideal 01:13:10.800 --> 01:13:13.669 of the poet and gave him state funding. 01:13:13.679 --> 01:13:15.750 They did not suffer from the shrill 01:13:15.760 --> 01:13:19.110 cliches that positivity is a productive 01:13:19.120 --> 01:13:21.990 force or that negativity loses because 01:13:22.000 --> 01:13:25.270 it looks." I'm not sure what looks means 01:13:25.280 --> 01:13:27.910 here. This even includes the ancient 01:13:27.920 --> 01:13:32.310 Greeks and Indians thoughts. 01:13:32.320 --> 01:13:35.110 Well, I mean the Epicurans weren't 01:13:35.120 --> 01:13:37.510 necessarily pessimistic. You know, the 01:13:37.520 --> 01:13:41.110 Epicurans were, you know, it's like 01:13:41.120 --> 01:13:43.830 pleasure is good. You know, be happy. 01:13:43.840 --> 01:13:45.350 You know, that was pretty much the the 01:13:45.360 --> 01:13:47.590 the main philosophical message of the 01:13:47.600 --> 01:13:51.030 Epicurans is be happy through living a 01:13:51.040 --> 01:13:52.950 simple life and having modest pleasures 01:13:52.960 --> 01:13:57.270 and so forth. 01:13:57.280 --> 01:14:00.070 I mean a certain amount of optimism 01:14:00.080 --> 01:14:02.470 really certain caused the Romans and 01:14:02.480 --> 01:14:04.070 Greeks to survive. I mean they weren't 01:14:04.080 --> 01:14:06.310 quitters. They weren't blackpilled. I 01:14:06.320 --> 01:14:07.590 mean they might have been blackpilled 01:14:07.600 --> 01:14:10.390 about the inevitability of death but 01:14:10.400 --> 01:14:12.630 still a glorious death was considered to 01:14:12.640 --> 01:14:15.350 be better than just you know dying dying 01:14:15.360 --> 01:14:19.350 in bed of old age or some such you know 01:14:19.360 --> 01:14:22.630 I mean it wasn't just being 01:14:22.640 --> 01:14:25.510 just negative that caused the Romans to 01:14:25.520 --> 01:14:28.630 defeat Hannibal or defeat so many other 01:14:28.640 -->

01:14:30.310 enemies and become like the world's 01:14:30.320 --> 01:14:32.950 superpower at least in the west and it 01:14:32.960 --> 01:14:35.350 wasn't negativity that caused the Greeks 01:14:35.360 --> 01:14:37.510 to defeat defeat the Persian Empire 01:14:37.520 --> 01:14:39.189 which was the most powerful nation in 01:14:39.199 --> 01:14:43.030 the world at the time probably. 01:14:43.040 --> 01:14:44.709 So 01:14:44.719 --> 01:14:47.030 yeah, it's it's more like realism like 01:14:47.040 --> 01:14:49.669 like the Stoics, they weren't really 01:14:49.679 --> 01:14:51.350 negative, 01:14:51.360 --> 01:14:52.870 you know, it's just accept whatever 01:14:52.880 --> 01:14:54.550 happens with equinimity. That's pretty 01:14:54.560 --> 01:14:56.310 much what the Stoics were going for it 01:14:56.320 --> 01:14:57.910 seems like. And also, you know, 01:14:57.920 --> 01:15:00.870 moderation. 01:15:00.880 --> 01:15:02.550 Even the cynics weren't particularly 01:15:02.560 --> 01:15:04.790 blackpilled. 01:15:04.800 --> 01:15:06.470 So 01:15:06.480 --> 01:15:08.149 yeah, I mean I really don't see that 01:15:08.159 --> 01:15:10.070 there was a lot just wallowing in 01:15:10.080 --> 01:15:13.350 negativity by Greeks or Romans or or 01:15:13.360 --> 01:15:16.229 even ancient Indians. I mean, yeah, the 01:15:16.239 --> 01:15:19.430 ancient Indians inherited a kind of 01:15:19.440 --> 01:15:24.709 arguably pessimistic philosophy that was 01:15:24.719 --> 01:15:28.550 just sort of, I guess, developed by like 01:15:28.560 --> 01:15:30.870 the Indis Valley civilization before the 01:15:30.880 --> 01:15:33.510 Indo-arians arrived on the scene with 01:15:33.520 --> 01:15:36.070 their vadic fire sacrifices and all 01:15:36.080 --> 01:15:38.870 that. You had like the the Indis Valley 01:15:38.880 --> 01:15:41.510 civilization which had this this belief 01:15:41.520 --> 01:15:43.350 that the world is a bad place. you 01:15:43.360 --> 01:15:45.189 should try to escape from this world 01:15:45.199 --> 01:15:47.669 through purification, 01:15:47.679 --> 01:15:49.910 you know, purify your your spirit, this 01:15:49.920 --> 01:15:52.790 kind of thing. So, I mean, that's that's 01:15:52.800 --> 01:15:55.430 kind of negative, I suppose. Buddhism, I 01:15:55.440 --> 01:15:57.830 mean it could be said to have a certain 01:15:57.840 --> 01:16:00.229 emphasis on negativity. Although there 01:16:00.239 --> 01:16:02.390 is a way out of that, you know, this 01:16:02.400 --> 01:16:05.350 world, which is, you know, you can say 01:16:05.360 --> 01:16:06.950 it's negative to say that the house is 01:16:06.960 --> 01:16:08.390 on fire, but at least there's the 01:16:08.400 --> 01:16:10.470 positivity of we can get out of this 01:16:10.480 --> 01:16:16.550 house and not burn to death. 01:16:16.560 --> 01:16:18.709 So 01:16:18.719 --> 01:16:22.470 yeah, I mean I think the Greeks and the 01:16:22.480 --> 01:16:26.790 Romans, they were more cynical in a 01:16:26.800 --> 01:16:29.350 certain way about just accepting the 01:16:29.360 --> 01:16:32.550 inevitability of death. I mean, death 01:16:32.560 --> 01:16:35.510 and suffering and misery and all that. 01:16:35.520 --> 01:16:38.790 It was just part of everyday life pretty 01:16:38.800 --> 01:16:42.470 much, especially back then. and they 01:16:42.480 --> 01:16:43.990 just kind of made their peace with it, 01:16:44.000 --> 01:16:46.149 you know, it's just it's the way it is. 01:16:46.159 --> 01:16:49.350 Or like um medieval Europe, you know, 01:16:49.360 --> 01:16:50.790 especially around the time of the 01:16:50.800 --> 01:16:52.390 bubanic plague, you know, the black 01:16:52.400 --> 01:16:54.229 death, you know, they'd have the the 01:16:54.239 --> 01:16:56.149 dance macob, you know, the dancing 01:16:56.159 --> 01:16:58.550 skeletons like you see on like old 01:16:58.560 --> 01:17:01.189 Grateful Dead advertisements, you know. 01:17:01.199 --> 01:17:02.870 I mean, they'd have like the human skull 01:17:02.880 --> 01:17:05.830 at the feast, the momento mori reminding 01:17:05.840 --> 01:17:07.750 everyone they're going to die, that kind 01:17:07.760 --> 01:17:09.110 of thing. 01:17:09.120 --> 01:17:10.630 So 01:17:10.640 --> 01:17:12.550 even the the medieval Europeans, I mean, 01:17:12.560 --> 01:17:14.709 they weren't completely morbid. There's 01:17:14.719 --> 01:17:16.390 there's always going to be a balance of 01:17:16.400 --> 01:17:18.630 positivity and negativity. 01:17:18.640 --> 01:17:21.110 You know, they just kind of use that as 01:17:21.120 --> 01:17:24.470 a kind of I don't know, momento while 01:17:24.480 --> 01:17:27.750 they're wallowing in the the the feast, 01:17:27.760 --> 01:17:29.430 you know, the pleasures of the feast. At 01:17:29.440 --> 01:17:31.110 least they got that human skull on the 01:17:31.120 --> 01:17:34.950 table. 01:17:34.960 --> 01:17:36.870 So, 01:17:36.880 --> 01:17:38.950 let's see. I need to need to look at 01:17:38.960 --> 01:17:41.270 this question a little better because 01:17:41.280 --> 01:17:43.030 the only question is at the end is 01:17:43.040 --> 01:17:45.430 thoughts. 01:17:45.440 --> 01:17:46.950 I mean the ancient Greeks I mean they 01:17:46.960 --> 01:17:51.189 were they were not pessimistic people. 01:17:51.199 --> 01:17:52.870 The ancient Romans weren't particularly 01:17:52.880 --> 01:17:55.189 pessimistic either. 01:17:55.199 --> 01:17:57.750 So I mean a certain amount of negativity 01:17:57.760 --> 01:18:02.070 was was fine. I mean that could even be 01:18:02.080 --> 01:18:04.870 seen as a like a symptom of wisdom or 01:18:04.880 --> 01:18:06.390 something. 01:18:06.400 --> 01:18:08.310 And we're we're back to like a 5-second 01:18:08.320 --> 01:18:13.110 lag. It comes and goes. 01:18:13.120 --> 01:18:15.910 So I think most people they just want to 01:18:15.920 --> 01:18:17.990 emphasize the positive. They don't want 01:18:18.000 --> 01:18:21.510 to think about bad things. And so 01:18:21.520 --> 01:18:23.750 I

mean it was seen by some as a sign of 01:18:23.760 --> 01:18:25.510 wisdom that you're even able to look at 01:18:25.520 --> 01:18:27.350 bad things and acknowledge them. You 01:18:27.360 --> 01:18:28.790 know that we're all going to die, for 01:18:28.800 --> 01:18:30.709 example. 01:18:30.719 --> 01:18:33.590 But yeah, I really don't I mean I'm 01:18:33.600 --> 01:18:35.990 fairly well acquainted with ancient 01:18:36.000 --> 01:18:38.709 Greek and Roman literature. And I mean 01:18:38.719 --> 01:18:40.550 they they didn't seem particularly 01:18:40.560 --> 01:18:42.149 pessimistic. 01:18:42.159 --> 01:18:44.310 You know, they were very thisworldly 01:18:44.320 --> 01:18:46.870 with regard to their lives. Tried to 01:18:46.880 --> 01:18:48.790 live as good of lives as they could as a 01:18:48.800 --> 01:18:50.550 general rule. Although, you know, what 01:18:50.560 --> 01:18:52.149 one person considers good isn't 01:18:52.159 --> 01:18:53.350 necessarily what another person 01:18:53.360 --> 01:18:57.510 considers good. 01:18:57.520 --> 01:18:59.590 India. It is true that ancient India did 01:18:59.600 --> 01:19:01.590 have this, you know, the world is a bad 01:19:01.600 --> 01:19:03.750 place. Christianity kind of came up with 01:19:03.760 --> 01:19:06.470 that also later on 01:19:06.480 --> 01:19:08.390 that you're better off just, you know, 01:19:08.400 --> 01:19:11.750 kind of rejecting the world in favor of 01:19:11.760 --> 01:19:13.590 something better. 01:19:13.600 --> 01:19:15.750 But the Greeks and Romans really they 01:19:15.760 --> 01:19:19.189 they didn't really adopt that attitude. 01:19:19.199 --> 01:19:22.790 Um yeah, I mean just consider like um 01:19:22.800 --> 01:19:24.550 when the Persian Empire was trying to 01:19:24.560 --> 01:19:27.110 conquer Greece and there was the the 01:19:27.120 --> 01:19:29.510 emergency meeting of I can't remember 01:19:29.520 --> 01:19:31.270 what it was called in Athens, you know, 01:19:31.280 --> 01:19:32.790 it was like the main political meeting 01:19:32.800 --> 01:19:36.310 of the the city elders and they're 01:19:36.320 --> 01:19:37.590 discussing what are we going to do? The 01:19:37.600 --> 01:19:40.070 Persians are are marching south. They've 01:19:40.080 --> 01:19:42.790 already conquered northern Greece. What 01:19:42.800 --> 01:19:44.950 are we going to do? And then one person 01:19:44.960 --> 01:19:46.950 kind of raises his hand. He stands up 01:19:46.960 --> 01:19:49.270 and says, "Well, I mean, they're the 01:19:49.280 --> 01:19:51.830 world's most powerful superpower. I 01:19:51.840 --> 01:19:53.669 mean, they've already conquered most of 01:19:53.679 --> 01:19:56.229 Greece at this point. It seems to me the 01:19:56.239 --> 01:19:58.470 best thing we can do is just negotiate 01:19:58.480 --> 01:20:01.590 terms of surrender." And after he said 01:20:01.600 --> 01:20:03.669 that, he was immediately stabbed to 01:20:03.679 --> 01:20:06.229 death by some other some other person 01:20:06.239 --> 01:20:08.470 that was not far away from him. And then 01:20:08.480 --> 01:20:10.790 the whole mob of them went to his house 01:20:10.800 --> 01:20:12.870 and like burned his house down and 01:20:12.880 --> 01:20:16.950 killed his family for daring to suggest 01:20:16.960 --> 01:20:19.830 that they should surrender to a nation 01:20:19.840 --> 01:20:25.189 20 times more powerful than them. 01:20:25.199 --> 01:20:28.950 And that is not pessimism. 01:20:28.960 --> 01:20:31.350 It's not really negativity. Negativity 01:20:31.360 --> 01:20:33.510 towards this guy who was saying that we 01:20:33.520 --> 01:20:36.630 should surrender. 01:20:36.640 --> 01:20:38.709 So yeah, I really think that the ancient 01:20:38.719 --> 01:20:42.070 Greeks were more optimistic, heavily 01:20:42.080 --> 01:20:44.550 laced with some some realism of harsh 01:20:44.560 --> 01:20:46.709 facts. The Romans were pretty much the 01:20:46.719 --> 01:20:49.030 same way. Maybe you could say ancient 01:20:49.040 --> 01:20:51.510 Indians, there was definitely a kind of 01:20:51.520 --> 01:20:55.669 negative streak um in in like the 01:20:55.679 --> 01:20:57.430 ancient Indians and also sort of like 01:20:57.440 --> 01:20:59.669 the medieval Christians definitely had 01:20:59.679 --> 01:21:02.070 like a negative streak too. It's like, 01:21:02.080 --> 01:21:03.590 you know, friendship with the world is 01:21:03.600 --> 01:21:05.910 enmity with God. you should be against 01:21:05.920 --> 01:21:10.790 this world. 01:21:10.800 --> 01:21:13.189 So 01:21:13.199 --> 01:21:15.350 yeah, I mean there doesn't seem to be 01:21:15.360 --> 01:21:17.270 much of a complex over being negative in 01:21:17.280 --> 01:21:18.470 the modern world either. I mean 01:21:18.480 --> 01:21:19.990 leftists, I mean that's pretty much all 01:21:20.000 --> 01:21:22.149 they got is negativity. You know, 01:21:22.159 --> 01:21:24.390 America sucks. You know, it's just all 01:21:24.400 --> 01:21:26.390 this I've already mentioned that in in 01:21:26.400 --> 01:21:29.510 this Q&A. It's like some people in in 01:21:29.520 --> 01:21:32.709 the west it's just America is just it's 01:21:32.719 --> 01:21:35.830 a its existence is a crime. It was based 01:21:35.840 --> 01:21:39.030 on exploitation and colonialism and 01:21:39.040 --> 01:21:41.510 slavery. It's just one crime after 01:21:41.520 --> 01:21:44.550 another and genocide and it's bad and 01:21:44.560 --> 01:21:46.709 wrong and we need to replace it with 01:21:46.719 --> 01:21:49.110 something better. Even though every 01:21:49.120 --> 01:21:51.669 attempt to get some sort of socialist 01:21:51.679 --> 01:21:54.470 system going well has never really 01:21:54.480 --> 01:21:58.950 worked out very well. 01:21:58.960 --> 01:22:01.350 So I really don't see that there's less 01:22:01.360 --> 01:22:04.310 negativity now or more of a stigma on 01:22:04.320 --> 01:22:08.390 negativity now than there was in like 01:22:08.400 --> 01:22:11.189 ancient

