Creativity & Balance - Shaping Our Lives Through The Way We Relate To Experience

This is a guided meditation and talk given live at Gaia House's Online Dharma Hall. It explores the ways in which we shape our experience and how we can relate skillfully in ways that increase well-being and decrease suffering for others and ourselves.

Transcript

Hello and welcome everyone.

Welcome to this online Dharma hall together.

And it's so always so beautiful,

So precious to just watch the greetings coming in through the chat and see the numbers of people joining and kind of growing.

And yeah,

So just noticing that there's many of us here from different time zones across the world.

So,

You know,

Good evening,

Good afternoon,

Good morning,

Wherever you are.

And yeah,

Just taking a few moments as we are still gathering to have that sense of welcoming,

Of welcoming each other,

Of welcoming ourselves to this gathering,

To this hall,

To this space of community and of Dharma together.

Something that I love about this form is,

You know,

The sense of the meditation hall,

The Dharma hall expanding and growing and including both our various rooms or spaces that we're in as well as beings that normally wouldn't be in a meditation hall with us,

Like children,

Like our cats and our dogs.

And it's very precious,

It's very beautiful to feel the space,

The gates,

The Dharma opening out to include all of us in this way.

So yeah,

Really wonderful to be here,

To see many familiar faces.

You know,

Some of you I know from Gaia House,

Some of you I know from here,

From Israel,

Some of you I know from these meetings,

These sessions in the Dharma hall,

Some of you I know without having ever seen you before,

Just from that sense of shared love of Dharma,

Shared love of practice that we have.

So yeah,

A great sense of appreciation for all of us as we're gathering.

And I wanna say to some of the friends who've joined us from Israel that this session is gonna be a little bit familiar because some of you were also in the morning session in the online Dharma hall of the Insight Meditation Society in Israel,

But it'll obviously be in a different language.

So just to warn you that it may sound familiar.

So yeah,

So let's begin,

Or we've already begun with that sense of welcoming and of community.

And generally the way we run these sessions is that for the majority of the time,

Everyone is going to be muted,

As you may have noticed when you came,

When you joined the Dharma hall,

You joined muted.

And because there's so many of us,

That's helpful.

But there will be an opportunity in the last part of our session to ask questions where you can unmute yourself.

Just a reminder,

If for whatever reason you are unmuted at any point,

If you can then remember to mute yourself back.

That's really helpful.

So I'm gonna do probably my favorite thing to do in these sessions,

Which is to unmute all of you.

And just to have the opportunity to greet each other in whatever way,

Whatever language you want to,

If you wish to,

You know,

You can also be in silence.

So I'm just gonna unmute everyone in one go.

And I don't just like it because of the control that I have.

I actually love what's gonna happen in a minute.

So here it comes.

If you're wearing headphones,

I'll just tell you,

Just prepare yourself and maybe even pop them out.

And here we go.

Let's hear our community.

So thank you everyone.

So thank you everyone.

Just always really beautiful to hear all the voices and the sounds that are coming from different rooms.

And also to see the,

As people are speaking,

Everyone pops around the screen.

So it's almost as if we're having a kind of a movement session together.

Just feeling that sense of community,

Remembering as we're here,

As we practice,

We explore the Dharma together this evening,

That community,

Which is,

You know,

Quiet,

But also very,

Very present.

All these others across the world,

Different time zones,

Different locations on the globe,

Gathering together to practice.

So let's practice together.

We'll have a guided practice together and then some Dharma reflections and then some time for questions at the end.

But let's begin with the meditation.

And I'm gonna offer some guidance for this,

But just to say that if what feels more appropriate,

More beneficial for you is to do your own practice,

You can either ignore my voice or you can even turn the volume down.

So we'll be practicing for around 25 minutes or so.

So just to give you an indication if that's what you choose to do.

Yeah,

Like I say,

With some guidance.

So finding the posture that is appropriate for you for this time,

According to the energy in the body,

And also what's going on in the mind.

