1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:16,520 (Auto-generated)Hello, you wonderful people who matter so very, very much. 2 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:20,280 And welcome back to those of you returning to the laughing matters podcast. 3 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:21,800 I'm WS Walker. 4 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:28,080 And for those of you who are just joining us, nope, not going to work. 5 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:31,920 There's a lot of it that we're going to go over today. 6 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:36,720 We're going to need all of the previous episodes to follow this episode. 7 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:39,960 We're going to be building off of the idea that we're all made of God and looking at 8 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:44,800 some of the other stuff that makes more sense when we apply that theory to it. 9 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:48,680 So go back to episode one and start there. 10 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:50,560 That's you've got to have that. 11 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:53,280 You got to have the rest of it, please. 12 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:55,160 And thank you to you. 13 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:57,920 Good, great, wonderful. 14 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:02,760 So before we get started today, I do want to make a small reminder to the listeners, 15 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:06,520 even though I'm going to be pulling several verses from the Bible in this one and verses 16 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:12,720 from other texts and other ones, it does not matter what belief you hold. 17 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:17,920 Look into your own understandings and beliefs after I've given you my tea and see if it 18 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:18,920 holds up. 19 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:22,800 They're pretty much one size fits all concepts. 20 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:27,520 And if that tea line did make sense to you or me telling you to go up to your cup, that's 21 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:29,680 because you haven't listened to episode one yet. 22 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:31,120 So go back. 23 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:33,400 Seriously, go. 24 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:41,680 And for the rest of you, let's empty our cups, hold on to our hats and let's get it started. 25 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:44,280 Chapter four. 26 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:46,640 Here's the why. 27 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:54,080 Okay, so you and everything and everyone else are made of God, right? 28 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:55,080 So now what? 29 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:59,840 Now I've heard a lot of theories on this, including in the book, stranger in a strange 30 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:05,280 land where the protagonist becomes very fond of proclaiming thou art God. 31 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:10,080 It was also once proposed to me that we're all God experiencing himself through his own 32 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:16,240 creation, which I think has a certain lovely ring to it and makes sense. 33 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:22,040 Imagine creating the universe and then getting to experience every single atom of it. 34 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:27,080 It seems like a pretty great way to spend a few quadrillion eons if you're an eternal 35 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:29,600 being, right? 36 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:34,200 And it would also add such a new layer of perspective to several things that most of 37 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:40,080 us have learned about the statement that which you have done unto the least of you, you have 38 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:42,180 done unto me. 39 00:02:42,180 --> 00:02:46,480 It truly fits the idea of each of us being a piece of God. 40 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:51,840 But my personal favorite is also one of the most important parts of the New Testament. 41 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,920 Now the New Testament is the part of the Bible where essentially Jesus Christ is sent down 42 00:02:55,920 --> 00:03:01,700 to us as presenting both a second chance and a setting of the rules straight. 43 00:03:01,700 --> 00:03:05,480 Some look at it as a complete rewriting of the rules. 44 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:09,400 And it's in this book that my favorite correlation occurs. 45 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:14,920 So Jesus is attending a wedding and he's informing people about the new way. 46 00:03:14,920 --> 00:03:18,600 And the Pharisees who, well, they see Jesus as a threat. 47 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:24,040 They convince an expert in the law to try and trip Jesus up by asking, what is the greatest 48 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:25,040 commandment? 49 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:27,920 If these are the new rules, what's the biggest one? 50 00:03:27,920 --> 00:03:33,000 So that would be a pretty massively important part of the rule book, right? 51 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:38,080 Well Jesus replies, thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy 52 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:41,020 soul, and with all thy mind. 53 00:03:41,020 --> 00:03:47,280 This is the first and greatest commandment. 54 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:51,120 And then the second is like unto it. 55 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:55,080 Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. 56 00:03:55,080 --> 00:04:00,480 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. 57 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:02,360 What? 58 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:10,800 I remember reading that again about a year deep into discovering the breaking love and 59 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:13,780 immediately questioning the translation of the phrase. 