classical times in the west 01:22:11.199 --> 01:22:14.149 especially 01:22:14.159 --> 01:22:17.590 I mean even even in India I mean there's 01:22:17.600 --> 01:22:20.470 I came across a a quote by Thomas not 01:22:20.480 --> 01:22:22.550 Thomas Jefferson Theodore Roosevelt 01:22:22.560 --> 01:22:26.550 today Roosevelt says that someone who 01:22:26.560 --> 01:22:28.870 like complains about problems without 01:22:28.880 --> 01:22:30.790 proposing a solution to the problem is 01:22:30.800 --> 01:22:32.629 just a whiner. 01:22:32.639 --> 01:22:35.270 And I would say that even that was that 01:22:35.280 --> 01:22:37.030 kind of attitude applied even to ancient 01:22:37.040 --> 01:22:39.590 India. I mean you can say that there is 01:22:39.600 --> 01:22:42.390 a problem but unless you're suggesting a 01:22:42.400 --> 01:22:44.709 a valid solution to the problem I mean 01:22:44.719 --> 01:22:47.110 that's just negative whining and I don't 01:22:47.120 --> 01:22:48.709 think that was ever really in fashion 01:22:48.719 --> 01:22:54.550 even in ancient India. 01:22:54.560 --> 01:22:55.590 And I think I'm just going to move on to 01:22:55.600 --> 01:22:57.830 the next question. 01:22:57.840 --> 01:23:00.550 This is from Sedar to loachita 01:23:00.560 --> 01:23:03.830 and there's almost not a lag now. It's 01:23:03.840 --> 01:23:08.149 up to 56% 57%. 01:23:08.159 --> 01:23:09.830 Yeah, I think this computer is just 01:23:09.840 --> 01:23:12.390 getting old. So, I'm going to have to 01:23:12.400 --> 01:23:14.149 get a new computer probably next year 01:23:14.159 --> 01:23:17.750 sometime. 01:23:17.760 --> 01:23:20.950 Anyways, Sudart lohito says, "Have you 01:23:20.960 --> 01:23:23.830 read the novel from Orwell Burmese 01:23:23.840 --> 01:23:26.070 days?" Yeah, I've read Burmese days. In 01:23:26.080 --> 01:23:28.550 fact, I was in Burma when I read it. And 01:23:28.560 --> 01:23:31.830 it turns out that George Orwell, more 01:23:31.840 --> 01:23:35.669 better known for Animal Farm in 1984, 01:23:35.679 --> 01:23:37.590 lived in Burma. I think he was a police 01:23:37.600 --> 01:23:40.470 officer, like a police administrator 01:23:40.480 --> 01:23:43.189 um not far from where I lived. I lived 01:23:43.199 --> 01:23:45.350 like in the general area of Matila which 01:23:45.360 --> 01:23:47.750 is sort of Tomulu country. That's where 01:23:47.760 --> 01:23:49.750 Tomulu Seattle came from. The founder of 01:23:49.760 --> 01:23:52.870 the the tradition which I was ordained 01:23:52.880 --> 01:23:56.790 and I'm trying to remember the name of 01:23:56.800 --> 01:23:59.750 the town 01:23:59.760 --> 01:24:03.030 near Hleet which is my preceptor waset 01:24:03.040 --> 01:24:04.950 Seattle. 01:24:04.960 --> 01:24:07.350 So I mean George Orwell lived maybe 20 01:24:07.360 --> 01:24:10.229 miles from um the birthplace of the 01:24:10.239 --> 01:24:14.149 founder of or my my preceptor 01:24:14.159 --> 01:24:16.790 maybe 30 or 40 miles away from where Tom 01:24:16.800 -->

01:24:21.110 Pulus used to live maybe 30h 01:24:21.120 --> 01:24:23.030 so yeah I have read Burmuse Days and 01:24:23.040 --> 01:24:25.910 it's it's it's worth reading it's it's 01:24:25.920 --> 01:24:27.669 good to read especially I mean if you 01:24:27.679 --> 01:24:30.629 familiar with Burma and it's it's all 01:24:30.639 --> 01:24:32.470 much better 01:24:32.480 --> 01:24:37.110 um poin was the he was the villain 01:24:37.120 --> 01:24:40.229 and uh his wife was continually warning 01:24:40.239 --> 01:24:42.310 him you're an evil man and and your 01:24:42.320 --> 01:24:44.709 karma is going to come back and come 01:24:44.719 --> 01:24:46.149 back on you and you're going to go to 01:24:46.159 --> 01:24:48.629 hell and UP Chin just says oh you don't 01:24:48.639 --> 01:24:49.830 know anything I'm going to build a 01:24:49.840 --> 01:24:53.350 pigota because in Burma it's like 01:24:53.360 --> 01:24:55.189 building a pigota it's just like a 01:24:55.199 --> 01:24:56.870 stairway to heaven it pretty much just 01:24:56.880 --> 01:24:59.830 washes away your sins but then at the 01:24:59.840 --> 01:25:01.350 end of the book he has a stroke before 01:25:01.360 --> 01:25:02.550 he ever gets around to building the 01:25:02.560 --> 01:25:06.390 pigota so it didn't 01:25:06.400 --> 01:25:07.830 I have to admit though I really don't 01:25:07.840 --> 01:25:10.149 like George Orwell very much cuz I mean 01:25:10.159 --> 01:25:13.270 he he is depressing. George Orwell it's 01:25:13.280 --> 01:25:17.030 like the hero of the story is always 01:25:17.040 --> 01:25:19.750 utterly destroyed by the evilst person 01:25:19.760 --> 01:25:22.070 in in the story. 01:25:22.080 --> 01:25:24.229 So it's like the good guy always loses 01:25:24.239 --> 01:25:27.590 in George Orwell and Burmese days was no 01:25:27.600 --> 01:25:31.750 was no different. 01:25:31.760 --> 01:25:33.750 One of my favorite scenes from Burmese 01:25:33.760 --> 01:25:36.790 days though is um the protagonist who's 01:25:36.800 --> 01:25:39.990 an English guy living in Burma. He goes 01:25:40.000 --> 01:25:43.750 to visit uh a Chinese family that is is 01:25:43.760 --> 01:25:45.350 in town. You know, he gets along with 01:25:45.360 --> 01:25:47.910 the Chinese. They're a little bit more 01:25:47.920 --> 01:25:51.189 little little less childlike, I guess, 01:25:51.199 --> 01:25:53.910 going with, you know, the the the 01:25:53.920 --> 01:25:56.550 British colonial perspective. Anyway, so 01:25:56.560 --> 01:25:59.350 he's just hanging out with this Chinese 01:25:59.360 --> 01:26:02.790 family. Um, and one of their they got 01:26:02.800 --> 01:26:04.790 like this naked toddler, you know, like 01:26:04.800 --> 01:26:07.990 this two-year-old Chinese baby standing 01:26:08.000 --> 01:26:09.990 there and he just starts pissing on the 01:26:10.000 --> 01:26:11.350 floor. He's just standing there just 01:26:11.360 --> 01:26:14.629 nonchalantly pissing on the floor. And 01:26:14.639 --> 01:26:17.189 um, one of the English people in there, 01:26:17.199 --> 01:26:20.310 I think it's a a young woman, she's like 01:26:20.320 --> 01:26:22.310 I mean, she's just in a state of shock 01:26:22.320 --> 01:26:24.550 that they would let this baby just stand 01:26:24.560 --> 01:26:26.310 there and piss on the floor. and this 01:26:26.320 --> 01:26:28.550 this shop, you know, it's sort of like 01:26:28.560 --> 01:26:29.910 one of those places where it's the shop 01:26:29.920 --> 01:26:31.350 in the front and the family lives in the 01:26:31.360 --> 01:26:34.950 back. And so once um the Chinese family 01:26:34.960 --> 01:26:36.950 realized that this English woman 01:26:36.960 --> 01:26:38.950 disapproved of the baby pissing on the 01:26:38.960 --> 01:26:40.470 floor, you know, they all start like 01:26:40.480 --> 01:26:42.629 clucking their tongues and and one of 01:26:42.639 --> 01:26:44.470 them just picks up the baby and holds it 01:26:44.480 --> 01:26:46.470 out out the door so that you know it's 01:26:46.480 --> 01:26:48.070 like ringing out a sponge, you know, 01:26:48.080 --> 01:26:49.590 they're just letting it finish pissing 01:26:49.600 --> 01:26:52.070 outside. 01:26:52.080 --> 01:26:54.310 this. I mean, George Orwell did have 01:26:54.320 --> 01:26:57.910 some insight into what it was like to 01:26:57.920 --> 01:27:02.870 live in colonial Southeast Asia. 01:27:02.880 --> 01:27:05.030 But yeah, I have read it and I think I'm 01:27:05.040 --> 01:27:05.990 just going to move on to the next 01:27:06.000 --> 01:27:09.350 question. This is from Yoshi Buouie. 01:27:09.360 --> 01:27:10.629 Although in the back of my mind, I'm 01:27:10.639 --> 01:27:11.990 still trying to remember the name of the 01:27:12.000 --> 01:27:14.390 town where George Orwell is stationed. 01:27:14.400 --> 01:27:16.229 It's not far from the the town of 01:27:16.239 --> 01:27:18.310 Matila. 01:27:18.320 --> 01:27:21.189 Anyways, Yoshi Buouie says, "In past 01:27:21.199 --> 01:27:22.870 videos, to illustrate a point about 01:27:22.880 --> 01:27:24.790 detachment, you shared an example of 01:27:24.800 --> 01:27:27.189 using a raft to cross a river in which 01:27:27.199 --> 01:27:29.350 after crossing the river, you said one 01:27:29.360 --> 01:27:31.270 should leave the raft at the riverbank 01:27:31.280 --> 01:27:33.590 and continue trekking on instead of 01:27:33.600 --> 01:27:36.149 continuing carrying the raft. Is this 01:27:36.159 --> 01:27:38.629 sort of similar to how people, 01:27:38.639 --> 01:27:41.990 politicians, intelligencia, scientists 01:27:42.000 --> 01:27:44.709 are using open discourse and the 01:27:44.719 --> 01:27:47.990 democratic process for every societal 01:27:48.000 --> 01:27:49.750 problem? When it seems that open 01:27:49.760 --> 01:27:52.390 discourse and the democratic process no 01:27:52.400 --> 01:27:54.229 longer serve their purpose in solving 01:27:54.239 --> 01:27:56.709 societal problems. 01:27:56.719 --> 01:27:58.310 Well, I don't really see much of a

