1 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:10,520 So today we're talking about no self. 2 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:12,440 I don't know if that's on the schedule, but that's what we're 3 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:14,640 talking. So, yeah. 4 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:16,239 So no self in the digital age, right? 5 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:21,440 So no self is a foundational aspect of Buddhism, right? 6 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:25,160 It's, it says that there that the self is not this fixed 7 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:30,360 entity, but it's a construct of our minds, It's an illusion. 8 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:34,800 And that that kind of connects to the idea that we're all 9 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:38,320 actually, we're living in this way that's very individuated. 10 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:43,680 But the concept of new self is meant to remind us that we're 11 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:47,200 actually far more connected and far more interdependent upon 12 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:49,760 each other then especially our current. 13 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:54,000 Our modern culture would have us believe that there's no 14 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,280 permanent in or independent self. 15 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:01,760 Nothing arises independently. Everything arises dependently 16 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:04,760 upon other things. Everything is contingent upon a 17 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:09,800 web of causes and conditions or interdependent factors. 18 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,560 This way of thinking liberates one from a a sense of self, 19 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:19,360 which is considered the root cause of suffering in Buddhism, 20 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:21,960 right? This idea of the self often 21 00:01:21,960 --> 00:01:25,080 leads to thoughts about, you know, leads to different types 22 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:29,280 of attachment, leads to the constant isolation back and 23 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:33,080 forth between craving and aversion, craving for oneself, 24 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:35,320 being averse to something for oneself. 25 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:39,760 But if you abolish the idea of the independent self, then the 26 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:43,400 idea is that you will that the attachment to self, the 27 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:45,840 attachment to mind, the attachment to liberation will 28 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:48,880 start to fall to limitations, will start to fall away. 29 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:54,000 The absence of a person, a permanent self, frees you from 30 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:58,280 suffering and clinging. No self also brings into focus 31 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:03,680 the idea of interconnectedness with others, as I've said, and 32 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:08,120 that that will ultimately be one of the main factors in helping 33 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:13,400 one cultivate compassion, empathy, and a sense of 34 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:16,640 responsibility to others. And then also a sense of 35 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:20,440 dependence on others, like we have talked about many times in 36 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:23,800 Arisana, like the idea of a group of people depending upon 37 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:26,440 each other, supporting each other, but being connected to 38 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:30,280 each other and not being stuck in the idea of individual, the 39 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:32,720 kind of blowing up the idea of individuation. 40 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:37,280 There's a story about the Buddha and the businessman. 41 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:41,920 Where the Buddha is, is in the public space and the businessman 42 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:46,240 comes through and is just really not receptive to what the Buddha 43 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:49,560 is saying, kind of talks to him nasty, and he spits on him. 44 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:53,320 And then over a few years, he starts to learn more about the 45 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:55,760 Buddha's teachings, not from the Buddha, but from other places. 46 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:59,880 And he at some point comes upon the Buddha and he apologized and 47 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:01,680 said, I'm really sorry that I treated you that way. 48 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:04,440 I'm really sorry that I cursed at you that way and talked to 49 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:09,000 you the way that I did. And the Buddha's response is I 50 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:14,000 don't accept your apology and yells like what Buddha is not 51 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,120 accepting the apology, not being not being understanding for 52 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:20,080 another. But the idea was that he says 53 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:25,080 that the person who did those things to me is not even here 54 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:28,360 now. And the person who he treated 55 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,640 badly is also not here now because there's no permanent 56 00:03:31,640 --> 00:03:34,320 sense of self, right? You are a different person now, 57 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:37,440 and I am a different person. I am not even the person that 58 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:39,560 has been wronged. And so this illustrates the idea 59 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:42,840 that the self is not fixed, but there's every evolving thing. 60 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:50,200 And that the person who actually treated the Buddha abusively 61 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:53,880 clearly is no longer the same person who's standing in front 62 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:55,920 of him because he's he's repented for havoc. 63 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:59,840 How the actor So the question for today is how does the self? 64 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:02,440 The question that I wanted to explore more is how does the 65 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:07,840 self play out or this the sense of no self that we as people who 66 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:11,000 are thinking about Buddhist concepts of Buddhist ideas, how 67 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:15,280 do we play that out in a culture that is so obsessed with the 68 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:19,920 self, right, that puts the self so close to the front in the 69 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:22,880 digital age. In our current culture, we've 70 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:27,960 merged a lot of our ideas about in our concepts of the self with 71 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:30,640 our digital lives. And in those digital spaces, 72 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:37,720 the, the idea of oneself and one's ego is exaggerated in ways 73 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:41,560 that really, you know, we've never really had the capacity 74 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:45,080 technologically to exaggerate our concept of self in the same 75 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:48,840 way that we do now. The ego thrives in these spaces. 