60 00:04:13,780 --> 00:04:15,800 And the second is like unto it. 61 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:21,840 I mean it makes a point of stating that the first commandment mentioned, love God with 62 00:04:21,840 --> 00:04:25,800 your all, is the greatest and first among them. 63 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:29,160 So that answers the law expert's question, right? 64 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,080 I mean, boom, done. 65 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:36,960 It seems a bit odd that that level of focus on stating is clear as it can be made. 66 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:41,200 That the first one, that's it, that's the one. 67 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:48,440 And then to immediately turn back around and state, but this other one, which is similar, 68 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:50,640 it's just as important. 69 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:53,320 And how are those two similar? 70 00:04:53,320 --> 00:05:01,240 Ones love God with everything and the others love all the rest of them and yourself. 71 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:05,400 Apparently the book of Matthew, as far as we can tell, was originally written in Greek, 72 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:11,400 from 30 to 70 years after Christ died, passed along orally before this and some written 73 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:14,080 versions of this. 74 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:19,000 Now there are some that believe it was initially written in Aramaic and translated to Greek 75 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:25,680 soon afterwards, but there's no real evidence that's been found to support this. 76 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:31,000 Now the phrase originally used that was translated to English as, and the second is like unto 77 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:35,560 it, was the Thera Omaeos. 78 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:40,920 And the most agreed upon translation for these two Greek words that I was able to find were 79 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:50,600 Thera, which is second, and Omaeos, which is the adjective version of homos, which means 80 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:58,840 equally, evenly, identically, the same as. 81 00:05:58,840 --> 00:06:09,480 Now I got very excited as you might expect. 82 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:14,960 Remember these were passed along orally, so it's possible that when it was translated 83 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:21,400 or when it was put down from one person to another, entirely possible that someone just 84 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:25,520 thought they meant to say, well, it's like it, you know, they didn't mean it's exactly 85 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:26,520 it. 86 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:32,200 And most of the probable translations from the original text that rule one is the same 87 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:39,400 as rule two, not only indicates heavily that we're all made up of God, but also supports 88 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:45,760 that concept in the other two possible translation of Omaeos. 89 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:51,640 And after all, if we are all literally made up of God, then loving your fellow man very 90 00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:56,400 literally is the same as loving God. 91 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:03,800 And then another passage and Catholic practice occurred to me, one that got a lot of exposition, 92 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:07,960 but never really seemed to get much of an explanation, at least none that really struck 93 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:11,720 me as the obvious definitive truth of its meaning. 94 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:17,360 Paul, who's one of the apostles, he details a moment that happened during the last supper 95 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:20,840 that Jesus had with his apostles. 96 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:26,520 Jesus, quote, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is 97 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:30,480 my body, which is for you. 98 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:34,200 Do this in remembrance of me. 99 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:40,040 In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant 100 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:41,340 in my blood. 101 00:07:41,340 --> 00:07:47,760 Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. 102 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:52,440 When you think about this action, telling them that this bread and this wine are his 103 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:59,720 body and blood, it makes for a rather simple way of demonstrating that these two things 104 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:06,920 are made of God, just like him, God offering God to God. 105 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:13,000 I think he tried to put a pretty complex idea into a very simple demonstration. 106 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:19,920 These things are all me, so when you drink this or you eat this, remember me. 107 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:26,840 He might have grabbed water or grapes or a fork or a chair because all of them are him. 108 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:33,560 And once you realize this, there's a lot of exposition of this, I am this and this and 109 00:08:33,560 --> 00:08:37,640 this and all of this in Corinthians one. 110 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:42,640 He who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 111 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:44,720 John 14 20. 112 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:53,920 In that day, you will know that I am in my father and you in me and I in you. 113 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:58,200 He's saying this all over the in Corinthians three 16. 