01:27:58.320 --> 01:28:00.470 connection there. First of all, the 01:28:00.480 --> 01:28:02.950 point of the the simile of the raft is 01:28:02.960 --> 01:28:06.149 found in the alagadup suta of the majin 01:28:06.159 --> 01:28:08.790 kaya. It's a statement attributed to the 01:28:08.800 --> 01:28:11.270 Buddha himself that the dharma is like a 01:28:11.280 --> 01:28:14.550 raft. There's a person who gets to the 01:28:14.560 --> 01:28:17.430 shore of this flooded river. He wants to 01:28:17.440 --> 01:28:21.110 cross the river. No boat, no bridge. So 01:28:21.120 --> 01:28:23.830 what he does, he just gathers together a 01:28:23.840 --> 01:28:25.830 bunch of essentially rubbish, tree 01:28:25.840 --> 01:28:29.669 branches, vines, grass, leaves. He just 01:28:29.679 --> 01:28:31.669 kind of combines it all together, ties 01:28:31.679 --> 01:28:34.310 it together with like vines and uses 01:28:34.320 --> 01:28:36.470 that as a float. He gets on the float 01:28:36.480 --> 01:28:39.030 and then is like kicking and paddling 01:28:39.040 --> 01:28:41.110 his way across the flood till he gets to 01:28:41.120 --> 01:28:43.590 the other side. And then once he gets to 01:28:43.600 --> 01:28:45.750 the other side, he doesn't need this 01:28:45.760 --> 01:28:48.709 raft anymore or this float. So he just 01:28:48.719 --> 01:28:50.149 cuts it loose and lets it wash 01:28:50.159 --> 01:28:52.310 downstream or just beaches. It continues 01:28:52.320 --> 01:28:55.270 on his way. So I mean that's the Buddha 01:28:55.280 --> 01:28:58.390 compares that to Dharma. Buddhism itself 01:28:58.400 --> 01:29:00.629 is just like convenient rubbish that 01:29:00.639 --> 01:29:03.030 helps us to get enlightened. And then 01:29:03.040 --> 01:29:04.310 once you get enlightened, you don't need 01:29:04.320 --> 01:29:06.950 it anymore. You just leave it behind. 01:29:06.960 --> 01:29:09.910 It's just this worldly samasauric 01:29:09.920 --> 01:29:13.110 gadgetry that you use like a gimmick to 01:29:13.120 --> 01:29:15.669 get enlightened. Being enlightened is 01:29:15.679 --> 01:29:18.149 the point. It's like all these rules and 01:29:18.159 --> 01:29:19.910 and methods and everything are not 01:29:19.920 --> 01:29:21.510 really the point. That's just a means to 01:29:21.520 --> 01:29:25.430 an end. 01:29:25.440 --> 01:29:29.270 So, how is that sort of similar to how 01:29:29.280 --> 01:29:30.790 politicians 01:29:30.800 --> 01:29:33.350 or scientists are using open discourse 01:29:33.360 --> 01:29:35.830 in the democratic process? No, not 01:29:35.840 --> 01:29:37.750 really. Because I mean, you'd have to 01:29:37.760 --> 01:29:39.669 solve the problem with it before you let 01:29:39.679 --> 01:29:42.390 it go. You don't just pretend to solve a 01:29:42.400 --> 01:29:44.790 problem. I mean, that's apparently what 01:29:44.800 --> 01:29:47.590 the politicians and these scientists, it 01:29:47.600 --> 01:29:48.950 seems like what they're doing cuz 01:29:48.960 --> 01:29:50.470 according to Yoshi Buouie, it doesn't 01:29:50.480 --> 01:29:52.790 really solve the problem. It no longer 01:29:52.800 --> 01:29:56.629 serves the purpose as he says. 01:29:56.639 --> 01:29:59.350 So I mean it didn't really serve the 01:29:59.360 --> 01:30:01.590 purpose at the time they were using it 01:30:01.600 --> 01:30:04.629 really it seems to me. So I mean a 01:30:04.639 --> 01:30:07.270 better example is just like I mean you 01:30:07.280 --> 01:30:09.030 need to pound a nail. So you pick up a 01:30:09.040 --> 01:30:10.310 hammer, you pound the nail. When you're 01:30:10.320 --> 01:30:11.510 done pounding the nail, you put the 01:30:11.520 --> 01:30:13.910 hammer back down and leave it behind. 01:30:13.920 --> 01:30:15.669 You know, put it away in the in the the 01:30:15.679 --> 01:30:17.990 toolbox or whatever. 01:30:18.000 --> 01:30:19.350 You know, it's like you use something 01:30:19.360 --> 01:30:21.030 until it's not useful anymore and then 01:30:21.040 --> 01:30:23.110 you stop using it. I mean, that's 01:30:23.120 --> 01:30:26.790 essentially what it's all about. 01:30:26.800 --> 01:30:28.950 So, 01:30:28.960 --> 01:30:30.229 yeah, I really don't think that 01:30:30.239 --> 01:30:32.070 politicians really get to that point. I 01:30:32.080 --> 01:30:35.270 mean, sometimes it's like you're using 01:30:35.280 --> 01:30:37.030 someone who's useful to you until 01:30:37.040 --> 01:30:38.709 they're no longer useful to you and then 01:30:38.719 --> 01:30:40.709 you just throw them under the bus. I 01:30:40.719 --> 01:30:42.550 mean, that could sort of be like a 01:30:42.560 --> 01:30:47.669 really worldly cynical kind of analogy 01:30:47.679 --> 01:30:49.910 to the simile of the raft in in 01:30:49.920 --> 01:30:52.950 Buddhism. 01:30:52.960 --> 01:30:55.430 It's just you use something until it's 01:30:55.440 --> 01:30:57.750 not useful anymore and then you just 01:30:57.760 --> 01:31:00.950 cast it aside, put it away, leave it 01:31:00.960 --> 01:31:03.669 behind. 01:31:03.679 --> 01:31:05.189 There's all kinds of examples you can 01:31:05.199 --> 01:31:07.030 you can come up with with regard to 01:31:07.040 --> 01:31:08.870 that. I think that the politician and 01:31:08.880 --> 01:31:12.229 scientists using the democratic process 01:31:12.239 --> 01:31:14.870 and open discourse is like a really 01:31:14.880 --> 01:31:16.629 obscure 01:31:16.639 --> 01:31:19.990 attempt at an analogy with the simile of 01:31:20.000 --> 01:31:22.950 the raft. I mean essentially the simile 01:31:22.960 --> 01:31:25.830 of the raft dharma is like this 01:31:25.840 --> 01:31:27.910 contraption made of junk that serves a 01:31:27.920 --> 01:31:31.189 purpose and once the purpose is served 01:31:31.199 --> 01:31:32.629 you don't need it anymore because it 01:31:32.639 --> 01:31:38.870 really is ultimately just junk. 01:31:38.880 --> 01:31:42.790 So yeah, I mean it's like you use a leaf 01:31:42.800 --> 01:31:44.470 to you're out in the you're out in the

01:31:44.480 --> 01:31:45.990 woods camping or something. You use a 01:31:46.000 --> 01:31:47.590 leaf to like wipe your butt or 01:31:47.600 --> 01:31:49.590 something. Then you just throw it away. 01:31:49.600 --> 01:31:51.350 You don't need it anymore. I mean, that 01:31:51.360 --> 01:31:53.990 would be like probably a more accurate 01:31:54.000 --> 01:31:56.709 sort of analogy. You know, you just pick 01:31:56.719 --> 01:31:59.189 up some kind of piece of junk, something 01:31:59.199 --> 01:32:01.990 of little value anyway, use it to serve 01:32:02.000 --> 01:32:08.310 a purpose, and then just throw it away. 01:32:08.320 --> 01:32:10.790 If politicians or scientists are 01:32:10.800 --> 01:32:15.350 actually like solving a problem 01:32:15.360 --> 01:32:18.470 by using something of little value and 01:32:18.480 --> 01:32:21.510 then just casting it aside, then yeah, 01:32:21.520 --> 01:32:25.110 that that'd be an example. But like open 01:32:25.120 --> 01:32:27.990 discourse and democratic process, it 01:32:28.000 --> 01:32:31.590 never really gets thrown away. 01:32:31.600 --> 01:32:34.149 at least. I mean, I I don't really 01:32:34.159 --> 01:32:37.750 follow this kind of analogy well enough 01:32:37.760 --> 01:32:42.229 to really to really see how it would be 01:32:42.239 --> 01:32:46.229 applicable and how it would not. 01:32:46.239 --> 01:32:47.830 Anyways, I'm just going to move on. Next 01:32:47.840 --> 01:32:49.430 question. 01:32:49.440 --> 01:32:52.470 This is from Ethiopian fake TIG 01:32:52.480 --> 01:32:54.629 and he says, "Can you talk about when 01:32:54.639 --> 01:32:57.990 and how you met your sweetheart?" And I 01:32:58.000 --> 01:33:00.470 mean it's kind of personal private kind 01:33:00.480 --> 01:33:02.629 of stuff. Although I will say that we 01:33:02.639 --> 01:33:04.550 originally became aware of each other's 01:33:04.560 --> 01:33:07.270 existence on minds.com 01:33:07.280 --> 01:33:09.990 which neither one of uses anymore. It 01:33:10.000 --> 01:33:13.830 was like once Elon Musk bought Twitter, 01:33:13.840 --> 01:33:16.070 Mines just kind of become obsolete 01:33:16.080 --> 01:33:18.629 because Mines was sort of like a refuge 01:33:18.639 --> 01:33:20.390 for people that had been kicked off of 01:33:20.400 --> 01:33:23.270 Facebook and other social media back in 01:33:23.280 --> 01:33:25.189 like the days when it was all run by the 01:33:25.199 --> 01:33:27.430 left. And if you said anything that 01:33:27.440 --> 01:33:29.830 deviated from what the left wanted 01:33:29.840 --> 01:33:31.189 people to talk about, you'd just be 01:33:31.199 --> 01:33:35.350 kicked out for violation of, you know, 01:33:35.360 --> 01:33:37.990 terms of use or whatever. 01:33:38.000 --> 01:33:41.750 So minds became a a hold out for like 01:33:41.760 --> 01:33:44.390 edgy [ __ ] lord type of people and just 01:33:44.400 --> 01:33:47.669 free thinkers and so forth and uh we 01:33:47.679 --> 01:33:49.510 became aware of each each other's 01:33:49.520 --> 01:33:53.110 existence there and uh started liking 01:33:53.120 --> 01:33:55.510 each other on just in our interactions 01:33:55.520 --> 01:33:59.030 on minds.com 01:33:59.040 --> 01:34:02.470 which neither one of uses anymore. 01:34:02.480 --> 01:34:03.590 And I'm just going to move on to 01:34:03.600 --> 01:34:06.709 Ethiopian fake Tig's second question. He 01:34:06.719 --> 01:34:08.870 says,"I like how you said you don't want 01:34:08.880 --> 01:34:11.350 to shut the door on yourself when it 01:34:11.360 --> 01:34:12.709 comes to potentially becoming 01:34:12.719 --> 01:34:15.350 enlightened in this life. And in many 01:34:15.360 --> 01:34:17.270 circles, almost everyone says they 01:34:17.280 --> 01:34:19.669 aren't enlightened, and enlightenment is 01:34:19.679 --> 01:34:22.310 seen as a very rare and impossible 01:34:22.320 --> 01:34:24.709 attainment. Could you perhaps recall 01:34:24.719 --> 01:34:26.390 anyone you personally have interacted 01:34:26.400 --> 01:34:28.950 with where you thought to yourself, "Oh, 01:34:28.960 --> 01:34:31.030 this person seems advanced or 01:34:31.040 --> 01:34:32.790 potentially enlightened." Yeah, this is 01:34:32.800 --> 01:34:34.870 a question. I think it was the previous 01:34:34.880 --> 01:34:37.189 Q&A or the one before that where a 01:34:37.199 --> 01:34:38.870 similar question was asked, you know, 01:34:38.880 --> 01:34:40.470 have you met anybody that you think 01:34:40.480 --> 01:34:43.590 might have been enlightened and possibly 01:34:43.600 --> 01:34:46.550 my best guess would be um Seattle that I 01:34:46.560 --> 01:34:50.070 meant that I met in Mon state in 01:34:50.080 --> 01:34:54.070 southern Burma back gosh 01:34:54.080 --> 01:34:56.550 mid 90s. 01:34:56.560 --> 01:34:57.990 He was still alive back then. He's about 01:34:58.000 --> 01:35:01.350 90 years old, but he was just wide awake 01:35:01.360 --> 01:35:03.830 just looking just intently, you know, 01:35:03.840 --> 01:35:09.590 just I mean he obviously was fully there 01:35:09.600 --> 01:35:11.350 unlike the old monk that came that was 01:35:11.360 --> 01:35:13.830 with him where I mean his his faculties 01:35:13.840 --> 01:35:15.110 were pretty much gone. You'd have to 01:35:15.120 --> 01:35:17.430 yell into his ear and even then you 01:35:17.440 --> 01:35:18.790 weren't sure if he really understood 01:35:18.800 --> 01:35:21.189 what you were saying. 01:35:21.199 --> 01:35:23.910 Ah man, I got 01:35:23.920 --> 01:35:25.590 having some technical difficulties here 01:35:25.600 --> 01:35:27.510 with the upper respiratory system. Just 01:35:27.520 --> 01:35:38.390 a second. 01:35:38.400 --> 01:35:41.189 Okay then. And we still got like a 3 01:35:41.199 --> 01:35:44.229 second lag at least. It comes and goes. 01:35:44.239 --> 01:35:45.750 At least some of the time we're not 01:35:45.760 --> 01:35:47.910 lagging. 01:35:47.920 --> 01:35:49.669 I don't know this computer. I I don't 01:35:49.679 --> 01:35:53.750 know what the