76 00:04:48,840 --> 00:04:52,320 There are many, many opportunities in, in our 77 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:55,880 technological culture to to enlarge the ego. 78 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:00,760 Ego, essentially our digital lives are based upon the 79 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:04,480 manipulation of the self with many, many, many different 80 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:08,400 goals, one of which is to continue to foster the idea of 81 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:11,080 building the self and building the ego and building the 82 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:14,080 personality through consumption. All right. 83 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:20,400 And then in this context, we are constantly augmenting ourselves 84 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:25,200 and building ourselves through the prism of comparison, through 85 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:28,520 the prism of envy, through the through the prism of anger, 86 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:31,960 division, pride, selfishness, ego, vanity. 87 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,880 This has become a very, very important part of our media, of 88 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:40,080 our culture, of our politics, of our economy, of our consumption 89 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:42,840 patterns. And so we culturally construct 90 00:05:42,840 --> 00:05:46,640 our identities through digital sources a lot at the top, which 91 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:50,080 was something that wasn't really even possible to do or maybe 100 92 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:51,560 years ago or maybe less than that. 93 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:56,320 So that's the question that I want to discuss is how do you, 94 00:05:56,320 --> 00:06:02,760 how do we find ways to combat that constant desire, that 95 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:08,440 constant encouragement, that constant drum beat of building 96 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:12,680 1's own self through, through digital means and focusing on 97 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:16,560 the self in the ways that the that the Buddha and Buddhism is 98 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:19,040 encouraging us to completely abandoned, right? 99 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:25,280 If you're interacting with a lot of digital, you know, formats 100 00:06:25,280 --> 00:06:29,120 and platforms that we use on a daily basis, you're constantly 101 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:31,840 being encouraged to do that. So how do you stop yourself from 102 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:34,920 doing that while you are also still connected to the rest of 103 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:37,000 the world, right? Being in the world, not 104 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:41,600 necessarily being of the I was going to say that there are a 105 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:44,240 couple of things we can think about, but I also want to hear 106 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:45,760 what you all have to say about this. 107 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,280 There are tactics you use that might help with this issue. 108 00:06:49,280 --> 00:06:51,880 For instance, the one that I'm sure you're all thinking about 109 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:56,960 already, mindfulness, that might help be more aware of the way 110 00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:00,120 that we're engaging in these things, how we allow them to 111 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,720 affect us, how we allow them to affect how we think about 112 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:06,960 ourselves and about other people and our connectedness to those 113 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:09,880 other people. There's also meta meditation, 114 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:12,680 which we've done in here before, which is about cultivating 115 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:14,520 compassion. It's about thinking about 116 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:17,520 compassion, chanting about compassion, then emanating that 117 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:20,920 out into the world through yourself, sometimes silently, 118 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:23,960 sometimes with words. Obviously there are things like 119 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:29,480 digital detoxes, meta meditation retreats, like some of the ones 120 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:32,040 that we talked about in here before that where you can detach 121 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:36,440 and have some time to, to think and to reconnect with yourself 122 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:40,240 outside of these, these things that are constantly exaggerating 123 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:44,160 the concept of self. And so those, those are all 124 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:45,920 things that we've talked about before and things that are 125 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:47,720 pretty obvious. But I'm also interested in 126 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:49,040 hearing what you all think about this. 127 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:54,200 Like how do you how do you engage with the world in all the 128 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:57,120 ways that we sometimes are encouraged to, but sometimes 129 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:02,560 have to without slipping constantly into, or maybe you 130 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:05,760 slip into those modes of self that we've talked about. 131 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:08,240 I'm sure we all do. How do you come back from it? 132 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:11,200 How do you conceptualize it when you're in it? 133 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:16,240 And and what's what is maybe a long term strategy for all of us 134 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:18,400 think about. These days, so I'll. 135 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:21,240 Turn the floor over to you, yeah. 136 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:27,080 Yeah, I see. Like all kinds of digital zombie 137 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:31,120 to, you know, out there just kinds of like flickering lights 138 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:37,559 always there in their phone, not really front of whoever they are 139 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:43,919 actually they're in front of. And you know, I see that and I'm 140 00:08:43,919 --> 00:08:48,680 like, wow, you know, you see kittens a lot, you know, just 141 00:08:48,680 --> 00:08:51,920 kind of checked out or check in and checked out or what 142 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:56,120 surroundings. And but then I discovered Zoom 143 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:00,240 and I go to a meeting almost every day. 144 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:05,440 You know, I meditate with people. 145 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:10,200 From around the world. You know, and then I have also 146 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:18,640 access to meditations, to mantras, to just information. 147 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:25,320 So I see the flip sign of the technology, you know, so I guess 148 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:28,680 just everything has a flip side, you know, like nothing's 149 00:09:28,680 --> 00:09:33,440 perfect. And I, I figured that the ego 150 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:38,840 that gets inflated on social media and everything, I mean, I 151 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:41,840 just stay away from it, that it's, it's a part of people's 152 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:44,680 lives. It's, you know, people go there 153 00:09:44,680 --> 00:09:50,080 for information as well and communicate, but I think that 154 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:53,600 the only way is just if you're suffering enough that your ego 155 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:57,480 is suffering so much that maybe you'll turn to something else 156 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:05,120 that's alternative to what you were fixated on that you thought 157 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:09,240 could bring you happiness. You know what, it's just they 158 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:13,680 all clash of the egos and beside, you know, a lot of 159 00:10:13,680 --> 00:10:20,360 times, not always like a lot of times, I guess if you with maybe 160 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:22,600 anything, if you suffer enough and meet you. 161 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:26,280 I'm actually such a look for alternative means. 