114 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:05,640 Do not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you. 115 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:12,880 John 17 20 through 23 I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe 116 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:22,800 in me through their word that they all may be one as you father are in me and I and you 117 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:32,880 and that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that you sent me. 118 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:40,880 If you think about when God told Moses during that burning bush moment, I am who I am. 119 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:44,720 He added, say this to the people of Israel. 120 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:49,540 I am has sent me to you. 121 00:09:49,540 --> 00:09:59,580 If there wasn't anything that was not you in the whole of reality, what would you adequately 122 00:09:59,580 --> 00:10:07,000 have them call you that would fit the concept of totality of that magnitude outside of I 123 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:10,320 am? 124 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:16,460 I mean that kind of cuts directly to the point. 125 00:10:16,460 --> 00:10:23,360 And while that also kind of plays into the the made in God's image aspect, I think that 126 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:25,160 it goes further beyond that. 127 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:31,920 I think there's something that's there's a part of it that's quite a bit more like God. 128 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:36,720 The design of the human form is is absolutely astounding. 129 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:41,760 Even without examining it on a microscopic scale, our body systems are dumbfoundingly 130 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:43,840 brilliant. 131 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:47,320 We have a bilateral symmetry that runs up the middle of her body. 132 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:49,320 It mirrors itself. 133 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:54,200 This is an external symmetry, of course, because not all the organs follow that pattern. 134 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:56,120 But we're bipedal. 135 00:10:56,120 --> 00:11:01,080 We walk on two legs with toes on each foot for balance adjustments. 136 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:05,680 They're perfectly suited for the amount of gravity that we experience. 137 00:11:05,680 --> 00:11:07,280 The design is amazing. 138 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:14,040 Our primary method of information intake is seeing, and it is a masterpiece of design 139 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:15,040 genius. 140 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:22,120 We capture errant radiation of a very, very limited wavelength with the eye. 141 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:27,600 The current estimate of how much of the electromagnetic spectrum, as far as we can detect anyways, 142 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:33,360 is made up of visible light has been speculated to be about one 10 billionth. 143 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:37,380 But it could also be zero percent as the heights of those wavelengths. 144 00:11:37,380 --> 00:11:41,120 They could be infinitely short or they could be infinitely long. 145 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:46,480 Either way, the reality is that we don't see much of what's going on around us. 146 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:52,720 But even with that extremely limited scope, we still manage to be able to identify nearly 147 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:54,340 everything we see. 148 00:11:54,340 --> 00:11:59,120 You really should just take a minute to look up how the eye works, if you haven't, and 149 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:04,960 just marvel at the brilliance of the design. 150 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:10,960 And then in conjunction with all that, when something moves or vibrates, the air molecules 151 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:15,660 around that object get knocked into the surrounding air molecules, which do the same to the ones 152 00:12:15,660 --> 00:12:16,660 around them. 153 00:12:16,660 --> 00:12:17,660 And that continues outward. 154 00:12:17,660 --> 00:12:23,360 And this happens billions and billions of times in slight variations. 155 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:30,560 And we have this fine tuned bones and membranes that are specifically designed to capture 156 00:12:30,560 --> 00:12:33,760 these molecule bumpings. 157 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:35,720 And we call that hearing. 158 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:41,120 Not only can we identify a staggering amount of sound sources with only our ears, but we 159 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:44,760 can also determine where it's coming from by the sound alone. 160 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:50,840 My point is, our physiology is specifically crafted and coordinated to facilitate our 161 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:55,680 very precise and delicate existence on this physical Earth. 162 00:12:55,680 --> 00:13:00,960 Our toes are made to work in tandem to meet gravity's challenge and make tiny little 163 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:05,040 adjustments to even the most precarious of balances. 164 00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:13,320 God, however, by all logic, would exist outside of the constraints of gravity, of time, space, 165 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:17,400 and all the other laws of the universe that we've found to be immutable. 166 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:23,760 In other words, it would be very pointless for God to have eyes or ears as an omnipotent 167 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:24,760 being. 168 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:26,480 God don't need feet. 169 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:32,600 In fact, there isn't anything about us that's similar to a non-corporeal, omniscient being 170 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:35,140 that's part of everything. 171 00:13:35,140 --> 00:13:39,920 Not anything that shows up under our one 10 billionth vision anyways. 172 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:44,600 Everything about us seems almost opposite of that. 173 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:45,600 Omnipotence? 174 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:46,600 A view? 175 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:47,600 Every view? 176 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:48,600 No. 177 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:50,640 A single point of view. 178 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:53,800 Our cells and our skin and our bones, they're not eternal. 