deal is. 01:35:53.760 --> 01:35:56.470 So yeah, um in Seattle would probably be 01:35:56.480 --> 01:35:58.790 my of the people that I have met in 01:35:58.800 --> 01:36:00.950 person, sat in the same room with them 01:36:00.960 --> 01:36:04.870 and and spoke with them, then maybe um 01:36:04.880 --> 01:36:06.390 Seattle would be the most spiritually 01:36:06.400 --> 01:36:09.030 advanced being that I've ever associated 01:36:09.040 --> 01:36:12.470 with. And I only met him that one time. 01:36:12.480 --> 01:36:17.189 Mahamey Uzora had some wisdom, too. 01:36:17.199 --> 01:36:20.950 He might still be alive, in fact. 01:36:20.960 --> 01:36:22.950 So, let's see here. And then, of course, 01:36:22.960 --> 01:36:24.709 sometimes you just meet some old 01:36:24.719 --> 01:36:26.950 mildmannered Seattle living alone out in 01:36:26.960 --> 01:36:28.950 a cabin like in a cemetery or something. 01:36:28.960 --> 01:36:30.709 And maybe they're wise and maybe they 01:36:30.719 --> 01:36:31.990 aren't, and you really don't know them 01:36:32.000 --> 01:36:34.550 well enough to decide. Not that you 01:36:34.560 --> 01:36:35.830 could really tell if they're fully 01:36:35.840 --> 01:36:38.950 enlightened or not. Anyway, 01:36:38.960 --> 01:36:41.510 so let's just move on to Ethiopian fake 01:36:41.520 --> 01:36:44.310 Tig's third question. 01:36:44.320 --> 01:36:46.470 Coming back to the US, what were the 01:36:46.480 --> 01:36:48.629 five most shocking things you 01:36:48.639 --> 01:36:51.189 experienced firsthand that really made 01:36:51.199 --> 01:36:54.229 you feel flabbergasted? 01:36:54.239 --> 01:36:55.830 Huh? 01:36:55.840 --> 01:36:59.830 Five? Why five? What were the five most 01:36:59.840 --> 01:37:01.590 shocking things you experienced 01:37:01.600 --> 01:37:03.350 firsthand? 01:37:03.360 --> 01:37:06.709 Well, gosh, 01:37:06.719 --> 01:37:09.109 I mean, 01:37:09.119 --> 01:37:10.870 internet, I mean, that was pretty wild. 01:37:10.880 --> 01:37:13.669 Internet's like a revolution. So there 01:37:13.679 --> 01:37:15.510 is that. 01:37:15.520 --> 01:37:17.830 Everything is digital. 01:37:17.840 --> 01:37:19.669 Everything became digital while I was 01:37:19.679 --> 01:37:22.470 gone. So there's that. People became 01:37:22.480 --> 01:37:24.870 wimpier, you know, more feminized, I 01:37:24.880 --> 01:37:28.709 guess. Like I remember one time I was in 01:37:28.719 --> 01:37:30.629 Bellingham, Washington, and everybody 01:37:30.639 --> 01:37:33.109 that was riding a bicycle was wearing a 01:37:33.119 --> 01:37:35.910 helmet. And finally I asked them, "Is it 01:37:35.920 --> 01:37:37.750 the law now that you have to wear a bike 01:37:37.760 --> 01:37:40.070 helmet?" And they said, "No, it's just 01:37:40.080 --> 01:37:42.149 the way everyone does it." And speaking 01:37:42.159 --> 01:37:45.590 of that, um, a similar case is little 01:37:45.600 --> 01:37:48.070 kids playing in a playground, like a 01:37:48.080 --> 01:37:49.590 daycare playground. They're

wearing 01:37:49.600 --> 01:37:52.070 helmets. Little kids on a playground 01:37:52.080 --> 01:37:54.310 wearing helmets. 01:37:54.320 --> 01:37:57.750 So, oh, also it's like it wasn't until I 01:37:57.760 --> 01:37:59.510 came back to America that I saw like 01:37:59.520 --> 01:38:03.030 women walking their toddler on a leash. 01:38:03.040 --> 01:38:04.550 You know, they got a leash hooked up to 01:38:04.560 --> 01:38:06.149 the kid. 01:38:06.159 --> 01:38:09.189 So I mean it just seems in that case 01:38:09.199 --> 01:38:11.669 that you know this America had become 01:38:11.679 --> 01:38:14.709 more feminized I think it just seemed 01:38:14.719 --> 01:38:18.709 like you know more worried about safety 01:38:18.719 --> 01:38:22.070 that kind of thing security 01:38:22.080 --> 01:38:25.590 so that's three or four I guess 01:38:25.600 --> 01:38:28.390 uh it seemed to me when I came back to 01:38:28.400 --> 01:38:31.510 America in 2011 staying in Bellingham 01:38:31.520 --> 01:38:34.470 Washington that people were working 01:38:34.480 --> 01:38:37.109 harder to live at a lower standard of 01:38:37.119 --> 01:38:39.750 living than was the case like in the 01:38:39.760 --> 01:38:42.310 1980s. 01:38:42.320 --> 01:38:43.990 So, I mean, I can't really say that I 01:38:44.000 --> 01:38:47.350 was flabbergasted, but that was that was 01:38:47.360 --> 01:38:49.750 one of them. Oh, also I guess I'll throw 01:38:49.760 --> 01:38:51.270 this one and this was kind of a major 01:38:51.280 --> 01:38:54.709 one that I was a monk in Burma, you 01:38:54.719 --> 01:38:56.470 know, called venerable lord. People 01:38:56.480 --> 01:38:58.470 bowing to me and all that. Not that I 01:38:58.480 --> 01:38:59.910 insisted on it, that's just the way it 01:38:59.920 --> 01:39:01.910 went there. And then I came back to 01:39:01.920 --> 01:39:03.910 America thinking that, you know, there's 01:39:03.920 --> 01:39:07.030 more need of Dharma teachers in America, 01:39:07.040 --> 01:39:08.950 that there'd be some people that would 01:39:08.960 --> 01:39:12.629 appreciate my presence there. And at the 01:39:12.639 --> 01:39:16.870 Dharma Hall in Bellingham, 01:39:16.880 --> 01:39:19.430 I mean, it was it was sort of like 01:39:19.440 --> 01:39:22.070 lukewarm at best. I mean, there were a 01:39:22.080 --> 01:39:23.910 few people that were enthusiastic about 01:39:23.920 --> 01:39:25.990 me being there. There was an even larger 01:39:26.000 --> 01:39:27.830 number of people that just felt 01:39:27.840 --> 01:39:29.910 threatened 01:39:29.920 --> 01:39:33.510 like like the Dharma teachers there. I 01:39:33.520 --> 01:39:35.430 mean I was like moving in on their 01:39:35.440 --> 01:39:37.189 territory, you know, they they went into 01:39:37.199 --> 01:39:40.070 like defense mode like evasive 01:39:40.080 --> 01:39:42.550 maneuvers, this kind of thing. And a lot 01:39:42.560 --> 01:39:45.189 of people they just western Buddhists 01:39:45.199 --> 01:39:47.669 they just resent the existence of monks 01:39:47.679 --> 01:39:49.669 in general 01:39:49.679 --> 01:39:53.910 which is I mean to me that was one of 01:39:53.920 --> 01:39:56.229 the most amazing things I experienced 01:39:56.239 --> 01:39:57.990 upon coming back to America that I 01:39:58.000 --> 01:40:01.669 actually received more like disdain 01:40:01.679 --> 01:40:03.910 inside the Dharmahal than just like out 01:40:03.920 --> 01:40:07.830 on the sidewalks of the town or that I 01:40:07.840 --> 01:40:10.149 received more respect from the new age 01:40:10.159 --> 01:40:11.830 community than from the Buddhist this 01:40:11.840 --> 01:40:13.990 community, you know, the newagy kind of 01:40:14.000 --> 01:40:15.669 people. They're very open-minded. You 01:40:15.679 --> 01:40:16.950 know, they'll accept pretty much 01:40:16.960 --> 01:40:20.550 anything. And so, I just got more 01:40:20.560 --> 01:40:23.350 acceptance from them at first than than 01:40:23.360 --> 01:40:25.030 from the Buddhist community. And the 01:40:25.040 --> 01:40:27.750 Buddhist community was like more boomer 01:40:27.760 --> 01:40:30.390 types who were invested in the status 01:40:30.400 --> 01:40:33.590 quo. They didn't want their position as 01:40:33.600 --> 01:40:35.750 like a contributing dharma teacher to be 01:40:35.760 --> 01:40:38.950 threatened, you know, their their like 01:40:38.960 --> 01:40:41.510 status within the group or whatever. 01:40:41.520 --> 01:40:43.830 It was really weird. 01:40:43.840 --> 01:40:46.229 So that was it was it was sort of like 01:40:46.239 --> 01:40:48.550 just jumping into ice cold water after 01:40:48.560 --> 01:40:51.270 being in in like a warm bath or 01:40:51.280 --> 01:40:52.790 something. It was it was just really 01:40:52.800 --> 01:40:54.390 weird. It was just night and day the 01:40:54.400 --> 01:40:56.390 difference between how a monk is treated 01:40:56.400 --> 01:40:59.430 in like a Buddhist country like Burma 01:40:59.440 --> 01:41:01.990 and then coming to America 01:41:02.000 --> 01:41:06.070 where I mean it was it was more like who 01:41:06.080 --> 01:41:07.990 is this guy? who does he think he is 01:41:08.000 --> 01:41:10.070 kind of an attitude from a lot of people 01:41:10.080 --> 01:41:15.189 including a lot of Buddhist people. 01:41:15.199 --> 01:41:17.750 So that would probably be the the most 01:41:17.760 --> 01:41:20.550 shocking thing I experienced was just 01:41:20.560 --> 01:41:22.709 the like 01:41:22.719 --> 01:41:25.830 indifference or even like resentment 01:41:25.840 --> 01:41:28.709 from like the dharma community of me 01:41:28.719 --> 01:41:32.310 just appearing in town and like coming 01:41:32.320 --> 01:41:34.870 to the dharma hall that kind of thing. 01:41:34.880 --> 01:41:36.470 there. A lot of people just did not like 01:41:36.480 --> 01:41:37.990 it. And I mean, they didn't even know 01:41:38.000 --> 01:41:40.070 me, you know? It wasn't like my 01:41:40.080 --> 01:41:41.990 reputation preceded me or anything like