162 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:34,040 Hopefully not always, but that's otherwise you can get lost, you 163 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:42,040 know, in this digital identity. Well, I lose touch with certain 164 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:45,680 things, you know, That's all you got. 165 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:49,560 Yeah. And, and, you know, like he 166 00:10:49,560 --> 00:10:51,600 said, there are ways to avoid it. 167 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:54,360 There are ways to say, well, I'm not going to I'm not going to 168 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:58,600 interact with Facebook or social media or I'm not going to, you 169 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:01,360 know, do certain things that bring me constantly into contact 170 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:04,320 with these ideas. And that's great. 171 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:06,840 And that's true. But then there's also the fact 172 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:10,880 that you, you know, the, the culture that you live in, right? 173 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:13,680 The people that you interact with, the people you work with, 174 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:17,280 the some, in some cases, the digital formats that you have to 175 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:20,760 be, you have to be on in order to, in order to work. 176 00:11:21,680 --> 00:11:23,400 In some cases, you can avoid them. 177 00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:26,440 And something that I've been thinking about a lot recently is 178 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:30,440 that, you know, we have a epidemic of anxiety in our 179 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:32,760 culture, right? I mean, everybody's experiencing 180 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:35,960 anxiety and it's a thing that we have kind of come to conclude 181 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:37,800 that this is just a human condition. 182 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:41,080 And yes, anxiety is a part of the human condition. 183 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:43,200 And there are many, many different things that can happen 184 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:46,920 to a human body and the human mind that might cause anxiety. 185 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:53,840 But there are also some cases where we are, you know, we're, 186 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:57,080 we're actively doing things that create anxiety and then question 187 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:01,160 where it comes from, right? What would happen if we didn't, 188 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,160 if we didn't have these digital formats? 189 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:07,000 So if we didn't live with some of the technologies that we've 190 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:11,240 accepted, would we still feel some of these anxieties? 191 00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:14,880 Or is it possible that the anxiety that we feel is our 192 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:19,000 physical form, our bodies telling us something's wrong, 193 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:22,960 right? Is anxiety just simply a part of 194 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:25,280 the human condition, or is it that? 195 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:28,880 Is it something that our physical form expresses when we 196 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:32,120 are constantly living according to a clock? 197 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:36,040 We're constantly living in a way that is dictated by the 198 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:40,000 technologies that we're using, which are not shaped to, you 199 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:43,440 know, complement human happiness, but are shaped to 200 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:47,200 kind of be efficient or to be convenient or to create a type 201 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:50,000 of connectivity that might encourage consumption. 202 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:53,080 You know, are the technologies that we're lewd we're using 203 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:56,640 making us happier or are they actually creating the anxiety 204 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:00,320 that we might not feel if we were to get away from those, 205 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:02,080 those technologies? And part of the reason why I'm 206 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:04,640 saying this is because when I've gone on some of the 10 day 207 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:08,200 retreats, I've gone in there. The first time I went in there, 208 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:12,200 I went in and a lot of people I know who has done this have gone 209 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:16,080 in thinking my mind is so fast. It's so crazy what it's going to 210 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:18,120 be like when I'm in there. I'm going to, it's not going to 211 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:19,680 work. It's I don't want to do that. 212 00:13:19,680 --> 00:13:22,840 I don't want to be in some quiet space with my mind going crazy. 213 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:25,960 But what I've noticed is that when you go into those spaces, 214 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:28,400 your mind isn't going crazy in the same way. 215 00:13:28,560 --> 00:13:32,520 Yes, your mind is always active, but this kind of frenetic pacing 216 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:37,760 is kind of pushed along by the things that we've invited into 217 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:39,920 our lives. And when they're not there, 218 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:42,480 there's a certain type of calm that is possible, right? 219 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:45,400 Everyone's different, but I just wonder how much of the anxiety 220 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:48,320 is being created. You know, chicken or the egg? 221 00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:51,160 Which one is coming first? By the technologies. 222 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:55,560 Yeah, I was just gonna say. I didn't answer the vote. 223 00:13:55,720 --> 00:14:00,720 Right, Mike up already. In terms of obviously 224 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:08,800 biologically you have anxiety and for devolutionary reasons, 225 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:12,800 but I think that I think we'll talk about this. 226 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:17,760 The these programs are these algorithm they're specifically 227 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:22,400 you like made to take advantage of the of your anxiety like 228 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:27,880 you're missing out or you know. So I definitely think and not to 229 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:31,600 mention all the the comparisons and which is directly. 230 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:34,600 Draw the art you get. Especially on social media, 231 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:41,760 yeah, I think it's purposely making people anxious, which 232 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:48,920 then feeds back into the entire usage of it because it's 233 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:51,200 something it's stimulating still. 