And then taking a few moments to settle into the posture and to make any adjustments that you may need to make.

And as you do so,

Inviting the awareness,

Inviting the attention into the body.

And we'll particularly invite the attention to the areas of contact of the body with the seat and the body with the floor.

So using these sensations of contact as a way of grounding,

Of rooting the attention in the body.

So feeling that contact,

Feeling the body resting into that contact,

Resting into the seat,

Resting into the ground.

And then feeling also the support that's rising up from the contact into the body.

And then very gently opening the awareness from the contact sensations.

Two more of the body.

And it's gently expanding,

Gently opening.

I'm getting a sense of a wider awareness in the body field,

In the body space.

And within that awareness,

The movement and the flow of the breathing.

So awareness rooted and grounded in the body,

Contact areas and then wider through the whole body and the breath flowing through the body space.

And we're tuning in to the movement and the flow of the breathing in the body.

And we keep gathering and settling the awareness in the body with the flow of the breathing.

The mind wanders.

It's not a problem.

We just gently regather it,

Recollect it.

Grounding in the contact of body and seat,

Opening to awareness in the body space,

Resting into the flow and the movement of the breathing.

And so we'll bring the attention gently to that sense of contact between the body and that which is supporting the body,

The seat,

The floor.

And feel the body resting into that contact,

Into that support.

And also feel that support rising up,

Flowing up the body.

Feeling the steadiness and the balance within the body as it roots down,

As it rests into the support of seat and ground.

And just gently opening,

Seeing if we can feel that flow of the support.

As the body rises up.

Support flowing up the legs,

Up the spine and the back.

Support flowing up the legs,

Up the spine and the back.

And if it's helpful,

We can have the image of a tree rooted down into the earth from that support,

The trunk of the tree growing up,

Rising up,

Steady,

Balanced,

Stable with that upward opening flow and movement.

And as we feel that flow of support,

That sense of uprightness growing through the body,

You may feel this in different ways.

Maybe you feel the body elongating,

Getting a bit longer,

Taller,

Straighter,

Or you might feel the body opening.

Just playing with that balance of the uprightness and a sense of ease and also the upward movement,

The vertical movement with a sense of opening of the space.

Just like the tree,

Just like the tree,

Just like the tree grows into the branches and the branches are spreading both up,

But also out into a canopy and feeling that canopy expand.

So we're opening out the space rooted in the contact with the ground in the seat,

Stable and steady in our core and opening out backwards and forwards and to the sides.

You might get a feeling,

A sense of space around the body within the body,

Including the body.

So exploring that in your own way for a little while,

The support,

The steadiness,

The balance,

And also the energy within the body,

The space within the body,

And then you're going to feel that space in your own way,

And then you're going to feel that space in your own way,

And then you're going to feel that space in your own way and also the expansion,

The opening of the space.

Perhaps feeling a support and uprightness flowing through the back of the body and allowing yourself to rest into that almost as if you're leaning back into that and feeling the support of the back of the body,

And maybe also of the space behind the body.

Feeling the softening and the openness in the front of the body.

And around the body and within the body.

So resting into that sense of rootedness and contact,

And also that sense of balance and steadiness.

If different senses arise in the body like restlessness or tiredness,

Can we allow them to pass through just like the wind blows through the branches of the tree?

Can we feel the rootedness,

The centeredness,

The stability and balance in the awareness in the body?

And can we open and allow the winds of life,

The breezes of life to blow through and around us?

We can feel them blowing around us and that rootedness keeping us steady.

And we can feel them blowing through the space and passing through.

Just like the wind blowing through a field of wheat and the wind blowing through the trees and the wind blowing through the trees and the wind blowing through the trees or oats moving through,

But the plants staying rooted,

Connected,

Or the wind blowing through the branches and the leaves of a tree.

Resting into the body and its rootedness and presence.

Feeling the openness and expansiveness of awareness through the body and a little bit beyond the body.