01:41:42.000 --> 01:41:44.310 that. It was just, whoa, this there's a 01:41:44.320 --> 01:41:47.030 monk here. Yeah, I don't think so. That 01:41:47.040 --> 01:41:50.550 kind of thing. 01:41:50.560 --> 01:41:52.550 Anyways, 01:41:52.560 --> 01:41:53.750 I'm just going to move on. Next 01:41:53.760 --> 01:41:55.430 question. 01:41:55.440 --> 01:41:57.910 This is from Raphael 01:41:57.920 --> 01:41:59.590 and Raphael says, "You said that 01:41:59.600 --> 01:42:01.669 attaining enlightenment as a monk is 01:42:01.679 --> 01:42:03.750 practically impossible and that most 01:42:03.760 --> 01:42:05.910 monks would even avoid it because of the 01:42:05.920 --> 01:42:07.990 frightening aspect of losing one's sense 01:42:08.000 --> 01:42:11.430 of identity on the path toward it. So 01:42:11.440 --> 01:42:13.109 why would someone choose to become a 01:42:13.119 --> 01:42:15.510 monk in the first place?" Well, I mean, 01:42:15.520 --> 01:42:17.590 even if you're afraid of something at 01:42:17.600 --> 01:42:19.830 one level, that doesn't mean that you're 01:42:19.840 --> 01:42:21.669 going to be afraid of it at all levels 01:42:21.679 --> 01:42:24.390 and just not try for it. You know, it's 01:42:24.400 --> 01:42:28.629 like some people it's like courage. Um, 01:42:28.639 --> 01:42:31.270 like one aspect of courage is not that 01:42:31.280 --> 01:42:33.430 you're fearless. It's just like you face 01:42:33.440 --> 01:42:35.189 your fear. That's that's what the 01:42:35.199 --> 01:42:37.510 courage is. 01:42:37.520 --> 01:42:39.189 So 01:42:39.199 --> 01:42:43.590 I mean just because it's very difficult 01:42:43.600 --> 01:42:46.470 and unpleasant doesn't mean that I mean 01:42:46.480 --> 01:42:48.790 even though a part of you acknowledges 01:42:48.800 --> 01:42:51.990 that and kind of deep down you you're 01:42:52.000 --> 01:42:53.830 like clinging to your own sense of 01:42:53.840 --> 01:42:57.189 identity and so forth still at another 01:42:57.199 --> 01:42:59.669 level you acknowledge that this is the 01:42:59.679 --> 01:43:01.910 best thing I can do even if it's the 01:43:01.920 --> 01:43:04.629 odds are like astronomical against my 01:43:04.639 --> 01:43:06.390 success still at least you make 01:43:06.400 --> 01:43:07.910 progress. You know, even if you're not 01:43:07.920 --> 01:43:09.030 going to become fully enlightened, at 01:43:09.040 --> 01:43:10.950 least you're going to become wiser and a 01:43:10.960 --> 01:43:15.430 better person. 01:43:15.440 --> 01:43:17.270 So, there is that. I mean, a lot of 01:43:17.280 --> 01:43:19.270 Asian monks, 01:43:19.280 --> 01:43:21.189 um, you know, they're just they just 01:43:21.199 --> 01:43:22.870 want to get merit. They just want to get 01:43:22.880 --> 01:43:25.189 good karma from being a monk. You know, 01:43:25.199 --> 01:43:26.629 they'll get into a heaven realm or 01:43:26.639 --> 01:43:29.270 something as a result of it. 01:43:29.280 --> 01:43:30.790 Not sure if it really works that way, 01:43:30.800

--> 01:43:32.550 especially considering that most like 01:43:32.560 --> 01:43:35.030 Burmese monks don't follow the rules 01:43:35.040 --> 01:43:37.030 very conscientiously. They're not really 01:43:37.040 --> 01:43:40.070 making much of an effort. 01:43:40.080 --> 01:43:44.070 But I mean, in Burma, most monks 01:43:44.080 --> 01:43:47.030 really do not have what would be called 01:43:47.040 --> 01:43:49.750 a vocation or a calling. You know, it's 01:43:49.760 --> 01:43:52.310 like I mean, I' I've discussed this 01:43:52.320 --> 01:43:53.990 before. 01:43:54.000 --> 01:43:55.189 A lot of monks, they just want to live 01:43:55.199 --> 01:43:58.229 an easy life. Some monks, it's like 01:43:58.239 --> 01:44:00.149 they're too 01:44:00.159 --> 01:44:03.590 it's like they're too ugly and lazy to 01:44:03.600 --> 01:44:06.629 get married and and like work for a 01:44:06.639 --> 01:44:09.590 living and so they just go into the SA. 01:44:09.600 --> 01:44:12.310 Or some some monks are like latent 01:44:12.320 --> 01:44:15.669 homosexuals. They want some socially 01:44:15.679 --> 01:44:18.390 acceptable reason for not getting 01:44:18.400 --> 01:44:22.070 married to a woman. So they join the SA. 01:44:22.080 --> 01:44:24.310 It's like a lot of the the more 01:44:24.320 --> 01:44:26.229 comfortable monasteries in town have at 01:44:26.239 --> 01:44:30.629 least one like gay assistant Seattle 01:44:30.639 --> 01:44:33.430 there. Like mahasi seats that are like 01:44:33.440 --> 01:44:35.430 the comfortable ones in town almost 01:44:35.440 --> 01:44:38.149 always have at least one kind of 01:44:38.159 --> 01:44:42.550 effeminite assistant Seattle. 01:44:42.560 --> 01:44:46.310 or it's just you've got like this large 01:44:46.320 --> 01:44:49.510 family of poor subsistence farmers and 01:44:49.520 --> 01:44:52.310 they got too many mouths to feed and so 01:44:52.320 --> 01:44:53.910 they send one of their kids to the 01:44:53.920 --> 01:44:55.430 monastery 01:44:55.440 --> 01:44:57.510 um partly to reduce the number of mouths 01:44:57.520 --> 01:44:59.270 to feed and also to increase the status 01:44:59.280 --> 01:45:00.950 of the family by having a monk in the 01:45:00.960 --> 01:45:04.310 family and the kid he just wants to be a 01:45:04.320 --> 01:45:06.390 kid in a lot of cases he may not have 01:45:06.400 --> 01:45:08.470 any kind of spiritual calling it's like 01:45:08.480 --> 01:45:11.910 you go to the monastery 01:45:11.920 --> 01:45:13.830 So there's all kinds of reasons why 01:45:13.840 --> 01:45:15.270 someone would choose to become a monk. I 01:45:15.280 --> 01:45:17.590 mean, they just want higher social 01:45:17.600 --> 01:45:20.629 status, upward social mobility, free 01:45:20.639 --> 01:45:22.870 education at the monastic schools. 01:45:22.880 --> 01:45:25.109 There's all kinds of reasons, especially 01:45:25.119 --> 01:45:27.189 like in a Buddhist country, why someone 01:45:27.199 --> 01:45:30.310 would become a Buddhist monk or nun 01:45:30.320 --> 01:45:34.950 without really desiring enlightenment. 01:45:34.960 --> 01:45:36.390 Westerners tend to be more serious 01:45:36.400 --> 01:45:37.910 because they have to like go against 01:45:37.920 --> 01:45:43.270 their own culture in order to do it. 01:45:43.280 --> 01:45:45.189 So 01:45:45.199 --> 01:45:46.790 why would someone choose to become a 01:45:46.800 --> 01:45:48.629 monk in the first place? I mean for a 01:45:48.639 --> 01:45:51.189 westerner just setting aside all the 01:45:51.199 --> 01:45:54.550 like the Asian traditional reasons of 01:45:54.560 --> 01:45:57.830 you know this upward social mobility and 01:45:57.840 --> 01:46:01.830 this kind of thing. Um a western I mean 01:46:01.840 --> 01:46:03.669 like one of the best reason I mean the 01:46:03.679 --> 01:46:05.430 desire to become enlightened is probably 01:46:05.440 --> 01:46:08.149 not the best reason for being ordained. 01:46:08.159 --> 01:46:09.830 One of the best reasons is just a sense 01:46:09.840 --> 01:46:12.550 of duty. You know, it's like it's it's 01:46:12.560 --> 01:46:14.709 there. The possibility is there. It's 01:46:14.719 --> 01:46:16.629 like my sacred duty to at least give it 01:46:16.639 --> 01:46:19.430 a shot. That's a good reason. Another 01:46:19.440 --> 01:46:21.350 good reason for becoming a monk that 01:46:21.360 --> 01:46:23.270 probably will keep someone in the SA 01:46:23.280 --> 01:46:26.310 longer is you just have like like your 01:46:26.320 --> 01:46:29.109 character is attuned to living a life of 01:46:29.119 --> 01:46:31.910 simplicity and solitude. 01:46:31.920 --> 01:46:35.109 living like a meditative life alone in a 01:46:35.119 --> 01:46:38.870 forest, you know, like a thorough type. 01:46:38.880 --> 01:46:41.830 I mean, it's the lifestyle is in harmony 01:46:41.840 --> 01:46:44.870 with your character and that there's a 01:46:44.880 --> 01:46:46.950 good chance that will get you farther 01:46:46.960 --> 01:46:49.669 than just like some idealistic desire 01:46:49.679 --> 01:46:52.870 for nirvana. 01:46:52.880 --> 01:46:55.270 I mean, if the whole lifestyle of a monk 01:46:55.280 --> 01:46:57.430 just is not in harmony with your own 01:46:57.440 --> 01:46:58.870 nature, then it's it's probably not 01:46:58.880 --> 01:47:02.709 going to work out very well. 01:47:02.719 --> 01:47:05.669 Man, my my nostrils are like they're not 01:47:05.679 --> 01:47:07.990 cooperating very well. I'm going to give 01:47:08.000 --> 01:47:15.830 this another shot. 01:47:15.840 --> 01:47:18.870 I don't know why this happens sometimes. 01:47:18.880 --> 01:47:20.470 So, 01:47:20.480 --> 01:47:22.790 I guess the next question from Raphael 01:47:22.800 --> 01:47:24.790 is a followup on the first one. So, 01:47:24.800 --> 01:47:27.270 let's just go there and see if see if we 01:47:27.280 --> 01:47:29.669 can sort of amalgamate these two 01:47:29.679 --> 01:47:31.270 questions into one. even though I've 01:47:31.280 --> 01:47:32.709 already pretty much

answered the first 01:47:32.719 --> 01:47:35.270 one. So, Raphael says, "Then it would 01:47:35.280 --> 01:47:37.750 make more sense to become a monk simply 01:47:37.760 --> 01:47:40.149 to attain inner peace and live a 01:47:40.159 --> 01:47:42.709 stressfree life without thinking about 01:47:42.719 --> 01:47:45.270 enlightenment at all." Right. Well, I 01:47:45.280 --> 01:47:46.070 mean, you're going to think about 01:47:46.080 --> 01:47:47.669 enlightenment sometimes, especially if 01:47:47.679 --> 01:47:49.590 you're reading Buddhist texts that have 01:47:49.600 --> 01:47:50.870 quite a lot to say about becoming 01:47:50.880 --> 01:47:52.709 enlightened. 01:47:52.719 --> 01:47:56.070 So, yeah. I mean 01:47:56.080 --> 01:47:58.070 you you definitely think about 01:47:58.080 --> 01:48:00.149 enlightenment sometimes if you're if 01:48:00.159 --> 01:48:01.910 you're reading your the scriptures of 01:48:01.920 --> 01:48:04.950 your own religion but I think it's more 01:48:04.960 --> 01:48:07.590 important just not to have goaloriented 01:48:07.600 --> 01:48:09.109 dharma 01:48:09.119 --> 01:48:11.830 I mean just be here now do the best best 01:48:11.840 --> 01:48:14.629 you can now you know give no thought for 01:48:14.639 --> 01:48:16.470 tomorrow what you will eat or where you 01:48:16.480 --> 01:48:20.470 will sleep that kind of thing just 01:48:20.480 --> 01:48:23.590 I mean goaloriented dharma is a kind of 01:48:23.600 --> 01:48:24.470 trap 01:48:24.480 --> 01:48:27.510 because I mean things just rarely work 01:48:27.520 --> 01:48:29.990 out the way you expect them to anyway. 01:48:30.000 --> 01:48:32.550 So it can result in a lot of disillusion 01:48:32.560 --> 01:48:35.189 and discouragement and all that. Just 01:48:35.199 --> 01:48:38.229 attend to the present moment from one 01:48:38.239 --> 01:48:40.310 moment to the next and that will get you 01:48:40.320 --> 01:48:43.109 farther than like dedicating your 01:48:43.119 --> 01:48:47.189 efforts to some future extrapolated goal 01:48:47.199 --> 01:48:49.430 which there's a good chance you'll never 01:48:49.440 --> 01:48:51.990 reach that goal. 01:48:52.000 --> 01:48:53.510 you're there's more chance that you'll 01:48:53.520 --> 01:48:55.430 reach the goal just by living in the 01:48:55.440 --> 01:48:56.870 present moment and just being as 01:48:56.880 --> 01:49:01.030 meditative and mindful as you can. 01:49:01.040 --> 01:49:03.350 And virtue is its own reward. I think 01:49:03.360 --> 01:49:07.189 that's how Spinosa's ethics ends. It's 01:49:07.199 --> 01:49:09.109 right towards the end anyway that I mean 01:49:09.119 --> 01:49:12.870 he tries to like logically demonstrate 01:49:12.880 --> 01:49:15.350 that virtue is its own reward. that you 01:49:15.360 --> 01:49:18.550 shouldn't be virtuous for the sake of 01:49:18.560 --> 01:49:20.550 getting into heaven after you die or 01:49:20.560 --> 01:49:22.870 becoming enlightened, you know, 3 years 01:49:22.880 --> 01:49:25.910 from now or whatever. It's just be here 01:49:25.920 --> 01:49:28.950 now. Just do what is right just because 01:49:28.960 --> 01:49:33.910 it's right without any ulterior motive. 01:49:33.920 --> 01:49:35.109 And I'm just going to move on to the 01:49:35.119 --> 01:49:37.189 next question. This is from Robert who 01:49:37.199 --> 01:49:40.790 is our last questioner of this episode. 01:49:40.800 --> 01:49:43.510 And Robert says, "Have you read or have 01:49:43.520 --> 01:49:46.229 any opinion on Brave New World or Aldis 01:49:46.239 --> 01:49:48.790 Huxley in general?" Well, I've read 01:49:48.800 --> 01:49:51.350 quite a lot of Aldis Huxley. I like 01:49:51.360 --> 01:49:53.270 Aldis Huxley. I put him in this pretty 01:49:53.280 --> 01:49:56.629 much the same category as Somerset Mom 01:49:56.639 --> 01:49:59.590 that neither one of them was like really 01:49:59.600 --> 01:50:02.390 topnotch author, but both of them were 01:50:02.400 --> 01:50:05.109 intelligent and imaginative and told 01:50:05.119 --> 01:50:07.430 good stories and both of them were 01:50:07.440 --> 01:50:09.910 fairly cultured. 01:50:09.920 --> 01:50:12.950 So yeah, I've read a lot of Aldis 01:50:12.960 --> 01:50:14.950 Huxley. In fact, you know, the doors of 01:50:14.960 --> 01:50:20.390 perception or the the uh what was it? 01:50:20.400 --> 01:50:24.070 The he wrote like a historical 01:50:24.080 --> 01:50:26.709 account of the devils of Ludon, I think 01:50:26.719 --> 01:50:28.629 that's called. And there was a movie 01:50:28.639 --> 01:50:30.870 based on it where you have these 01:50:30.880 --> 01:50:32.870 hysterical nuns that are claiming that 01:50:32.880 --> 01:50:34.709 they're being possessed by the devil. is 01:50:34.719 --> 01:50:37.669 just like a a case history of mass 01:50:37.679 --> 01:50:40.470 hysteria running a muk. 01:50:40.480 --> 01:50:42.390 And of course, I have read Brave New 01:50:42.400 --> 01:50:43.990 World. I read some of his short stories 01:50:44.000 --> 01:50:48.709 like the Gia Smile is is a good story. 01:50:48.719 --> 01:50:51.109 Um but yeah, Brave New World in 01:50:51.119 --> 01:50:54.070 particular, um people kind of overlook 01:50:54.080 --> 01:50:55.430 Brave New World, you know, so when 01:50:55.440 --> 01:50:57.750 they're saying that the modern West is 01:50:57.760 --> 01:51:00.470 like this dystopia, they they're more 01:51:00.480 --> 01:51:03.510 likely to bring up Orwell's 1984 when 01:51:03.520 --> 01:51:06.310 actually what like the European Union 01:51:06.320 --> 01:51:10.790 and the UK and Canada and Australia and 01:51:10.800 --> 01:51:13.270 New Zealand and America, if the 01:51:13.280 --> 01:51:15.590 Democrats have their way, is going more 01:51:15.600 --> 01:51:18.709 the route of Brave New World than 1984. 01:51:18.719 --> 01:51:22.470 1984 was using like fear and pain to 01:51:22.480 --> 01:51:25.109 control people. Whereas Brave New World 01:51:25.119 --> 01:51:27.350 was using like greed and pleasure to 01:51:27.360 -->