234 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:53,760 I don't know. But yeah, I don't know. 235 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:56,320 I think answers both. I think it's definitely, I think 236 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:59,760 technology into media and IT especially these things that are 237 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:02,680 particularly enticing like for me. 238 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:07,720 That's the problem. With these is that they're like 239 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:10,520 I'm. I, I am afraid impulses. 240 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:13,360 Sometimes about certain, like small. 241 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:16,800 Things and so social. Media is like easy eaten is for 242 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:20,360 me to fall into if I don't have like strict guidelines. 243 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:25,160 And so those are the those are that's why it's hard for me, I 244 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:27,000 think, and why it's hard for a lot of people to speak. 245 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:32,240 It's just so easy to fall into and get taken away with, and 246 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:36,480 that's what they're. Trying to get you take. 247 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:41,960 The constant stimulation makes it harder to sit in silence. 248 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:49,200 With yourself with that, Yeah. So James, I have a quick 249 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:50,840 question me, sorry to bounce it back to you. 250 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:52,600 I have a bunch of thoughts, but I have a question. 251 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:54,920 When you return from the retreats, I know Danielle's 252 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:57,680 done. Anybody else when you return 253 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:00,720 from their retreats with some of this knowledge and I'm sure some 254 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:05,280 of it took some longer time to unpack and even watch some of 255 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:11,440 their your change back return to some of the pattern like 256 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:14,280 patterns. So like you said, some of it is 257 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:17,640 unavoidable, some of it. Did you did you take? 258 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:21,280 Some things out of it, some tools that that you know, Hey, I 259 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:25,040 I can do less of this. Just a thought that I decided to 260 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:30,400 ask you about that. Yeah, I mean, the first thing 261 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:33,080 that I took out of it, I said a little bit about it already, but 262 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:38,200 was just that I recognize that part of the reason why I get my 263 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:41,840 my own anxiety is just because of the constant stimulation. 264 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:44,680 And that the less of that that I have, the less I feel that 265 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:45,840 right. So one of the things I did the 266 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:49,360 first time I the first time I did the retreat back in my 2017, 267 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:53,520 I just said I'm not going to I I won't watch TV. 268 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:58,800 That is, that was that was produced after 1970. 269 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:03,480 And when I because when I watch modern television, which is 270 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:04,760 great, right? There's a lot of great stuff on 271 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:05,359 television. I'm not. 272 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:06,359 I'm not. Saying no one should watch 273 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:07,960 television. But when I watch modern 274 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:13,119 television, I feel more anxious, like I can feel, I feel my body 275 00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:16,760 and my mind just so, just so much more tentative. 276 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:19,560 And what I've decided is that this, I mean, obviously I 277 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:22,200 haven't done any research on this, but that it has a lot to 278 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:26,000 do with the fact that modern, more modern television is made 279 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:28,040 with constant cliffhangers, right? 280 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:31,680 So they're, they're constantly producing in you this emotion of 281 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:34,520 anticipation of what happens Nets, right, like multiple times 282 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:38,520 within an hour. And, and they're also are they, 283 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:43,320 they're crafted in a way that is meant to keep you in suspense, 284 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:44,680 right? And obviously suspense has 285 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:47,600 existed since television has existed, but there but it's 286 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:50,080 ramped up, right? And I've I've noticed this after 287 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:52,640 I came out of the retreat. This is one thing I noticed that 288 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:57,160 there are also very few scenes or very few times that the 289 00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:00,400 camera sits in one place for more than two to five seconds, 290 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:02,280 right? You're constantly getting a new 291 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:07,760 seat, which feels to me like it. It's like working at McDonald's, 292 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:09,120 right? When I was a kid, I, I worked at 293 00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:10,600 McDonald's when I was 16 years old. 294 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:13,920 And I remember my first week working at McDonald's, I was the 295 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:17,120 miserable every night when I went home, the the stimulation 296 00:18:17,120 --> 00:18:19,760 was so high because I was constantly making food and 297 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:21,640 sending it through the drive through and listening to someone 298 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:23,960 in my ear while I'm trying to make something in cash register. 299 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:27,720 And I remember waking up in the middle of night and thinking I 300 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:30,480 was at McDonald's. I, I woke up in the middle of 301 00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:32,840 night. I was awake and in my eyes I 302 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:36,240 could see my bedroom, but I thought it was McDonald's and I 303 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:38,880 would be moving around my, my room, moving things around, 304 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:41,120 moving toy. Like I had some toys leftover. 305 00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:45,520 I was 60, but I was moving things around and I thought they 306 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:47,960 were cheeseburgers. I know this sounds ridiculous, 307 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:52,440 but that that imprint of the stimulation of being at that job 308 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:56,920 for 8 hours, 32 hours a week created that kind of frenetic 309 00:18:56,920 --> 00:18:59,400 feeling inside of me. This nervous condition that was 310 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:01,600 making me think my bedroom was McDonald's at night. 311 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:04,720 And I feel like that same on a lesser level. 