179 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:55,480 They rot. 180 00:13:55,480 --> 00:14:00,440 Every part of our body is smellable, touchable, tasteable, viewable, weighable, and every 181 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:03,480 inch of it is measurable, improvable. 182 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:06,520 Except for one thing. 183 00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:10,720 There is one thing about us that doesn't seem to age and then end. 184 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:13,460 It just moves on after the body goes. 185 00:14:13,460 --> 00:14:15,600 We can't touch it or taste it. 186 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:17,280 We can't view it. 187 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:23,280 And so far as we've been able to detect, it's not been measurable or provable. 188 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:25,040 But we feel it. 189 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:28,720 In the center of our torsos. 190 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:33,280 It's a thing that turns over in disgust when we act selfishly at the expense of another 191 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:37,800 person or when we betrayed someone we care about. 192 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:45,200 And when we're in love, it absolutely glows within us. 193 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:51,920 And when we lose a loved one suddenly, it's that thing that feels like it had a hole punched 194 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:55,080 right through the center of it. 195 00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:57,440 It never lies. 196 00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:03,160 We feel so strongly that this center chest area is the origin point for so many of our 197 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:08,960 emotions that we refer to the origin point as our heart. 198 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:10,920 The heart's responsible for love. 199 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:13,640 The heart's responsible for compassion. 200 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:16,440 The heart is a muscular organ that pumps our blood. 201 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:21,720 While it is arguably one of the most important organs within the body, it doesn't think 202 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:23,240 or feel. 203 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:28,080 To be fair, there is a small array of neurons in your heart, but their sole purpose is the 204 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:30,920 regulation of cardiac activity. 205 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:36,640 But simply, the heart doesn't care. 206 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:40,240 But something in there does care. 207 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:45,160 There's this something that dwells within us, something that loses its footing when 208 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:47,980 we get horrible news about the loved one. 209 00:15:47,980 --> 00:15:54,920 That part of you, that's the origin point of your empathy, your love, your compassion. 210 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:58,440 It's the starting point. 211 00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:04,120 Now we're still on the very edge of the discoveries of how our brain is involved with our emotions, 212 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:07,360 but mostly what we've found is reactionary. 213 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:11,440 It's how the brain triggers specific physical responses. 214 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:18,600 As far as my research has taken me, we still have no idea where the origin point of love 215 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:25,460 or sympathy or empathy or compassion or any of the emotions related to them is. 216 00:16:25,460 --> 00:16:30,800 Now these are emotions that are all based in that direct connection between human beings, 217 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:36,560 a connection that can't be measured or detected by instrumentation, just like the emotions 218 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:38,760 that that connection influences. 219 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:45,040 It's a connection that truly makes us thrive, that truly gives our lives meaning, and that 220 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:49,920 keeps us alive here after we're gone. 221 00:16:49,920 --> 00:17:00,080 Both books are the legacy of one's words, people are the legacy of one's emotional connections. 222 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:06,560 Every single one of us has this immeasurable emotional source within us, and so I'm just 223 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:10,280 going to go ahead and refer to that as the soul. 224 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:16,080 Let's strip it of any specific connotations applied to any religion and just say that 225 00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:22,440 the thing that's in you that's unmeasurable, that's the origin point of your emotions, 226 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:25,080 that doesn't lie to you. 227 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:26,080 Good deal. 228 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:27,080 Everybody good with that? 229 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:28,080 Good. 230 00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:33,760 I recently thought back on the idea of all of us being parts of God experiencing His 231 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:39,840 creation and then leaving behind the material parts of ourselves to be reclaimed by nature 232 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:47,440 when we die, which is also made of God, and the soul rejoining God, pieces of God returning 233 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:54,400 to God, modified with an entire lifetime of understandings and experiences, and then I 234 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:57,000 did a bit of a double take. 235 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:01,280 This behavior, it's awful familiar, right? 