Whatever arises,

Can we allow it to be like the wind passing through the branches or flowing through the field?

Body and breath,

Steadiness and balance,

Rootedness and openness,

Right here in the experience of this moment.

Always possible to root into the body,

To let go into the flow and the movement of the breathing,

To feel the contact and support of the ground and the seat,

To feel the openness of the space within the body and around the body.

Right now,

Can you feel the rootedness,

Steadiness and the openness flowing through this very body?

The winds and breezes of life moving through us and around us.

So thank you for your practice,

For your presence.

So as many of you know,

These sessions are offered in the spirit of Dhanma.

And we have here tonight,

I noticed some of the Gaihau staff and I think at least one trustee that I saw,

Maybe more.

So we have the great privilege to have here with us those who make this possible.

So just an opportunity to acknowledge all the heartfelt work that goes into caring for Gaihau,

And through Gaihau caring for all of us and for the Dharma.

And so if you wish and you're able to offer Dhanma to support Gaihau,

Which is not running retreats at the moment and therefore does not have its regular sources of income,

That's really welcome and appreciated.

And also if you feel moved and are able to offer support for the teachings,

If you wish to offer support to the teachings,

That's also a possibility.

So the information on how to do that is on the same web page where the information about these sessions is.

So feel free to go back there if you wish.

And yes,

Some beautiful acts of generosity flowing through the chat of gratitude to the staff and trustees and teachers of Gaihau.

I think at times like these we can really feel that even more strongly than ever.

The power of that participation of that shared love that makes it possible.

And I also wanted to say the last time I did a session here,

I think it was a week and a half ago,

I was asked about recordings and I'd actually intended to record that session and I hadn't.

So today I am recording,

So if you want to come back to this,

It will be on DharmaSeed,

Under my name,

So it won't be under Gaihau,

It'll be directly under my name,

Which you can also find on that page where you link to this and probably from tomorrow or the next day,

It will be there.

So I just wanted to let you know.

So we were exploring in meditation just now,

Exploring the possibility to find a sense of balance,

A sense of rootedness,

Of steadiness and of openness in the body,

In the breathing and in our direct experience.

So the body,

The breath are really accessible tools for us.

There's also other meditation practices that support that sound for some of us,

Or the Brahma Vihara practices,

Metta,

Karuna,

Compassion,

Joy and equanimity also.

And when we practice in the way we just have,

Any kind of practice that we do,

Where we bring the awareness to the body,

We bring the awareness to the breathing and we tune in to particular aspects of our experience that are there,

We're a little bit playing with our perception of experience and I want to speak a little bit about that tonight.

One way that when we speak about this,

Perception,

How we make the world actually through our minds and our capacities,

I sometimes speak about this as the possibility of possibilities,

The being aware of that aspect,

Remembering that as the possibility of possibilities and I'll say more about that.

Basically what it means in simple language is that whatever we're perceiving,

Whatever you're perceiving right now,

As happening right now,

Is a coming together of different elements.

Coming together of different elements and it's dependent on causes and conditions,

That are themselves dependent on causes and conditions.

And they're all changing,

They're all dancing and interplaying with each other.

So this possibility of possibilities is about remembering that.

Whatever I'm perceiving right now in this moment,

That it's too dark,

That it's too warm,

That it's too cold,

That I wish I'd brought some water with me,

Whatever it is that I'm perceiving in the moment,

Is a coming together,

Or we would say in Dharma language,

A fabrication,

Made up,

Fabricated from different elements and different causes and conditions.

And when we remember that we can start playing with that,

Because our perception is part of those causes and conditions.

Our perception,

Our attitude,

The way we're relating to experience,

Many aspects that are internal to us.

And how we play with this process of fabrication,

Of this coming together,

How we play with that is where the possibilities are.

The possibility of possibilities.

So we can play with perception,

We can play with fabrication in ways that foster more wellbeing,

And less dukkha,

Less ill-being,

For ourselves and for others.