312 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:07,680 That same feeling comes from watching these shows that are 313 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:11,360 crafted to buy constantly keep your attention even as if they 314 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:14,120 they do. So I stopped watching those 315 00:19:14,120 --> 00:19:16,000 shows. I still do sometimes, but I'll 316 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:19,920 generally I'll just watch stuff from the 50s and 60s because 317 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:21,760 they're slower paced. They're not doing it. 318 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:23,280 They haven't learned to do that yet. 319 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:27,800 And when I did that, I I feel a difference in my mental 320 00:19:28,120 --> 00:19:30,080 chemistry, something that happened for me. 321 00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:35,120 With that was music when in my younger years of construction 322 00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:39,000 labor, I drank everyday listen to loud rock'n'roll on the way 323 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:40,760 home. And then one day I had to really 324 00:19:41,120 --> 00:19:44,400 my anxiety was ramped up and I'm driving with a beer in my hand 325 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:47,520 and I turned the music off and it was the most beautiful thing 326 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:49,400 that ever happened. You know, I go, huh. 327 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:53,080 OK, you know, yeah, it's, it's incredible when you know, when 328 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:54,520 we. Yeah. 329 00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:58,560 And and when in 2017 when I went, I the the house, it was 330 00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:02,640 this big mansion up in Wisconsin and Outback there was just a lot 331 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:04,280 of trails to walk for the meditators. 332 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:08,480 And I came back home and I said, you know, I should be walking an 333 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:11,720 inch or every day. And ever since then, I've gone 334 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:15,200 to watch the sunset almost every day that I'm available to do it. 335 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:18,000 I I leave my house and I go walk and watch the sunset. 336 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:21,240 And it's just this really, really great addition to my 337 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:23,800 life. It's just, it is added so much 338 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:26,160 dimension, just 20 to 30 minutes. 339 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:28,360 Usually it's about an hour walking around in this loop and 340 00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:31,440 watching the sunset. And yeah, I mean, I think those 341 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:34,760 are the sorts of things that we often think about as we're 342 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:37,600 driving to and from and we see the sun is setting and it's 343 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:38,760 really beautiful. Like, oh, that's such a 344 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:40,720 beautiful sunset. But then we get back to what 345 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:42,720 we're doing. We pass these things by. 346 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:45,720 But they can actually be a really great addition to your 347 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:47,200 life. They don't cost a lot, if 348 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:49,400 anything at all. And they often don't cost a 349 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:53,040 whole lot of time. And but yeah, I am I perfect 350 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:54,120 yet? No, not at all. 351 00:20:54,120 --> 00:20:59,000 But I didn't learn that that stillness that we often are 352 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:03,880 afraid of is really the most comfortable place if you, if you 353 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:07,880 can force yourself into it. So, so there's certainly answers 354 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:09,880 to this question that you're posing to us. 355 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:12,520 Yeah, yeah. I mean, but there are many other 356 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:13,960 answers. I don't, I don't know. 357 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:15,280 Those are those are great answers. 358 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:16,480 I think they're really good answers. 359 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:21,280 I'm I'm Danielle First, thank you Douglas for the sound bath. 360 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:25,400 That was that was really lovely. Second, I hope I'm not going to 361 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:29,920 be the stereotype of the teacher who's a bad student because I I 362 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:32,840 you have actually opened a lot of doors that we could walk 363 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:34,800 through for in in your Dharma talk. 364 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:38,280 And I'm going to exit the technology one, but walk through 365 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:41,880 the the no self one because I find that really useful. 366 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:45,800 And I think it's because I've been, I, I've had like a, a 367 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:47,920 little, I maybe it was a little bit of an epiphany. 368 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:49,320 I don't know, we'll see. It might not stick. 369 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:54,520 But a thought about the self because I think, and what I 370 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:57,000 heard from a lot of what you're talking about, what everybody's 371 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:00,720 talking about is kind of this idea of awareness and what are 372 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:03,800 you aware of? And, and it kind of combined 373 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:07,880 with our talk from last year on last week on pragmatism and 374 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:10,440 treating all of these kind of observations as sort of 375 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:15,000 hypotheses and determining what is true for us based on the 376 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,240 world that that we live in. And I was thinking about that 377 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:22,120 because like my sense of self, I practice this a lot. 378 00:22:22,120 --> 00:22:24,360 And although the Buddhist concept of the self is really 379 00:22:24,360 --> 00:22:27,640 difficult, really the idea is like to let go of all of the 380 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:31,160 packaging that you've built up around yourself and to could 381 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:33,520 just kind of like some, but what is here? 382 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:36,640 Like what, what can I find some solid footing about? 383 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:42,280 And so I practice that a lot. And, and I think the concept of 384 00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:45,800 the self is so tricky because we don't even realize that we're, 385 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:47,960 we've repackaged into a new story. 386 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:51,160 So we, we practice and we're like, Oh, I see all the stories 387 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:54,080 that I'm telling about myself and like, let me step back from 388 00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:56,640 that. And then instantly we repackage 389 00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:59,200 that into a new story that then we take on. 390 00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:04,040 So I think the idea of just being aware and, and I agree 391 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:06,200 that technology can exacerbate that, right? 392 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:11,440 Like we are constantly called to prove who you are in social 393 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:13,440 media, right? Like, what are you posting and 394 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,080 what are you saying? And it's a it's like an external 395 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:18,920 display of that story that you're telling of yourself. 