236 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:06,560 The desire to share what we know and have experienced, our accomplishments and our own 237 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:12,320 creations that which we put our time, energy and thought towards, these are the driving 238 00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:18,240 motivations to share that we already have here. 239 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:23,920 So with this in mind, it makes the staples of being in love make complete sense. 240 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:29,160 They become every bit as important to you as you are. 241 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:31,720 You feel complete. 242 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:33,680 You laugh easily. 243 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:36,520 And you feel, well, you feel right. 244 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:38,960 You feel great. 245 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:47,400 I always felt like, like I was operating at maximum efficiency, you know? 246 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:52,480 And when I was kissing someone that I was deeply in love with, it always felt like I 247 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:56,760 was finally catching my breath. 248 00:18:56,760 --> 00:19:02,360 When I feel myself falling for someone, I just, I drop more and more of my defenses 249 00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:03,360 at their feet. 250 00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:04,360 I shut them off. 251 00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:11,440 But as we get more and more comfortable into those relationships existing for a long time 252 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:16,520 with that love, we tend to notice it less and less. 253 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:21,300 See, our brains have a sensory gating setting to them. 254 00:19:21,300 --> 00:19:26,560 They filter out new information that's redundant or unchanging. 255 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:31,360 Say you spend time in a monkey house at a zoo and you first walk in, you notice there's 256 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:33,200 this distinct odor. 257 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:37,120 Ten minutes later, you don't really notice it unless you're thinking about it. 258 00:19:37,120 --> 00:19:41,900 If you walk past a window in your home and you glance out the window at your backyard 259 00:19:41,900 --> 00:19:47,220 or at the street or whatever, and nothing catches your eye, nothing's out of the ordinary, 260 00:19:47,220 --> 00:19:51,440 the brain filtered out most of the information captured just because there's nothing new 261 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:53,120 to report there. 262 00:19:53,120 --> 00:19:57,160 No need to waste mental focus on it. 263 00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:01,800 And love can be like that sometimes. 264 00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:07,440 Sometimes we forget how great our lives are because we love consistently in them. 265 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:10,400 And we're just too used to that love. 266 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:15,600 We forget how loved we are by those that love steadily because we don't perceive that to 267 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:18,920 be in jeopardy. 268 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:24,520 There isn't anything that's changing up and the brain tends to slide past to the next 269 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:27,140 bit of informational intake. 270 00:20:27,140 --> 00:20:29,920 And you know what else is like that? 271 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:31,660 God. 272 00:20:31,660 --> 00:20:36,840 And more so when you think about it because He literally makes up everything. 273 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:38,520 That's forever unchanging. 274 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:46,160 No matter what changes in this universe, that's always going to be the case. 275 00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:50,120 There will never be something that's not made of God. 276 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:57,360 Our existence becomes so permeated by God that He becomes the easiest thing to overlook. 277 00:20:57,360 --> 00:21:02,640 Especially when we're surrounded by man-made structures, and I'll explain that, don't 278 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:03,640 worry. 279 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:08,080 In the earliest recorded histories of man, we see nearly every tribe believes that there's 280 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:10,560 something greater than themselves, right? 281 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:13,480 That they owe a great debt of gratitude to. 282 00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:19,840 And I think one of the reasons that belief is so prevalent in those early days is because 283 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:25,040 being surrounded by God was so unmistakably evident. 284 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:28,820 Everywhere they looked, they saw God's designs as He designed them. 285 00:21:28,820 --> 00:21:34,400 When you made something out of God's designs, like tools or clothes or shelter, a needle 286 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:38,160 made out of bone was still clearly made out of bone. 287 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:41,160 You could see the grain in it. 288 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:45,360 They could see what all of it was made out of originally. 289 00:21:45,360 --> 00:21:51,960 The furs, the leather, the wood, the stone, sinew, it all showed through the item that 290 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:54,680 was made out of it. 291 00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:56,960 But now? 292 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,040 Look around you. 293 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:06,240 Unless you're in a room full of people or animals or outside in a non-big city setting, 294 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:11,960 most likely more than 80% of what you're able to see, you are unable to see what the 295 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:16,680 material started their journey as. 296 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:19,960 But that doesn't mean that it has to be hard to love God. 297 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:26,160 So yeah, sometimes it's hard to spot Him, but that doesn't mean it has to be hard to 298 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:27,680 love God. 299 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:29,200 I know. 300 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:34,040 Loving God is really hard sometimes. 