01:51:29.590 control people. 01:51:29.600 --> 01:51:31.510 Both of them were like a totalitarian 01:51:31.520 --> 01:51:33.750 government where you had to follow along 01:51:33.760 --> 01:51:35.590 or you would be punished. But at least 01:51:35.600 --> 01:51:37.109 in Brave New World, they were more 01:51:37.119 --> 01:51:40.149 humane. And instead of just torturing 01:51:40.159 --> 01:51:42.550 you to death like they would do in in 01:51:42.560 --> 01:51:45.350 Orwell's 1984, they just banish you to 01:51:45.360 --> 01:51:47.270 some island with the where the weirdos 01:51:47.280 --> 01:51:49.270 live. You know, you'd be living in some 01:51:49.280 --> 01:51:51.750 artist colony or something on some 01:51:51.760 --> 01:51:55.990 remote island out in the ocean. 01:51:56.000 --> 01:51:58.149 So, I mean, Brave New World was more 01:51:58.159 --> 01:52:00.070 humane. 01:52:00.080 --> 01:52:02.149 And also like I said, it was it was 01:52:02.159 --> 01:52:04.229 controlling people through their greed 01:52:04.239 --> 01:52:06.629 and their and through pleasure, you 01:52:06.639 --> 01:52:08.470 know, keeping everybody doped up on this 01:52:08.480 --> 01:52:10.629 stuff called soma 01:52:10.639 --> 01:52:13.189 and just like indoctrinating people 01:52:13.199 --> 01:52:14.470 with, you know, never put off for 01:52:14.480 --> 01:52:15.830 tomorrow the pleasure you can have 01:52:15.840 --> 01:52:19.109 today. You know, just like 01:52:19.119 --> 01:52:21.910 like exaggerated consumerism, you know, 01:52:21.920 --> 01:52:23.750 there was no more marriage. Sexual 01:52:23.760 --> 01:52:27.109 promiscuity is encouraged taught in 01:52:27.119 --> 01:52:29.030 grade school. 01:52:29.040 --> 01:52:30.950 You know, the the worst insult you can 01:52:30.960 --> 01:52:32.629 give to somebody in Huxley's Brave New 01:52:32.639 --> 01:52:35.270 World is who's your mother? Because like 01:52:35.280 --> 01:52:37.910 any kind of like strong personal 01:52:37.920 --> 01:52:40.550 attachments are abolished in the Brave 01:52:40.560 --> 01:52:42.070 New World. You want everything 01:52:42.080 --> 01:52:44.709 superficial and instantly gratified. You 01:52:44.719 --> 01:52:47.589 don't want any kind of lasting like 01:52:47.599 --> 01:52:50.390 strong feelings that can interfere with 01:52:50.400 --> 01:52:52.950 the government's control over you. And 01:52:52.960 --> 01:52:56.709 that's I mean that's definitely closer 01:52:56.719 --> 01:53:00.629 to the EU or the UK or you know the 01:53:00.639 --> 01:53:02.229 other countries I have mentioned than 01:53:02.239 --> 01:53:03.910 1984. 01:53:03.920 --> 01:53:06.550 1984 was more like Stalinist Soviet 01:53:06.560 --> 01:53:14.310 Union or maybe to some degree China. 01:53:14.320 --> 01:53:15.910 So 01:53:15.920 --> 01:53:17.669 all the Huxley his death was 01:53:17.679 --> 01:53:20.310 interesting. I think he took meascalene 01:53:20.320 --> 01:53:23.910 or LSD as he was dying so that he could 01:53:23.920 --> 01:53:26.310 die as consciously as possible. But 01:53:26.320 --> 01:53:28.550 Romas said it was still kind of an 01:53:28.560 --> 01:53:30.149 unenlightened attitude. You know, it's 01:53:30.159 --> 01:53:31.910 like I want to die this way instead of 01:53:31.920 --> 01:53:34.470 that way sort of a thing. So, I mean, he 01:53:34.480 --> 01:53:36.310 was still kind of attached to what was 01:53:36.320 --> 01:53:38.229 going on. 01:53:38.239 --> 01:53:40.390 Um, 01:53:40.400 --> 01:53:42.870 but yeah, it's Brave New World. I mean, 01:53:42.880 --> 01:53:44.950 it's not entirely prophetic. does miss 01:53:44.960 --> 01:53:47.750 out on like the the feminization, the 01:53:47.760 --> 01:53:51.189 whole DEI thing of the modern left or 01:53:51.199 --> 01:53:53.270 postmodern left. You know, in in 01:53:53.280 --> 01:53:54.709 Huxley's Brave New World, I think he 01:53:54.719 --> 01:53:58.149 wrote it like in the the late 1930s. 01:53:58.159 --> 01:54:00.310 Um, you know, it's still like white men 01:54:00.320 --> 01:54:03.270 or at least men running everything. You 01:54:03.280 --> 01:54:04.950 know, it's still a patriarchy even 01:54:04.960 --> 01:54:09.109 though it's um it's sort of like a a 01:54:09.119 --> 01:54:14.950 dystopia masquerading as a utopia. 01:54:14.960 --> 01:54:17.109 Ah, 01:54:17.119 --> 01:54:18.310 anyways, I think I'm just going to move 01:54:18.320 --> 01:54:20.870 on to Robert's second question. 01:54:20.880 --> 01:54:22.950 He says, "What are your main reasons why 01:54:22.960 --> 01:54:24.629 you don't think Christianity and 01:54:24.639 --> 01:54:28.229 specifically Catholicism is true?" 01:54:28.239 --> 01:54:30.310 Man, why do why don't I think 01:54:30.320 --> 01:54:32.790 Christianity is true? I think the main 01:54:32.800 --> 01:54:36.950 reason is I just cannot believe that a 01:54:36.960 --> 01:54:40.950 Hebrew carpenter turned miracle rabbi 01:54:40.960 --> 01:54:45.430 who lived in a province of the early 01:54:45.440 --> 01:54:48.310 Roman Empire is literally the only 01:54:48.320 --> 01:54:50.709 begotten son of God Almighty and the 01:54:50.719 --> 01:54:53.189 creator of the universe who died for our 01:54:53.199 --> 01:54:55.109 sins. 01:54:55.119 --> 01:54:57.830 I mean that really is a huge it's not 01:54:57.840 --> 01:54:59.430 even a stumbling block. It's like this 01:54:59.440 --> 01:55:03.109 iron this iron cliff. I mean, I just 01:55:03.119 --> 01:55:07.109 cannot believe it that this Hebrew 01:55:07.119 --> 01:55:09.430 carpenter turned miracle rabbi who was a 01:55:09.440 --> 01:55:11.830 very saintly man, assuming that he 01:55:11.840 --> 01:55:13.910 existed. 01:55:13.920 --> 01:55:16.149 I I think probably he did in a 01:55:16.159 --> 01:55:19.270 historical sense. There was a man like 01:55:19.280 --> 01:55:22.149 Yeshua of Nazareth 01:55:22.159 --> 01:55:24.950 who was a saintly man, may have had 01:55:24.960 --> 01:55:27.030 psychic powers. I would not doubt even 01:55:27.040 --> 01:55:28.790