So I want to give an example of that right now in our experience,

If you wish.

So we're going to play just with how the body affects the mind.

So right now,

Your body is in a certain position.

So if you just take a moment to feel actually,

How is my body right now?

What is it doing right now?

And then we're going to just try a few things,

And you're really welcome to join them.

One is to just imagine that there is a string right at the top of our head.

And that string is very gently being tugged upwards,

So that we might feel,

You know,

Just feel what happens.

If we just imagine a string or a thread right here at the top of our head,

Just pulling us up.

And what happens when we imagine that and allow the body to respond?

What happens when we relax the shoulders?

Yeah,

We're going to do something a bit more extreme with you.

This is from my exercise regime,

My exercise routine.

So if we take our arms out,

I'm really encouraging you to do that if you're up for it.

And we open up the chest.

What happens to the experience then?

Just noticing.

And you can let go.

And then my personal favorite,

What happens when you smile?

If you just smile right now.

And then what happens if you see other people smiling?

Yeah,

It's really interesting.

So we can see just by doing that,

You know,

Lengthening the body,

Yeah,

Or opening,

Relaxing,

Smiling,

Taking a deep breath.

Yeah,

We can see then we have a very immediate and simple possibility to play with how experience is in a certain moment.

Yeah,

And we can play.

How do we bring more well-being and lessen the ill-being,

The dukkha?

I'm laughing now because I wish I had done this.

I didn't do this,

But there's this auto,

Automatic correction on my iPad,

Which always if I write dukkha,

It changes it to sukha.

So it goes,

Changes dukkha,

Ill-being to sukha,

Which is happiness.

It's just great.

I don't know how it happened,

But I just love it.

So we'll get to this type of fabrication in a moment.

But it's also a type of fabrication.

So we can play with how experience is put together,

Coming together.

And that can bring more well-being and lessen ill-being.

And the way we can play with it is what in the tradition is called the three types of fabrication,

The three ways that our experience is impacted or made up through kind of internal conditions.

So the first one we touched on is the bodily fabrication.

What's happening in the body?

So if we're angry or upset,

What's our breathing like?

And when we're calm and relaxed,

What's our breathing like?

That's an example of bodily fabrication,

Which just happens of itself.

But we can of course play with it.

We can learn to breathe more deeply or more fully or more slowly when we're feeling out of balance,

When we're feeling upset,

When we're feeling anxious.

We can learn to do that.

So we know that from our own experience,

We've also just played with it with the bodily fabrication and saw how these little things that we can do can shape our experience.

And part of why we bring so much awareness to the body is because of this.

When our meditation practice,

We're learning to inhabit the body space,

Not just the mind.

Because when we're more in tune with our body,

We're more aware of the body,

It both opens up our access to our experience,

Our contact with our experience.

And we can see,

Oh,

Right now there's a sense of constriction here or the breathing is a certain way.

Or,

This is a great one,

Do you know how sometimes you see someone in the distance,

They were meeting a friend and they're walking towards you from quite far away,

But you can see them and you can tell what their mood is by the way they're walking.

Do you know this experience?

So we can identify that in ourselves,

Oh,

I'm kind of,

I'm like this today.

Now what happens if I straighten up?

What happens if I open up?

What happens if I breathe differently?

So we kind of play with this in life and also in meditation like we were just doing.

Playing with the body life and sensations in ways that ground and steady and stabilize and open.

That's what we were doing.

So that's the first type,

The bodily fabrication.

The second is called the verbal fabrication.

Fabrication using words,

Images and thoughts.

So much of our experience is put together or affected,

Impacted by what goes on in the verbal fabrication.

The words,

The language,

The thinking that comes through them.

And we can play with that.

So right now,

Again,

We were using images and thoughts that brought stability and openness,

Like that image of the tree that I was using,

Which I use a lot,

Some of you know.

But just that image brings a sense of uprightness,

Of stability,

Of steadiness,

Of rootedness,

Or the wind flowing through.