301 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:37,240 It's like trying to swim upstream. 302 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:38,240 And I get that. 303 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:42,920 You'll never get to hug Him or nudge Him with your elbow, playfully. 304 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:48,680 You haven't seen His face, and most of us are never going to hear Him with our ears. 305 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:55,280 But even so, isn't it a bit strange that this is the case? 306 00:22:55,280 --> 00:23:01,080 I mean, that we should be designed to love each other and be created with the most important 307 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:03,400 law out in front. 308 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:10,320 Love God with your everything, and in a different wording, love each other and love yourself. 309 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:15,080 And yet, loving God would be so difficult. 310 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:20,160 If you've ever been in love before, you know how much the opposite of difficult falling 311 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:23,080 in love with someone is. 312 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:27,800 It's effortless, like falling. 313 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:34,960 In fact, some people are pulled into it despite their very best efforts to resist it. 314 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:44,680 But loving God is hard until you realize that you are seeing Him in literally everything. 315 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:48,220 It's God or nothing that we are made of. 316 00:23:48,220 --> 00:23:55,200 And I've learned to love the soul of a person and that which they are made up of. 317 00:23:55,200 --> 00:24:02,600 After all, I can get a lot closer to hugging a soul than I can God directly. 318 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:06,000 Side note, this also allows me to hug God through a dog. 319 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:11,680 So that is a decidedly awesome aspect to it that I highly recommend. 320 00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:15,720 Anyways, back to the book. 321 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:22,400 When I look at people now, I see them as the created body that carries around and conflicts 322 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:24,500 with their soul. 323 00:24:24,500 --> 00:24:31,880 I see the enormous amount of conflict between, as they say, the head and the heart. 324 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:37,880 All those people, they're all flawed, sometimes cruel or hateful. 325 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:40,520 But their soul isn't. 326 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:44,000 It's essentially the puppy dog of the human body. 327 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,680 It's easy to love someone's soul. 328 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:54,360 It's the home of their love, their compassion, their joy and their innocence. 329 00:24:54,360 --> 00:24:56,160 It's the brain that hates. 330 00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:59,040 It's the brain that angers and assigns the blame. 331 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:01,080 The soul does not. 332 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:03,920 A soul in pain? 333 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:08,440 That's easy to pity, forgive or be generous to. 334 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:12,160 The jerk gets riding along inside of not so much. 335 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:18,320 But if you love their souls, you can kind of quickly find out that human beings, they 336 00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:24,400 suck at choosing who it is we should limit out our love to. 337 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:30,840 Every single soul deserves your love and the love of your fellow man. 338 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:34,760 I say, don't pick who deserves it. 339 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:39,280 Just love them all and let God sort them out. 340 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:43,920 Because if you spend your life loving and getting closer to people, it makes sense that 341 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:50,320 after your soul leaves this physical form, you would continue that trend. 342 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:54,000 Try thinking about it this way, in the simplest of terms. 343 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:59,720 You, your consciousness, your soul, you find yourself no longer bound to your physical 344 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:00,720 form. 345 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:02,160 You've died. 346 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:06,400 You're not tethered to viewing the world through eyes like you have been the entire time you've 347 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:10,320 been attached to that physical form. 348 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:15,920 So now, now you don't navigate with your legs or have a thought process because your brain 349 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:16,920 dead. 350 00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:19,080 You just are. 351 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,760 And you're not limited to three dimensions anymore. 352 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:26,320 So you know, or probably not the fourth dimension either. 353 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:29,600 You're free to move around the cabin. 354 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:33,120 The seatbelt sign is way off. 355 00:26:33,120 --> 00:26:37,240 The directions around you that you could go are limitless and you don't even know how 356 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:38,240 to move. 357 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:42,480 And you were so new at this that you can't concentrate because your brain is brain dead. 358 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:46,360 And then you feel it. 359 00:26:46,360 --> 00:26:55,120 Among the emotions flowing through you, you feel love. 360 00:26:55,120 --> 00:27:01,120 And falling love back to its source is not a go left, four blocks down and then you hang 361 00:27:01,120 --> 00:27:02,120 a Louie. 