that he was able to heal the sick. Maybe 01:55:28.800 --> 01:55:31.510 he even walked on water. Maybe he even 01:55:31.520 --> 01:55:34.950 turned water into wine for all I know. 01:55:34.960 --> 01:55:39.189 But still to to accept that is is one 01:55:39.199 --> 01:55:41.750 thing. I can I can accept that much. But 01:55:41.760 --> 01:55:45.510 then to say that he is the only begotten 01:55:45.520 --> 01:55:49.510 son of God. He is God. 01:55:49.520 --> 01:55:53.430 He created the universe and that he died 01:55:53.440 --> 01:55:57.510 as a kind of sacrificial victim for the 01:55:57.520 --> 01:56:00.950 sake of absolving us of the original sin 01:56:00.960 --> 01:56:03.430 of a man made from soil and a woman made 01:56:03.440 --> 01:56:05.589 from a bone being tricked by a snake and 01:56:05.599 --> 01:56:08.629 eating a certain kind of fruit. 01:56:08.639 --> 01:56:10.870 I mean, 01:56:10.880 --> 01:56:15.510 what is wrong with this picture? I mean 01:56:15.520 --> 01:56:18.870 I mean I it just amazes me that hundreds 01:56:18.880 --> 01:56:21.510 of millions of people actually believe 01:56:21.520 --> 01:56:24.149 that narrative and for me I mean it's 01:56:24.159 --> 01:56:25.990 not even a viable option. I can't 01:56:26.000 --> 01:56:27.910 believe it. It's not like I choose not 01:56:27.920 --> 01:56:29.990 to believe it. I just it's just 01:56:30.000 --> 01:56:31.990 unbelievable. 01:56:32.000 --> 01:56:33.990 But it seems like that is central to 01:56:34.000 --> 01:56:37.189 Christianity. If you don't believe that 01:56:37.199 --> 01:56:42.229 Jesus Christ is God Almighty who died 01:56:42.239 --> 01:56:45.189 for your sins, 01:56:45.199 --> 01:56:47.270 then I mean what kind of Christianity 01:56:47.280 --> 01:56:49.430 remains? At least in Buddhism, you don't 01:56:49.440 --> 01:56:51.189 have to believe any stories. I mean 01:56:51.199 --> 01:56:52.950 there's all kinds of wild stories. When 01:56:52.960 --> 01:56:54.950 the Buddha was born, he immediately 01:56:54.960 --> 01:56:56.790 takes off walking with like a lotus 01:56:56.800 --> 01:56:58.950 flower sprouting underneath each 01:56:58.960 --> 01:57:01.350 footstep and he like declares to the 01:57:01.360 --> 01:57:03.109 world that no one is greater than him 01:57:03.119 --> 01:57:05.350 and that you know he's going this is his 01:57:05.360 --> 01:57:07.510 last life and all that and then after 01:57:07.520 --> 01:57:09.030 that he just kind of reverts back to 01:57:09.040 --> 01:57:12.550 being a normal baby for a while. 01:57:12.560 --> 01:57:14.229 I don't believe that story either but at 01:57:14.239 --> 01:57:16.870 least it's not central to Dhamma. You 01:57:16.880 --> 01:57:19.189 can get rid of all the the stories like 01:57:19.199 --> 01:57:22.149 the legends and the myths and the 01:57:22.159 --> 01:57:24.870 essence of dharma remains. 01:57:24.880 --> 01:57:27.990 You know, it's still good. Christianity, 01:57:28.000 --> 01:57:31.189 you get rid of the wild story about this 01:57:31.199 --> 01:57:33.350 this Hebrew carpenter turned miracle 01:57:33.360 --> 01:57:35.910 rabbi who was executed by the Roman 01:57:35.920 --> 01:57:38.950 government on political charges that he 01:57:38.960 --> 01:57:46.629 is God, capital G, the only God. I mean 01:57:46.639 --> 01:57:49.109 I mean this entire universe, this entire 01:57:49.119 --> 01:57:52.070 cosmos that this little ball of rock 01:57:52.080 --> 01:57:55.030 that we are on is the one chosen by God 01:57:55.040 --> 01:57:57.510 Almighty for his only begotten son to be 01:57:57.520 --> 01:57:59.830 born on 01:57:59.840 --> 01:58:01.669 in order to be killed by the Roman 01:58:01.679 --> 01:58:05.510 government. 01:58:05.520 --> 01:58:06.870 You know, it's just it's just 01:58:06.880 --> 01:58:10.149 unbelievable. I just cannot believe it. 01:58:10.159 --> 01:58:13.270 And I mean that's just basic to almost 01:58:13.280 --> 01:58:17.589 all Christianity, not just Catholicism. 01:58:17.599 --> 01:58:19.189 So let's just move on to the next 01:58:19.199 --> 01:58:22.310 question which is the last question 01:58:22.320 --> 01:58:25.030 from Robert here. This is kind of a 01:58:25.040 --> 01:58:28.229 followup. He says, "As someone who has 01:58:28.239 --> 01:58:30.470 been nominally terra Buddhist for a 01:58:30.480 --> 01:58:32.790 while looking into Catholicism, the 01:58:32.800 --> 01:58:34.629 combination of seemingly enlightened 01:58:34.639 --> 01:58:37.109 Catholics like St. John of the cross and 01:58:37.119 --> 01:58:40.229 the epistemological optimism bayotific 01:58:40.239 --> 01:58:43.270 vision even for unenlightened beings as 01:58:43.280 --> 01:58:45.350 well as the availability of community 01:58:45.360 --> 01:58:47.270 and an imposed structure seems 01:58:47.280 --> 01:58:49.990 appealing. What main practical reasons 01:58:50.000 --> 01:58:52.149 are there not to take the leap to 01:58:52.159 --> 01:58:55.430 Catholicism from a terra Buddhist and 01:58:55.440 --> 01:58:58.950 your point of view? Well, this reminds 01:58:58.960 --> 01:59:02.790 me of uh an a Catholic priest from 01:59:02.800 --> 01:59:05.750 Austria who came to visit me when I was 01:59:05.760 --> 01:59:08.229 a monk in Burma. He came to visit me at 01:59:08.239 --> 01:59:12.149 my cave and he wants to he wanted to 01:59:12.159 --> 01:59:14.550 study like Buddhist meditation, Buddhist 01:59:14.560 --> 01:59:16.950 like dharmic techniques 01:59:16.960 --> 01:59:19.030 and I knew enough about Catholicism at 01:59:19.040 --> 01:59:20.870 the time to know like St. Jon of the 01:59:20.880 --> 01:59:22.709 cross for example is teaching pretty 01:59:22.719 --> 01:59:25.910 much all the same techniques as terra 01:59:25.920 --> 01:59:28.390 Buddhism teaches you know like like high 01:59:28.400 --> 01:59:31.030 contemplation or janna has just 01:59:31.040 --> 01:59:34.950 momentary like mindfulness 01:59:34.960 --> 01:59:37.430 it's it's like mindfulness like samadei 01:59:37.440 -->

01:59:40.790 and mindfulness is is is there in cath 01:59:40.800 --> 01:59:43.430 like Roman Catholicism so I asked him 01:59:43.440 --> 01:59:45.669 why don't you just follow the Catholic 01:59:45.679 --> 01:59:47.510 version instead of coming you know 01:59:47.520 --> 01:59:50.550 halfway around the world to study like 01:59:50.560 --> 01:59:53.750 what Catholicism already teaches. 01:59:53.760 --> 01:59:58.470 And he said that it's esoteric in Roman 01:59:58.480 --> 02:00:01.350 Catholicism. In order to learn these 02:00:01.360 --> 02:00:03.030 techniques and to practice these 02:00:03.040 --> 02:00:05.510 techniques with any kind of support from 02:00:05.520 --> 02:00:07.990 the church, you have to be ordained into 02:00:08.000 --> 02:00:10.790 one of these contemplative orders that 02:00:10.800 --> 02:00:12.470 the rest of the Catholic Church doesn't 02:00:12.480 --> 02:00:14.149 teach it. It's not encouraged for others 02:00:14.159 --> 02:00:17.350 to even even do it. 02:00:17.360 --> 02:00:21.510 So even a Catholic priest 02:00:21.520 --> 02:00:25.270 had to go to a Buddhist country to learn 02:00:25.280 --> 02:00:27.189 Buddhist techniques that are the same as 02:00:27.199 --> 02:00:29.430 Catholic techniques. Essentially the 02:00:29.440 --> 02:00:33.669 same because the Catholic Church just 02:00:33.679 --> 02:00:35.750 does not teach it even to other 02:00:35.760 --> 02:00:38.550 Catholics. 02:00:38.560 --> 02:00:42.390 that if you wanted to be a a Catholic to 02:00:42.400 --> 02:00:45.030 like practiced advanced meditation 02:00:45.040 --> 02:00:46.470 techniques and so forth, you'd have to 02:00:46.480 --> 02:00:48.470 be ordained as like a a Carmelite or 02:00:48.480 --> 02:00:51.430 something. 02:00:51.440 --> 02:00:53.350 And even then, you still have this 02:00:53.360 --> 02:00:57.589 burden of this just wild narrative 02:00:57.599 --> 02:01:02.310 of this this Jewish man being God. And 02:01:02.320 --> 02:01:04.070 it's it's not just that he was Jewish 02:01:04.080 --> 02:01:06.470 either. I mean, you could have him be 02:01:06.480 --> 02:01:09.030 like whatever, a neoplatonist. You could 02:01:09.040 --> 02:01:11.910 have him be like even a Buddhist, 02:01:11.920 --> 02:01:13.910 but I mean, even to have a Buddhist 02:01:13.920 --> 02:01:17.910 who's like declared to be God Almighty. 02:01:17.920 --> 02:01:20.790 I mean, some Mahayana Buddhists do that 02:01:20.800 --> 02:01:23.270 to to some Buddha or other. Usually not 02:01:23.280 --> 02:01:25.430 God Buddha. It's like Amitaba or 02:01:25.440 --> 02:01:27.830 something. Some some mythological Buddha 02:01:27.840 --> 02:01:30.709 that lives out there in space somewhere. 02:01:30.719 --> 02:01:34.149 But I mean, I can't believe that either. 02:01:34.159 --> 02:01:36.870 I mean to to get to the point of like 02:01:36.880 --> 02:01:39.430 what the Hindus believe like that there 02:01:39.440 --> 02:01:41.189 are two kinds of guru. You've got the 02:01:41.199 --> 02:01:43.589 upa

guru who's just a teacher, just not 02:01:43.599 --> 02:01:46.070 enlightened, just a teacher. And then 02:01:46.080 --> 02:01:50.070 you've got the sat guru who is like god 02:01:50.080 --> 02:01:52.470 personified. You know, it's it's God 02:01:52.480 --> 02:01:55.750 Almighty in in human form. But it's not 02:01:55.760 --> 02:01:57.510 like there's only one of them. It's like 02:01:57.520 --> 02:01:59.350 a fully enlightened being can become 02:01:59.360 --> 02:02:02.950 that way, can become a s guru. 02:02:02.960 --> 02:02:05.270 But I mean 02:02:05.280 --> 02:02:07.910 there's there's any number of of s gurus 02:02:07.920 --> 02:02:09.589 in this universe. There's not just only 02:02:09.599 --> 02:02:13.350 one only begotten son of God Almighty 02:02:13.360 --> 02:02:18.149 who dies for our sins. 02:02:18.159 --> 02:02:19.910 So 02:02:19.920 --> 02:02:22.790 yeah, I mean St. John of the Cross 02:02:22.800 --> 02:02:24.550 I mean I do think it's possible that 02:02:24.560 --> 02:02:27.189 that he was an enlightened being. He 02:02:27.199 --> 02:02:29.189 apparently considered himself and his 02:02:29.199 --> 02:02:31.589 mentor St. Teresa of Avula to have 02:02:31.599 --> 02:02:34.629 reached the stage of perfection in which 02:02:34.639 --> 02:02:37.510 you have mortified your own self-will 02:02:37.520 --> 02:02:39.910 and then you become completely motivated 02:02:39.920 --> 02:02:41.830 by the will of God. you become a kind of 02:02:41.840 --> 02:02:45.350 divine puppet 02:02:45.360 --> 02:02:48.149 and a lot of what he says it's it's like 02:02:48.159 --> 02:02:49.589 he's coming from a different angle but 02:02:49.599 --> 02:02:51.669 it just meets up with with like what 02:02:51.679 --> 02:02:54.310 terraatara Buddhism also teaches you 02:02:54.320 --> 02:02:56.790 know like the the divine puppet the 02:02:56.800 --> 02:02:58.629 person who has reached the stage of 02:02:58.639 --> 02:03:01.109 perfection they no longer have their 02:03:01.119 --> 02:03:02.470 self they no longer have their own 02:03:02.480 --> 02:03:04.790 self-will whereas you know the Buddhist 02:03:04.800 --> 02:03:07.350 arant he's not creating karma anymore 02:03:07.360 --> 02:03:09.990 karma is will therefore the arhant also 02:03:10.000 --> 02:03:13.589 is not motivated by self-will. 02:03:13.599 --> 02:03:15.510 So, it's like wooue, non-action, no 02:03:15.520 --> 02:03:19.350 karma. 02:03:19.360 --> 02:03:20.950 And then the meditation techniques and 02:03:20.960 --> 02:03:22.390 all that. I mean, there could have been 02:03:22.400 --> 02:03:25.189 some sort of like influence between 02:03:25.199 --> 02:03:28.629 Buddhism and Spanish Roman Catholicism 02:03:28.639 --> 02:03:31.750 in like the the 16th century. 02:03:31.760 --> 02:03:33.669 But still, I mean, they had their own 02:03:33.679 --> 02:03:35.589 explanations, their own masters and all 02:03:35.599 --> 02:03:39.589 that. But to some degree, like 02:03:39.599 --> 02:03:41.910 Catholicism, it has or Christianity in 02:03:41.920 --> 02:03:45.990 general has these obstacles that make it 02:03:46.000 --> 02:03:48.629 harder to be successful 02:03:48.639 --> 02:03:51.030 in in some ways. You become enlightened 02:03:51.040 --> 02:03:53.510 as much in spite of your religion as 02:03:53.520 --> 02:03:56.709 because of it. Like a fully enlightened 02:03:56.719 --> 02:03:59.270 Jehovah's Witness, I mean, it'd be or 02:03:59.280 --> 02:04:03.430 fully enlightened like Sunni Muslim. I 02:04:03.440 --> 02:04:05.109 mean, it would be very it'd be even more 02:04:05.119 --> 02:04:08.070 so in spite of their own religion 02:04:08.080 --> 02:04:09.669 because their own religion really 02:04:09.679 --> 02:04:13.270 doesn't have any like even like a an 02:04:13.280 --> 02:04:21.270 option of full enlightenment. 02:04:21.280 --> 02:04:22.870 So, let's see what's the actual 02:04:22.880 --> 02:04:24.390 question. 02:04:24.400 --> 02:04:25.990 Before I wrap this up, I got to make 02:04:26.000 --> 02:04:27.669 sure I answer actually answered the 02:04:27.679 --> 02:04:31.189 question. But it seems like the this 02:04:31.199 --> 02:04:34.149 entire paragraph is one sentence. So in 02:04:34.159 --> 02:04:37.109 order to read the get to the actual 02:04:37.119 --> 02:04:38.149 question, I have to read the whole thing 02:04:38.159 --> 02:04:40.310 over again. So okay. So as someone who 02:04:40.320 --> 02:04:42.470 has been nominally terra Buddhists for a 02:04:42.480 --> 02:04:44.790 while looking into Catholicism, the 02:04:44.800 --> 02:04:46.470 combination of seemingly enlightened 02:04:46.480 --> 02:04:48.870 Catholics like St. John of the cross and 02:04:48.880 --> 02:04:51.589 the epistemological optimism, botific 02:04:51.599 --> 02:04:54.310 vision even for unenlightened beings as 02:04:54.320 --> 02:04:56.709 well as the availability of community 02:04:56.719 --> 02:04:58.870 and an imposed structure seems 02:04:58.880 --> 02:05:00.790 appealing. What main practical reasons 02:05:00.800 --> 02:05:02.950 are there not to take the leap to 02:05:02.960 --> 02:05:05.109 Catholicism from a terra Buddhist and 02:05:05.119 --> 02:05:06.310 your point of view? Well, I mean, can 02:05:06.320 --> 02:05:08.629 you actually believe the story? I mean, 02:05:08.639 --> 02:05:10.790 you seem to be leaning Buddhist right 02:05:10.800 --> 02:05:12.550 now. Then all of a sudden you can just 02:05:12.560 --> 02:05:15.430 say, "Okay, this Jewish man is God and 02:05:15.440 --> 02:05:17.510 I'm going to worship this Jewish man 02:05:17.520 --> 02:05:20.550 because he is God. He created the entire 02:05:20.560 --> 02:05:24.229 universe. He died for my sins." And 02:05:24.239 --> 02:05:26.629 original sin, of course, being the man 02:05:26.639 --> 02:05:28.629 made from soil and the woman made from a 02:05:28.639 --> 02:05:30.709 bone being tricked by a snake and eating 02:05:30.719 --> 02:05:32.950 some fruit. 02:05:32.960 --> 02:05:34.550 I mean, you can say that's all just