396 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:22,640 So I do think that it can, it can, it can deepen that in some 397 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:27,240 slightly problematic ways because that also then there's a 398 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:30,760 sort of permanent record of who you said you were and then you 399 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:34,240 get stuck into that story and and then it's harder to get out 400 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:36,720 of, right. But one of the things that I 401 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:40,280 have realized recently is like the story that I have told about 402 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:44,880 myself is not helpful in a lot of ways. 403 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:47,360 I mean, we've talked about this a lot with the three poisons of 404 00:23:47,360 --> 00:23:49,000 the craving, aversion and delusion. 405 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:52,920 And I focused a lot on delusion because I know that I am a very 406 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:57,160 powerful storyteller to myself. Like I tell myself stories and 407 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:00,400 then I believe that they're true and forget that it's a story. 408 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:04,720 And one of the stories that I have told myself over my life is 409 00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:08,440 that like, I'm an intrinsically motivated person. 410 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:12,400 I just like to solve problems. I, I like to be active. 411 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:15,840 I like to, you know, like fix things or whatever. 412 00:24:16,120 --> 00:24:19,680 And I realized that that's not exactly true, that it's, it's 413 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:23,040 something that I am performing kind of in the world, right? 414 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:27,320 Like this idea of being somebody who fixes things and who solves 415 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:31,000 problems. And, and it's, it's carried me 416 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:35,480 like a lot throughout my career. Like I just keep building on 417 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:40,040 that kind of a story to like, I, I've gotten into a pretty high 418 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:43,960 level of leadership at my university and it's made me 419 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:46,640 realize that like, I don't need this shit. 420 00:24:47,360 --> 00:24:50,320 Obviously, why, why am I doing this? 421 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:53,800 And I look back at like the, it's, it was the story that I 422 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:57,080 was telling myself about. Like what makes me valuable is 423 00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:00,080 that I can provide service to something I can fix, sync 424 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:02,480 something I can be helpful to someone. 425 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:05,880 And it's gotten me to this position now where I'm like, I 426 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,480 feel like, does it doesn't feel good? 427 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:12,200 It doesn't feel like I'm in a good kind of grounded, sort of 428 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:16,360 equanimous place. And so then I thought, OK, I 429 00:25:16,360 --> 00:25:19,560 need a change. And that scared the shit out of 430 00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:21,800 me. Like my whole career, years and 431 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:25,880 years, decades, I've built up this career, I have this long CV 432 00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:28,680 and now I'm like, I think this might not be right for me. 433 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:34,720 And then and then I'm like, but, but it but then what? 434 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:36,560 Then what? Well, where do I? 435 00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:39,440 So I've been unraveling a little bit. 436 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:42,440 You've probably heard this over the last, you know, months 437 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,040 perhaps. But this is kind of where I am 438 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:47,840 this, this idea of this sense of self. 439 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:52,160 I think that I actually think that having a story about the 440 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:56,520 self is helpful because it keeps you feeling unravelled. 441 00:25:56,920 --> 00:25:59,480 I mean, ravelled. It keeps you feeling ravelled. 442 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:03,760 It prevents you from feeling unraveled, but it also then 443 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:06,560 encourages us to tie ourselves up in an into knots that we 444 00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:09,920 can't get out of. So like with all things in 445 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:13,080 Buddhism, the idea of like recognizing that you're telling 446 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:18,240 a story about yourself and see where it's starting to chase the 447 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,880 story that you're wrapped up in when it's starting to bind and 448 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:24,680 allowing yourself to open up about that. 449 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:28,360 And then from my personal experience, being brave enough 450 00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:33,600 to say like, OK, I, this is the trajectory I thought I wanted. 451 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,120 This was the life I thought I wanted to build. 452 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:41,840 And maybe I'm wrong. So, so I don't know where that 453 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:45,200 was, but thank you for helping to, to bring this topic right 454 00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:48,080 now because, yeah, I'm unraveling. 455 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:49,960 I mean, I think it's such an interesting thing. 456 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:53,240 I mean, I, I've, I'm sure we all have, like I've had situations 457 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:55,560 like that. I mean, I grew up in situations 458 00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:59,200 where I, my identity was partially formed by being there 459 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:03,280 for my family. And, and you know, I'm still the 460 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:06,080 one, all right, I'm still the one in the family who is there 461 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:08,680 for everyone. But I've also just come to 462 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:11,760 realize recently, like, I don't, I don't, that doesn't have to be 463 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:14,360 who I am. I don't have to be the one that 464 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:16,960 is run. You know, that doesn't mean that 465 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:20,040 I'll never not be there for my family, But there are ways in 466 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:23,520 which I, because of this concept of myself that has been built 467 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:27,360 through external forces and internal forces, I make 468 00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:30,480 decisions that are not always the best decision for me because 469 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:33,800 I'm trying to fulfill that role not only in my mind but also in 470 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:36,320 the mind of the other person. And then I find myself in the 471 00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:37,800 middle of something like, why am I here? 472 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:40,160 Why? Why did I leave my home and come 473 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:42,920 here when I would have rather do that? 474 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:46,880 Yeah. And so like dismantling that and 475 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:51,400 allowing yourself to feel that it's OK to not live up to some 476 00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:54,680 ancient construction of who you are and then to rebuild it in 477 00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:57,560 some particular way. And is is really is 478 00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:00,360 revolutionary. Sorry, Michael, you were going 479 00:28:00,360 --> 00:28:06,600 to set us up a lot of visuals. Blogs Tito awesome topic. 