362 00:27:02,120 --> 00:27:03,120 It's not that kind of thing. 363 00:27:03,120 --> 00:27:06,640 You just go towards it. 364 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:11,920 Like you, you spend a lot of your life making those loving connections with other parts 365 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:13,320 of God. 366 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:19,920 Your desire to be near others and your familiarity with genuine love has led you back to rejoin 367 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:31,080 the rest of God and yourself and the all because you are made of God. 368 00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:34,960 But what if you didn't? 369 00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:39,120 What if you didn't live that kind of life? 370 00:27:39,120 --> 00:27:44,720 What if you turn your life's goals toward that which you could get for yourself? 371 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:49,680 Toward that what you could get out of other people rather than what you could do for them, 372 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:55,560 how you could improve their lives, how you could bring them joy? 373 00:27:55,560 --> 00:28:02,280 What if you didn't act out of love, but motivated self interest? 374 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:09,600 What if your trend is inward instead of outward? 375 00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:14,680 In my research for the book, I happened upon a quote from the Bahá'í faith that summed 376 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:16,840 it up quite nicely. 377 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:25,520 The quote was, heaven is nearness to me and hell is separation from me. 378 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:31,240 I'd say that tracks. 379 00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:36,720 And when it comes to hell, theologians aren't totally certain where the imagery of hell 380 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:37,800 took on its heat. 381 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:41,800 It's not in the Bible that hell is hot. 382 00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:46,540 Now some believe that it's confusion of the lake of fire at the end of revelations, which 383 00:28:46,540 --> 00:28:48,320 is never named as hell. 384 00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:50,320 That's not hell. 385 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:54,880 And some believe that it was associated with the underground and the belief that volcanoes 386 00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:57,040 were passageways to hell. 387 00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:05,200 In the Bible, the actual description of hell is a dark, cold place that those in it are 388 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:11,000 in a complete absence of God's love. 389 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:14,520 The name hell was taken from the Norse god Hel. 390 00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:15,760 Go figure. 391 00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:22,240 And she ruled over an underworld that's described as a cold, monotonous place. 392 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:28,320 And the word that gets frequently translated as hell, Geinah, was actually the name of 393 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:31,260 a gorge near Jerusalem. 394 00:29:31,260 --> 00:29:38,400 And it's where they, it's where children were sacrificed to the Canaanite god Molech. 395 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:40,520 The really messed up part of it is the method. 396 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:47,280 I mean, outside of child murder, the really messed up part of it is that the method of 397 00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:50,680 sacrifice was typically burning. 398 00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:55,160 And there'd been a lot of speculation that this was the reason that Jesus named hell 399 00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:57,440 as Geinah. 400 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:03,320 But I believe that Jesus latched onto this location for a different reason than the method 401 00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:05,520 of the deaths, at least partially. 402 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:12,600 I believe that Jesus chose to use that name because the murders themselves. 403 00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:20,200 After all, it was where countless acts of the deepest separations from God occurs, the 404 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:27,400 murdering of innocent children by way of one of the most horrific ways of dying in order 405 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:31,680 to gain themselves the favor of a god. 406 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:38,960 How damaged must your compassion be to do this to a child for something you want? 407 00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:45,520 How strong must your desire be for that which you want for yourself? 408 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:51,320 What better example of separating yourself from God and love for others? 409 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:55,480 And there's no better example of that. 410 00:30:55,480 --> 00:31:02,000 What better example of something that will land you in hell could there be? 411 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:07,400 Of course, Geinah would become synonymous with hell. 412 00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:13,400 Personally, I believe that when you trend towards self, when you do not put others as 413 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:19,520 a priority, when you deliberately live against the very design of you and them and all of 414 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:27,800 this, you put yourself further and further from that beacon in the dark and confusion, 415 00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:37,720 and you become less and less likely to recognize and head out to it out of habit. 416 00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:41,720 I don't believe that it's God casting us out. 417 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:46,000 I don't believe that there's a moment that this giant book of your life is opened and 418 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:47,880 God brings down his gavel. 