Also,

It's an image that we use through our verbal capacity.

And the third type of fabrication is mental fabrication.

But it particularly,

The mental fabrication is particularly around perception and around our sense of preference.

I like this,

I don't like that.

Vedana in Pali.

That sense of preference and division of things into what's pleasant and unpleasant,

What I like and what I don't like.

And so one thing we were doing in the meditation now,

We were playing with the mental fabrication through attuning to more expansiveness,

More stability and steadiness.

And so that was lessening the sense of preference,

Right?

Because if things were arising,

There was tiredness or restlessness in the body,

We were seeing if we could see them as just the wind blowing through.

Yeah,

The winds of life just moving through.

And then there's less sense of a problem.

And there's less sense of a preference.

Yeah,

So whatever might have triggered us or was triggering us to a certain degree then became a breeze through the branches of this tree.

And so potentially,

I'm not sure what happened in your experience,

But potentially there could have been less of a sense of problematic,

More sense of well-being,

And if it means.

And if it means.

So this has,

You know,

I'm going back to that phrase,

The possibility of possibilities.

Yeah,

What huge possibilities.

When we play with perception and experience in this way,

We can see for ourselves what can unfold,

How can we do this,

What's possible for us.

And just a few things that are relevant to these particular times,

Yeah,

Where we're at.

Caring for the body.

Yeah,

Caring for the body in creative ways.

My sister was telling me the other day,

Here in Israel,

We're supposed to wear a mask when we're out of the house.

And she was saying how difficult and frustrating it is to go for,

She does fast walking for her exercise.

It's really difficult to do with the mask on,

Actually.

Well,

It's unpleasant.

It's not really difficult,

But it's unpleasant,

Yeah,

Because it gets in the way of your breathing.

And,

You know,

And then we got into this whole conversation about all these creative ways that people have been exercising these days.

You know,

The person who ran a marathon on their balcony.

And,

You know,

If people in the UK probably know some of these stories,

But this eight-year-old boy who I think did a fundraiser in his back garden.

By kind of,

I think he did something like up to a half marathon,

An eight-year-old kid is completely blows my mind.

But he just did little,

You know,

He did like these,

I don't know,

10 minute walks or 25 minute walks or runs in his garden,

Then he would have a break and then he would do another one.

So over several days he did that.

And then of course there was a 99-year-old man with a Zimmer frame with a walker who also did something like that,

You know.

So just like you think,

Oh,

All that creativity.

So caring for the body creatively,

You know,

Is a way that we bring in this bodily fabrication,

Making sure that we exercise in ways that we can.

Attending to the body posture,

Just like we were saying,

Uprightness and ease.

We play with that through attending to the body.

Sleep,

It's a big one.

There's actually a phrase,

Sleep hygiene.

Yeah.

Bodily fabrication.

If the body has the right amount of rest,

Yeah,

At the right times,

Yeah,

Then our experience is different.

If we eat well,

Yeah.

If we nourish the body,

Our experience is different.

Using the possibility to open the senses.

Yeah.

So sometimes,

And I think I've heard this from many people,

Including myself,

I mean,

We've been here,

It's been I think five weeks now of,

You know,

Not really going out and seeing anyone,

Just,

You know,

The daily half hour,

45 minute walk and that's it.

And it can start getting a sense of the world shrinking.

Yeah.

Or of pressure building up in the system.

So,

You know,

Using the senses,

That's another form of bodily fabrication,

You know,

Standing at a window or looking up at the sky to create space.

Yeah.

And it really works.

I mean,

We're lucky we're on the 10th floor.

We can look far out into the horizon and then awareness follows the site.

And so the world grows,

Our sense of space grows and we can do the same with sound.

Yeah.

Opening awareness to the furthest sounds in our environment.

It can be pretty far.

And again,

The awareness opens out and the sense of space opens out.

So we can play,

Yeah,

With the body fabrication in ways that bring well-being.

And we can also check for ourselves.