kind 02:05:34.560 --> 02:05:36.870 of like a metaphor, but what's it a 02:05:36.880 --> 02:05:41.750 metaphor for? 02:05:41.760 --> 02:05:43.830 And that like God, I mean Jesus being 02:05:43.840 --> 02:05:46.070 God is not a metaphor. They take that 02:05:46.080 --> 02:05:47.669 literally. 02:05:47.679 --> 02:05:50.310 Jesus is the logos, the creator of the 02:05:50.320 --> 02:05:52.470 universe. 02:05:52.480 --> 02:05:55.030 And I mean, if if you're the kind of 02:05:55.040 --> 02:05:57.510 person that can just believe that just 02:05:57.520 --> 02:06:00.149 because it's convenient to believe it, 02:06:00.159 --> 02:06:01.589 well, I don't I don't know what to tell 02:06:01.599 --> 02:06:03.750 you because it's just not an option for 02:06:03.760 --> 02:06:06.310 me. I just can't. I've said before that 02:06:06.320 --> 02:06:08.709 I I could more easily be a Muslim than a 02:06:08.719 --> 02:06:11.589 Christian simply because with a Muslim I 02:06:11.599 --> 02:06:14.629 mean what the what you have to swallow 02:06:14.639 --> 02:06:18.070 is much less. It's you know God is one 02:06:18.080 --> 02:06:20.149 God and Muhammad is his prophet. That's 02:06:20.159 --> 02:06:22.070 pretty much it. 02:06:22.080 --> 02:06:24.790 You know nothing about Muhammad being 02:06:24.800 --> 02:06:30.629 God Almighty, anything like that. 02:06:30.639 --> 02:06:32.709 So 02:06:32.719 --> 02:06:34.709 what main practical reasons are there 02:06:34.719 --> 02:06:37.669 not to take the leap to Catholicism? 02:06:37.679 --> 02:06:39.910 Well, I mean just the narrative that you 02:06:39.920 --> 02:06:42.870 have to swallow. It just seems so 02:06:42.880 --> 02:06:46.149 unbelievable that I mean I just I just 02:06:46.159 --> 02:06:48.790 personally I could not do it. 02:06:48.800 --> 02:06:50.870 Um, and aside from that, there's also 02:06:50.880 --> 02:06:53.750 the fact that the advanced dharmic 02:06:53.760 --> 02:06:56.149 practices are very exclusive and you 02:06:56.159 --> 02:06:58.870 have to be ordained into a contemplative 02:06:58.880 --> 02:07:01.430 order. Find a monastery where it's taken 02:07:01.440 --> 02:07:03.350 seriously, where they're not just 02:07:03.360 --> 02:07:05.669 fundraising or like brewing beer to 02:07:05.679 --> 02:07:07.270 support the monastery, that kind of 02:07:07.280 --> 02:07:09.109 thing. 02:07:09.119 --> 02:07:11.510 I mean, it's just harder to get the real 02:07:11.520 --> 02:07:15.189 dharma out of it. harder to avoid 02:07:15.199 --> 02:07:18.629 unnecessary obstacles of just like fairy 02:07:18.639 --> 02:07:20.550 tale narratives that have to be taken 02:07:20.560 --> 02:07:22.790 literally. 02:07:22.800 --> 02:07:24.950 Um I mean you would have more support at 02:07:24.960 --> 02:07:28.069 a superficial level and if you believe 02:07:28.079 --> 02:07:31.510 in Jesus being God I mean you'd have 02:07:31.520 --> 02:07:36.229 Jesus God Jesus helping you. 02:07:36.239 --> 02:07:37.990 But 02:07:38.000 --> 02:07:39.669 I mean, I'm just I'm not a Christian. 02:07:39.679 --> 02:07:43.430 And so, I mean, that narrative is just I 02:07:43.440 --> 02:07:46.470 just cannot believe it. I It's not like 02:07:46.480 --> 02:07:48.470 I even choose not to believe it. I just 02:07:48.480 --> 02:07:53.030 can't. It's just unbelievable. 02:07:53.040 --> 02:07:55.510 But, I mean, if you can believe it, I 02:07:55.520 --> 02:07:56.950 mean, there was one time where I was 02:07:56.960 --> 02:07:59.430 actually briefly considering becoming a 02:07:59.440 --> 02:08:02.149 Carthusian monk. And the Carthusians 02:08:02.159 --> 02:08:03.750 take a vow of silence. So I wouldn't 02:08:03.760 --> 02:08:05.189 have to admit to anybody that I wasn't 02:08:05.199 --> 02:08:07.270 really a Christian. But I would assume 02:08:07.280 --> 02:08:10.229 that even Carthusians taking a vow of 02:08:10.239 --> 02:08:11.750 silence would have to make confession 02:08:11.760 --> 02:08:15.189 from time to time. And uh it was just a 02:08:15.199 --> 02:08:17.430 dumb idea. And I I didn't entertain that 02:08:17.440 --> 02:08:20.790 idea for very long. But Carthusians, you 02:08:20.800 --> 02:08:23.430 know, they're pretty aesthetic. I think 02:08:23.440 --> 02:08:26.629 it's the only Christian monastic order 02:08:26.639 --> 02:08:28.709 that was never reformed because it never 02:08:28.719 --> 02:08:30.870 had to be reformed. do just didn't need 02:08:30.880 --> 02:08:33.350 it. 02:08:33.360 --> 02:08:35.510 But the Carthusians, I think there's a 02:08:35.520 --> 02:08:38.069 lure called chartreuse 02:08:38.079 --> 02:08:39.750 that they're the makers. They're the 02:08:39.760 --> 02:08:41.910 traditional makers of it. These these 02:08:41.920 --> 02:08:44.229 Carthusian aesthetics who take a vow of 02:08:44.239 --> 02:08:49.270 silence. They make booze. 02:08:49.280 --> 02:08:52.709 So there is that. 02:08:52.719 --> 02:08:56.069 But I guess that's it. I mean, 02:08:56.079 --> 02:08:59.510 yeah. I mean, the Buddha is considered 02:08:59.520 --> 02:09:01.990 by some to be a Catholic saint anyway, 02:09:02.000 --> 02:09:04.390 St. Josephhat. Technically, it wasn't 02:09:04.400 --> 02:09:05.910 really the Buddha. It was it was a 02:09:05.920 --> 02:09:09.910 previous life. So, I think that's not 02:09:09.920 --> 02:09:11.589 entirely accurate to say that the Buddha 02:09:11.599 --> 02:09:15.589 is a Catholic saint. Then you could be a 02:09:15.599 --> 02:09:19.189 like a monastic in the order of St. 02:09:19.199 --> 02:09:23.430 Joseph. 02:09:23.440 --> 02:09:25.350 So yeah, I mean you're going to have to 02:09:25.360 --> 02:09:26.629 make your own decision if you can 02:09:26.639 --> 02:09:29.030 actually believe Christianity that you 02:09:29.040 --> 02:09:31.510 really consider that to be a valid 02:09:31.520 --> 02:09:35.109 belief system basically with regard to a 02:09:35.119 --> 02:09:37.589 Jewish man who was ne nevertheless he 02:09:37.599 --> 02:09:39.910 was a saintly wise man who may have

02:09:39.920 --> 02:09:42.550 really had psychic powers but to to take 02:09:42.560 --> 02:09:45.430 the leap that this Jewish man who lived 02:09:45.440 --> 02:09:47.990 in the early Roman Empire is God 02:09:48.000 --> 02:09:50.310 Almighty and the creator of the freaking 02:09:50.320 --> 02:09:52.310 entire universe 02:09:52.320 --> 02:09:55.270 I mean, it's I just I just cannot jump 02:09:55.280 --> 02:09:57.830 that hurdle. That hurdle is miles high. 02:09:57.840 --> 02:10:01.830 I I'll never jump it. 02:10:01.840 --> 02:10:04.870 But other people can do it. So, I mean, 02:10:04.880 --> 02:10:07.669 if you want to be ordained as a 02:10:07.679 --> 02:10:09.990 Carmelite or you just want the group 02:10:10.000 --> 02:10:13.270 support of being like a norm Catholic, I 02:10:13.280 --> 02:10:15.589 mean, that's that's an option. I mean, I 02:10:15.599 --> 02:10:20.229 personally have more like affinity with 02:10:20.239 --> 02:10:23.030 Catholicism than with like Protestant 02:10:23.040 --> 02:10:24.629 Christianity because one of the first 02:10:24.639 --> 02:10:26.149 things the Protestants did was just 02:10:26.159 --> 02:10:28.790 abolish monasticism, 02:10:28.800 --> 02:10:32.390 which seemed kind of I don't know. I It 02:10:32.400 --> 02:10:33.589 just seems weird that they would do 02:10:33.599 --> 02:10:34.709 that. Although, of course, they had 02:10:34.719 --> 02:10:38.950 their reasons. 02:10:38.960 --> 02:10:40.550 But I guess I'm done. I guess I've 02:10:40.560 --> 02:10:42.069 answered all the questions. at least as 02:10:42.079 --> 02:10:45.830 well as I'm going to. And so, as I 02:10:45.840 --> 02:10:47.270 should always say at the beginning, and 02:10:47.280 --> 02:10:49.109 pretty much never do, if you have any 02:10:49.119 --> 02:10:51.669 questions you think I can answer about 02:10:51.679 --> 02:10:53.990 Buddhism, about religion, philosophy, 02:10:54.000 --> 02:10:57.430 dharma in general, that kind of stuff, 02:10:57.440 --> 02:10:59.589 if you think maybe I can answer, go 02:10:59.599 --> 02:11:01.030 ahead. I know I know something about 02:11:01.040 --> 02:11:03.030 Western civilization, Western history, 02:11:03.040 --> 02:11:05.270 Western literature also. I know some 02:11:05.280 --> 02:11:07.109 things about that. But I'm less of an 02:11:07.119 --> 02:11:09.750 authority on that than I am on Terra 02:11:09.760 --> 02:11:11.350 Buddhism. 02:11:11.360 --> 02:11:14.069 That's kind of my field of expertise 02:11:14.079 --> 02:11:16.390 terra and like pre-terravatara Buddhism 02:11:16.400 --> 02:11:19.030 but even then I'm I'm no worldass 02:11:19.040 --> 02:11:21.109 authority because I don't keep don't 02:11:21.119 --> 02:11:24.069 keep a breast of new research and all 02:11:24.079 --> 02:11:27.350 that. I pretty much just lived the life 02:11:27.360 --> 02:11:30.149 and then read the texts and tried to 02:11:30.159 --> 02:11:33.669 understand them as well as I could. 02:11:33.679 --> 02:11:37.350 So no more than three questions per 02:11:37.360 --> 02:11:39.750 person per episode. Please like and 02:11:39.760 --> 02:11:41.270 subscribe if you have not done so 02:11:41.280 --> 02:11:44.310 already. Be sure to check out the URL 02:11:44.320 --> 02:11:47.109 links below, which I mean, if you've 02:11:47.119 --> 02:11:48.629 gotten this far, there's a good chance 02:11:48.639 --> 02:11:50.790 you've already done it, but do it again 02:11:50.800 --> 02:11:53.030 just for the hell of it. 02:11:53.040 --> 02:11:57.270 And be happy. Oh, and and also remember, 02:11:57.280 --> 02:12:00.069 there may be no video next weekend 02:12:00.079 --> 02:12:02.149 because I'm working pretty much all 02:12:02.159 --> 02:12:04.550 weekend. Maybe Monday or Tuesday or 02:12:04.560 --> 02:12:07.109 maybe it'll just be postponed. 02:12:07.119 --> 02:12:11.480 Okay. And and now you can be happy.