480 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:09,400 I think talking about anxiety in today's age is. 481 00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:11,360 Very what? I needed. 482 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:14,240 It's been irrelevant forever, but especially today. 483 00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:17,400 And I liked that. First topic you brought up as 484 00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:21,160 far as like tactics, how do we engage with anxiety in a way 485 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:23,040 that it's kind of unavoidable? Like you said, right? 486 00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:25,080 We live in an We live in an anxiety moving. 487 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:27,280 World. Some of which is manufactured, I 488 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:29,680 say very intentionally and some of it's just part of the human 489 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:31,240 condition. Anxiety exists, right? 490 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:33,920 I like that mindfulness was the first one. 491 00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:37,880 You brought up my experience with being trying to be mindful 492 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:41,640 of emotion, whether they're pleasant, unpleasant, neutral, 493 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:45,400 whatever is kind of tying into what you were talking about 494 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:46,680 about like you get rid of this story. 495 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:48,360 It's an immediately attached to another word. 496 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:50,520 And oftentimes what I've experienced, especially with 497 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:53,920 dealing with something like anxiety, is that we're often fed 498 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:56,440 contradictory message. It's in our society as well, 499 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:59,480 which is to say that you're not allowed to be deatrice. 500 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:01,480 If you're anxious, you're broke, you're something wrong with 501 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:03,720 none. Yeah, not. 502 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:06,480 You're completely ignoring the fact that there's a lot of other 503 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:09,440 things that you didn't do that, you know, you said, bro, because 504 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:13,600 I had to explore. So what I was going to say is 505 00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:17,600 often, especially early in my meditation, in my practice, and 506 00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:21,680 you know, a it got to a feeling of oh, I'm aware of this 507 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:22,360 emotion. Great. 508 00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:25,560 I did the thing. It didn't really register 509 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:26,760 though. Oh, I'm aware of anxiety. 510 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:28,240 Therefore I broke. It and that that was. 511 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:30,680 Also just creating another anxiety sort of a thing, you 512 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:37,720 know, So I guess like my thought was rather than like being 513 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:40,600 mindful of your emotions in a sense of like almost like a 514 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:42,880 check as as an emotion come back, stop it. 515 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:44,960 You examine, you don't want to do anything, you know, whatever. 516 00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:49,240 I found it helpful to try to be more like a conversation with 517 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:51,560 your emotions and be curious about it because anxiety by 518 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:53,320 itself I think is a bad thing. Anxiety. 519 00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:54,400 Can keep you a lot. Right. 520 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:55,840 I mean, it's a very useful emotion. 521 00:29:55,840 --> 00:30:00,440 It's just all the time to. Is like use that inflated it so 522 00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:02,680 being in conversation. With your emotions, like 523 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:04,000 anxiety, things like that, I think you. 524 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,160 People would be helpful but just remembering that so. 525 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:08,960 You're remembering that this is being manufactured as I'm 526 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:11,000 scrolling through. Facebook like whatever I'm 527 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:12,960 seeing. All the politics of crazy 528 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:14,240 nonsense and it's stressing me out. 529 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:16,640 Remember in the like I can put this thumb down and like. 530 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:19,640 I did do something else, you know, and I don't have to grab 531 00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:21,040 the but. Being curious about the 532 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:22,000 adversary. Where's it coming? 533 00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:23,840 What? What purpose might this be? 534 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:25,320 Survey. Can it you got? 535 00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:26,720 The Shoals of feet, you know, things like that. 536 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:33,680 I think it's all cool. I'll, I'll, I'll let we only 537 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:35,920 have a few more minutes, so I'll let everyone else speak without 538 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:41,720 trying to respond there. I'm happy, Danielle, you're just 539 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:46,200 at one of those forks. We have many in our lives, and 540 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:47,960 you get to choose. How to? 541 00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:53,280 Brushen it up your cat, you'll do it. 542 00:30:53,280 --> 00:31:00,040 Sounds like the no self is a reminder that our self is really 543 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:07,280 delicate and being barbed. Barbed with media can't damage 544 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:17,680 it and through an awareness we get to choose what we allow, 545 00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:26,280 what path we take, what damage you can see happening and turn 546 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:36,760 off the TB or FBN social media because we're precious and it 547 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:45,200 does take practice and awareness and my role since I have always 548 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:47,800 avoided. I like face to face bit so I 549 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:55,960 never got into social media but I've come from a huge pen and my 550 00:31:56,480 --> 00:32:02,480 I have one sister-in-law who is always a Brack because she sees 551 00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:04,720 what Elises and nephews are keep doing. 552 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:08,240 She's so worried and I had to tape her aside, say I. 553 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:10,360 Don't know how to tell you this but. 554 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:16,040 It's kind of like it's not real and she just stole you Calm, but 555 00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:20,640 I can't fix her. But I know that my children put 556 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:25,360 up photos, put up photos of their rosy life. 557 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:32,920 But I've seen the ballpark, so I added their Facebook pages. 