And this is where it's really interesting.

Yeah.

We bring exploration,

Investigation.

And when I do this,

How does it impact my experience?

Yeah.

And also,

How does it impact my availability to others?

So different ways to work with bodily fabrication these days.

Verbal fabrication,

Actually,

We've spoken about this many times in the Dharma hall here,

But care and creativity with language,

What I say and think,

Yeah,

And what I bring into awareness.

Yeah.

What I consume,

What I read,

What I watch.

Yeah.

That's all part of the verbal fabrication that impacts our experience.

So being aware of the language that we use.

And we can take different examples of this,

You know,

From having an argument with a partner and saying,

You know,

The classic sentence,

You always do this or you never do that.

Anyone said that to a partner ever in their life?

You always,

You never partner,

Parent,

Child.

Yeah.

You always or you never.

And we know it's not true.

Yeah.

It couldn't possibly be true.

Nobody does the same thing always.

And yet in that moment,

And what does that create?

Yeah.

What does that create?

We actually believe it when we say it.

Yeah.

So having care with language.

Yeah.

Having care with thoughts.

You know,

How we articulate our experience.

Someone was saying today in the session we had this morning here in Israel,

She was sharing that she's decided,

You know,

Like for her,

It's been really helpful to think of this conditions that we're in now with the isolation or the compassionate isolation.

That's a verbal fabrication we've touched on many times.

Yeah.

Compassionate distancing.

And that she just,

She just decided,

You know,

Just decided for herself,

This is going to,

This is going to last for a really long time.

This is going to be this way till September because for her that's supportive for some of us it's not,

But for her that's really supportive.

Okay.

This is how things are right now.

And then what do I do with it?

Yeah.

And then what do I do with it?

So we play with,

With our perceptions in these ways.

What is helpful for me?

Yeah.

What is helpful for me?

And can I play with that?

So we have care and creativity with language.

Yeah.

And we also have care and creativity,

Um,

With the mind.

Yeah.

Tuning in to stability and openness,

Um,

So that we're lessening that push and pull of our self-centered preferences.

Yeah.

So we tune into space.

We tune into alignment.

Yeah.

And then that push and pull of I want this,

I don't want this becomes,

Um,

Not as prominent.

Remembering the,

This conditioned,

Uh,

Put together nature of experience.

Yeah.

Of appearance can really help us.

It's like,

Oh,

It looks like it's this,

But actually the,

This is made up of so many things,

Including,

Um,

My relationship to it.

And it's changeable.

Yeah.

It's changeable.

It's workable.

And that can have,

Um,

Really significant implications for each of us when we apply it.

Um,

And also for our societies and also for those that we come into contact with.

And yesterday,

Um,

I heard this incredible,

It's not even a story,

It's something that happened.

Um,

But,

Um,

I was,

Uh,

We had a conference yesterday,

Um,

About Dharma,

Um,

Or Buddhism and Dharma democracy and politics.

Very relevant issue here in Israel,

The issue of democracy nowadays and,

Um,

More than 400 people there.

And,

Uh,

One,

One of the people,

One of the speakers,

Uh,

Shared an experience,

Um,

From 2005,

Which is really relevant to what I'm speaking about.

So in 2005,

Um,

Here in Israel,

The government had decided to evacuate,

Um,

All the settlements,

All the Jewish settlements from the Gaza strip.

Okay.

So this was the step before the Gaza strip was then closed off completely as it is now.

Um,

But there were 8,

500 Jewish settlers living there and,

Um,

They were all going to be evacuated against their will.

Yeah.

They were going to be taken away from their homes,

Uh,

Brought into Israel and it was against their will.

And there was a very strong feelings in the society and a lot of fear.

There was very strong rhetoric.

Um,

And there was a sense that there was going to be potentially a civil war,

Certainly a lot of violence,

Um,

In this,

In this,

Um,

Movement.

Um,

And so there were,

There was a force of 50,

000 Israeli police and soldiers who,

Uh,

Were going to do this.