419 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:53,400 I think that those that recognize him in the dark and confusion naturally gather towards 420 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:56,400 him and rejoin him. 421 00:31:56,400 --> 00:32:03,960 And that those that don't, well, they don't. 422 00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:12,520 And they're lost, separated from God in the dark and the confusion and the wailing and 423 00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:15,960 the gnashing of teeth. 424 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:21,440 And it gives a whole new understanding to whatever you bind on earth will be bound in 425 00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:26,600 heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 426 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:32,320 But when you think about it, God's been pretty clear across the board on getting the message 427 00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:36,360 out that we're supposed to care about the rest of them. 428 00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:40,800 Across all the major religions, we're taught the golden rule, which is a rule that flatly 429 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:46,080 states to treat everyone well and then kind of hints that we should be doing this anyways 430 00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:49,580 because we care about each other. 431 00:32:49,580 --> 00:32:55,720 But I personally favor Judaism's statement of the golden rule in the Torah, which beautifully 432 00:32:55,720 --> 00:33:01,660 says, whatever is hateful and distasteful to you, do not do to your fellow man. 433 00:33:01,660 --> 00:33:04,420 This is the entire Torah. 434 00:33:04,420 --> 00:33:06,960 The rest is commentary. 435 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:09,520 Go learn. 436 00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:15,640 Even the very design of how happiness works seems to indicate that we're supposed to 437 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:16,760 care about each other. 438 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:19,160 We're supposed to do for others. 439 00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:24,480 Think about the last time that you were really excited to get something for yourself. 440 00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:30,140 Most of the happiness I'd be willing to bet was in the wanting and acquiring. 441 00:33:30,140 --> 00:33:36,480 The moment you had it, whatever it was, the happiness immediately began to recede and 442 00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:42,680 that shiny thing that you acquired began to tarnish and lose its luster. 443 00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:48,080 It's like trying to hold onto water cupped in one hand. 444 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:56,120 Doing for self most often offers diminished returns in happiness, but doing for others? 445 00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:59,440 Well, that's a bit different. 446 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:03,540 Sometimes you do for others with money, which is bought with your time, effort and attention, 447 00:34:03,540 --> 00:34:08,960 and often you just do for others with your time or your effort or your attention. 448 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:15,320 You take a bit from yourself to help someone or to bring happiness to them. 449 00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:21,280 What's really cool about this is it's a gift that so often becomes so much more to the 450 00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:26,720 receiver than what the giver took from themselves. 451 00:34:26,720 --> 00:34:31,720 But the happiness the giver gets back, oh, it's palpable. 452 00:34:31,720 --> 00:34:38,360 It's a happiness with the texture and consistency of real sustenance. 453 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:43,960 It's the kind of happiness that nourishes the soul, you know, that goes hand in hand 454 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:49,160 with feeling important as you watch yourself make an impact. 455 00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:55,320 It really is some of the best of what we do as human beings. 456 00:34:55,320 --> 00:35:00,880 So for the moment, let's stick compassion and empathy and generosity, those into a circle 457 00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:03,080 and label those things as good. 458 00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:10,440 They're things that bring us closer to God and to the rest of God here and bring genuine 459 00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:14,240 happiness to those that practice them. 460 00:35:14,240 --> 00:35:20,280 So the opposite, of course, under my definition would be bad and evil. 461 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:26,640 When I think of evil, I don't think of it as this sentient force. 462 00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:33,880 The way I most closely identify evil is that which separates you from God here amongst 463 00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:36,520 us and elsewhere. 464 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:43,560 If I had to summarize evil as a sentence, it would be I can get more for myself if I 465 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:47,840 care about others less. 466 00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:54,800 If good is doing for others, sometimes at the sacrifice of self, bad is focusing only 467 00:35:54,800 --> 00:36:01,960 on self and evil is taking deliberately from others for self. 468 00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:08,240 If good is what gets you closer to others and to God, then evil is what moves you further 469 00:36:08,240 --> 00:36:11,920 away from them. 470 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:21,240 And when you move further away, God gets quieter because you're moving further away from them. 471 00:36:21,240 --> 00:36:27,680 Those trends continue, countless intelligent people have stated that you become that which 472 00:36:27,680 --> 00:36:32,600 you focus your time, energy and attention on. 473 00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:38,960 Whatever you put those into, you become that. 474 00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:45,040 And it is my sincerest hope that you will finish this book and decide to become more 475 00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:52,040 connected.