558 00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:36,920 That's true. And I'm OK with that because 559 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:43,880 it's not my biggest Sir, but as a reminder to be aware of our 560 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:49,840 attention, take care of ourselves in That takes practice 561 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,840 because there's dangers everywhere, but we get to choose 562 00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:59,960 what influences us. Even the people at my work that 563 00:32:59,960 --> 00:33:07,200 are loud boisterous blazer on, I can't avoid them, but I don't 564 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:19,920 have to take down their so I come here as it all adds up to 565 00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:23,280 the equanimity. The only other thing I would I 566 00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:29,080 would say is probably the most liberating teaching of Buddhism 567 00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:31,480 for me is also one of the things marked as like one of the 568 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:33,480 greatest sources of suffering, which is in Romans. 569 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:37,920 The cheeseburger that I have in front of me is not going to last 570 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:40,240 forever and as it proud and without fat kid that makes me 571 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:42,200 very sad. But. 572 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,120 When I'm scrolling through Facebook and I'm feeling really 573 00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:47,080 anxious or like, you know, feeling like a panic attack or 574 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:48,880 something like that that's not going to last forever. 575 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:52,280 I and I know that someone who suffers from panic. 576 00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:54,320 Attacks from time to time. You know when you're in the 577 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:56,360 grips of something like really strong anxiety? 578 00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:57,600 And it's kind of running. Upgrade. 579 00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:00,280 It's really easy to feel like you're literally dying or like 580 00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:02,480 this is going to last forever. I'm never going to get out of 581 00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:04,720 this, right? Just kind of being able to check 582 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:07,120 in and be like, Nope, all things are impermanent. 583 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:09,360 It's not going to last forever. I don't know what's coming next. 584 00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:11,639 Might not be fun, but like this whatever this is. 585 00:34:11,639 --> 00:34:15,199 Is not the last. And that can be applied not only 586 00:34:15,199 --> 00:34:17,840 to like, the internal experience of the emotion itself, but it 587 00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:21,679 can be applied, I mean, on a massive scale, like this society 588 00:34:21,679 --> 00:34:24,199 will not last forever. This style of consumerism will 589 00:34:24,199 --> 00:34:26,320 not last forever. This economy will not like, you 590 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:29,080 know, these things all pass. And I just kind of wonder, in 591 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:31,880 1400 years, who's going to care? You know what I mean? 592 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:33,320 Like, how much of this will really matter? 593 00:34:34,159 --> 00:34:35,239 Yeah. I mean, there are some people 594 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:37,960 who say like, oh, you know, you should always, you should be 595 00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:40,199 thinking constantly about the fact that you're going to die. 596 00:34:40,199 --> 00:34:43,480 And that sounds really morbid, but the fact that you're going 597 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:46,760 to die is like recognizing the fact that you're going to die is 598 00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:49,960 like your, your recognition of impermanence, right? 599 00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:52,880 If you're, if you're able to continuously think about that 600 00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:57,640 impermanence, then the, the likelihood that small and even 601 00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:00,840 some larger problems will consume you is lower because 602 00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:02,880 you're, you understand it's going to pass. 603 00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:05,360 You understand that one day you're going to be lying on your 604 00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:07,040 deathbed. And a lot of the things that 605 00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:09,520 have seemed so important will be really trivial. 606 00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:11,760 And you don't have to wait till you get there in order to 607 00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:15,080 actually observe that fact and to feel it and maybe live inside 608 00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:18,800 of it. And yeah, so that that is like 609 00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:22,920 ultimately, like at the core of the idea of impermanence, Micah, 610 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:25,120 you wouldn't say something. Yeah. 611 00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:30,880 I guess you you should touch on this topic a little bit, but. 612 00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:33,120 I feel like and this has less to do with the. 613 00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:36,840 Self I feel like and more more to do with the anxiety aspect 614 00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:40,000 and how we use circle media and whatnot, but but what I'm 615 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:48,040 realizing is like a huge part of my dysfunction or like. 616 00:35:48,240 --> 00:35:52,600 Struggle to use social media or. All these different things, like 617 00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:59,680 in a healthy way comes from things from my childhoods. 618 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:02,680 And like in terms of it's, it's kind of what you were talking 619 00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:04,200 about, my beliefs about yourself. 620 00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:06,920 But even deeper than that. Like I fool you guys, like I 621 00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:09,280 struggle a lot with like loneliness. 622 00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:14,680 And what I'm learning is that it comes down to me not feeling 623 00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:20,400 safe with myself and like in the world in general a lot of times. 624 00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:26,000 And so I guess the reason I bring that up is because I think 625 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:31,160 that a tactic would be like exploring at whether it's in 626 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:33,000 therapy or. Whatever. 627 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:36,360 And that's not just kind of in. School to become a therapist, 628 00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:41,240 but but I do believe by for me, for myself, I think that's a 629 00:36:41,240 --> 00:36:43,320 big. Part of like. 630 00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:46,600 When I feel the safest is when I had the healthiest relationship 631 00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:49,040 with these things, and it's like, easier to engage with them 632 00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:53,880 without being lost in them. So yeah, King, that's an. 633 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:58,080 Important piece of an asshole. Yeah, all right. 634 00:36:58,080 --> 00:37:00,520 So but when we end, we like to say. 635 00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:03,640 Many of our. Practice extends. 636 00:37:03,720 --> 00:37:05,160 To all the living greens.