We're going to implement this.

Yeah.

Taking 8,

500 people,

Including children,

Um,

Out of their homes.

Um,

I mean,

Of course some of them,

Um,

Were going to leave peaceably,

But many of them were saying they would not.

So there was a lot of,

Uh,

Concern and fear.

What was going to happen?

How is this going to unfold?

How,

How violent was this going to be?

And there was a group of actually Dharma practitioners who were also psychologists who,

Um,

Worked,

Yeah,

Both with the police and the army and with some of the settler leaders to try and avert violence,

To stop violence happening.

And they used techniques of nonviolent resistance.

Yeah.

So the same techniques that,

Um,

That are at the heart of what Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement,

Um,

Did,

Um,

In the US,

What Gandhi did in India,

What XR is doing all over the world right now.

And they were using the same principles to work with these two opposing groups before the actual event took place.

And,

Um,

And it's really interesting how they did it.

So with the settlers and with the settlers,

They only met with a very small group of this,

Of some of the leaders.

And basically they,

They asked them,

You know,

They said,

You know,

We have different views to yours about,

You know,

Many things.

Uh,

But we hope that we can agree on one thing.

And what we can perhaps agree on is that whatever happens with this evacuation,

Yeah,

We will then find ourselves continuing to live together.

Yeah.

So if you look not just at now,

This situation,

But you look into the future and the fact that we will need to live together.

Yeah.

What happens?

And that was the encouragement.

That was the work that they were doing.

Just looking at a longer term view.

Yeah.

Longer term perspective.

With the soldiers and the police,

The work was,

Um,

To change the paradigm of who a good soldier or a good policeman was.

Yeah.

So if typically a good soldier is somebody who's strong physically,

Yeah.

And who acts physically,

Yeah.

And who responds quickly and forcefully.

Yeah.

Here they worked with them to change the mental and verbal fabrication.

Yeah.

And to have a paradigm that a strong soldier,

A good soldier is one who does not react.

Yeah.

Who can hold a steady space without reacting.

Okay.

So redefining that paradigm in,

In one's own mind.

And they,

You know,

This,

This evacuation happened,

It's still,

You know,

A very sore topic here in Israel.

Um,

But it,

Um,

The levels of violence were,

Were really,

Really low.

I think only there was only one person who was mildly wounded when they were expecting potentially,

Um,

Very,

Very severe violence.

And the interesting thing for me is how we can bring this in.

Yeah.

Using this understanding of the mental and the verbal fabrication and not needing to even give that,

You know,

To people who are not in,

They're not interested in Dharma.

They don't need to know that.

Yeah.

But just bringing that in and,

Um,

Seeing the conditioned nature of all of us and seeing that possibility.

Yeah.

Seeing that possibility for change.

And the thing that struck me the most about this story and also the person who was telling it,

You know,

When he was saying this,

He said,

And we were very clear that whoever we were working with,

We were seeing their,

You know,

Our highest potential as human beings,

That we could do this.

Yeah.

That we could do this.

Yeah.

That we could work,

Uh,

Beyond,

Yeah.

Beyond the limits of our conditioning and our habits and our training.

Yeah.

And we can work beyond that.

So seeing the conditioned nature of all of us and not boxing anyone in to a sense of this is who you are or this is what you can or can't do.

Yeah.

And that kind of uplifts,

Yeah,

Uplifts and make things that do not seem possible,

Possible.

Yeah.

Do not seem possible,

Possible.

So the possibility of possibilities,

Um,

Is there,

Yeah,

For all of us.

And the question for each of us as individuals,

Uh,

For all of us as communities and of societies is how do we apply this and what happens when we do?

Yeah.

How do we apply this and what happens when we do?

From the simplest thing of just,

Uh,

Remembering to breathe.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Just remembering to breathe.

To the more complex,

Uh,

Fabrications of our mind.

So I hope this,

Um,

This is a value,

Will be a value for you.